Biased Capacitive Divider Electrostatic Generators for Energy Harvesting

A study is presented about some structures of electrical generators based on variable capacitors, suitable for energy harvesting applications, and compatible with construction as microelectromechanical systems. In the discussed structures, part of the generator has as function the generation of a high biasing voltage, and another part, a capacitive divider where one of the capacitors is variable, is used as the actual generator. It feeds a DC/DC converter that generates the useful output energy at low voltage. The structures add flexibility in the design over previously proposed generators based on Bennet's doubler, and allow greater output power.