Triboelectric nanogenerator with mechanical switch and clamp circuit for low ripple output

For new renewable clean energy,triboelectric nanogenerators(TENGs)have shown great potential in response to the world energy crisis.Nevertheless,the alternating-current signal generated by a TENG needs to be converted into a direct-current signal to be effective in applications.Therefore,a power management circuit,comprising a clamp rectifier circuit and a mechanical switch,is proposed for the conversion and produces a signal having a low ripple coefficient.The power management circuit adopts a clamp circuit as the rectifier circuit to increase the rectified voltage,and reduces the loss resulted from the components by reducing the use of discrete components;the electronic switch in the buck regulator circuit is replaced with a mechanical switch to reduce cost and complexity.In a series of experiments,this power management circuit displayed a stable output voltage with a ripple voltage of 0.07 V,crest factor of 1.01,and ripple coefficient of 2.2%.The TENG provides a feasible method to generate stable electric energy and to supply power to low-consumption electronic devices.