Recent progresses in electronics allow powering complex systems using either batteries or environmental energy harvesting. However using batteries raises the problems of limited lifespan and recycling process, leading to the research of other energy sources for mobile electronics. Recent work on Synchronized Switch Harvesting (SSH) shows a significant improvement of energy harvesting from vibrations compared to standard techniques. Nevertheless, harvesting energy from vibrations necessitates that the electromechanical structure has to be driven by mechanical solicitations, which generally have a limited amount of energy. Therefore, for the design of efficient and truly applicable self-powered devices, combining several sources for energy harvesting would be greatly beneficial. Thermal energy is rarely considered due to the difficulty of getting efficient devices. However, the potential of such a source is one of the most important. This paper deals with energy harvesting using either piezoelectric or pyroelectric effect. Theoretical and experimental validations of thermal energy harvesting are presented and discussed. Standard thermodynamic cycles may be adapted in order to improve conversion effectiveness. Experimental converted energy as high as 160 mJcm-3 .cycle-1 has been measured with a 35°C temperature variation, corresponding to 2.15% of Carnot efficiency.
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