Thermoelectric Energy Harvesting Circuit Using DC-DC Boost Converter

This paper describes a DC-DC boost converter for thermoelectric energy harvesting. The designed converter boosts the VDD through a start-up block from a low-output voltage of a thermoelectric device and the boosted VDD is used to operate the internal control block. When the VDD reaches a predefined value, a detector circuit makes the start-up block turn off to minimize current consumption. The final boosted VOUT is achieved by alternately operating the DC-DC converter for VDD and the main DC-DC converter for VOUT according to the comparator outputs. Simulation results shows that the designed converter generates 2.65V from an input voltage of 200mV and its maximum power efficiency is 63%. The area of the chip designed using a 0.35um CMOS process is including pads.

[1]  T.Y. Man,et al.  A 0.9-V Input Discontinuous-Conduction-Mode Boost Converter With CMOS-Control Rectifier , 2008, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[2]  Pedro Lluís Miribel-Català,et al.  Power-Conditioning Circuitry for a Self-Powered System Based on Micro PZT Generators in a 0.13-$\mu\hbox{m}$ Low-Voltage Low-Power Technology , 2008, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics.

[3]  Kai Strunz,et al.  A 20 mV Input Boost Converter With Efficient Digital Control for Thermoelectric Energy Harvesting , 2010, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[4]  Hui Shao,et al.  The Design of a Micro Power Management System for Applications Using Photovoltaic Cells With the Maximum Output Power Control , 2009, IEEE Transactions on Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) Systems.

[5]  Chao Lu,et al.  Vibration Energy Scavenging System With Maximum Power Tracking for Micropower Applications , 2011, IEEE Transactions on Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) Systems.

[6]  Cyril Condemine,et al.  Efficient Power Management Circuit: From Thermal Energy Harvesting to Above-IC Microbattery Energy Storage , 2008, IEEE J. Solid State Circuits.

[7]  Maher Kayal,et al.  Fully integrated ultra-low power management system for micro-power solar energy harvesting applications , 2012 .

[8]  Takayasu Sakurai,et al.  A 95mV-startup step-up converter with Vth-tuned oscillator by fixed-charge programming and capacitor pass-on scheme , 2011, 2011 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference.

[9]  Chris Van Hoof,et al.  Capacitive Power Management Circuit for Micropower Thermoelectric Generators With a 1.4 $\mu$A Controller , 2009, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[10]  Luca Benini,et al.  Modeling and Optimization of a Solar Energy Harvester System for Self-Powered Wireless Sensor Networks , 2008, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics.

[11]  L. Colalongo,et al.  A 0.2$-\hbox{1.2}$ V DC/DC Boost Converter for Power Harvesting Applications , 2009, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics.

[12]  Anantha Chandrakasan,et al.  A Battery-Less Thermoelectric Energy Harvesting Interface Circuit With 35 mV Startup Voltage , 2010, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[13]  L. Colalongo,et al.  A 0.2V–1.2V converter for power harvesting applications , 2008, ESSCIRC 2008 - 34th European Solid-State Circuits Conference.

[14]  Dong Sam Ha,et al.  Low-Power Design of a Self-powered Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting System With Maximum Power Point Tracking , 2012, IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics.