Converter-based accumulation of electric energy generated by microbial biofuel cell

Microbial biofuel cell (BFC) was used as a primary energy source for energy storage system. The converter BQ25504 (Texas Instruments) was applied for transformation of electrical energy from microwatt primary sources. The energy storage operation begins if BFC output voltage was higher or equal to 300 mV. In case of stationary operation it was possible to provide energy storage of BFC output voltage equal to 100 mV. The developed system based on converter enables to increase the initial voltage BFC of 0.5 V to 3.1 V; accumulated energy is stored on the various capacitors. Resulting voltage was stable with application of condensers with capacities from 100 μF to 6800 μF. In case of application of 3.1 V and 6800 μF condenser the storage energy was equal to 32.7 mJ. It was enough to provide short time operation of diode L-1154SURDK (2.0 V, 20 mA) and electrical motor M25E-4L (MITSUMI; 3.0 V, 100 mA). Designed system can be applied for energy supply of small electrical devices (for example remote sensors) and autonomous microrobots.