Energy Harvesting Circuit with Input Matching in Boundary Conduction Mode for Electromagnetic Generators

• Main Author: Xu, Yudong
• Other Authors: Electrical Engineering
• Format: Others
• Published: Virginia Tech 2018
• Subjects: Energy Harvesting; EMG; IC; Boost Rectifier; Impedance Matching; Boundary Conduction Mode (BCM)
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10919/85123

The proposed circuit intends to harvest kinetic energy from ElectroMagnetic Generators (EMGs). In order to extract maximum power from an EMG, an AC-DC boost rectifier is designed to match the impedance of the EMG. Rather than operate a buck-boost converter in Discontinuous Conduction Mode (DCM) in other impedance matching cases, the proposed method is running the boost topology in Boundary Conduction Mode (BCM). So it would perform resistive input matching, while reducing the converter power loss. The boost rectifier also merges a rectifier and a boost converter to reduce power loss for rectification. It also utilizes the internal inductance of the EMG to eliminate the impedance matching error and reduce the off-chip inductor size. An optional buck converter regulates the output voltage to 5 V to power devices through USB ports. The proposed circuit is designed and fabricated in BiCMOS 0.18 μm technology. Its functionality is shown through simulation results. The measurement of the IC is also performed. However, since the IC only work partially, test result is gathered using some discrete components as substitutes. It indicates the circuit can realize the proposed control method. === Master of Science