Jungmoon Kim

This paper presents a dc-dc boost converter with the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) technique for thermoelectric energy harvesting applications. The technique realizes variation tolerance by adjusting the switching frequency of the converter. A finely controlled zero-current switching (ZCS) scheme together with the accurate MPPT technique enhances the overall efficiency of the converter because of an optimal turn-on time generated by a one-shot pulse generator that is proposed. Moreover, the ZCS technique can deal with low- and high-temperature differences applied to the thermoelectric generator. This allows a wider range of conversion ratios compared to those of conventional converters used for thermal energy harvesting. Experimentally, the converter implemented in a 0.35-μm BCDMOS process had a peak efficiency of 72% at the input voltage of 500 mV while supplying a 5.62-V output.

A charge pump using 0.13- μm CMOS process for low-voltage energy harvesting is presented. A low-power adaptive dead-time (AD) circuit is used which automatically optimizes the dead-time according to the input voltage. A negative charge pump is also utilized for high efficiency at low input voltages (V <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">IN</sub> ). The AD circuit improves efficiency by 17% at V <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">IN</sub> of 0.2 V compared to the fixed dead time circuit as well as enables the charge pump to work at V <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">IN</sub> down to 0.15 V. Dynamic body bias (DBB) and switch-conductance enhancement techniques are applied to a unit stage of the three-stage charge pump. The reverse current flowing through the cross-coupled NMOS switches is prevented and the current transfer is also maximized. Together with the AD circuit and the DBB technique, the maximum output current was improved by 240% as compared to the conventional charge pump design using only the forward body bias.

A piezoelectric (PE) energy harvesting system with one-cycle maximum power point (MPP) sensing is presented. The one-cycle MPP sensing method uses a very small size sensing capacitor and it can make the transducer output voltage reach the open circuit voltage within one cycle. The proposed MPP sensing block can sense the open circuit voltage with a proposed peak detector and stores the MPP voltage using charge sharing blocks. The one-cycle MPP sensing approach simplifies the design of an MPP tracking algorithm and greatly reduces the tracking time. All control blocks are self-biased and choose the higher voltage between the input or output voltages of the switching converter as a supply voltage (V DD). Therefore, a voltage multiplexer and a low-power ramp generator with V DD independence are also proposed to control the system without additional DC to DC converter. The entire system has been implemented in a 0.35 μm BCDMOS process. It operates at 90 kHz with a 10-mH inductor. The total power dissipation of the controller is 10 μW at a V DD of 2.7 V. The MPP tracking time is only 9.09 ms/V when the input voltage of the switching converter is changed from 3.4 V to 1.2 V.

This brief presents a regulated charge pump (CP) with an integrated optimum power point tracking (OPPT) algorithm designed for indoor solar energy harvesting. The proposed OPPT circuit does not require a current sensor that consumes power proportionally to the load. The solar cell voltage is regulated at the optimum power point; the CP output is regulated according to the target voltage. The controller of the OPPT circuit and CP dissipates only 450 nW; thus, the proposed technique is appropriate for indoor solar energy harvesting applications under dim lighting conditions.

This paper describes a time-limited power distribution control technique that can be used for single-inductor multiple-output (SIMO) DC-DC converter with many unbalanced loads. Furthermore, the true all-comparator control technique that raises no stability or complexity issues is proposed. This all-comparator technique for SIMO converters is realized only with a single shared hysteresis comparator at a constant switching frequency of 800 kHz. This leads to the development of a new inductor peak-current control technique that does not require compensators and a phase-locked loop. This converter is analyzed and compared with existing SIMO converters with respect to the requirements of next-generation power management ICs. The maximum efficiency of the converter reaches 92%. The fabricated chip supporting eight-channel outputs is implemented in a 0.35-μm CMOS process and occupies an area of 2.4 × 2.1 mm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> .