A 15-mV Inductor-Less Start-up Converter Using a Piezoelectric Transformer for Energy Harvesting Applications
| Description | |
| Date | |
| Authors | Martinez T., Pillonnet G., Costa F. |
| Year | 2018-0053 |
| Source-Title | IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics |
| Affiliations | Systems and Applications of Information and Energy Technologies Laboratory, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan, Cachan, France, University of Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France, CEA-Leti, MINATEC, Grenoble, France, University Paris-Est-Créteil, Créteil, France |
| Abstract | This paper presents an inductor-less start-up converter for a sub-100-mV energy harvester based on an Armstrong oscillator topology using a piezoelectric transformer and a normally ON MOSFET. Two models of the converter have been detailed and validated experimentally for the start-up phase and steady-state operation to, respectively, determine the minimum start-up input voltage and the voltage gain. The models have been validated experimentally in a setup associating the converter and a thermoelectric generator. Based on a Rosen-type piezoelectric transformer and off-the-shelf components, the proposed start-up topology begins to oscillate at 15 mV and achieves a 1-V output voltage at only 43 mV. Compared to the literature, the topology needs no inductive component and achieves self-starting operation with a smaller input voltage. © 1986-2012 IEEE. |
| Author-Keywords | Armstrong oscillator, cold start, energy harvesting, piezoelectric transformer (PT), start-up converter |
| Index-Keywords | Piezoelectric devices, Piezoelectricity, Power converters, Thermoelectric equipment, Topology, Cold start, Energy Harvester, Off-the-shelf components, Output voltages, Piezoelectric transformers, Steady-state operation, Thermoelectric generators, Up-converter, Energy harvesting |
| ISSN | 8858993 |
| Link | Link |