A Reconfigurable DC-DC Converter for Maximum Thermoelectric Energy Harvesting in a Battery-Powered Duty-Cycling Wireless Sensor Node

Abstract

This paper presents a reconfigurable dc-dc converter for maximum thermoelectric generator (TEG) energy harvesting in a battery-powered duty-cycling wireless sensor node. The proposed dc-dc converter adopts discontinuous energy harvesting, which operates in single-input dual-output (SIDO) boost, battery-TEG pile-up buck (BTPB), dual-phase buck-boost (DPBB), and battery supplied buck modes with a single shared inductor. Fabricated in a 65-nm CMOS process, the converter adopts an adaptive dead-time controller for zero-voltage switching (ZVS) and an adaptive switch size (ASS) with maximum power point tracking (MPPT) to maximize efficiency in a wide TEG voltage range. The SIDO boost mode achieves 88.5% and 81.1% peak end-to-end efficiency with maximum and no-load conditions (only charging the battery), respectively. The combination of BTPB and DPBB modes to maximize the TEG power extraction during the battery-powered operation results in up to 44% saving in battery power. The battery-supplied buck mode achieves 93.3% peak efficiency.