AUTOMATIC SWITCHING ENERGY HARVESTING CIRCUIT USING VIBRATION AND THERMAL ENERGY

摘要

According to an embodiment of the present invention, an automatic switching energy harvesting circuit using vibration and thermal energy comprises: a piezoelectric conversion unit for converting vibration into electricity; a thermoelectric conversion unit for converting heat into electricity; a power switching unit for outputting a higher voltage among a voltage outputted from the piezoelectric conversion unit and a voltage outputted from the thermoelectric conversion unit; and a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) control unit for outputting a voltage of a maximum power point (MPP) from the piezoelectric conversion unit and the thermoelectric conversion unit. The present invention is less sensitive to the environmental change, and an MPPT circuit of each energy source can be merged into one. The size and costs of an overall system are reduced, and thus can be easily applied to a micro sensor node. The maximum available power can be harvested from an energy source having greater output power by applying an automatic switching function.;COPYRIGHT KIPO 2017