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Voltage Step-up Circuits

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CMOS Indoor Light Energy Harvesting System for Wireless Sensing Applications

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Abstract

In the present chapter, the main types of energy conditioning systems will be summarily characterized, as well as energy storing devices and MPPT techniques. Raw electrical energy captured from the ambient sources is generally not suitable for direct usage to power electronic circuits. As such, this energy must be properly conditioned for practical use. The objective is to create a stabilized voltage (or current), which is required to power and bias the sets of load circuits and devices. According to the intended needs, the primary DC voltage must be stepped up (boost operation) or stepped down (buck operation). The classes of circuits that can achieve such a voltage conversion can be divided into those that use inductors and those that do not. Either way, the ultimate objective is to perform the voltage conversion as efficiently as possible. The regulator circuit also plays the role of protecting the energy storage device from overload voltages and, when dealing with a PV-based system, of setting the working output voltage of the PV cell, in order to achieve optimal power operation conditions, by using a MPPT algorithm.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa (IPL), Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa (ISEL–ADEETC), Lisbon, Portugal

    Carlos Manuel Ferreira Carvalho

  2. Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Caparica, Portugal

    Nuno Filipe Silva Veríssimo Paulino

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  1. Carlos Manuel Ferreira Carvalho
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Correspondence to Carlos Manuel Ferreira Carvalho .

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Ferreira Carvalho, C.M., Paulino, N.F.S.V. (2016). Voltage Step-up Circuits. In: CMOS Indoor Light Energy Harvesting System for Wireless Sensing Applications. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21617-1_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21617-1_4

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