ECE 5284 - Power Management Circuits for Energy Harvesting (3C)

Energy sources for energy harvesting. Equivalent circuits for various transducers including piezoelectric cantilevers (PZT), electromagnetic generators, photovoltaic cells, and thermoelectric generators. Power management circuits (PMCs) and maximum power point tracking (MPPT) schemes for piezoelectric cantilevers. PMCs for electromagnetic and electrostatic generators, and photovoltaic modules. MPPT schemes for photovoltaic modules under full sun and partial shading.

Recently harvesting small-scale energy has attracted immense research efforts for applications such as wireless sensor networks for environmental and habitat monitoring, implantable devices, and biosensors. Replacing or recharging batteries for those applications is inconvenient, expensive, or impractical. Energy harvesting (EH) from ambient sources offers a promising solution to the problem. A power management circuit is a key building block of an energy harvesting system. This course covers power management circuit design for small scale energy harvesting for various energy sources developed recently in academia and industry.