A fully electrical startup batteryless boost converter with 50mV input voltage for thermoelectric energy harvesting

Abstract

A fully electrical startup boost converter is presented in this paper. With a three-stage stepping-up architecture, the proposed circuit is capable of performing thermoelectric energy harvesting at an input voltage as low as 50 mV. Due to the zero-current-switching (ZCS) operation of the boost converter and automatic shutdown of the low-voltage starter and the auxiliary converter, conversion efficiency up to 73% is demonstrated. The boost converter does not require bulky transformers or mechanical switches for kick-start, making it very attractive for body area sensor network applications.