Autonomous ultra-low power DC/DC converter for Microbial Fuel Cells

Salah-Eddine Adami (1) , Nicolas Degrenne (1) , Christian Vollaire (1) , Bruno Allard (1) , François Buret (1) , François Costa (2)

1 AMPERE - Ampère
2 SATIE - Systèmes et Applications des Technologies de l'Information et de l'Energie

In this paper, an ultra-low voltage and power DC/DC converter is presented. This converter harvests energy from a Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) in order to feed another circuit such as an autonomous wireless sensor. The MFC behaves as a voltage generator of 475mV open-circuit voltage with a 600Ω serial internal impedance. The maximum delivered power is therefore around 100μW. The DC/DC converter provides output voltage in the range 2-7.5V and performs impedance matching with source. The converter achieves when associated with the MFC, 60% peak efficiency. Furthermore, this DC/DC converter is self-operating without the need for external power source of start-up assistance.

Domains: Electric power

Salah-Eddine Adami, Nicolas Degrenne, Christian Vollaire, Bruno Allard, François Buret, et al.. Autonomous ultra-low power DC/DC converter for Microbial Fuel Cells. ICECS, Dec 2011, Beyrouth, Lebanon. pp.398-401, ⟨10.1109/ICECS.2011.6122297⟩. ⟨hal-00661397⟩