Ultra-Low Power, Low Voltage, Autonomous Resonant DC-DC Converter for Wireless Sensors

Salah-Eddine Adami (1) , Nicolas Degrenne (2) , Christian Vollaire (1) , Bruno Allard (2) , Francois Costa (3, 4)

1 MIS - Ampère, Département Méthodes pour l'Ingénierie des Systèmes
2 EE - Ampère, Département Energie Electrique
3 UPEC UP12 - Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12
4 SATIE - Systèmes et Applications des Technologies de l'Information et de l'Energie

—This article presents a resonant DC-DC converter topology suitable for ultra-low power and low voltage applications. The presented topology is dedicated to energy harvesting sources in general and especially for Radio-Frequency RF sources. Main advantage of this converter is its autonomy, i.e., it operates from low voltage levels without the need of an external energy source or any other startup assistances. Theoretical modelling of the converter is used together with circuit simulations in order to make an optimal design based on the requirements of a low power rectifying antenna (rectenna). A discrete prototype was fabricated and tested. Low voltage and ultra-low power as lows as 100mV and 3.7µW respectively were achieved. The input low voltage is boosted to a usable over 1Volt level allowing to power wirelessly and autonomously low power circuits as wireless sensors.

Mots clés: RF energy harvesting; rectenna; low voltage; ultra-low power; resonant DC-DC converter

Domaines: Energie électrique; Electronique

Salah-Eddine Adami, Nicolas Degrenne, Christian Vollaire, Bruno Allard, Francois Costa. Ultra-Low Power, Low Voltage, Autonomous Resonant DC-DC Converter for Wireless Sensors. 4th IEEE POWERENG, May 2013, Istanbul, Turkey. ⟨10.1109/PowerEng.2013.6635787⟩. ⟨hal-01736241⟩