Power converter for ultra low-frequency and low-voltage energy harvesters

Abstract Energy conversion mechanisms present in some harvesters are only able to provide very low voltage (mV) and frequency (few Hz) electrical signals, which may also have a bipolar nature (AC). These characteristics make unusable most conventional power converters to extract from them a DC voltage. This letter describes an autonomous self-starting ultra-low voltage and frequency AC-DC converter that can start the operation for AC signals around 25 mV, and below 10 Hz. The converter has been designed with ultra-low vibration harvesters in mind, but is also of application to, for instance, thermoelectric generators (TEG). The circuit is basically an oscillator driven by the harvester output, which therefore converts a low-frequency and low-voltage signal into large signal oscillation amenable for further DC conversion. The proposed circuit is based on the classical Hartley oscillator, which is modified in a nontrivial configuration, and optimized to be able to operate with bipolar, low frequency and voltage driving signals. This is achieved with a minimum number of passive components and a single JFET transistor. A practical prototype has been fabricated, and measurement results are obtained, demonstrating the feasibility of the approach. Moreover, a vibration harvester with the power converter proposed has been tested in real conditions in a wind turbine.