Micro-power Converters Research Articles

Моделювання фотовольтаїчних перетворювачів на основі широтно-імпульсної модуляції

The paper presents new approaches for the mathematical modeling of micro-power converters based on the generated mathematical models of converters using pulse-width modulation (PWM). The research was carried out and the modeling of the operating modes of such converters was presented, when presenting the input signals. The obtained simulation results were used to construct a signal converter based on the PSoC 5LP (Cypress) microcontroller.

PRESENTE Y FUTURO DE LA ELECTRONICA POTENCIA (I). APLICACIONES DE GRAN POTENCIA.

Power Electronics has been gaining relevance in countless fields throughout industry, defence, transport, public buildings, communications, computing, home automation and electro-medical equipment. Although usually unnoticed, due to its subsidiary role of supplying energy to electrical equipment and systems, its applications and implantation are continuously growing. The power range is very wide, covering from over five thousand megawatts in High Voltage DC Transmission to a few tenths of a watt in micro-power converters for mobile telephones and personal electro-medical devices. Its multidisciplinary character and universality makes of power electronics a technological synergic vortex where semiconductor physics, electrical engineering, thermal management, control theory, industry communications, transport and most industrial disciplines are brought together. This paper, first of two, covers general aspects of Power Electronics and its applications in the high power range.

A scalable micro-power converter for multi-source piezoelectric energy harvesting applications

This paper presents a conversion scheme based on active control for harvesting power from multiple piezoelectric transducers with higher efficiency than traditional passive approaches. The use of multiple sources is often mandatory for boosting up the available output power. The proposed approach guarantees that each source operates efficiently, especially in case of irregular vibrations and heterogeneous transducers. A prototype system was developed and validated in realistic conditions: three 0.5×12.7×31.8 mm3 Q220-A4-303YB transducers from Piezo Systems of different wear conditions loaded with 20g tip masses were stimulated with the vibrations recorded in a train passenger car at 100 km/h. The converter harvested up to 142 μW@0.22g-RMS and up to 90 μW@0.11g-RMS. With the latter vibrations the extra harvested power with respect to a standard passive electronic interface was at least 41%. The converter is modular and the number of sources can be easily increased.

PRESENTE Y FUTURO DE LA ELECTRONICA DE POTENCIA ( II PARTE). APLICACIONES DE PEQUEÑA Y MEDIANA POTENCIA.

Power Electronics has been gaining relevance in countless fields throughout industry, defence, transport, public buildings, communications, computing, home automation and electro-medical equipment. Although usually unnoticed, due to its subsidiary role of supplying energy to electrical equipment and systems, its applications and implantation are continuously growing. The power range is very wide, covering from over five thousand megawatts in High Voltage DC Transmission to a few tenths of a watt in micro-power converters for mobile telephones and personal electro-medical devices. Its multidisciplinary character and universality makes of power electronics a technological synergic vortex where semiconductor physics, electrical engineering, thermal management, control theory, industry communications, transport and most industrial disciplines are brought together. This paper, first of two, covers general aspects of Power Electronics and its applications in the high power range.

Design Issues for Monolithic DC–DC Converters

This paper presents various ideas for integrating different components of dc-dc converter on to a silicon chip. These converters are intended to process power levels up to 0.5W. Techniques for integrating capacitors and design issues for MOS transistors are discussed. The most complicated design issue involves inductors. Expressions for trace resistance and inductance estimation of on-chip planar spiral inductor on top metal layer of CMOS process are compared. These inductors have high series resistance due to low metal trace thickness, capacitive coupling with substrate and other metal traces, and eddy current loss. As an alternative, a CMOS compatible three-dimensional (3-D) surface micromachining technology known as plastic deformation magnetic assembly (PDMA) is used to fabricate high quality inductors with small footprints. Experimental results from a monolithic buck converter using this PDMA inductor are presented. A major conclusion of this work is that the 3-D "post-process" technology is more viable than traditional integrated circuit assembly methods for realizing of micro-power converters.