The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 31, 2022
Filed:
Apr. 03, 2020
Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR (US);
Soumya Bose, Corvallis, OR (US);
Matthew Johnston, Corvallis, OR (US);
Tejasvi Anand, Corvallis, OR (US);
Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR (US);
Abstract
The integrated circuit (IC) described herein lowers the start-up voltage to, for example, 50 mV, compatible for starting a DC-DC converter from a thermoelectric generator (TEG), even with a small temperature gradient. The IC further improves end-to-end efficiency of the energy harvester by improving power efficiency of the DC-DC converter while ensuring maximum power transfer from the TEG at low voltages. The IC uses a low voltage integrated charge pump that can boost sub-100 mV input voltage. A startup clock is generated by a ring-oscillator that begins operation with low supply (e.g., 50 mV or less), and which allows for one inductor to be used for DC-DC converter and for startup of the converter. The IC can be configured between the TEG and any downstream sensor or communication circuits to provide an acceptable (e.g., greater than 1 V) voltage for powering the downstream circuits from a low-voltage (e.g., less than 200 mV) TEG energy source.