A Self-Powered AC to DC Converter for Low Voltage Energy Harvesting Applications

In this paper, a new design methodology for low voltage electromagnetic energy harvesting systems consisting of a microgenerator and power processing circuit is introduced. The proposed converter consists of a boost converter in parallel with a buck–boost converter. The output DC bus is realized by using a single capacitor. The output capacitor is charged by the boost converter in the positive half cycle and by the buck-boost converter in the negative half cycle. Concerning the power efficiency, the effectiveness of the proposed converter is clarified by theoretical analysis. Furthermore, the validity of the circuit design is confirmed by simulations and analysis.