Energy harvesting and battery charging IC

12 March 2014 Power Electronics / Power Management

A new chip from STMicroelectronics integrates all the functions needed to power electronic circuits and recharge batteries using either a solar cell or thermoelectric generator (TEG).

Harvesting ambient light or thermal energy to power small electronic devices such as wireless sensors, smart building and industrial equipment controls, wellness and wearable monitors, protects the environment by reducing CO₂ emissions, while eliminating batteries and power cabling, and enabling the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem. In the future, hundreds of millions of these devices operating from tiny quantities of harvested ambient energy are expected to be deployed in environments such as office buildings, houses, hotels, industrial sites, transportation infrastructure and electric vehicles.

ST’s SPV1050 is ideal for applications with power requirements from a few microwatts to several milliwatts, and is equally suitable for both indoor and outdoor consumer and industrial applications using either solar or thermal energy.

Both 1,8 V and 3,3 V regulators are available to power a companion microcontroller or wireless transmitter directly without requiring additional components. Maximum power-point tracking (MPPT) continuously optimises energy harvesting, or can be disabled. The IC’s battery charging circuitry supports a wide variety of battery types including lithium-ion and lithium-polymer, lithium thin-film solid state, NiMH and NiCd, as well as supercapacitors.

Inside the SPV1050, a buck-boost converter allows the device to connect to either TEG or indoor/outdoor solar energy harvesting modules by providing a wide input voltage range from 180 mV to 8 V. Average operating efficiency of 90% allows fast battery charging even at low input power levels, while minimum MPPT accuracy of 90% maximises energy extraction from solar or TEG sources.

In addition, the integrated battery charging controller uses highly accurate under-voltage and end-of-charge thresholds, and provides safe control logic to prevent excessive discharging for longer battery life.

For more information contact Erich Nast, Avnet Kopp, +27 (0)11 319 8600, [email protected], www.avnet.co.za

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