Design of Coupled Inductor-Based Boost Converter for Ultra Low Power Thermoelectric Energy Harvesting using Pulse Transformer with 75mV Start-up Voltage

This paper presents a coupled inductor-based converter capable of self-starting and has consistent conversion efficiency independent of input voltage and source resistance. Instead of using a customized high turns-ratio miniature transformer, existing compact profile pulse transformer commonly available for telecommunication circuits can be used. Simulation results with a standard CMOS 0.13-μm technology confirmed that using the proposed topology, power conversion efficiency can be improved to over 60% and is sustainable over wide input voltage range. © 2013 IEEE