An adaptive FET sizing technique for high efficiency thermoelectric harvesters

A theoretical analysis of losses in low power thermoelectric harvester interfaces is used to find expressions for properly sizing the power transistors according to the input voltage level. These expressions are used to propose an adaptive FET sizing technique that tracks the input voltage level and automatically reconfigures the converter in order to improve its conversion efficiency. The performance of a low-power thermoelectric energy harvesting interface with and without the proposed technique is evaluated by circuit simulations under different input voltage/power conditions. The simulation results show that the proposed technique improves the conversion efficiency of the energy harvesting interface up to 12% at the lowest input voltage/power levels.