A survey of thermal energy harvesting techniques and interface circuitry

Emerging technology in semiconductor devices and circuits has enabled ultra-low power systems in medical, structural (bridges), and hard to reach places which fueled the energy scavenging research and its interface circuitry. The energy can be harvested from ambient sources such as vibration, wireless, thermal and solar. To harvest the energy, special interface circuit needs to be designed for suitable energy conversion such as DC-DC converters, power management unit, and storage elements. In this paper, we present a survey about the state-of-the-art thermal energy harvesting systems focusing on the interface circuitry, and explaining the tradeoffs in human body-based harvesting applications.