Synthesis and design of a fully integrated multi-topology switched capacitor DC-DC converter with gearbox control

This paper discusses a methodology of minimizing the amount of switches in a multi-topology fully integrated switched capacitor dc-dc converter powered by a super capacitor for energy harvesting purposes. The design of a simple controlling circuit for the multi-topology power stage using a gearbox approach is presented with all the required circuits. The converter is able to generate a output voltage of 1.2 V from a 470 mF capacitor charged to 3 V down to 1.4 V. The output voltage is regulated with a ripple voltage below 7 mV. The controlling circuit including buffers with ideal comparators has a power consumption of 129 μW, the average efficiency is 67% and the peak efficiency of the converter is 81%.