[2024] Triboelectric Energy Harvesting for IoT and Biomedical Devices

Internet-of-things (IoT) and biomedical devices are widely used to make people's lives smarter and easier. Most of them are powered by batteries, which will run out of energy eventually. Thus, battery-free systems have drawn much research interest in the past decade with energy harvesting technology, which harvests ambient sustainable energy and converts it into usable electrical form. Due to the ubiquity of kinetic energy, interest in kinetic energy harvesting dramatically increased in past decades. To harvest mechanical energy in broad application scenarios, the triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) was recently proposed [1]. 

In recent triboelectric energy harvesting (TriboEH) systems, the energy extraction performance has been improved with active rectification and chip stacking architectures [2][3]. However, there is still little research working on exploring the true potential of a TENG based on its specific physical characteristics [4]. In this project, we are going to design a highly efficient power extraction integrated circuit for the triboEH system. The to-be-designed ASIC will enable high energy-extraction efficiency, fast maximum power point tracking (MPPT), and highly integrated design.

[1] W. Peng and S. Du, "The Advances in Conversion Techniques in Triboelectric Energy Harvesting: A Review," IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers, vol. 70, no. 7, pp. 3049-3062, 2023, doi: 10.1109/TCSI.2023.3261780.

[2] S.-H. L. Jiho Lee, Gyeong-Gu Kang, Jae-Hyun Kim, Gyu-Hyeong Cho, Hyun-Sik Kim, "A 130V Triboelectric Energy-Harvesting Interface in 0.18μm BCD with Scalable Multi-Chip-Stacked Bias-Flip and Daisy-Chained Synchronous Signaling Technique," in ISSCC, 2022. 

[3] J. Maeng, I. Park, M. Shim, J. Jeong, and C. Kim, "A High-Voltage Dual-Input Buck Converter With Bidirectional Inductor Current for Triboelectric Energy-Harvesting Applications," IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. 56, no. 2, pp. 541-553, 2021, doi: 10.1109/JSSC.2020.3012991.

[4] W. Peng, X. Yue, L, Pakula, and S. Du, "A Capacitor-Based Bias-Flip Rectifier with Electrostatic Charge Boosting for Triboelectric Energy Harvesting Achieving Auto-MPPT at Breakdown Voltage and 14X Power Extraction Improvement ", in ISSCC, 2024

Assignment

1. Literature review of triboelectric energy harvesting topologies and associated power management circuits.
2. Design and tape out a highly efficient ASIC for the proposed triboelectric energy harvesting system. 

Requirements

You should be familiar with analog IC design and Cadence environment. If you are interested, please send the following documents to Sijun Du at email: Sijun.Du@tudelft.nl

• Your up-to-date CV
• BSc transcripts
• MSc grades (obtained to date)

Suggested courses to appear in your IEP:

• Analog Circuit Design Fundamentals
• Measurement and Instrumentation
• Analog CMOS Design 1 and 2
• Digital IC Design 1 and 2
• Analog Integrated Circuit Design

Not a must in your IEP, but you are encouraged to learn some course materials at least:

• Nyquist-Rate Data Converters
• Power conversion techniques in CMOS technology (Only the SMPC and SCPC parts)
• Semiconductor Device Physics

Contact

Last modified: 2024-06-11