• Journal of IKEEE
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.483-487
• /
• 2022

In this paper, we design a self-powered Arduino system for solar energy harvesting and explain its operation. To perform the operation, the Arduino system senses the amount of solar energy that changes every moment and adjusts the ratio of the active mode and sleep mode operation time according to a given solar light intensity. If the intensity of sunlight is strong enough, the Arduino system can be continuously driven in active mode and receive sufficient power from sunlight. If not, the system can run in sleep mode to minimize power consumption. As a result, it can be seen that energy consumption can be minimized by reducing power consumption by up to 81.7% when using sleep mode compared to continuously driving active mode. Also, when the light intensity is at an intermediate level, the ratio between the active mode and the sleep mode is appropriately adjusted according to the light intensity to operate. The method of self-control of the operating time ratio of active mode and sleep mode, proposed in this paper, is thought to be helpful in energy-efficient operation of the self-powered systems for wearables and bio-health applications.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.569-575
• /
• 2020

Recently, research on renewable energy technologies has come into the spotlight due to rising concerns over the depletion of fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions. Demand for portable electronic and wearable devices is increasing, and electronic devices are becoming smaller. Energy harvesting is a technology for overcoming limitations such as battery size and usage time. In this paper, the V-I characteristic curve and internal resistance of thermal electric devices were analyzed, and MPPT control methods were compared. The Perturbation and Observation (P&O) control method is economically inefficient because two sensors are required to measure the voltage and current of a Thermoelectric Generator(TEG). Therefore, this paper proposes a new MPPT control method that tracks MPP using only one sensor for the regulation of the output voltage. The proposed MPPT control method uses the relationship between the output voltage of the load and the duty ratio. Control is done by periodically sampling the output voltage of the DC-DC converter to increase or decrease the duty ratio to find the optimal duty ratio and maintain the MPP. A DC-DC converter was designed using a cascaded boost-buck converter, which has a two-switch topology. The proposed MPPT control method was verified by simulations using PSIM, and the results show that a voltage, current, and power of V=4.2 V, I=2.5 A, and P=10.5 W were obtained at the MPP from the V-I characteristic curve of the TEG.