A cross-connected charge pump for energy harvesting applications

Energy harvesting is a process of capturing, storing and converting external energy from ambient energy. The energy harvesting systems commonly use a switchedmode power supply (SMPS) to convert energy harvested from the ambient energy. Therefore, the power converter is an essential component in terms of developing efficient energy harvesting systems. Among SMPS, inductor-less converter can be a solution. This paper suggests a new topology of charge pumps by cross-connecting two of them for efficient energy harvesting systems. With the cross-connected structure, the new topology transfers a stepped-up output to the output capacitor and load in all operation periods. This operation way can improve the power efficiency of the proposed charge pump and also decrease the internal resistance and the output capacitor’s capacitance of it. The performance of the proposed charge pump is verified by comparing with two conventional charge pumps, which is based on simulation program with the integrated circuit emphasis (SPICE) simulations and theoretical analysis. Moreover, we demonstrated the feasibility of the proposed one through the experimental circuit built on a breadboard. The proposed charge pump helps develop efficient energy harvesting systems.