Optimizing Booster Circuits for Thermo Electric Generators to Utilize Waste Heat

Abstract

The energy crisis in all fields has led to the development of integrated circuits that use waste heat for generating electricity with the help of Thermo Electric Generators (TEGs). For providing a minimum amount of energy required for medical electronic devices, lighting and other basic needs, booster circuits are employed along with TEGs. These circuit converts DC voltage to AC at the first stage, steps up the AC voltage, and feeds it into the power management circuit by converting the signal into DC voltage again. In this paper, four types of booster circuits are analyzed and implemented: Voltage series operational amplifier, Micro Voltage Booster circuit, DC-DC Max 757 Booster circuit and DC-DC LTC 3108. The results show that LTC 3108 boosts the voltage generated through TEG to an optimum level and gives the constant output voltage. Optimization showed that the choice of booster circuit with TEG module configuration affects the efficiency and the power output.

Keywords: Thermoelectric generator, Operational amplifier, Booster circuits, Waste Heat