ADAPTIVE ENERGY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM BASED ON LOW-POWER MICROCONTROLLER WITH ENERGY HARVESTING AT MAXIMUM POWER

Abstract

This paper describes an energy management system and an algorithm for an energy-aware operation. The system obtains energy from an energy harvester and manages the energy adaptively according to the monitored energy status. Based on a low-power microcontroller, the system controls the energy harvester so that it always harvests energy at maximum power and tracks it when the operating condition changes. It also controls the power consumption of all parts of the system so that they are adjusted dynamically for the management of harvested or stored energy. To manage the energy transfer to a battery, a DC–DC converter, called the energy management IC, is optimized for the operating voltage control of the harvester. In an experiment using an energy harvester and a battery modified for the system, the energy management IC fabricated in a 0.18 μm process maximizes the energy transfer power with a simple, low-power algorithm. The proposed system is verified to be more efficient for low-energy harvesting by the adaptive energy and power management.