Uninterrupted thermoelectric energy harvesting using temperature-sensor-based maximum power point tracking system

In this paper, a thermoelectric generator (TEG) energy harvesting system with a temperature-sensor-based maximum power point tracking (MPPT) method is presented. Conventional MPPT algorithms for photovoltaic cells may not be suitable for thermoelectric power generation because a significant amount of time is required for TEG systems to reach a steady state. Moreover, complexity and additional power consumption in conventional circuits and periodic disconnection of power source are not desirable for low-power energy harvesting applications. The proposed system can track the varying maximum power point (MPP) with a simple and inexpensive temperature-sensor-based circuit without instantaneous power measurement or TEG disconnection. This system uses TEG's open circuit voltage (OCV) characteristic with respect to temperature gradient to generate a proper reference voltage signal, i.e., half of the TEG's OCV. The power converter controller maintains the TEG output voltage at the reference level so that the maximum power can be extracted for the given temperature condition. This feedforward MPPT scheme is inherently stable and can be implemented without any complex microcontroller circuit. The proposed system has been validated analytically and experimentally, and shows a maximum power tracking error of 1.15%.