Architecture of low power energy harvester using hybrid input of solar and thermal for laptop or notebook: A review

Abstract

This paper aims to develop and design the architecture of Low Power Hybrid Energy Harvester (LPHEH) using the hybrid input of solar and thermal that can be harvested for self-powered laptop or notebook. This research will focus on the development of the high performance boost power converter to power up any laptop or notebook and design power management system of the hybrid input of solar and waste heat that has been released. The main function of the boost converter is to generate a sufficient DC power supply for laptop or notebook. The second stage focuses on investigation, design and development of the architecture to convert the solar and waste heat energy to reusable energy. The solar energy harvesting elements such as solar panels and energy storage components are used and to be matched to each other with sufficient energy required to increase the energy harvesting efficiency. The proposed design performances will be described using PSPICE software simulation and experimental results. The final stage is to integrate the first stage and second stage, power management module and charge controller module. Then, the developed LPHEH will be simulated, synthesis using Mentor Graphics and coding using Verilog and then download the LPHEH modules into FPGA board for real time verification. The layout architecture of LPHEH will be tested and analyzed using CALIBRE tools from Mentor Graphics. The expected result from this LPHEH is to get 12 V to 20 V of the regulated output voltage from minimum input voltage sources range from 5 V to 12 V with efficiency more than 90%. © 2016 Hanani Mohamed Nadzirin, Jahariah Sampe, Muhammad Shabiul Islam and Noorfazila Kamal.