
Configurable energy harvesting DC source offers battery alternative
The module produces electric energy when put in contact with a heat source from about 10 °C above ambient air. The TE-CORE7 is built around a new SMD thermogenerator package (TGP) called TGP-751, incorporating the central part of the thermal path which absorbs heat from a hot surface and dissipates it to ambient air or a cold structure. For powering a wireless application the TE-CORE7 embeds the TGP-751 in a low-cost version of Micropelt’s DC-Booster with 2.4 V fixed output voltage and a power output ranging from 150 microwatts to over 10 milliwatts, depending on the available temperature differential.
A configurable hysteresis regulation allows for configuring the output voltage between 1.9 and 4.5V. A dedicated solder interface is available for adding buffer capacitance to cope with higher demands of energy per duty cycle. The TE-Core module can be magnetically attached to many heat sources, whereby the exchangeable heat sink can help in adjusting the power balance.
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