Microbial Fuel Cell as Battery Range Extender for Frugal IoT

Carlos Augusto Berlitz, Andrea Pietrelli, Fabien Mieyeville, Gaël Pillonnet and Bruno Allard ()
Additional contact information
Carlos Augusto Berlitz: CEA-Leti, Université Grenoble Alpes, F-38000 Grenoble, France
Andrea Pietrelli: Université de Lyon, INSA Lyon, Université Lyon 1, Ecole Centrale de Lyon, CNRS, Ampère, UMR5005, F-69621 Villeurbanne, France
Fabien Mieyeville: Université de Lyon, INSA Lyon, Université Lyon 1, Ecole Centrale de Lyon, CNRS, Ampère, UMR5005, F-69621 Villeurbanne, France
Gaël Pillonnet: CEA-Leti, Université Grenoble Alpes, F-38000 Grenoble, France
Bruno Allard: Université de Lyon, INSA Lyon, Université Lyon 1, Ecole Centrale de Lyon, CNRS, Ampère, UMR5005, F-69621 Villeurbanne, France

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 18, 1-15

Abstract: The simplest DC/DC converter for supplying an Internet-of-Things device is definitely a switched-capacitor converter. The voltage from a mere 1.2 V battery may be stepped up to 2 V. A quite large operating frequency is required in order to reach the smallest possible output impedance value of the DC/DC converter. The overall efficiency is then limited even more so if the power area density of the system should be large. The article details how a microbial fuel cell may substitute one capacitor in the switched-capacitor converter, achieving a better efficiency at a much lower operating frequency. In that perspective, the microbial fuel cell acts as a kind of battery range extender. Some limitations exist that are discussed. A simple converter is experimentally evaluated to support the discussion. Substituting a microbial fuel cell inside a 100 μ W switched-capacitor converter compensates for losses in the order of 5% of efficiency. Moreover, the microbial fuel cell extends the lifespan of the battery, as 1.6 V output voltage is still possible when the battery voltage drops to 0.8 V. More than 94% efficiency is measured for a range of output power between 100 μ W and 1 mW, which is sufficient to address a lot of frugal IoT applications.

Keywords: DC/DC boost converter; switched-capacitor converter; microbial fuel cell; range extender (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/18/6501/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/18/6501/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2023:i:18:p:6501-:d:1236267

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().