A Novel Low-Voltage Solar-Powered Converter for Automotive Applications

Inhalt:
A low-voltage solar-powered converter, with the accompanied integrated local maximum power point tracker, based on a novel concept of an active integrated circuit at cell stack level is introduced in this paper. Such converters are suitable for integration with active solar cells in automotive applications - a solar range extender for electric vehicles. Proposed simple, yet accurate, on-chip maximum power point tracking based on analogue current-voltage multiplication and integration provides instantaneous load matching between solar input and load. Furthermore, the optimisation strategy of the boost dc-dc converter in terms of the European efficiency is presented. The design is done in a 0.35micrometer HV CMOS process.