Energy Harvester (Buck-Boost)

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Revision as of 04:58, 13 June 2011 by 69.122.236.170 (Talk) (The Design)

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Energy Harvester

The Energy Harvester is a kit designed to allow you to use harvest power from any power sources including lemons and thermal energy to power useful things, cell phones, USB chargers, etc.

The Design

The design originally started as a lab to teach engineering freshmen about DC-DC converters. Eventually the requirements lead it to be a full buck boost regulator.

Requirements:

Simulations:

Schematic and PCB Layout:

Ordering Parts:

Testing:

Assembling the Circuit

The circuit assembles easily. For those without soldering equipment it can also be purchased fully assembled.

Using it

Acceptable Power Sources:

Boost:

-dead batteries

-under voltage batteries (AA)

-chemistry cell

-thermal electric

-solar cell (single cell or multiple cells in parallel)

-organic mold

Buck:

-6V lantern battery

-12V SLA (motorcycle, car battery)

-solar cell (3+ cells in series)

-18V cordless tool battery

Buck Boost:

-dynamo Lego hand crank

-Wind turbine, 9v dc motor, and propeller

-steam generator

Teaching using the Energy Harvester