HELP NEEDED

[D3nch1829]

Hello, i am In need of help on my project...

I need to speak with someone via facetime that has good knowledge of stepping up a very low voltage on a circuit board.

If someone could please contact me would be great

 

[rjenkinsgb]

Describe the requirements on here - the idea is that any answers or solutions may help other people.

I'm not quite sure what you mean, though?
If it's a signal voltage on a board that has its own power supply, you probably need an op-amp.

If it's an "energy harvesting" type design, there are dedicated ICs to work with such applications - eg.

MAX17710 Energy-Harvesting Charger and Protector | Maxim Integrated

The MAX17710 is a complete system for charging and protecting micropower-storage cells such as Infinite Power Solution's THINERGY® microenergy cells (MECs). The IC can manage poorly regulated sources such as energy-harvesting devices with output level

www.maximintegrated.com

Note that you can never increase "power"; increasing the voltage decreases the available current, in proportion (and less losses due to conversion inefficiencies).

Edit - another IC with lower input, down to 15mV:

AP4473 | Energy Harvesting | Products | Asahi Kasei Microdevices (AKM)

The challenge is to secure a sustainable power source that drives sensors and radios in systems that use IoT. Use of renewable energy that has been so far too small to be useful is now effective. Asahi Kasei Microdevices (AKM) provides low-input-power start-up energy harvesting ICs.

www.akm.com

 

[D3nch1829]

Hey,

Thanks for helping,

I have .4 volts as constant input voltage and would like to increase to 5 to 12v if possible.

Regards,

James
I am in DC, I have most electronic components with breadboard etc.. transformers, transistors and IC's

 

[rjenkinsgb]

This is the first device I've found that could convert from 400mV to 5V:

https://www.analog.com/media/en/technical-documentation/data-sheets/3105fb.pdf

There are likely others, it's just searching "Energy harvesting IC" and looking at the input and output voltage ranges.

What current is available? You will get roughly 1/12th that at 5V, or 1/28th at 12V, approximating some losses.

 

[D3nch1829]

Unfortunately I am a rookie when it comes to circuit boards I have just started to learn and teach myself about this, watching YouTube videos etc, I have been disabled for 3 years now and am wanting to learn new things. I have most components to hand I just need help my head is aching from being so frustrated about this lol.

There is .7 ma I think

Again thank you for your reply

 

[rjenkinsgb]

OK, you would get possibly around 50 microamps at 5V; not a lot, but not unusable, for some things.

What do you want to power with it?

 

[D3nch1829]

I would like to achieve 12v as I could then use the inverter I have to go to 240v.

Anything lol I just want it to work lol

Regards

James

 

[danadak]

If you have .7 ma at .4V then your source offers 0.00028 Watts.

How much power/current at the boosted V do you need ? It has to
be < 0.00028 Watts due to boost losses.


Regards, Dana.

 

[Pommie]

Just to give you an idea of the power available, a typical power LED (on say a television) will take ~5mA at 2V so about 40 times more than you have available.

Mike.

 

[Papabravo]

Trying your question on a different forum is unlikely to produce more optimistic results. What you want to do will be a challenge without auxiliary power supplies.

https://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/threads/help-needed-of-stepping-up-a-very-low-voltage-on-a-circuit.187755/

I'm not aware of any semiconductor family that will work entirely from a source of 0.4V regardless of the current available.

 

[rjenkinsgb]

I would like to achieve 12v as I could then use the inverter I have to go to 240v.

To be blunt,
not a chance!

Sorry.

A typical very small 12V > 240V power inverter will need 2 - 3W just to turn on with no load connected.

That is over FIVE HUNDRED times more power than you have.

To put it in proportion, you have probably enough to run something like a wristwatch marginally enough for a battery wall clock, something where a tiny battery lasts several years.


Or, if you substituted an alkaline AA cell for your power source, you could draw the same amount of power from that for around two to three years, with a lot less messing about.

I suggest you look at more conventional electronics projects, as the only thing you will ever get from this idea is frustration.