Two-Stages Two-Inputs DC-DC Boost Converter and Its DoE-Based Mathematical Model as Maritime Harvester

Starting from the basic concepts of energy harvesting (EH) techniques and circuits, with reference to maritime applications, we here present a two-stages two-inputs DC-DC boost converter specifically designed for energy harvesting sensor systems in offshore maritime platforms. The proposed architecture can combine and boosting two independent DC voltage sources, such as those generated by piezoelectric (after an AC-DC conversion) and thermoelectric (TEG) devices. SPICE simulations confirm that the circuit ensures a voltage gain at the output and a power delivered to the load even with very low input voltage levels. To predict, through mathematical calculations, the values provided by the circuit with the least error possible, a mathematical model based on the design of experiments (DoE) approach has been extracted.