Design Support

Energy Harvesting

You can simulate the time required to harvest environmental energy.

We provide a simulator that can calculate the power available from any generator and the step-up DC/DC converter of AKM. It is useful for examination of a system.

AP447x Power Simulator - Environmental Power Generation Elements

It is possible to check if the step-up circuit of the step-up DC/DC converter can be activated with the output characteristics of the input generator by checking the presence or absence of the intersection point on the graph of the generator output characteristics and input characteristics of the step-up DC/DC converter.

* From here on, you will be redirected to sites other than akm.com site.

AP447x Power Simulator - Environmental Power Generation Elements

How to operate the power simulator

How to operate the power simulator

 

#1 Enter a type and output characteristics of the environmental power generation element.

#2 Enter the type of step-up DC/DC converter.

#3 Finally, press Run.

Simulation results show

When there is an intersection point, the step-up circuit is activated.

#1 When there is an intersection point, the step-up circuit is activated.

Power can be generated when there is an intersection point between the power characteristics of the power generator (blue line) and the input characteristics of the step-up DC/DC converters (black line). The input voltage and current of the step-up DC-DC converter and the output power and current are also displayed in the table. 

In addition, this output power can be used to predict the charging time as follows:

  • Charge time [sec] =3V × I × T ÷ POUT
    • I [mA] : Average current of the system to be operated
    • T [msec] : System operating time
    • POUT [uW] : Output power of AP447x calculated by the simulator
When there is no intersection, the step-up circuit does not start.

#2 When there is no intersection, the step-up circuit does not start.

If there is no intersection point between the blue and black lines, the power to the step-up DC/DC converter is insufficient, and the step-up circuit does not start up.

In addition, the input voltage/current and output power/current of the step-up DC-DC converter are all displayed as 0.

For example, if the result shown on the left side is obtained, increase the short-circuit current of the generator elements in order to boost the voltage (= create an intersection). For example, you can connect several generating elements in parallel.

For customers considering prototyping with AP447x

We provide two calculation tools to enable more detailed system studies than the simulator on this page. If you would like to obtain the following tools, please contact us using the inquiry form.

 

Energy Harvester Selection Simulator (EHSS) … Predicts the appropriate characteristics of power generation elements based on the desired output power value.
Charge and Discharge Time Simulator (CDTS) … Verifies the operation when a storage element or a system is connected.