ABSTRACT
In energy harvesting applications, DC-DC converters play an
essential role in powering electrical loads. Energy transducers such
as thermogenerators, piezoelectric and electrodynamic generators
provide varying output voltages, which are in general too high
or too low for supplying electrical loads directly. Therefore, DC-
DC converters are required to provide stable supply voltages. In
the following sections, first the linear regulators working like
regulatedOhmic resistors are described and afterward the switching
regulators that transport the electrical energy in at least two
periodic steps with the help of energy storage devices, that is,
capacitors or inductors. In the last section, the matching of a load
to an energy transducer employing DC-DC converters is considered
in detail, where the output of the converter is controlled in order to
provide maximum power to the electrical load.
