Body-Area Powering with Human Body-Coupled Power Transmission and Energy Harvesting ICs

Jiamin Li, Yilong Dong, Jeong Hoan Park, Longyang Lin, Tao Tang, Jerald Yoo
2020 IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Circuits and Systems  
This paper presents the first ICs designed for the body-coupled power transmission and ambient energy harvesting. The ICs utilize human body-coupling to deliver power to the entire body, and at the same time, harvest energy from ambient RF waves coupling through the body. The IC improves the recovered power level by adapting to the varying skin-electrode interface parasitic impedance at both the TX and RX. To maximize the power output from the TX, the dynamic impedance matching is performed
more » ... st environment-induced variations. At the RX, the Detuned Impedance Booster (DIB) and the Bulk Adaptation Rectifier (BAR) are proposed to improve the power recovery and extend the power coverage further. In order to ensure the maximum power extraction despite the loading variations, the Dual-Mode Buck-Boost Converter (DM-BBC) is proposed. The ICs fabricated in 40 nm 1P8M CMOS recovers up to 100 μW from the body-coupled power transmission and 2.5 μW from the ambient body-coupled energy harvesting. The IC achieves the full body area power delivery, with the power harvested from the ambience via the body-coupling mechanism independent of placements on the body. Both approaches show power sustainability for wearable electronics all around the human body.
doi:10.1109/tbcas.2020.3039191 pmid:33216718 fatcat:ptw6fxjh6rfblerh6sbtjvbntm