Autonomous System for Energy Collection and Conversion Based on a Biofuel Cell

Functioning of a prototype of a micropower system (energy storage device) consisting of a biofuel cell (BFC) and converter–capacitor is demonstrated. The system allows conversion of a low input voltage from an unstable energy source to a standard working voltage used in radio equipment. For the series connection of two biofuel cells, the voltage is summed up and amounts to ~500 mV, and the output storage capacitor of 100 μF is charged in 13 min to a working voltage of 3.1 V upon a cold start of the converter. It is shown that energy storage substantially depends on the capacitance of the final storage unit and on the type of energy consumption. The proposed system can be used for different unstable energy sources.