Design of tire pressure sensor circuit with temperature difference energy harvesting function

Abstract

The tire pressure sensor is a wireless sensor that has been used in automobiles for many years, but the power supply has always been a bottleneck restricting the service life of the sensor. The article proposes a method for collecting heat energy in the environment, designs an energy harvesting circuit and achieves self-power supply of the tire pressure sensor. The thermoelectric generation(TEG) is used to convert the thermal energy accumulated inside the tire into electric energy. An ultra-low voltage electric energy collecting circuit is designed based on the LTC3108 power management chip. Experiments have shown that the designed circuit can collect energy as low as 100 mV, 10 mA, 1 mW, and successfully drive the tire pressure sensor after a period of accumulation.

Keywords

• tire pressure sensor; energy harvesting circuit; self-power supply