No abstract

Avionics industry is exploring new techniques to reduce cabling mass in modern aircrafts, leading to lighter and more fuel-efficient aircrafts. New trends are emerging towards the use of self-powered avionics sensors, which are simple to install, requires less maintenance and minimum wiring. A power harvesting circuit interface that uses avionics data lines for power harvesting was previously proposed. This interface can be coupled to an avionics sensor, making it self-powered without disturbing the ARINC 825 field bus. This paper presents a power conversion chain (PCC) module architecture and its circuit implementation required for the energy-harvesting interface. The proposed PCC design features a fast response time (5 msec settling time) and 60% power conversion efficiency. The PCC can be coupled to a compact power storage system consisting of super-capacitors. A 0.18 µm CMOS technology is used for circuit design, and simulations are carried out using Cadence.