Power Management in Multi-source Environment

Summary form only given. Power management has become ubiquitous with the proliferation of computing and communication gadgets in our daily life. The wrist-watch, the mobile phone, the notebook computer, all require power in various form and need to have a proper management of the same to ensure availability, efficiency and environment-friendliness. The focus is therefore to exploit multiple sources of energy, be it an ac-line outlet, battery, solar insolation, fuel-cells and even from body heat and vibrations. We are trying to scavenge every iota of energy from our environment in order to reduce the need for “external” sources like the ac line and also reduce the clutter of wires associated with them. This makes it quite attractive from the consumer´s point of view. However, at the same time, this is introducing new challenges to the designers of the power management systems. They have the task of integrating power from multiple sources, each with a variable degree of availability, and make it available in an efficient way to the point of load. New topologies and control methodologies are therefore becoming necessary to achieve these objectives. This talk will first describe the current and future scenarios of power management and then go on to discuss some of the promising architectures that are likely to be successful in achieving the objectives outlined above.