This thesis presents the topic of using the Four-Switch Buck-Boost topology as a DC-DC converter for the Energy Harvesting from Elliptical Machines Project. The project works toward providing a modular synchronous power generation system. Due to the dynamic and sporadic output voltage and power characteristics of the Precor elliptical machine, the system requires a DC-DC converter as a voltage preregulator. The inherent wide input range, high efficiency, and low parts cost of this converter well suit the application. This paper further discusses other topologies and their shortcomings, as well as characterizes the Precor elliptical machine and Enphase Microinverter for interfacing. This report contains a detailed discussion on component selection and PCB layout. The converter averages 94% efficiency during a normal workout power range. This paper also derives a system level control scheme for a modular grid-tie energy harvesting power electronics unit. The Four-Switch Buck-Boost topology efficiently and effectively harvests energy from the Precor elliptical machine as a constant input impedance and wide input voltage regulator for a constant voltage grid-tie inverter.

Cal Poly’s Recreation Center expansion project provides an opportunity to implement Energy Harvesting From Exercise Machines (EHFEM). Part of this implementation is a system that reports the exercise machines’ energy production. Although products capable of reporting exercise machine energy harvesting statistics exist, they have limited capabilities. This thesis project defends a system capable of reporting exercise machine power statistics in near real-time. The system consists of display, database, and power measurement modules. The display module presents statistics in an interactive, graphical, and widely-accessible way. The database module provides an efficient way of organizing and accessing stored statistics. Multiple power measurement module types gather power and energy generation measurements from multiple exercise machine types and transmit those measurements to the database module over the computer network.

Energy Harvesting from Exercise Machines (EHFEM) is an ongoing project pursuing alternate forms of sustainable energy for Cal Poly State University. The EHFEM project seeks to acquire user-generated DC power from exercise machines and sell that energy back to the local grid as AC power. The end goal of the EHFEM project aims to integrate a final design with existing elliptical fitness trainers for student and faculty use in Cal Poly’s Recreational Center. This report examines whether including the DC-DC converter in the EHFEM setup produces AC power to the electric grid more efficiently and consistently than an EHFEM system that excludes a DC-DC converter. The project integrates an overvoltage protection circuit, a DC-DC converter, and a DC-AC microinverter with an available elliptical trainer modified to include an energy converting circuit. The initial expectation was that a DC-DC converter would increase, when averaged over time, the overall energy conversion efficiency of the EHFEM system, and provide a stable voltage and current level for the microinverter to convert DC power into AC power. In actuality, while including a DC-DC converter in a test setup allows the EHFEM system to function with less frequent interruptions, this occurs at the cost of lower efficiency. Testing demonstrates the EHFEM project can convert user-generated DC mechanical power into usable AC electrical power. Retrofitting existing equipment with the EHFEM project can reduce Cal Poly’s energy cost.

This report details the design and implementation of a switching DC-DC converter for use in the Energy Harvesting From Exercise Machines (EHFEM) project. It uses a four-switch, buck-boost topology to regulate the wide, 5-60 V output of an elliptical machine to 36 V, suitable as input for a microinverter to reclaim the energy for the electrical grid. Successful implementation reduces heat emissions from electrical energy originally wasted as heat, and facilitates a financial and environmental benefit from reduced net energy consumption.

Current exercise machines create resistance to motion and dissipate energy as heat. Some companies create ways to harness this energy, but not cost-effectively. The Energy Harvesting from Exercise Machines (EHFEM) project reduces the cost of harnessing the renewable energy. The system architecture includes the elliptical exercise machines outputting power to DC-DC converters, which then connects to the microinverters. All microinverter outputs tie together and then connect to the grid. The control system, placed around the DC-DC converters, quickly detects changes in current, and limits the current to prevent the DC-DC converters and microinverters from entering failure states. An artificial neural network learns to mitigate incohesive microinverter and DC-DC converter actions. The DC-DC converter outputs 36 V DC operating within its specifications, but the microinverter drops input resistance looking for the sharp decrease in power that a solar panel exhibits. Since the DC-DC converter behaves according to Ohm’s Law, the inverter sees no decrease in power until the voltage drops below the microinverter’s minimum input voltage. Once the microinverter turns off, the converter regulates as intended and turns the microinverter back on only to repeat this detrimental cycle. Training the neural network with the back propagation algorithm outputs a value corresponding to the feedback voltage, which increases or decreases the voltage applied from the resistive feedback in the DC-DC converter. In order for the system to react well to changes on the order of tens of microseconds, it must read ADC values and compute the output neuron value quicker than previous control attempts. Measured voltages and currents entering and leaving the DC-DC converter constitute the neural network’s input neurons. Current and voltage sensing circuit designs include low-pass filtering to reduce software noise filtering in the interest of speed. The complete solution slightly reduces the efficiency of the system under a constant load due to additional component power dissipation, while actually increasing it under the expected varying loads.