Isolated water and energy microgrids (IWEMGs) serve as vital solutions for enhancing the well-being of remote and rural communities, particularly in areas where water and energy resources are scarce. This has spurred research into the interdependence between the water and energy sectors (water–energy nexus), a field that has grown in response to technological advancements. Through a systematic optimization framework, this review critically evaluates the integration of various technologies within IWEMGs, encompassing infrastructure, management, and strategic planning, while considering economic and social impacts. IWEMGs incorporate diverse technologies for the infrastructure, management, and strategic planning of water and energy resources, integrating economic and social considerations to inform decisions that affect both immediate and long-term sustainability and reliability. This article presents an exhaustive review of the literature on IWEMG management, employing an approach that synthesizes existing studies to enhance the understanding of strategic IWEMG management and planning. It introduces a structured taxonomy for organizing research trends and tackling unresolved challenges within the field. Notably, the review identifies critical gaps, such as the lack of comprehensive data on water demand in isolated locations, and underscores the emerging role of game theory and machine learning in enriching IWEMG management frameworks. Ultimately, this review outlines essential indicators for forthcoming research, focusing on the optimization, management, and strategic planning of IWEMG resources and infrastructure, thereby setting a direction for future technological and methodological advancements in the field.

In this paper, a novel SIBO (Single-Inductor Bipolar-Output) DC/DC Boost converter is proposed to power OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) microdisplays. The proposed topology merges a conventional SISO (Single-Inductor Single-Output) DC/DC Boost converter and a switched capacitor inverter to produce a SIBO converter without both the cross-regulation effect and the unbalanced output voltages. Moreover, its control circuit and efficiency are almost the same as the conventional SISO Boost converter. Therefore, the novel converter maintains the power density, the small form factor, and the high efficiency of its conventional counterpart. The proposed converter was analyzed under continuous-conduction mode operation using the moving average operator and charge conservation principle. As a result, the authors proposed an equation set with the main averages and ripples of the circuit variables expressed as analytical functions of the circuit components, the input voltage, and the duty cycle. Both the functionality of the proposed converter and the accuracy of the developed equation set were analyzed by extensive simulations. The simulation performed using ideal components was characterized by a mean absolute percentage error of 0.774% with a standard deviation of 1.566%. These results confirm the high accuracy of the proposed equation set. Furthermore, the non-ideal model simulation confirms the functionality of the proposed converter in “real” operation conditions. Under simulation with non-ideal components, the result statistics were a mean absolute percentage error of 7.36% with a standard deviation of 6.91%. Therefore, the converter design using the proposed ideal model could be a good start point of a converter optimization process based on more complex component models and assisted by computer-aided design tools.

Hybrid power converters that cascade switched-capacitor stages with conventional LC-based DC/DC switching converters have recently emerged as promising solutions for applications requiring a bipolar DC bus, such as photovoltaic systems and in-chip OLED drivers. However, despite clear advantages in efficiency, compactness, and implementation simplicity, their adoption has been limited due to the lack of accurate modeling and experimental validation. Traditional modeling techniques often fail to capture the static and dynamic behavior of these hybrid topologies. Some previous works either neglected capacitive losses or relied on empirical equivalent models without a clearly defined methodology. The Perilla SIBO (Single-Input Bipolar-Output) Boost Converter is a representative example of this new class of hybrid converters, integrating a conventional Single-Inductor Single-Output (SISO) boost stage with a switched-capacitor inverter. In earlier work, a static model for the Perilla Boost converter was derived using the small-ripple approximation and charge balance principles, assuming matched output capacitors and balanced load conditions—but without considering efficiency estimation. This paper extends the previous model to account for unbalanced loading and mismatched output capacitances and introduces a novel analytical expression to estimate converter efficiency. A comprehensive static modeling and experimental evaluation is presented under realistic operating conditions. The model is validated using a prototype operating across an input voltage range of 3 V to 10 V and delivering output power between 1 W and 20 W. The proposed model achieves a mean absolute percentage error of 5.76% and a standard deviation of 5.68%, offering a reliable tool for steady-state performance prediction. The dynamic modeling of the converter, as well as the development of a systematic design methodology, are beyond the scope of this work.