I want to develop some battery driven applications that require a constant voltage but may not have a constant supply. Whether the supply be solar, battery, or mechanical. I was looking at developing a circuit like a 'Jewel Thief' that would buck or boost and be very efficient. Then I started looking at finding a chip to do all that work for me. I found the following chip 'MC34063A', but as I read it does not seem to be the right choice. The package is probably what would work best: 8 pin DIP. From reading on 'Jewel Thief' designs they can bump up the output voltage when the source voltage drops to as little as 0.6v. The specs on chips I am finding don't see to go that low. I found some information on DC -to- DC converters and wonder if what I am looking for is a 'DCM' chip ?
The source will most likely be a pair of 1.5v batteries in series for 3v. for starters
If someone can provide a link to a chip or even a tutorial on how to select a chip like this would be helpful.
Any help is appreciated. Thank You.