A system for wireless power transmission may include one or more charging panels and one or more powered devices. The charging panel may include a pilot analysis circuitry, processor and power transmitter. The pilot analysis circuitry may be configured to analyze the magnitude and phase of a pilot signal from the powered device, based on which the processor may be configured to determine a complex conjugate of the pilot signal. And the power transmitter may be configured to cause radiation of a focused wireless power beam to the powered device in accordance with the complex conjugate of the pilot signal and via one or more antenna elements. The charging panel may be one of a plurality of spatially-distributed charging panels each of which includes respective antenna elements that may form an array of antenna elements configured to collaboratively radiate wireless power as a distributed, retro-reflective beamformer.

Wireless Power Transmission

The present disclosure describes a methodology for wireless power transmission based on pocket-forming. This methodology may include one transmitter and at least one or more receivers, being the transmitter the source of energy and the receiver the device that is desired to charge or power. The transmitter may identify and locate the device to which the receiver is connected and thereafter aim pockets of energy to the device in order to power it. Pockets of energy may be generated through constructive and destructive interferences, which may create null-spaces and spots of pockets of energy ranged into one or more radii from transmitter. Such feature may enable wireless power transmission through a selective range, which may limit operation area of electronic devices and/or may avoid formation of pockets of energy near and/or over certain areas, objects and people.

Wireless power transmission with selective range

A method for controlling communication between wireless power transmitter managers is disclosed. According to some aspects of this embodiment, wireless power transmission system may include one or more wireless power transmitter managers and one or more wireless power receivers for powering various customer devices. A WiFi connection may be established between wireless power transmitter managers to share information between system devices. Wireless power transmitter manager may need to fulfill two conditions to control power transfer over a customer device; customer device's signal strength threshold has to be significantly greater than 50%, such as 55% or more of the signal strength measured by all other wireless power transmitter managers and has to remain significantly greater than 50% for a minimum amount of time.

System and method for controlling communication between wireless power transmitter managers

The present invention may provide various electric receiver arrangements which may be used to provide wireless power transmission using suitable power transmission techniques such as pocket-forming. In some embodiments, receivers may include at least one antenna connected to at least one rectifier and one power converter. In other embodiments, receivers including a plurality of antennas, a plurality of rectifiers or a plurality of power converters may be provided. In addition, receivers may include communications components which may allow for communication to various electronic equipment including transmitters, phones, computers and others. Lastly, various implementation arrangements may be provided for including receivers in electronic devices.

Receivers for Wireless Power Transmission

The present disclosure provides a method and apparatus for improved wireless charging pads for charging and/or powering electronic devices. Such pads may not require a power chord for connecting to a main power supply, for example a wall outlet. In contrast, power may be delivered wireless to the foregoing pads through pocket-forming. A transmitter connected to a power source may deliver pockets of energy to the pads which through at least one embedded receiver may convert such pockets of energy to power. Lastly, the pads may power and/or charge electronic devices through suitable wireless power transmission techniques such as magnetic induction, electrodynamics induction or pocket-forming.

Portable wireless charging pad

Experimental studies of using wireless energy transmission for powering embedded sensor nodes

This paper describes the development of the next generation of an extremely compact, wireless impedance sensor node for use in structural health monitoring (SHM) and piezoelectric active-sensor self-diagnostics. The sensor node uses a recently developed, low-cost integrated circuit that can measure and record the electrical impedance of a piezoelectric transducer. The sensor node also integrates several components, including a microcontroller for local computing, telemetry for wirelessly transmitting data, multiplexers for managing up to seven piezoelectric transducers per node, energy harvesting and storage mediums, and a wireless triggering circuit into one package to truly realize a comprehensive, self-contained wireless active-sensor node for various SHM applications. It is estimated that the developed sensor node requires less than 60 mW of total power for measurement, computation, and transmission. In addition, the sensor node is equipped with active-sensor self-diagnostic capabilities that can monitor the condition of piezoelectric transducers used in SHM applications. The performance of this miniaturized device is compared to our previous results and its broader capabilities are demonstrated.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0964-1726/17/6/065011/pdf

Development of an Extremely Compact Impedance-Based Wireless Sensing Device

This paper presents a signal processing tool that efficiently performs piezoelectric (PZT) sensor diagnostic and validation. Validation of the sensor/actuator functionality during structural health monitoring (SHM) operation is a critical component to successfully implement a complete and robust SHM system, especially with an array of PZT active-sensors involved. The basis of this method is to track the capacitive value of PZT transducers, which manifests in the imaginary part of the measured electrical admittance. Both degradation of the mechanical/electrical properties of a PZT transducer and the bonding defects between a PZT patch and a host structure can be identified by the proposed process. However, it is found that the temperature variations in sensor boundary conditions manifest themselves in similar ways in the measured electrical admittances. Therefore, we examine the effects of temperature variation on the sensor diagnostic process and develop an efficient signal processing tool that enables the identification of a sensor validation feature that can be obtained instantaneously without relying on prestored baselines. This paper concludes with experimental results to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed technique.

Timothy G. Overly

Papers

Experimental studies of using wireless energy transmission for powering embedded sensor nodes

Development of an Extremely Compact Impedance-Based Wireless Sensing Device

Piezoelectric Active-Sensor Diagnostics and Validation Using Instantaneous Baseline Data

A different approach to sensor networking for shm: Remote powering and interrogation with unmanned aerial vehicles

Development of capacitance-based and impedance-based wireless sensors and sensor nodes for structural health monitoring applications