Wireless Power Delivery

Team Name: OTS
Sponsor Name: Professor Zoya Popovic

  Download the Project Poster

Near-field wireless power is seen every day in phones, toothbrushes, cars, and plenty of other devices, but far-field powering is far more specialized. This project demonstrates effective transfer of power from an RF source to an antenna-rectifier “rectenna” array. The mat finds and maintains the optimal conditions to extract DC power through a combination of directional controls centering the RF beam as much as possible, and a maximum-power-point-tracking (MPPT) switched-mode converter, such as those used in commercial solar applications. We designed our system according to the scale of drone-to-ground/ground-to-drone power transfer for remote emergency situations (a beam distance of one to three meters). Our mat was designed to be flexible, lightweight, and robust, such that it could be carried by an individual for long distances. We manufactured our rectenna array on ultra-thin polyamide, resulting in a design that bends like paper while maintaining proper electrical characteristics.