Optical Wireless Power Transfer for Implanted and Wearable Devices

Abstract

Optical wireless power transfer (OWPT) has been employed in the literature as a wireless powering approach for implanted and wearable devices. However, most of the existing studies on this topic have not studied the performances of OWPT systems when light is transmitted through clothing. This research therefore contributes to investigate the effects of clothing on OWPT performances from both theoretical and experimental perspectives. An obtained experimental result indicates that a single light-emitting diode (LED) transmitter is able to perform the OWPT through white cotton clothing, but failed with another dark cotton clothing, even at a small transmitting distance. Hence, this research proposes to employ LED arrays as optical transmitters to improve the OWPT system capability in terms of the wirelessly transmitted power, transmitting distance and system tolerance to misalignments, whilst keeping the system safety, low cost and simplicity. Consequently, a theoretical formula for the power transmission efficiency made by an LED array through clothing is proposed and then is verified with experimental results. Furthermore, the important role of multiple light reflections at the surfaces of clothing and the LED array transmitter is pointed out.