Wireless Infrared Power

Abstract

We are creating an infrared (IR) beam using LEDs and lenses to power devices wirelessly. All electrical devices we use today are limited by either being hardwired or using batteries to power them. This technology may eliminate the need for devices to be constrained by wires or battery life. There are similar technologies that are currently being brought to market, but they use IR laser technology. The use of IR lasers is more dangerous and costlier. By using LEDs and lenses, we expect to make unit less expensive and safer for everyday use. Unfortunately with a large LED light source, a simple and inexpensive lensing configuration will not be sufficient to collimate and shrink the light source. A much more complex and expensive optics system is needed to collimate a non-ideal light source. The overall power efficiency of the system was 1.5%. To get the desired one watt of power for charging, the light source would need to have 67 watts of input power. That is much more then the system we designed could handle. Ultimately, using a large LED light source to create a small collimated IR beam would be more expensive than using an IR laser.