The researchers said that replacing the current power source was not the purpose of the study, but rather to “provide additional, continuous energy” to the wearable mobile device. Pictured here is a diagram.
A group of researchers at Pennsylvania State University and elsewhere has developed a scalable rectifier antenna system that collects energy from radio waves to provide continuous power for wearable electronics.
Wearable electronic devices are mobile smart devices that can be worn directly on a person or can be integrated into clothing, accessories and record data about the body, such as Google Glass, Bluetooth headphones, watch calculators, sensor smart suits, solar-charged backpacks and more.
Professor Huanyu Cheng, a researcher and senior author in the Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics at Penn State University, along with his colleagues, developed a scalable wideband dipole antenna system that can wirelessly transmit data collected from health monitoring sensors. The system is capable of wirelessly transmitting data collected from health monitoring sensors.
Huan-Yu Cheng said that replacing the current power source is not the purpose of the study, but rather to “provide additional, continuous energy” to the wearable electronics.
The system consists of two retractable metal antennas integrated into a conductive graphene material with a metallic coating that connects the system to a stretchable rectenna circuit, creating a “rectenna” that converts energy from electromagnetic waves to electricity.
The system’s broadband design allows it to maintain its frequency function even when stretched, bent and twisted.
Rectenna converts radio waves or electromagnetic waves from the surrounding environment into energy to power sensing modules on wireless devices that track temperature, hydration, and pulsed oxygen levels. The electrical energy can also be used to charge energy storage devices, such as batteries and supercapacitors.
Cheng Huanyu said the system produces less energy than other power supply systems, “but it can generate electricity continuously, which is a major advantage.” He said.
“Radio waves are everywhere, and we are harnessing energy that is already around us,” Cheng Huanyu said.
If this energy in the surrounding environment is not harnessed, Cheng Huanyu believes, it would be a waste. “We can collect this energy and integrate it into power,” he said.
The research was published in the journal Materials Today Physics.
- In electromagnetism, there are two kinds of dipoles: An electric dipole is two charges separated by a distance, with equal power and opposite positives and negatives. A magnetic dipole is a closed loop of current. An example is a coil with a constant current running through it.
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