Exploring energy harvesting technology for wireless charging of mobile device batteries

Abstract

Mobile devices have become powerful computing tools for everyday tasks. However, their batteries discharge quickly, even if they are not being used mainly because of the heavy computation tasks required by the multimedia applications that run on them. The quick turnover time on the battery life is problematic as frequent charging is required to keep the device operational. This is a major bottleneck because of the current energy optimization crisis, user inconvenience due to constant charging of battery and erratic nature of the electricity supply in some areas. In the current research project, the primary aspiration is to explore the energy harvesting technology innovation of radio frequency to wirelessly recharge the batteries of mobile devices. This implies an alternative way of charging the batteries of mobile devices without the need for a physical charger to connect to an electrical outlet. Energy harvesting, which involves making use of “free energy” from the atmosphere is the most innovative energy-efficient wireless charging technology because mobile devices are constantly transmitting radio signals. At first, radio signals are received from the atmosphere via an antenna. Thereafter, these signals are converted with a rectifier from alternating current into direct current that is then utilized to recharge the battery of a mobile device. The outcome of this phase of the research project is intended to successfully build a radio frequency harvesting circuit that can store a minimum load of 5mV that is required to charge the battery of a mobile device.