SURE2010: Witricity: Cutting the Cord

This project involves hands-on experience in the emerging field of "witricity" (wireless electricity). Recently, the concept of transferring energy wirelessly through near-field coupling was proposed and experimentally verified by Soljacic and coworkers at MIT. In the experimental demonstration, power was efficiently transferred over a distance of 2 meters using two receiver and transmitter coils. The operating frequency of 9 MHz allowed the coils to remain within each other's near field even at distances of a few meters. Such a scheme could be used to efficiently charge mobile devices such as laptop computers, PDA's, digital cameras and cell phones wirelessly! The mobile devices would gradually charge throughout the course of the day, thereby removing the need for a power cord connection. Just imagine, not having to worry about plugging in your cell phone!

In this project, the student will assist Prof. Grbic and a graduate student in the development of wireless non-radiative power transfer (WNPT) systems. The student will first learn the fundamentals of WNPT and then perform circuit simulations of a system using Agilent Advanced Design System (ADS): an RF/microwave CAD package that is the industry leader in high frequency design. The second part of the project will involve designing, fabricating and testing innovative "witricity" prototype systems. The student will fabricate the printed-circuit prototypes in the microwave and millimeter wave fabrication laboratory using photolithographic methods. Testing will be performed using state-of-the-art microwave test equipment in the Microwave Metamaterials Laboratory. The end goal is to experimentally demonstrate the wireless charging of an electronic device.

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Education

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