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E-Textile RF energy harvesting and storage using organic-electrolyte carbon-based supercapacitors

E-Textile RF energy harvesting and storage using organic-electrolyte carbon-based supercapacitors
E-Textile RF energy harvesting and storage using organic-electrolyte carbon-based supercapacitors
Wearable radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting is highly dependent on the distance from the source and human-caused RF shadowing. Therefore, energy storage devices integrated with rectennas are of paramount importance to overcome this intermittency. In this paper, the use of carbon-based e-textile supercapacitors for storing the RF-DC converted power for powering body area networks nodes is investigated. A voltage doubler sub-1 GHz flexible rectifier, whose peak power conversion efficiency (PCE) approaches 80% is coupled to a two-cell 15.5 mF textile-based supercapacitor operating up to 4 V DC. Owing to the rectifier's low optimum load resistance and high DC Voltage output, the average charging PCE of the rectifier-supercapacitor module reaches 31% for a 9.5 dBm input. Time-varying s-parameter measurements are performed to compare the time-averaged matching as opposed to instantaneous measurements using a resistive load, where the textile supercapacitor exhibits a similar response to a commercial supercapacitor. Finally, the RF-charged textile supercapacitor is demonstrated, for the first time, powering a microcontroller and Bluetooth transmitter with an average power consumption of 350 uW for up to 102 s, following 40 s of charging at 9.5 dBm, demonstrating its suitability for RF-powered body area networks applications.
rectennas, supercapacitor, energy harvesting, energy storage, textile supercapacitor, textile energy harvesting, wearable rectenna, rectenna supercapacitor integration, energy harvesting and storage, energy storage and harvesting integration, flexible energy harvesting, textile antenna, battery-less wearables
Wagih, Mahmoud
7e7b16ba-0c64-4f95-bd3c-99064055f693
Hillier, Nicholas, David George
6bde7893-a2db-4edd-9e12-a8ab17aa3702
Weddell, Alex S.
3d8c4d63-19b1-4072-a779-84d487fd6f03
Beeby, Steve
ba565001-2812-4300-89f1-fe5a437ecb0d
Wagih, Mahmoud
7e7b16ba-0c64-4f95-bd3c-99064055f693
Hillier, Nicholas, David George
6bde7893-a2db-4edd-9e12-a8ab17aa3702
Weddell, Alex S.
3d8c4d63-19b1-4072-a779-84d487fd6f03
Beeby, Steve
ba565001-2812-4300-89f1-fe5a437ecb0d

Wagih, Mahmoud, Hillier, Nicholas, David George, Weddell, Alex S. and Beeby, Steve (2021) E-Textile RF energy harvesting and storage using organic-electrolyte carbon-based supercapacitors. 2021 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Workshop Series on Advanced Materials and Processes for RF and THz Applications, , chongqing, China. 15 - 17 Nov 2021. 4 pp . (In Press)

Record type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)

Abstract

Wearable radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting is highly dependent on the distance from the source and human-caused RF shadowing. Therefore, energy storage devices integrated with rectennas are of paramount importance to overcome this intermittency. In this paper, the use of carbon-based e-textile supercapacitors for storing the RF-DC converted power for powering body area networks nodes is investigated. A voltage doubler sub-1 GHz flexible rectifier, whose peak power conversion efficiency (PCE) approaches 80% is coupled to a two-cell 15.5 mF textile-based supercapacitor operating up to 4 V DC. Owing to the rectifier's low optimum load resistance and high DC Voltage output, the average charging PCE of the rectifier-supercapacitor module reaches 31% for a 9.5 dBm input. Time-varying s-parameter measurements are performed to compare the time-averaged matching as opposed to instantaneous measurements using a resistive load, where the textile supercapacitor exhibits a similar response to a commercial supercapacitor. Finally, the RF-charged textile supercapacitor is demonstrated, for the first time, powering a microcontroller and Bluetooth transmitter with an average power consumption of 350 uW for up to 102 s, following 40 s of charging at 9.5 dBm, demonstrating its suitability for RF-powered body area networks applications.

Text
MWagih_IMWTS21_Rectenna_OrganicSupercap - Accepted Manuscript
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Accepted/In Press date: September 2021
Venue - Dates: 2021 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Workshop Series on Advanced Materials and Processes for RF and THz Applications, , chongqing, China, 2021-11-15 - 2021-11-17
Keywords: rectennas, supercapacitor, energy harvesting, energy storage, textile supercapacitor, textile energy harvesting, wearable rectenna, rectenna supercapacitor integration, energy harvesting and storage, energy storage and harvesting integration, flexible energy harvesting, textile antenna, battery-less wearables

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 451492
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/451492
PURE UUID: 0db43ce3-b9a5-4df8-a44d-c70fcf2b20ad
ORCID for Mahmoud Wagih: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-7806-4333
ORCID for Nicholas, David George Hillier: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-3544-8329
ORCID for Alex S. Weddell: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-6763-5460
ORCID for Steve Beeby: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-0800-1759

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 01 Oct 2021 16:39
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 04:06

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Contributors

Author: Mahmoud Wagih ORCID iD
Author: Nicholas, David George Hillier ORCID iD
Author: Alex S. Weddell ORCID iD
Author: Steve Beeby ORCID iD

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