Design of a wireless power transfer system for assisted living applications

Abstract

Advances in material science and semiconductor technology have enabled a variety of inventions to be implemented in electronic systems and devices used in the medical, telecommunications, and consumer electronics sectors. In this paper, a wireless charging system is described as a wearable body heater that uses a chair as a transmitter (Tx). This system incorporates the widely accepted Qi wireless charging standard. Alignment conditions of a linear three-element coil arrangement and a 3 × 3 coil matrix array are investigated using voltage induced in a coil as a performance indicator. The efficiency obtained is demonstrated to be up to 80% for a voltage of over 6.5 Volts and a power transfer of over 5 Watts. Our results and proposed approach can be useful for many applications. This is because the wireless charging system described herein can help design seating areas for the elderly and disabled, commercial systems, consumer electronics, medical devices, electronic textiles (e-textiles), and other electronic systems and devices.