Unipolar Resonant Capacitive Power Transfer For Surface-Powered Cyber-Physical Systems

Abstract

Sensors are a critical part of many Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS), and providing power to them is becoming increasingly challenging due to routing constraints. Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) can offer solutions that reduce the routing constraints, but many wireless power transfer approaches are complex, not scalable, or are not feasible for continuous power delivery to multiple sensors. We propose an efficient, inexpensive, simple, and scalable method for continuously providing power to sensor nodes using Quasi-Wireless Capacitive (QWiC) power transfer. QWiC power transfer allows for power to be transferred capacitively or over a conductive surface, simplifying routing constraints and transmitter complexity by removing the need for a dedicated transmitter. In this experiment, we demonstrate surface powered sensor nodes with a peak efficiency over 68% and multiple sensor nodes being powered over a single surface.