WEARABLE ENERGY HARVESTING

Andrea

1
Cook ,

Stephen

1
Watt ,

Jonathan

1
Fisher ,

Michael

1
Le ,

Kristy

2,3
Jost ,

Damiano

1
Patron ,

Yury

3
Gogotsi ,

Genevieve

2
Dion ,

Kapil

1
Dandekar

1 Drexel

Wireless Systems Laboratory, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Drexel University 2 Shima Seiki Haute Technology Laboratory, ExCITe Center, Drexel University
3 Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Drexel University

BACKGROUND

THE PROPOSED SYSTEM

FABRIC VS. PCB ANTENNA RETURN LOSS

0

TRANSMITTER

TEXTILE RECTENNA

RADIATES ENERGY

COLLECTS AND
RECTIFIES ENERGY

POWER MANAGEMENT TEXTILE SUPERCAPACITOR SENSOR NETWORK

VOLTAGE BOOSTING
AND REGULATION

STORES ENERGY

USES ENERGY

Research
Design

The completed system will allow wireless and autonomous powering of bodyworn sensors, leading to a comfortable, flexible, and versatile solution, with
applications in industries such as healthcare, consumer electronics, athletics,
entertainment, interactive gaming, and the military.

Simulation
PCB
Fabrication

Textile
antenna

PCB
Testing
Textile
Fabrication

Pocket to
house power
management

Textile
Testing
System
Integration

-5
-10
-15
-20
PCB
Textile

-25

The energy harvesting system consists of three primary components:

The rectenna captures ambient energy and rectifies it to a constant voltage
The power management boosts this voltage to charge the supercapacitor
The supercapacitor stores the energy to power the sensor during operation

METHODOLOGY

RETURN LOSS (dB)

Sensors worn on the human body are typically bulky,

uncomfortable, and restrict movement due to their
wires and hard components. We are developing a
novel energy harvesting system constructed with
smart textiles to address these challenges. Energy
harvesting is a process in which energy present in
the environment is collected, converted, and stored
for use by low-power wireless devices. Smart textiles
are electronic garments knitted with conductive
yarn, ideal for their light weight and low profile.

RESULTS

Textile
supercapacitor

1.0

2.0

3.0

A return loss of
< --10dB indicates the
printed circuit board
(PCB) and fabric
antenna prototypes
are harvesting a
sufficient amount of
energy at the Wi-Fi
frequency band,
2.412.48 GHz.

4.0

FREQUENCY (GHZ)

PCB RECTENNA TEST RESULTS

DC VOLTAGE

DC POWER

200 mV

80 W

Rectified voltage was measured at a

distance of 40 cm from a transmitter
outputting 10 mW of power in an
isolated environment.

POWER MANAGEMENT TEST RESULTS

INPUT
VOLTAGE

INPUT
POWER

OUTPUT
VOLTAGE

100 mV

40 mA

2.5 V

PCB RECTENNA ARRAY TEST RESULTS

Initial testing demonstrated that an array
of rectennas connected in series resulted
in a summation of voltage, while an array
of rectennas connected in parallel
resulted in a summation of current.

The power management

board was tested by using
a power supply to input the
minimum DC voltage and
current required for operation.

FABRIC ANTENNA STRETCHING

The fabric antenna prototype
harvested a sufficient amount
of energy when stretched to a
maximum of 10 mm.

FUTURE WORK
Construct rectenna array to increase harvested energy
Increase overall system RF to DC conversion efficiency
Improve fabric to PCB interconnection method

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank the Drexel Wireless Systems Laboratory and the Shima Seiki
Haute Technology Laboratory for providing equipment, software, and financial support.
A special thanks to our advisors Kapil Dandekar, Genevieve Dion, Yury Gogotsi,
Damiano Patron, and Kristy Jost for lending their time and expertise to the project.