Viability of Transmitting Power Using Radio Research Plan

Schmidt, Nathan P.
9 December 2014

Rationale of Project

Due to the need of more efficient and convenient means of power transmission, it has
been proposed many times by companies such as Witricity, as well as pioneering scientists (specifically Nikola Tesla), that transmission of power through wireless means
is viable. Within this project I shall test the properties of a transmitter/receiver pair in
order to assess the capabilities as well as the challenges that may stem from the use of
this method of power transmission. This research is important because of the benefits
which wireless power transmission may be able to provide. The capability to transmit
power over long distances would, in thought, allow for both the capability to receive
power in areas where it would otherwise be impractical as well as convenience to the
general populace where it is implemented; such as with Wifi.

Project Goals

In this project a formula will be created/derived that can predict the general transmission pattern of a given transmitter/receiver pair. The formula should be able to predict
the power available at a specific point from the transmitter, given the known characteristics of it and the receiver. The procurement of a formula to describe this should allow
for the capabilities, challenges, and overall viability of this method of power transfer
to be shown, in turn solving the original intention of this research.

3
3.1

Research Methods and Conclusions

Procedures

To gather the data required to satisfy the project goals, the voltage across the leads of
a receiver will be measured in order to create a pattern which can be explained by an
equation using constant variables determined by the transmitter. The transmitter will
be at a fixed position void of any objects that may interfere with it in the area of five
meters from it or the receiver.

During testing the receiver will be placed at five meters before moving it one meter
farther from the transmitter while remaining in line with the previous positions tested
at. At every position the background radiations effect on the coil will be measured
before activating the transmitter. Background radiation is then subtracted from the
overall voltage that the receiver experiences in order to find the transmitted voltage.

3.2

Risks and Safety

In this project, devices will be utilized which operate at high voltages with enough
current to be painful if not lethal. During the construction of the devices, passive safety
measures were put in place to discharge the device which allows for safe handling
while it is off and disconnected from a source of power.
No person during testing will be allowed within five meters of the device while
testing is occurring. The devices use a remote on/off switch in order to completely
eliminate contact with any part of the device (including power cord) while testing is
being carried out.

3.3

Data Analysis

For this project, the data that is to be collected includes the measured voltage across
the terminals of the receiver while it is two, four, six, eight, and ten meters from the
transmitting device. The data collected will be used to create a formula in hopes to
have the capability to predict the given energy at a specific point, allowing for the said
goals of this project to be achieved. Other factors that will be examined during the
analytical stage of this project includes the values of the transmitter and receiver used,
which attribute to the available power in the form of radio, at a given point.

References
[1] Silver, H. (n.d.). Fundamental Theory: Electrical Fundamentals. In The ARRL
handbook for radio communications, 2014 (Ninety-first ed.). Newington, CT.
[2] Silver, H. (n.d.). Antenna Systems and Radio Propagation: Antennas. In The ARRL
handbook for radio communications, 2014 (Ninety-first ed.). Newington, CT.
[3] Guth, Alan, and Min Chen. 8.07 Electromagnetism II, Fall 2012.
(MIT OpenCourseWare:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology),
http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/physics/8-07-electromagnetism-ii-fall-2012. License:
Creative Commons BY-NC-SA
[4] Landau, L., & Lifschitz, E. (1980). The Electromagnetic Feild Equations. In
The Classic Theory of Feilds (4th ed., Vol. 2). Moscow, Russia: ButterworthHeinemann.
[5] U.S. Bureau of Standards The Principles Underlying Radio Communication, 2nd
Edition Washington: Government Printing office, 1922.