Reaped Electromagnetic Energy

Presenter/Author/Student Information

Oluwajuwon Elelu, University of IdahoFollow
Herbert Hess (Mentor), University of IdahoFollow
Michael McMenamy, University of IdahoFollow
Wang Damo, University of IdahoFollow
Phillip Hagen, University of IdahoFollow
Aneesha Shrestha, University of IdahoFollow

Abstract

Radio Frequency (RF) can be said to be a collective term for electromagnetic energy. This form of energy is derived from electromagnetic radiation which travels through space between a transmission antenna and receiving antenna. The receiving antenna only captured a small amount of RF energy.

The purpose of this research is to design and build a system that can harvest ubiquitous unused RF energy and convert it to useful electricity. The device was composed of several units. First was the antenna responsible for collecting the Electromagnetic energy from the environment as AC current. In order for the device to power a load the current has to be in DC, and so an AC to DC converter or rectifier was used. This formed the second unit of the device. The last unit of the device, the microcontroller served as the load that was programmed to store a certain amount of energy in a capacitor by switch mode control. These units were designed individually, assembled as a circuit, then tested to get results.