A Biomimetic Resonator for Fabric-Based Wireless Power Transfer, Harvesting, and Charging of Sensors and Internet of Medical Things

Abstract

In this paper, a biomimetic resonator topology for the development of electromagnetics-on-clothing (EoC) or electromagnetics-on-fabrics (EoF) to power/charge sensors and internet of medical things is proposed. This fully-flexible, low-cost, low-profile, and bio-compatible topology is achieved by combining structures with spanned-in and spanned-out magnetic fringing fields into a centipedic configuration to tackle the effects of misalignment in near-field power transfer. This resulted structure allows for a cluster of strong magnetic fields on both sides (in the vicinity) of a single-loop resonator. When the magnetic fields are spanned out, the topology exhibits a wireless power transfer efficiency (WPTE) of up to 80% for misalignment (lateral and diagonal displacement) distances ranging from 1 to 10 cm. This WPTE achievement was found to be an improvement of up to 30% and 50% over its spanned-in and single-loop counterparts, respectively for lateral misalignment. Further, a WPTE improvement of up to 30% over both counterparts for diagonal misalignment. The performance of the proposed resonator was compared against state-of-the-art textile-resonators and was found to be similar or better than them. The fully-flexible, low-cost, bio-compatible, and low-profile characteristics make the proposed resonator more appealing to wearable EoFs. A combination of the proposed resonator and power harvesting circuit will birth a near-field EoF for sensors and internet of medical things.