Orientation-indepedent wireless charging of multiple mobile devices at a distance
Author(s)
Shi, Lixin, Ph. D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Other Contributors
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
Advisor
Dina Katabi.
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Each year, consumers carry an increasing number of mobile devices on their person: mobile phones, tablets, smartwatches, etc. As a result, users must remember to recharge each device, every day. Wireless charging promises to free users from this burden, allowing devices to remain permanently unplugged. Today's wireless charging, however, is either limited to a single device, or is highly cumbersome, requiring the user to remove all of her wearable and handheld gadgets and place them on a charging pad. This thesis proposes MultiSpot, a new wireless charging technology that can charge multiple devices, even as the user is wearing them or carrying them in her pocket. A MultiSpot charger acts as an access point for wireless power. When a user enters the vicinity of the MultiSpot charger, all of her gadgets start to charge automatically. It achieves this by tracking multiple receivers and focusing the magnetic field from multiple transmit coils in a provably optimal way. We have prototyped MultiSpot and evaluated it using off-the-shelf mobile phones, smartwatches, and tablets. Our results show that MultiSpot can charge six devices at distances of up to 50 cm.
Description
Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2016. Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. Includes bibliographical references (pages 147-153).
Date issued
2016Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer SciencePublisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Keywords
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.