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Wireless Power - Beyond the Phone
Blog Battery-free AA gadgetry
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Engagement
  • Author Author: aemarconnet
  • Date Created: 3 Apr 2014 3:25 PM Date Created
  • Views 1194 views
  • Likes 0 likes
  • Comments 7 comments
  • wireless_power
  • beyond_the_phone
  • wireless_power_charging
  • texas_instruments
  • qi
Related
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Battery-free AA gadgetry

aemarconnet
aemarconnet
3 Apr 2014

This marks the middle of my second week with the kit. (I had uploaded my first blog-post prior to receiving the unit). I have been having a lot of trouble with the blog posting page crashing (probably because of the number of images)…but managed to mangle this post together

 

For those who are unfamiliar with my challenge proposal: I have a ton of little devices from Bluetooth mice to remote controls throughout my house which do not use much energy at all and could be run for 30+ minutes with only a brief charge on a Qi compatible pad. So my goal is to provide a proof of concept for a wireless capacitor bank as a replacement for AA batteries. i want to fit a small charging circuit, a pair of capacitors, and an energy harvesting circuit (3V output) into the form factor of a pair of AA batteries.

 

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I have finally finished moving into my new home and I’ve re-assembled my man/geek-cave so that i can get going on the project....I am putting together the short list of components that i will need to breadboard my charging circuit. My list is blessedly short as i really only need:

  • a simple voltage divider to drop the voltage for the capacitors
  • pair of capacitors for energy storage (small enough to fit in a AA)
  • an efficient boost converter to maintain 3V output (2 x 1.5V) allowing me to tap the energy storage of the capacitors. (i still have to read through a number of spec sheets but i think that these may work http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/tps61010.pdf http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/tps61006.pdf)


image

 

When i first got the kit i was very impressed by how nicely it was assembled. The box makes it easy to travel with. The only problem i had up-front was that the USB charger was a European model. <Sarcasm> it's not like i have a ton of USB chargers laying around or anything </Sarcasm>.

 

Fullscreen contentimage_52552.html Download
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I will admit, in person i was surprised at how thick the primary coil was. A quick check with calipers (without removing it) showed around 0.080".



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This had me worried because my application relies on a low-profile receiving coil that i could stick behind a mouse. Thankfully, looking at the receiving block: Most of it is just air. I don't know why it is quite so large, but as a "kit" this is rather convenient, as it is much easier to dis-assemble.

 

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down the road, when i am working on fitting the aforementioned electronics into the volume of the AA's: I am planning on trying something different to generate my own low-cost DIY PCB's: A few years ago i purchased a KNK Zing to do some craft work (volunteer)...it is a very versatile little CNC-cutter used primarily on paper/vinyl.

 

 

--> imageimage



I was thinking of either cutting a PCB "Mask" from thin plastic and coating it with an aerosol conductive spray (ex: 843-140G MG Chemicals | Mouser)



+image  image+  image= image





  • or...the more likely choice is to take a pre-copper plated board and simply Engrave away the unwanted copper.

- VIA =

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Top Comments

  • hlipka
    hlipka over 11 years ago in reply to aemarconnet +1
    A super-cap charger is especially needed when you want to have multiple caps in series. In your case, you could have both in series, so they can be charged up to 5V. This gives you the best efficiency…
  • aemarconnet
    aemarconnet over 11 years ago

    Parts are trickling in from TI. I placed an order for some Capacitors from Newark and look forward to actually doing some physical work soon!

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  • hlipka
    hlipka over 11 years ago in reply to aemarconnet

    A super-cap charger is especially needed when you want to have multiple caps in series. In your case, you could have both in series, so they can be charged up to 5V. This gives you the best efficiency when charging. They do current limiting (which is seriously needed with 10F caps), and charge balancing between the caps. And most of them come in DFN package, so they are rather small.

    You need a buck-boost converter when having both caps in series. This might improve efficiency, since low-input boost-converters are less efficient with lower input voltage (e.g. the TLV61224 goes from 90%@3V down to 80%@1V (and its even worse with higher currents).

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  • aemarconnet
    aemarconnet over 11 years ago in reply to mcb1

    Thanks Mark, i will definitely watch that video!

    -Alex

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  • aemarconnet
    aemarconnet over 11 years ago in reply to hlipka

    Thanks Hendrik, i was starting to wonder if anyone was viewing my project. I appreciate the feedback! I have not used a super-capacitor charger before; what benefit does it add? I thought they were only for charging capacitor banks with non-identical cells? Is it just over-voltage protection and current limiting to extend cycle life? If i can find one small enough, i will try sneaking it into my form.

    I found a few caps on Newark that i think i will order to try out...2.5V & 10F seems to be the limit of energy storage that will fit in a AA...i swear i saw a 20F cap @ 2.5V but i can't seem to find it now

    • http://www.newark.com/cooper-bussmann/hb1030-2r5106-r/cap-super-10f-2-5v-rad/dp/44W4203
    • http://www.newark.com/panasonic/eec-hz0e106/capacitor-dbl-layer-10f-2-5v-40/dp/39P9871

     

    Do i really need a buck-boost converter? The buck functionality would only come in handy if i could find a capacitor with a higher energy density that operates at higher voltage. I think my capacitors have a respectable energy density for this form-factor...The little boost converter i found outputs 3V with an input from 0.9V to 3V....I am hoping to find something better before the end of the competition, so I still look around in my free time, but it seemed that anything that could pull from lower voltages saw a drop in efficiency for no real net gain.


    Because the coil that came with the kit was a little thick, i stole the coil from my phone (originally for a palm pre, but i had it installed in my Samsung Galaxy S3) Per my recollection it delivers just north of 5V. I need to run some measurements to see what the total power output / efficiency is, but i plan on giving it a shot because it is Very low profile and i think it should fit neatly under my mouse.


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  • mcb1
    mcb1 over 11 years ago in reply to hlipka

    Peter Oakes did a very good mod to the TI ones and details it here.

    http://www.element14.com/community/videos/11580/l/reparing-a-suicidal-boost-regulator-on-the-fuel-tank-ti-booster-pack-pt3--testing-the-repair-and-also-power-save-mode

     

    mark

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