Date of Award

2008

Degree Type

Thesis

Department

Electrical and Computer Engineering

First Advisor

Nayfeh, Taysir H.

Subject Headings

Wireless communication systems, Laser communication systems, Laser beams, High intensity laser power beaming, Wireless power transmission

Abstract

This paper describes work supporting the development of a high intensity laser power beaming (HILPB) system for the purpose of wireless power transmission. The main contribution of this research is utilizing high intensity lasers to illuminate vertical multi-junction (VMJ) solar cells developed by NASA-GRC. Several HILPB receivers are designed, constructed and evaluated with various lasers to assess the performance of the VMJ cells and the receiver under a variety of conditions. Several matters such as parallel cell back-feeding, optimal receiver geometry, laser wavelength, non-uniform illumination and thermal effects at high intensities are investigated. Substantial power densities are achieved, and suggestions are made to improve the performance of the system in future iterations. Thus far, the highest amount of energy obtained from a receiver during these tests was 23.7778 watts. In addition, one VMJ cell was able to achieve a power density of 13.6 watts per cm2, at a conversion efficiency of 24 . These experiments confirm that the VMJ technology can withstand and utilize the high intensity laser energy without damage and/or significant reduction in the conversion efficiency

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