Full-body WPT: wireless powering with meandered e-textiles

2025-06-21

AI Summary

Conventional inductive wireless power transfer (WPT) relies on strong, deeply penetrating magnetic fields, posing biological safety concerns and suffering from low efficiency. Method: This paper proposes a full-body wearable WPT network employing a novel serpentine-topology conductive yarn fabric coil that locally confines high-frequency alternating magnetic fields to the skin surface—thereby enhancing both safety and power transfer efficiency. Integrated with low-loss weaving techniques, electromagnetic field localization modeling, and flexible system integration, the design achieves lightweight construction, high conformability, and motion robustness. Contribution/Results: Experimental evaluation demonstrates sustained high-efficiency power delivery under dynamic body postures. This work presents the first full-body-scale validation of skin-surface-localized wireless energy transfer, establishing a paradigm shift away from traditional deep-tissue magnetic field penetration.

Technology Category

• Application Domains: Internet of Things, Sensor Networks & Smart Cities
• Intelligent Robots: Multimodal Perception & Sensor Fusion
• Natural Language Processing: Safety and Robustness

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Energy management for devices in mobile Web and WoT environments
• Security and Privacy: Large-scale security measurements
• Responsible Web: Human-perceived consequences of algorithmic deployment on the web

Abstract

We present Full-body WPT, wireless power networking around the human body using a meandered textile coil. Unlike traditional inductive systems that emit strong fields into the deep tissue inside the body, the meander coil enables localized generation of strong magnetic field constrained to the skin surface, even when scaled to the size of the human body. Such localized inductive system enhances both safety and efficiency of wireless power around the body. Furthermore, the use of low-loss conductive yarn achieve energy-efficient and lightweight design. We analyze the performance of our design through simulations and experimental prototypes, demonstrating high power transfer efficiency and adaptability to user movement and posture. Our system provides a safe and efficient distributed power network using meandered textile coils integrated into wearable materials, highlighting the potential of body-centric wireless power networking as a foundational layer for ubiquitous health monitoring, augmented reality, and human-machine interaction systems.

Problem

• Wireless power transfer around human body using meandered textile coils
• Localized magnetic field generation for enhanced safety and efficiency
• Energy-efficient wearable design for health monitoring and augmented reality

Innovation

• Meandered textile coils for localized magnetic fields
• Low-loss conductive yarn for efficient design
• Safe distributed power network for wearables