Optical Power Beaming Receiver With Steerable Beam Distribution
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Solution Overview
Problem
Photovoltaic-based free-space optical power beaming systems face challenges due to spatial and temporal fluctuations in laser beam intensity caused by atmospheric turbulence, leading to inefficiencies and reliability issues.
Innovation Solution
A free-space optical power beaming receiver device is designed with a photovoltaic element, a steerable reflector, and electrical charge storage elements, configured to mitigate intensity fluctuations by distributing light evenly across multiple photovoltaic elements, allowing for efficient energy conversion and tolerance against mis-alignments and high-intensity beams.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If a photovoltaic element is used to convert laser light to electrical energy, then energy conversion efficiency is improved (above 50%), but spatial and temporal intensity fluctuations due to atmospheric turbulence cause reliability issues
Solution Approach 1:
The photovoltaic receiver is divided into multiple photovoltaic elements arranged in an array. Each element independently converts incident laser light to electrical energy. The segmentation allows the system to handle intensity fluctuations by distributing the optical load across multiple elements, improving reliability while maintaining high conversion efficiency.
2Use of energy by moving object
If a single photovoltaic element is illuminated by a laser beam, then conversion efficiency is high, but intensity fluctuations cause significant spatial and temporal modifications leading to design challenges
Solution Approach 1:
The receiver comprises multiple photovoltaic elements instead of a single element. This segmentation simplifies the design by allowing each element to be a standard, off-the-shelf component rather than requiring a custom-designed single large element that would be highly sensitive to intensity fluctuations.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple photovoltaic elements are combined into a single receiver array that collectively receives and converts the laser beam energy. The electrical outputs of individual elements are combined through electrical connections to produce the total electrical power output, merging the functionality of multiple simple elements into a robust system.
3Use of energy by moving object
If the photovoltaic element is directly illuminated by the laser beam, then energy conversion is efficient, but mis-alignments and beam wander reduce reliability
Solution Approach 1:
The photovoltaic array is segmented into multiple elements distributed across a larger area. This segmentation provides spatial redundancy that tolerates mis-alignments and beam wander, as the laser beam can illuminate different portions of the array without completely missing the receiver, maintaining reliable energy conversion.
Solution Approach 2:
The receiver transitions from a single-point illumination target to a distributed two-dimensional array of photovoltaic elements. This dimensional expansion provides a larger effective target area that is more tolerant of angular mis-alignments and beam position variations caused by atmospheric turbulence.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution enhances the reliability and efficiency of energy conversion, providing a stable power source for applications like unmanned vehicles and high-intensity laser exposure, with a modular and cost-effective design.
Implementation Method 1
a photovoltaic element configured to convert light to energy
Implementation Method 2
a light reflector element configured to reflect a light beam toward one or more of the plurality of photovoltaic elements
Data Source
AI summary
A free-space optical power beaming device may be configured to receive a light beam from an external source. The device may include a plurality of photovoltaic elements configured to convert light to electrical energy; a plurality of electrical charge storage elements, and a light reflector element configured to reflect a light beam toward one or more of the plurality of photovoltaic elements. Each electrical charge storage element may be coupled with at least of one of the plurality of photovoltaic elements and configured to store electrical energy output from the at least one of the plurality of photovoltaic elements. In some aspects a set of the plurality of photovoltaic elements may be configured in a tilted manner. In other aspects the light reflector element may be steerable to reflect a light beam toward one or more of the plurality of photovoltaic elements to provide a desired time-averaged light intensity distribution.