Wireless Laser Power Transmission: A Review of
Recent Progress
1
Baranika,
2
Akalya,
3
Shanthi
Mr. C. Balaji A P (EEE)
Department of EEE,
Kings college of Engineering,
Punalkulam, Thanjavur.
Abstract— Laser power transmission (LPT) is one of the most
promising technologies in the long-range wireless power
transfer field. LPT research has been driven by the desire to
remotely power unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), satellites
and other mobile electric facilities. However, the low overall
efficiency is the main issue that limits the implement of high
intensity laser power beam (HILPB) system. As seen from the
contemporary understanding of efficiency of laser power
transmission channel, the efficiencies of laser and PV array
are the main limiting factors to the HILPB system from the
perspective of power conversion. Thus, a comprehensive
overview of LPT technology is presented from the point of
efficiency optimization view in this paper. First, the basic
principles of laser power transmission are briefly
summarized. Then, a survey of the efficiency optimization
methods for HILPB system with regard to the laser and PV
technologies is provided in detail. Additionally, the open
issues and challenges in implementing the LPT technology are
discussed.
Index Terms—Laser, photovoltaic (PV), Gaussian beam,
Optical propagation, Efficiency, Wireless power transmission
I. INTRODUCTION
IRELESS power transfer (WPT) is the technology that the
electrical energy is transmitted from a power source to an
electrical load without any electrical or physical
connections. Compared to traditional power transfer with
cord, wireless power transfer introduces many benefits
such as better operational flexibility, user friendliness and
product durability. Therefore, WPT technology is ideal in
applications where conventional conduction wires are
prohibitively inconvenient, expensive, hazardous or
impossible [1]. Nowadays, WPT technology is attracting
more and more attention and evolving from theories toward
commercial products, from low-power smartphones to
high-power electric vehicles, and the wireless powered
products will come to a 15 billion market by 2020 [2].
The development of WPT technology is advancing toward
two major directions, i.e., near-field techniques, which ave
a typical transmission distance from a few millimeters to a
few meters, and far-field techniques, where the coverage is
greater or equal to a typical personal area network.
The former consists of two techniques: capacitive power
transfer (CPT) [3], and inductive power transfer (IPT) [4-
5], while the latter can be further sorted into microwave
power transfer (MPT) [6] and laser power transfer (LPT)
[7]. The key advantages of CPT are high power transfer up
to several kilowatts,Transferr power through metal objectss
without generating significant edddy currents losses,Use
metal plates to transfer power to reduce cost, Suitable for
small size application and can be used in large size
applications such as EV. The potential disadvatages of CPT
are limited efficiency at the range of 70%-80% but it can
reach 90%in some applications, Short transmission
distance which is usually within the hundered of mm range,
The challenge comes ffrom the conflict amog the transfer
distance and power as well as the capacitance value.The
advantages of IPT are High efficiency which higher than
90% is possible, High powerr transfer upto several
killowatts, Good galvanic isolation, Suitable for
applications that from low power smartphones to high
power EV. The potential disadvantages of IPT are Limited
transmission distance with vary from cm to m, the
significant eddy current loss is generated in nearby metals
which limits its application area. The key advantages of
MPT are long effective transmission distance upto several
km, suitable for mobile applications, potential to transfer
several killowatts power. The potential disadvantages are
low efficiency less than 10% for high power
applications(such as transfer several kw power or more),
complex implementation. The key advantages of LPT are
long efffective transission distance upto several km,
flexible device, suitable for mobile applications, potential
to transfer several kw power . The potential
disadvantages are low efficiency around 20% or less, line
to sight to the receiver.
To date, both of the CPT and IPT can offer the
capability of supporting high power transfer above kilowatt
level with high efficiency in close distance [8-9]. However,
the transferred power of these technologies attenuates
quickly with the increase of the transmission range. Thus
the power transfer distance is largely limited. Because of
the ease and low-cost of implementation, these near field
WPT technologies have found niche applications in
everyday life, such as wireless charging of consumer
electronics, electric vehicles (EV), robot manipulation and
biomedical implanted devices.
With the near-field wireless power technology reaching a
mature stage for domestic and industrial applications, far-
field wireless power research has been gathering
momentum in the last decade. Both the microwave and
International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT)
ISSN: 2278-0181
Published by, www.ijert.org
Confcall - 2018 Conference Proceedings
Volume 6, Issue 14
Special Issue - 2018
