Proof-of-concept of a mattress based power harvesting system architecture suitable for wireless physiological monitoring systems

This work investigates the feasibility of having a mattress based wireless power transfer system with transfer efficiency such that the received power could potentially be enough to fully power up wearable systems intended to provide some level of continuous physiological monitoring; hence eliminating the need for users to ever have to recharge the systems. The novel architecture proposed in this work, to optimise power transfer efficiency against angular misalignment typical of non-static use is based on a non-coupling coil structure combined with a magnetic beamforming scheme. The coil system also incorporates a non-coupling relay array to overcome the significant loss in power transfer efficiency associated to increasing distances between transmitters and receivers. The system is proven to be able to deliver around 11.8mW of power in the worst-case scenario, with a receiver 25cm above the transmitters, whilst meeting the safety requirements associated to electromagnetic exposure to the human body.