DIY Wireless Transmission Using IR LED and Solar Panel.

As we all know about solar panels, Photovoltaic solar panels absorb sunlight as a source of energy to generate electricity. It’s a great gift of a free power source. But still, it’s not extensively used. The main reason behind this is it is expensive and limited use for a particular time, during the daytime. According to the latest Indian solar market research, 2018 by Loom Solar "India's premium solar brand store", the average solar panels price range is Rs. 30 to 45 per watt, and the most demand of solar panels is 1 kW to 10 kW for home, office, and commercial spaces.

First of all, this project is a prototype, is based on a concept.

As it is said that “Every Coin has two faces”, so it also has some merits and demerits. Some of its advantages are,

• It’s eco-friendly and doesn’t cause any pollution. (Interesting)
• It can be used as an independent power source, for supply at home. (That’s good)
• And it’s free energy, so free supply. (Even better)

but it has some demerits too,

• Expensive, for installation.
• Energy can be generated only during daytime, and only in a sunny day.

So, we thought to overcome this disadvantage. One of the major disadvantages of solar panels is, it cannot be used inside house or building, and it doesn’t work well on cloudy days.

As a result, our group found, there is a company called Wi-Charge. Wi-Charge is an Israeli company developing technology and products for far-field wireless power transfer using focused infrared beams. The company is developing a far-field wireless power technology based on infrared laser beams. In 2015, Wi-Charge demonstrated its first prototype capable of charging small electronic devices. In 2017, the company claimed to obtain compliance with international safety standards. During CES 2018, Wi-Charge demonstrated simultaneous charging of multiple devices from a single transmitter.

Power is delivered using safe, focused, beams of invisible infrared light. Transmitters connect to a standard power source and deliver power to nearby receivers. Receivers use a miniature photovoltaic cell to convert transmitted light into electrical power. Receivers can be embedded in mobile devices or connected to an existing charging port. Transmitters automatically identify chargeable devices and discover their power requirements. Several devices can charge at the same time. Lower priority is based on power requirements, battery level, and other parameters.

1. SMPS or Power Supply for 5V. If you don’t have this, you can make your own supply, as I did.
2. Step-Down Transformer ( 12-0-12 V )
3. 4 - Diode (IN4007)
4. Capacitor (1000 microfarad and (470 or 100) microfarad)
5. Voltage Regulator ( LM7805 )
6. 30 - IR Led ( we have used 850 nm IR led, but use better wavelength for better results.)
7. Solar Panel.
8. XL6009 DC-DC Step-up Module.

If you have SMPS or Power Supply for 5V, then skip this step.

If you want to make it, then make the circuit as above. ( The Transformer shown in the circuit is just for reference.) If you want, you can connect led as an indicator. This will be used as the transmitter, with IR led connected at the end. We have used 30 IR led. It will transmit IR beam to the solar panel.

In receiver panel, Connect the circuit as shown. Use better Solar Panel, with more compact size. This will receive the IR beam. As IR beam is received, it will generate energy in solar panel, and hence produce electricity. But it produces very small watts of energy, so we have used a DC-DC step-up module to increase the voltage.

As a result, we found 6V dc as the output voltage, which is enough for charging a cell phone.

But with better solar panels we can increase the efficiency.