Title :
Comparison of square and radial geometries for high intensity laser power beaming receivers
Author :
Raible, Daniel E. ; Nayfeh, Taysir H. ; Fast, Brian R. ; Jalics, Andrew K. ; Dinca, Dragos
Author_Institution :
NASA John H. Glenn Res. Center, Cleveland, OH, USA
Abstract :
In an effort to further advance a realizable form of wireless power transmission (WPT), high intensity laser power beaming (HILPB) has been developed for both space and terrestrial applications. Unique optical-to-electrical receivers are employed with near infrared (IR-A) continuous-wave (CW) semiconductor lasers to experimentally investigate the HILPB system. In this paper, parasitic feedback, uneven illumination and the implications of receiver array geometries are considered and experimental hardware results for HILPB are presented. The TEM00 Gaussian energy profile of the laser beam presents a challenge to the effectiveness of the receiver to perform efficient photoelectric conversion, due to the resulting non-uniform illumination of the photovoltaic cell arrays. In this investigation, the geometry of the receiver is considered as a technique to tailor the receiver design to accommodate the Gaussian beam profile, and in doing so it is demonstrated that such a methodology is successful in generating bulk receiver output power levels reaching 25 W from 7.2 cm2 of photovoltaic cells. These results are scalable, and may be realized by implementing receiver arraying and utilizing higher power source lasers to achieve a 1.0 m2 receiver capable of generating over 30 kW of electrical power. This type of system would enable long range optical `refueling´ of electric platforms, such as MUAV´s, airships, robotic exploration missions and provide power to spacecraft platforms which may utilize it to drive electric means of propulsion. In addition, a smaller HILPB receiver aperture size could be utilized to establish a robust optical communications link within environments containing high levels of background radiance, to achieve high signal to noise ratios.
Keywords :
laser beam applications; optical communication; photoelectricity; photovoltaic cells; radiocommunication; semiconductor lasers; space communication links; Gaussian beam profile; HILPB receiver aperture size; MUAV; TEM00 Gaussian energy profile; airships; bulk receiver output power levels; electrical power; high intensity laser power beaming receivers; higher power source lasers; long range optical refueling; near infrared continuous-wave semiconductor lasers; optical communications link; optical-to-electrical receivers; parasitic feedback; photoelectric conversion; photovoltaic cell arrays; photovoltaic cells; propulsion; radial geometries; receiver array geometries; receiver design; robotic exploration missions; space applications; spacecraft platforms; square geometries; terrestrial applications; uneven illumination; wireless power transmission; Arrays; Junctions; Laser beams; Lighting; Optical receivers; Power lasers; VMJ cells; electric propulsion; high intensity lasers; laser; laser power beaming; photovoltaic; vertical multi-junction cells; wireless power transmission;
Conference_Titel :
Space Optical Systems and Applications (ICSOS), 2011 International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Santa Monica, CA
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-9686-0
DOI :
10.1109/ICSOS.2011.5783689