Imagine a world where renewable energy can be generated and sent anywhere.
Wireless communication technology has given us the internet. What could we achieve with wireless power transmission?
Why now?
The energy industry is undergoing a huge transformation to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy.
Vast electrification, distributed generation and the intermittency of renewables all put major pressure on existing energy infrastructure.
The challenge is no longer how much solar or wind we can install. It’s how do we upgrade our electric grids to bring renewable energy projects online quickly, improve energy access, and ensure resiliency in the face of climate change.
Power-beaming is a new tool in the sustainable energy transition toolbox.
We are addressing energy distribution challenges and future-proofing electricity grids. EMROD's technology makes it possible to wirelessly send large amounts of energy over long distances.
Commercially viable power-beaming speeds up the transition to sustainable energy, supports the decarbonization of industries, and makes clean energy more accessible.
How It Works
Efficiency
EMROD's technology has three key elements: a transmitting antenna, a rectifying (receiving) antenna and the beam of electromagnetic energy that exists between the two antennas.
At the transmitting side, electricity is converted into electromagnetic energy.
EMROD's proprietary technology shapes electromagnetic energy into a beam that minimizes atmospheric and dispersion loss. This has been a major challenge with other long-range wireless power transfer systems to date.
The beam collection efficiency of EMROD's technology is over 97%. Our current R&D efforts are focused on improving efficiency at the transmitting antenna and rectifying antenna.
Scalability
The technology is scalable in both distance and power levels. The range over which such a collimated beam can be maintained is governed by diffraction physics, which relates the range, antenna diameter, and wavelength to the optimum beam collection efficiency.
Highly-efficient relays can be placed between the transmitting and receiving antennas to redirect the beam and scale up the distance of transmission.
Safety & Reliability
A collimated formation allows the beam to be precisely electronically controlled. The antennas are positioned in a way to avoid anything on the ground passing through the beam.
The built-in safety system temporarily shuts down or douses the beam if any object is about to cross the beam. Collimated, tightly controlled, point-to-point transmission means minimal radiation around the beam, less than there is with high voltage wire transmission.
Modular architecture makes maintenance easy and reduces potential downtime.
Fewer failure points; no lines reduces weather and other physical interference related outages. Weather or atmospheric conditions such as rain, fog, or dust have a negligible impact on the efficiency of the beam.
Introducing WEM
A Global Energy Grid
The Worldwide Energy Matrix (WEM) is a cutting-edge wireless power transmission system designed to connect energy generators with consumers all over the world. By enabling the transfer of renewable energy across the globe, WEM is set to accelerate the transition to more sustainable, decarbonized power sources.
EMROD’s system unlocks a wide range of commercial uses for wireless power transfer, especially where existings solutions must rely on power lines and cables.
Wireless power transfer is easier to deploy, has a smaller environmental footprint, and greater flexibility in how, where, and when power is generated and used.
EMROD’s system has a number of features that ensure that no human or animal can be exposed to the power beam.
Firstly, the transmitting and receiving antennas are elevated above ground (just as high-tension cables are) to eliminate human intervention in the power beam. The beam itself is highly directional and collimated as it is formed in the near-field or Fresnel region. The power distribution both along the beam axis and across it are not governed by the more familiar far-field, Fraunhofer region of an antenna. As such, the receiving antenna collects >97% of the power emitted by the transmitter with carefully designed beam forming. There are no issues with sidelobes with a beam of this nature since the power is confined to a cylindrical ‘tube’ between transmitter and receiver.
In addition, the laser safety curtain around the periphery of the antennas encompasses the entire beam and can detect beam incursions from the likes of birds prior to entry into the beam. This triggers a temporary power shut-down thereby avoiding exposure to the full beam power. The density of the power beam and the frequency used also means that an object would have to stay in the beam for more than a few minutes to experience any thermal effect. However, the safety shut down system prevents any objects from interacting with the beam.
The range over which EMROD’s system can transmit power between a pair of transmitting and receiving antennas is governed by the size of the antenna and the wavelength of the electromagnetic waves used. For a given wavelength, the larger the antenna, the longer the range. However, by introducing EMROD’s patent-pending relay technology, the range can be extended without having to increase the antenna size. The relays are passive devices and work by re-focusing the power beam at one or more intermediate down-range locations, which extends the beam’s useful range in a ‘daisy chain’ fashion. The further the distance, the more relays are required for a given wavelength and antenna size.
The overall efficiency of the system is determined by three things:
1. The efficiency associated with converting electricity into electromagnetic power at the transmitter.
2. The beam collection efficiency in the air space between the transmitter and receiver.
3. The efficiency associated with converting electromagnetic power back into electricity at the receiver.
With our current technology, the beam collection efficiency is very high being around 97%. The material efficiency loss of the system is associated with the conversion of electricity into electromagnetic power, and vice versa, at the transmitter and receiver. The overall end-to-end efficiency capability of our current demonstration system is 36%. We have a technology roadmap for improving this figure to over 80%.
EMROD’s system uses a pair of antennas with an electromagnetic beam generated by the transmitting antenna, which is focused on the receiving antenna. The amount of power that can be transmitted is dictated by the power density (Watts per square meter across the antenna aperture) and the generating capacity of the transmitter electronics. There is no theoretical limit for the amount of power that can be transmitted, however, there is a practical limit guided by the antenna size and power handling ability of the antenna, which is related to the power density.
EMROD’s system is designed to operate in the so-called Fresnel region of the antennas. This means that there is no inverse square law power density drop-off with distance. This is in contrast to the radiating far-field systems used widely for wireless communications. EMROD’s patent-pending technology creates a highly directional, collimated beam between the transmitting and receiving antennas which virtually eliminates beam divergence and maximizes power transfer via the beam. Any residual beam losses are almost entirely due to atmospheric dissipation and scattering and not diffraction. The use of weather-agnostic frequencies (2.4GHz - 5.8GHz) ensures that adverse weather conditions have a negligible impact on the power beam.
The beam is collimated into a highly directional beam such that the power is confined to a cylindrical ‘tube’. With optimised beam-forming parameters, >97% of the transmitted power is intercepted by the receiving antenna. The power density across the beam is not uniform, with the maximum intensity occurring in the centre of the beam, decreasing significantly at the beam edges to at least -20dB down from the beam centre.
The radius of the beam for any given system depends on the size of the transmitting and receiving antennas. As mentioned above, the power beam is confined to a cylindrical ‘tube’ sent directly between the transmitting and receiving antennas. To give you an idea of antenna size, to send power across a range of 1.1miles (1.8Km) using a single transmitting antenna and receiver, with no intermediate relays, the radiating apertures at the transmit and receive sites based on current technology are approximately 49ft x 49ft (15m x 15m) to achieve this range at this frequency in a ‘single hop’. With further R&D work, the antenna sizes will reduce for a given power level and range.
At 5.8GHz, the combined effect of scattering and absorption amounts to only 0.07dB/Km attenuation for heavy rainfall (16mm/hour). Any defocusing or beam deflection effects due to rain will be very small. In any case, the Emrod system incorporates a feedback loop between transmitter and receiver that detects any beam pointing errors in the received wavefront and sends corrective action instructions back to the transmitter to compensate.
EMROD’s system currently uses a low voltage DC system within the antenna systems. These low voltage systems are interfaced to consumer or distribution systems using standard power conversion equipment. For example, if we were connecting to a 11kV 3-phase system, we would use a 11kV/400V, 3ph star-star transformer and then 400V 3ph to DC low voltage bank of power supplies to drive the transmitting antenna. The receiving antenna then re-generates the low voltage DC which can be converted to 400v 3ph AC through a 3ph inverter and then a step-up power transformer to the required voltage. Phase rotation can be controlled by synchronizing the inverter with the supply phasing and then the required phase shift provided though the selection of an appropriate transformer (e.g. a 30 deg phase shift or the like).
EMROD’s technology is significantly different compared to the technology used for 5G telecommunications networks. Whereas telecommunications technology sends energy out in many directions (omnidirectional), EMROD’s technology sends energy directly point to point in a collimated beam (unidirectional), so it is very controlled. The design of our system means there is no significant energy spillover outside of the main beam. The shut-off safety system will mean that no human, bird, or other object interacts with the beam if crossing its path. So the chance of something being exposed to the beam is very low.
Is EMROD’s system safe for humans and the environment?
EMROD’s system has a number of features that ensure that no human or animal can be exposed to the power beam.
Firstly, the transmitting and receiving antennas are elevated above ground (just as high-tension cables are) to eliminate human intervention in the power beam. The beam itself is highly directional and collimated as it is formed in the near-field or Fresnel region. The power distribution both along the beam axis and across it are not governed by the more familiar far-field, Fraunhofer region of an antenna. As such, the receiving antenna collects >97% of the power emitted by the transmitter with carefully designed beam forming. There are no issues with sidelobes with a beam of this nature since the power is confined to a cylindrical ‘tube’ between transmitter and receiver.
In addition, the laser safety curtain around the periphery of the antennas encompasses the entire beam and can detect beam incursions from the likes of birds prior to entry into the beam. This triggers a temporary power shut-down thereby avoiding exposure to the full beam power. The density of the power beam and the frequency used also means that an object would have to stay in the beam for more than a few minutes to experience any thermal effect. However, the safety shut down system prevents any objects from interacting with the beam.
EMROD partners with energy and space industry leaders, government agencies, and major organizations unleashing wireless energy distribution.
