Overview
My research concerns electrical energy conversion, with a focus to the provision of power in hard to reach places, such as portable devices (where recharging batteries through charging cables is either inconvenient or impossible), medical implants and wireless sensors. The technologies involved in this work include energy harvesting systems, battery diagnosis, wireless power transfer and power electronics.
During my PhD, and in the early part of my reseach career as a member of academic staff, my work concentrated on energy harvesting devices for producing self-powered systems powered by ambient vibration. These systems, which are comparable to MEMS implementations of generators in self-winding watches, are generally used in conjunction with miniature batteries to extend the useable deployment lifetime of wireless sensor networks, which have use in monitoring machinery, structures and transport applications.
More recently, I have begun a research program in wireless power delivery, including harvesting RF enbergy from the ambient (see http://www.londonrfsurvey.org) and delivery of power using the magnetic near field using resonant inductive coupling. A prototype wireless power transfer system is shown below.
In all of these areas, a critical enabler is the electronics which allows energy to be efficiently processed, and converted into forms which suit the application to both maximise power density and power devices. Power electronics, therefore, forms a key part of my research.
Collaborators
Dr Kai Konig, ABB, Tunable energy harvesters, 2013
Dr Panos Papadopoulos, EDF Energy, UK research centre, Wireless Charging of Electric Vehicles, 2012
UK Home Office, RF Energy harvesting and Wireless Power Transfer, 2012
Prof Einar Halvorsen, Vestfold University College, Norway, Piezoelectric energy harvesters, 2011
Prof PK Wright, Dr Lindsay Miller, Dr Igor Paprotny (started on sabbatical), UC Berkeley, USA, Piezoelectric Energy Harvesters, 2011
Prof Nigel Brandon, Energy Future's Lab, Imperial College London, In-situ electrochemical impedance spectroscopy for lithium bateries, 2010
Prof Reza Ghodssi (started on sabbatical at UMD), University of Maryland, USA, Rotary PowerMEMS, 2010
Dr Ivan Stoianov, Civil Engineering, Imperial College London, Energy harvesting in water environments, 2008 - 2013
Guest Lectures
Pannel Session on Energy harvesting and Wireless Power Transfer, Cheltenham Science Festival, Cheltenham, 2013
Keynote: Energy harvester powered sensors: A holistic approach, Energy Harvesting 2013 Conference, London, 2013
Keynote: Power Electronic Interfacesfor Electromagnetic, Electrostatic and Piezoelectric Energy Harvesters, French national confrence on energy harvesting and storage for autoomous microsystems,March 2012, Grenoble, France, 2012
Richard Hammond's Engineering Connections: The Burj Al Arab, BBC2/National Geographic, 2010
Live Radio Interview on Energy Harvesting for Medical Devices, BBC West Midlands Radio, 2008
Live TV Interview on Energy Harvesting, PressTV, Energy World programme, presented by Amanda Burt, 2008
Live interview on energy harvesting for medical devices, BBC Radio 4, Frontiers, 2008
Research Staff
Howey,DA
Kondala Rao,G
Mukherjee,A
Pinuela,M
Toh,TT
Wright,S
Yates,DC