Drayson Technologies has used CST® electromagnetic simulation software to help develop Freevolt™, an energy harvesting technology that turns unused RF signals into electricity. Freevolt is claimed to be the first viable power source of its kind.
Harnessing unused fields requires very efficient devices that can operate in a range of conditions. Drayson Technologies used CST STUDIO SUITE® to simulate and develop the antenna designs and wireless power transfer technology used in Freevolt and to develop coil designs for induction-power transfer (IPT). The wide selection of solvers in CST STUDIO SUITE made it possible to model these different components within a single interface.
The compact and lightweight Freevolt harvester absorbs energy from multiple RF signals, including Wi-Fi, 2G, 3G, 4G and digital broadcasts, to power low energy devices such as sensors, beacons, security tags or wearables. The first commercial application of Freevolt is the CleanSpace™ Tag, a personal air quality sensor created by Drayson Technologies.
Manuel Pinuela, CTO, Drayson Technologies, said: “We first started working with CST as part of Drayson Racing Technologies involvement with Formula E. We have since built up a close partnership and made the decision to continue using CST’s applications in the development of Freevolt. The extensive portfolio of electromagnetic simulation technology that CST has available have been instrumental to our work.”
Dr. Martin Timm, Director Global Marketing, Computer Simulation Technology (CST) said: “CST prides itself on partnering with companies at the forefront of technology innovation. Drayson Technologies, with its revolutionary Freevolt technology, is a perfect example of this and we are extremely proud to have been a part of its development.”