An extending method of operable distance for infrared remote controlled power switch with zero stand-by power

The elimination of the stand-by power consumption of the electronic products is very important for not only the family budget but also the earth environment. To completely eliminate it, we have to remove each power cable of the electronic products from the power strip. Since this job is troublesome for the persons, especially elderly people, they tend to cease to do it as daily action. We have proposed a remotely controlled power switch that can make the standby power consumption of the electronic product and itself completely zero. The plugging and unplugging the power cable from a power strip is replaced to the operations of the infrared remote controller. The electronic product with our proposal is operated by the same remote controller. That is, all people can handle the elimination of the standby power and the operations for the electronic product by the single remote controller easily. However, to widely disseminate this proposal, the operable distance to eliminate the stand-by power consumption and to start up the electronic product has to be comparable to the conventional distance to operate the electronic product. This paper proposes an extending method of the operable distance for the IR remote controlled power switch about eliminating the stand-by power and starting up the electronic product. This method has the two-stage switching structure to turn on the main power by using a little energy harvesting gained from the infrared light irradiated by the remote controller. The experimental result shows the proposed method can actually generate enough power to turn on the electronic product with longer distance than the conventional one.