Wireless Power Transfer: September 2021
Wireless Power Transfer: September 2021
Wireless Power Transfer: September 2021
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Abstract
In the recent years, the wireless power transfer technique has attracted a lot of
attention in research. As a result, it is becoming an increasingly popular technology
in consumer electronic devices and electric vehicles. However, there are other
methods in which energy could be transmitted, and they could be further classified
according to their working ranges, namely the near-field and the far-field trans-
mission. In this chapter, an overview on the principles of different types of wireless
power transmission is described. Then, the investigation of the receiver block is
discussed through studying the features of rectifier technologies. Later, the book
continues to describe the Rectenna system (rectifying antenna) adopted to the
Internet of Things (IoT) wireless charge in remote locations.
1. Introduction
Deliver long-range power over great distances is very interesting in the future.
For this reason, the Wireless Power transfer (WPT) is a versatile modern technique
that can be used by a range of electrical devices. Batteries play an important role in
the mobility but have a high initial cost and a short life. For example, the first
application of quick wireless charging has been applied in vehicles for public trans-
portation in the traditional bus stations [1]. This form of application has such a
small distance between stations and a short waiting period that it has been readily
embraced by the WPT for electrical charging. Furthermore, research into EV wire-
less charging while driving or parking is really appealing and is helping to grow the
industry [2]. Another case in point is the spread of so-called commercial electronics.
This sector has already seen commercial successes of these WPT systems, particu-
larly for smart-phone chargers, due to the problem of limited battery time and the
large use [3]. Although it is difficult to realise those applications because the power
must penetrate a thick material like the skin, the benefits of using a WPT device are
definitely clear in implantable equipment for health care [4]. Wireless power dis-
tribution removes the need for percutaneous cables or surgeries to replace batteries,
which may be uncomfortable and infection-prone. This results in a reduced size and
lighter weight, or the removal of an energy storage feature that provides patient
comfort. In both of these implementations, the propagation distance is critical to the
application’s reliability.
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Antenna Systems
Figure 1.
Representation of wireless power transmission in (a) far field where is highlighted the rectenna, and (b) near
field.
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Figure 2.
Region partition depending from the wavelength λ.
In addition to the near-field, it can be further subdivided into the reactive (non-
radiative) near-field and the radiative. The wavelength of the field source is nor-
mally used to define these limits as shown in Figure 2. As a consequence, an
electromagnetic (EM) wave’s wavelength, which is proportional to its energy,
defines how it interacts with its surroundings. Its limits depends on the wavelength
λ [5]. The boundary of the Radiative region is about 1 wavelength, and up to 2λ
where a transition region take place. Over than 2λ distance from the transmitter, the
far field area starts.
The reactive (non-radiative) region is on the very short range of λ=2π and it is
based on the capacitive or the mutual inductance effect of the antenna. The are used
two term to indicate the distance of the transmission: short-range and mid-range.
The short-range refers to a transmission wavelength that is less than the transmit-
ter’s geometry. The mid-range describes a condition in which the transmission gap
is at least two to three times the size of the equipment involved in the power
transfer [6].
3
Antenna Systems
Figure 3.
Recent demonstration of the Tesla experiment in Ref. [8].
Figure 4.
Principle of the capacitive power transfer (CPT).
receiver is connected to the second plates, as shown in Figure 4. Air is the dielectric
forming a capacitor of:
d
C T ¼ εR ε0 (1)
A
where d is the distance and A is the area of the capacitive plate in the transmitter
and in the receiver. This value depends on the dielectric material between the
plates, distance, and plate area. Therefore, this value is limited because the permit-
tivity constant ε0 of air is as small as 8:85 10 12 F=m.
This design can be expanded by adding two connected capacitor plates in both
sides (transmitter and receiver) with an electric field between them, as shown in
Figure 4. The created electric field causes an alternating current to pass in the
receiver plates. Thus, power is being sent through the secondary plates of the
receiver. The capacitive area is designed after the application, where plates can take
on multiple shapes, for example, rectangular, disc, or cone, or specific architecture
such as a matrix [10].
The amount of power transmitted (power loss on the components is neglected)
through the capacitor electric field is thus approximately calculated:
1
PR ∝ f CT V 2T (2)
2
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of the biggest disadvantages of the CPT has is a poor coupling capacitance CT and
the safety concerns regarding the V T where in nearly all the applications has a huge
value.
The use of a magnetic field for power transfer has the safety benefit of not using
high voltages and not interacting with most biological material. As a result, the
magnetic field is used in the majority of modern near-field WPT studies and has a
vast range of applications. A non-radiative magnetic field is produced by passing an
alternating current (AC) through a coil known as the transmitter, as shown in
Figure 5. When a load circuit is in vicinity to the reactive area, an electromotive
force (EMF) is produced in a second coil, known as receiver. In this way, the
electrical power is passed from the transmitter’s coil to the receiver’s coil. There is a
mutual inductance between between the transmitting and receiving coils. This
inductance is one of the most significant parameters that affects the power trans-
mitted in inductively coupled wireless power transfer systems.
The mutual inductance M between two coils, Tx and Rx, is shown in Figure 5,
where alternating current is guided inside coil, Tx, and induced current appears in
the coupled coil, Rx. The current flowing in LT or the transmitter coil sets up a
magnetic field, which passes through the receiver coil LR giving us mutual induc-
tance. When the inductances of the two coils are the same and equal, LT is equal to
LR , the mutual inductance that exists between the two coils will equal the value of
one single coil (as the square root of two equal values is the same as one single
value) as shown:
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
M ¼ k LT LR ¼ kL (3)
The amount of power transmitted (power loss on the components has been
neglected) through the magnetic field is thus approximately calculated:
1
PR ∝ f M I2T (5)
2
Figure 5.
Principle of the inductive power transfer (IPT).
5
Antenna Systems
Figure 6.
Magnetic field shown in ANSYS software simulation: (a) the diffusion and (b) the flux lines of the magnetic
field.
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maximised. The transmitter and receiver circuitry are made to resonate at the same
frequency as shown in the equation below.
1 1
f0 ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi (6)
2π LT CT 2π LR CR
where LT , LR are the coils and CT , CR are the capacitors of the transmitter and
receiver, respectively. It is possible to achieve a high device efficiency by develop-
ing high-detailed transmitter and receiver coils, even if the system becomes less
efficient the further the transmitter coil is away from the receiver.
As a whole, WPT (both IPT and CPT) throughput power decreases in a linear
trend (for a log scale) with increasing frequency. It is likely that this limitation is
primarily determined by power electronics limitations, rather than coupling char-
acteristics, since it affects IPT and CPT equally. As the frequency increases, the
output power is limited by losses. This limitation appears in both IPT and CPT
applications. The average power is increased by 10-fold in the last 10 years, with the
frequency also increased by 10-fold. In part, this is attributed to the development of
wide bandgap devices and the refinement of coupling structures to minimise losses.
It is expected that the power-frequency empirical limitation will continue to
increase with time, essentially like a “Moore’s Law” trend or variant for WPT. In
Table 1, there is a further summary between typical differences in the development
between CPT and IPT.
When the distance between transmitter and receiver is smaller than the geome-
try of the transmitter, is indicated as a small-range WPT. As a practical rule, the
mid-range refers to the situation when the gap is 2 to 3 times the size of either
device involved in the power transfer.
Two coil systems are used for charging both portable and heavy power devices
like powerbanks. An optimal alignment has the greatest coupling co-efficient where
the coils are the same size and parallel to each other. The mutual inductance
Foreign objects (metal) Will generate heat Will not generate heat
Table 1.
Comparison between the capacitive power transfer and inductive power transfer.
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Antenna Systems
declines as the ratio of the two coils’ primary magnetic field decreases, particularly
when there is a broad separation between the two coils.
Multiple coils in the transmitter, receiver, or in the middle are adopted essen-
tially for two main reasons: (a) more degrees of freedom to maximise the efficiency
and desensitise the link gain versus coupling factor; (b) highly coupled transmitter-
repeater or repeater-receiver link work greatly as impedance matching elements at
both sides. Although this last configuration requires four or more coils, it offers a
better efficiency-distance than a three coils system [14]. For this reason, the
three coil WPT is not very popular, unless the application has no space for
additional coils.
Let us consider a four-coil resonator system with two intermediate repeaters
coils called “2” and “3” where an impedance (capacitor) compensation Z 2 and Z 2
are connected to form LC resonators. As shown in Figure 7, the transmitter and
receiver are referred as “1” and “4” respectively. It has been considered the trans-
mitter RT and the load impedance Z Load having relatively low quality factor of
Q T ¼ Q 1 and Q R ¼ Q 4 . Considering only the parasitic resistance, much higher
quality factor Q 2 and Q 3 can be achieved. With this new nomination, k23 will be
much lower than k12 and k34 because the distance between the intermediate coils are
usually larger than the geometry of the coils. In this way the cross coupling effect
could be neglected because of either the low quality factor Q and the small coupling
coefficient depicted in the Figure 7 in yellowish green. Similar to the two-coil
system, the figure of merit could be written as a generic Δi j for any two of the
four coils:
Δi j ¼ κ2ij Q i Q j (7)
calling i and j the number of the referred coils. An important equation to notice
in design of a multi-coils system comes from the impedance reflected from the all
coils to the primary transmitter. Considering the Eq. (4) introduced in a two coil
system, it is possible to write for each coil the reflected impedance:
ω2 k234 L3 L4
8
>
>
> Z ref ,3 ¼
Z 4 þ Z Load
>
>
>
>
>
ω2 k223 L2 L3
>
<
Z ref ,2 ¼ (8)
>
>
> Z3
>
ω2 k212 L1 L2
>
>
>
: Z ref ,1 ¼
>
>
Z2
Figure 7.
Four coils WPT system with the coupling factors. The couplings are marked following their value.κ 13 , κ 14 and
κ 24 are not visible because their intensity values are negligible.
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Combining these equations in the Eq. (8)c, it is possible to obtain the impedance
reflected in the primary transmitter:
ω2 k212 L1 L2
Z ref ,1 ¼ (9)
ω2 k223 L2 L3
ω k2 L3 L4
2 þ Z2
34
Z 4 þZ Load þZ 3
In this equation we can notice that the reflected impedance of the all system
depends directly only by the total coupling coefficient and the value of receiver
impedance. Moreover, the WPT system can be seen as an equivalent total coupling
coefficient defined by:
k12 k34
kTOT ¼ (11)
k23
It is a design rule making sure that the following condition can be met:
k12 k34
kTOT ¼ ¼1 (12)
k23
the reflected load will be matched and we will have the maximum power trans-
ferred. In such a way, the four coils system creates a possibility to extend the
distance from primary to the load using more and more coils. In order to maximise
the transmission distance, the mutual coupling coefficient between the repeaters
could be minimised. Additional intermediate coils with still be loose coupled
between them but they will increase the total coupling coefficient of the system. For
example, even if the coefficient κ23 between the intermediate coils is loosely coupled
to 0.01 because of the long transmission distance, the equivalent coupling coeffi-
cient κTOT of the whole system can still be adjusted to 1 when both κ 12 and κ34 are
considered strongly coupled set to 0.1.
However, the impedance matching such a system is not endowed with a high
overall efficiency because it is restricted by the merit factor given by the Eq. (9)
Nonetheless, the four-coil system still offers (in terms of efficiency-distance) a
better solution rather the two-coil systems when the distance is much bigger than
the coil size.
2.2.3 Disadvantages
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Antenna Systems
Figure 8.
FOD to a chew-gum aluminium wrap which have begun a fire.
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the piezoelectric effect as transducer for electrical signal and are considered as
energy harvesting from the environment.
3.2 Rectifiers
Figure 9.
Receiver block diagram where it has been highlighted the rectifier ant its efficiency.
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Antenna Systems
Figure 10.
Diode efficiency function depends on the breakdown voltage and the load resistance.
Diode-based rectifier circuits are the most common because they have a lower
forward voltage drop compared to the CMOS circuits. In rectenna applications,
Schottky barrier diodes are widely used due to offering the best alternative to
achieve higher PCE, a diode with a lower forward voltage.
The simplest rectifier circuit consists of a series shown in Figure 11a (or parallel
in Figure 11b) and a parallel (or series) capacitor. The series diode circuit is also
known as Villard Rectifier or DC restorer. The waveform produced is shown in
Figure 12a. The parallel version is the well-known half-wave rectifier. When AC
voltage comes through D1, only the positive cycle goes in the output, as shown in
Figure 12b. Because of the reduction of the input, the full-wave rectifier, as shown
in Figure 11c, is the most popular circuit. The output voltage sees two capacitors in
series (each one is storing a voltage of Vpeak). Thus, Vout is a DC voltage twice the
Vpeak, as shown in Figure 12c. For this reason this circuit is also known as a
single-stage voltage doubler circuit or Cockroft Walton voltage doubler.
Figure 11.
The four typical configuration of the rectifier: (a) series, (b) parallel, (c) full-wave (d) bridge rectifier.
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Figure 12.
Voltage waveforms (y-axis) simulated towards time (x-axis). The input test is a 1 Volt peak-to-peak (10 kHz)
voltage. For each configuration of the rectifier, the red colour represents the input voltage and the blue represents
the output voltage, respectively: (a) series rectifier waveforms, (b) parallel rectifier waveforms, (c) full-wave
rectifier waveforms, (d) bridge rectifier waveforms.
Therefore, this topology is more stable and efficient than the halfwave rectifier.
There is also the bridge rectifier shown in Figure 11d, which rectifies both positive
and negative. The figures in Figure 12 summarise the waveforms obtained. As we
can see, the full-wave and the Bridge rectifier “double” voltage have the highest
output voltage, as shown in Figure 12d.
Different configuration of circuits that convert AC to DC by increasing the
values goes with the name of voltage multiplier. The most fundamental configura-
tion is the Cockcroft–Walton voltage multiplier shown in Figure 13a. This circuit’s
operational principle is similar to the full-wave rectifier but has more stages for
higher voltage gain. The Dickson multiplier in Figure 13b is a modification of
Cockcroft–Walton’s configuration with stage capacitors being shunted to reduce
parasitic effects. Thus, the Dickson multiplier is preferable for small voltage appli-
cations. However, it is challenging to obtain high PCE due to the fact that the high
threshold voltage among diodes creates leakage current, thus reducing the overall
efficiency. Additionally, for high resistance loads, output voltage drops drastically
leading to low current supply to the load.
13
Antenna Systems
Figure 13.
Most common voltage multiplier configurations: (a) three stages Cockcroft–Walton voltage multiplier, (b) four
stages Dickson voltage multiplier, (c) four stage Dickson voltage multiplier using CMOS technology, (d) two
stages voltage multiplier comprised of differential drive unit.
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multiplier with a few stages has less voltage drop between its stages, but it requires
higher threshold voltage for all stages to work simultaneously. As a result, when a
large number of stages are present, a voltage multiplier becomes more susceptible,
whereas when smaller stages are present, it becomes more effective. Therefore,
based on the implementation goals, the optimum number of steps should be
considered.
The voltage loss across MOSFET devices leads to low efficiency. This is further
deteriorated by reverse leakage current. Another major disadvantage of MOSFET
based circuits is that as frequency increases, the efficiency decreases. This happens
due to increased power losses from the reverse leakage current in the MOSFET.
4. Conclusions
The wireless power transfer technique has received a lot of research attention in
recent years. As a result, it is becoming a more popular application in consumer
electronics and electric cars. There are, however, other methods for transmitting
electricity, which can be categorised further based on their working ranges, such as
near-field and far-field transmission. This chapter provides an outline of the con-
cepts of various methods of wireless power transfer. The investigation of the
receiver block is then addressed by looking at the characteristics of rectifier tech-
nologies. Later in the book, the Rectenna device (rectifying antenna) is defined in
relation to Internet of Things (IoT) wireless charging in remote locations.
Author details
© 2021 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms
of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/
by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly cited.
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