Proceedings of the 42nd European Microwave Conference

Wireless Resonant-Type Power Transfer Links with

Relay Elements: Harmonic Balance Design
Alessandra Costanzo, Franco Mastri Marco Dionigi, Mauro Mongiardo
DEI, University of Bologna DIEI, University of Perugia
Bologna, Italy Perugia, Italy

Abstract—In a wireless power transmission system the capable of providing good efficiencies in a variety of cases is
oscillator power is transmitted through resonant coils over of fundamental importance.
variable distances. The simplest systems are realized with direct In this paper, a systematic nonlinear technique to optimize
connection between the oscillator and the resonant coil. To
the output power and efficiency of a switching-mode oscillator
improve the system performance one or more relay elements can
be used. In order to take into account the resonant frequency
is proposed. A broadband optimization based on HB
variations, which also tune oscillation frequency, a broadband techniques is carried out including the EM-analysis-based
harmonic balance (HB) design of the system is carried out with description of the oscillator embedding. The physical
the oscillator load including the resonant coupling and the parameters of the resonators are included among the design
rectifier. The oscillator efficiency, the RF-to-DC system efficiency variables. The output power and the DC to DC efficiency of
and the DC power are then directly optimized for any coupling the WPT system are simultaneously maximized for a number
distance of interest. A Royer-type oscillator is designed and of possible coupling distances. The actual operating frequency
prototyped using the proposed technique. The oscillator exhibits is computed accordingly.
40 W and 75% conversion efficiency while the WPT system
efficiency, DC-to-DC, is better than 60% for coupling distances II. SYSTEM DESCRIPTION
of the order of 10 cm.
In Fig. 2 the sketch of a system for realizing resonant WPT
Index Terms—Wireless power transmission, Oscillator link including relay elements is illustrated. We note AC/DC
analysis, Harmonic balance. converters, the presence of a RF oscillator, transmitting (TX)
and receiving (RX) resonators, relay elements and matching
I. INTRODUCTION networks for coupling energy from the RF oscillator to the TX
resonator and from the RX resonator to the AC/DC converter.
Magnetic resonant Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) may be
Note that the part of the network between the output of the RF
realized by considering two or more synchronous (i.e. with the
oscillator and the input of the AC/DC converter is a linear
same resonant frequency) open resonators coupled via their
system, which can be described as a two-port network
magnetic fields. This possibility, initially considered by Tesla
containing only linear, passive, components. In order to
in [1], has found little if any applications in the past century.
describe the design procedure we do not include relay
More recently, the experiment published in [2], has raised
elements. However, relay elements can be easily included in
renewed interest for this subject. As a matter of fact, wireless
the linear passive part of the system.
power transfer plays an important role in many different
contests: in bioengineering for the use of implanted and worn
devices, in sensors’ networks for avoiding the use of batteries
in microrobotics, for charging Electrical Vehicles (EV) and,
last but not least, to seamlessly recharge mobile devices. An
excellent review of the possibilities, characteristics and
challenges for WPT systems has been presented in [3] and,
more recently, in the freely available book [4].
When considering a resonant WPT system (see Fig. 1 and
Fig. 2), several alternatives are present concerning resonators
dimensions, operating frequency, presence of relay elements
and of matching networks. In particular, in some applications
the distance between the transmitter and the receiver is almost
fixed (e.g. for EV charging), while in other cases this distance
may change. For fixed distance it is possible to design a WPT
system optimized for the specified values of coupling between Fig. 1. A direct fed resonant WPT system. It is possible to note the Royer
the resonators, as detailed in [5, 6]. For variable distances, oscillator, the transmitting coil and the relay element in the back,
however, the design of an oscillator and matching networks while in front is shown the receiving coil.

978-2-87487-027-9 © 2012 EuMA 225 29 Oct -1 Nov 2012, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Authorized licensed use limited to: Universidad Tecnologica de Pereira. Downloaded on August 07,2020 at 14:38:04 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 WREL SYSTEM more relay elements, can been simulated at practically the same
Passive Coupling System computational cost. On the other hand, the HB equations of an
Relay oscillator always have at least one degenerate (non-oscillating)
Element
solution. Hence, in order to avoid such solution, a suitable
starting point must be provided to the HB simulator. Several
TX RX approaches for choosing the starting point have been proposed
Resonator Resonator
in the technical literature [7], however, in the Royer oscillator
Matching Matching
case, a suitable starting point can be easily determined from the
Network Network following considerations. The voltage across the TX resonator
can be generally assumed to be sinusoidal with amplitude VM.
AC/DC
RF
AC/DC Due to the cross-connected structure each device is active for
Oscillator
half a period, hence the drain voltages can be ideally
Fig. 2. Sketch of an entire system for realizing resonant WPT. represented as half-wave rectified sinusoids. Since the DC
component of the voltage across an inductor is zero, the DC
components of the drain voltages, VM/S, must be equal to the
DC bias voltage, VDC. Hence the drain voltage amplitude is
approximately equal to SVDC. This allows an estimate of the
drain voltage harmonics to be determined through the Fourier
expansions

RX
ª S f
(1) k 1 cos( 2kZt ) º
Resonator
vDS1 (t ) VDC «1  cos(Zt )  2¦ »
(a)  ¬ 2 k 1 4k 2  1 ¼  
TX
Resonator
ª S f
(1) k 1 cos( 2kZt ) º
vDS2 (t ) VDC «1  cos(Zt )  2¦ »
¬ 2 k 1 4k 2  1 ¼
Such estimate, associated with zero values of all other state-
(b)
variable harmonics and with an initial value of the oscillation
Matching
Network frequency equal to the resonant frequency of the TX resonator,
Fig. 3. Circuit schematic of a Royer oscillator loaded by the WPT link (a); has been found sufficient to provide convergence to the
receiver to rectifier matching network (b). oscillating solution in all practical cases.
The HB technique has been applied to the simulation and
design of a WPT link based on a Royer oscillator employing
III. BROADBAND OSCILLATOR DESIGN two IRF740 power MOSFETs (Fig. 1). In order to investigate
The power driving unit is certainly the fundamental block the system performance, a first set of HB analyses has been
of any inductive power link. A suitable solution for a medium- carried out with load resistance varying from 5 to 100 : and
power link is represented by the Royer-type oscillator shown in resonators distance varying from 30 cm to 5 cm, corresponding
Fig. 3a. The oscillator consists of two cross-coupled MOSFETs to coupling factor (k) varying from 0.01 to 0.5. The results are
connected to a resonant circuit which acts as the primary-side reported in Figs. 4 and 5, which show the DC to DC transfer
link coil of the power system and is coupled to a second efficiency (K) and the DC output power respectively. From
identical resonant circuit, which is connected to a rectifier and these plots a significant misalignment between the optimum
a DC load. choice of RLoad for output power and for efficiency is clearly
The behavior of the WPT link of Fig. 3a can be analyzed by evident.
time-domain simulation or by means of a HB technique,
specialized for autonomous circuits [7]. The latter approach 70
60
provides higher computational performance when the steady 50
40
state regime is addressed, and thus it is more efficient if the η (%) 30
20
system has to be analyzed several times, as it happens when the 10
effects of circuit parameter variations have to be investigated 0
or when a circuit optimization is performed. By means of the 0.5
HB technique a rigorous description of the frequency 0.4
dispersive behavior of the resonant coupling network can be 0.3
accounted for in a very efficient and straightforward way. k 0.2 100
80 90
Moreover, if the piecewise HB approach is used, the problem 0.1 60 70
40 50
size does not depend on the complexity of the linear part of the 10 20 30 RLoad (Ω)
0
circuit, but is only determined by the number of ports of the Fig. 4. DC-DC efficiency (K) of the WPT link vs. load resistance (RLoad) and
nonlinear devices. Hence more complex links, including one or coupling factor (k) before optimization.

226
Authorized licensed use limited to: Universidad Tecnologica de Pereira. Downloaded on August 07,2020 at 14:38:04 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 50
Starting point Final point
40
30 66
PDC (W) 20
64
10

Efficiency (%)
0 62
0.5 60
0.4
0.3 58
k 0.2 90 100 56
60 70 80
0.1 40 50
20 30 RLoad (Ω) 54
0 10
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
Fig. 5. DC output power of the WPT link vs. load resistance (RLoad) and
Coupling factor
coupling factor (k) before optimization.
Fig. 7. DC-DC efficiency of the WPT link vs. coupling factor.
To cope with this problem and to achieve high system
performance over a wider range of coupling distances, the Figures 8 and 9 show the dependence of system
circuit has been modified by introducing a matching network performances on the load resistance and on the coupling factor.
between the receiver resonator and the rectifier input, as it is The DC to DC efficiency remains greater than 60% at all
shown in Fig 3b. A broadband optimization of the whole coupling factors in the design interval for values of the load
system, with specifications on both output power and DC to resistance ranging from about 10 up to 40 :, with a maximum
DC efficiency has then been performed. A nominal load between 20 and 25 :. A comparison with Figs. 4 and 5 shows
resistance of 22 : has been assumed and ten regimes, that efficiency maxima are now closer to output power
corresponding to coupling factors uniformly distributed on the maxima, which are shifted toward higher values of the load
interval from 0.12 to 0.42, have been considered resistance. This is particularly evident at low couplings and is
simultaneously in the optimization process. The oscillation the main cause of the power increase shown in fig. 6.
frequency of each regime is computed by the HB analysis and
is automatically updated at each optimization step. The
optimization variables include the matching network 70
60
parameters and the parameters of TX and RX resonators (coil 50
40
radii and capacitors). 30
η (%)
The DC output power and the tuning curve of the oscillator 20
10
at the starting point are plotted in Fig. 6, while Fig. 7 reports on 0
the corresponding DC to DC efficiency. The system 0.5
performances after optimization are again plotted in Figs. 6 and 0.4
7. A significant improvement is observed all over the 0.3
optimization band: the DC to DC efficiency is greater than k 0.2 100
80 90
60% within the design interval, and a considerable increase of 0.1 50 60 70
40
the output power is achieved at low coupling levels. As a 20 30 RLoad (Ω)
0 10
consequence, the power variation in the design interval is
reduced to less than 10%. Fig. 8. DC-DC efficiency (K) of the WPT link vs. load resistance (RLoad) and
coupling factor (k) after optimization.
Starting point Final point
34 1.1 50
Normalized frequency
DC output power (W)

32 1.05 40
30
30 1
PDC (W) 20
28 0.95 10
26 0.9 0
24 0.85 0.5
22 0.8 0.4
20 0.75 0.3
18 0.7 k 0.2 100
80
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.1 60
40
Coupling factor 20 RLoad (Ω)
0

Fig. 6. DC output power of the WPT link and oscillator frequency normalized Fig. 9. DC output power of the WPT link vs. load resistance (RLoad) and
with respect to the uncoupled-oscillator resonance frequency vs. coupling factor (k) after optimization.
coupling factor.

227
Authorized licensed use limited to: Universidad Tecnologica de Pereira. Downloaded on August 07,2020 at 14:38:04 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 35
performances obtainable by inserting additional elements, often
30 referred to as relay elements. Relay elements can be used in
25
order to improve the matching and also to avoid resonator
Computed quality factor deterioration. In Fig. 11 it is shown the increase
Efficiency (%)

20 Measured in power obtainable by using just one intermediate relay

15 element.
10 IV. CONCLUSIONS
5 An entire system prototype for realizing resonant wireless
0
power transfer has been built and experimental validations
have been presented.
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0

Normalized distance
A Royer oscillator has been proposed as power driving
unit, which represents a fundamental block of any inductive
Fig. 10. Comparison between measured and computed efficiency for the power link. By using Harmonic Balance (HB), the power
entire WPT system as a function of the normalized distance between the oscillator is designed to simultaneously ensure power and the
transmitter and receiver. The normalized distance is obtained by
dividing the actual distance by the coil diameter.
effects of source and load impedances and of relay elements
have been investigated.
7
REFERENCES
6
[1] N. Tesla, “Apparatus for transmitting electrical energy,” US
5 patent number 1,119,732, issued in December 1914.
[2] A. Kurs, A. Karalis, R. Moffatt, J. D. Joannopoulos, P. Fisher,
4
Power Gain

and M. Soljacic, “Wireless power transfer via strongly coupled

3 magnetic resonances,” Science, 317, pp. 83–86, 2007.
[3] H. Shoki, “Issues and initiatives for practical use of wireless
2
power transmission technologies in Japan,” in Microwave
1 Workshop Series on Innovative Wireless Power Transmission:
Technologies, Systems, and Applications (IMWS), 2011 IEEE
0 MTT-S International, 2011, pp. 87–90.
0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0 2.2 2.4 [4] Ki Young Kim (Ed.), Wireless power transfer - principles and
Normalized distance engineering explorations, ISBN 978-953-307-874-8, January
2012.
Fig. 11. Effect of the relay element when placed between the transmitting coil [5] M. Dionigi, M. Mongiardo, “CAD of efficient wireless power
and the receiving coil.
transmission systems,” in Microwave Symposium Digest
(MTT), 2011 IEEE MTT-S International, Baltimore.
A system prototype has been built (see Fig. 1) and the
[6] M. Dionigi, A. Costanzo, M. Mongiardo, “Network methods for
experimental validations are presented in Fig. 10. In the latter
the analysis and design of resonant wireless power transfer
case no relay elements were present and the measured systems,” in Wireless Power Transfer - Principles and
efficiency has been obtained by measuring the generator output Engineering Explorations, http://www.intechweb.org/, 2012.
power and the receiver voltage across a power resistance of 22 [7] M. Odyniec (Ed.), RF and microwave oscillator design, Artech
:, the resulting power computation is straightforward. House, 2002.
In any resonant WPT system there is a trade-off between
the simplicity of the direct fed approach and the increase in

228
Authorized licensed use limited to: Universidad Tecnologica de Pereira. Downloaded on August 07,2020 at 14:38:04 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.