Free-Positioning Wireless Charging System for

Hearing Aids Using a Bowl-Shaped Transmitting

Coil

Jinwook Kim, Do-Hyeon Kim, Kwan-Ho Kim, and Young-Jin Park

Dept. of Power Electrical Equipment Information and Communications Eng.
University of Science & Technology (UST) and Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI)
Ansan, Korea
{jwkim, dndmoriah, youngjin.park}@ust.ac.kr, {khkim, yjpark}@keri.re.kr

Abstract—This paper proposes a wireless power transfer system

for charging hearing aids. A bowl-shaped transmitting (Tx) coil
is to achieve free-positioning of wireless charging. The proposed
Tx coil consists of both spiral and conical-shaped helical loops in
series. A receiving coil is wound on a rectangular box made of
ferrite sheets to improve coupling coefficients. It is shown that
the proposed system can uniformly recharge a Li-Ion battery of
the hearing aid with 30% overall efficiency in the parallel
arrangement. Furthermore, even in the perpendicular
arrangement, the battery can be recharged except a narrow dead
zone near the center of the Tx coil.

Keywords-Bowl-shaped coil; conical-shaped coil; free-

positioning; hearing aids, spatial freedom, wireless charging Figure 1. Schematic diagram of a proposed bowl-shaped Tx coil for
wireless charging of hearing aids. Filled circles are cross sections of wires
I. INTRODUCTION of the Tx coil. An ellipse represents a hearing aid.

Wireless power transfer (WPT) using magnetic coupling
attracts more attentions for an application to biomedical
devices [1]−[3]. It has some following advantages.
Transmitting power can be transferred through skin in low loss
without power cables. Also, size of a battery can be reduced
for small medical implants.
Hearing aids are also a promising application of WPT.
Until now, a Zn-Air battery is commonly used for hearing aids,
and it should be changed periodically. However, it is sincerely
difficult to change such a small battery (i.e., outer dimensions
of 10A size are Φ 6 mm × 3 mm), especially for elderly people
who use hearing aids. Hence, wireless charging for the hearing
aids is demanded considerably.
For convenient wireless charging of mobile and portable
medical devices such as hearing aids, it is necessary that
charging battery should be reliable irrespective of both
position and arrangement of devices. Three-dimensional free-
positioning is also needed in wireless charging of hearing aids.
Methods using three orthogonal receiving (Rx) coils [1] and
array of transmitting (Tx) coils [2] was reported to achieve
spatial freedom for the medical implantable devices. However,
the WPT systems are complex since several coils and rectifiers
are required to cover the whole space.
In this paper, a WPT system with a bowl-shaped Tx coil is
proposed for free-positioning in charging battery of hearing
aids. The best and worst cases (parallel and perpendicular
arrangement) of coupling between the Tx and Rx coils are
considered. The system is evaluated by using a two-
dimensional finite element method (FEM) electromagnetic
simulator, Maxwell 2D, and by measuring charging currents
into a Li-Ion battery.
II. BOWL-SHAPED TX COIL
Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a proposed bowl-
shaped Tx coil. The proposed coil consists of both spiral loops
in bottom and conical-shaped helical loops on side surface, to
increase spatial freedom of charging of a hearing aid. Unlike
the implantable applications, a charging-area for the hearing
aids can be confined in a space such as a bowl-shaped case. ri
and Di denote the radius and z-directed distance of the i-th
loop of the Tx coil, respectively. D and ρ denote z- and x-
directed distances at an arbitrary point, respectively. Hz and Hρ
represent z- and ρ-directed magnetic fields intensity at a point
(ρ, D), respectively.
A. Magnetic Field Intensity of the Proposed Coil
To achieve three-dimensional free-positioning in wireless
charging, omnidirectional magnetic fields in x-, y-, and z-
directions are needed. The proposed coil can be evaluated by
calculating the magnetic field intensity of a circular single loop.
Z- and ρ-directed magnetic field intensity (Hz,i and Hρ,i) by the
i-th circular loop can be achieved from [4] as follows:

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 Helical (sim) Helical (sim)
400 Spiral (sim) 200 Spiral (sim)
Helical+Spiral (sim) Helical+Spiral (sim)
Proposed (sim) Proposed (sim)
300 Helical (cal)
150
Spiral (cal)
200 Helical+Spiral (cal)

H (A/m)
H (A/m)

Proposed (cal)
100

ρ
z

100

Helical (cal) 50
0 Spiral (cal)
Helical+Spiral (cal)
Proposed (cal)
-100 0
-30 -20 -10 0 10 20 30 -30 -20 -10 0 10 20 30
Distance (mm) Distance (mm)

Figure 2. Simulation results. (a) Proposed coil, (b) helical coil, (c) spiral coil, (d) comparison of Hz at D=5 mm, and (e) comparison of Hρ at D=8 mm. In
Fig. 2(a), (b), and (c), red and blue colors represent the highest level of magnetic fields intensity in positive and negative directions, respectively.

1/2
⎛ ri mi − ( 2 − mi ) ρ ⎞ coils, respectively. The helical and spiral coils are 7 turn, 1.5
I ⎛ mi ⎞
H z,i = ⎜ ⎟ ⎜⎜ ρK i + Ei ⎟⎟ , (1) mm pitch. Maximum radii of the helical and spiral coils are 29
2πρ ⎝ 4ri ρ ⎠ ⎝ 2 − 2mi ⎠ mm and 17 mm, respectively. The number of turns of the
1/2 proposed coil is 14. Pitches of bottom spiral loops and conical-
( D − Di ) I ⎛ mi ⎞ ⎛ 2 − mi ⎞ shaped helical loops are 1.5 mm and 2.14 mm, respectively.
H ρ, i = ⎜ ⎟ ⎜ − Ki + Ei ⎟ , (2)
2πρ ⎝ ri ρ ⎠
4 ⎝ 2 − 2 m i ⎠ The target distances are 5 mm in parallel arrangement and 8
mm in perpendicular arrangement, respectively, considering
where mi = 4ri ρ / ⎡( D − Di ) + ( ri + ρ ) ⎤ .
2 2
(3) the size of an in-the-ear (ITE) hearing aid.
⎣ ⎦
Figs. 2(d) and (e) compare Hz and Hρ along ρ direction at
D and ρ denote z- and x-directed distances at an arbitrary the target distance, respectively. Solid lines and filled marks
point, respectively. I denotes the current at Tx coil. K and E denote simulation and calculation results, respectively. The
denote the complete elliptic integral of the first and second calculation results are in good agreement with the simulation
kinds, respectively. Therefore, total Hz and Hρ can be obtained results. The helical and spiral coils have concave and convex
as follows: Hz at the center of the coil, respectively. The proposed coil has
convex Hz, and the magnitude of Hz is larger than those of
N
other coils when ρ < 20 mm. Helical+Spiral represents sum of
H z ( ρ, D ) = ∑H i =1
z,i ( ρ, D ) , (4) magnetic fields of both helical and spiral coils. All the coils
have a null point of Hρ at the center. The proposed coil has
N larger values of Hρ also than those of other coils. It is shown
H ρ ( ρ, D ) = ∑H i =1
ρ, i ( ρ, D ) . (5) that the proposed coil has larger magnetic field intensity than
the conventional coils.
Here, N denotes the number of turns of the Tx coil.
III. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
B. Simulation Results
By using a commercializing electromagnetic fields A. Fabrication of Tx and Rx Resonant Coils
simulator (Maxwell 2D, Ansys Co.), the magnetic field Fig. 3(a) and (b) show a structure of an Rx coil embedded
intensity of the proposed coil is compared with conventional in a hearing aid and fabricated Tx and Rx coils, respectively.
spiral and helical coils. Fig. 2 shows simulation results of the The Rx coil consists of spiral and helical coils, which is made
magnetic field intensity according to coil structures of the of a copper wire of 0.25 mm diameter. The Tx coil is made of a
proposed bowl-shaped, helical, and spiral coils. The wire copper wire of 0.64 mm diameter. A supporting fixture of the
diameter is 0.64 mm. 1 A current is excited on each cross Rx coil is a layer of ferrite sheets (FLX953, Todaisu) whose
section. Figs. 2(a), (b), and (c) show z- and ρ-directed relative permeability is 100. Volume of the Rx coil is 10.5 mm
magnetic fields intensity of the helical, spiral, and proposed × 6.5 mm × 2.46 mm. Resonant frequencies of the Tx and Rx

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Figure 3. (a) Structure of the Rx coil and (b) fabricated Tx and Rx
coils.
Figure 4. Measured mutual inductances between the Tx and Rx
resonant coils are 6.786 MHz and 6.793 MHz, respectively,
with proper lumped capacitors. The Quality factor of the Tx
and Rx resonant coils are 262.4 and 38.7, respectively. The
self-inductances of the Tx and Rx coils are 6.40 μH and 3.09
μH, respectively.
B. Measurement of Mutual Inductance Between the Tx and
Rx resonant coils
Figs. 4(a) and (b) show measured mutual inductances
between the Tx and Rx resonant coils (M12) in parallel and
perpendicular arrangement, respectively. The maximum and
minimum mutual inductances are 397 nH and 2.25 nH,
respectively, when the Rx resonant coil is placed at the center
in the parallel and perpendicular arrangement. The mutual
inductances from 210 nH to 397 nH are achieved in the parallel
arrangement, whereas those from 2.25 nH to 179 nH are
achieved in the perpendicular arrangement. Therefore, it is
found that figure-of-merit (FoM) varies from 4.8 to 9.0 and
from 0.1 to 4.0 in the parallel and perpendicular arrangement,
respectively.
C. Wireless Charging System for a Hearing Aid
Fig. 5(a) shows an equivalent circuit of inductive coupling.
The system for inductive coupling consists of a Tx resonant
coil, an additional coil (source coil) for impedance matching in
the Tx, and an Rx resonant coil. For the Rx resonant coil, the
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Figure 5. (a) Equivalent circuit of inductive coupling, (b) equivalent
circuit of a receiving circuit, and (c) fabricated wireless charging system.
parallel resonant circuit with a parallel capacitor, C2, is used
since the load impedance by the battery is considerably high.
For input impedance matching, the source coil is designed
as a circular two-turn loop which has 11 mm in maximum
radius and 2 mm in pitch. The source coil is made of a 0.64
mm copper wire. The measured self-inductance of the source
coil is 150 nH. The source coil is placed at the bottom of the Tx
resonant coil. The mutual inductance between the source coil
and the Tx resonant coil is 364 nH.
Fig. 5(b) shows a receiving circuit for rectifying and
charging of receiving power. Sinusoidal power of 20 dBm (100
mW) at 6.78 MHz is supplied to the coils by using a function
generator. Receiving power is rectified by a half-wave rectifier.
The half-wave rectifier is chosen to minimize the receiving
circuit. The threshold voltage of the diode used in the rectifier
(DB27316, Panasonic) is 0.55 V maximum. A Li-Ion battery is
recharged via a charging circuit (LTC4070, Linear
Technology). The linear regulator (LD6806, NXP) is used to
convert the input voltage (VB) since the hearing aid needs 1.4 V
(VH).
Fig. 5(c) shows a fabricated wireless charging system for a
hearing aid. A Maxo-K model of Daehan Hearing Aid [5] is
used in the experiment. The ITE type hearing aid is 18 mm in
length and 15 mm in width. In the experiment, the Li-Ion
battery of 10 mm × 10 mm × 4.1 mm is used. The red LED
indicates charging in progress. Charging current of the battery
is limited under 20 mA to protect the battery. The receiving
circuit of Fig. 5(b) is fabricated on 0.4 mm FR4 substrate. The
size of the fabricated receiving circuit is 11 mm × 9 mm, which
is enough to be embedded into the hearing aid. In the
experiment, measured VD, VB, and VH are about 5.25 V, 3.52 V,
and 1.71 V, respectively. VD and VB vary slightly depending on
the charging current, whereas VH is 1.71 V consistently.
Fig. 6(a) and (b) show measured charging currents into a
Li-Ion battery with the parallel and perpendicular arrangement
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1
2 parallel arrangement between the small Rx coil and the Tx coil.
3
4
5
6
7
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Figure 6. Measured charging current according to the arrangement
when the input power is 100 mW. (a) Parallel arrangement and (b)
perpendicular arrangement.
of the Rx coil, respectively. It is shown that about 7 mA is
charged over the whole area in the parallel arrangement of the
Rx coil. Overall power transfer efficiency of maximum 28.5%
is achieved uniformly in the parallel arrangement. In the
perpendicular arrangement, maximum 7 mA can also be
measured in edges, although there is a dead zone (red dotted
line in Fig. 6(b)) near the center. The dead zone is quite narrow
comparing to the charging area with the proposed bowl-shaped
Tx coil. The battery charging current is almost same as the
current flowing through the LED. The power transfer
efficiency is degraded since power loss causes from the LED.
The measured threshold voltage of the red LED is about 1.6 V.
Therefore, maximum power loss due to the LED is 12.8 mW
when the charging current is 8 mA. That is, the efficiency of
the fabricated system can be increased as much as 12.8%
maximum without the LED.
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IV. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, a WPT system with a bowl-shaped Tx coil
and a box-shaped Rx coil is demonstrated for three-
dimensional free-positing wireless charging of an ITE hearing
aid. The Tx coil is made of spiral loops in the bottom and
conical-shaped helical loops on side surface to generate strong
magnetic fields for both the parallel and perpendicular
arrangement. Uniform charging current can be obtained in the
Furthermore, wireless charging is also available in the
perpendicular arrangement except the center line since there is
a narrow dead zone near the center of the Tx coil.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The work was supported in part by the development
software of the converged component technology of the Korea
Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technology funded by the
MKE (No. 10047687), and the authors would like to thank Dr.
Junghee Choi in Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute
(KERI) for fabricating a compact Li-Ion battery.
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WPTC 2014