1

Wireless Power Transfer: Its Technology, Standards, Challenges and Need for
Implementation

Chidubem J. Uwa
EBSU/2019/00552

Abstract
Human influences on the transmission lines such as vandalism, theft, natural phenomenon and
environmental disturbances culminated to the poor performance of power system. To settle some
of the challenges, the wireless power transfer (WPT) might be the answer. Wireless power
transfer is a new and emerging technology where electrical energy is transferred from generation
point through the transmission links to the distribution point to loads and appliances through the
air space without connection to cables and wires. The emergence of this technology heralded by
the advance and ubiquity in semiconductor technology is making a huge wave of transformation
in the electrical engineering domain and can be adopted in the power sector globally. This paper
discusses the WPT technology, WPT standards and the challenges of WPT. The needs for
implementation of WPT were also discussed to include but not limited to the environmental
benefits, its usefulness in making business lead the way, and its ability to enhance the Internet of
Things. The paper concludes that the burden of the Nigeria power sector can be lessened by
engaging WPT technology, which has the capacity to avert energy losses.

Introduction
The bulk of electric power loss in Nigeria and Africa as whole has been traced to the

transmission segment of the national grid. Power loss in Nigeria has continued to grow from

worse to worse. Statistics shows that while less than 40 % of Nigerian citizens have access to

incredible supply of electricity, majority of the citizens in the remote areas are cut off from the

national grid (Karaliset al., 2017). A lot of technical challenges are confronting this network

system of the power chain. Human influences on the transmission lines such as vandalism, theft,

natural phenomenon and environmental disturbances culminated to the poor performance of this

system. To settle some of these challenges, the Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) might be the

answer.
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Wireless power transfer seeks to disseminate electric power over a range without physical

contact. The WPT system is used for the transmission of energy without a direct physical cable

connection, which is useful to power loads where using cables is hazardous and inconvenient

(Karaliset al., 2017). In recent times, the amount of energy required for many computing tasks is

continuously decreasing, leading to low-power devices such as IoT devices, which in turn

justifies the demand for wireless power transmission for uninterrupted operation. Thus, WPT has

found applications in areas such as electric vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles, biomedical

implants, consumer electronics, and household appliances.

WPT is the answer to the issue presented by the short battery life and high initial cost of battery

powered applications. The breakthrough of energy storage technology is unable to support the

new generation of applications. Thus, WPT techniques have been increasingly investigated to

overcome the technical bottlenecks of batteries. However, the design of WPT imposes numerous

challenges (Julia et al., 2008). Considering WPT for low power applications such as bio-

implantable systems, miniaturization and maximum efficiency of power transfer at low specific

absorption rate is the prime focus (Low, et al., 2009). However, in applications such as

enhancing the operating lifetime of autonomous underwater vehicles, smart WPT techniques are

required to reduce the battery burden. In the case of simultaneous wireless data transmission and

power transfer, the best use of the radio frequency spectrum is required (Samboet al., 2018). The

consideration and involvement of various factors in the design and implementation of WPT

makes it a challenging but not an impossible venture. Subsequently, WPT has become a topic of

discussion in global seminars, workshops, symposium, and conferences in the recent times.

Therefore, this paper discusses WPT technology, WPT standards, challenges of WPT, and the

need for implementation of WPT.

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Wireless Power Transfer Technology

The electromagnetic field that radiates from an antenna takes on characteristics that depend on

the distance from the radiating element. In particular, we can distinguish two areas: near field

area and far-field area. An example we all know is the transformer, which transfers energy from

a primary coil to a secondary one without direct electrical connection, but using the magnetic

inductive coupling. Transformers are made with ferrite cores and require a precise alignment

between the primary and secondary side to achieve a strong coupling (Chibuzo, 2016).

The first stage is represented by an inverter, which converts direct current (DC) into alternating

current (AC) at the appropriate frequency (typically in the range between hundreds of kilohertz

and several megahertz). After that, an impedance matching network adjusts the impedance seen

by the transmitting coil according to the load, so that an efficiency of about 90% can be

achieved. The next stage is composed of the transmitting and receiving coils, respectively, used

to generate the magnetic field and to intercept it. A second impedance matching network ensures

that the load sees the appropriate impedance and, finally, a rectifier converts the alternating

current to a stable DC current thanks to a voltage regulator (Chibuzo, 2016).

The use of this technology in portable electronic devices is conditioned by the limited freedom of

movement due to the need for high efficiency and by the weight of bulk magnetic materials. For

the coupling to be efficient, the primary and secondary sides must be well-aligned, and also the

distance between them shall not exceed lengths of the order of tens of centimeters. For these

reasons, inductive coupling is often used for powering electric vehicles.

Starting from the basic principles of the inductive coupling, it is possible to increase the

transmission distances through the technique of resonant magnetic coupling. The concept behind
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the resonant magnetic coupling is the following: a large inductive spiral excited by a

radiofrequency source can exploit its resonance to induce a resonant mode in another similar

structure, placed at a certain distance. This allows obtaining a transfer of power without using a

radiative field, on a distance that can even be four times the size of the spiral (Chibuzo, 2016).

The wireless power transfer system based on the resonant magnetic coupling is shown in Figure

1.

Figure 1: A wireless power transfer system based on the resonant magnetic

The system consists of four (4) power stages, namely the Power Factor Correction (PFC)

converter, the Radiofrequency (RF) amplifier, the coils or resonators, and the onboard

rectifier.

The 50-60 Hz alternating current is rectified and converted into direct current by the rectifier

block. The continuous signal then supplies the RF block, an amplifier that converts the DC

voltage into radio frequency voltage used to drive the loop into the transmission. On the

receiving side, the incoming resonance loop transmits the RF signal to the rectifier, which

supplies the load with a suitably regulated direct current. Although not shown in the figure, these
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systems often include impedance matching networks for achieving an acceptable transmissive

efficiency between source and load.

The systems can be represented as an resistor, inductor and capacitor (RLC) circuit in which,

at the resonance frequency, the energy oscillates between the inductor L where it is stored in the

magnetic field and the capacitor C where it is accumulated in the electric field. The quality with

which the resonator accumulates energy is defined by the quality factor Q, which is a function of

the resonance frequency w0 and of the loss factor Γ:

When two similar resonators are placed close to each other at the resonance frequency, a

coupling occurs between them, enabling a transfer of energy. The following formula gives the

optimal efficiency with which the power transfer takes place:

As can be seen, it depends solely on the merit factor U which indicates the goodness of the

coupling. Compared to the magnetic inductive coupling, the resonant magnetic coupling has

considerable advantages:

 the absence of ferrite cores makes them lighter and therefore more integrable;

 the distances between transmitter and receiver can reach up to 4 meters without the

highly limiting constraint of a perfect alignment between the two loops;

The alignment of the receiving and transmission coils in the flow field and the distance between

the coils determine the efficiency with which the energy is transmitted. The resonance frequency,

the ratio between the dimensions of the transmission coils, and those of the receiving coils, the

coupling factor, the winding impedance, and the parasitic currents of the coil are other factors

that have a great impact on the transmission efficiency energy.

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Further, the hardware requirements of wireless power transfer include HF-Transformer, HF-

diodes, rectifier, basic Transistors, Two air filled inductor coils, Voltage regulator and BLDC

fan. The WPT block diagram is illustrated in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Wireless Power Transfer Block Diagram

High Frequency (HF) transformers transfer electric power and the physical size are reliant on the

power to be transformed as well as the operating frequency. The EMF equation of universal

transformer indicates that at a higher frequency, the core flux density will be lower for a given

voltage. This implies that a core can have a smaller cross-sectional area (Elusakinet al., 2014).

A voltage regulator is an electrical regulator, designed to maintain a constant level voltage

automatically. A voltage regulator may use a simple feed-forward design or may

include negative feedback. It may use an electromechanical mechanism, or electronic

components. Depending on the design, it may be used to regulate one or

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more AC or DC voltages (Mariyaet al., 2014). Electronic voltage regulators are found in devices

such as computer power supplies where they stabilize the DC voltages used by the processor and

other elements. In automobile alternators and central power station generator plants, voltage

regulators control the output of the plant. In an electric power distribution system, voltage

regulators may be installed at a substation or along distribution lines so that all customers receive

steady voltage independent of how much power is drawn from the line (Mariyaet al., 2014).

Coil is an electric circuit, one or more turns, usually roughly circular or cylindrical, of current-

carrying wire designed to produce a magnetic field or to provide electrical resistance or

inductance; in the latter case, a coil is also called a choke coil (Wasoi, 2002). A soft iron core

placed within a coil produces an electromagnet. A cylindrical coil that moves a plunger within it

by variations in the current through the coil is known as a solenoid (q.v.). An electromagnetic

coil is formed when a conductor is wound around a core. It is primarily used to transfer energy

from one electrical circuit to another by magnetic coupling. Common types of electrical coils are

Tesla, Barker, Choke, Maxwell coil, etc.

The 1N4007 diode belongs to the silicon family of 1N400X series. It is a general-purpose

rectifying diode that serves its purpose of converting alternating current signals (AC) to direct

current signals (DC) in electronic products. The IN4007 diode is a device which allows current

flow through only one direction. That is the current should always flow from the Anode to

cathode. For 1N 4007 Diode, the maximum current carrying capacity is 1A it withstand peaks up

to 30A (Syed et al., 2014). Since these diodes only allow electrical current to flow in one

direction, they are used to convert AC power into DC power. When constructing a rectifier, it is

important to choose the correct diode for the job; otherwise, the circuit may become damaged.

When the voltage at the cathode is greater than the anode voltage, the diode will not conduct
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electrical current. In practice, however, the diode conducts a small current under these

circumstances. If the voltage differential becomes great enough, the current across the diode will

increase and the diode will break down.

Standards for Wireless Energy Transfer

The Qi system is a standard for wireless power transfer. It consists of two basic modules, namely

the base station and the mobile device. Its architecture of the highest level is represented in

Figure 3.

Figure 3: Qi architecture (Kadiri et al., 2015).

The base station includes one or more power transmitters: each of them can provide wireless

power transfer functionality to a single mobile device at a time and consists in principle of a

power conversion unit and a control unit and communication. The Qi standard is already present

on the consumer market, aboard a wide range of mobile devices. But even the developed world
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can benefit from this technology thanks to projects like the recent TIDA-00881, a Texas

Instruments board designed to add to other TI low-power boards (including those of the

Launchpad series) the power supply functionality wireless Qi-compliant (Kadiri et al., 2015).

Infineon offers power MOSFETs for many wireless charging standards and is an active member

of the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) and AirFuel Alliance, the two leading corporate

consortiums for wireless charging technology. The AirFuel Alliance defined a standard for

resonant WPT, which operates at a frequency of 6.78 MHz and allows charging of multiple

devices simultaneously. In particular, BSZ0909ND is suitable for wireless charging architectures

or piloting components (for example, in drones or multi-engines) where designers need to

simplify the layout and significantly save space, without compromising efficiency.

Challenges of Wireless Power Transfer

If wireless charging is to become disruptive, it will need to overcome some disadvantages first.

They range from initial investment to security issues. Right now, the initial cost of wireless

charging is high. It will deter people from buying since wired charging is cheaper. This price will

likely drop as wireless charging becomes more widespread, but for now, it remains costly.

Interference and long-distance prove to be another impediment. Some wireless charging requires

that the device is on a pad or station to work. With others, the farther away the gadget is, the less

the charging works. Potential interference from other wireless power transfer devices may get in

the way as well.

Though experts believe wireless charging has similar levels of radiation as regular methods,

people will need to know that it’s okay, as many are afraid of radiation. Security could be a

problem, too. Any form of wireless transfer makes devices susceptible to security breaches.
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Need for Implementation of WPT

Every year, billions of disposable batteries are sold. The global alkaline battery market is

predicted to reach $11 billion by 2028. Many of these batteries are bought by individual

consumers, but businesses also consume huge numbers. By our estimate, one major retailer alone

can go through 100 million batteries a year. Few people realize how inefficient batteries are. The

amount of energy they provide is infinitesimal compared to how much energy it takes to create

them and get them to the user. The implementation of WPT can be a solution to the challenge.

The needs for implementation of WPT are presented below.

Environmental Benefits

Businesses are increasingly under pressure to improve their ESG (Environmental, Social and

Governance) operations. Gartner reported recently that CEOs in its annual survey “placed

environmental sustainability in their top 10 strategic business priorities for the first time. When

done right, wireless power can significantly improve energy efficiency and reduce waste. This is

because companies no longer have to dispose of huge numbers of batteries, plus fewer cords and

cables are needed. Currently, many of these end up in the trash every year, leaking dangerous

chemicals. There is some confusion around the environmental impact of wireless power. It’s

important for anyone looking to invest in this technology to learn the different types available.

Using Infrared (IR) light rather than radio signals, for example, is more efficient because IR is

much more easily directable.

WPT can make Businesses Lead the Way

Households stand to gain a great deal from wireless power in the future. And some are already

dipping their toes in these waters, starting with smart door locks and toothbrushes. But right now,
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businesses are leading the way—particularly retail. To entice people back to brick and mortar,

businesses are looking to build technologies into the on-site customer experience. These include

interactive displays, smart shopping carts and more. They’re also grappling with limited staff and

need to use technology to make up for it—for example, by introducing smart shelf technologies

that alert managers when a product is running low on the shelves.

As retailers work to set up new technologies, they face the problem of how to keep everything

running. For larger retailers faced with the issue of traditional power being expensive to install,

beaming power from a remote wireless power transmitter to multiple devices can be an efficient

solution. If you are a retailer looking to adopt this technology, start by analyzing your battery

use. Also, envision how things could operate differently without batteries or cords and determine

which labor-intensive tasks could best be solved by technology—particularly sensors that could

do jobs you currently count on people to do. Then, pick one area to try out wireless power.

There’s no need to solve everything on day one. Implement it, experience it and see how it

improves operations.

Enables the Internet of Things

Wireless power doesn’t just help improve the functionality of technologies that already exist. It

also leads to the creation of entirely new gadgets. As Market Prospects put it, “Wireless power

has a major impact on almost all fields because it enables the Internet of Things to achieve and

develop faster.”

From emergency call buttons to air quality gauges and long-lasting drones, a whole world of new

devices is made possible. As is often the case, businesses that learn to harness these new

opportunities can lead the way in creating the next big things.
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Wireless power transfer (WPT) can be used either to directly power the device such as LED

lights or a TV or to recharge a battery such as a mobile phone by simply placing it on aboard.

Communication between medical devices implanted in the human body and external equipment

has long been known. An example is given by the diagnostics parameters transmitted by a

peacemaker toward the outside. In this application, an inductive coupling between a small turn

placed in the device case and a larger one positioned on the patient’s chest allows

communication.

However, implanted medical devices need to be properly powered and, although the use of

lithium-ion batteries allows them to operate autonomously, their replacement requires invasive

operations with relative risks to the patient’s health. WPT technology can remedy this problem

through wireless charging systems. In recent years, the application of WPT technology to the

sustainable e-mobility field has had a growing interest in research institutions, especially in Asia.

Today, electric vehicles need to be linked, through a connector, to an electrical socket for

recharging the batteries. Wireless power transfer allows the elimination of such connectors and

enables automatic recharging.

Conclusion

The installation of electric power chain is very capital intensive, not withstanding, constant,

stable and quality power supply cannot be negotiated. The prevalent situation in the country of

paucity of fund demands that creative and innovative techniques are required to address the

problems in the electric power sector. Adequate power generation, effective transmission of the

generated power and safe distribution to the end user, will ensure the lifting of the country to be

among the industrialized nations.

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The daunting problem faced by the Nigeria power sector are due to recurrent collapse of the

power grid as result of the heavy winds, water and vandalism of the network by the hoodlums,

thieves and construction site workers. The overloading experience that characterized the nation

grid equipment causes the tripping of such grid, loss of voltage and imminent collapse of the

entire network. Protracted power outage is harmful to the productivity of both industry and

individual and this brings a great deal of discomfort to all. Sustenance of stable power supply to

the consumers all over the world is tasking and entails hard work and consistent dedication and

faithfulness on the part of the stakeholders.

The proliferation of wireless and ubiquity in telecommunication industry is affecting the lifestyle

globally. This tremendous change has impacted virtually every field of profession and

organization now, power sector cannot therefore afford to be left behind, It is time this sector

goes wireless in their networks systems approach. Nigeria can be lightened up by engaging

Wireless Power transmission technology. The percentage energy losses can be avertedly engaged

for useful application to the benefits of all.

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