Minor Project Report

on
‘WIRELESS ENERGY TRANSFER’

Submitted by Sriram Venkateshan (B. Tech EE IV)

Sreshtha Mohan (B. Tech EE IV)

Submission Date: 06.12.2010

 Wireless energy transfer

Acknowledgements

We are greatly indebted to Prof Pramod Agarwal for accepting to guide us in

such an unorthodox topic, that we chose for this project and for providing us full
support in all respects. We thank Prof Vipul Rastogi for referring us to the
appropriate material and helping us understand the concepts involved. We thank
Mr. Gautam, for assisting us with the lab work, procuring us the needed
components, instruments, and allowing us to work in the lab. We also thank our
close classmate Mohit Choradia for sharing/spending time with us throughout the
time we worked on this project.

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 Wireless energy transfer

Table of contents

Acknowledgements 1

Table of contents 2

List of figures and tables 3

1. Abstract 4
2. Introduction 5
3. The Evanescent Magnetic Field
3.1. The far field 7
3.2. The near field 7
3.2.1. The radiative near field 8
3.2.2. The reactive near field 8
3.3. Summary 9
3.4. Alternative explanation for the method of coupling 9
4. Theory 11
4.1. Analysis of the scheme 11
4.2. Theoretical model for self-resonant coils 15
4.3. Simulation and results 17
5. Design and description of the experimental setup 21
5.1. Design of the coils 22
5.2. Design of the supply 22
5.3. Design of the load 23
6. Experimental observations and results 24
6.1. Frequency characteristics 24
6.2. Distance characteristics 25
6.3. Observational remarks 26
7. Conclusions 27

References 28

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 Wireless energy transfer

List of Figures and tables

Fig. 1 Theoretical frequency characteristics

Fig. 2 Theoretical distance characteristics

Fig. 3 Schematic of the experimental setup

Fig. 4 Non-inverting amplifier circuit using OPA 548

Fig. 5 Experimental frequency characteristics

Fig. 6 Experimental distance characteristics

Fig. 7 Scheme for implementation of the discussed scheme in DC load

applications

Table. 1 Experimental readings for frequency characteristics

Table. 2 Experimental readings for distance characteristics

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 Wireless energy transfer

1. Abstract

Wireless energy transfer based on coupled magnetic resonances is a new technology which
energy can be transferred via coupled magnetic resonances in the non-radiative near field. A
simple energy transfer system structure is analyzed in this project. Based on the power and
distance specifications of the energy transfer in question, the experimental setup is designed
and with available resources, realized. The back electromotive force (back-EMF) in the receiving
coil and the efficiency of the transfer related with different transfer distance and with driving
frequency is observed with the realized apparatus. These results, along with the theoretical
predictions for the same, can be used to prove that the scheme used is appropriate for energy
transfer over midrange distances. Some basic modifications which could be done to improve
the scheme’s performance, but could not implemented due to lack of time and resources, are
also suggested.

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 Wireless energy transfer

2. Introduction

In the early days of electromagnetism, before the electrical wire grid was deployed, serious
interest and effort was devoted (most notably by Nikola Tesla) towards the development of
schemes to transport energy over long distances without any carrier medium (i.e. wirelessly).
These efforts appear to have met with little success. Radiative modes of omni-directional
antennas (which work very well for information transfer) are not suitable for such energy
transfer, because a vast majority of energy is wasted into free space.

Directed radiation modes, using lasers or highly-directional antennas, can be efficiently used for
energy transfer, even for long distances (transfer distance LTRANS >> LDEV, where LDEV is the
characteristic size of the device), but require existence of an uninterruptible line-of-sight and a
complicated tracking system in the case of mobile objects. The use of such schemes in layman
applications is very complex and thus limited.

However, unlike the time of Tesla, now we are faced with an entirely different challenge. Since
the existing electrical-wire grid carries energy almost everywhere, transmission of power over
long distances for power wheeling, is not at all in the question. Even a medium-range (LTRANS ≈
few LDEV) wireless energy transfer would be quite useful for many applications. Rapid
development of autonomous electronics of recent years (e.g. laptops, cell-phones, house-hold
robots, that all typically rely on chemical energy storage) which has led to invention of various
gadgets, justifies revisiting investigation of this issue.

Wireless energy transfer involves the second major difficulty as the radiation of the energy into
space. This is due to two primary problems: one, which is the efficiency. For radiation of energy,
a significant amount of energy could get radiated into free space and thus wasted. This would
drastically decrease the efficiency. The second is the concern on the safety of the scheme, and
its effects with respect to life and health. Because of the above reasons, normally non-radiative
schemes are preferred.

There are several currently used schemes, which rely on non-radiative modes (magnetic
induction), but they are restricted to very close-range (LTRANS << LDEV). In contrast to all the
above schemes, an experiment conducted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
investigated the feasibility of using oscillatory resonant electromagnetic modes, with localized
evanescent field patterns, for efficient wireless non-radiative mid-range energy transfer. The
proposed method is based on the well known principle of resonant coupling (the fact that two
same-frequency resonant objects tend to couple, while interacting weakly with other off-
resonant environmental objects) and, in particular, resonant evanescent coupling (where the

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 Wireless energy transfer

coupling mechanism is mediated through the overlap of the non- radiative near fields of the
two objects). This well known physics leads trivially to the result that energy can be efficiently
coupled between objects in the extremely near field (e.g. in optical waveguide or cavity
couplers and in resonant inductive electric transformers). Detailed theoretical analysis shows
that even an efficient mid-range wireless energy exchange can actually be achieved, while
suffering only modest transfer and dissipation of energy into other off-resonant objects,
provided the exchange system is carefully designed to operate in a regime of ‘‘strong coupling’’
compared to all intrinsic loss rates. The physics of ‘‘strong coupling’’ is also known but in very
different areas, such as those of light-matter interactions. In this favorable operating regime,
the following question can be addressed quantitatively: up to which distances can such a
scheme be efficient and how sensitive is it to external perturbations? The omni-directional but
stationary nature of the near field makes this mechanism suitable for mobile wireless receivers.
It could therefore have a variety of possible applications including for example, placing a source
(connected to the wired electricity network) on the ceiling of a factory room, while devices
(robots, vehicles, computers, or similar) are roaming freely within the room. Other possible
applications include electric engine buses, RFIDs, and perhaps even nano-robots.

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 Wireless energy transfer

3. The evanescent magnetic field

The coupling of the two systems used in transmission, can be done in any manner, until the
resonant modes of the oscillation in both the systems match. However, if the coupling occurs
with every object, no efficient transfer would occur. Thus, reactive magnetic fields are being
used in the scheme considered. The field surrounding a transmitting system can be categorized
as follows:

3.1. The far field

The far-field region is the region in space around the oscillator, where the angular field
distribution is essentially independent of distance from the source. In the far field, the shape of
the angular energy distribution is independent of distance from the transmitting oscillator. If
the source has a maximum overall dimension ‘D’ that is large compared to the wavelength ‘λ’,
the far-field region is commonly taken to exist at distances from the source, greater than
Fresnel parameter S = D2/(4λ), S > 1.

3.2. The near field

The near-field, which is inside about one wavelength distance from the transmitter, is a region
in which there are strong inductive and capacitive effects from the currents and charges in the
transmitter, which do not behave like far-field radiation. These effects decrease in power far
more quickly with distance, than does the far-field radiation power. Also, absorption of radiated
power in this region does have effects which feedback to the transmitter, increasing the load on
the transmitter that feeds the transmitter by decreasing the system impedance that the
transmitter sees. Thus, the transmitter can sense that power has been absorbed from the near-
field zone, and if this power is not absorbed, the transmitter does not draw as much power. The
transition zone between these regions is the distance from one to two wavelengths from the
source, in which both near and far field effects are important, and in which near field behavior
dies out and ceases to become important, leaving far-field effects as the dominant interaction.
The near field is further divided into two sub parts, as below:

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 Wireless energy transfer

3.2.1. The radiative near field

This field is seen where the effects of the feedback cannot be clearly seen due to significant lag
in phase between the feedback and generated fluxes. This field does not contribute to any extra
power input from the source as its effect is not detected at the transmitter at all.

3.2.2. The reactive near field

In a close range to the source, (the terminology just implies that the range is small compared to
the far field transmission distances used in radio communications) the relationship between the
strengths of the E and H fields is often too complex to predict. Both field component (E or H)
may dominate at one point, and the opposite relationship dominate at a point only a short
distance away. This makes finding the true power density in this region problematic. This is
because to calculate power, not only E and H both have to be measured, but the phase
relationship between E and H must also be known. In this reactive region, not only is an
electromagnetic wave being radiated outward into far-space, but there is a "reactive"
component to the electromagnetic field, meaning that the nature of the field around the
transmitter is sensitive to, and reacts to, EM absorption in this region (this is not true of
absorption far from the transmitter, which has no effect on the transmitter or the near-field).
Very close to the transmitter, in the reactive region, energy of certain amount, if not absorbed
by a receiver is held back and is stored very near the transmitter surface. This energy is carried
back and forth from the transmitter to the reactive near-field by electromagnetic radiation of
the type that slowly changes electrostatic and magneto-static effects. For example, current
flowing in the transmitter creates a purely magnetic component in the near-field, which then
collapses as the transmitter current begins to reverse, causing transfer of the field's magnetic
energy back to electrons in the transmitter as the changing magnetic field causes a self-
inductive effect on the transmitter that generated it. This returns energy to the transmitter in a
regenerative way, so that it is not lost. A similar process happens as electric charge builds up in
one section of the transmitter under the pressure of the signal voltage, and causes a local
electric field around that section of transmitter, due to the transmitter's self-capacitance. When
the signal reverses so that charge is allowed to flow away from this region again, the built-up
electric field assists in pushing electrons back in the new direction of their flow, as with the
discharge of any uni-polar capacitor. This again transfers energy back to the transmitter
current.

Because of this energy storage and return effect, if either of the inductive or electrostatic
effects in the reactive near-field does transfer energy to electrons in a different (nearby)
conductor, this energy is lost to the primary source, and thus an extra drain is seen on the

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 Wireless energy transfer

transmitter circuit, resulting from the reactive near-field energy which is not returned. This
constitutes the coupling that is required in the Coupled Mode Theory (CMT) equations.

3.3. Summary
Solving Maxwell's equations for the electric and magnetic fields for a localized oscillating
source, such as an antenna, surrounded by a homogeneous material (typically vacuum or air),
yields fields that, far away, decay in proportion to ‘1/r’ where r is the distance from the source.
These are the radiating fields, and the region where r is large enough for these fields to
dominate is the far field. More generally, the fields of a source in a homogeneous isotropic
medium can be written as a multi-pole expansion. The terms in this expansion are spherical
harmonics (which give the angular dependence) multiplied by spherical Bessel functions (which
give the radial dependence). For large r, the spherical Bessel functions decay as 1/r, giving the
radiated field above. As one gets closer and closer to the source (smaller r), approaching the
near field, other powers of r become significant. The next term that becomes significant is
proportional to 1/r2 and is sometimes called the induction term. It can be thought of as the
primarily magnetic energy stored in the field, and returned to the transmitter in every half-
cycle, through self-induction. For even smaller r, terms proportional to 1/r3 become significant;
this is sometimes called the electrostatic field term and can be thought of as stemming from
the electrical charge in the transmitter element.

Very close to the source, the multipole expansion is less useful (too many terms are required
for an accurate description of the fields). Rather, in the near field, it is sometimes useful to
express the contributions as a sum of radiating fields combined with evanescent fields, where
the latter are exponentially decaying with r.

3.4. Alternate explanation for the method of coupling

The fields around a transmitter can be thought of as due to two main reasons. They are given
below.

The transmitter itself, when visualized as a waveguide, gives rise to several modes of
oscillations within it. Some modes, due to indices of the material of the transmitter and the
surrounding medium, portray themselves as leaky, and thus the radiative fields originate in the
space around the transmitter. Also due to TIR at the surface of the so called waveguide, the
incident wave is totally manifested as the reflected wave inside the material. This gives rise to a
non travelling wave solution in free space, which decays in the direction perpendicular to
wavefronts of the solution, which are called evanescent waves.

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 Wireless energy transfer

Mathematically,

…3.1

represents the real power of the wave. As all the power of the incident wave is seen at the
reflected wave, assuming lossless reflection, the wave at the transmitter surface has either

…3.2

or

As, the medium outside need not be lossless, the first case is impossible. So, by second case,
the wave ceases to be a travelling wave. However, the conclusion from the fact that the
absorbed energy is zero is from the fact that, if there was a coupling through these evanescent
waves, and power was consumed by them, the source would just feed in the extra power to
maintain the power in the transmitter waveguide unchanged. So, a coupling with these waves
can produce an energy transfer as needed.

Also, as these waves do not die out with time, they can be stable and thus maintain the energy
transfer method with any attenuation with time. These waves, for a coil as the transmitter, are
predominantly magnetic and thus do not harm people and life. So, they can be used without
any difficulties. Moreover, normal substances, which may block the line of sight between
transmitter and receiver, are diamagnetic and thus do not change the field, thus producing no
effect on the power transferred.

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 Wireless energy transfer

4. Theory

4.1. Analysis of the scheme

Using the above discussions, we can start analyzing the scheme. The range and rate of the
proposed wireless energy-transfer scheme are the first subjects of examination, without
considering yet energy drainage from the system for use into work.

Efficient midrange power transfer occurs in particular regions of the parameter space
describing resonant objects strongly coupled to one another. An appropriate analytical
framework for modeling this resonant energy-exchange is that of the well-known coupled-
mode theory (CMT). Using coupled-mode theory to describe this physical system, we obtain
the following set of linear equations:

…4.1

where F1,2(r) are the eigenmodes of 1 and 2 alone, and then the field amplitudes a1(t) and a2(t)
can be shown to satisfy, to lowest order:

…4.2

where

where the indices denote the different resonant objects. The variables a m(t) are defined so that
the energy contained in object m is |a m(t)|2, ωm is the resonant angular frequency of that
isolated object, and Γm is its intrinsic decay rate (e.g. due to absorption and radiated losses). In
this framework, an uncoupled and undriven oscillator with parameters ω0 and Γ0 would evolve
in time.

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 Wireless energy transfer

This is given by

…4.3

The κmn = κnm are coupling coefficients between the resonant objects indicated by the
subscripts, and Fm(t) are driving terms.

We limit the treatment to the case of two objects, denoted by source and device, such that the
source (identified by the subscript S) is driven externally at a constant frequency, and the two
objects have a coupling coefficient κ. Work is extracted from the device (subscript D) by means
of a load (subscript W) that acts as a circuit resistance connected to the device, and has the
effect of contributing an additional term ΓW to the unloaded device object’s decay rate ΓD. The
overall decay rate at the device is therefore Γ’D = ΓD + ΓW. The work extracted is determined by
the power dissipated in the load, that

…4.4

Taking the case of two objects as above, the equations are

…4.5

…4.6

Here, the source has a forcing term, which is the supply. But the receiver side has no source,
but on the other hand, has an extra loss term representing the load on the receiver coil.
Differentiating the two equations, we get

…4.7

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 Wireless energy transfer

…4.8

Using the equations 4.7, 4.8 and substituting 4.5 and 4.6 in them, we get

…4.9

…4.10

Multiplying by appropriate terms and adding 4.9 and 4.10 to eliminate aD(t), we get

…4.11

This can be solved in the frequency realm to yield a result, through Laplace transforms as

…4.12

…4.13

In frequency domain, s = iω, so

…4.14

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 Wireless energy transfer

The efficiency is given by

…4.15

Substituting 4.14 in 4.15 and maximizing G by putting ω=ωD, we get

…4.16

To maximize this efficiency, differentiate 4.16 with respect to Γ W, and equate to 0. Then we get

…4.17

Substituting 4.17 into 4.16, we get

…4.18

This increases when the term,

So, this is chosen as the figure of merit for the scheme.

This is commonly referred to as the strong coupling regime. Resonance plays an essential role in
this power transfer mechanism, as the efficiency is improved by approximately ω2/ΓD2 (≈106 for
typical parameters) relative to the case of inductively coupled non-resonant objects.

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 Wireless energy transfer

4.2. Theoretical model for self-resonant coils

The experimental realization of the scheme consists of two self-resonant coils. One coil (the
source coil) is coupled inductively to an oscillating circuit; the other (the device coil) is coupled
inductively to a resistive load. (Fig. 5.1, page 21). Self-resonant coils rely on the interplay
between distributed inductance and distributed capacitance to achieve resonance. The coils are
made of an electrically conducting wire of total length ‘l’ and cross-sectional radius a wound
into a helix of n turns, radius r, and height h. Assuming the simple quasi-static model,
calculations are made for the field distributions of the helical coils. It can be observed that the
current must be zero at the ends of the coil, and we can make the educated guess that the
resonant modes of the coil are well approximated by sinusoidal current profiles along the
length of the conducting wire. We are interested in the lowest mode, so if we denote by s the
parameterization coordinate along the length of the conductor, such that it runs from −l/2 to
+l/2, then the time-dependent current profile has the form I0 cos(πs/l) exp(iωt).

It follows from the continuity equation for charge that the linear charge density profile is of the
form l0 sin(πs/l) exp(iωt), so that one-half of the coil (when sliced perpendicularly to its axis)
contains an oscillating total charge (of amplitude q0=λl/π) that is equal in magnitude but
opposite in sign to the charge in the other half. As the coil is resonant, the current and charge
density profiles are π/2 out of phase from each other, meaning that the real part of one is
maximum, when the real part of the other is zero. Equivalently, the energy contained in the coil
is at certain points in time completely due to the current, and at other points it is completely
due to the charge. Using electromagnetic theory, we can define an effective inductance L and
an effective capacitance C for each coil as follows:

…4.19

where

N=number of turns

R=radius of the coil

μr=relative permeability

μ0=permeability of free space

a=cross-sectional radius of the wire

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 Wireless energy transfer

…4.20

Where the formula is just empirical and gives an approximate of the capacitance, in conjunction
with the geometry of the object. As defined, L and C have the property that the energy U
contained in the coil is given by

…4.21

Given this relation and the equation of continuity, the resulting resonant frequency is

…4.22

We can now treat this coil as a standard oscillator in coupled-mode theory by defining

…4.23

We can estimate the power dissipated by noting that the sinusoidal profile of the current
distribution implies that the spatial average of the peak current squared is |I 0|2/2. For a coil
with n turns and made of a material with conductivity σ, we modify the standard formulas for
Ohmic (Ro) and radiation (Rr) resistance accordingly:

…4.24

…4.25

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 Wireless energy transfer

The first term in Eq. is a magnetic dipole radiation term (assuming r << 2πc/ω, where c is the
speed of light); the second term is due to the electric dipole of the coil and is smaller than the
first term for our experimental parameters. The coupled-mode theory decay constant for the
coil is therefore Γ = (Ro + Rr)/2L, and its quality factor is Q = ω/2Γ.

We find the coupling coefficient κDS by looking at the power transferred from the source to the
device coil, assuming a steady-state solution in which currents and charge densities vary in time
as exp(iωt):

…4.26

where M is the effective mutual inductance, the subscript S indicates the current in the source.
We can then conclude from standard coupled-mode theory arguments that

…4.27

When the distance D between the centers of the coils is much larger than their characteristic
size, κ scales with the D−3 dependence characteristic of dipole-dipole coupling. Both κ and Γ are
functions of the frequency, and κ/Γ and the efficiency are maximized for a particular value of f.
Thus, picking an appropriate frequency for a given coil size, as we do in this experimental
demonstration, plays a major role in optimizing the power transfer.

4.3. Simulation and results

The above equations are used to calculate the performance of the setup theoretically. Using
the solution of the differential equations mentioned above, and the parameters given below,
we get the plots which are shown later.

MATLAB is used for the calculation and plotting of results. The code implemented and the
resulting plots are shown below. Here, the values of the setup dimensions and parameters are
taken the same as the values for which the experimental apparatus is designed, for the sake of
clear comparison of the results.

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 Wireless energy transfer

%INIT.m:

%Constants

j=sqrt(-1);
MU0=4*pi*1e-7;
EPSILON0=8.8541878e-12;
c=3e8;

%Source specifications

Vs=8;
%OMEGA=2*pi*2e5;

%Apparatus dimensions and materials

%D=.1; %Distance
RL=5000; %Load resistance

%Source end:

ap=.8e-3; %Cross sectional radius of

the source coil
Rp=4.55e-2; %Radius of the source coil
Np=53; %Number of turns in source
coil
N=13; %Cross sectional radius of
the transmitter coil
a=1.8e-3; %Radius of the transmitter
coil
R=5.64e-2; %Number of turns in
transmitter coil
SIGMA=5.8e7; %Conductivity of transmitter
coil

%Circuit parameters

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 Wireless energy transfer

L=(N^2)*R*MU0*(log(8*R/a)-2);
C=1e-8;
OMEGA1=1/sqrt(L*C);
R0=(sqrt(MU0*OMEGA/(2*SIGMA)))*N*R/2/a;
Rr=(sqrt(MU0/EPSILON0))*pi*(N^2)*((OMEGA*R/c)^4)/12;

%Performance analysis

GAMMA=(R0+Rr)/(2*L);
M=pi*MU0*N*N*((R*R)^2)/(4*(D^3));
KAPPA=OMEGA*M/(2*sqrt(L*L));
GAMMAw=RL*((N/Np)^2)/2/L;
F=(N/Np)*Vs/sqrt(L/2);
Gds=j*KAPPA/(j*OMEGA-j*OMEGA1+GAMMA+GAMMAw);
AmpGds=abs(Gds);
ETA=GAMMAw*(AmpGds^2)/(GAMMA+(GAMMA+GAMMAw)*(AmpGds^2));

%END

%MAIN CODE:

D=0.12;
for i=400:1000
OMEGA=2*pi*i*1e3;
freq(i)=OMEGA/2/pi;
INIT
eff(i)=ETA;
end

OMEGA=2*pi*612e3;
for i=1:100
D=i*2e-3;
dis(i)=D;
INIT
eff(i)=ETA;
end

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 Wireless energy transfer

The plots using the simulation are shown below:

Frequency Characteristics

Fig. 1

Distance Characteristics

Fig. 2

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 Wireless energy transfer

5. Design and description of the experimental

setup
With respect to the specifications of power and distance of the power transfer, the system is
designed as shown below. The equations used, which are also shown side by side, are all
derived from the basic equations of 3.

Specifications:

Supply voltage = 10 V amplitude.

Maximum power transfer distance = 20 cm

Maximum power that may be transferred ≈ 10 W

Maximum current through the input or output side = 2 A

The schematic of the experimental setup is shown in the figure below

Fig 3

A is a thin copper coil of radius 4.64 cm that is part of the driving circuit, which outputs a sine
wave with frequency 100-1000 kHz. S and D are respectively the source and device coils
referred to in the text. B is a loop of wire attached to the load (light bulb). The first coupling
from the source is inductive, as the distance is very small and the frequencies do not match
very well. The same can be said on the load end as well, where the load and the receiver coil do
not have matching resonant frequencies. The middle coupling is made strongly resonant by
careful construction of the two coils, which are completely similar. However, a weak direct
coupling also occurs from the source to load coil due to similarity in their construction.

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 Wireless energy transfer

5.1. Design of the coils

As the evanescent field propagation is upto 1 to 1.5 times the device size, for 20 cm, let the
diameter of the coils be 10 cm.

So, R = 5 cm

Resonant frequency of the coil is dependent on both the inductance and the capacitance, which
would yield the resonant frequency near a midrange of the supply capacity i.e. 500 kHz, if we
choose a cross-sectional diameter of 1.626 mm (from the standard wire gauge to support
maximum 2A with copper having tolerance 4A /mm2), we would have to take on

C = 0.98463 nF

So, for a given resonant frequency as 500 kHz,

L = 0.10504 mH

Then the value of N is

N ≈ 14 turns

The experimental values of inductance agree with the theoretical prediction. So the resonant
frequency would come in the required range. Now, for the source and load coils, if we design
both with the same dimensions for the ease of construction,

as the maximum driving current of the supply is 100 mA, the no load current should be 1
percent of this, making the inductance of the coil as

L = 0.31 mH, designing at 50 kHz

Then for a small diameter, which yields higher inductance, the value of N can be calculated as

N > 32

A large value of N is chosen to make to safe for low frequencies as well. Thus, N ≈ 50

5.2 Design of the supply

The supply provided was capable of handling 100 mA at a high frequency, and should give a
true sine wave at this frequency. The primary idea would be to construct a power oscillator.
But, as this involves a lot of high frequency components (as is the case with any power amplifier
for the high frequency), we use a power Opamp, OPA 548.

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 Wireless energy transfer

The basic non-inverting amplifier circuit using the OPA 548 is shown below

Fig. 4

Without the capacitances, the opamp can still function properly without, any damage and
fluctuation in the output. So, the above circuit is used without the capacitors shown. The supply
signal to the power opamp is given by a function generator with peak amplitude as 15 V. The
regulated dc supply is used for biasing the opamp. Gain is set at 10 by putting R1 = 1 kΩ and R2 =
10 kΩ. Supply in put is adjusted for a faithful output without clipping at saturation levels.

5.3 Design of the load

Though a more suitable load could be chosen, a simple resistance in series with small LED’s
could serve the same purpose without any hindrances. The values of Γ W calculated for optimum
efficiency is 5-10.

So, for the above inductance of the load coil, the resistance is 10-30 kΩ.

Waveforms for measurement of efficiency are all observed through a cathode ray oscilloscope.

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 Wireless energy transfer

6. Experimental observations and results:

6.1. Frequency characteristics
The setup is supplied with various frequencies at a fixed distance, and the frequency response of the scheme is
checked. As expected theoretically, the resonance can be observed. The readings are shown below

Supply voltage = 7.625 V Supply resistance = 100 Ω

Load resistance =10 kΩ Distance = 10 cm
Time lag between the current and voltage = 434 ns Time period of the input voltage = 1.738 μs
So, pf = 1.807 × 10-3

Frequency Input Load Input Load Efficiency

(kHz) Voltage(mV) Voltage(mV) power(μW) power(μW) (%)
500 303 186 41.7 3.459 8.29
520 316 237.25 43.55 5.628 12.92
540 327 269.75 45.07 7.276 16.14
560 334 266.25 46.03 7.088 15.39
580 347 241 47.82 5.8081 12.14
600 358 208.25 49.34 4.336 8.788
620 366 183 50.44 3.349 6.639
640 380 161.75 52.37 2.616 5.00
660 389 144.5 53.61 2.088 3.89
680 400 132.75 55.13 1.762 3.196
700 411 123.75 56.64 1.531 2.703
Table 1

Fig. 5

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 Wireless energy transfer

6.2. Distance characteristics

Frequency = 552 kHz

Supply voltage = 7.19 V

Supply resistance = 100 Ω
Time lag between the current and voltage waveforms of the input = 434 ns
Time period of the supply voltage = 1.811 μs

Power factor angle = 89.8˚

Distance Supply Load Supply Load Efficiency

(cm) Voltage(mV) Voltage(mV) power(μW) power(μW) (%)
3 331 586 83.07 34.34 41.34
4 325 535 81.57 28.62 35.09
5 327 439 82.07 19.27 23.48
6 329 379 82.57 14.36 17.39
7 327 337 83.07 11.36 13.68
8 327 308 83.07 9.49 11.42
9 325 286 81.57 8.18 10.03
12 327 275 82.07 7.56 9.21
15 333 273 83.58 7.45 8.91
Table 2

Fig. 6

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 Wireless energy transfer

6.3 Observational remarks

 Characteristics of the scheme shows that the efficiency is maximum at a specific
frequency, proving that this is not the ordinary inductive coupling, through which the
energy transfer is taking place.

 The efficiency of the scheme decreases as the cube of the distance due to the variation
of the mutual inductance of the two coils in consideration.

 The difference in theoretical and experimental observations is apparent, and can be

explained in the following ways

o Tuning is intrinsic and the exact matching of resonant frequencies has not been
achieved. This is due to the fact that tuning would require variable inductances
or capacitances to fine tune the resonance of the two coils.

o The system realized, though easy in analyzing, consists of two inductive coupled
systems (one at the source and the transmitting coil, the other at the load and
receiving coil). This causes considerable leakage and leads to low power factors.
The input power measurement, which has been primarily done through
measurement of voltages, currents and time lag between them, gets adversely
affected by the low pf, as even a small error in the measurement of the time lag,
causes a considerable change in the pf, and thus the input power. (Output power
is measured just by the square of the output voltage).

 The low power involved in the experiment is mainly due to lack of an appropriate power
supply. This could be solved by use of high frequency power oscillators.

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 Wireless energy transfer

7. Conclusions
 Mid range energy transfer is observed to be possible by evanescent magnetic field
coupling, and the efficiency is significant enough for low power (upto a few watts)
applications.
 The range of transfer, as determined by the characteristic size of the devices, could be
maintained unchanged even when decreasing the size of the receiver, by making the
product of the sizes of both devices constant. Hence, although the two coils are
currently of identical dimensions, it is possible to make the device coil small enough to
fit into portable devices without decreasing the efficiency.
 Though in our considered apparatus, tuning has been inherent and required no external
tuning, we can still conclude that the matching of the resonant modes of both the coils
plays the most important role in the energy transfer. A slight detuning would cause the
system to deliver near zero power.
 External objects have a noticeable effect only when they are within a few centimeters
from either one of the coils. Some materials (such as aluminum foil, Styrofoam, and
humans) mostly just shift the resonant frequency, which can in principle be easily
corrected with a feedback circuit; other materials (cardboard, wood, and polyvinyl
chloride) lower Q when placed closer than a few centimeters from the coil, thereby
lowering the efficiency of the transfer.
 Using appropriate drive circuitry for the supply side could facilitate the derivation of the
high frequency supply needed for the transfer, and a high frequency rectifier on the
load end, would enable the scheme to power dc loads and devices. Such a scheme is
shown below.

Fig. 7

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 Wireless energy transfer

References
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[2] Aristeidis Karalis, J.D. Joannopoulos, Marin Soljacic “Efficient wireless non-radiative mid-range energy transfer”

Annals of Physics 323, (2008) 34-48. (Accepted 17 April 2007)

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