Characterization and optimization of a wireless power transmission system by means of resonant coupling.

Abstract

Currently, there are multiple ways of transferring energy, such as Plug-DC, Plug-AC, inductive, capacitive and resonant coupling. Although wireless energy transmission has been widely studied throughout the last two centuries, recent appearance and incipient importance of electric mobility has pushed this to a higher level. After an analysis of the possible alternatives, it is seen that RF resonant coupling is not widely studied. This study starts with a finite element simulation in order to obtain the needed data and size the system optimally, and, thus, an air-core 1-turn coil system is built to do so. Air-core systems do not have any problem with saturation, and are much lighter than metal-core systems. Coil size and gap between them is chosen with data from the simulation, and results are experimentally verified. The presented results show that RF resonant coupled energy transmission is robust, as tolerance regarding axial gap and radial misalignment, as impedance and frequency can be changed to optimize every axial and radial configuration.