Abstract
PurposeIn this work, a microstrip antenna array for wireless power transfer (WPT) application is reported. The proposed 4 × 4 antenna array operating at 16 GHz is designed using a flexible Kapton polyimide substrate for a far-field charging unit (FFCU).Design/methodology/approachThe proposed antenna is designed using the transmission line model on a flexible Kapton polyimide substrate. The finite element method (FEM) is used to perform the full-wave electromagnetic analysis of the proposed design.FindingsThe antenna offers −10 dB bandwidth of 240 MHz with beam width and broadside gain found to be 29.4° and 16.38 dB, respectively. Also, a very low cross-polarization level of −34.23 dB is achieved with a radiation efficiency of 36.67%. The array is capable of scanning −15° to +15° in both the elevation and azimuth planes.Originality/valueThe radiation characteristics achieved suggest that the flexible substrate antenna is suitable for wireless charging purposes.
Highlights
With the advancement of mobile technology, devices such as wearables, tablets and smartphones get used for longer duration
Wireless power transfer (WPT) consists of a transmitter device connected to a source of power, which converts the power to a time-varying electromagnetic field and a receiver that receive the power and converts it back to dc
To the author’s best knowledge this is first time an array antenna is investigated on flexible Kapton polyimide substrate as a transmitting antenna as oppose to receiving rectennas used in RF harvesting systems
Summary
With the advancement of mobile technology, devices such as wearables, tablets and smartphones get used for longer duration. Wireless power transfer (WPT) is a generic term for transmitting energy through electromagnetic fields (Lu et al, 2016). Power is wirelessly transferred to a user terminal in indoor scenario from a distantly placed far-field charging unit (FFCU) consisting of an array antenna to focus the electromagnetic radiation toward the terminal. To the author’s best knowledge this is first time an array antenna is investigated on flexible Kapton polyimide substrate as a transmitting antenna as oppose to receiving rectennas used in RF harvesting systems. Kapton polyimide is both conformable and light weight. Kapton is chosen as substrate for antenna design having substrate thickness (h) 5 0.127 mm and dielectric constant (εsub) 5 3.2 and tan δ 5 0.012 (Yang et al, 2016)
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