Capacitance Tuning Method for Maximum Output Power in Multiple-Transmitter Wireless Power Transfer System

Abstract

It is common knowledge that wireless power transfer (WPT) systems with multiple transmitters (Txs) and a single receiver (Rx) have robust efficiency against lateral misalignment. However, the unnecessary coupling among Txs in actual multi-Tx WPT systems causes transmission efficiency degradation, and then additional tuning work is required to adjust some system parameters, such as the phase or frequency of Tx sources. Moreover, the frequency-splitting phenomenon caused by over-coupling between the Txs and Rx still occurs in multi-Tx systems. Thus, output power degradation is inevitable in the over-coupled state. In this article, we propose an optimal capacitance tuning method that is applicable to multi-Tx WPT systems. A multi-Tx WPT system tuned with the optimal capacitances, which are obtained from the critical coupling condition between Txs and Rx, not only compensates the inner coupling among Txs but also achieves the maximum output power in the over-coupled state. To verify the validity of the proposed method, we implemented two-and three-Tx and single Rx WPT systems and measured the output power of load with respect to the Rx position along the $x$ - and $y$ -axes. As a result, with the proposed method without any changes in the operating frequency or phase, the systems could deliver higher output power than the conventional phase-controlled system. In particular, with the proposed method, the systems maintained the constant maximum transmission efficiency of 80% in the over-coupled state.