Experimental and numerical investigations of the transmitting antenna in microwave wireless power transmission with forced air cooling system

Abstract

To address the heat dissipation problem of the transmitting antenna in microwave power transmission system, an optimization design approach is proposed in this paper. Based on the characteristic analysis of the transmitting antenna, an accurate simulation analysis model of three-channel heat dissipation system is established using computational fluid dynamics simulations and experiments. The influences of the structural parameters of heat sink on the heat dissipation performance of the antenna under different indexes are analyzed using the orthogonal experimental design method, and the heat sink are optimized. The results show that the fin pitch of the heat sink is the main factor influencing the maximum temperature and the temperature standard deviation, while the fin height is the main factor affecting the average temperature. Compared with the original design, the optimized heat sink can significantly improve the heat dissipation performance of the transmitting antenna, and the maximum temperature, average temperature, and temperature standard deviation are reduced by 8 °C, 5.9 °C, and 2.1 °C, respectively. The transmitting antenna prototype test verifies the heat dissipation performance of the transmitting antenna with the optimized heat sink. Therefore, the presented approach is suitable for the optimization design of the heat dissipation system of array antennas. • A forced air cooling thermal management system for the transmitting antenna is designed. • The orthogonal design method is used to optimize the plate fin heat sink of the transmitting antenna. • Multiple factor analysis is performed for the forced air cooling system. • The optimized plate fin heat sink based on the orthogonal design method achieves good performance. • Experiments are conducted to verify the thermal performance of the forced air cooling thermal management system.