Abstract:
This tutorial aims at familiarizing the audience with the fundamentals, design, optimization, and some of the latest developments in key building blocks of the rapidly growing Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) mechanism in a wide range of applications from mm-sized implantable medical devices (IMD) with power consumption in the micro-watt range, to electric vehicles (EV) with power consumption in the tens to hundreds of kilo-watt range. Being developed and presented by two experts, who have decades of experience conducting cutting-edge research in this field, a unique feature of this tutorial is looking at the abovementioned topics from the two opposite ends of the power spectrum, μW to kW, providing the audience with a full coverage of the ins and outs of WPT technology, while emphasizing on both the common themes and the major differences in device and circuit design for various applications at different power levels. The tutorial will cover the entire power flow from the energy source, RF power amplifier, and driver circuitry on the transmitter (Tx) side to geometrical design and optimization of the two or more coils that constitute the inductive link, to the matching, AC-DC conversion, and power management blocks on the receiver (Rx) side. Safe and robust system design considerations in response to non-idealities and various types of disturbances to the WPT circuits, such as misalignments, load variations, heat dissipation, and interference will be discussed, while looking at both open-loop andclosed-loop system behaviors.