Optimal Design of Wireless Power Transmission Systems Using Antenna Arrays

doi:10.12142/ZTECOM.202202004

Abstract

Abstract:

Three design methods for wireless power transmission (WPT) systems using antenna arrays have been investigated. The three methods, corresponding to three common application scenarios of WPT systems, are based on the method of maximum power transmission efficiency (MMPTE) between two antenna arrays. They are unconstrained MMPTE, weighted MMPTE, and constrained MMPTE. To demonstrate the optimal design process with the three methods, a WPT system operating at 2.45 GHz is designed, simulated, and fabricated, in which the transmitting (Tx) array, consisting of 36 microstrip patch elements, is configured as a square and the receiving (Rx) array, consisting of 5 patch elements, is configured as anL shape. The power transmission efficiency (PTE) is then maximized for the three application scenarios, which yields the maximum possible PTEs and the optimized distributions of excitations for both Tx and Rx arrays. The feeding networks are then built based on the optimized distributions of excitations. Simulations and experiments reveal that the unconstrained MMPTE, which corresponds to the application scenario where no radiation pattern shaping is involved, yields the highest PTE. The next highest PTE belongs to the weighted MMPTE, where the power levels at all the receiving elements are imposed to be equal. The constrained MMPTE has the lowest PTE, corresponding to the scenario in which the radiated power pattern is assumed to be flat along with the Rx array.

Key words: wireless power transmission system, antenna arrays, antenna pattern synthesis, feeding network

SUN Shuyi, WEN Geyi. Optimal Design of Wireless Power Transmission Systems Using Antenna Arrays[J]. ZTE Communications, 2022, 20(2): 19-27.

Add to citation manager EndNote|Reference Manager|ProCite|BibTeX|RefWorks

Figures/Tables 13

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Table 1

Table 2

Table 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Figure 7

Table 4

Figure 8

Table 5

References 40

1	BROWN W C. The history of power transmission by radio waves [J]. IEEE transactions on microwave theory and techniques, 1984, 32(9): 1230–1242. DOI: 10.1109/TMTT.1984.1132833 doi: 10.1109/TMTT.1984.1132833
2	SHINOHARA N. Wireless power transfer via radiowaves [M]. New York, USA: John Wiley & Sons, 2014
3	OKRESS E C, BROWN W, MORENO T. Microwave power engineering [J]. IEEE Spectrum, 1964, 1(10): 76–76. doi: 10.1109/MSPEC.1964.6501190 doi: 10.1109/MSPEC.1964.6501190
4	SHINOHARA N. Development of high efficient phased array for microwave power transmission of Space Solar Power Satellite/Station [C]//Proceedings of 2010 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society International Symposium. IEEE, 2010: 1–4. DOI: 10.1109/APS.2010.5562088 doi: 10.1109/APS.2010.5562088
5	MASSA A, OLIVERI G, VIANI F, et al. Array designs for long‑distance wireless power transmission: state‑of‑the‑art and innovative solutions [J]. Proceedings of the IEEE, 2013, 101(6): 1464–1481. DOI: 10.1109/JPROC.2013.2245491 doi: 10.1109/JPROC.2013.2245491
6	NGUYEN P T, ABBOSH A M, CROZIER S. 3‑D focused microwave hyperthermia for breast cancer treatment with experimental validation [J]. IEEE transactions on antennas and propagation, 2017, 65(7): 3489–3500. DOI: 10.1109/TAP.2017.2700164 doi: 10.1109/TAP.2017.2700164
7	CHOW E Y, YANG C L, OUYANG Y H, et al. Wireless powering and the study of RF propagation through ocular tissue for development of implantable sensors [J]. IEEE transactions on antennas and propagation, 2011, 59(6): 2379–2387. DOI: 10.1109/TAP.2011.2144551 doi: 10.1109/TAP.2011.2144551
8	LI S Q, MI C C. Wireless power transfer for electric vehicle applications [J]. IEEE journal of emerging and selected topics in power electronics, 2015, 3(1): 4–17. DOI: 10.1109/jestpe.2014.2319453 doi: 10.1109/jestpe.2014.2319453
9	LI X, DUAN B Y, SONG L W. Design of clustered planar arrays for microwave wireless power transmission [J]. IEEE transactions on antennas and propagation, 2019, 67(1): 606–611. DOI: 10.1109/TAP.2018.2876192 doi: 10.1109/TAP.2018.2876192
10	LI X, LUK K M, DUAN B Y. Multiobjective optimal antenna synthesis for microwave wireless power transmission [J]. IEEE transactions on antennas and propagation, 2019, 67(4): 2739–2744. DOI: 10.1109/TAP.2019.2893312 doi: 10.1109/TAP.2019.2893312
11	GOWDA V R, YURDUSEVEN O, LIPWORTH G, et al. Wireless power transfer in the radiative near field [J]. IEEE antennas and wireless propagation letters, 2016, 15: 1865–1868. DOI: 10.1109/LAWP.2016.2542138 doi: 10.1109/LAWP.2016.2542138
12	YI X J, CHEN X, ZHOU L, et al. A microwave power transmission experiment based on the near‑field focused transmitter [J]. IEEE antennas and wireless propagation letters, 2019, 18(6): 1105–1108. DOI: 10.1109/lawp.2019.2910200 doi: 10.1109/lawp.2019.2910200
13	MOSK A P, LAGENDIJK A, LEROSEY G, et al. Controlling waves in space and time for imaging and focusing in complex media [J]. Nature photonics, 2012, 6 (5): 283–292. DOI: 10.1038/nphoton.2012.88 doi: 10.1038/nphoton.2012.88
14	PENDRY J B, SCHURIG D, SMITH D R. Controlling electromagnetic fields [J]. Science, 2006, 312(5781): 1780–1782. DOI: 10.1126/science.1125907 doi: 10.1126/science.1125907
15	CHENG Y J, XUE F. Ka‑band near‑field‑focused array antenna with variable focal point [J]. IEEE transactions on antennas and propagation, 2016, 64(5): 1725–1732. DOI: 10.1109/tap.2016.2540646 doi: 10.1109/tap.2016.2540646
16	ZHAO D S, ZHU M. Generating microwave spatial fields with arbitrary patterns [J]. IEEE antennas and wireless propagation letters, 2016, 15: 1739–1742. DOI: 10.1109/LAWP.2016.2530825 doi: 10.1109/LAWP.2016.2530825
17	HUANG Z X, CHENG Y J. Near‑field pattern synthesis for sparse focusing antenna arrays based on Bayesian compressive sensing and convex optimization [J]. IEEE transactions on antennas and propagation, 2018, 66(10): 5249–5257. DOI: 10.1109/TAP.2018.2860044 doi: 10.1109/TAP.2018.2860044
18	CHOU H T, HUNG K L, CHOU H H. Design of periodic antenna arrays with the excitation phases synthesized for optimum near‑field patterns via steepest descent method [J]. IEEE transactions on antennas and propagation, 2011, 59(11): 4342–4345. DOI: 10.1109/TAP.2011.2164221 doi: 10.1109/TAP.2011.2164221
19	WEN G Y. Foundations of Applied Electrodynamics [M]. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, 2010. DOI: 10.1002/9780470661369 doi: 10.1002/9780470661369
20	WEN G Y. Foundations for radio frequency engineering [M]. Singapore: World Scientific, 2013. DOI: 10.1142/9040 doi: 10.1142/9040
21	WEN G Y. The method of maximum power transmission efficiency for the design of antenna arrays [J]. IEEE open journal of antennas and propagation, 2021, 2: 412–430. DOI: 10.1109/OJAP.2021.3066310 doi: 10.1109/OJAP.2021.3066310
22	WANG X Y, YANG G M, WEN G Y. A new design of focused antenna arrays [J]. Microwave and optical technology letters, 2014, 56(10): 2464–2468. DOI: 10.1002/mop.28616 doi: 10.1002/mop.28616
23	LONG S, WEN G Y. Optimal design of focused antenna arrays [J]. IEEE transactions on antennas and propagation, 2014, 62(11): 5565–5571. DOI: 10.1109/tap.2014.2357421 doi: 10.1109/tap.2014.2357421
24	JIANG Y H, WEN G Y, YANG L S, et al. Circularly‑polarized focused microstrip antenna arrays [J]. IEEE antennas and wireless propagation letters, 2015, 15: 52–55. DOI: 10.1109/LAWP.2015.2428931 doi: 10.1109/LAWP.2015.2428931
25	HE X P, WEN G Y, WANG S Y. Optimal design of focused arrays for microwave‑induced hyperthermia [J]. IET microwaves, antennas & propagation, 2015, 9(14): 1605–1611. DOI: 10.1049/iet-map.2014.0696 doi: 10.1049/iet-map.2014.0696
26	HE X P, WEN G Y, WANG S Y. A hexagonal focused array for microwave hyperthermia: Optimal design and experiment [J]. IEEE antennas and wireless propagation letters, 2016, 15: 56–59. DOI: 10.1109/LAWP.2015.2429596 doi: 10.1109/LAWP.2015.2429596
27	TONG H P, WEN G Y. Optimal design of smart antenna systems for handheld devices [J]. IET microwaves, antennas & propagation, 2016, 10(6): 617–623. DOI: 10.1049/iet-map.2015.0339 doi: 10.1049/iet-map.2015.0339
28	WAN W, WEN G Y, GAO S. Optimum design of low‑cost dual‑mode beam‑steerable arrays for customer‑premises equipment applications [J]. IEEE access, 2018, 6: 16092–16098. DOI: 10.1109/ACCESS.2018.2813299 doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2018.2813299
29	MIAO X B, WAN W, DUAN Z, et al. Design of dual‑mode arc‑shaped dipole arrays for indoor base‑station applications [J]. IEEE antennas and wireless propagation letters, 2019, 18(4): 752–756. DOI: 10.1109/LAWP.2019.2901967 doi: 10.1109/LAWP.2019.2901967
30	TING L, WEN G Y. Design of MIMO beamforming antenna array for mobile handsets [J]. Progress in electromagnetics research C, 2019, 94: 13–28. DOI: 10.2528/pierc19030807 doi: 10.2528/pierc19030807
31	GUO H D, WEN G Y. Design of bidirectional antenna array with adjustable endfire gains [J]. IEEE antennas and wireless propagation letters, 2019, 18(8): 1656–1660. DOI: 10.1109/LAWP.2019.2926525 doi: 10.1109/LAWP.2019.2926525
32	YANG X D, WEN G Y, SUN H C. Optimum design of wireless power transmission system using microstrip patch antenna arrays [J]. IEEE antennas and wireless propagation letters, 2017, 16: 1824–1827. DOI: 10.1109/LAWP.2017.2682262 doi: 10.1109/LAWP.2017.2682262
33	SUN H C, WEN G Y. Optimum design of wireless power transmission systems in unknown electromagnetic environments [J]. IEEE access, 2017, 5: 20198–20206. DOI: 10.1109/ACCESS.2017.2757002 doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2017.2757002
34	GU X Z, WEN G Y. Design of a near‑field RFID antenna array in metal cabinet environment [J]. IEEE antennas and wireless propagation letters, 2019, 18(1): 79–83. DOI: 10.1109/LAWP.2018.2880965 doi: 10.1109/LAWP.2018.2880965
35	XIAO C, WEN G Y. An optimization method for the synthesis of flat‑top radiation patterns in the near‑ and far‑field regions [J]. IEEE transactions on antennas and propagation, 2019, 67(2): 980–987. DOI: 10.1109/TAP.2018.2882653 doi: 10.1109/TAP.2018.2882653
36	WEN G Y. Theoretical study for microwave power transmission [J]. Journal of electronics and information technology, 1998, 20(4): 538–545
37	KAY A. Near‑field gain of aperture antennas [J]. IRE transactions on antennas and propagation, 1960, 8(6): 586–593. DOI: 10.1109/tap.1960.1144905 doi: 10.1109/tap.1960.1144905
38	BORGIOTTI G. Maximum power transfer between two planar apertures in the Fresnel zone [J]. IEEE transactions on antennas and propagation, 1966, 14(2): 158–163. DOI: 10.1109/TAP.1966.1138660 doi: 10.1109/TAP.1966.1138660
39	SHERMAN J W. Properties of focused aperture in the Fresnel region [J]. IRE transactions on antennas and propagation, 1962, 10(4): 399–408. DOI: 10.1109/TAP.1962.1137900 doi: 10.1109/TAP.1962.1137900
40	YUAN Q W, AOKI T. Practical applications of universal approach for calculating maximum transfer efficiency of MIMO‑WPT system [J]. Wireless power transfer, 2020, 7(1): 86–94. DOI: 10.1017/wpt.2020.7 doi: 10.1017/wpt.2020.7

Parameter	w₁	w₂	w₃	w₄	w₅
CMMPTE	1.220 7	0.9	1.184	0.838	1.206
WMMPTE	0.9	0.1	0.89	1	0.95

Port Number	37	38	39	40	41
UMMPTE	0.14∠9	0.58∠146	0.38∠1	0.66∠144	0.23∠0
WMMPTE	0.44∠-29	0.44∠-149	0.44∠14	0.44∠-140	0.44∠0
CMMPTE	0.44∠0	0.44∠0	0.44∠0	0.44∠0	0.44∠0

Port Number	UMMPTE	WMMPTE	CMMPTE
1	0.10∠-2	0.22∠-37	0.14∠49
2	0.13∠26	0.19∠4	0.07∠87
3	0.07∠81	0.11∠78	0.05∠-107
4	0.04∠-127	0.10∠-137	0.11∠-31
5	0.06∠19	0.04∠5	0.01∠-103
6	0.07∠128	0.09∠147	0.05∠-87
7	0.16∠-66	0.24∠-23	0.33∠120
8	0.15∠-60	0.19∠-7	0.29∠145
9	0.04∠36	0.12∠102	0.19∠-142
10	0.08∠168	0.09∠-176	0.02∠-17
11	0.08∠-83	0.08∠-15	0.13∠131
12	0.07∠10	0.07∠41	0.01∠-170
13	0.29∠-168	0.15∠-167	0.16∠114
14	0.19∠-162	0.14∠-166	0.04∠164
15	0.10∠-16	0.04∠-1	0.07∠-68
16	0.13∠62	0.07∠26	0.16∠24
17	0.09∠163	0.07∠148	0.06∠-4
18	0.07∠-130	0.10∠-118	0.09∠-29
19	0.26∠157	0.28∠172	0.13∠101
20	0.08∠-142	0.14∠-159	0.15∠-68
21	0.23∠-61	0.22∠-60	0.11∠-138
22	0.11∠-30	0.07∠-16	0.07∠-79
23	0.05∠41	0.13∠125	0.19∠-138
24	0.11∠89	0.12∠106	0.04∠-138
25	0.18∠-34	0.19∠2	0.25∠118
26	0.20∠-46	0.19∠11	0.38∠154
27	0.11∠-144	0.07∠-154	0.14∠-165
28	0.21∠-161	0.15∠-169	0.05∠152
29	0.15∠-55	0.13∠10	0.26∠146
30	0.16∠21	0.21∠23	0.09∠87
31	0.32∠-10	0.30∠13	0.10∠38
32	0.19∠-40	0.20∠16	0.26∠119
33	0.29∠166	0.25∠179	0.09∠103
34	0.31∠-170	0.19∠-162	0.14∠116
35	0.20∠-64	0.24∠-4	0.33∠121
36	0.17∠0	0.24∠0	0.16∠57

Port Number	37/dBm	38/dBm	39/dBm	40/dBm	41/dBm
UMMPTE	7.2	17.8	14.9	19.6	11.3
WMPTE	14.7	14.9	14.6	14.8	14.4
CMMPTE	13.5	13.4	13.5	13.2	12.8

Methods	Simulated PTE/%	Measured PTE/%
UMMPTE	22.4	21.8
WMMPTE	15.1	14.8
CMMPTE	11.4	10.7
Uniform distribution	2.5	2.2