Selective Wireless Power Transfer for Smart Power Distribution in a Miniature-Sized Multiple-Receiver System

In a multiple-receiver wireless power transfer (WPT) system, determining the condition for uniform power distribution at a high transfer efficiency is a challenging issue. In this paper, a selective WPT technique using magnetic resonance coupling (MRC) is introduced for smart power delivery in a multiple-receiver system. The proposed method selectively and exclusively delivers power to only one designated receiver among multiple receivers, eliminating the cross-coupling effect and unbalanced power division problem across the receivers. This is achieved by separating the resonant frequencies of the receivers to isolate the coupling effects between coils. The power division ratio of the receivers is controlled by changing the duration time ratio for power transfer. In this paper, a one-transmitter three-receiver selective MRC system is designed and fabricated. The power distribution is demonstrated under impedance matched condition, showing a power transfer efficiency of 24%-29% at a very small coupling coefficient of 0.01 with a 12-mm-diameter receiver coil. Distance compensation and a one-way communication of time division multiple access are demonstrated for a multiple-receiver system, using the proposed method.