Multi-resonator arrays for smart wireless power distribution: comparison with experimental assessment

This study presents the design of efficient wireless power distribution systems based on resonant inductive arrays. The authors show how to use multi-resonator arrays to charge and power up several electric devices in parallel, with nearly constant transmitted power, and using a single power source. Their single-source wireless power transmission clusters, for instance, are shown to provide free positioning at better power efficiency than previous solutions. They provide analysis, simulation, and measurement performance of their multi-resonator arrays, they compare them with other types of inductive arrays employed into different schemes (multi-coil inductive links, overlapping and non-overlapping links), and they show the advantage of their strategy over previous solutions. The presented wireless power distribution systems improve power transmission efficiency (PTE) in free positioning by as much as 30%. The measured results show that their multi-resonator arrays present significant advantages: (i) they allow multiple charging zones from a single power source; (ii) they provide free positioning with strictly uniform power delivered to the load; and (iii) they provide superior efficiency through a built-in power localization mechanism, which is not available in other solutions. The PTE of the multi-resonator array in single-receiver and multi-receiver configurations outperformed previous solutions by 26% and 12%, respectively.