Explicit Design of Impedance Matching Networks for Robust MHz WPT Systems With Different Features

This article develops explicit design of an impedance matching network (IMN) to enhance the robustness of megahertz (MHz) wireless power transfer (WPT) systems against variations in their final load and coil coupling. Unlike the existing trial-and-error-based solutions, analytical derivations are conducted to calculate the parameters of a two-port T- or Pi-IMN. The load-pull technique is first applied to determine a target impedance ray that represents a desired loading condition of the power amplifier. Based on the analytical derivations, the three degrees of the design freedom of the IMN are then fully utilized to accurately match the starting point and direction of the target impedance ray. Different features of a final MHz WPT system, such as load-independent output voltage and high tolerance to coil misalignment, are further achieved by having different target impedance rays. Performance enhancement of an experimental 6.78-MHz WPT system is investigated under largely varied final load (10-50 Omega) and coil coupling (0-53%). With an explicitly designed IMN, the maximum efficiency drops are reduced from 18% to 6% under the changing final load and 21% to 3.9% under the changing coil coupling (0-40%), respectively. An actual application of wireless drone charging is also included to demonstrate the practicability of the proposed IMN design

Automated summary

This article develops an explicit design of an impedance matching network (IMN) to enhance the robustness of MHz wireless power transfer (WPT) systems. Analytical derivations are conducted to accurately match the starting point and direction of the target impedance ray. Different target impedance rays are used to achieve load-independent output voltage and high tolerance to coil misalignment. Experimental results show that the explicitly designed IMN significantly improves system efficiency.