Technologies for a position independent wireless power transmission system

无线电能传输(WPT)是一项新兴的技术，具有巨大的应用潜力。WPT系统使用专用电源或发射器在从毫瓦到千瓦的不同功率级别进行非接触式电能传输。WPT应用的例子包括生物医学植入物的无线供电以及移动设备、机器人、无人机和电动汽车的无线充电。这类技术吸引了很多人的兴趣，因为它们通过消除插电式充电所需的电源线来简化日常生活。虽然一些商用产品已经采用了WPT技术，但由于现有WPT系统设计的局限性，主要是位置相关效率的限制，该技术仍然不发达。该方案的目标是设计和实现与位置无关的WPT系统，该系统能够在发射器和接收器之间的可变传输距离和不对准情况下工作，同时保持高功率传输效率。这项建议的另一个重要组成部分是本科生和研究生的研究型教育。由于其跨学科性质，拟议的研究对学生具有特别的价值，学生将学习用于电气实现非线性谐振电路的非线性器件，以设计系统中使用的功率逆变器和高效整流器。这些技能在美国的劳动力中非常有价值，材料、器件和电路方面的专业知识的结合对于当今涉及电子设备领域的多学科研究和工程是可取的。拟议的研究首次为设计与位置无关的WPT系统提供了一种解决方案，在该系统中，工作频率保持不变。该项目将研究耦合非线性谐振电路的动力学，研究在不同功率水平下运行的非线性材料和器件，进行非线性器件建模、电磁仿真和电路仿真，并实现WPT原型。该方法具有很强的潜力来解决无线能量传输系统中的挑战性问题，特别是由于发射机和接收器之间的距离变化和未对准而导致的性能变化。在成功实现后，所提出的电路将为设计位置无关的WPT系统提供一种独特的低成本解决方案。该项目具有变革性，因为它有可能影响射频电路设计的许多不同方面和应用。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Wireless power transfer (WPT) is an emerging technology with an immense potential for a wide range of applications. WPT systems use dedicated sources or transmitters for contactless electrical power transfer at different power levels ranging from milliwatts to kilowatts. Examples of the WPT applications include wireless powering of biomedical implants and wireless charging of mobile devices, robots, drones, and electric vehicles. Such technologies have attracted much interest as they simplify daily life by eliminating the need for power cords required for plug-in charging. Although some commercial products have adopted WPT technology, the technology remains underdeveloped because of the limitations in existing WPT system designs, mainly the position-dependent efficiency. The objective of this proposal is to design and implement position-independent WPT systems that are capable of functioning under variable transmission distances and misalignments between the transmitter and receiver while maintaining high power transfer efficiencies. Another important component of this proposal is the research-based education for both undergraduate and graduate students. The proposed research is of particular value for students due to its interdisciplinary nature, where students will study nonlinear devices for electrical implementation of nonlinear resonance circuits to design power inverters and efficient rectifiers used in systems. These skills are highly valuable in the nation's workforce, where the combination of expertise in materials, devices, and circuits are desirable for today's multi-disciplinary research and engineering in areas involving electronic devices.The proposed research, for the first time, provides a solution for designing position-independent WPT systems in which the operating frequency remains fixed. The project will study the dynamics of coupled nonlinear resonant circuits, investigate nonlinear materials and devices for operation at various power levels, perform nonlinear device modeling, electromagnetic simulation, and circuit simulation, and implement the WPT prototype. The proposed approach has a strong potential to solve the challenging problems in wireless power transfer systems, in particular the performance variations due to misalignment and change of distance between transmitter and receiver. Upon the successful implementation, the proposed circuits will provide a unique and low-cost solution to design position-independent WPT systems. The project is transformative since it has a potential to impact many different aspects and applications of radio frequency circuit design.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.