Technologies for a position independent wireless power transmission system

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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.