Technologies for a position independent wireless power transmission system

无线电力传输（WPT）是一项具有广泛应用潜力的新兴技术。WPT系统使用专用源或发射器进行从毫瓦到千瓦不等的不同功率水平的非接触式电力传输。WPT应用的示例包括生物医学植入物的无线供电和移动设备、机器人、无人机和电动汽车的无线充电。这些技术已经引起了人们的兴趣，因为它们通过消除插入式充电所需的电源线来简化日常生活。虽然一些商业产品已经采用了WPT技术，但由于现有WPT系统设计的局限性，主要是位置依赖效率的限制，该技术仍然不发达。本提案的目标是设计和实现位置无关的WPT系统，该系统能够在可变传输距离和发射器和接收器之间的不对准下运行，同时保持高功率传输效率。该提案的另一个重要组成部分是对本科生和研究生的研究型教育。由于其跨学科性质，该研究对学生特别有价值，学生将学习非线性谐振电路的非线性器件的电气实现，以设计系统中使用的功率逆变器和高效整流器。这些技能在国家的劳动力中是非常有价值的，在这里，材料、设备和电路方面的专业知识的结合是当今涉及电子设备领域的多学科研究和工程所需要的。该研究首次为工作频率保持不变的位置无关WPT系统的设计提供了一种解决方案。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。所提出的方法在解决无线电力传输系统中具有挑战性的问题，特别是由于发射器和接收器之间的不对准和距离变化而导致的性能变化方面具有很强的潜力。一旦成功实现，所提出的电路将为设计位置无关的WPT系统提供独特且低成本的解决方案。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。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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.