No Arabic abstract
Conventional wireless power transfer systems consist of a microwave power generator and a microwave power receiver separated by some distance. To realize efficient power transfer, the system is typically brought to resonance, and the coupled-antenna mode is optimized to reduce radiation into the surrounding space. In this scheme, any modification of the receiver position or of its electromagnetic properties results in the necessity of dynamically tuning the whole system to restore the resonant matching condition. It implies poor robustness to the receiver location and load impedance, as well as additional energy consumption in the control network. In this study, we introduce a new paradigm for wireless power delivery based on which the whole system, including transmitter and receiver and the space in between, forms a unified microwave power generator. In our proposed scenario the load itself becomes part of the generator. Microwave oscillations are created directly at the receiver location, eliminating the need for dynamical tuning of the system within the range of the self-oscillation regime. The proposed concept has relevant connections with the recent interest in parity-time symmetric systems, in which balanced loss and gain distributions enable unusual electromagnetic responses.
Recent advances in non-radiative wireless power transfer (WPT) technique essentially relying on magnetic resonance and near-field coupling have successfully enabled a wide range of applications. However, WPT systems based on double resonators are severely limited to short- or mid-range distance, due to the deteriorating efficiency and power with long transfer distance. WPT systems based on multi-relay resonators can overcome this problem, which, however, suffer from sensitivity to perturbations and fabrication imperfections. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a concept of topological wireless power transfer (TWPT), where energy is transferred efficiently via the near-field coupling between two topological edge states localized at the ends of a one-dimensional radiowave topological insulator. Such a TWPT system can be modelled as a parity-time-symmetric Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) chain with complex boundary potentials. Besides, the coil configurations are judiciously designed, which significantly suppress the unwanted cross-couplings between nonadjacent coils that could break the chiral symmetry of the SSH chain. By tuning the inter- and intra-cell coupling strengths, we theoretically and experimentally demonstrate high energy transfer efficiency near the exceptional point of the topological edge states, even in the presence of disorder. The combination of topological metamaterials, non-Hermitian physics, and WPT techniques could promise a variety of robust, efficient WPT applications over long distances in electronics, transportation, and industry.
We show that a capacitive wireless power transfer device can be designed as a self-oscillating circuit using operational amplifiers. As the load and the capacitive wireless channels are part of the feedback circuit of the oscillator, the wireless power transfer can self-adjust to the optimal condition under the change of the load resistance and the transfer distance. We have theoretically analyzed and experimentally demonstrated the proposed design. The results show that the operation is robust against changes of various parameters, including the load resistance.
The rapid development of chargeable devices has caused a great deal of interest in efficient and stable wireless power transfer (WPT) solutions. Most conventional WPT technologies exploit outdated electromagnetic field control methods proposed in the 20th century, wherein some essential parameters are sacrificed in favour of the other ones (efficiency vs. stability), making available WPT systems far from the optimal ones. Over the last few years, the development of novel approaches to electromagnetic field manipulation has enabled many up-and-coming technologies holding great promises for advanced WPT. Examples include coherent perfect absorption, exceptional points in non-Hermitian systems, non-radiating states and anapoles, advanced artificial materials and metastructures. This work overviews the recent achievements in novel physical effects and materials for advanced WPT. We provide a consistent analysis of existing technologies, their pros and cons, and attempt to envision possible perspectives.
While wired-power-transfer devices ensure robust power delivery even if the receiver position or load impedance changes, achieving the robustness of wireless power transfer (WPT) is challenging. Conventional solutions are based on additional control circuits for dynamic tuning. Here, we propose a robust WPT system in which no additional tuning circuitry is required for robust operation. This is achieved by our systematically designing the load and the coupling link to be parts of the feedback circuit. Therefore, the WPT operation is automatically adjusted to the optimal working condition under a wide range of load and receiver positions. In addition, pulsed oscillations instead of single-harmonic oscillation are adopted to increase the overall efficiency. An example system is designed with the use of a capacitive coupling link. It realizes a virtual, nearly-ideal oscillating voltage source at the load site, giving efficient power transfer comparable to that of the ideal wired-connection scenario. We numerically and experimentally verify the robustness of the WPT system under the variations of load and coupling, where coupling is changing by our varying the alignment of aluminum plates. The working frequency and the transferred power agree well with analytical models. The proposed paradigm can have a significant impact on future high-performance WPT devices. The designed system can also work as a smart table supporting multiple receivers with robust and efficient operation.
Temporal modulation of components of electromagnetic systems provides an exceptional opportunity to engineer the response of those systems in a desired fashion, both in the time and frequency domains. For engineering time-modulated systems, one needs to thoroughly study the basic concepts and understand the salient characteristics of temporal modulation. In this paper, we carefully study physical models of basic bulk circuit elements -- capacitors, inductors, and resistors -- as frequency dispersive and time-varying components and study their effects in the case of periodical time modulations. We develop a solid theory for understanding these elements, and apply it to two important applications: wireless power transfer and antennas. For the first application, we show that by periodically modulating the mutual inductance between the transmitter and receiver, the fundamental limits of classical wireless power transfer systems can be overcome. Regarding the second application, we consider a time-varying source for electrically small dipole antennas and show how time modulation can enhance the antenna performance. The developed theory of electromagnetic systems engineered by temporal modulation is applicable from radio frequencies to optical wavelengths.