Recent Advances in Electrical and Computer Engineering

Efficient Wireless Power Transfer Resonance

Does Not Imply High Efficiency
Kazuya Yamaguchi, University of Miyazaki Ichijo Hodaka, University of Miyazaki

how resonance brings the best performance of WPT based on

a concrete and mathematical aspects.
In this paper, we propose a series of procedures to analyze
relations between the resonant frequency, obtained average
power at the receiving side, and the ratio of the average power
at the receiving side to the average power at the transmitting
side that is called an efficiency of WPT. Our procedures
are based on the differential equations in the form which
commonly used in control theory. This gives us a benefit that
we can manipulate different transfer functions and write the
relations under investigation in a clear and unified manner.
Consequently, we will assert that resonance does not imply
the optimization of efficiency of WPT in general, by observing
derived equations.
To illustrate this situation that should be carefully treated,
we pick one of most common circuits for WPT, and put
practical values into the circuit elements, and then we demonstrate the situation numerically. In fact, although we have
the case when resonance is equivalent to maximization of
efficiency of WPT, we have another case when resonance leads
to loss of efficiency of WPT. Thus we propose to use the way
of modelling by mathematical equations and to describe the
targets into equations for WPT systems.

AbstractThis paper naively inquires when power transmission is

optimized by tuning possible parameters of a wireless power transfer
system. It is well known that tuning the frequency of the AC supply
input implies maximizing the magnitude of transmitted power into
a receiver side. This type of tuned wireless power transfer system,
however, may cause a low efficiency of power transfer. The paper
illustrates that such an undesired situation exists, and suggests that
tuning parameters in the both views of large magnitude of transmitted
power and high efficient transmission will be desirable for better
wireless power transfer systems.
Keywordswireless power transfer, highly efficient power transmission, resonance

I. I NTRODUCTION

OST of devices that are driven by electric power

are usually fed via electric wires connected to AC
power supply. On the other hand, some of electric devices
are required or designed to be fed without electric wires
in the way of called WPT (wireless power transfer). Since
the amount of power provided by WPT is usually restricted
compared with wired power transfer, WPT has not been used
for many applications.
In 2007, a successful experiment that could wirelessly transfer practical amount of power away from sixty centimeters
was reported[1]. The heart of the experiment was to generate
resonant phenomena of electromagnetic coupling between
transmitting and receiving coils. After the pioneering study[1],
many researchers have tried to develop theory and experiments
for WPT. In [2] a structure of circuit was devised in order to
raise the factor Q of circuits, since better WPT needs higher
values of the factor Q. In [3] devised antennas are proposed to
be used for a directed energy radiation in order to implement
efficient WPT. In [4] the effect of radiation energy to human
body was discussed.
It is generally understood that resonant phenomena will be
caused if one tunes the frequency of AC power supply to
the natural frequency of a circuit. The natural frequency is
determined by the values of circuit elements; especially, the
mutual inductances which relate transmitting and receiving
sides of the circuit play an important role. These values
are determined by the radii, winding numbers, and relative
position of two coils[5]. It is important to know the relation
between the relative position of coils and mutual inductances
because the position of the coils could be changed in various
reasons.
For extending the usage of WPT, the most important specification for WPT is power and efficiency of transmission. In
many literatures, causing resonant phenomena should lead to
high power and efficient WPT. However, little is known about
ISBN: 978-1-61804-228-6

II. A NALYSIS OF W IRELESS P OWER T RANSFER C IRCUIT

A. Self inductance and mutual inductance
We consider the situation that current i flows in a coil with
a radius r1 and a winding number n1 , called coil 1. This
generates magnetic flux in the whole space by the Biot-Savart
law. Here we consider a magnetic flux density B which is
away from the current i by z and which is along the central
axis of the coil 1[6]. That is,

B=

i 2n1 r12
.
4 (z 2 + r12 )3/2

(1)

Where is the permeability.

Now we consider another coil 2 with a radius r2 and a
winding number n2 . From equation (1), self inductances L1
of the coil 1 and L2 of the coil 2, and mutual inductances M1
and M2 between the coils 1 and 2 can be written as below.
n21 r1
n22 r2
, L2 =
2
2
n1 n2 r12 r22
n1 n2 r12 r22
M
=
M1 =
,
.
2
2(z 2 + r12 )3/2
2(z 2 + r22 )3/2
L1 =

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(2)

Recent Advances in Electrical and Computer Engineering

From the above equations, note that these mutual inductances are inversely proportional to cube of the distance z
between two coils[7].

we formulate equations of the average powers at transmitting

and receiving sides, and of the efficiency in the following.
Since the matrix A in the equation (3) is stable, i.e., all
eigenvalues of the matrix A have negative real parts, the
solution to the equation (3) will be stationary after time have
passed adequately. The stationary solution with a sinusoidal
input u = sint, will have the same frequency of the input.

B. Wireless power transfer circuit and its mathematical model

We study a typical circuit for WPT depicted below[8].
Despite of the placement of two coils in the figure, we assume
they have a common central axis as explained in the previous
section.

In general, the average powers P1 and P4 which are at

the AC supply and the load in the receiving side respectively,
and then the efficiency depends on the frequency of AC
supply. These stationary values can be all expressed in terms
of transfer functions.

Figure 1 A Wirelss Power Transfer Circuit

P1

P4


1 
Re[G1 (j)] R1 |G1 (j)|2 
2
1
2
R4 |G2 (j)|
2
P4
.
P1

(4)

Here G1 (s) and G2 (s) are the transfer functions from the
input u to i1 and i2 , respectively. With the equation (3),
these transfer functions are written in G1 (s) = H1 (sI
A)1 B, G2 (s) = H2 (sI A)1 B, where H1 = [0, 0, 1, 0]
and H2 = [0, 0, 0, 1].

The resistor R1 is supposed to represent an internal impedance of the power supply, and R4 the load.
R2 , R3 , C1 , C2 are parasitic factors of transmitting and receiving coils. This circuit is mathematically modelled as the
following state equation. This type of expression is widely
used in control theory. In particular one can write the model of
WPT circuits in a compact form, and obtain a clear perspective
to analysis of stability and responses with a sinusoidal input.

D. Resonance and average power

x = Ax + Bu

v1
v2

x=
i1
i2

0
1
0

A=
L2
M1

0
1
0
B=
L2
M1

0
0
M2
L1

C1

0
(R1 + R2 )L2
(R1 + R2 )M1

C2

(R3 + R4 )M2
(R3 + R4 )L1

In view of the equation (4), we see that if one puts an AC

input voltage with the frequency which gives the maximal gain
of the transfer function G2 (s) (the gain is called H -norm),
one will have the maximal average power at the receiving side.
To illustrate the situation, we set values of circuit elements
as below. These values are given by consulting a practical
situation of WPT[2].

= L1 L2 M1 M2 .

TABLE I
PARAMETERS

elements
R1
R2
R3
R4
L1

(3)

C. Formulation of average power and efficiency

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relation
between the frequency of AC supply voltage, the average
power delivered to the receiving side, and the efficiency of
average power transmission. The efficiency is defined as the
ratio of the average power obtained at the receiving side
against the average power supplied at AC power supply. Thus
ISBN: 978-1-61804-228-6

values
50
0.1
0.1
50
10H

elements
L2
M1
M2
C1
C2

values
10H
0.5H
0.5H
1nF
1nF

The bode diagram of G(s) is shown as below.

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Recent Advances in Electrical and Computer Engineering

Another example is shown as below. The values of elements

are set as TABLE II. The only difference between TABLE I
and TABLE II is the value of C1 .
TABLE II
PARAMETERS

elements
R1
R2
R3
R4
L1

values
50
0.1
0.1
50
10H

elements
L2
M1
M2
C1
C2

values
10H
0.5H
0.5H
0.1nF
1nF

Figure 2 Bode Diagram

In this case the resonance will occur at the unique frequency

= 1.00 107 rad/sec and we have the maximal average
power at the receiving side if we use a sinusoidal wave with
the resonant frequency.
E. Resonance and efficiency
Based on the equation (4), we can observe that the relation
between the input frequency and the efficiency of WPT is
not straightforward. Many other papers state that using an
AC input voltage with a resonant frequency is optimal or
better in the design of WPT. In the previous section, we have
clarified that using the input with resonance maximizes the
average power at the receiving side. However, the efficiency
of power transmission can be maximized either when one
use resonance or when one use nonresonance. This difficult
situation is illustrated by numerical examples in the following.
First, power P4 and efficiency with the condition of
TABLE I are shown as below.

Figure 4 Power and Efficiency for TABLE II

By comparing Figure 3 and Figure 4, we see that the

frequencies which respectively maximize power and efficiency
are different.

III. C ONCLUSION
In this paper, we have pointed out that using a resonant
frequency of AC voltage input does not lead to maximize the
efficiency of average power transmission, although resonance
is equivalent to maximization of output average power, in general WPT systems. In fact, we have illustrated a situation that
non-resonance maximizes the efficiency of power transmission
by numerical examples. This suggests that we should take both
of output power and efficiency into account and then decide
a balanced working frequency, in the case that resonance is
not equivalent to the maximal efficiency. For example, the
maximum power is desirable if an AC power supply can serve
enough power, but the maximum efficiency is best if the supply
can serve less power.
Even one of the simplest WPT circuits treated in this paper
may have disagreement between resonance and efficiency.
Therefore, one will face on further difficulty to design better
WPT when one tries more complex circuit with more elements
in order to meet an increasing design specification.

Figure 3 Power and Efficiency for TABLE I

Then, is maximized when
= 1.07 107 rad/sec

(5)

as previously known in [9].

ISBN: 978-1-61804-228-6

47

Recent Advances in Electrical and Computer Engineering

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[2] Huy Hoang, Franklin Bien, Maximizing Efficiency of Electromagnetic
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[3] Ick-Jae Yoon, Hao Ling, Realizing Efficient Wireless Power Transfer
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[4] Ji-Yeon Mun, Min-Gyeong Seo, Woo-Geun Kang, Hae-Young Jun, YongHo Park, Jeong-Ki Pack, Study on the Human Effect of a Wireless Power
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[5] Hiroshi Hirayama, Equivalent Circuit and Calculation of Its Parameters of Magnetic-Coupled-Resonant Wireless Power Transfer, Wireless
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[6] Youngjin Park, Jinwook Kim, Kwan-Ho Kim, Magnetically Coupled
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[7] Henri Bondar, Shailendra Oree, Zafrullah Jagoo, Keiichi Ichikawa, Estimate of the maximum range achievable by non-radiating wireless power
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[8] Marco Dionigi, Alessandra Costanzo, Mauro Mongiardo, Network Methods for Analysis and Design of Resonant Wireless Power Transfer
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[9] Takashi Komaru, Masayoshi Koizumi, Kimiya Komurasaki, Takayuki
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ISBN: 978-1-61804-228-6

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