Development and prospects of metamaterial in wireless power transfer

Abstract

As a unique group of advanced artificial materials, metamaterials have found many interesting applications in various devices due to the ability to control electromagnetic fields. The metamaterial provides the prospect of new opportunities for the wireless power transfer (WPT) system to improve efficiency and reduce magnetic flux density. This review paper evaluates the performance of the WPT system with metamaterial from both principles and functions aspects. The objectives of this review include: (1) to present the research process and bottlenecks of metamaterial in the WPT system; (2) to clarify the design solution and checking method of the metamaterial and (3) to identify the challenges and opportunities based on the functional of the WPT system integration with metamaterial. Therefore, the process on metamaterial design, working principle of metamaterial, optimal method, equivalent model, and experimental method are reviewed. The recent efforts of the WPT system with metamaterial in efficiency enhancement, misalignments, magnetic field reduction are illustrated. Finally, the challenges and prospects of metamaterial based on the WPT system are concluded.

Accurate Theoretical Models for Frequency Diverse Array Based Wireless Power Transmission

“…Wireless power transmission (WPT), also known as wireless power transfer, is of great concern due to its potential applications, and flexible charging system [1][2][3][4]. A WPT system is essentially defined as a system that can efficiently transmits electric power from one point to another through the space or earth's atmosphere without using wires [5][6][7].…”

“…In general, these WPT techniques can be classified into two categories based on the transmission range: near-field and far-field WPT systems [3]. The range of near-field WPT systems are usually within the wavelength of the transmitter antenna, whereas the far-field WPT systems are aimed to deliver power up to several hundred kilometers [1,3]. Although near-field WPT systems based on inductive/resonant coupling have been developed with some degree of success, far-field WPT system faces significant challenges in practical implementation [1][2][3].…”

“…The range of near-field WPT systems are usually within the wavelength of the transmitter antenna, whereas the far-field WPT systems are aimed to deliver power up to several hundred kilometers [1,3]. Although near-field WPT systems based on inductive/resonant coupling have been developed with some degree of success, far-field WPT system faces significant challenges in practical implementation [1][2][3]. Some recent works, with novel concepts and structures, on near-field WPT systems can be found in [9][10][11].…”

“…Some recent works, with novel concepts and structures, on near-field WPT systems can be found in [9][10][11]. The application of far-field WPT system is often limited by its long transmission range, high cost and low efficiency [1,3]. Generally, a far-field WPT system is essentially composed of a transmitting antenna, and a receiver, also known as rectenna.…”

“…The transmitting antenna is designed to focus the radiated power towards the receiving end with high efficiency, whereas the rectenna is used to collect the power. The flexible charging mode makes WPT systems attractive to numerous commercial and industrial applications, such as smart phones, RFID tags, unmanned aerial vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles, and others [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. In general, the beam collection efficiency (BCE) significantly decreases with the increase in the transmission range [3].…”