Performance Optimization in Wireless Transfer of
Electromagnetic Energy
Mihai Iordache, Dragos Niculae, Lucia Dumitriu
Politehnica University of Bucharest, Romania
mihai.iordache@upb.ro, dragos.niculae.@upb.ro, lucia.dumitriu@upb.ro
Topic number:
Abstract Our paper presents the performance
optimization in the power wireless transfer. The power transfer
efficiency is selected as objective function. We use an
appropriate frequency space representation by means of the
desired performance quantity generated in full symbolic form
for a linearized circuit model. This is combined with some
computations performed on the real system and a constrained
minimization algorithm for some scalar and/or vector functions
of multiple variables provided by Matlab Optimization Toolbox.
The algorithm is suitable to compute optimal circuit parameters
which guarantee the maximum value of the performance
quantity. This paper has also highlighted some aspects regarding
the conditions that have to be accomplishing by a power supply
system that uses wireless technologies, for an optimal transfer of
energy.
The proposed optimization techniques were tested and validated
with simulation data on some illustrative examples.
Index Termssymbolic analysis, power wireless transfer,
performance optimization, frequency analysis. Identification
parameters.
I.INTRODUCTION
In the last decade, advances in wireless communication and
semiconductor technology have produced a large variety of
portable consumer electronic, medical and industrial devices,
[1-6, 19]. In the most cases, the mobility degree of these
devices is strong relied on how often you have to manually
plug in for recharging their batteries. In this time the
connectors become a larger fraction of system size. Thus, a
growing interest of researchers, focused on implementation of
wireless technologies in batteries recharging, was emerged.
Wireless power offers the possibility of connector-free
electronic devices, which could improve size and reliability,
[1-6, 9 15, 19].
The radiative transfer, although perfectly suitable for
transferring information, poses a number of difficulties for
power transfer applications: the efficiency of power transfer is
very low if the radiation is omni-directional, and unidirectional
radiation requires an uninterrupted line of sight and
sophisticated tracking mechanisms [1, 4-14].
In recent papers, various researchers have been trying to
transfer energy using wireless technologies like: laser beam,
piezoelectric principle, radio waves and microwaves, inductive
coupling [2]. Based on last principle, the technology Witricity
(from WIreless elecTRICITY) provides large air gaps and
large amounts of power. The physical principle behind the
Witricity concept is based on the near-field in correlation to
the resonant inductive coupling.
The coupling through magnetic resonance implies that the
coupled systems work at their resonance frequency.
In practice it is generally difficult to set-up the circuit
parameters of two magnetic coupled resonators to obtain the
desired performances. For a pair of magnetic coupled
resonators, the power transfer efficiency is the high interest as
performance quantity. For this reason, the paper is focused on
a novel optimization technique of two magnetic coupled
resonators where the power transfer efficiency is chosen as
objective function.
This purpose imposes exploiting parameter estimation
techniques based on iterative computation [17]. The success of
these techniques requires appropriate mathematical models
and it depends strongly on the starting point of the iteration
process.
To maximize scalar objective functions with multiple
variables we propose using a constrained nonlinear
optimization algorithm function fminunc provided by the
Optimization Toolbox of Matlab [17].
This Matlab function covers a wide spectrum of methods
for constrained optimization, depending on the chosen
computation options. The search methods that use only the
evaluations of the objective function, being most suitable for
problems that are not smooth or have discontinuities, are the
simplest ones. On the other hand, gradient methods use
information about the slope of the function to establish the
direction of the search. Higher order methods, such as
Newton's method, are most suitable when the second-order
derivatives of the objective function, as the Hessian matrix,
can be calculated with decent effort [8, 12 - 15].
II. OPTIMAL PARAMETER COMPUTING FOR
PERFORMANCE OPTIMIZATION OF MAGNETIC
COUPLED RESONATORS
Some algorithms to analyze any analog circuit in full
symbolic form starting from the equivalent diagram of a linear or
linearized lumped circuit were developed [15, 16]. The network
function in the Laplace domain H (s ) allows expressing the
complex network function in the frequency domain H ( j)
or H ( f ) , if necessary. Their coefficients depend on the circuit
parameters and on the complex or real frequency.
 Assuming that one or more circuit parameters are unknown PRl
and need to be estimated, a wide spectrum of algorithms 21 100 . (1)
based on network functions can be exploited to solve such a Pei
problem. Independently of the used algorithm, the magnitude Running the SYMNAP the following expression for the
and the phase of the complex network function must be power transfer efficiency is obtained:
known at one or at more working frequencies. These
parameters can be measured directly by supplying the circuit 21 = 100.*M2*C2*4*Rl/((Rl*C2*M2+RL*C2*M2+C2*L2*
with a variable frequency sinusoidal voltage. Ri+RL*C2*L2)*^4+(2.*RL*Rl*C2*Ri - 2.*L*C*RL+
Let us consider two series-series resonators inductively RL3*C2+RL2*C2*Ri+Rl2*C2*RL+2.*Rl*C2*RL2+
coupled as in Figure 1, where L3 =L, L4=L, R5=RL, R6 = RL, Rl2*C2*Ri - 2.*L*C*Ri)*2+Ri+RL);
C1=C, and C2=C are the electrical parameters of the two (2)
coaxial identical coils. With the frequency of 1.207 MHz, at which the efficiency
has the maximum value (when the resonator parameters have
the nominal values), we obtain the objective function for the
procedure fminunc used to determine the maximum value of
the power transfer efficiency.
The initial variation intervals for the seven parameters are:
L2 _ 0 1.5e 05, 1.8e 05 ,
M _ 0 1.4e 06, 1.7e 06 ,
R1 _ 0 0.2, 0.4 , R2 _ 0 0.2, 0.4 , (3
)
C 2 _ 0 0.9e 09, 1.1e 09 , Ri _ 0 4, 6 , and
Rl _ 0 4, 6
Running the program with the initial variation intervals (4),
we obtained the following results:
1. Optimal (maximum) parameters: L1, L2, M, R1, R2, C2, Ri,
and Rl for the maximum value of the efficiency 21:
21_max = 81.98 %; L2_max = 16 H; M_max = 1.7 H;
R1_max = 0.2 ; R2_max = 0.2 ; Ri_max = 5.0 ; (4)
Rl_max = 5.0 ; k_max = 0.10625;
Figure 1. Equivalent circuit model of the wireless transfer for
electromagnetic energy.
The variations of the power transfer efficiency and of the
power developed in the load resistance Rl with respect to the
The geometrical dimensions of the coils are: the radius r = frequency are shown in figure 2, for the parameter maximum
150 mm, the pitch p = 3 mm, the wire size w = 2 mm, the and nominal values.
distance between the coils g = 150 mm, and the number of the
turns N = 5. Using the Q3D Extractor program [18], we get the
following numerical values for the parameters of the system of
the two inductively coupled coils: C = 1.04 nF; L = 16.75 H;
RL = 0.35 ; and M = 1.5 H.
The source circuit has the resistance Ri = 5.0 , Eimax =
100.0 V, and the load resistance is Rl = 5.0 .
Because the power transfer efficiency 21 does not depend
on the C1 and L1 parameters, we want to find the optimal
resonator parameters which provide the minimum and
maximum values of the power transfer efficiency 21. The
study will be focused on the parameters: L2, M, RL1, RL2, C2, Ri
and Rl..
To generate the power transfer efficiency 21 in full
symbolic form we use the SYMNAP SYmbolic Modified
Nodal Analysis Program [16], based on the complex or
Laplace modified nodal equations. Figure 2. Variations of the power transfer efficiency 21 and of the power
The power transfer efficiency 21, according to its PRl vs. frequency, for the parameter maximum and nominal values.
definition, has the following expression:
From figure 2 we can remark that the frequency values
which determine the maximum of the transfer power
efficiency for two cases are very closed, fpmax_max = 1.2008 Mhz
and fpnom_max = 1.207 MHz.
2. Optimal (minimum) parameters: L1, L2, M, R1, R2, C2, Ri and
Rl for the minimum value of the efficiency 21:
21_min = 8.378 %; L2_ min = 15 H; M_ min = 1.4 H;
R1_ min == 0.4 ; R2_ min = 0.4 ; Ri_ min = 4.0 ; (5)
Rl_ min = 4.0 ; k_ min = 0.0933.
In figure 3, the variations of the power transfer efficiency and
of the power developed in the load resistance Rl with respect to
the frequency are represented, for the parameter minimum and
nominal values.
Figure 4. System of two series-series resonators driven by a voltage source
having three magnetic couplings.
The magnetic couplings k12 and k34 are very strong and the
magnetic coupling k23 is weakly identical to the k12 from
figure 1 (k12 = k34 = 0.9, k23 = 0.08955). In this way, for same
numeric values for the system parameters, it is obtained
efficiency bigger than the one obtained by a system with only
two magnetic couplings (see figure 5), 21_3_coupl = 85.44 %
and 21_1_coupl = 76.45 %.
100
(3.9084M,85.444)
(1.2050M,76.454)

k12 = k34 = 0.9

75 k23 = 0.08955

eta21 - one coupling - blue

50
eta21 - three couplings - mauve

25

0
500KHz 1.0MHz 8.0MHz
500.0* I(L4)* I(L4)/(100.0* I(L1))
500.0* I(L2ss)* I(L2ss)/(100.0* I(L1ss))
Frequency

Figure 3. Variations of the power transfer efficiency 21 and of the power Figure 5. Efficiency variation versus frequency.
PRl vs. frequency, for the parameter minimum and nominal values.
800
The frequency values which determine the maximum of the k12 = k34 = 0.9 k23 = 0.08955
transfer power efficiency for two cases are different ones (see
figure 3), fpminx_max = 1.371 Mhz and fpnom_max = 1.207 MHz. 600
Substituting the five parameter values from (3) and (4) in PRl - three couplings - mauve
PRl - one coupling - blue
the expression (2) we obtain the same maximum and
(3.1842M,387.861)
minimum values for the efficiency 21 as ones in (3) and (4).
Other method for the improving of the power transfer 400

efficiency consist in a system of two series-series resonators (1.2560M,436.196)

driven by a voltage source having three magnetic couplings,
as in figure 4, [2]. 200

0
500KHz 1.0MHz 8.0MHz
5.0* I(L4)* I(L4) 5.0* I(L2ss)* I(L2ss)
Frequency

Figure 6. PRl power variation versus frequency.

A parameter to be very important in order to maximize the

efficiency is the mutual inductance. We have implemented a
Matlab procedure that determines the mutual inductance
between two circular coils with different geometrical
parameters and relative positions, based on Neumanns
formula, [4, 9]:
 21 0 dl1dl 2
M
i1

4 R12 . (8)
C1 C 2

If we keep the mutual inductance to a constant value while

the receiver is drift away from emitter, we have to enlarge the
receiver, growing the radius of second coil following the field
lines of the emitter coil.

d = 70cm

d = 90cm
Figure 7. The receiver dimensions related to a constant value of mutual
inductance.

In practice, the two devices (emitter and receiver) are not

always in parallel planes. For some values of distance (d), a
slow variation of angle between the two coils lead to a better
value of mutual inductance (Fig. 9).
If we change the angle between the two coils, figure 9
(radius = 50cm), for different values of distance (d), the
mutual inductance variation is plotted in figure 9.

d = 110cm

Figure 8. The receiver position related to emitter coils.

d = 50cm
Figure 9. The mutual inductance variation related to angle between the tow
coils.
III. CONCLUSIONS
This paper has highlighted some aspects regarding the
conditions that have to be accomplishing by a power supply
system that uses wireless technologies, for an optimal transfer
of energy.
For the performance optimization we have chosen as
objective function the power transfer efficiency. We identified
the circuit parameters which influence the power transfer
efficiency and we found these parameters for the extreme
values of the efficiency, as well as these extreme values. We
used the same numerical tool as above, fminunc, where the
objective function was the argument of the power transfer
efficiency. The optimization methods presented here can be
extended to other applications.
Safely and accuracy wireless energy transfer remains a
challenge and an actual research theme.
The two parameters which control the amount of the
transferred power by magnetic coupling and the transfer
efficiency as well are the frequency and the coupling
coefficient (, M).
When it is used a system of two series-series resonators to
improve the transfer power efficiency, the parameter values
of these resonators have a very importance to maximize the
resonator performance.
On the power supply side, the working frequency of the
emitter has to be near the resonance frequency of two
magnetic coupled circuits and on the receiver side, the
geometrical size and the position values are the most
significant parameters for a efficiently transfer of energy
using wireless technologies.
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[18] Ansoft Q3D Extractor, User Guide, www.ansoft.com
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Dragos te rog sa reface figurile 9, sa faci referire la ele in

text si vezi ca la ultimele doua figuri ai alta variatie a unghilui
[-900, 900] (vezi observatiile 11 si 12 de la al doilea referent).
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