Electromagnetic Radiated Emissions from a

Repeating-Coil Wireless Power Transfer System

using a Resonant Magnetic Field Coupling

Sunkyu Kong, Bumhee Bae, Jonghoon J. Kim, Sukjin Kim, Daniel H. Jung, and Joungho Kim
Terahertz Interconnection and Package Laboratory, Dept. of EE
KAIST
Daejeon, Republic of Korea
sunkyu84@kaist.ac.kr, teralab@kaist.ac.kr

Abstract Wireless power transfer technologies have been sizable electromagnetic radiated emissions can be generated. If
studied steadily and reached the stage of practical use in recent the frequency of the sizable electromagnetic radiated emissions
years. As the commercialized research on the wireless power match with the chip operating frequency of internal and other
transfer have been performed, the wireless power transfer system electronic equipment in the system, it can be serious
utilizing the repeating-coil have been attempted. Then, the electromagnetic interference problems [4]. Despite these
electromagnetic radiated emissions have become an important problems, most researches on the wireless power transfer
issue. In this paper, we report the measurement and analysis of technology have been still concentrated on maximizing the
the electromagnetic radiated emissions from the repeating-coil power charging range and also improving the power transfer
wireless power transfer system using a resonant magnetic field. A
efficiency largely. As a part of that, without considering the
relationship between the resonance and the transferred power
electromagnetic radiated emissions that affect the internal chips
are analyzed with respect to the impedance profile obtained from
analytical expressions, simulations and measurements. The and other electronic equipment, the wireless power transfer
results show that the electromagnetic radiated emissions are systems utilizing the repeating-coil have been attempted [5].
enhanced at the series resonance peaks of the impedance profile In this paper, we report the measurement and analysis of
in the repeating-coil wireless power transfer system using a the electromagnetic radiated emissions from a repeating-coil
resonant magnetic field coupling in the case of a constant-voltage wireless power transfer system using a resonant magnetic field
AC source. coupling. A relationship between the resonances and the
electromagnetic radiated emission of the repeating-coil
Keywords-electromagnetic radiated emission; resonance;
transferred power; repeating-coil; wireless power transfer wireless power transfer system using a resonant magnetic field
coupling is investigated. In this research, the resonance peaks
and the transferred power of the system are analyzed with
I. INTRODUCTION respect to the impedance profile for analytical expression
Lately, as the researches on wireless power transfer have derivations, simulations and measurements. We measure the
been performed actively, the interests in the wireless power electromagnetic radiated emissions using a loop antenna in
transfer have increased significantly [1]. This revival has led to combination with a vector network analyzer. We have found
the efforts for the commercialization of many wireless power the relationship between the resonances and the
products, including electronic charger for mobile phone. electromagnetic radiated emission of the repeating-coil
However, as people started to test the feasibility of the wireless wireless power transfer system using a resonant magnetic
power transfer technology, the electromagnetic radiated coupling.
emission, that many studies have not been performed yet, has
become more important issue [2]. This could be the biggest II. RESONANCE AND TRANSFERRED POWER OF THE
obstacle in practical use as the wireless power transfer REPEATING-COIL WIRELESS POWER TRANSFER SYSTEM
technologies.
The use of a tightly coupled magnetic field in the wireless
In the previous studies, the resonance in the power transfer power transfer system has a merit of the high power transfer
system is extensively used to maximize the power transfer efficiency. The magnetic field resonance with the tuning
efficiency [3]. However, when the magnetic field is tightly capacitor is applied for maximizing the transferred power and
coupled, the resonant peaks are divided into several other minimizing the magnitude of the reactance, and the repeating-
peaks. As a result, the transferred power is changing, these coil is utilized for maximizing the power charging range and
changes affect the electromagnetic radiated emissions. also improving the power transfer efficiency in the repeating-
Especially, when the harmonics of the voltage and current of coil wireless power transfer system using a resonant magnetic
the power electronics the system match with a coil resonance, a coupling.

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea

(NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIP) (No. 2010-
0029179/No.2012-0000990).

,(((  :37&

 The resonance peaks have high relationships not only with and high frequencies of the series resonances fSL,resoance,
the transferred power, but with the electromagnetic radiated fSM,resonance, and fSH,resosnace at the input impedance can be
emissions in the repeating-coil wireless power transfer system expressed as follows:
using a resonant magnetic field coupling. Thus, we need to
investigate the relationship between the resonances, the
transferred power and the electromagnetic radiated emission. 1 1 (2)
f SL,resonance ( when Z11 = 0) = f1 =
We analyze the resonance peaks of the input impedance of the 2 LC 1+ k 2
coupled coil applied the repeating-coil and the transferred
power in the repeating-coil wireless power transfer system
using analytical expressions, simulations and measurements. 1
f SM ,resonance ( when Z11 = 0) = f 2 = (3)
2 LC
A. Analytical Expressions
To derive analytical expressions for the input impedance
and the transferred power, a simplified equivalent circuit model 1 1
f SH ,resonance ( when Z11 = 0) = f 3 = (4)
of the repeating-coil wireless power transfer system is
2 LC 1 k 2
presented, as shown in Fig. 1. The system consists of the
transmitting, receiving and repeating coils, which are coupled
through mutually coupled magnetic field. As the repeating coil The load current IL, which determines the transferred power
LR is inserted in the center of the gap between the transmitting (PL=IL2VS), is derived based on a simplified equivalent circuit
coil LS and the receiving coil LL, the mutual inductance MS model with a constant-voltage AC source. The load current IL
(between the transmitting and repeating coils) and ML (between is described as
the repeating and receiving coils) have the same magnetic
coupling coefficient (kS=kL=k). The mutual coupling between
the transmitting and receiving coil is ignored. The tuning j5k 2 (LC)CS CL LS LL
IL = VS (5)
capacitors CS, CL and CR are connected in series to the coils LS, (1 2 LC)((1 2 LC)2 24k 2 L2C2 )
LL and LR, respectively, to produce the magnetic field
resonance at the same frequency (LSCS=LRCR=LLCL=LC). RS The transferred power is becoming maximum when the
includes the internal resistance of the source and coil, and RL load current IR is maximized. RS, RR and RL are neglected to
includes the coil and load resistance. RR includes only the coil simplify the calculations of the frequencies that maximize the
resistance. load current. The parameters of fML,power, fMM,power, and fMH,power
mean the low, middle and high frequencies of the maximized
transferred power for a constant-voltage AC source in the
system. These frequencies can be calculated from (5), and they
are expressed as follows:

1 1 (6)
f ML , power ( when I R = ) = f 4 =
2 LC 1+ k 2

1 (7)
f MM , power ( when I R = ) = f 5 =
2 LC
Fig. 1. Simplified equivalent circuit model of the repeating-coil wireless
power transfer system.
1 1 (8)
The equation of the input impedance is derived based on f MH , power ( when I R = ) = f 6 =
the simplified equivalent circuit model. The analytical 2 LC 1 k 2
expression for the input impedance Z11 can be described by
These expressions show that the frequencies of the
maximum transferred power given in (6), (7) and (8) coincide
(1 2 LC )((1 2 LC )2 24 k 2 L2C 2 ) (1) with the series resonance frequencies of the input impedance
Z11 =
jCS ((1 2 LC ) 4 k 2 L2C 2 ) equation in (2), (3) and (4). It means that the transferred power
2

is maximized at the series resonance peaks of the input

Then, the resonance frequencies of the input impedance in impedance for a constant-voltage AC source in the repeating-
the system can be derived from (1). RS, RR and RL are neglected coil wireless power transfer system.
to simplify the calculations of the resonance frequencies. The
input impedance should be assumed to be infinity for a parallel B. Experimental Verification
resonance, and the input impedance should be considered To verify the relationship between the resonances and the
negligible for the series resonances. Therefore, the low, middle transferred power, we have investigated the analytical

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expressions in (2), (3), (4), (6), (7) and (8). Test vehicles of The measurement setup for the repeating-coil wireless
coupled rectangular coils were fabricated on multi-layer printed power transfer system is shown in Fig. 3. The 2-port Z-
circuit boards, which have advantages of high reproducibility parameters are obtained by conversions of the measured S-
and reliability for the manufactured products. The test vehicles parameters from 30 kHz to 2 MHz using a vector network
designed, which consist of transmitting, receiving and analyzer (VNA), Agilent 8753ES. The magnitude of the input
repeating coils, as shown in Fig. 2. It has an outer size of 3 cm impedance is measured when the transmitting and receiving
by 3 cm, a line width of 0.5 mm, a line space of 0.2 mm and a coils with a ferrite plate are connected to port 1 and port 2 of
line thickness of 0.018 mm. The coil has a total of 40 turn, the VNA, respectively. Repeating coil is inserted between the
which consist of 10 turn at each layer. All of the coils were transmitting and receiving coils with a distance of 0.5 cm
designed to pursue target applications in mobile devices. aligned along the z-axis. The transferred power is obtained
when the power source is the constant-voltage AC source that
has a peak-to-peak 10 V sine wave and a load resistance RL is 5
. Then, we can verify and analyze the relationship between
the resonances and the transferred power in the system with the
analytical expressions, simulations and measurements.

TABLE I. FREQUENCY PARAMETER VALUES OF THE REPEATING-COIL

WIRELESS POWER TRANSFER SYSTEM WITH A FERRITE PLATE
Value
Para-
Quantity Analytical Model Measure-
meter
Expression Simulation ment
fSL
Low frequency of
= f1 313 kHz 273 kHz 258 kHz
series resonance
= (2)
fSM
Middle frequency
= f2 357 kHz 357 kHz 431 kHz
of series resonance
Fig. 2. Specification of the test vehicles designed for the transmitting and = (3)
receiving coils. fSH
High frequency of
= f3 480 kHz 649 kHz 537 kHz
series resonance
The self-inductance and the mutual inductance can be = (4)
fML Low frequency of
extracted with the Z-parameter obtained from the measurement. = f4 maximum 313 kHz 275 kHz 261 kHz
The designed coil without a ferrite plate has an inductance of = (6) transferred power
LR = 56.0 H, and a series tuning capacitance of CR = 3.55 nF fMM Middle frequency
is calculated for a resonance at the frequency of 357 kHz, = f5 of maximum 357 kHz 357 kHz 434 kHz
where the frequency is also selected for a mobile application. = (7) transferred power
When a ferrite plate is attached at the back side of the coil, the fMH High frequency of
= f6 maximum 480 kHz 643 kHz 516 kHz
inductance of the coil is changed to LS = LL = 98.2 H, and the = (8) transferred power
series tuning capacitance is changed to CS = CL = 2.02 nF for a
resonance at the same frequency. The mutual inductance of MS The frequency parameter values of the repeating-coil
= ML = 36.3 H (k = 0.49) can be extracted from the Z21 slope wireless power transfer system obtained from the analytical
when the distance between the coils is set to be 0.5 cm and expressions, circuit model simulations and measurements are
aligned along the z-axis with a ferrite plate at the backside of presented in Table I. The series resonance peaks of the input
the transmitting and receiving coil. Both the self and mutual impedance predicted from the analytical expressions have a
inductances are increased with a ferrite plate. good correspondence with the circuit model simulation and the
measurement results. The differences among the analytical
expressions, the simulation and the measurement results caused
by the ignored mutual coupling between the transmitting and
receiving coils, and the difference in the series parasitic
resistance of the coils.
Table I shows that the frequency of the maximized
transferred power predicted from the analytical expressions in
(6), (7) and (8) also has a good correspondence with them. And
it shows the relationship between the resonances and the
transferred power in the repeating-coil wireless power transfer
system. The SPICE simulation results based on the simulated
and measured Z-parameters verify that the series resonance
frequencies f1, f2, f3 of the input impedance coincide with the
frequencies f4, f5, f6 at which the transferred power is
Fig. 3. Measurement setup for the repeating-coil wireless power transfer maximized in the constant-voltage AC source in the repeating-
system. The distance between the coils is set to be 0.5 cm along the z-axis. coil wireless power transfer system.

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 In the case of the constant-voltage AC source, the in Fig. 4. Below 100 kHz, the electromagnetic radiated
transmitting power is increased as the input impedance emissions are not reliable due to the lack of the low antenna
decreases. Although the power transfer increases at the parallel gain. Although the input impedance of the system changes
resonance frequency, the transferred power is not increased at because of the presence of the loop antenna, this change is
that frequency because the transmitting power is too small negligible. It is proved that the series resonance frequencies of
compared with that at the series resonance frequencies. Thus, the input impedance coincide with the frequencies at which the
the transferred power is increased at the series resonance electromagnetic radiated emissions from the system have
frequencies because the input impedance is minimized at those maximum peaks in the constant-voltage AC source.
frequencies in the constant-voltage AC source.
This result has a mechanism similar to the result obtained
from the relationship between the resonances and the
III. ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATED EMISSIONS FROM THE transferred power in (2), (3), (4), (6), (7) and (8). Basically, in
REPEATING-COIL WIRELESS POWER TRANSFER SYSTEM the case of a constant-voltage or current AC source, the input
S21 is analyzed using a 2-port VNA to examine at which power of source is determined by the input impedance of the
frequency the most electromagnetic radiated emissions are coupled coils. The magnitude of the electromagnetic radiated
generated from the repeating-coil wireless power transfer emissions also behaves as the transferred power when the
system. The network system for S-parameter analysis is transmitting power is increased. The electromagnetic radiated
generally excited by voltage sources, and consequently S21 with emissions from the receiving coil are increased by this
VNA can represent the electromagnetic radiated emissions in increased transferred power. It leads to the increased total
the case of a voltage source. The measurement for the magnitude of the electromagnetic radiated emissions. That is to
electromagnetic radiated emission using a loop antenna is say that the magnitude of the electromagnetic radiated
shown in Fig. 3. Z11 should be re-measured because the input emissions is increased when the input impedance is decreased
impedance changes slightly due to the loop antenna that is used in the case of a constant-voltage AC source at f1, f2 and f3.
for the measurement of the electromagnetic radiated emissions.
Then, we analyze the electromagnetic radiated emissions with IV. CONCLUSION
respect to the resonances in the system. In this paper, we measured and analyzed the
The configuration of the coupled coils and the loop antenna electromagnetic radiated emissions from the repeating-coil
is described as in Fig. 3 to measure the electromagnetic wireless power transfer system using a resonant magnetic field
radiated emissions in the frequency domain from the system. A coupling. As a result, we have demonstrated the relationship
perpendicularly positioned loop antenna is placed at 0.3 cm between the resonance peaks at the input impedance curve
away from the transmitting coil. To study electromagnetic measured from the input port of the coupled coil with the
radiated emissions, the S-parameters are measured from 30 repeating coil and the electromagnetic radiated emission
kHz to 2 MHz using a 2-port VNA while the transmitting coil measurement obtained from the repeating-coil wireless power
and loop antenna are connected to port 1 and port 2 of the transfer system. This research experimentally verified that the
VNA, respectively. The same coils as shown in Fig. 2 are used series resonance frequencies at the impedance profile coincide
for the transmitting and receiving coils with a ferrite plate, and with the frequencies at which the transferred power and the
the receiving coil is a closed loop with a load resistance of RL = electromagnetic radiated emissions are becoming maximized
5 . when using constant-voltage AC source in the repeating-coil
wireless power transfer system. This result is possible to reduce
the problems of the electromagnetic radiated emissions when
designing the resonant wireless power transfer system applied
the repeating-coil.

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