Radiator of Wireless Power Charging for

Mobile Device and Its Efficiency Characterization

Achmad Munir† , Ni Wayan Dessy Eka Rahayu, and Biru Tutur Ranum
Radio Telecommunication and Microwave Laboratory
School of Electrical Engineering and Infomatics, Institut Teknologi Bandung
Bandung, Indonesia
† [email protected]

Abstract—The development of wireless power charging things of potentially harmful electromagnetics radiation. Thus,
radiator for mobile device and its efficiency characterization are due to the received power weakness on receiver circuit for
presented. The radiator which is designed using a microstrip non-radiative technique and the limitation of power exposure
patch in spiral shape is intended to work at operating frequency for power beaming technique, another method developed from
around 10MHz. Some investigations over the gap between 2 near-field approach has been implemented based on magnetic
radiators are carried out to analyse the effect of varied gap
resonance coupling [5]– [7].
separations to the reflection and transmission coefficients. After
obtaining the optimum design, the radiator is deployed on a Regardless to the methods implemented for wirelessly
grounded FR4 Epoxy dielectric substrate with the dimension transfering electrical power, an important issue that should
of 50mm × 60mm and the thickness of 0.8mm. The realized
radiator is then measured experimentally to characterize its
be paid more attention in wireless power transfer is the
properties compared with the design ones and to obtain its efficiency. The issue is mainly determined by devices applied
radiation efficiency. From experimental characterization, the for transferring energy of electromagnetics waves. In [8], the
radiator works at operating frequency of 9.21MHz with the use of microstrip patch deployed on a dielectric substrate
reflection and transmission coefficient values of -20.22dB and is one of promising technique which can be implemented
-2.72dB, respectively. This is comparable to the design one for achieving better efficiency in desired operating frequency.
which works at operating frequency of 10MHz and the reflection Meanwhile, to overcome the problem of external power source
and transmission coefficient values of -29.79dB and -1.62dB, necessary as well as to simplify the circuit design of receiver
respectively. Whilst the high efficiency is achieved when the gap circuit, the configuration of voltage doubler has been proposed
separation between 2 stacked radiator is 0.8mm with the average and realized experimentally [9]– [10].
efficiency around 58%.
Keywords—Efficiency; characterization; mobile device;
In this paper, based on the recent work in [8], a
radiator; wireless power charging. radiator developed based on magnetic resonance coupling is
proposed as a part of wireless power charging system which
utilizes transferring electrical energy. The proposed radiator is
I. I NTRODUCTION designed to accomplish some requirements such as having the
operating frequency around 10MHz and the value of reflection
Recently, the technology of wireless power transfer has coefficient and transmission coefficient at operating frequency
been becoming a very attractive research especially for less than -10dB and close to 0dB, respectively. Moreover, the
wireless power charging application. The investigation to radiator which is implemented using a microstrip patch on a
develop a system for wirelessly transmitting electrical energy grounded FR4 Epoxy dielectric substrate is expected to have
has attracted researchers due to the need of more convenient high efficiency for overcoming the important issue in wireless
way in power charging system. Some methods to transfer power transfer.
electrical power wirelessly have been proposed and intensively
investigated [1]– [4]. A method which is classified as
non-radiative technique is usually applied to transfer wirelessly II. R ADIATOR OF W IRELESS P OWER C HARGING
the electrical energy for low power device in near-field region
[1]– [2]. As the weakness of received power on receiver circuit, A. Design of Wireless Power Charging Radiator
therefore the power in receiver circuit should be strengthened Fig. 1 illustrates the proposed structure of microstrip patch
using some external power sources. radiator and its geometry in detail. The receiving radiator
Furthermore, as a counterpart of non-radiative technique, which is designed to operate around frequency of 10MHz
a method known as power beaming technique has been is deployed on a 0.8mm thick of a grounded FR4 Epoxy
implemented by radiating electromagnetic beams in far-field dielectric substrate. The choice of spiral shape is aimed to
region such as microwave or laser beams [3]– [4]. This significantly reduce the dimension of radiator, thence it can be
method is categorized as a radiative technique where it can realized in compact size. Theoretically, the operating frequency
transmit high electrical energy in longer distances. However, an of radiator (𝑓 ) can be calculated using (1).
important issue that should be paid more attention in wireless
power transfer system is a limitation of power exposure. 𝑐
𝑓= √ (1)
This aims to avoid the exposure to people or other living 2𝐿𝑒𝑓 𝑓 𝜖𝑟
 Reflection & Transmission Coefficient (dB)
2
0
50Ω

2
0.3 -10
0.3

-20

-30
60
S11 S21
gap separation of 0.4mm
-40 gap separation of 0.8mm
gap separation of 1.2mm

-50
5 10 15 20
50
Frequency (MHz)

Fig. 1. Structure of microstrip patch radiator and its geometry (unit in 𝑚𝑚) Fig. 3. Simulation results of varied gap separation between 2 stacked radiators

where 𝑐, 𝐿𝑒𝑓 𝑓 , and 𝜖𝑟 are the speed of light in vacuum, the as variation of patch length and of gap separation between 2
length of microstrip patch radiator, and the relative permittivity stacked radiators are carried out through simulation to analyze
of dielectric substrate used for the deployment, respectively. the performance of proposed microstrip patch radiator. The
It clearly shows that the longer the patch leads the lower simulation results are depicted in Figs. 2 and 3 for variation
the operating frequency. This also applies for the relative of patch length and of gap separation between 2 stacked
permittivity value of dielectric substrate. If the patch of radiator radiators, respectively.
is implemented in a straight line, the effective patch length is As plotted in Fig. 2, there are 4 variation lengths of
around 7151mm. This is very long and inefficient dimension microstrip patch applied for the investigation, i.e. 4576.8mm,
to be applied for a mobile device. Therefore, by taking the 4376.7mm, 4172.2mm and 3972.6mm, while other parameters
spiral shape of patch, the radiator dimension shrinks to merely of radiator remain to the same. It shows that the longer the
50mm × 60mm. The patch of radiator is made of metal copper microstrip patch, the operating frequency decreases which has
with the thickness of 0.035mm and the width of 0.3mm. While been predicted by theoretical approach. Whilst in Fig. 3, there
the distance between patches in its turns is set to be the same are 3 variations of gap separation between 2 stacked radiators,
as the width of patch, i.e. 0.3mm. i.e. 0.4mm, 0.8mm, and 1.2mm. It indicates that the closer
Furthermore, SMA connectors which have the separation between 2 stacked radiators produces the better
characteristic impedances of 50Ω are connected at the performance. This can be seen in the gap separation between
input and output ports of radiator for characterization 2 stacked radiators of 0.8mm where the operating frequency is
purposes. Since the radiator is developed based on microstrip 10MHz with the reflection and transmission coefficient values
line, the characteristics of microstrip line consequently affect of -29.79dB and -1.62dB, respectively. However, at a very
the characteristic of radiator as well. Therefore according to close gap separation, i.e. 0.4mm, other operating frequencies
those reasons, some investigations of radiator characteristic appear due to the over coupling between radiators.

B. Realization of Wireless Power Charging Radiator

Reflection & Transmission Coefficient (dB)

0
Based on the optimum design of proposed radiator and
the results of numerical characterization, the prototype of
-10 radiator is realized through wet etching technique. Fig. 4
shows the picture of realized radiator deployed on an FR4
Epoxy dielectric substrate for experimental measurement. To
-20
investigate the effect of varied gap separation between 2
stacked radiators as well as its radiation efficiency, 3 variations
-30 of gap separation, i.e. 0.4mm, 0.8mm, and 1.2mm, are
S11 S21 examined in the characterization. Fig. 5 plots measurement
patch length of 4576.8mm results of experimental characterization which is comparable
patch length of 4376.7mm to the simulation result shown in Fig. 3.
-40 patch length of 4172.2mm
patch length of 3972.6mm
From Fig. 5, it seems that the measurement results have
-50 similar tendency as the simulations in which the closer
5 10 15 20 separation between 2 stacked radiators, i.e. 0.8mm, gives the
Frequency (MHz) better performance. It shows that the realized radiator with
the gap separation between 2 stacked radiators of 0.8mm
Fig. 2. Simulation results of varied microstrip patch length of radiator works at operating frequency of 9.21MHz with the reflection
 3

Received AC signal level

2.5

1.5

gap separation of 0.4mm

gap separation of 0.8mm
1 gap separation of 1.2mm

0.5
1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
AC signal level at transmitting radiator
Fig. 4. Pictures of realized radiator on an FR4 Epoxy dielectric substrate
Fig. 6. Measurement results of varied AC signal level for varied gap
Reflection & Transmission Coefficient (dB)

0 separation between 2 stacked radiators

70
-10 gap separation of 0.4mm
gap separation of 0.8mm
gap separation of 1.2mm

Radiator efficiency (%)

-20 60

-30
50
S11 S21
gap separation of 0.4mm
-40 gap separation of 0.8mm
gap separation of 1.2mm 40

-50
5 10 15 20
Frequency (MHz) 30
1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
Fig. 5. Measurement results of varied gap separation between 2 stacked AC signal level at transmitting radiator
radiators
Fig. 7. Radiator efficiency of radiator for varied gap separation between 2
stacked radiators
and transmission coefficient values of -20.22dB and -2.72dB,
respectively. The similarity is also seen in the over coupling
which occurs for a very close gap separation, i.e. 0.4mm. It seems that the radiator efficiency is inline with measured
In spite of discrepancy occurs in the measurement results scattering parameter where the radiator with gap separation
almost for all gap separations, however the curves have a good of 0.8mm yields higher efficiency than of 1.2mm. The
agreement each other qualitatively with the simulation results. measurement results shown in Fig. 6 comply with the
It can be figured out that the discrepancy is possibly evoked by prediction as the larger the gap separation, the more severe
the different value of relative permittivity of dielectric substrate propagation loss will be. It shows from Fig. 7 that the
set in the simulation and used for the experimentation. efficiency of radiator for the worst case of gap separation
between 2 stacked radiators, i.e. 0.4mm, is more than 37%
for some level of input AC signal variation. Meanwhile,
III. R ADIATION E FFICIENCY C HARACTERIZATION the highest efficiency of radiator is achieved when the gap
separation between 2 stacked radiators is 0.8mm with the
Furthermore, to determine the radiation efficiency of average efficiency around 58%.
realized radiator, the same construction as implemented in
the previous measurement setup is applied. A various AC
IV. C ONCLUSION
signal level obtained from a signal generator is fed to the
first radiator which acts as a transmitting radiator, while the The radiator of wireless power charging for mobile device
received AC signal at the second radiator as a receiving radiator has been developed based on magnetic resonance coupling and
is measured. The measurement results for gap separation its experimental characterization for determining the radiation
between 2 radiators of 0.4mm, 0.8mm and 1.2mm are depicted efficiency has been demonstrated. The radiator which has
in Fig. 6. Whereas the radiator efficiency which is defined as been realized using a microstrip patch in spiral shape and
the ratio between the output and the input AC signal for some deployed on a grounded FR4 Epoxy dielectric substrate had
gap separation is plotted in Fig. 7. the dimension of 50mm × 60mm with the thickness of 0.8mm.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT [7] J. Zhao, G. Xu, C. Zhang, Y. Li, X. Zhang, Q. Yang, Y. Li, and H.
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The authors wish to thank Mr. Zenal Aripin from in magnetic coupling resonance wireless energy transmission system,”
School of Electrical Engineering and Informatics, Institut IEEE Trans. Magn., Vol. 48, No. 11, pp. 4030–4033, Nov. 2012.
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