2017 6th International Conference on Modern Circuits and Systems Technologies (MOCAST)

Circular and Square SRR Exploitation as

a Means for Wireless Power Transfer

A. G. Pelekanidis, A. X. Lalas, N. V. Kantartzis T. T. Zygiridis, P. Sarigiannidis

Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering Dept. of Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki University of Western Macedonia
Thessaloniki, 54124, Greece Kozani, 50100, Greece
Email: apelekan@auth.gr; lant@faraday.ee.auth.gr; kant@auth.gr Email: {tzygiridis, psarigiannidis}@uowm.gr

Abstract—As wireless power transfer (WPT) systems emerge,

the efficiency and achievable transmitting distance are two con-
straining factors for their prevalence over wired ones. In this
paper, two split ring resonator (SRR)-based WPT configurations,
with circular and square SRRs, as their transmitting and receiving
elements, are investigated for various frequencies and distances. d
The efficiency is found to be very satisfactory in both cases, ex-
ceeding 98% for certain sets of parameters. Thus, the general Fig. 1. WPT circuit representation via the electromagnetic resonance.
response of both arrangements seems to be promising for effec-
tive power transfer over distances of a few centimeters.

Keywords—Electromagnetic resonance; metamaterials; negative

permeability; split ring resonators; wireless power transfer.

I. INTRODUCTION
Wireless power transfer (WPT) is considered as an innova-
tive technology of transmitting electric energy and currently
finds implementation in intuitive applications, like wireless
(a) (b)
charging of mobile phones or prototype electric vehicles. The
maximum efficiency and distance between the transmitter and Fig. 2. Geometry of (a) a circular and (b) a square SRR on a dielectric slab.
the receiver are two key parameters that need to be optimized
in order to establish the wide-scale commercial use of WPT of the SRRs, i.e. the frequency band of negative effective
schemes. Amid different electromagnetic phenomena, exploit- permeability. Explicitly, in [11], circular and square SRRs are
ed as WPT mechanisms [1], electromagnetic resonance has examined, while in [13] the circular case is further explored.
been thoroughly investigated, since it can achieve high effi-
Based on the prior aspects, the aim of this paper is to de-
ciency for medium distances (of several cm), according to
velop and thoroughly study the behavior of efficient WPT
theoretical analyses [2]-[4] and experimental results [5]-[7]. In
systems, implemented by means of circular and square SRRs.
particular, electric energy is transferred through the magnetic
Specifically, the utilized resonators are the edge-coupled SRRs
coupling of two coils belonging to separate LC circuits, as
of Fig. 2. Similar dimensions are chosen, so that a viable com-
shown in Fig. 1. The efficiency is maximized when the reso-
parison with respect to the optimum operating frequency can
nance frequencies of the LC circuits are equal to the excitation
be conducted, as well. The efficiency is calculated through the
frequency of the external source VG. Moreover, in [8]-[10],
finite element method (FEM), implemented in the COMSOL
metamaterial slabs have been inserted between the transmitter
Multiphysics® computational package [16], which provides
and the receiver to enhance the transmitted power via the am-
accurate outcomes for the electromagnetic field and the S-
plification of evanescent waves. These slabs comprise an array
parameters of the simulated structures.
of split ring resonators (SRRs) or spiral resonators, which ex-
hibit negative permeability, under specific excitation condi-
tions. Therefore, they can operate effectively, given the mag- II. ESTIMATION OF THE OPTIMAL FREQUENCY
netic nature of the energy transmission between the coils. Since the maximum efficiency is expected at a frequency
Alternative implementations of SRR-based schemes, at- within the magnetic resonance of the SRRs, the magnetic res-
taining WPT through electromagnetic resonance, are presented onance frequency band could be estimated prior to the analysis
in [11]-[14], where the SRRs, being equivalent to an LC cir- of the entire WPT system. Thus, a configuration including an
cuit [15], serve as the transmitting and receiving elements. The infinite plane of SRRs, or equivalently, a unit cell, like the
maximum efficiency is achieved within the magnetic resonance ones of Fig. 3, with a single SRR and suitable boundary conditi-

978-1-5090-4386-6/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE

 2017 6th International Conference on Modern Circuits and Systems Technologies (MOCAST)
(a) (b)
Fig. 3. Unit cell with (a) a circular and (b) a square SRR. The blue-colored
side of the domain indicates the direction of the (electric) excitation.
(a)
(b)
Fig. 4. Real parts of the effective constitutive parameters for (a) the circular
and (b) the square SRR.
ons, is proposed. The desired band may be indirectly deter-
mined via the measurement of the aforementioned arrange-
ment, when excited by the proper electric or magnetic field.
Subsequently, the effective constitutive parameters εeff and μeff
can be derived from the S-parameters and the assumed perio-
dicity of the SRRs in the infinite plane, with the aid of a popu-
lar homogenization process [17].
(a)
(b)
Fig. 5. Complete WPT configuration via (a) circular and (b) square SRRs.
Herein, the selected dimensions of the circular and the
square SRRs are r = 35 mm, w = g = s = 5 mm and D1 = 70
mm, D2 = 60 mm, d1 = 50 mm, d2 = 40 mm, respectively. The
periodicity of the cell is set to α = 80 mm. The SRRs are
placed on lossless dielectric slabs with a relative permittivity
of εr = 4.5 and a height of t = 1.5 mm. In this context, the real
parts of the constitutive parameters are shown in Fig. 4. As
expected, the effective permeability receives negative values,
revealing the frequency band of magnetic resonance, where
the optimal WPT operating frequency is probably located. Al-
so, the magnetic resonance of the circular SRR ranges between
426 MHz and 478 MHz, whereas for the square SRR the cor-
responding values are 340 MHz and 400 MHz. These frequen-
cy bands are indicative and can be tailored to a desirable, unli-
censed and non-interfering spectrum with the proper choice of
the SRR dimensions, as it is performed in [13]. It is notewor-
thy that the band of the magnetic resonance is quite different in
these two cases, despite the similar dimensions. So, different
optimal operating frequencies in the WPT scheme are expected.
III. ASSESSMENT OF THE PROPOSED WPT CONFIGURATIONS
The WPT structure examined in this paper follows the ra-
tionale of Fig. 1, including a transmitting and a receiving SRR
at a distance d and a source connected to the transmitting
SRR. Similarly, a load impedance is connected to the receiv-
ing SRR. Additionally, an inductive wireless connection be-
tween the source/load and the respective SRRs is chosen, as
discussed in [2] and employed in [8], [13]. This choice of feeding
and terminating the configuration serves mismatching issues
 2017 6th International Conference on Modern Circuits and Systems Technologies (MOCAST)
Fig. 6. Efficiency of the circular SRR-based WPT system as a function of
frequency for various distances between the transmitting and receiving SRR.
Fig. 7. Maximum magnetic field intensity (in A/m) for the circular SRR-based
WPT system at an excitation frequency of 539 MHz.
sues, which could otherwise not be avoided. The source and
load are implemented as circular or square loops, in accord-
ance with the shape of the inductively coupled SRRs and
placed at distances ds and dl from them. The complete configu-
rations are depicted in Fig. 5.
The initial distance values are chosen as d = 50 mm, ds = 5
mm, and dl = 5 mm. In practice, the values of ds and dl are not
arbitrary, yet are appropriately chosen in order to accomplish
the optimal matching of the source and the load to the circuit.
In our analysis, however, S-parameters (which ensure port
matching) are determined, thus, ds and dl affect merely the
coupling coefficient of the SRRs along with the source/load
loops. Then, a parametric sweep is conducted for various d val-
ues between the SRRs, which indicates the behavior and po-
tential stability of the WPT efficiency with respect to distance.
Since the range of satisfactory efficiency for the electromag-
netic resonance-oriented WPT system is a few centimeters
[13], the study is conducted for d = 20 mm, 35 mm, 50 mm,
70 mm, and 100 mm. Note that the arrangements of Fig. 5 are
placed in an infinite space terminated by a perfectly matched
layer (PML), so that artificial reflections are minimized.
A. Circular SRR WPT Configuration
The efficiency, calculated as |S21|2, is provided in Fig. 6 as
a function of the excitation frequency for different distances
1
2 cm
3.5 cm
0.8 5 cm
7 cm
10 cm
Efficiency
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0.38 0.4 0.42 0.44 0.46
Frequency (GHz)
Fig. 8. Efficiency of the square SRR-based WPT system as a function of fre-
quency for various distances between the transmitting and receiving SRR.
Fig. 9. Maximum magnetic field intensity (in A/m) for the square SRR-based
WPT system at an excitation frequency of 432.5 MHz.
between the transmitting and the receiving SRR. It is observed
that it can receive high values for distances up to 50 mm,
reaching or exceeding the level of 98% for frequencies slightly
above 510 MHz. On the contrary, for larger distances, there is
a considerable decrease of the efficiency. A snapshot illustrat-
ing the maximum magnetic field intensity at the xz-plane, for
the optimal values of d = 20 mm and f = 539 MHz, shown in
Fig. 7, indicates that almost the entire available power is
transmitted to the load.
B. Square SRR WPT Configuration
Similarly, for the case with the circular SRRs, the efficien-
cy for the square SRR setup is displayed in Fig. 8. Herein, the
frequency band of maximum efficiency ranges between 424
MHz and 445 MHz. However, it is lower than the former case,
since it reaches the level of 98.6% for d = 35 mm and remains
below 94% for the rest of the distances. Finally, in Fig. 9, the
corresponding snapshot of the maximum magnetic field inten-
sity, obtained with the optimal distance, d = 35 mm and fre-
quency, f = 432.5 MHz, is presented. In this figure, and equiv-
alently in Fig. 7, practically non-zero magnetic field is ob-
served only in the vicinity of the SRRs. This artifact confirms
that at the electromagnetic resonance phenomenon non-
resonant objects (air) interact weakly with the resonant ones
(SRRs) [1], which leads at high efficiency levels.
 2017 6th International Conference on Modern Circuits and Systems Technologies (MOCAST)

TABLE Ι. Comparative results of maximum achievable efficiency plementations, since for the former SRR the effective permea-
bility is negative in a frequency band around 520 MHz, whereas
Circular SRR Square SRR
for the latter SRR the respective frequency band is around 430
Maximum Optimal Maximum Optimal MHz. This promising performance of the featured WPT sys-
Distance efficiency frequency efficiency frequency
(mm) tems can be proven very instructive for various contemporary
(%) (MHz) (%) (MHz)
applications, which require fast and reliable energy transfer.
20 99.03 539 93.06 445
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