Energy Reports xxx (xxxx) xxx

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Energy Reports
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/egyr

A long-distance high-power microwave wireless power transmission

system based on asymmetrical resonant magnetron and
cyclotron-wave rectifier
∗
Biao Hu a , , Hao Li a , Tianming Li a , Haiyang Wang a , Yihong Zhou a , Xiaoyun Zhao b ,
Xin Hu c , Xuekun Du d , Yulong Zhao d , Xiang Li d , Tian Qi a , Mohamed Helaoui d ,
Wenhua Chen e , Fadhel Ghannouchi d
a
School of Electronic Science and Engineering, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610054, China
b
College of Nuclear Technology and Automation Engineering, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, 610059, China
c
School of electronic engineering, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing, 100876, China
d
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, T2N 1N4, Canada
e
Department of Electronic Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100083, China

article info a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper demonstrates the analysis of a long-distance high-power microwave wireless power trans-
Received 20 September 2020 mission (MWPT) system based on asymmetrical resonant magnetron and cyclotron-wave rectifier. In
Received in revised form 7 December 2020 the system, the novel magnetron with the asymmetrical resonant cavity, the straps, and the output loop
Accepted 12 December 2020
coupling circuit can effectively promote the beam–wave interaction, suppress the mode competition,
Available online xxxx
and enhance the output coupling, which results in a 400 kW output microwave power with a
Keywords: conversion efficiency of 45%. The transceiver Cassegrain antenna system with its simple structure, high
Microwave wireless power transmission conversion efficiency, and high power capacity can attain an integral power transmission efficiency of
Asymmetrical resonant magnetron 2.6% at 10 km distance. The cyclotron-wave rectifier with high efficiency and single-tube high power
Cassegrain antenna capacity can achieve 85% microwave to DC conversion efficiency. Finally, the long-distance high-power
Cyclotron-wave rectifier
MWPT system can achieve 8.5 kW DC power with about 1% DC–DC transmission efficiency at the
operating 2.45 GHz frequency and for the 10 km distance. Such a system is likely a potential and
attracting solution to remotely power the fuel-free aerial vehicle from the ground, can also provide
electrical power to an isolated mountain top or an island, and even an alternative to transmit the
power from space solar power satellite in geostationary orbit to the ground.
© 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND
license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction
Microwave wireless power transmission (MWPT) is a promis-
ing technology representing the combined application of elec-
trical and microwave science (Costanzo et al., 2014). Free space
microwave is produced and intercepted by antennas and trans-
formed into DC power through rectifiers, which is more suit-
able for far-field transmission, including energy scavenging from
radio wave or diffused microwave energy and focused beam
microwave power transfer (Strasser II and Chang, 2013; Garnica
et al., 2013). Such rectifiers can be divided into two distinct
categories. The first mode adopts the single-transistor rectifier
diode with low power, which can realize short-distance power
transfer with relatively compact emitter and receiver sizes by
∗ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: hubiao@uestc.edu.cn (B. Hu).
power combining (Ladan et al., 2014; Awais et al., 2018). The sec-
ond mode is applying the high-efficiency high-power cyclotron-
wave rectifier (Caspers et al., 2010; Vanke, 2005). Compared to
semiconductor technologies, for the same high power range, the
microwave based vacuum tube owns more conversion efficiency,
lower cost, and lower power-to-weight ratio, even if it includes
the power source, the DC to DC converter, the cooling equip-
ment, and all other essential accessory elements (Suzuki et al.,
2018; Mizojiri et al., 2018). Consequently, the MWPT system
based on the cyclotron-wave rectifier can offer the advantage of
long-distance transmission with a focused beam power transfer.
The Communication Research Center Canada and the Univer-
sity of Toronto successfully carried out fuel-free airplane flight
experiment using microwave power transmission, which trans-
mitted a 2.45 GHz, 10 kW microwave signal to a model airplane
flying more than 150 m above ground level (Schlesak and Ohno;
ITU-R Radio communication Sector of ITU, 2016). The European
point to point wireless power transmission system modulated in

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egyr.2020.12.026
2352-4847/© 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-
nc-nd/4.0/).

Please cite this article as: B. Hu, H. Li, T. Li et al., A long-distance high-power microwave wireless power transmission system based on asymmetrical resonant magnetron
and cyclotron-wave rectifier. Energy Reports (2020), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egyr.2020.12.026.
B. Hu, H. Li, T. Li et al.
2.45 GHz was examined to deliver 10 kW of electricity power to
a small isolated village in Reunion Island, France (Pignolet, 1996;
Seboldt et al., 2001). The Japanese Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
successfully demonstrated the usefulness of MWPT in igniting
LED light on the receiving device 500 m away with 2.45 GHz
using 10 kW from magnetron connected to phased array and
in a 55 m distance wireless power transmission with 5.8 GHz
using 1.8 kW microwave from thickness phased array with GaN
MMIC amplifiers and phase shifters to detect a position of a
rectenna and to control a microwave beam (Furukawa et al.,
2013; Nagahama et al., 2011). Recently, University of Electronic
Science and Technology of China has engaged in many researches
on MWPT, especially the development of high-power microwave
sources (Wang et al., 2017b), high-efficiency diode based recti-
fiers and cyclotron-wave based rectifiers (Zhao et al., 2018b), and
other kinds of novel transmitting and receiving antennas (Zhao
et al., 2017). Its compact Ku-band microwave wireless energy
transmission system based on rectifier diode achieved 4% DC
to DC efficiency at 60 m, which demonstrates that MWPT can
be feasible and viable solution to remotely charge unmanned
hovering aerial vehicles (Hu et al., 2019b).
MWPT systems using diode based rectifiers and transistor
based microwave power generator is more suitable for the short
to medium transmission range. However, the long-distance and
high-power MWPT systems are rarely reported, despite the ur-
gent need to develop these systems for broad range of applica-
tions. In this paper, a novel long-distance high-power MWPT sys-
tem based on asymmetrical resonant magnetron and cyclotron-
wave rectifier is presented, which we believe among the best
systems proposed and has a simple system architecture along
with a compact high-efficiency microwave generating and rec-
tifying components. However this paper is just a principle veri-
fication and simulation, and there are still lots of researches to
support. As a whole, long-distance high-power MWPT systems
including the cyclotron-wave and rectifier diode are likely to be
used several applications such as (i) in a stationary high altitude
relay platform in stratosphere to power a fuel-free aerial vehicle
from the ground, (ii) in providing electrical power to an isolated
mountain top or an island where the cost of a wired power supply
is too prohibitive and electric power needs are sporadic, and (iii)
in the challenging and highly desirable long-distance high-power
application of space solar power satellite placed in geostationary
orbit, which would transmit the generated power in the solar
power satellite via microwave to a fixed region in earth.
2. Design of the long-distance high-power MWPT system
The main theory of the wireless power transmission via mi-
crowaves is based on Friis’ transmission formula. The microwave
signal which carries wireless power is monochromatic wave
without any modulation, and it would be used as carriers of
energy (Li et al., 2017; Hu et al., 2019a). For long distance power
transmission, the frequency band is chosen around 2.45 GHz,
which is the microwave windows of the atmosphere, and there
are abundant practical and low cost high-efficiency microwave
sources and high-efficiency rectifiers for these frequencies (Mc-
Spadden and Mankins, 2002).
The composition of the long-distance high-power MWPT sys-
tem is displaying in Fig. 1, including microwave generating and
rectifying components, transmitting and receiving antennas. Be-
sides, accurate control of the antenna beam is essential, and
measurement and calibration are important issues in any serious
undertaking development projects. In this paper, the microwave
generator selected is the compact asymmetrical resonant mag-
netron, which can output 400 kW with a single-tube microwave
with 45% conversion efficiency. The microwave generator se-
lected feeds a highly directive antenna, which beams the energy
2
Energy Reports xxx (xxxx) xxx
to the target location. At the receiving station, an antenna is used
to intercept the microwave power and to be channeled to a rec-
tifier. Various types of transmitting and receiving antennas have
been considered, and the most suitable antenna types depend
on the chosen microwave generator and rectifier types, but also
on weight and cost. Herein in a ground-based application, the
transmitting and receiving antennas are similar. Therefore, only
one type of suitable antenna for application can be designed. After
careful considerations, the Cassegrain antenna is selected and
used to transmit and receive the high microwave power. By fine
tuning the two reflecting paraboloids in the Cassegrain antenna,
the interface field distribution of the main plane and the utiliza-
tion rate can be optimized. Such a transceiver Cassegrain antenna
system with its simple structure, high conversion efficiency, and
high power capacity can attain an integral power transmission
efficiency of 2.6% at 10 km distance. In the microwave rectifier,
the receiving microwave signal is pumped into the cyclotron-
wave rectifier, which is a special electric vacuum device and
can realize the conversion from microwave power into direct
current with high efficiency and high power capacity, besides it
can automatically protect itself in the case of input and output
power overloading. The compact cyclotron-wave rectifier with
2.45 GHz, 10 kW input microwave power can achieve a high
conversion efficiency of 85%, through a suitable management, and
is fed into the power grid.
2.1. The high-power asymmetrical resonant magnetron
The magnetron is theoretically and experimentally confirmed
to be viable high efficiency and high power microwave gen-
erator (Fleming et al., 2012; Vyas and Maurya, 2016). In the
long-distance high-power MWPT system proposed in this paper,
a transmitting microwave generator based on the novel 400 kW
asymmetrical resonant magnetron is developed and used (Wang
et al., 2017b). The structural sketch and main components of the
microwave generator are presented in Fig. 2. The anode block
of the magnetron is composed of 12 magnetron-type slotted
shape cavities and two broken straps, which both determines
the magnetron working frequency and affects the electromag-
netic field distribution. In the magnetron, for keeping oscillating
and energy charging stably, the electrons in the internal surface
should synchronize with the traveling wave.
ω
Vt = Vp = ra (1)
n
Where Vt is the tangential velocity of the electrons, Vp is the
phase velocity of the traveling wave, ω is the resonance an-
gular frequency, ra is the radius of the inner surface of anode,
and n is the mode number. At the same time, the magnetron
should satisfy the Hull cutoff condition and the Buneman–Hartree
condition (Wang et al., 2017b).
e rc2
Va = ra2 (1 − )2 B2 (2)
8m ra2
ra2 rc2 ω r2 ω m
Vt = (1 − 2
) B − a ( )2 (3)
2 ra n 2 n e
The magnetron can oscillate, when the operating voltage V sat-
isfies Vt < V < Va . Where the operating voltage is the potential
difference between the anode and the cathode, Va is the cut-off
voltage, and Vt is synchronous voltage. In pursuit of the high
power RF radiation and high energy conversion efficiency, the
magnetron introduces an asymmetrical resonant cavity, broken
straps, and a novel output loop coupling circuit. The magnetron
used here is totally different from the previous research in Wang
et al. (2017b). On the one hand, the microwave power transmis-
sion system adopts a continuous wave tube rather than pulse
B. Hu, H. Li, T. Li et al.
Fig. 1. The architecture and application of the long-distance high-power MWPT system.
Fig. 2. The structural sketch of the novel high-power asymmetrical resonant magnetron and its main components.
tube applied in the medical field. On the other hand, the operating
frequency and output power of the magnetron is 2.45 GHz and
400 kW, but the previous magnetron operates at 3 GHz with
3 MW output microwave power. Furthermore, the cathode and
straps should be optimized with higher power capacity, and
the structure with water cooling especially in the anode design
should be seriously considered. Due to the radial electric field,
axial magnetic field and angular RF field, the electrons drift both
in angular and radial direction, and finally deposit into the anode
block with residual energy, whose energy would be consumed in
the form of thermal energy. The heat dissipation capacity of the
water cooling system can be adjusted by the flow velocity to meet
the requirements of the high-power magnetron. Besides, the cool-
ing system and the electrical system are completely independent,
and the anode is grounded, so they can coexist without affecting
the magnetron performance.
In this magnetron, it adopts an asymmetrical resonator, whose
field distribution intensifies comparing with the one of sym-
metrical resonator, which can enhances the field strength at
the energy coupling zone and weakens the field strength at the
interaction zone. And in particular, the enhanced output coupling
field leads to the output power increasing, and the weakened
field strength is more satisfied with the magnetron resonance
condition which leads to the efficiency increasing. Meanwhile,
the broken straps are used to join alternate components in the
magnetically slotted cavity. After such structure is introduced, the
paired components would be equipotential in the π mode, but
3
Energy Reports xxx (xxxx) xxx
not at other modes. In such conditions, it is expected that the
working π mode will be slightly disturbed. Nevertheless, other
modes will be suppressed due to the large currents flowing along
the straps. This mode control yields current’s enhancement of
about three to four times of that obtained without strap, and
leads to a conversion efficiency increasing of about half hence.
Furthermore, the magnetron output circuit is designed as a loop
coupling structure, with two similar bent conductors to attach
the different sides of the two output coupling cavities, and the
center pole is joining the center of the loop strip and the anode
block. The two loops are positioned where they will capture
the maximum of magnetic flux in one resonance period. When
working at π mode in the magnetron, the coupling of the two
cavities is equal but 180◦ phase difference. As a consequence,
the output power is an in-phase combination between the two
coupling cavities and can deliver a maximum of power.
Particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation can self-consistently solve the
time-dependent Maxwell’s equation and the Lorentz force equa-
tion, which has been used to reveal the electron beam motion and
time evolution of electromagnetic field, and to optimize the per-
formance of high-power vacuum tubes. The filament is a key part
of the thermionic cathode in the magnetron, which should keep
the whole cathode heated evenly and control cathode current.
Here in the simulation they can be replaced by the beam current.
Through the PIC simulation, careful control of the operating anode
voltage (U = 36 kV), beam current (I = 24.69 A), and magnetic
field (B = 0.148 T) is important for the asymmetrical resonant
B. Hu, H. Li, T. Li et al. Energy Reports xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 3. The response of the radiated field voltage (a) and the frequency spectrum (b) at a specific point of the output area.

magnetron performance, and the optimum results obtained are

exhibited in Fig. 3. The frequency spectrum is given by the Fourier
analysis of the time domain described in Fig. 3(b), and the result
indicates that the magnetron outputs stable π mode in the beam–
wave interaction zone and radiates the designed standard TE10
mode at 2.45 GHz. The instantaneous field strength at a certain
point of the radiation area is gathered and shown in Fig. 3(a),
and the best field strength is stable at 0.88 kV/m. Depending on
the space electromagnetic field distribution, the location of fixed
point and the working mode, the output microwave power of the
asymmetrical resonant magnetron is 400 kW with the conversion
efficiency of 45% by the space field integral method.

2.2. The transceiver Cassegrain antenna system

In the ground-based long-distance MWPT system, the receiv-

ing and transmitting antennas are equivalent. In order to simplify
the system and make it feasible, the receiving and transmitting
antennas adopt the same Cassegrain antennas (Chiba and Kon-
ishi, 2011; Wang et al., 2017a). In the long-distance high-power
MWPT system, the Cassegrain antenna geometry configuration is
displayed in Fig. 4, including feed horn, hyperbolical sub-reflector
and rotational symmetric parabolic main-reflector. In the rota-
tional symmetric parabolic reflector, F1 is the focal point, and D
is the aperture. In the hyperbolical sub-reflector, F1 and F2 are its
focal points. The above two reflectors share the same focal point
and axis, and the horn feed is located at the sub-reflector virtual
point F2 , respectively. From the Cassegrain antenna system geo-
metric characteristics, in the transmitting system, the microwave
beams from the feed illuminate the sub-reflector, which reflects
them back to the main-reflector, which reflects them forward
to form the beam of hope. And all these beams are designed to
propagate the equal path length and get to the aperture in phase.
Due to reciprocity of electromagnetic, the Cassegrain antenna
can also be used in the receiving system. Based on the cross-
polarization, length of the feedline and the mechanical structure,
the parameters including D, d, C, L, and F should be fixed.
Zhao et al. (2018b) and other Cassegrain antennas of the
same kind only focus on signal transmission, but the first con-
cern of the Cassergrain antenna used here is power capacity.
In the Cassegrain antenna system, the design principle is that
the microwave beams are concentrated to propagating with the
maximum efficiency and transmit longest distance. Eventually,
the main-reflector aperture diameter D is 16 m, and the sub-
reflector aperture diameter d is 2 m. The distance between the
virtual focus F1 and the main-reflector plane F is 5 m, the distance
between the virtual focus F1 and the sub-reflector plane L is 0.19
m, and the focal length of the hyperbolical sub-reflector 2C is 2
4
Fig. 4. Geometry configuration of the Cassegrain antenna system.
m. The feed horn employs a Gauss horn, which owns an aperture
of 280 mm seated at the hyperbolical sub-reflector virtual point
F2 .
Through the FEKO software, the simulation and optimization
of the Cassegrain antenna system achieves the best performance.
The simulated antenna impedance is matched well at the de-
signed 2.45 GHz, and the reflection coefficient of the input port
is less than −30 dB. The models and the simulation radiation
gain patterns of the feed horn and the Cassegrain antenna in
E and H planes are compared in Fig. 5. In this condition, the
illumination level at the main-reflector and sub-reflector edges
are both about −12 dB, the Gauss horn beam width is about 56.7
degrees shown in Fig. 5(a), which illuminates the hyperbolical
sub-reflector surface and reflects back to main-reflector dish,
and finally forms the desired beam efficiently. The Cassegrain
antenna is a high gain antenna with 50 dBi peak gain, and the
radiation patterns are rotationally symmetric in almost all planes,
especially in the main lobe area. Meanwhile, all the side lobe
levels in the E and H plane are more than 20 dB below that of
the main beam shown in Fig. 5(b).
Several experiments in the literature showed that the
transceiver antenna efficiency immediate impacts the perfor-
mance of the MWPT system, and the same conclusion is repro-
duced in this design. The structural sketch of the transceiver
Cassegrain antenna system is described in Fig. 6, which also
includes the backbone mechanism, the pitch mechanism, the
azimuth mechanism, the pedestal and other accessories. In this
B. Hu, H. Li, T. Li et al. Energy Reports xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 5. Radiation patterns in the two principal planes of the feed horn model and the Cassegrain antenna model.

power capacity, it can also automatically protect itself regardless

of input and output power overloading. Moscow State University
and Kyoto University have obtained more than 80% conversion
efficiency in the experiment (Watson et al.). The previous re-
search on cyclotron-wave rectifier only focused on some special
technology research (Zhao et al., 2017; Xiaoyun et al., 2008; Zhao
et al., 2018a), but this paper is more interesting in whole tube
of cyclotron-wave rectifier system design and simulation, and
the calculation process of the total efficiency of the cyclotron-
wave rectifier system is given. The cyclotron-wave rectifier is
mainly including resonator, energy conversion region, energy col-
lector and electron gun, as shown in Fig. 7, which also illustrates
the connection mode of the operating power supply and the
distribution of the working magnetic field.
First, the electron gun emits an electron beam into the interac-
tion gap, due to the Lorentz force and spatial charge force, every
electron gains their rotational kinetic energy from RF electro-
magnetic field. When the electrons and the operating mode field
Fig. 6. The structural sketch of Cassegrain antenna and its main components. in the cyclotron-wave rectifier satisfies the resonance condition,
the beam–wave interaction continuously keeps going, and the
transceiver using the Cassegrain antenna system, the receiving electron beam would achieve the maximum transversal kinetic
Cassegrain antenna is located at the far-field radiation area, and energy at the end of the resonator.
the receiving power is directly proportional to the aperture area ωc = ω0 (4)
of the receiving antenna placed at a given distance. In order
to simplify the system and make it feasible, the transmitting Where ωc is the electron cyclotron angular frequency, and ω0 is
and receiving antennas are designed to be the same Cassegrain the angular frequency of the operating mode field.
antenna. In the MWPT system, the transmitting antenna and After entering the energy conversion region, under the effect
receiving antenna are more like a beam guide, and the quasi of the reversal and decreasing magnetic field, the rotational ki-
Gaussian optics theory is adopted in the theoretical calculation. netic energy of the electron beam is efficiently converted to the
The simulation results indicate that the integral power transmis- longitudinal kinetic energy. Meanwhile, due to the conservation
sion efficiency including the transmission, the transmitting and of canonical angular momentum, all the electrons satisfy the
receiving antennas reaches about 2.6% within 10 km distance following equation of motion:
separation with 16 m aperture antenna at the operating 2.45 GHz dv x e
⎧
frequency. What is more, the radius of the Gaussian beam in the
⎪ = [−vz By + vy Bz ]
0γ
⎪
dt m
⎪
⎪
receiving area is calculated to be 59 m with about 8 dB drop,
⎪
⎨ dv
⎪
e
y
but the antenna for verification is just 16 m aperture, so a small =− [vz Bx − vx Bz ] (5)
position difference will not affect the final result within the beam ⎪
⎪ dt m 0γ
dv e
⎪
spot range. Of course the over-all efficiency could be negatively
⎪
⎩ z =− [−vy Bx + vx By ]
⎪
⎪
impacted by the shielding of the feed horn and the leg support dt m0 γ
of the system, as well as by the insertion loss of the waveguide
Here, the reversal magnetic field with the cosine function distri-
converter and any changes in channel that further attenuate the
bution is more appropriate in Fig. 7, which can be described as:
microwave signal.
⎧
⎪ B0 z ≤ z1
2.3. The novel 10 kW cyclotron-wave rectifier ⎪
⎨ B0 z − z1
⎪
⎪
[1 + C0 + (1 − C0 ) cos(π )] z1 ≤ z ≤ z2
B0 (z) = 2 z2 − z1
In the long-distance high-power MWPT system, the cyclotron- ⎪
wave rectifier is a special electric vacuum device (Xiaoyun et al.,
⎪ B C (z − z2 )
⎩ 0 0 [1 + C1 + (1 − C1 ) cos(π z > z2
⎪
⎪ )]
2008; Zhao et al., 2018a), which is used to convert the microwave 2 z3 − z2
power into direct current. Besides its high efficiency and high (6)
5
B. Hu, H. Li, T. Li et al.
Fig. 7. The structural sketch of the 10 kW cyclotron-wave rectifier and its main components, the system connection mode, the operating magnetic field and the
typical electronic trajectory diagram.
Where C0 = BZ2 /B0 is the asymmetry coefficient, and C1 =
BZ3 /BZ2 in the figure. Correspondingly, B0 is determined by the
interaction condition in the high frequency interaction region,
BZ2 and BZ3 are optimized to ensure the maximum conversion
efficiency in the conversion region and the maximum recovery
conversion efficiency in the collector. At the end, the longitudinal
kinetic energy of the electron beam is recovered by the collector
in the form of potential energy, which can be supplied to the
output power load.
When using the PIC to simulate the cyclotron-wave rectifier,
the electron gun, the geometrical structure of the resonator,
the energy conversion region and the collector, and the lumped
element load are included in the mode. The practical electron
gun with 5.11 kV acceleration voltage and 0.5 A beam current
controlled by the cathode power supply U0 and the filament
power supply U1 uses a field emission source in Fig. 7, which
can produce an ideal pen-shaped electron beam and has been
experimentally validated in the previous klystron project. The
resistance R0 plays the role of current limiting protection, which
can not only protect the vacuum tube but also limit the current of
power supply. The value of the limiting resistance is determined
by the working voltage and the input impedance of vacuum
tube. The resonator adopts the rectangular plane gap structure,
in which the transverse RF field distributes uniformly, and the
operating mode like TE111 mode is pumped by a coaxial line
⇀
− ⇀
−
through the magnetic field coupling. Resulting in an E 0 × B0
⇀
− ⇀
−
drift force ( B 0 is the axial magnetic field and E 0 is the trans-
verse high-frequency field), the electron gun generates a rotating
hollow beam, and its cyclotron radii gradually increases. When
the electron cyclotron frequency ωc gets close to the frequency of
the RF field ω, the beam–wave interaction enhances and reaches
the most effective state. The conversion region that follows the
resonator employs a taped horn waveguide, where the electron
⇀ ⇀
−
beams are adiabatically compressed under the action of −
v z× B
⇀ ⇀
−
force (−
v z is the axial electron velocity of the electron and B r
is the radial magnetic field), and the electron would begin to
gain axial velocity at the expense of their azimuthal velocity
Energy Reports xxx (xxxx) xxx
while being reduced. The two-stage depressed collector with a
special protection coating and a middle embedded baffle with
electronic channels is used to recover the longitudinal kinetic
energy of the electron beam in the form of potential energy
and protect as well against the back-motion of the secondary
electrons. Through the voltage divider resistor R1 , the two-stage
depressed collector only needs one power supply. As the elec-
trons keep hitting the collector, the collector potential and the
decelerating electric field are both increasing. After the electron
beam with the maximum longitudinal kinetic energy enters the
optimized decelerating electric field region, the potential energy
converted from the recuperated kinetic energy of the electron
beam is efficiently released at the outside load of the collector.
The lumped element load is used to replace the above outside
load, which can be further optimized to achieve high conversion
efficiency in the cyclotron-wave rectifier.
The corresponding performance of the 10 kW cyclotron-wave
rectifier is shown in Fig. 8, and it fully displays the efficiency
conversion process of the electrons at different stages of the
system. The input acceleration voltage and beam current are
5.11 kV and 0.5 A, and the input microwave power is 10 kW at the
2.45 GHz frequency. When the optimized output DC voltage and
power load are 16.23 kV and 32.5 k, the conversion process of
the power in different stages of the cyclotron-wave rectifier are
described in Fig. 8, which demonstrate that the efficiency from
the input port to the transverse kinetic energy of the electrons at
the interaction zone is about 97.2%, then the efficiency conversing
to longitudinal kinetic energy of the electrons in the conversion
region can reach 94%, last the two-stage depressed collector
energy recovery efficiency is up to 94%. In brief, the cyclotron-
wave rectifier can reach the total conversion efficiency of 85% and
output the maximum DC power of 8.5 kW. The cyclotron-wave
r rectifier used here is first given the calculation and simulation
of the whole tube, including the beam–wave interaction, energy
conversion, energy collection, and is first simulated and applied
in the long-distance microwave wireless power transmission.
6
B. Hu, H. Li, T. Li et al.
Fig. 8. The conversion process of the power in different stages of the
cyclotron-wave rectifier.
3. System architecture of the long-distance high-power MWPT
system
The long-distance high-power MWPT system is illustrated, as
the schematic view of the experimental setup shown in Fig. 9,
but it is just at the conceptual stage. All subassemblies that
include the two main modulated power supplies I and II working
for the cathode with pulse to continuous wave operation, the
400 kW asymmetrical resonant magnetron, the 10 kW cyclotron-
wave rectifier, the transmitting Cassegrain antenna, the receiving
Cassegrain antenna, and the output power load are aligned along
the propagation direction of the power.
In such a system, the microwave generator is the compact
400 kW asymmetrical resonant magnetron modulated by the
power supply I. The novel magnetron with the asymmetrical
resonant cavity, the straps and the novel output loop coupling
circuit can effectively enhance the beam–wave interaction, sup-
press the mode non-desirable modes and increase the output
coupling, which results in a 400 kW output microwave power
with a conversion efficiency of 45%.
Fig. 9. The schematic view of the long-distance high-power MWPT based on the asymmetrical magnetron and cyclotron-wave rectifier.
7
Energy Reports xxx (xxxx) xxx
Next, the power is pumped into the transmitting and receiving
antennas, which are used to connect the microwave generator
and the rectifier. In order to simplify the system and make it
feasible, the transmitting and receiving antennas are designed to
be the same Cassegrain antenna with a simple structure, high
conversion efficiency and high power handling capacity. Under
the reflection of the optimized two main planes and two sec-
ondary planes, the transceiver antenna system can finally reach
an integral power transmission efficiency of 2.6% for 10 km dis-
tance and 2.45 GHz. The received 10 kW microwave power is
equaled to the input of the following cyclotron-wave rectifier.
Then the received microwave signal is channeled into the
microwave cyclotron rectifier, under the modulation of the power
supply II in the cathode, which can realize the energy conversion
from microwave into direct current energy with high efficiency
and high power capacity. When the optimized output DC volt-
age and power load are 16.23 kV and 32.5 k, the cyclotron-
wave rectifier with 2.45 GHz, 10 kW input microwave power
can achieve a conversion efficiency of 85%, after suitable signal
processing, which can be feed to the power grid afterwards.
Finally, the analysis of the long-distance high-power MWPT
system based on asymmetrical resonant magnetron and
cyclotron-wave rectifier can achieve 8.5 kW DC power for 10 km
distance, but its total DC–DC transmission efficiency of about 1%
is relatively low. However, so far this is one of the best reported
cases for long-distance high-power MWPT system. Of course, the
MWPT system will be a source of unwanted exposure to nearby
and really may interfere with surrounding electronic equipment,
therefore the site selection should need careful consideration.
4. Conclusion
This paper demonstrates a long-distance high-power MWPT
system based on asymmetrical resonant magnetron and
cyclotron-wave rectifier, and the design and exploration of the
asymmetrical resonant magnetron, the cyclotron-wave rectifier,
and the transceiver Cassegrain antenna are analyzed in detail,
respectively. Finally, the simulation of the long-distance high-
power MWPT system can achieve 8.5 kW DC power with about
1% DC–DC transmission efficiency at the operating 2.45 GHz
frequency and the 10 km distance away. Such a system is likely to
be used in powering the fuel-free aerial vehicle from the ground,
B. Hu, H. Li, T. Li et al.
providing electrical power to an isolated mountain top or an
island, and even transmitting the power from the space solar
power satellite in geostationary orbit to the ground. However, to
reduce the size and complexity of the system and improve the
over-all efficiency research is needed to be deployed.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Biao Hu: Investigation, Conceptualization, Methodology, Re-
sources, Software, Formal analysis, Data curation, Visualization,
Validation, Project administration, Supervision, Writing - original
draft, Writing - review & editing, Funding acquisition. Hao Li:
Validation. Tianming Li: Project administration, Funding acqui-
sition. Haiyang Wang: Data curation. Yihong Zhou: Visualiza-
tion. Xiaoyun Zhao: Software, Formal analysis. Xin Hu: Soft-
ware, Formal analysis. Xuekun Du: Investigation, Conceptualiza-
tion. Yulong Zhao: Writing - original draft. Xiang Li: Writing
- original draft. Tian Qi: Investigation, Conceptualization. Mo-
hamed Helaoui: Validation. Wenhua Chen: Validation. Fadhel
Ghannouchi: Methodology, Writing - review & editing.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported in part by National Natural Science
Foundation of China under Grant 61601384 and Grant 61671132.
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