Microwave-Band Wireless Power Transfer

System Using Ceramic Dielectric Resonators

Kenta Nishikawa and Toshio Ishizaki
Faculty of Science and Technology, Ryukoku University
plane was horizontally narrowed, radiation loss was suppressed,
Abstract— In the conventional resonator-coupled WPT system, and unloaded Q was recovered.
coil resonators made of copper wire are usually used. So, The simulation result for kQ-product depending on the
unloaded Q of coil resonator is a few hundred to one thousand due
to metal conductivity. There is a limit for transmission distance
distance is shown in Fig. 3. Large kQ-product is obtained, when
due to the loss caused by low unloaded Q of the coil resonator. In the aperture ratio is small. But, there is an optimal value for
this study, the authors propose a novel WPT system using ceramic long transmission. Aperture ratio of about 64% was suitable for
dielectric resonators. Unloaded Q of dielectric resonator is several both short distance and long distance. The unloaded Q of about
tens of thousands depending on the material. Thus, we can expect 5,000 was obtained for this case.
much longer transmission distance by using ceramic resonator.
Electric field
Key words— Resonance-type WPT system, Ceramic resonator,
Magnetic field
Evanescent field, Radiation, Unloaded Q.

I. INTRODUCTION

10 mm
R ECENTLY, studies of resonance-type WPT system using
coil resonators are actively carried out by many
researchers[1]-[3]. However, unloaded Q of coil resonator is
Fig.1 Dielectric resonator
25 mm

Left: Photo, Right: Field distribution of TE01δ-mode

determined by metal conductivity. Thus, it is limited to several Metal enclosure
hundreds or one thousand at the highest. Here, low Q turns out
to low transmission efficiency. Thus, the authors investigate a
novel WPT system using ceramic dielectric resonators instead
of conventional coil resonators. Ceramic resonators have very Loop coil
high unloaded Q such as several tens of thousands, if the Dielectric resonator Loop coil
material is elaborately selected [4]-[5]. Fig.2 WPT system using ceramic dielectric resonator
Also, we can expect that the transmission characteristics of the
20000
system might be different from the conventional ones. So, the
objective of this study is to investigate the transmission
U n lo ad ed _ Q

15000
performance of the WPT system with ceramic resonators and to
10000
develop a high-efficiency WPT system.
5000
II. DIELECTRIC RESONATOR AND SYSTEM CONFIGURATION 0
TE01δ mode resonance, which is the fundamental mode of a 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
cylindrical dielectric resonator, is used for power transmission. Aperture ratio[%]
The electromagnetic-field distribution is shown in Fig.1.
Resonance frequency is set to 2.4GHz. The magnetic coupling
between resonators is utilized for transmission. The dimensions
of the resonator are 10mm in height and 25mm in diameter with
cylindrical shape.
Although a dielectric resonator has high unloaded Q, it Fig.3 Relations between aperture ratio and unloaded Q
deteriorates due to radiation. Therefore, as shown in Fig. 2, the (Typical aperture pattern, Left: Full open, Right: 64%)
resonator is covered by a metal enclosure with an open-aperture 10
on one face. Power transmission is performed through the 20% 28.20%
8 40% 49.20%
aperture. EM simulation was performed by HFSS and the size 6
64% 80%
Full open(100%)
k*Qu

of the aperture was optimized. The inner dimensions of the 4

enclosure set to 78mm x78mm x 50mm. Fig.3 shows the 2
relations between aperture ratio and unloaded Q. Here, aperture 0
ratio is defined as a ratio of aperture area to the face area on it. 0 1 2 3 4
In Fig.3, circles indicate that the values are those for Distance between boxes d[cm]

horizontally covered apertures. As shown in Fig. 3, the aperture Fig.4 Variations of kQ-products on distance (Simulated)

978-1-4673-5010-5/13/$31.00 ©2013 IEEE 175

 III. EXPERIMENTAL RESULT OF TE01δ-MODE SYSTEM 7
6
The metal enclosure of Fig. 5 was made for experiment, and 5
the performances were measured by VNA. The measured 4

k*Qu
3
results shown in Fig. 6 almost coincide with simulated ones. 2
However, surprisingly, it was also confirmed by the experiment 1
0
that kQ-product is not decreased unlimitedly, but is saturated, 0 1 2 3 4
when the distance between two boxes becomes large. This Distance between boxes[cm]

point is the remarkable feature of the proposed system, which is 10-25mm 10-30mm 10-35mm 7.5-25mm
7.5-30mm 5-25mm 5-30mm 5-35mm
not observed for the conventional WPT system using coil
resonators. When the transmission distance is small, the Fig.8 Variation of kQ-product on distance
coupling of non-radiated evanescent field between ceramic (The parameter indicates diameter by height.)
resonators is the main coupling. On the other hand, when the
transmission distance is large, the coupling through a radiated V. CONSIDERATION FOR TM11-MODE SYSTEM
electromagnetic wave seems to be the main coupling. The The ceramic resonator usually has plurality of resonance
transmission distance of 5cm can be scaled by the wavelength mode. For a different resonance mode, the transmission
and it is equivalent to 0.41λ . characteristic might be changed. Thus, simulation was
performed by HFSS for TM11-mode. The electromagnetic-field
distribution of TM11-mode is shown in Fig. 9. According to the
direction of TM11-mode magnetic field, the coupling loop and
the metal plate for an aperture are aligned vertically, as shown
in Fig.9.
Also for TM-mode, unloaded Q is recovered by decreasing
aperture ratio. Fig. 10 shows the relations between aperture
Fig.5 Metal enclosure: Left: Full open, Right: 64% aperture ratio and unloaded Q of TM-mode. Basically, the unloaded Q
of TM-mode is lower than that of TE-mode. And it can be said
5
64% that radiation is easily occurred for TM-mode. Thus, smaller
4 Full open(100%)
aperture ratio is preferable. But, considering the balance of
3
coupling coefficient and unloaded Q, the authors select 38.5%
k*Qu

2
for this study. The unloaded Q is about 150.
1 From the results of Fig.11 and Fig.12, it is confirmed that
0 coupling coefficient is drastically improved by using TM-mode
0 1 2 3 4 5
Distance between boxes d[cm]
instead of TE-mode, but improvement of kQ-product is very
Fig.6 Variations of kQ-products on distance (Measured) small. This is because the unloaded of TM-mode is much lower
than that of TE-mode. Moreover, similar to the TE-mode case,
IV. OPTIMIZATION OF RESONATOR SHAPE the coupling of non-radiated field is the main coupling for short
distance and the coupling through a radiated electromagnetic is
To optimize the resonator shape, the ratio of height to
the main coupling for long distance.
diameter of the ceramic resonator is varied and the
performances are simulated by HFSS. From the results shown
Electric field
in Fig.7, it is confirmed that the coupling coefficient becomes Magnetic field

large if resonator becomes thin. Also, from Fig.8, kQ-product

increases a little from the original value for the resonator of
10mm by 25 mm. By making the resonator thinner, magnetic
flux flowed out from the resonator spreads wider and the
coupling between resonators becomes stronger.
Fig.9 TM11-mode resonator and enclosure
Left: Field distribution of TM11-mode, Right: Aperture pattern for TM11-mode
1.00E-02

3500
Coupling coefficien

3000
Unloaded_Q

1.00E-03
2500
2000
1500
1.00E-04
0 1 2 3 4 1000
Distance between boxes[cm] 500
10-25mm 10-30mm 10-35mm 7.5-25mm 0
7.5-30mm 5-25mm 5-30mm 5-35mm
0 10 20 30 40 50
Fig.7 Variation of coupling coefficient on distance Aperture ratio[%]
(The parameter indicates diameter by height.)
Fig.10 Relations between aperture ratio and unloaded Q (TM-mode)

176
 1.00E-01
TM
TE
Coupling coefficient

Side view Top view

1.00E-02
(a) Electric field

1.00E-03

1.00E-04 Side view Top view

0 1 2 3 4 (b) Magnetic field
Distance between boxes[cm] Fig.13 Intensity of electromagnetic field (TEodd-mode)
Fig.11 Comparison of coupling coefficient for TE- and TM-mode
7
TM
6 TE
5 Side view Top view
4 (a) Electric field
k*Qu

0
0 1 2 3 4
Side view Top view
Distance between boxes[cm]
(b) Magnetic field
Fig.14 Intensity of electromagnetic field (TModd-mode)
Fig.12 Comparison of kQ-product for TE- and TM-mode

VI. ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD DISTRIBUTION

The resonance is split into two separate resonances when two
resonators are coupled. The strengths of coupling for two Side view Top view
resonances are different. The lower resonance frequency is (a) Electric field
odd-mode and the higher resonance frequency is even-mode.
Usually, the coupling of odd-mode is stronger than that of
even-mode. It must be preferable to use odd-mode for wireless
power transmission.
The electromagnetic-field intensity of TE mode is shown in Side view Top view
Fig.13, and the electromagnetic-field intensity of TM mode is (b) Magnetic field
shown in Fig.14. The field intensities of Figs.13 and 14 Fig.15 Intensity of electromagnetic field (TEeven-mode)
indicate that both of TE- and TM-mode are coupled through
the electric field via the aperture of metal enclosure. It is quite
contrary to the anticipation that the power is transferred by
magnetic coupling between resonators. In addition, it turns out
that current is flowing on the metal edge of the aperture,
which might contribute to the radiation. Comparing with TE- Side view Top view
and TM-mode, TM-mode seems to have strong coupling for (a) Electric field
both electric field and magnetic field.

VII. TRANSMISSION EFFICIENCY

To take impedance matching, π-shaped matching circuits are Side view Top view
attached to each input and output terminal as shown in Fig.17. (b) Magnetic field
L
L1
L
L2
Fig.16 Intensity of electromagnetic field (TMeven-mode)
L=l1 L=l2
R= R=

First, TE-mode transmission is examined. Fig.18 shows the

1 2

Term C C Ref
C C Term
Term1 C1 C2 C4 C3 Term2
Num=1 C=c1 C=c2 C=c4 C=c3 Num=2
Z=50 Ohm Z=50 Ohm
variations of element values in π-shaped matching circuit,
Coupling
Input matching system Output matching where element value of inductor is fixed to 2.2nH. The values
S2P

circuit SNP1
File= circuit of matching capacitor range from 3pF to 5pF. For a comparison,
the values for TM-mode are also shown in Fig.18. Thus, we can
Fig.17 Impedance matching scheme make impedance matching by changing the values of
capacitances with variable capacitors.

177
 As shown in Fig.19, the transmission efficiency of about Here, one possible idea comes out, in which operation mode
80% was obtained in short distance. If the distance becomes can be switched by changing signal frequency and transmission
long, transmission efficiency will decrease to about 10%. But it performance can be controlled according to the transmission
is good enough comparing with the conventional WPT system distance.
using radio wave. In the next step, the authors would like to make a
Moreover, the resulting efficiency calculated from insertion demonstration system, in which the remarkable features of
loss is larger than that of calculated from kQ-product based on ceramic dielectric resonator are fully utilized.
BPF theorem [8] for each distance. It means that the power 100
transfer of this system is caused by a combination both of
80

Efficiency [%]
coupling in evanescent field and coupling through radiated
wave, contrary to a conventional system in which the power 60
transfer is caused only by coupling in evanescent field. This is a 40
remarkable feature peculiar to this system. 20
Next, TM-mode transmission is examined. Fig.20 shows
0
transmission efficiency of TM-mode. About 90% transmission
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
efficiency was obtained. Also, the maximum distance with over
60% transmission efficiency is almost twice of that of Distance between boxes [cm]
TE-mode. Matching(HFSS) Matching(measurement)
Before matching(HFSS) Before matching(measurement)
kQ products(HFSS) kQ products(measurement)
8 8
C1 C1
7
6
C2 7
6
C2
Fig.19 Transmission efficiency (TE-mode)
5 5
100
C[pF]

C[pF]

4 4 Maching (HFSS)
3 3 Before matching (HFSS)
80 kQ-product (HFSS)
2 2

Efficiency [%]
1 1
60
0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Distance between boxes[cm] Distance between boxes[cm] 40

Fig.18 Variations of impedance matching elements 20

(Left: TE-mode, Right: TM-mode) 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Distance between boxes [cm]
VIII. CONCLUSION
Fig.20 Transmission efficiency (TM-mode)
A novel resonator-coupled wireless power transfer system
using ceramic dielectric resonators was proposed and the
performance was investigated. By covering a dielectric References
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Also, WPT system using TM-mode was considered. The [7] Y. Kobayashi, S. Yoshida, “Bandpass filters using TM010 dielectric rod
coupling coefficient was drastically improved by using resonators”, Microw. Symp. Digest, 1978 IEEE MTT-S Intl., pp. 233-235,
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EM field distributions were simulated for both modes and the 1980.
conspicuous difference was observed.
Finally, transmission efficiencies were simulated and
measured for TE-mode and TM-mode. From the results,
TM-mode showed a better performance. Therefore, it can be
said that the higher unloaded Q does not necessarily make
higher transmission efficiency.

178