This article proposes transmitter coils selection method for maximum power transfer efficiency in the wireless power transfer (WPT) system with multiple transmitter coils and a single receiver coil (MTSR). The proposed method is divided into two main steps. First, transmitter coil selection criteria that can achieve maximum efficiency are derived by analyzing the relative magnitude of the coupling coefficient between each coil. Next, a method for calculating the relative coupling coefficients used for the criteria only with the input current value is presented. This method differs from previous studies in that it can be applied when some transmission coils are deactivated. Therefore, it is possible to select the optimal transmitter coil combination in consideration of the characteristics of the receiver coil using the proposed method without information on the receiver coil. By the proposed transmitter coils selection criteria, the power transfer efficiency has an average of 96.5 $\pm$ 0.5% when the output power is 300 W, even with the position change of the receiver coil. In addition, it is confirmed that the proposed coupling coefficient extraction method has a slight error of 2.5% compared to the measured value by a vector network analyzer.

For the wireless power transfer (WPT) system in implantable medical devices (IMDs), human tissue is positioned between the transmitting and receiving coils which are different from general WPT systems. Because this space is where the strongest electromagnetic field (EMF) occurs, it is essential to reduce the EMF at the interspace to reduce human exposure to the EMF. In this paper, an out-of-phase coupled WPT system for IMDs is proposed to reduce human exposure to EMF. Considering the EMF exposure and power transfer efficiency (PTE) of the proposed system, a design procedure for determining the phase difference of each capacitor is analyzed and presented. Based on the equivalent circuit model analysis of the proposed system, the EMF and PTE characteristics of the WPT system depending on the design variables are comprehensively analyzed. The proposed system is compared with conventional systems through simulation and measurements. It is verified that the proposed system can reduce the EMF by 41.05% and increase the PTE by 9.62% compared to the conventional system. In addition, through simulation, human exposure to EMFs is assessed considering the exposure environment and electrical properties of human tissues. As a result, the current density, induced electric field, and specific absorption rate were reduced by 44.10%, 38.90%, and 63.82%, respectively.

Wireless power transfer systems are increasingly used as a means of charging implantable medical devices. However, the heat or thermal radiation from the wireless power transfer system can be harmful to biological tissue. In this research, we designed and implemented a wireless power transfer system-based implantable medical device with low thermal radiation, achieving 44.5% coil-to-coil efficiency. To suppress thermal radiation from the transmitting coil during charging, we minimized the ESR value of the transmitting coil. To increase power transfer efficiency, a ferrite film was applied on the receiving part. Based on analyses, we fabricated a cardiac monitoring system with dimensions of 17 × 24 × 8 mm³ and implanted it in a rat. We confirmed that the temperature of the wireless charging device increased by only 2 °C during the 70 min charging, which makes it safe enough to use as an implantable medical device charging system.

In the Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) system, the input impedance characteristics change depending on the load and the air-gap between the coils. Changes in input impedance affect zero voltage switching (ZVS) and dead-time related to stability, efficiency, and electromagnetic interference. Existing studies lack the dead-time analysis according to operating conditions. In addition, this resulted in unnecessary power dissipation as it cannot determine an appropriate compensation capacitance. Thus, it is important to analyze dead-time and determine the compensation capacitance accordingly for ZVS. This paper presents a compensation capacitor selection method for ZVS in a WPT system with various operating conditions based on dead-time analysis. The compensation capacitor that should be adjusted is identified, and its value is calculated considering dead-time, output power, and efficiency. Therefore, the proposed method can stably implement the WPT system and improve the power and overall system efficiency. A 500W WPT system is designed to validate the theoretical analysis. The designed WPT system is measured under various coupling coefficients and load conditions. It is confirmed that the proposed method implements ZVS under various conditions of the WPT system. Experiments show that the proposed method improves overall system efficiency by up to 3.75% and reduces dead-time by 77%.

This paper analyzes how over-coupled coils affect odd harmonic current and electromagnetic interference (EMI) in a wireless power transfer (WPT) system, and proposes design considerations for series inductors to solve the EMI problem. When the air gap of the coils of the WPT system decreases below a certain level and the coils are over-coupled, the odd harmonic component of the input impedance of the system decreases and odd harmonic currents increase. The increase in the odd harmonic components current quickly aggravates the EMI issues. To solve the EMI problem of the over-coupled WPT system, additional series inductors were applied to the system, and considerations for designing the series inductors were analyzed. When designing additional series inductors, power transfer efficiency, maximum power transfer, input impedance and odd harmonic components current must be considered. Using simulations and experiments, it was confirmed that the WPT system designed with analyzed considerations maintained relatively high efficiency and reduced EMI issues.

In this paper, we propose a method of wirelessly torque transfer (WTT) and power (WPT) to a drug pump, one of implantable medical devices. By using the magnetic field generated by the WPT system to transfer torque and power to the receiving coil at the same time, applications that previously used power from the battery can be operated without a battery. The proposed method uses a receiving coil with magnetic material as a motor, and can generate torque in a desired direction using the magnetic field from the transmitting coil. The WPT system was analyzed using a topology that generates a constant current for stable torque generation. In addition, a method for detecting the position of the receiving coil without using additional power was proposed. Through simulations and experiments, it was confirmed that WTT and WPT were possible at the same time, and in particular, it was confirmed that WTT was stably possible.