In magnetically coupled resonant wireless power transfer (MCR-WPT) systems, the nonhomogeneous magnetic field of the transmitting coil can lead to frequency splitting phenomena and lower efficiency. In this paper, a 3D transmitting coil (TX) with a homogeneous magnetic field distribution is proposed. The proposed coil structure consists of two layers with different numbers of turns per layer, i.e., with different current distributions. To achieve a homogeneous magnetic field distribution with a high magnetic field value and a low profile of the 3D coil structure, the optimal layer placement and current distribution were optimized using a genetic algorithm (GA). The prototype of the optimized coil was fabricated, and its magnetic field distribution was measured. The measurement results agreed more than 95% with the simulation results. The measured homogeneous area was at least 12.5% larger than reported in the literature. By using a different current distribution, the profile of the 3D coil structure was successfully reduced by 29% and the average magnetic field value was increased by 25% compared to our previous work.

Conventional magnetically coupled resonant wireless power transfer systems are faced with resonant frequency splitting phenomena and impedance mismatch when a receiving coil is placed at misaligned position. These problems can be avoided by using uniform magnetic field distribution at receiving plane. In this paper, a novel 3D transmitting coil structure with improved uniform magnetic field distribution is proposed based on a developed optimization method. The goal is to maximize the average magnetic field strength and uniform magnetic field section of the receiving plane. Hence, figures of merit (FoM₁ and FoM₂) are introduced and defined as product of average magnetic field strength and length or surface along which uniform magnetic field is generated, respectively. The validity of the optimization method is verified through laboratory measurements performed on the fabricated coils driven by signal generator at operating frequency of 150kHz. Depending on the allowed ripple value and predefined coil proportions, the proposed transmitting coil structure gives the uniform magnetic field distribution across 50 to 90 of the receiving plane.