Contactless ultrasonic acoustic energy transfer (UAET) is a new technology that eliminates risks or impracticalities associated with wired electrical connections or batteries that need to be replaced on a regular basis. This technology, which is based on the reception of acoustic waves at ultrasonic frequencies by piezoelectric receivers, can be used to wirelessly charge low-power electronics. The execution and efficiency of this technology can be significantly enhanced through patterning and focusing of the transmitted acoustic energy in space to simultaneously power distributed sensors or devices. This work investigates the use of an acoustic hologram to create a multifocal pressure pattern in a plane where target receivers are located at specific focal points or regions. First, a phase-shifting hologram is designed using an iterative angular spectrum approach. Then, a multi-physics acoustic-electro-elastic model is presented for an axially vibrating cylindrical transmitter used to power multiple piezoelectric receivers, in conjunction with the hologram. Experiments are also performed to show the capability of an acoustic hologram to selectively power an array of the receivers. Both analytical and experimental results show a dramatic enhancement of power transfer to receivers exposed to a multi-focal pressure pattern created by the hologram. As a case study, a bi-focal receiver setup is investigated where one receiver is targeted. The UAET simulation predicts a doubling of the power transfer to the targeted receiver, which is verified by the proof-of-concept experiment. The effects of system parameters such as input frequency and hologram aperture size are also reported.

Contactless powering of small electronic components has lately received growing attention for wireless applications in which battery replacement or tethered charging is undesired or simply impossible, and ambient energy harvesting is not a viable solution. As an alternative to well-studied methods of contactless energy transfer, such as the inductive coupling method, the use of ultrasonic waves transmitted and received by piezoelectric devices enables larger power transmission distances, which is critical especially for deep-implanted electronic devices. Moreover, energy transfer by means of acoustic waves is well suited in situations where no electromagnetic fields are allowed. The limited literature of ultrasonic acoustic energy transfer is mainly centered on proof-of-concept experiments demonstrating the feasibility of this method, lacking experimentally validated modeling efforts for the resulting multiphysics problem that couples the source and receiver dynamics with domain acoustics. In this work, we present fully coupled analytical, numerical, and experimental multiphysics investigations for ultrasonic acoustic energy transfer from a spherical wave source to a piezoelectric receiver bar that operates in the 33-mode of piezoelectricity. The fluid-loaded piezoelectric receiver under free-free mechanical boundary conditions is shunted to an electrical load for quantifying the electrical power output for a given acoustic source strength of the transmitter. The analytical acoustic-piezoelectric structure interaction modeling framework is validated experimentally, and the effects of system parameters are reported along with optimal electrical loading and frequency conditions of the receiver.

Controlled drug delivery (CDD) technologies have received extensive attention recently.

The acoustic impedance mismatch between transducer materials and medium in ultrasonic power transfer systems narrows the transduction bandwidth and causes losses through the back reflection of progressive pressure waves at the boundary between the transducers and medium. Capturing both resonances and losses due to impedance mismatch of interwoven elements is essential for advancing the development of these systems. We present a unified approach, based on the multiplication of a sequence of transfer matrices, to determine an equivalent acoustic impedance. The analytical model couples the properties of the transmitter and receiver with multiple matching layers and a single classical quarter-wave layer in controlled setups with the objective of minimizing reflections through acoustic impedance mismatch alleviation. Losses due to ultrasonic attenuation in the material layers and medium are also considered. The acoustic field at the receiver location constitutes the input to the coupled electro-elastic equations of the fluid-loaded and electrically-loaded piezoelectric receiver. Experiments are performed to identify the input acoustic pressure from a cylindrical transmitter to a receiver disk operating in the 33-mode of piezoelectricity. The results show significant enhancements in terms of the receiver’s electrical power output when implementing a two-layer matching structure. We present the results showing non-dimensional wave number variations versus characteristic impedance, which can be used to calculate the materials’ thicknesses for acoustically matching ultrasonic power transfer systems to an acoustic medium of interest at any desired resonant frequency while considering any type of glue or epoxy as the bonding layer. The derived physical models facilitate the development of high-fidelity matched systems with enhanced contactless power transmission.