방사 무선전력전송을 위한 무지향성 안테나 및 전송 효율 한계에 대한 연구

학위논문 (박사) -- 서울대학교 대학원 : 공과대학 전기·정보공학부, 2020. 8. 남상욱.본 논문에는 방사하는 전자파를 이용한 무선 전력 전송에 대해 집중적으로 연구를 진행하였다. 보다 구체적으로는, 무지향성 안테나의 분석과 설계, 자유공간과 손실매질에서의 최적 송신 전류 분포, 전송 효율의 한계에 대한 연구를 기술하였다. 추가적으로, 전자파의 인체 영향에 대한 비교 및 이론적인 최적 전류 분포의 효과적 구현에 대한 연구를 진행하였다. 본 연구에서는 방사형 무선전력전송을 전원을 공급 유무에 따라 수동형과 능동형 무선전력전송으로 구분하고, 수동형 방사 무선전력전송부터 능동형 방사 무선전력전송까지의 연구를 순차적으로 기술하였다. 먼저, 수동형 방사 무선전력전송 연구에서는 전자파 에너지 하베스팅용 안테나에 대한 분석 및 설계에 대한 연구를 진행하였다. 수동 방사 무선전력전송의 상황을 고려하여 등방성 패턴, 전기적으로 작은 크기, 높은 효율 특성을 나타내는 안테나를 제안하였다. 전기적으로 소형이면서 등방성 패턴을 방사하는 SRR이 기본 구조로 활용되었다. SRR에 대한 이론적 분석을 진행하였고, 시뮬레이션 결과와 잘 맞는 것을 확인하였다. 분석에 기초하여 FSRR 안테나를 설계하였고, 측정을 통해 제안한 아이디어를 검증하였다. 수신 파워의 크기를 향상시키기 위해, 이중 대역 및 확장된 대역에서 동작하는 FSRR 안테나를 추가로 설계하였다. 제안된 구조는 선행연구와 비교하였을 때, 상대적으로 우수한 성능을 보여주었다. 한편 수동형 방사 무선 전력전송의 경우, 주변의 낮은 전력 밀도로 인해 수신 전력이 매우 낮은 한계점이 존재한다. 따라서, 송신 타워를 이용해 모바일 안테나로 무선 전력을 전송할 수 있는 능동형 방사 무선전력전송에 대한 후속 연구를 진행하였다. 능동형 방사 무선전력전송에서는, 송신 타워를 활용하여 모바일 기기에 효과적으로 무선전력전송을 수행하는 방법에 대한 연구를 진행하였다. 본 연구에서는 방사형 무선전력전송의 효율을 최대화 하는 송신 전류분포와 주어진 면적을 활용할 때 얻을 수 있는 최대 한계 효율을 이론적으로 도출하였다. 본 연구의 결과를 통해, 기존의 방식으로는 파악할 수 없었던 중거리 무선전력전송 효율의 최대 한계치와 송신 전류분포의 최적 형태를 파악할 수 있다. 연구의 결론에 따르면, 수신하는 안테나의 송신 방사 패턴이 효율을 결정함에 있어 중요한 역할을 하였다. 제안한 이론을 실제 안테나에 적용하여 선행연구와 비교를 하였고, 선행 연구로 파악할 수 없는 이론적 한계 효율을 도출하였다. 제안한 연구를 일반적인 상황으로 확장하기 위해 손실 매질 내부에서의 무선전력전송에 대한 추가 연구를 진행하였다. 손실 매질이 있는 경우에서도 최적 전류 분포와 효율의 최대 한계치를 도출하였다. 최적 송신 전류를 활용하여, 실제 안테나 어레이를 구현하고 인체 팬텀에 미치는 영향을 파악해보았다. 마지막으로, 앞서 도출한 이론적인 전류분포를 실제 안테나로 구현하는 방법에 대해 연구를 진행하였다. 선행 연구를 참고하여, 이상적인 전류분포를 thinned 배열로 구현하는 두가지 방법을 제안하였다. 이론적인 전류 분포에 유전 알고리즘을 활용한 방법과, density tapering을 응용한 방법을 적용하였다. 두 방법 모두 동일한 개수의 균등 어레이에 비해 성능이 개선되는 결과를 보였다. 특히 density tapering을 이용하면 같은 개수 및 같은 면적의 격자구조보다 비용, 무게, 효율 등에서 장점이 있으며, 수신기의 위치가 변할 때에도 더 높은 효율로 송신이 가능하다.In this thesis, research on the radiative-wireless power transmission (R-WPT) using radiated electromagnetic(EM) fields is presented. More specifically, the analysis and design of quasi-isotropic antennas, the analytical study on the optimal transmitting current, and the efficiency bounds are described. In addition, research on the comparison of the EM effects on the human phantom, and the effective implementation of the optimal current distribution are conducted. The research is described sequentially from the passive R-WPT to active R-WPT, which indicate the absence or presence of the power supplying base station. First, research is conducted on the analysis and design of the passive R-WPT antenna. Considering the ambient environment, an antenna with quasi-isotropic pattern, electrically small size, and high efficiency is proposed. A split-ring resonator (SRR) that radiate quasi-isotropic pattern with electrically small size is used as a basic structure. The analysis on the SRR is well matched with the simulation results. Based on the analysis, folded split-ring resonator (FSRR) is proposed and designed for the passive R-WPT antennas, and verified through the measurement. A dualband and wideband FSRR that can harvest more ambient power is designed as an extended work. The proposed antennas are compared with recent studies showing superior performances. On the other hand, the receiving power of the passive R-WPT is very low due to low power density of ambient field, a study on the active R-WPT, which can transfer wireless powers from the base station to the mobile antenna, is conducted as a next step. In the active R-WPT, a study on the way to effectively transfer wireless power to the mobile devices by using a transmitting tower is described. The optimal current distribution of the transmitting surface, and maximum power transfer efficiency (PTE) bounds when the transmitting area is limited are analytically derived. Through the results, it is possible to figure out the maximum efficiency bounds for the mid-range R-WPT and the optimal shape of transmission current distribution that could not be found by the conventional method. The results indicate that the optimum current distribution on the transmitting surface and the maximum efficiency of radiative WPT depend on the radiating field pattern of the mobile antenna. To generalize the proposed theory, an additional analysis in lossy environment is carried out. The optimal transmitting current and efficiency bound in lossy media is found for a couple of examples. The results are compared with the previous works to verify the proposed theory. Based on the results in lossy media, the EM effects on the human body is investigated. Lastly, research on the effective implementation of the theoretical current distribution as practical antenna arrays is described. Based on the previous research, two techniques that can effectively realize the ideal current are proposed in designing a thinned array. An optimization using genetic algorithm, and deterministic density tapering are applied to sample the theoretical current distribution. As a results, the proposed thinned arrays show improved performance compared to the same number of densely arranged regular arrays. In particular, the use of density tapering has advantages in cost, weight, efficiency than the same number of the regular array. In addition, it is possible to transmit wireless power with better efficiency even when the position of the receiver changes.Chapter 1. Introduction 1 1.1. Classification of Wireless Power Transmission 1 1.2. Separation of Regions 3 1.3. Passive and Active Radiative-Wireless Power Transmission 6 1.4. References 14 Chapter 2. Passive: RF Energy Harvesting Antenna 18 2.1. Motivation 18 2.2. Analytical Study on RF Energy Harvesting Antenna 19 2.2.1. Previous Research 19 2.2.2. Analysis on Split-Ring Resonator 21 2.2.3. Analysis on the Symmetric Folded Split-Ring Resonator 25 2.2.4. Analysis on the Asymmetric Folded Split-Ring Resonator 30 2.3. Design of RF Energy Harvesting Antenna 34 2.3.1. Antenna Design 37 2.3.2 Results and Discussion 44 2.4. Design of RF Energy Harvesting Antenna with Dual-band Operation 45 2.4.1. Motivation 45 2.4.2 Antenna Design 45 2.4.3. Results and Discussion 48 2.5. RF Energy Harvesting Antenna with Wide-band Operation 53 2.5.1. Motivation 53 2.5.2 Antenna Design 54 2.5.3. Results and Discussion 57 2.6. Conclusion 65 2.7. References 69 Chapter 3. Active: Radiative-WPT in Lossless Medium 73 3.1. Motivation 73 3.2. Previous Research 73 3.3. Theoretical Approach 77 3.3.1. Power Transfer Efficiency 77 3.3.2. Optimum Transmitting Current 80 3.3.3. Minimizing Transmitting Area 84 3.4. Numerical Examples 86 3.3.1. Dipole Antenna 88 3.3.2. Patch Antenna 90 3.3.3. Horn Antenna 91 3.5. Results and Discussion 93 3.5. Conclusion 98 3.6. References 99 Chapter 4. Active: Radiative-WPT in Lossy Media 103 4.1. Motivation 103 4.2. Previous Research 103 4.3. Theoretical Approach 106 4.3.1. Problem Formulation 108 4.3.2. Maximum Power Transfer Efficiency 110 4.4. Practical Examples 114 4.4.1. Planar Inverted-F Antenna 116 4.4.2. Half-Mode Cavity-Backed Antenna 120 4.5. Electromagnetic Human Exposure in Radiative WPT System 125 4.5.1. Motivation 125 4.5.2. Simulation Results 126 4.6. Conclusion 132 4.7. References 134 Chapter 5. Active: Implementation of Optimal Transmitting Current Distribution 138 5.1. Motivation 138 5.2. Theoretical Approach 139 5.2.1. Radiation Pattern Matching 139 5.2.2. Optimal Excitation Coefficient 141 5.2.3. Thinning of Transmitting Array 141 5.3. Implementation of the Optimal Current Sheet 145 5.3.1. Array Thinning using Genetic Algorithm 145 5.3.2. Results and Discussions 148 5.3.3. Array Thinning using Density Tapering 151 5.3.4. Results and Discussions 154 5.4. Conclusion 158 5.5. References 159Docto

Exploiting Near Field and Surface Wave Propagation for Implanted Devices

<p>This thesis examines the bandwidth shortcomings of conventional inductive coupling biotelemetry systems for implantable devices, and presents two approaches toward an end-to-end biotelemetry system for reducing the power consumption of implanted devices at increased levels of bandwidth. By leveraging the transition zone between the near and far field, scattering in the near field at UHF frequencies for increased bandwidth at low power budgets can be employed. Additionally, taking advantage of surface wave propagation permits the use of single-wire RF transmission lines in biological tissue, offering more efficient signal routing over near field coupling resulting in controlled implant depth at low power budgets.</p><p>Due to the dielectric properties of biological tissue, and the necessity to operate in the radiating near field to communicate via scattered fields, the implant depth drives the carrier frequency. The information bandwidth supplied by each sensing electrode in conventional implants also drives the operating frequency and regime. At typical implant depths, frequencies in the UHF range permit operation in the radiating near field as well as sufficient bandwidth.</p><p>Backscatter modulation provides a low-power, high-bandwidth alternative to conventional low frequency inductive coupling. A prototype active implantable device presented in this thesis is capable of transmitting data at 30 Mbps over a 915 MHz link while immersed in saline, at a communication efficiency of 16.4 pJ/bit. A prototype passive device presented in this thesis is capable of operating battery-free, fully immersed in saline, while transmitting data at 5 Mbps and consuming 1.23 mW. This prototype accurately demodulates neural data while immersed in saline at a distance of 2 cm. This communication distance is extended at similar power budgets by exploiting surface wave propagation along a single-wire transmission line. Theoretical models of single-wire RF transmission lines embedded in high permittivity and conductivity dielectrics are validated by measurements. A single-wire transmission line of radius 152.4 um exhibits a loss of 1 dB/cm at 915 MHz in saline, and extends the implant depth to 6 cm while staying within SAR limits.</p><p>This work opens the door for implantable biotelemetry systems to handle the vast amount of data generated by modern sensing devices, potentially offering new insight into neurological diseases, and may aid in the development of BMI's.</p>Dissertatio

On-chip terahertz characterisation of liquids

Spectroscopy at terahertz frequencies can be used in a wide range of applications including radio-astronomy, pharmaceutical manufacturing control, and the study of processes in molecular biology. Biomolecular samples should preferably be studied in their native environment, water, however, water poses extreme attenuation for THz-frequency waves, deteriorating or even impeding analysis using these waves. The most common THz spectroscopy method, time-domain spectroscopy, can measure water samples using free-space measurements, lacks sensitivity when trying to measure on a chip environment. To exploit the advantages that chip measurements offer, such as integration and cost, this thesis works on developing on-chip THz spectroscopy of aqueous samples using a frequency-domain approach, with vector network analysers. Vector network analysers exhibit a higher dynamic range than time-domain spectroscopy systems, making them a promising alternative for sensitive THz measurements. For maximising the sensitivity of the measurements, the losses must be minimised. One important source of losses at THz frequencies are conductor and radiation loss. In this thesis, two planar waveguides were designed, coplanar waveguide and planar Goubau line, minimising their losses at THz frequencies by avoiding the coupling to other parasitic modes, obtaining attenuation constants as low as 0.85 Np/mm for coplanar waveguide and 0.33 Np/mm for planar Goubau line. Additionally, planar Goubau line calibration structures were developed for setting the measurement plane along this planar waveguide. Finally, coplanar waveguides were integrated with microfluidic channels to perform spectroscopy measurements of water samples, showing good performances as THz sensors of high-loss liquids.This thesis is a first step towards a sensitive and miniaturised system for measuring the electrical properties of high-loss liquids, which could shed light on the fundamental biomolecular processes in the picosecond time-scale

Reinforced Concrete Foundation Remote Monitoring

BDV34-977-09Date on cover: January 2019This project investigated whether it is possible to remotely monitor reinforced concrete foundations for the purpose of corrosion detection. The focus of the project was on identifying and investigating a technology that could provide both the delivery of energy to, and communications with, embedded sensors without the additional installation of wiring. A radio frequency propagation technique that uses the reinforcing steel as a single wire transmission line was identified as the most appropriate candidate, and experiments were designed to determine its usefulness. Baseline experiments conducted at 2.4 GHz in air were successful and demonstrated that the designed interfacing couplers and impedance matching circuits were adequate. However, when the medium was changed to concrete, the attenuation was too severe to support either energy harvesting or communications. Reducing the operating frequency to 8 kHz and modifying the interface provided only slight improvement. Given the successful results when operated in air, it may be possible to transfer the technology to monitoring existing open-air steel structures such as bridges and towers. In addition, it may be possible to adapt the approach for use in reinforced concrete foundations that include concentric reinforcing steel structures that could be used as a two-wire circuit for both energy harvesting and communications

RF Sensors for Monitoring the Electrical Properties of Electrolyte Solutions

A radio frequency electrical sensor for the qualitative analysis and monitoring of the electrical properties of electrolyte solutions is designed, simulated and experimentally tested in this research. This work is based on the use of planar inductors for the detection of a change in the concentration of ionic species in a liquid sample. At first a literature review on the physical chemistry of electrolyte solutions is provided. This will include topics on the conductivity and relaxation properties of electrolytes. This will be followed by a look at dielectric spectroscopy sensors, electrochemical sensors and inductive sensing devices. The principles of electrodynamics and constitutive equations are discussed. Based on these, the principles of operation of the RF electrical sensors are analysed. Two methods of theoretical analysis of such structures are investigated. These methods are; analytical solution and finite element computation method. The former offers greater insight into the system’s parameters whilst the latter offers more information regarding the whole system. Given the qualitative nature of the sensors under investigation and finite element approach was selected and used in latter chapters to obtain grater insight into the behaviour of the system. Planar inductor coils are designed on an FR4 substrate and packaged using PDMS to be used as sensors in the monitoring of electrical properties of electrolytes. Experimental results on these sensors are provided and discussed. The effects of solvent, acidity of the solutions, and environmental factors on the behaviour of the sensors shall be discussed. This is followed by finite element simulations of the sensor and the effect of various parameters on the overall behaviour of the sensing device. A transformer apparatus is also constructed and experimental data are provided for it. An electrolyte is placed on one of the coils of the transformer and scattering parameters are looked upon for data analysis. The results obtained using the FE method, is then used to obtain further information about the principle of operation of the device

Efficient rectenna circuits for microwave wireless power transmission

Miniaturisation has been the holy grail of mobile technology. The ability to move around with our gadgets, especially the ones for communication and entertainment, has been what semiconductor scientists have battled over the past decades. Miniaturisation brings about reduced consumption in power and ease of mobility. However, the main impediment to untethered mobility of our gadgets has been the lack of unlimited power supply. The battery had filled this gap for some time, but due to the increased functionalities of these mobile gadgets, increasing the battery capacity would increase the weight of the device considerably that it would eventually become too heavy to carry around. Moreover, the fact that these batteries need to be recharged means we are still not completely free of power cords. The advent of low powered micro-controllers and sensors has created a huge industry for more powerful devices that consume a lot less power. These devices have encouraged hardware designers to reduce the power consumption of the gadgets. This has encouraged the idea of wireless power transmission on another level. With lots of radio frequency energy all around us, from our cordless phones to the numerous mobile cell sites there has not been a better time to delve more into research on WPT. This study looks at the feasibilities of WPT in small device applications where very low power is consumed to carry out some important functionality. The work done here compared two rectifying circuits’ efficiencies and ways to improve on the overall efficiencies. The results obtained show that the full wave rectifier would be the better option when designing a WPT system as more power can be drawn from the rectenna. The load also had a great role as this determined the amount of power drawn from the circuitry

A systems engineering approach to the analysis of Wireless Power Transmission Systems

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Electromagnetic Energy Harvesting Surfaces

The concept of wireless power transfer (WPT) was successfully demonstrated in the early years of the 20th century. One promising application of using the WPT concept is the WPT transmission utilizing a large array of solar cells outside the earth's atmosphere to collect solar energy and then converts it to microwave power for transmission to earth using highly directive antennas. Space solar power SSP transmission concept may play an important role in the near future in harvesting clean and sustainable energy from space. The SSP concept calls for the large rectenna (i.e., antennas and rectifying circuitry) arrays farms that receive the microwave power that is transmitted from space and convert it into usable DC power. To obtain high power and high output voltage, the use of a large rectenna array is necessary, and hence the focus of this thesis is on improving the harvesting efficiency of rectenna systems. The two main figures of merit to evaluate a WPT rectenna system are the radiation to AC efficiency, and the radiation to DC efficiency. The latter combines the efficiencies of the electromagnetic energy collectors or antenna, and that of the rectifying circuitry. In the progress towards improving the efficiency of a rectenna array system, efforts were heavily focused on improving the AC to DC conversion efficiencies. However, in most previous works, efforts to improve the efficiency of the antennas were not pursued. The majority of rectennas were in fact designed using conventional antennas because of their wide use in modern communications technologies but not for their particular ability or suitability to efficiently harvest electromagnetic radiation. The first part of this thesis introduces, for the first time, the use of dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) in an array form as an energy harvester. A single DRA and a 1x3 array were used to build foundation profiles for using DRAs in an array form as an energy harvester. The proposed structures were designed and fabricated to maximize energy reception around 5.5 GHz. The size of the ground plane and coupling between dielectric resonator (DR) elements in an array were studied with special focus on the overall efficiency of the antenna structure for different incident polarizations. A 5x5 array was built and tested numerically and experimentally. Measurements showed that energy absorption efficiency as high as 67% can be achieved using an array of DRAs. Then an extension of this finding was carried out considering the DRA's fabrication challenges. A complementary DRAs structure consisting of DR blocks backed by cut grounds is proposed. It was shown through numerical simulations that the complementary DR blocks resonator can efficiently deliver the incident power carried by an electromagnetic wave to a load with an efficiency of 80%. The concept of using an electromagnetic energy harvesting surface (EHS) structure is introduced in the second part of this thesis. A design of an electromagnetic EHS inspired by an array of printed metallic dipolar elements is introduced. The unit cell of the EHS is based on two printed asymmetric off-center fed dipoles. As a proof of concept, a finite array of 9x3 unit cells was analyzed numerically and experimentally to work at 3 GHz. The array was first analyzed for maximizing radiation to AC absorption where each dipole was terminated by a resistor across its gap. An overall radiation to DC harvesting efficiency of 76% was obtained experimentally. The third part of this dissertation presents a design for a multi-polarization electromagnetic EHS inspired by a multi-layer unit cell of printed asymmetrical metallic dipolar elements. The harvesting array features two layers that collectively capture the incident energy from various incident angles. The harvester was first analyzed for maximizing the radiation to AC absorption at 3 GHz where each dipole was terminated by a resistor across its energy-collecting gap. As a proof of concept, a multi-layer array consisting of 3x3 asymmetrical dipolar elements of the multi-layer unit cell was fabricated and measured experimentally. The experimental results yielded an overall radiation to DC harvesting efficiency of 70%for multiple incident polarizations. Next, an EHS is introduced for receiving multiple polarizations while using only one metallization layer. The EHS unit cell is based on two cross-dipoles that enable capturing the energy from various angles of illuminations at an operating frequency of 3 GHz. The simulation results yielded a radiation to AC efficiency of 94% at multiple angles of polarization. For validation, a finite array of 7x7 unit cells was fabricated and tested experimentally. The experimental results of the EHS energy harvesting array show an overall radiation to DC harvesting efficiency of 74% at various polarization angles. A critical design feature of the proposed cross-dipole EHS array is that it allows direct matching to a rectifying circuitry at the dipoles plane. The thesis concludes by introducing an efficient dual-band EHS array using two stacked-layer of cross-dipole elements for efficient harvesting at two frequency bands for multiple polarizations. The proposed EHS array introduces the concept of stacked surfaces that can be directly integrated with the rectification circuitry. The multilayer EHS array allows direct matching to a rectifying circuitry such that DC power is collected at the elements' plane for each layer. The total achieved harvested DC power is the collective contribution of the rectified DC power from the EHS's layers. A finite multi-layer array of 7x7 unit cells was fabricated and tested experimentally. The experimental results of the dual-band EHS energy harvesting array show an overall radiation to DC harvesting efficiencies of 77% and 70%, respectively, at various polarization angles at the desired operating frequencies of 2.7 GHz and 3.4 GHz