METU Northern Cyprus Campus

International Project Competition 2017

Wireless Resonance Power Transfer By Superposing Magnetic Fields For
Reducing Batteries and Other Electronic Wastes

Kiran Adhikari and Larissa Oliveira

Jacobs University, Bremen, Germany

Abstract
The purpose of the paper submitted to International Concept Project Com-
petition 2017 is to provide a description of the solution for Electronic wastes
especially related to Battery wastes by replacing them with Wireless reso-
nance power transfer with superposition of multiple coils. With the exponen-
tial increase in electronic consumption for the past few decades, electronic
wastes has increased exponentially in both developing and developed coun-
tries. The process of disposing and dismantling electronic waste in water
and atmosphere has affected the health of both animals and human and have
caused numerous environmental hazards.

INTRODUCTION
Electronic wastes refers to all the electronic devices which are not being used any-
more and given away to salvage, resale, and recycling. Electronic wastes have
increased exponentially after 1980s with the increasement in consumption of elec-
tronic products.[4] According to the United Nations, around 20-50 million metric
tons of E-wastes are discarded every year with 9.4 million tons only from United
States.[4] Electronic wastes from developed countries are exported legally and il-
legally to developing countries.[1] However due to a poor infrastructure in devel-
oping countries, they lack a proper facility for treatment of these wastes causing
direct negative impact on people and environment.
In the recent years, E-wastes have turn out to be one of the major global eco-
logical issues raising concern on air, water and soil pollution, and even human
exploitation. In our paper, we have provided a solution for battery related wastes

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which compromise huge fraction of toal electronic waste in terms of weight and en-
vironmental effects. Batteries are used in many different things like mobile phones,
watches,clocks, radios, laptops and computers. It has been estimated that around
90 percentages of dead batteris end up in landfill. Both rechargeable and non-
rechargeable batteries convert chemical energy into electrical energy.Cadmium,
found on many types of batteries, on soil can affect the break down of organic
matter by damaging soil microogranisms. When it mixes with water, it can bio-
accumulate in fish affecting their health. Thus, electronic waste is directly related
to vital traid components like water resources and environment.
There have been several attempts like recyling and reusing electronic compo-
nents and designging durable batteries for solving the problem of electronic wastes.
However, most of these solutions are attacking the symptoms, rather than their
causes. With increasing demands in new electronic products and short life dura-
tion of these products, electronic wastes are exponentially increasing every year.
Therefore, it seems very necessary to attack the cause of these electronic wastes so
that electronic wastes can be managed with optimum efficiency.

BACKGROUND
Even though electronic wastes like dead batteries accounts for only 2 percent of
total trash in landfills, it accounts for more than 70 percent of its toxic garbage.
[1]The main reason for this is manufactures need to use chemical compounds to
synthesize a final product. Due to multiple product generations, and consumers
willingness to upgrade, these electronic products have a very short life span and
ends up in landfills. Both rechargeable and non-rechargeable batteries contains
heavy metals and toxic chemicals. If one dispose them by the same process as
regular trash, it can easily raise concern over soil and water pollution. [4]
One of the best current solutions agains electronic wastes is reusing and re-
cycling these products. Electronic recycling in developed countries are conducted
in controlled plants but there are no such controls in developing countries. Thus,
recycling has to be done with hand and in most cases by children. To worsen the
condition, electronic wastes from developed countires are exported to developing
countries, often illegaly violating international law.
The main reason for these issues is that these solutions are attacking the symp-
toms of the problem instead of the cause. One of the best way to attack the cause
is by replacing or extending the life-time of batteries with wireless power transfer.
The idea of wireless power transmission has been started with Nikola Tesla’s exper-
iments. Techniques like using Electromagnetic field at certain frequency or laser
to send power is widely used for transferring energy for long distances. However,

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it is very complicated since it requires proper alignment between transmitter and
receiver which is not possible for moving electronic devices. Using non-radiative
fields, wireless power can be tranferred within very short distances using princi-
ple of magnetic induction. Lately, a reserch group from Massachusetts Institute
of Technology (MIT) has been succesful for transferring power within mid-range
using Highly Resonant Power Transfer. [5]

PROPOSAL
Our original idea for this project is to use superposition of resonant fields gener-
ated by multiple coils so that a constant mid-range power transfer exists between
transmitters and receivers. Without the superposition, it is very complicated for a
moving device like smartphone for getting constant power.
The concept of transmission of power via wireless method can be well un-
derstood with modifications of Maxwell equations especially Biot-Savart Law and
Maxwell Faraday Equation:

Idl × r0
Z
µo
B= 0 3
(1)
4π C |r |

Maxwell-Faraday equation states that time varying magnetic field will generate a
spatially varying non-conserving electric field as:

∂B
O×E = − (2)
∂t
For a tightly wounded coil of wire with N turns each with the same magnetic flux
φB , Faraday’s law of induction states that induced electromotive force is given by

dφB
E = −N (3)
dt
For n numbers of magnetic coils , total magnetic flux at a point r is given by
linear combination of each magnetic flux.
n
φ = ∑ ai φi f or 0≤a≤1 (4)
i=1

From equation 4, it can be seen that the total magnetic flux due to each source
is greater than the magnetic flux due to only one source. This property can be
used to be generate the reasonable source of wireless power transfer at a mid-range
distance.

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 Figure 1: Resonant coupling circuit

Classical wireless power tranfer depends on non-resonant coupled inductor

which is based on primary coil generating a magnetic field field and secondary
coil cutting as much as possible.[5] This method is not effective as two field has
to be as close to possible. Instead if transmitter and receiver coils are tuned to
common resonance frequency forming a tuned LC circuit, maximum power can be
transmitted over.

Figure 2: WiTricity type magnetic resonance circuit

In the WiTricity type magnetic resonance, resonant coils on transmiter and

receiver side are tuned to the same resonance frequency. The resonance frequency
ω of the circuit is given by
1
ω=p (5)
(1 − k2 )Lr
where k is the coupling coefficient. Oscillating energy applied on the transmitter
coil will ring to form a magnetic field. The total energy will oscillate between
inductor and capacitor at the resonant frequency given by LC circuit. If the receiver
coil is placed in the magnetic field generated by transmitter coil, it will absorb more
energy than is lost in each cycle of transmitter. Since the quality factor can be very
high, the transitter and reciever coil can be as far as two meters. [5]
The idea is to extend the magnetic resonance circuit to Multiple-Input-Multiple
output(MIMO) technology similar to wireless communication. Suppose there are
x1 , x2 , ..., xn transmitter coils and y1 , y2 , ..., ym receiver coils. The relation between

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transmitter coils and individual receiver coil is described by equation:

y j = a j1 x1 + a j2 x2 + ....... + a jn xn f or j ∈ [1, m] (6)

The overall system can be described by matrix

Y = AX (7)

such that Y T = [y1 , y2 , ...., yn ] and X T = [x1 , x2 , ......, xn ].

The matrix A contains information about position and angle from transmitter
coil to receiver coil which can be obtained via indirect methods like bluetooth tech-
nology. Once the matrix A is obtained,the power transfer system can be efficiently
optimized.

FEASIBILITY AND IMPACT ANALYSIS

In order to test our hypothesis, a series of experiments were conducted whose setup
is shown in the figure 3.

Figure 3: Experimental setup with coils and Teslameter

The magnetic field generated by two circular coils with 154 turns and radius
0.2 ± 0.005m was studied. The intensity of magnetic field was recorded when they
were in superposition and when they are not. The intensity of magnetic field was
measured by Tesla meter with tangential B-Probe which was recorded with Sensor

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Cassy on computer. The current on the coil was applied with Power supply with
maximum output current of 5A.
The magnetic field generated by coil in dependence on position at constant
current 3.5A is shown in figure 4.

Figure 4: Magnetic field measured on dependence of position at constant coil cur-

rent of 3.5A

In figure 4, Red points indicate the intensity of magnetic field generated when
they are in superposition, and blue points indicate the magnetic field generated
when only one coil is turned on. The reference center point is taken from the
center of the first coil. From the figure 4, it is clearly seen that there is an increase
in efficiency in power transfer when they are in superposition than when only one
coil is turned on as predicted from theory.
The magnetic field generated by coils in dependence on coil current at constant
position of 15 cm from the first coil is shown in figure 5. As in figure 4, Red
and blue points in figure 5 indicate conditions when both coils are turned on and
when only one is turned on respectively.It is clearly seen, that there is an increase
in efficiency in power transfer when they are in superposition than when only one
coil is turned on as predicted from theory. From figure 4 and 5,it is also clear that
efficiency of wireless powertransfer is higher at certain position and coil current
than other which are the examples of information which can be fed on equation 6
and 7 for optimization.
Unlike other techniques of wireless power transfer, this method provides actual
framework for tranferring power within mid-range distances for movable electronic
devices. This method is better than using optical techniques of power transfer be-
cause there is no necessity of complicated accurate allignment between transmitter
and receiver and is also better than non-radiative power transfer as power transmis-
sion over larger distances is possible. Another important superiority of this tech-

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Figure 5: Magnetic field measured on dependence of coil current at constant posi-
tion of 15cm

nique is that this method also takes human safety into consideration. This method
uses oscillating magnetic fields for wireless power transfer so with proper elec-
tromagnetic analysis, the devices can be designed such that electric and magnetic
fields can be kept below human safety limits. Since this method is attacking the
cause of Battery and electrical wire waste, it is also superior than other techniques
like reuse and recycle of electronic waste.

Conclusion
We have presented a method of using Wireless resonance power transfer by super-
posing magnetic fields generated by multiple coils to replace or extend the life-
span of batteries thus reducing the production of total Electronic wastes. We ex-
tended the previous methods of wireless power tranfer on single device to more
user friendly multiple devices over mid-range distance. This method is superior
than other techniques of power transfer because it provides simlicity, flexibility
and safety. Since this method attacks the source, it is also superior than reuse and
recycle. In the future, we plan to extend our method by using technolgies imple-
mented in WiFi so that owner can have a control over the power transmission to
the devices he/she desires thus making it steal-proof.

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Word count:1983

References
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