Analysis of a Dual-Transduction Receiver for

Electrodynamic Wireless Power Transfer

INTRODUCTION
ELECTROMECHANICAL transducers (e.g., piezoelectric, electromagnetic/electrodynamic,
electrostatic, etc.) have long been studied for kinetic energy harvesting systems to power or
recharge batteries in modern electronic systems such as wearable and implantable biomedical
devices .
However, due to the intermittency of ambient energy and relatively low charging rates (often
below 1 μW), interest in wireless power transfer (WPT) methods has been growing in order to
provide more deterministic control and to facilitate higher recharge rates .
Compared with the conventional inductive and magnetic resonance near-field WPT schemes
electrodynamic WPT(EWPT)systems leverage low-frequency magnetic fields systems to
facilitate wireless power delivery to compact electromechanical receivers, even in the presence
of electrically conductive objects . Additionally, human exposure to high-frequency magnetic
fields is tightly regulated , and therefore low-frequency EWPT systems may be more amenable
for wearable and implantable biomedical devices.

PRINCIPLE
In principle, the low-frequency magnetic field generated by a transmitter excites a mechanical
motion of a permanent magnet in the EWPT receiver, which is then converted to electrical
energy via one or more electromechanical transduction schemes. Commonly used transduction
schemes include piezoelectric (PE) and electrodynamic (ED) . In order to optimize the
performance of an EWPT receiver under any given magnetic field and to maximize the power
transfer efficiency of the EWPT system, multienergy-domain lumped-element modeling is a
widely used and effective system modeling approach.

It is well known that PE transducers generally have high electrical output impedance and
generally produce higher voltage but lower current. ED transducers, on the other hand, have
lower output impedance and generate lower voltage and higher current.
For example, in [18], for a magnetic field strength of ∼0.4 mTrms, the induced voltage for the
reported PE EWPT receiver was higher (∼9.2 Vrms) but produced a lower average power
(∼0.13 mW). Under the same operating condition, an ED receiver [12] generated relatively low
voltage (∼2.1 Vrms), but delivered a few milliwatts of average power (∼1.8 mW).
 Generally, higher voltages are desired to facilitate efficient downstream power management
circuits, whereas significant power (the product of voltage and current) is required for any
practical electronic load application such as wearable and/or implantable medical devices. As
one example, the comparatively larger voltages produced by the PE transducer could be used
to power active power electronics, whereas the larger current waveforms produced by the ED
transducer could provide the primary power path. The ED voltages are too small (often << 1 V)
for passive rectification as well as to energize any active rectification circuitry
A group has recently reported the design, fabrication, and experimental characterization of a
dual-transduction EWPT receiver with a volume-efficient and low-profile design that makes use
of both PE and ED transducers . The experimental results indicated that the dual-transduction
scheme increased the total power (0.52 mW) and hence the power density (5.8 mW·cm–1) over
the individual PE and ED counterparts of the receiver.

DESIGN
FIG 1
The receiver comprises an oscillating structure that combines both PE and ED transducers. The
PE transducer is formed by attaching two piezoelectric elements to the clamped arms of a
meandering suspension in a way so that the two unimorphs are in series electrical connection.
The ED transducer is formed by attaching a laterally magnetized permanent magnet to the
center platform of the meandering suspension via a spacer and a rectangular coil attached to
the anchor that surrounds the magnet, both on the side opposite to the piezoelectric elements.
The spacer provides clearance for the magnet while it oscillates. The overall dimensions of the
receiver are 7.6 × 7.6 × 1.65 mm3, where the low-profile form factor facilitates future
integration (e.g., via printed circuit board (PCB) assembly) with other electronic components.

OPERATION
When the receiver is subjected to a time-varying magnetic near-field of desired frequency and
amplitude, a torque is induced on the receiver magnet. This architecture allows the magnet to
oscillate torsionally resulting in a dynamic stress generated on the piezoelectric elements of the
PE transducer, which, in turn, produces electricity via direct piezoelectric effect.
Simultaneously, the oscillation of the magnet induces an electromotive force (EMF) in the
receiver coil by means of electrodynamic transduction. For both PE and ED transducers,
maximum voltage and power are generated at the torsional resonance of the suspension
structure with the receiver oriented perpendicular to the interacting magnetic fields.

SYSTEM MODELLING
1.LUMPED ELEMENT EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT
FIG 3
Fig. 3 shows the lumped-element equivalent electrical circuit of the proposed EWPT system
indicating the electrical behavior of a transmitter, the mechanical (rotational mechanics) and
electrical behavior of the dual-transduction receiver, and the electrical loads ZL−PE and ZL−ED
connected, respectively, to the PE and ED transducers of the receiver. Phasor voltages,
currents, torques, and angular velocities are the primary system variables. Here, a power
source with source resistance RS supplies alternating voltage VS and current IS to the
transmitter, represented by an electrical resistance RT and inductance LT . The mechanical
oscillator is represented by torsional damping coefficient b, magnet-mass moment of inertia J
and short-circuit torsional spring stiffness k. The coupling/linkage between the transmitter and
the receiver is achieved through electrodynamic transduction represented by a gyrator with
transduction coefficient KT . The clamped electrical capacitance of the PE transducer is
represented by a capacitor C0 and the receiver coil of the ED transducer is represented by a
resistance RR and an inductance LR. Finally, these electrical elements of the PE and ED
transducers are coupled to the mechanical elements via a transformer of turn ratio ΓP and a
gyrator having ED transduction coefficient KR, respectively
While the system operates, the magnetic fields produced by the transmitter induces torque
τmag on the receiver magnet and allows the mechanical system to oscillate torsionally at an
angular velocity ˙ θ. Therefore, an equivalent inertial force/ torque τPE acts on the PE
transducer elements that develops strain in the piezo-materials, induces charges across the
piezo-capacitor C0 and hence, a voltage VPE is generated. Simultaneously, the relative motion
between the receiver magnet and the coil develops an equivalent electrodynamic torque τED in
the ED transducer, which in turn induces an EMF voltage VED. It is to be noted that the
dielectric loss tangent of the piezoelectric material (tanδ) has negligible influence on the overall
impedance and hence is neglected in the model
2.SYSTEM PARAMETERS
Most of the system parameters can also be determined via appropriate experimental tests.
Since some parameters may be easier to calculate, whereas some parameters may be easier to
measure/infer, a combination of approaches such as analytical expressions, COMSOL FEA
results, and experiments will be used. For analysis and experimental purposes, a Helmholtz coil
pair is considered as the source of the magnetic field. It produces a uniform magnetic field at
the center whose amplitude is controlled by the supply current IS. The amplitude of the on-axis
magnetic field is calculated as
where μ0 ( = 4π × 10–7 H·m–1) is the permeability of free space, N is the number of turns in
each coil, and R is the distance between the two coils. Once the receiver is subjected to the
magnetic field Bz, the torque induced on the receiver magnet can be determined as

where Br is the remanence of the magnetic material and vmag is the volume of the magnet.
Note that the magnetization axis of the receiver magnet is oriented perpendicular to the
interacting magnetic field (along z-axis) in order to maximize the torque on the receiver magnet
According to the fundamentals of electromechanical transduction principle and the electrical
and mechanical equations of equilibrium

where κ2 = 1 − (fr−sc/fr−oc)2 is the electromechanical coupling factor determined from the

short-circuit fr−sc and open circuit fr−oc resonant frequencies, k0 = J(2πfr−oc)2 is the open-
circuit torsional spring stiffness, C = Cp/2 represents the free electrical capacitance of two
series-connected identical piezoelectric unimorphs of capacitance Cp = ∈0wl ∈S 33 /tp in which
∈0 (= 8.854 × 10–12 F·m-1) is the permittivity of free space, ∈S 33 is the permittivity
component at constant strain with the plane-stress assumption of a thin beam, and w, l, and tp
are the width, length, and thickness of the piezo element, respectively. Due to the complicated
design of the mechanical suspension and displacement (rotation/translation) of the central
magnet mass, J, fr−oc and fr−sc are determined via COMSOL FEA simulations. Furthermore, the
torsional damping coefficient b is determined from experimentally measured mechanical
quality factor Q as b = 2ζJωr−oc, where ζ = 1/2Q is the mechanical damping ratio and ωr−oc =
2πfr−oc is the open-circuit angular resonant frequency
3.RECEIVER PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS
Fig. 4 presents the simplified equivalent circuit of the dualtransduction receiver in order to
analyze its system behavior and output performance, which will be compared with
experimental results later for validation. In the circuit, an ideal torque source is considered,
which generates the torque τmag while interacts with the magnetic fields produced by a well-
controlled source (Helmholtz coil pair) during the experiments. The complex load impedances
ZL−PE and ZL−ED are replaced with resistive loads RL−PE and RL−ED for the PE and ED
transducers, respectively. The inductance LR of the receiver coil is neglected since at low
frequencies s (<1 kHz) the coil reactance is much smaller than the coil resistance Zm represents
mechanical impedance of the receiver. ZPE andZED represent equivalent impedances of the PE
and ED transducers with corresponding load resistances, respectively. Now, the voltage and
power generated by each transducer of the dual-transduction receiver can easily be
determined by standard ac circuit analysis.
The angular velocity of the receiver magnet due to the driving torque τmag is given by

RL−ED. According to lossless two-port transducer design principle [13], [14], the voltages
simultaneously generated across the load resistances of the PE and ED transducers are,
respectively

Here, the term in the square bracket is the mechanical impedance Zm of the coupled system.
Note that the voltages generated by the PE and ED transducers are maximized when the system
operates at its resonance (ω = ωr ), whereas the impedances due to the mass moment of
inertia (jωJ) and the torsional spring stiffness (k/jω) cancel. Using root-meansquare (rms) values
for the torque τmag and load voltage VL, corresponding time-average powers are
The power generated by each transducer can be maximized by choosing corresponding
impedance matched optimal load resistance. The value of each optimal load resistance (RL−opt)
is equal to the magnitude of the total electrical impedance at the output ports of the
corresponding transducer, which, at resonance (ω = ωr ), are

Four special cases are considered under various harmonic excitation and load conditions, which
are explicitly described in the following with the help of equivalent circuit representations of
the coupled system
CASE 1
PE open circuit with ED open: When there is no external load connected to the ED transducer,
the ED transducer does not have any influence on the overall system dynamics and can be
omitted [see Fig. 5(a)]. Therefore, the frequencydependent no-load is reduced to

CASE 2
PE open circuit with ED short: When the ED transducer is short-circuited, the equivalent
impedance of the ED transducer becomes ZED = K2 R/RR [see Fig. 5(b)]. Then, the frequency-
dependent no-load voltage for PE transducer is

CASE 3
 ED open circuit with PE open: With the PE transducer is open-circuited, the equivalent
impedance of the PE transducer becomes ZPE = Γ2 P /jωC0 . Then, the frequency-dependent
no-load voltage for ED transducer becomes

CASE 4
: ED open circuit with PE short: When the PE transducer is short-circuited, the equivalent circuit
is represented using Fig. 5(d) and the frequency-dependent no-load voltage for ED transducer is
now reduced to

EXPERIMENTAL VALIDATION
1.PROTOTYPE FABRICATION AND ASSEMBLY
Dual transduction EWPT receiver prototype fabrication process steps:
The meandering suspension structure with a center platform and surrounding anchor was
created by laser micromachining titanium (Ti) shim stock. A same-sized silicon (Si) spacer and a
laterally magnetized N50 NdFeB magnet were glued to one side of the center platform. A
professionally wound self-supported copper coil of inner dimension was glued to the anchor.
On the other side of the suspension, two PZT-5A piezo-patches with sputtered nickel
electrodes, poled through the thickness , were bonded to the clamped arms of the suspension
beam using electrically conductive epoxy that forms a series electrical connection between the
piezo-patches. Finally, the assembled structure was bonded to a PCB, and electrical connections
were created for measurements.
2.EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
The fully assembled prototype was placed at the centroid of a Helmholtz coil pair.A waveform
generator measured waveforms, in conjunction with a power amplifier supplied an alternating
current into the Helmholtz coil pair, which was monitored by a current probe connected to a
current probe amplifier . The strengths of the resultant magnetic fields were measured using a
transverse Hall probe and a Gaussmeter . An oscilloscope was used to measure the input
current to the Helmholtz coil pair and the output voltage generated by the PE transducer of the
prototype. A USB-driven data acquisition device was used to measure the output voltage from
the ED transducer of the prototype. Simultaneously measuring outputs from both PE and ED
transducers using the same equipment imposes the equipment loading effect on the
transducers that affects the actual measurement.
3.RESULT AND DISCUSSION
1.First, the open-circuit frequency responses for the four cases described earlier were tested at
50 μTrms magnetic field. Results indicate that the torsional resonant frequency (fr−oc) for the
first three cases is 744.8 Hz, whereas that (fr−sc) for Case IV is 742.6 Hz. The ED transducer
loading conditions do not have any effect on the PE transducer resonant frequency but affect
the PE no-load voltage, depending on the equivalent ED transducer impedance.
Both exhibit linear characteristics with peaks at resonance, indicating an underdamped second-
order system with Q-factor of 90 (in air). A phase difference of ∼70° is noted between the
open-circuit voltage waveforms generated by the PE and ED transducers.
2. The optimum load resistance for each transducer was determined by connecting and
sweeping variable load resistances across the outputs of the corresponding transducer for the
cases described earlier. Each sweep was performed at the resonant frequency of each
respective case and under 50 μTrms field. Fig. 11 shows how the PE load voltage and power
change with load resistance for Cases I and II, whereas Fig. 12 shows the ED load voltage and
power versus load resistance for Cases III and IV. Measurement results show that the PE
transducer yielded an optimum load resistance of 600 kΩ for both Cases I and II, but the
maximum power generated at the PE port was larger (8.7 μW) when the ED port was open
(Case I), and smaller (3.9 μW) when the ED port was shorted (Case II) due to additional
electromechanical damping and energy extraction. For the ED transducer (see Fig. 12), the
measured optimum load resistance was 160 Ω for both Cases III and IV, with similar output
power values (5.4 and 5.8 μW, respectively). However, the simulation results predicted the ED
optimum load resistance to be 115 Ω. This model/experimental mismatch is attributed to
experimental measurement uncertainties for the relatively low voltages (in the range of tens of
millivolt), which propagate into larger uncertainties in the experimental power calculations.
Once the optimum load resistances for both PE and ED transducers were independently found,
another set of frequency sweeps were conducted to observe the load voltage (across
corresponding optimum load resistances) responses of each transducer, whereas the other one
was simultaneously kept open, short, or optimally loaded. Fig. 13 shows the PE load voltage as
a function of frequency with various ED loading conditions under 50 μTrms. Results indicate
that resonance occurs at the same frequency for all three conditions meaning that the ED
transducer loading conditions do not affect the resonance of the PE transducer, however,
control the amplitude of the PE load voltage ( Fig. 9). Similarly, Fig. 14 shows the ED load
voltage versus frequency with various PE loading conditions under 50 μTrms. In this case,
resonant frequency changes with the change in the PE loading conditions, as the model
predicts. From both sets of frequency response results, a new resonant frequency is obtained
(743.6 Hz in simulation and 744.6 Hz from measurement) when both transducers are connected
to their respective optimum load resistances.
Finally, the time-average power simultaneously delivered to the corresponding experimentally
obtained optimal load resistances of both PE and ED transducer were measured while varying
the amplitude of the magnetic field at a fixed frequency of 744.6 Hz. As shown in Fig. 15, both
simulation and measurement results show that the power increases as the magnetic field
amplitude increases. However, while the simulation predicts a quadratic response, the
measured power values deviate from this trend as the field intensity increases. This behavior is
attributed to nonlinear behavior of the system, including mechanical spring stiffening at higher
field amplitudes, nonlinear piezoelectric properties for the PE transducer, and nonconstant
electrodynamic coupling with change of field amplitudes for the ED transducer. Nevertheless,
the maximum experimentally measured powers are 35 and 14 μW from the PE and ED
transducers, respectively (combined total of 49 μW) at 120 μTrms field. According to the power
versus magnetic field plots presented in fig 15, the power level can be further scaled up by
increasing the interacting magnetic field amplitudes transmitted from the transmitter system, .
Additionally, the power can be increased by increasing the mechanical Q-factor of the receiver,
which is done by optimizing the suspension design
The power transmission efficiency (PTE) of a WPT system depends on the type of WPT
technique (i.e., inductive/ ultrasonic, near-field/far-field, low-frequency/high-frequency) and is
heavily influenced by other factors related to the transmitter system such as dimensions of the
transmitter coil, the generated magnetic flux density, and the distance between the transmitter
system and the receiver. A transmitter system optimized to a receiver system for a specific WPT
technique is required to accurately determine the system PTE. In this article, we used a
Helmholtz coil pair to test the prototype device under very low magnetic field intensities (≤ 120
μTrms) for model validation, which is not an ideal/optimized test setup to determine PTE.
Note that the optimum load resistances of the PE and ED transducers were determined
independently and used in the analytical simulation to obtain the simulated power values from
the corresponding transducer ( Fig. 15) Results show that the simulated maximum total power
of 65 μW is obtained when the PE and ED load resistances are tuned at 580 kΩ and 230 Ω,
respectively , whereas with the independently simulated optimum load resistances (600 kΩ for
PE and 160 Ω for ED), the total power is 63 μW . This result is important because it shows that
truly optimizing the system power is not as simple as just optimizing one port and then the
other port. Specifically, for this system , the “true” optimum ED load resistance is 44% larger,
and the PE load resistance is 3.4% smaller than what would be expected from analyzing each
port individually. It is anticipated that this effect is strongly correlated with the strength of
electromechanical coupling of the transducers, and should be carefully considered in future
designs.
CONCLUSION
In this article, we have demonstrated a dual-transduction EWPT receiver for low-frequency,
near-field WPT systems by developing an electromechanical LEM, which is then validated by
experimental characterization of a fabricated prototype. This dual-transduction receiver
simultaneously generates voltage/power from a PE transducer and an ED transducer while
operating at its torsional vibration mode by the influence of an external time-varying magnetic
field. From the analyses as well as the experimental characterization, it is observed that the
maximum transferable power under a given magnetic field can be achieved by concurrently
tuning the driving frequency and adapting the load resistance for each transducer. The device
generates maximum 49 μW power at its torsional resonance of 744.6 Hz while operating under
120 μTrms field, which is well below the standard human exposure limit (∼2.8 mTrms at 744.6
Hz). This power generation corresponds to a power density of 0.54 mW·cm–3 and an NPD of 37
mW·cm-3·mT–2. Experimental results show good agreement with the model predictions.
However, some deviations have been observed (22% maximum), especially when the magnetic
field is increased, which is attributed to mechanical and electromechanical nonlinearities that
require future analysis.