Improved Design of PCB Coil for Magnetically Coupled Wireless Power Transfer

In recent years, wireless power transfer (WPT) has progressed rapidly in both theory and commercialization. However, existing research into WPT coil design for low-power devices to mitigate the coil offset is limited. A dual-layer printed circuit board (PCB) structure is proposed in this paper to mitigate the coil offset while retaining manufacturing simplicity for practical uses. Specifically, the impacts of key geometric parameters on the coil quality factor and coupling coefficient are analyzed through models and simulations. Equivalent PCB coils were formed for mutual inductance models, and four basic compensation circuits were analyzed. The impacts of changes in coil thickness, line width, turn spacing, and number of turns on the quality factor of PCB coils were analyzed with a fixed outer diameter of the coil. Eleven types of PCB coils were manufactured to verify the simulation results. The offset transmission efficiency can reach 46.6% with an output power of 14.4 W. The PCB coil with improved design could offer remarkable improvements in the WPT system for low-power electronic devices.