Loading and Power Control for a High-Efficiency Class E PA-Driven Megahertz WPT System

In this paper, the loading effect of a Class E power amplifier (PA) driven 6.78 megahertz (MHz) wireless power transfer (WPT) system is analyzed at both circuit and system levels. A buck converter is introduced and controlled to track an optimal equivalent load that maximizes the system efficiency under uncertainties in the relative position of coils and the final load. For power control, an additional degree of freedom is provided by adding an ultracapacitor bank. A control strategy is proposed to track the maximum efficiency and charge/discharge the ultracapacitor bank through the on/off control of the Class E PA. Thus, high system efficiency can be maintained under various uncertainties and load power demands. Finally, the theoretical analysis and the control scheme are validated in experiments. The results show that the proposed Class E PA-driven MHz WPT system can stably achieve a high efficiency under different coil distances and various constant/pulsed power profiles. The measured highest system efficiency can reach 72.1% at a load power level of 10 W.