A GaN-based 6.78 MHz Single-Stage Transmitter with Constant Output Current for Wireless Power Transfer

A single-stage transmitter is reviewed which directly converts a utility ac input to high frequency (6.78 MHz) ac output for wireless power transfer applications. Compared with a two-stage transmitter implementation, this single-stage transmitter obtains high power efficiency with reduced component-count. In this paper, a method is proposed to enable constant current at the output of the single-stage transmitter to accommodate multiple receivers. First, the constant output voltage transmitter is obtained by implementing closed-loop control and a model-based modulation scheme. Then, an impedance matching network is implemented at the output of transmitter to convert the constant voltage to constant current. This feature allows a single transmitter to charge multiple receivers simultaneously. The control methodology is verified using both simulation and a laboratory prototype.