Charging with a Phone in Your Pocket? UNIST Develops Electric Resonance Wireless Charging Technology
Published 12 Dec.2024 09:22(KST)
Professor Byeon Young-jae's Team Achieves 'World's First' Electric Resonance Wireless Power Transfer Technology
Applied to Smart Factory Logistics Robots and Automation Systems, Published in Adv. Sci.
The era of charging your phone while it remains in your pocket is approaching.
This is because a technology has been developed that can wirelessly charge electronic devices anywhere within a three-dimensional space, including walls, floors, and the air.
On the 12th, Professor Byun Young-jae's team from the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at UNIST (President Park Jong-rae) announced that they have developed the world's first electric resonance wireless power transfer (ERWPT) technology capable of charging anywhere within a three-dimensional space.
The research team developed the electric resonance wireless power transfer technology based on the characteristic that the electric field maintains a consistent directionality. This technology overcomes the limitations of the existing magnetic resonance method, which required placing the device at a fixed position for charging even in wireless charging. The magnetic resonance method suffered a sharp drop in charging efficiency if the transmitter and receiver positions were even slightly misaligned due to the magnetic field's tendency to return to itself.
The developed technology demonstrated a wireless power transfer efficiency of 46% within a space measuring up to 2 meters in width, length, and height. Previously, in 2007, researchers at MIT in the United States achieved a 40% transfer efficiency at a distance of up to 2 meters using the 'magnetic resonance method.'
Professor Byun Young-jae explained, "If the MIT research team demonstrated the possibility of mid-range charging using the magnetic resonance method, this technology represents an evolution that enables charging anywhere within a three-dimensional space, marking an innovation," adding, "It can provide wireless charging solutions for logistics robots and automation systems in smart factories."
The research team improved the physical structure of the transmitter and receiver so that the receiver can freely charge within the electric field, and implemented this power transfer method by applying an 'Open bifilar coil' structure. By replacing the traditional coil structure with the open bifilar coil structure, electric resonance is optimized, enabling wireless power transfer over longer distances.
This charging method can also charge multiple electronic devices simultaneously. Experiments confirmed that even when multiple receivers are placed within the same space, power can be transmitted with the same efficiency.
The research team also explained that this study is academically valuable as it presents a new approach to the essence of electromagnetic force beyond just technological achievements.
Dr. Lee Bon-young, the first author from UNIST, said, "The ERWPT system goes beyond technological achievements by proposing a new energy transfer method utilizing electromagnetic force and demonstrating a new approach to the essence of electromagnetic force."
This research involved Min Hyung-gi, head of the SB Solution research institute, as a co-author. The research results were published online on November 21 in the international journal Advanced Science, and the research was supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT's Institute for Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation (IITP).
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