Modeling and design of flexible PCB coils and reliability study for flexible wireless power transfer systems

Abstract

In this thesis, we accurately modeled and designed flexible PCB Coils with bending for flexible electronic wireless power transfer (WPT) systems. Firstly, we proposed and verified the modeling methods of the flexible coils and shielding materials. The modeling method results are verified through the 3D EM simulation and measurement using Z-parameter and power transfer efficiency analysis. As the results, the self and mutual-inductance modeling are verified with the average error of 1.5% for the flexible coil without shielding material and average error of 3.75% when the shielding materials are placed on the top and bottom of the coil. By using the proposed WPT coil modeling methods for the flexible coils and shielding materials, we are able to design the flexible coil efficiently with less time and cost. Moreover, the reliability of the flexible coils is studied through the repetitive bending test. Finally, the interconnection line and voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) chip on extremely thin Si chip are designed and measured with the bending radius to check the feasibility of the proposed WPT system.