FINAL YEAR PROJECT

PROGRESS REPORT

BY RONAN DUNNE
B.E. ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING

Electromagnetic shielding techniques for inductive

powering applications

Supervisor: Dr. Maeve Duffy

12/01/09

Table of Contents
Table of Contents ...................................................................................................... ii
1. Introduction ........................................................................................................ 1
1.1 - Background/ History.................................................................................. 1
1.2 - Inductive Power Transfer........................................................................... 1
1.3 - Transmitter and receiver coils .................................................................... 2
1.4 - Applications .............................................................................................. 3
1.4 - Electromagnetic Shielding ......................................................................... 5
2. Proposals for tackling project.............................................................................. 7
2.1 - Software .................................................................................................... 7
3. Progress to date .................................................................................................. 8
3.1 - Research........................................................................................................ 8
3.2 - Programming and simulation ......................................................................... 8
3.3 - Transmitter coil ........................................................................................... 10
3.4 - Receiver coil................................................................................................ 10
4. Task list and project plan .................................................................................. 11
4.1 - January ........................................................................................................ 11
4.2 - February ...................................................................................................... 11
4.2 - March.......................................................................................................... 12
5. References ..............................................................12

1. Introduction:
1.1 Background/History
Inductive power transfer is an age old concept. It was originally taught up by a
physicist and engineer named Nikola Telsa. Telsa invented the Telsa coil in 1891. The
Telsa coil was developed to transmit electrical energy without wires. It is basically an
air cored resonant transformer. The Telsa coil along with many of Telsas other
ingenious inventions have paved the way for future technological advances in the area
of inductive power transfer.

1.2 Inductive Power Transfer

Inductive power transfer is the wireless transfer of electrical power from a source to
an object requiring power. It works by using inductive coupling. Inductive coupling
involves the use of magnetic fields to stimulate the movement of current through a
wire. A current could also be induced in the wire by placing a second coil of wire
within the magnetic field created by the first one. Thus, if the wire is formed into a
coil, the magnetic field it produces is amplified by several degrees, making the
magnetic field a lot bigger than if the electric wire was straight.
The advantages to using inductive power transfer is that you do not have the problem
of hazardous, inconvenient cables and wires.

Fig1.0 Hazardous/ incontinent cables

1.3 Transmitter and receiver coils

In order to transfer power wirelessly one must use transmitter and receiver
coils(primary and secondary coils). The transmitter coil is connected to a power
source, this will produce a magnetic field. The strength of this magnetic field depends
on the distance it is from the coil, the strength decrease the further away you are from
the coil. In order for a current to be induced a receiver coil must be added. This must
be placed inside the region containing the magnetic field created by the transmitter
coil. The transmitter and receiver coils are never connected. Mutual Inductance is a
process which allows the energy to be transferred using electromagnetic coupling. For
this process to occur the receiver coil must be relatively close to the transmitter coil.

Fig 1.1 Transmitter and receiver coils

1.4 Applications
There are many applications present today which use inductive power transfer
technology. One simple example is the electric toothbrush.
An electric toothbrush and its base contain two coils, a primary and a secondary. The
primary coil is located in the base. When the base is plugged in current is supplied to
this coil and it produces a magnetic field. The actual toothbrush itself contains the
secondary coil which is connected to the battery. When the toothbrush is attached to
its base, the magnetic field induces a current in the secondary coil which recharges the
battery.

Fig1.3 Electric toothbrush

Another application which uses inductive power transfer is a charging platform for
charging electronic devices. The charging platform works in the same way as the
electric toothbrush. The charging platform contains inbuilt primary coils which induce
a current in the secondary coils in the mobile devices when they are brought close to
the platform.

Fig 1.4 Charging platform

In these sort of applications the transmitter and receiver coils must be close together
as the magnetic fields they produce are relatively small. In order to for these
applications to work from a greater distance the magnetic field would have to be
much stronger and larger. However there is a problem with using a large magnetic
field, because magnetic fields spread in all directions, a large one would prove very
inefficient and would result in a waste of energy. LC Resonant circuit could be used
to help transmit energy from a greater distance. Resonance circuits respond
selectively to signals of a given frequency while discriminating against signals of
different frequencies. It consists of an inductor and a capacitor, when connected
together, an electric current can alternate between them at the circuits resonant
frequency.

Fig 1.4 LC resonant circuit

If the coils in an application are within a certain distance of each other (determined by
the magnetic field produced) and they both have the same resonant frequency then the
current can tunnel from the transmitter coil to the receiver coil. But if the coils go out
of range or if they have different resonant frequencies then they will not transfer
power.

Implanted biomedical devices using inductive power transfer are also being
developed. The transmitter and receiver coils in these devices are much further apart
resulting in low inductive coupling levels. One example of a biomedical system which
is being developed is a system which is designed to help stroke victims who suffer
from a walking disability known as foot drop. Foot drop means that the patient is
unable to lift the front part of the leg due to paralysis or weakness of the foot which
can cause the foot to be dragged forward on the ground. One answer to this problem is
to provide stimulation using electrodes to the damaged nerves using Functional
Electrical Stimulation (FES). The system being designed consists of an externally
worn transmitter, which is inductively coupled to an implanted receiver unit. It works
in a similar way to the applications mentioned previously. Inductive coupling is used
to transfer pulses from the transmitter to the implanted receiver circuit. These pulses
are applied to the relevant nerve endings via electrodes. In order to improve the
energy transfer process, resonant circuits are implemented in both the transmitter and
receiver circuits.

Fig 1.5 Transmitter circuit for foot drop application

1.5 Electromagnetic Shielding

Electromagnetic shielding is the process of limiting the penetration of electromagnetic
fields into a space, by blocking them with a barrier made of conductive material. In an
inductive charging platform it is required to supply electromagnetic shielding to the
bottom of the platform.

Fig 1.6 Charging platform

This is done to avoid any loss in electromagnetic flux which may escape through the
bottom. If the platform was not shielded and it was placed on a metallic desk it could
result in current being induced in the desk due to the flux which is created by the
charging platform. This could lead to undesirable energy transfer and heat effects in
the metallic desk. The electromagnetic shield used in the charging platform consists of
two layers. The first layer is a thin layer of soft magnetic material and the second
layer is a thin layer of conductive material. The soft magnetic material used is ferrite
4F1. The conductive material used is copper. Shielding effectiveness is defined as the
ratio between the field strength at a given distance from the source without the shield
introduced and the field strength with the field introduced.
In order to analyze the influence of the double-layer electromagnetic shield one must
determine the inductance and the impedance of the shielded planar spiral windings.
One must also calculate the thickness of the shielding materials. Simulation and
measurement must be done to determine the conductivity, permeability and thickness
of several different shielding plates. In order to investigate the different shielding
techniques one must carry out several case studies. These include testing the shielding
effectiveness when we use a dielectric material and a conductive material (copper) as
our double layer substrate and another study is of when we use a magnetic material
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(ferrite) and copper sheet as the layers of our substrate.

Fig 1.6 Schematic view of the planar winding with shielding

Fig 1.7 Proposed cross-sectional structure of a PCB transformer shielded with ferrite plates
and copper sheets.

2. Proposals for tackling project

The objective of this project is to investigate different Electromagnetic shielding
techniques for inductive powering applications. This is done by applying modelling
techniques to compare the performance of different shielding layers for both
applications and to develop effective shielding solutions. Methods to be applied
include analytic and FEA modelling. The two software applications needed are
Matlab and Ansoft. I must also design a demonstrator inductive powering circuit
which will light an LED. This can be achieved by constructing and testing a circuit
containing transmitter and receiver coils. A resonant circuit can be added to the
circuits to improve the energy transfer.
I must also investigate the performance of different magnetic materials used in
shielding. This is done by defining the spiral coil and shield patterns for PCB
fabrication and by producing Gerber files for PCB manufacturing

2.1 Software
Mathlab:
Matlab is a high-level language and interactive environment that enables you to
perform computationally intensive tasks faster than with traditional programming
languages such as C, C++, and Fortran.
I need matlab to solve a complicated numerical integration formula. I used this
formula to calculate the Mutual inductance.

Ansoft, Maxwell SV:

Maxwell 2D Student Version (SV), is used for analyzing electromagnetic fields in
cross-sections of structures. Maxwell SV uses finite element analysis (FEA) to solve
two-dimensional (2D) electromagnetic problems.
To analyze a problem, you need to specify the appropriate geometry, material
properties, and excitations for a device or system of devices. The Maxwell software
then does the following:
Automatically creates the required finite element mesh.
Calculates the desired electric or magnetic field solution and special quantities of
interest, such as force, torque, inductance, capacitance, or power loss. You can select
any of the following solution types: Electrostatic, Magnetostatic, Electrostatic, Eddy

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Current, DC Conduction, AC Conduction, Eddy Axial.

Allows you to analyze, manipulate, and display field solutions.

3. Progress to Date
3.1 Research
Extensive research has been carried out on topic of inductive power transfer and its
applications.
The main areas covered include:

transmitter and receiver circuits.

Inductive Power transfer applications

Resonant circuits

Electromagnetic shielding and the different electromagnetic shielding techniques.

Software (Matlab, Ansoft)

All of which are mention earlier in detail.

3.2 Programming and Simulation

Programmed analytic formulas for electromagnetic fields around planar windings in
air

Matlab programming:
I used Matlab to solve a complicated formula which was used to find the
mutual inductance between two planar windings. In order to solve this formula
I first had to do extensive research on how to program in Matlab. The main
areas I needed to cover were the basics of matlab, while loops and numerical
integration.

Ansoft, Maxwell SV: Maxwell was used to simulate the inductance. This was
done by drawing a model of the planar winding using the same dimensions
used in the matlab program. The main steps involved determining the
inductance were i) drawing the model, ii)setting up the materials which were
to be used iii) setup the boundaries iv) setup executive parameters, then by
clicking the solve button you are provided with a inductance matrix. Once this
was done I used the post processor to analyse the solution. The post processor
allowed me to plot the lines of magnetic flux and create magnetic field plots
which shows the magnetic field throughout the region.

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Fig 1.8 Magnetic field around the windings

I got good agreement between the two software application for the value of mutual
inductance.

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3.3 Transmitter coil

I built a wire-wound version of the transmitter coil investigated for the inductive
charging platform . The inductance and resistance was then measured.

Fig 1.9 Measured inductance and resistance

3.4 Receiver coil

I also built a receiver coil. This consists of a coil of very thin wire with 222 turns.
This involved wrapping the very thin wire carefully around piece of a filter of a pen.
This was a long process and required patience and concentration in order to make sure
the number of turns was counted correctly.

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4. Task List and Project Plan

4.1 January

Design a demonstrator inductive powering circuit for an LED

Test a receiver coil similar to that being investigated for biomedical
applications: determine the range of open-circuit voltage levels
possible at different locations around the transmitter coil.
Investigate (by circuit analysis and testing) the level of improvement in
open-circuit voltage provided by including resonant capacitors on (i)
the receiver side and (ii) receiver and transmitter sides
Determine the conditions required in the system to provide sufficient
current on the receiver side for lighting an LED; e.g. larger transmitter
coil, higher frequency, more transmitter / receiver turns, need for
magnetic core in receiver coil

4.2 February

Continue to investigate the effect of different shielding techniques using

analytic and FEA models
Magnetic vs. conductive shield vs. combined magnetic and conductive
shield.
Compare field levels at reference points around the device including
shielded areas and receiver coil locations. Compare with the air-coil
case.
Predict the effect of different shield solutions on power transfer
between transmitter and receiver circuits

Investigate the performance of different magnetic materials in shielding

Define spiral coil and shield patterns for PCB fabrication; allow for the
investigation of different copper thicknesses and shield patterns.
Produce Gerber files for PCB manufacture

Perform preliminary tests on wire transmitter coil; use ferrite

substrates, copper plates, etc. for shielding. Test for the cases of
unloaded and loaded receiver coils (LED demonstrator).
Investigate the effect of material parameters (permeability and
conductivity) for a range of magnetic alloys in analytic & FEA models
(data will be provided by supervisor)
Investigate the effect of magnetic / conductor layer thickness for a
given operating frequency
Compare the time taken for analytic and FEA models to provide
solutions

4.3 March
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Develop analytic models for predicting magnetic field levels and transmitter
coil inductance for different shield structures
Account for multi-layer transmitter coils
Account for patterned conductor and magnetic layers
Investigate the effect of current flowing in a receiver circuit (spiral coil
located close to the transmitter)
Verify models with tests performed on different PCB structures

Health and safety issues.

Power levels will be very low during testing; therefore there should not be any
cause for risk to the student.

5. References
Websites
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/electric/serres.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RF_shielding
http://www.mathworks.com/products/matlab/
http://www.ansoft.com/products/em/maxwell/
http://www.tech-faq.com/wireless-power-induction.shtml

Papers:
Evaluation of the Shielding Effects on Printed-Circuit-Board Transformers Using
Ferrite Plates and Copper Sheets by S. C. Tang, Member, IEEE, S. Y. (Ron) Hui, Senior
Member, IEEE, and Henry Shu-hung Chung, Member, IEEE, November 2002
Extended Theory on the Inductance Calculation of Planar Spiral Windings Including
the Effect of Double-Layer Electromagnetic Shield by Y. P. Su, Student Member, IEEE,
Xun Liu, Member, IEEE, and S. Y. (Ron) Hui, Fellow, IEEE, July 2008
Inductive Powering for Biomedical Applications, Chevalerias O, OReilly S,
Alderman J, September 2004

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