Scalability Analysis of SIMO Non-Radiative Resonant Wireless Power Transfer Systems Based on Circuit Models

Resonant inductive coupling wireless power transfer (RIC-WPT) is a leading field of research due to the growing number of applications that can benefit from this technology: from biomedical implants to consumer electronics, fractionated spacecraft, and electric vehicles, amongst others. However, applications are currently limited to point-to-point-links and do not target single input-multiple output (SIMO) scenarios. New challenges and applications of resonant non-radiative wireless power transfer emphasize the necessity to explore, predict, and assess the behavior of RIC-WPT in SIMO links. Moreover, new system-level metrics have to be derived to study the scalability of multi-point wireless power transfer applications and to provide design guidelines for these systems. In this article a single input-multiple output RIC-WPT system is modeled analytically from a circuit-centric point of view and validated using a finite element field solver. The analytical model and associated closed formulation is finally used to derive system-level metrics to predict the behavior and scalability of RIC SIMO systems, showcasing the results for an asymmetric SIMO scenario.