A smart multi-receiver power transmission system for long-term biological monitoring

This paper presents a multi-receiver wireless inductive power link for freely moving animal research systems. The proposed system includes a power transmitter chamber, employing a novel resonance-based multicoil array structure, and two power receivers. This system features a uniform power transmission in 3D and provides natural power localization mechanism without additional circuitry to locate the receivers and localize the transmitted power, thanks a parallel multicoil array structure. The 3D power chamber prototype is based on 4-coil inductive link and the receivers use small flexible coils. The amount of power delivered to receivers inside the chamber is independent of their locations and motions. We have fully characterized the performance of the implemented prototype with multiple receivers. Measurement results show a power transfer efficiency of 16% per channel and a power delivered to the load of 28 mW per channel in 3D, while both receivers are inside the chamber.