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Energies
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Design, Modelling and Analysis for Wireless Power Transfer Systems
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Design, Modelling and Analysis for Wireless Power Transfer Systems

A Special Issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073) belonging to the section "F: Electrical Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 December 2026 | Viewed by 4823

Editors

Dr. Fei Cheng

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Electronics and Information Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China
Interests: wireless energy transmission and collection; microwave circuits and chip technology
Dr. Ce Wang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Electronics and Information Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China
Interests: radio frequency circuits; radio frequency semiconductor devices; high-efficiency radio frequency power devices
Dr. Zhiwei Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Electronics and Information, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou 310018, China
Interests: microwave circuit; power amplifier; rectifier
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) and ambient energy harvesting (EH) technologies are undergoing explosive growth, fundamentally reshaping power delivery paradigms across diverse modern applications. Their proliferation is critical for enabling truly cordless, efficient, and sustainable solutions in domains ranging from consumer electronics and electric vehicles to industrial IoT, biomedical implants, and distributed renewable energy systems. In the future, thousands of sensors will be powered wirelessly through WPT or ambient EH, eliminating the need for batteries and avoiding pollution. Although WPT has made significant progress in recent years, it still faces numerous challenges. These include reductions in transmission efficiency due to misalignment between the receiver and transmitter, decreased energy conversion efficiency caused by changes in load impedance, and the difficulty of achieving high-efficiency power transfer underwater, among others.

This Special Issue will showcase cutting-edge research accelerating breakthroughs in wireless power transfer and ambient energy harvesting. We request high-quality contributions focusing on theoretical advances, innovative design methodologies, and sophisticated modeling techniques across the entire spectrum of WPT technologies.

Topics of interest for publication include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Advanced WPT Techniques: Near-field—Highly optimized resonant/inductive coupling, exploring novel coil structures, metamaterials, and magnetic beamforming. Far-field—Efficient RF wireless power transfer, high-power laser/optical power beaming, and emerging hybrid approaches;
  • Ambient Energy Harvesting: Multi-source scavenging strategies and circuits integrating RF, solar, thermal, vibration, and other ambient sources. Ultra-low-power rectifier and power management circuits for micro-energy harvesting;
  • Simultaneous Wireless Information and Power Transfer (SWIPT) architectures and protocols, as well as wireless scattering communication leveraging WPT infrastructure;
  • Components and Circuits for wireless power transfer: Specialized antennas and surfaces—High-efficiency rectennas, rectifying surfaces, and reconfigurable antenna arrays for beamforming. Microwave and RFICs—Custom integrated circuits (chips) for efficiency.

Dr. Fei Cheng
Dr. Ce Wang
Dr. Zhiwei Zhang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • wireless power transfer
  • ambient energy harvesting
  • rectenna
  • antenna
  • rectifier
  • simultaneous wireless information and power transfer

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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20 pages, 8969 KB  
Article
Research on a Multilayer Two-Dimensional Equivalent Thermal Analysis Method for an Integrated Transmitting Antenna Cold Plate
by Sihao Qian, Shunxi Lou, Wei Wang and Xiwei Tian
Energies 2026, 19(13), 3155; https://doi.org/10.3390/en19133155 - 2 Jul 2026
Viewed by 405
Abstract
This study proposes a multilayer equivalent thermal analysis method, based on flow boundary layer theory, considering the computational problem of three-dimensional (3D) conjugate heat transfer analysis of a transmitting antenna cold plate. To cut down computational overhead, a stratification strategy is introduced to [...] Read more.
This study proposes a multilayer equivalent thermal analysis method, based on flow boundary layer theory, considering the computational problem of three-dimensional (3D) conjugate heat transfer analysis of a transmitting antenna cold plate. To cut down computational overhead, a stratification strategy is introduced to build an equivalent model, such that the 3D conjugate heat transfer problem can be transformed into a multilayer two-dimensional (2D) heat transfer (M2DHT) problem. For the iterative analysis of the M2DHT, the equivalent heat transfer coefficient was introduced as the link between layers. Based on the Prandtl boundary layer theory, convective heat transfer coefficients of the boundary layer with temperature-independent fluid properties were deduced, further improving the accuracy of the 2D conjugate heat transfer analysis. The multilayer equivalent analysis method addresses the shortcomings of the heat transfer coefficient calculation through tedious 3D analysis. With well-set proper convective heat boundaries configured, iterative computation via M2DHT is utilized to resolve the surface temperature field of the cold plate. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the presented approach accurately characterizes temperature distributions while substantially boosting computational efficiency in thermal evaluations of cold plates for transmitting antennas. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Design, Modelling and Analysis for Wireless Power Transfer Systems)
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27 pages, 22560 KB  
Article
Dynamic Compensation for Constant-Voltage WPT with Non-Uniform Windings and Parasitic Coils
by Linghao Gao, Chunxue Gong, Moran Su, Shu Song and Ting Chen
Energies 2026, 19(12), 2925; https://doi.org/10.3390/en19122925 - 21 Jun 2026
Viewed by 438
Abstract
Wireless power transfer (WPT) is increasingly used in smart manufacturing, unmanned platforms, and contactless power-supply applications. However, weak coupling, load-dependent impedance drift, and spatial misalignment can shift the resonant condition, leading to unstable output voltage and reduced transfer efficiency. This paper proposes a [...] Read more.
Wireless power transfer (WPT) is increasingly used in smart manufacturing, unmanned platforms, and contactless power-supply applications. However, weak coupling, load-dependent impedance drift, and spatial misalignment can shift the resonant condition, leading to unstable output voltage and reduced transfer efficiency. This paper proposes a constant-voltage WPT method that combines a non-uniform winding coupler, parasitic coils, and dynamic capacitor compensation. A composite magnetic coupler with dense outer windings, loose inner windings, and parasitic coils is first developed, and a region-based electromagnetic model is established to characterise self-inductance, mutual inductance, and coupling coefficients. An improved LCC-S compensation network with a dynamic capacitor compensation matrix is then derived to keep the system close to resonant operation at the nominal 85 kHz operating point under load variation and coil-displacement-induced coupling changes. A zero-voltage-switching-angle tracking method with mutual-inductance correction is further introduced to compensate for phase deviation and maintain soft-switching operation through limited switching-frequency adjustment. Experimental validation demonstrates that the system maintains a stable constant-voltage output across a load range of 20–50 Ω and under 5 cm lateral and longitudinal offsets. The measured efficiency remains above 89% and reaches 93.7% under the optimal coupling and load-matching condition. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Design, Modelling and Analysis for Wireless Power Transfer Systems)
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13 pages, 32785 KB  
Article
Multibeam Hybrid Beamforming System with Reduced RF Chains for Microwave Power Transfer
by Manjoon Han, Minjae Ahn and Hyunchul Ku
Energies 2026, 19(12), 2828; https://doi.org/10.3390/en19122828 - 13 Jun 2026
Viewed by 298
Abstract
This paper presents a multibeam hybrid beamforming (MHBF) architecture for microwave power transfer (MPT), enabling wireless power delivery to multiple receivers with a reduced number of RF chains. The proposed architecture decouples beam control into the horizontal and vertical dimensions, where horizontal multibeams [...] Read more.
This paper presents a multibeam hybrid beamforming (MHBF) architecture for microwave power transfer (MPT), enabling wireless power delivery to multiple receivers with a reduced number of RF chains. The proposed architecture decouples beam control into the horizontal and vertical dimensions, where horizontal multibeams are generated in the baseband through digital precoding, while the vertical beam direction is controlled by a Butler-matrix-based analog beamformer. In particular, multibeam transmission is achieved using multi-tone signals with distinct phase weights assigned to each tone, enabling beams to be steered toward different directions, while the Butler-matrix-based analog beamformer provides vertical beam-steering capability. Compared with fully digital beamforming (DBF), MHBF enables simultaneous multibeam formation in the horizontal domain with fewer RF chains, thereby reducing hardware overhead and system complexity. To validate the proposed architecture, a 5.8 GHz prototype was designed and fabricated. The experimental results demonstrate three-beam and four-beam operation under a transmit power of 30.57 dBm, while the average received RF power in the single-beam case was 12.11 dBm at a distance of 1 m. In the three-beam and four-beam cases, average received RF power levels of 7.3 dBm and 6.1 dBm per beam were achieved, respectively. RF-to-DC conversion measurements under 430 Ω and 680 Ω load conditions further showed average PCE values of up to 38.77% and 35.05% for the three-beam and four-beam cases, respectively. These results confirm the feasibility of simultaneous multibeam wireless power delivery and its potential as an effective solution for multi-receiver operation with reduced RF-chain requirements. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Design, Modelling and Analysis for Wireless Power Transfer Systems)
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12 pages, 2809 KB  
Article
High-Efficiency Multistage Charge Pump Rectifiers Design
by Ying Wang, Ce Wang and Shiwei Dong
Energies 2025, 18(20), 5350; https://doi.org/10.3390/en18205350 - 11 Oct 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1308
Abstract
This paper presents an advanced radio frequency (RF)–direct current (DC) power conversion architecture based on a multistage Cockcroft–Walton topology. The proposed design achieves an enhanced voltage conversion ratio while maintaining superior RF-DC conversion efficiency under low input power conditions. To address the inherent [...] Read more.
This paper presents an advanced radio frequency (RF)–direct current (DC) power conversion architecture based on a multistage Cockcroft–Walton topology. The proposed design achieves an enhanced voltage conversion ratio while maintaining superior RF-DC conversion efficiency under low input power conditions. To address the inherent limitations of cascading Cockcroft–Walton topologies with class-F load networks, a novel ground plane isolation technique was developed, which utilizes the reverse-side metallization of the circuit board. A 5.8 GHz two-stage Cockcroft–Walton voltage multiplier rectifier was fabricated and characterized. Measurement results demonstrate that the circuit achieves a maximum output voltage of 7.4 V and a peak conversion efficiency of 70.5% with an input power of only 30 mW, while maintaining stable performance across varying load conditions. A comparison with a two-stage Dickson rectifier reveals that the Cockcroft–Walton rectifier exhibits superior output voltage and conversion efficiency. The proposed architecture delivers significant improvements in power conversion efficiency and voltage multiplication capability compared to conventional designs, establishing a new benchmark for low-power wireless energy harvesting applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Design, Modelling and Analysis for Wireless Power Transfer Systems)
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Review

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16 pages, 737 KB  
Review
Research on Key Technologies for Microwave Wireless Power Transfer Receivers
by Man Ruan, Xudong Wang, Wanli Xu, Long Huang, Kai Wu, Mengyi Wang, Yujuan Yin and Jinmao Chen
Energies 2026, 19(2), 438; https://doi.org/10.3390/en19020438 - 16 Jan 2026
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1641
Abstract
Microwave wireless power transfer (MWPT) technology has the advantages of long distance and high transmission efficiency; therefore, MWPT has many applications in aerospace, space solar power stations (SSPSs), and so on. The receiving and fixing subsystem is the core component for gathering and [...] Read more.
Microwave wireless power transfer (MWPT) technology has the advantages of long distance and high transmission efficiency; therefore, MWPT has many applications in aerospace, space solar power stations (SSPSs), and so on. The receiving and fixing subsystem is the core component for gathering and converting power and it is the main part of the system. If this step is both efficient and possible, the whole system will also be efficient and its success possible. This paper mainly introduces a systematic review of the key technologies, research status, and development trends of the receiving-end part in MWPT. High-performance rectifying devices are analyzed in detail, with the use of GaN Schottky barrier diodes (GaN SBDs), in addition to rectification circuits that have good rectification and impedance matching. Additionally, it compares the advantages and disadvantages of three power synthesis architectures, including RF synthesis, DC synthesis, and hybrid subarray synthesis, and proposes a strategy for optimizing power distribution through intelligent subarray partitioning. Finally, this paper looks at future development trends in receiving-end technology, including miniaturized monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) and efficient broadband reconfigurable rectification. The research presented herein offers a systematic technical reference and theoretical foundation for enhancing the performance of the receiving ends in microwave wireless power transfer systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Design, Modelling and Analysis for Wireless Power Transfer Systems)
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