Abstract: (Sponsored by PELS TC 9)
Operating wireless power systems at multi-megahertz frequencies offers major benefits in size, cost, and efficiency — but it also introduces unique design challenges. At these frequencies, circuit parasitics, coil optimization, and compensation topology choices play decisive roles in overall performance. This webinar will focus on the design considerations that enable high-efficiency MHz wireless power transfer. We will first examine compensation network topologies — series–series, series–parallel, parallel–series, and parallel–parallel — and discuss how their different tradeoffs impact efficiency, voltage gain, and thermal stress under varying coupling conditions. We will then highlight strategies for managing semiconductor parasitics through resonant integration, and show how careful coil design — from simple air-core structures to multilayer self-resonant coils — can achieve >95% dc–dc efficiency at 6.78 MHz across power levels from hundreds of watts to kilowatts. Finally, we broaden the scope to future design directions, where optical isolation and power delivery complement inductive links. A discrete photonic-electronic optical gate driver demonstrates how optical interfaces can overcome EMI and common-mode limitations in high-voltage SiC systems. Attendees will leave with practical insights into the key design decisions that govern performance in multi-MHz wireless power systems, along with examples of how these considerations translate into record-setting hardware demonstrations.
