Dynamics of acoustic impedance matching layers in contactless ultrasonic power transfer systems

Abstract The acoustic impedance mismatch between transducer materials and medium in ultrasonic power transfer systems narrows the transduction bandwidth and causes losses through the back reflection of progressive pressure waves at the boundary between the transducers and medium. Capturing both resonances and losses due to impedance mismatch of interwoven elements is essential for advancing the development of these systems. We present a unified approach, based on the multiplication of a sequence of transfer matrices, to determine an equivalent acoustic impedance. The analytical model couples the properties of the transmitter and receiver with multiple matching layers and a single classical quarter-wave layer in controlled setups with the objective of minimizing reflections through acoustic impedance mismatch alleviation. Losses due to ultrasonic attenuation in the material layers and medium are also considered. The acoustic field at the receiver location constitutes the input to the coupled electro-elastic equations of the fluid-loaded and electrically-loaded piezoelectric receiver. Experiments are performed to identify the input acoustic pressure from a cylindrical transmitter to a receiver disk operating in the 33-mode of piezoelectricity. The results show significant enhancements in terms of the receiver’s electrical power output when implementing a two-layer matching structure. We present the results showing non-dimensional wave number variations versus characteristic impedance, which can be used to calculate the materials’ thicknesses for acoustically matching ultrasonic power transfer systems to an acoustic medium of interest at any desired resonant frequency while considering any type of glue or epoxy as the bonding layer. The derived physical models facilitate the development of high-fidelity matched systems with enhanced contactless power transmission.