An Inductive Power Transfer System for Powering Wireless Sensor Nodes in Structural Health Monitoring Applications

Inductive power transfer (IPT) has been extensively used to power the sensor nodes embedded into reinforced concrete structures for structural health monitoring (SHM) applications. Due to high dielectric absorption in concrete and hysteresis loss and eddy current loss in reinforced steel, this appro...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on microwave theory and techniques 2022-07, Vol.70 (7), p.3732-3740
Main Authors: Qian, Libo, Cui, Kexue, Xia, Huakang, Shao, Hanru, Wang, Jian, Xia, Yinshui
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Circuit design
Coils
Concrete
Concrete properties
Concrete structures
Core loss
Coupling
Couplings
Current loss
Design parameters
Design techniques
Dielectrics
Eddy current testing
Eddy currents
Electric power distribution
Equivalent circuits
Inductive power transfer (IPT)
Moisture
Moisture effects
Monitoring
Nodes
power relay
Power transfer
power transfer efficiency (PTE)
Propagation losses
Reinforced concrete
Reinforcing steels
Relay
Steel
Structural health monitoring
structural health monitoring (SHM)
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Summary:Inductive power transfer (IPT) has been extensively used to power the sensor nodes embedded into reinforced concrete structures for structural health monitoring (SHM) applications. Due to high dielectric absorption in concrete and hysteresis loss and eddy current loss in reinforced steel, this approach suffers from heavy attenuation and short transmission distance. To tackle the issue, a multicoil inductive power repeater system is proposed, in which the coil not only performs as a power relay but also supplies energy to the local load. Based on the physical model of multicoil coupling, the equivalent circuit is built. The effect of various design parameters (e.g., operating frequency, concrete strength, moisture, and steel types) on the power transfer capability of the proposed IPT system is investigated. A flexible design method using coupling modulation is proposed to achieve equal power distribution among various power relay circuits. Experimental results show that the proposed method can simultaneously provide equal power of 0.6 W to four local loads embedded into reinforced concrete structures with a power variation of less than 7.2%. The IPT system achieves a long distance of 51.5 cm and an efficiency of 47.7%. The results indicate the feasibility of the proposed design method in SHM applications.
ISSN:0018-9480
1557-9670
DOI:10.1109/TMTT.2022.3174924