Impact of Ferrite Shield Properties on the Low-Power Inductive Power Transfer

In typical inductive power transfer (IPT) applications, soft magnetic materials are employed in both transmitter and receiver coils as low reluctance paths in order to improve the inductive coupling and support the guidance of magnetic flux. Considering their critical role in the overall performance, this paper investigates the impact of magnetic material properties on the basic features of inductive powering systems. To this end, a group of Ni-Zn and Ni-Cu-Zn spinel ferrite samples with a wide value range of magnetic properties is prepared. The materials are characterized in terms of their structural and magnetic properties, and they are used to build various substrate assemblies for the IPT transmitter (Tx) coil. Conducting Al and Cu sheets and biasing permanent magnets are combined with ferrite disks to simulate common Tx coil designs. This allows the identification of the correlation between the material properties, especially power losses, and the measured power transfer efficiency and shielding effectiveness.