Enabling Directional Frequency-Selective Power Transmission in Ultrasonic Guided Wave Inspections

In this paper, an Ultrasonic Wireless Power Transfer system is introduced, featuring a novel piezoelectric transducer called the Frequency-Steerable Acoustic Transducer (FSAT). The focus is on utilizing FSAT’s directional properties for efficient power transmission via ultrasonic guided waves, particularly suited for supplying power to inaccessible sensor nodes in structural health monitoring applications. Through finite element simulations and experimental tests, the power transfer process is analyzed, investigating the relationship between transmission frequency, transmitted and received voltage, and power efficiency. Furthermore, comparative evaluations with traditional piezoelectric transducers are conducted, both through FE simulations and experimental tests. The results highlight the superior performance of FSAT for ultrasonic wireless power transfer applications by achieving over 16 times higher voltage using FSAT than traditional piezoelectric transducers.