MetaResonance—A Reconfigurable Surface for Holographic Wireless Power Transfer

This article presents a design and systems level implementation of a magnetic resonance-based wireless power transfer system with a novel metasurface layer. This layer shapes the magnetic field through it that results in “MetaResonance.” This phenomenon is key in transforming an existing surface into an intelligent wireless charger for the following: 1) reconfigurable and on-demand energy shaping that can customizable energy hologram; and 2) beamforming to charge multiple devices. The advantages of MetaResonance over conventional methods such as inductive and magnetic resonance charging, distributed RF and magnetic beamforming, and energy hopping lie in its ability to provide high-power delivery with safety guarantees, high end-to-end efficiency, and customized power distribution profile in three dimensions over the surface. From a systems implementation viewpoint, we achieve this through a power distribution layer at the bottom and the MetaResonance cell array layer at top. We have simulated, fabricated, and built an experimental setup of the proposed MetaResonance wireless power transfer system. Performance results demonstrate the reconfigurability in the power and energy fields over the whole surface with fine granularity. Specifically, the magnetic field can be blocked within 2 cm with more than 95% efficiency while the power transfer efficiency can be improved up to 92.8% by beamforming. We have demonstrated various real-world charging applications concerning consumer electronics, industrial tools, battery packs, and medical device wireless charging.