Magnetic Coupling Calculations Using Partial

Inductance Theory
Y. Zhang, N. H. W. Fong, A. H. W. Choi and N. Wong
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Hong Kong
Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong
Email: {yzhang, nfong, hwchoi, nwong@eee.hku.hk}
AbstractQuantitative analysis of magnetic coupling prob-
lems involves the calculations of self inductance of conductors,
mutual inductance between conductors, and inductive coupling
coefcient etc. It is an issue of great interest along the whole
electromagnetics evolvement history. Formerly, the calculations
have to be carried out with the aid of three-dimentional EDA
solvers by discretization of the entire volume. This is rather
tedious and computationally expensive. Engineers may need a
simple approach to estimate the inductance values without any
complex computational tools. In this paper, we propose a new
method to fulll this task based on partial inductance theory. An
example with the procedure to calculate coupling coefcient of
two magnetic resonant coils is presented.
I. INTRODUCTION
Since the discovery of electromagnetic waves by Heinrich
Hertz in 1887, magnetic coupling has given rise to a lot
of applications such as transformer, RFID and the recently
reported resonant energy transfer [1,2]. As shown in Fig.1,
when two conductors are congured such that change in
current ow through one wire induces a voltage across the ends
of the other wire, magnetic coupling happens. Modeling of
magnetic coupling includes the calculation of each conductors
self inductance and their mutual inductance, in order to gure
out the coupling coefcient which indicates the strength they
are coupled to each other.
Fig. 1. Resonant energy transfer by magnetic coupling
However, complex geometries have no existing formulas
for calculating the above inductances analytically. Numerical
methods requiring a discretization of the entire volume sur-
rounding the conductors like FDTD (Finite Difference Time
Domain) methods are the rst option. In order to guarantee
numerical stability, the number of necessary FDTD time steps
has to be dened by the dimensions of the discretization
requiring a huge number of time steps. Therefore, lots of
computational efforts especially for low frequency problems
need to be carried out.
In order to provide a method to calculate the inductances
without much computational resources, in the next section, we
present a method to calculate both self inductance and mutual
inductance of the coupling conductors based on partial induc-
tance theory. Partial inductance theory allows the decomposi-
tion of complicated three dimensional structures into partitions
with simple empirical equations. In Section III, quantitative
analysis of resonant energy transfer will be presented as an
example using the proposed calculation method. Hence energy
transfer efciency improvement could be observed from the
calculations. We will conclude the method in the last section.
II. INDUCTIVE COUPLING CALCULATING
According to partial inductance theory [3], any geometry
conductors could be divided into several rectangular conductor
segments, the magnetic vector potential along segment l
i
due
to current I
j
on segment l
j
is

A
ij
where

A
ij
= I
j

4
_
cj
bj
d

l
j
r
ij
(1)
Then, the self and mutual partial inductance can be written
respectively.
Lp
ij
=
_
ci

A
ij

dl
i
I
j
(2)
Lp
ii
=
_
ci

A
ii

dl
i
I
i
(3)
Combining (1), (2) and (3), an expression for the partial
inductance is obtained.
Lp
ij
=

4
1
a
i
a
j
_
ai
_
aj
_
ci
bi
_
cj
bj

d

l
j
d

l
i

r
ij
da
i
da
j
(4)
where b
i
and b
j
are start coordinates for the conductors i and
j and c
i
and c
j
are the end coordinates.
The evaluation of equation (4) to calculate the inductances is
complex, time consuming and susceptible to numerical errors.
But some approximations have been established. For example,
in [4], for very long conductor bars, self partial inductance is
given by:
978-1-4244-9996-0/10/$26.00 2010 IEEE
2010 IEEE International Conference of Electron Devices and Solid-State Circuits (EDSSC)
Lp
ii
=

0
l
2
_
ln
_
4l
w
_
1
_
(5)
where l, w and t are the length, width and thickness respec-
tively. And they should meet the condition of l/w > 10 and
t/w = 1.
Mutual partial inductance between two parallel laments of
length l and separation s which are aligned is given by [4]:
Lp
ij
=

0
l
2
_
ln
_
_
l
s
+

_
l
s
_
2
+ 1
_
_
+
s
l

_
_
s
l
_
2
+ 1
_
(6)
The next step is to do the integration of all the partial in-
ductances into conductor loop inductance. Magnetic coupling
conductors are usually implemented by coils. Arbitrary shape
of the coils could be approximated by an innite number
of minute steps. For illustration, here we assume the coil
windings are square shaped and both of them are divided into
four segments as shown in Fig.2. Therefore, the inductances
of magnetic coupling coils can be obtained by above two
basic self and mutual partial inductance equations. If taking
conductor k as example, the self inductance was expressed as
(7).
Fig. 2. Coil winding partitions (example: N
k
=Nm=4)
L
kk
=
N
k

i=1
N
k

j=1
L
kij
=
4

i=1
4

j=1
L
kij
(7)
Since there are no ux contribution between perpendic-
ular bars, mutual inductances of L
k12
, L
k14
, L
k21
, L
k23
,
L
k32
,L
k34
, L
k43
and L
k41
are all zero. Therefore, the con-
ductor self inductance is simplied into:
L
kk
= (L
k11
+ L
k31
) + (L
k22
+ L
k42
)
+ (L
k33
+ L
k13
) + (L
k44
+ L
k24
) (8)
All the inductance L
k11
, L
k22
, L
k33
and L
k44
are deter-
mined by the self partial inductance of a single metal bar. The
mutual partial inductance L
k31
, L
k42
, L
k13
and L
k24
are from
the coupling of opposite metal bars. Finally we can get:
L
kk
= 4
_
L
self
L
mutual(l)
_
(9)
where the l in the bracket of L
mutual(l)
means distance
between two coupling metal bars is l. The negative sign is
from the opposite direction of the currents owing on the metal
bars. Therefore we have:
L
self
= L
k11
= L
k22
= L
k33
= L
k44
=

0
l
2
_
ln
_
4l
w
_
1
_
(10)
L
mutual(l)
= L
k31
= L
k42
= L
k13
= L
k24
=

0
l
2
_
ln
_
1 +

2
_
+ 1

2
_
(11)
The mutual inductance between the two conductors was
written as (12).
L
km
=
N
k

i=1
Nm

j=1
L
kii
L
mjj
=
4

i=1
4

j=1
L
kii
L
mjj
(12)
There is no inductance if two bars have no ux intersections.
Therefore, the mutual inductance is simplied into:
L
km
= (L
k11m11
+ L
k11m33
) + (L
k22m22
+ L
k22m44
)
+(L
k33m33
+ L
k33m11
) + (L
k44m44
+ L
k44m22
)(13)
The inductance L
kiimii
is the mutual inductance between
two metal bars with distance of s. Here s is the separation
between two loops. And the inductance L
k11m33
, L
k22m44
,
L
k33m11
and L
k44m22
are the mutual inductance between two
metal bars with distance of

s
2
+ l
2
, as shown in Fig.3.
Fig. 3. Inductances on cross section of the loops
Therefore, we have:
L
km
= 4
_
L
mutual(s)
L
mutual(

s
2
+l
2
)
_
(14)
The negative sign is also from the different directions of the
currents owing on the conductors.
L
mutual(s)
= L
k11m11
= L
k22m22
= L
k33m33
= L
k44m44
=

0
l
2
_
ln
_
_
l
s
+

_
l
s
_
2
+ 1
_
_
+
s
l

_
_
s
l
_
2
+ 1
_
(15)
L
mutual(

s
2
+l
2
)
= L
k11m33
= L
k22m44
= L
k33m11
= L
k44m22
=

0
l
2
_
ln
_
_
l
s

_
l
s

_
2
+ 1
_
_
+
s

_
s

l
_
2
+ 1
_
(16)
where l is the side length of square loop, s is the separation
and s

s
2
+ l
2
.
From (7) to (16), a pair of inductive coupling coil windings
could be modeled as the circuits as a pair of partial self
inductance L
kk
and L
mm
, and their mutual inductance M. The
self inductances L
kk
and L
mm
are calculated from (9), (10)
and (11). Mutual inductance M = L
km
= L
mk
is calculated
from equations (14), (15) and (16).
The comparison between calculated inductances with above
calculation method and 3D EM simulated inductances is pre-
sented in Fig.4 and Fig.5. Modeled and simulated inductances
match well in short distance, since at longer distance, far-eld
effects will dominate and the equations will be not valid any
more.
Fig. 4. Simulation of inductive coupling for verications
As shown in Fig.5, the mutual inductance M drops rapidly
when distance becomes longer, leading to very weak coupling
in a wider distance. Therefore, as we will discuss in the next
section, resonant magnetic coupling needs to be employed to
increase the energy transfer efciency.
Fig. 5. Comparison gure of the modeled and simulated inductances
III. CALCULATION EXAMPLE: RESONANT ENERGY
TRANSFER
In this section, an example about resonant energy transfer
will be quantitatively analyzed by the method we proposed in
the last section based on partial inductance theory.
As shown in Fig.1 in the rst section, resonant energy
transfer was rst employed by MIT researchers in 2006
to successfully demonstrate the ability to power a 60watt
light bulb wirelessly, using two 5-turn copper coils of 60cm
diameter, that were 2m away, at roughly 45% efciency [1].
Compared to traditional magnetic coupling applications like
Tesla loop invented in 1891, this method improved with much
higher transfer efciency.
Through the analysis of the last section, magnetic coupling
transfers electric energy from primary winding to the sec-
ondary winding, through their mutual inductance. The two
coupling coils seem to establish a loosely connected free-
air transformer resulting in power transfer across the short
distance. Magnetic ux linkage and thus energy exchange
occurs between the two coil windings having small but nite
coefcient of coupling between them. Therefore, the difference
between traditional inductance coupling (like Tesla loops) and
resonant inductive coupling (like MIT loops) could be found
by solving the circuit equations and calculating the related
inductances as following.
Firstly, we treat the coupling coil pair as a transformer and
its circuit will be redrawn by its equivalent tee (T) network as
shown in Fig.6.
Fig. 6. Equivalent tee network of inductive coupling
Consequently, the equivalent circuits of traditional inductive
coupling and resonant inductive coupling will be produced
respectively as in Fig.7. In Fig.7 (a), the equivalent capacitors
of the coils have been neglected since they are usually much
smaller than the external resonant capacitors in Fig.7 (b).
Fig. 7. Equivalent circuits of traditional and resonant inductive couplings
The voltage gain, i.e. energy transfer efciency can be
calculated for each case.
(a)
1
=
P
out1
P
in1

jL
11
R
L

_
M
L
11
_
2
(17)
(b)
2
=
P
out2
P
in2

jL
11
//
1
jC1
R
L

_
M
L
11

1
1
2
C
resonant
L
22
+ 1/Q
_
2
(18)
where Q is the quality factor of the resonators. Actually, the
traditional inductive coupling equation (17) is a special case
of resonant inductive coupling when capacitors C
resonant
is
zero and Q is innity. And if C
resonant
and L
11
, C
resonant
and L
22
are in resonance, it is the case of resonant inductive
coupling.
By equations (9) to (11) and (14) to (16), self inductances
L
11
, L
22
, and mutual inductance M can all be gured out. And
the comparisons of coupling coefcients between traditional
magnetic coupling and resonant coupling with different Qs
can be made according to the computational results.
Fig. 8. Energy transfer efciencies of traditional and resonant inductive
couplings
In order to verify the method, we built an inductive coupling
system with coils diameter of 1mm. The material of the coils
are copper and distance between the two coils are from 1m
to 10000m . In the resonant mode, they are both resonant at
60MHz with 360pF capacitors.
In Fig.8, the energy transfer coefcients of traditional
magnetic coupling and resonant magnetic coupling have been
plotted. The energy transfer coefcient of resonant magnetic
coupling is much higher than traditional coupling, at a rela-
tively wide distance. This veries the proposed computation
method.
IV. CONCLUSION
In this work, a new method to calculate the parameters
of magnetic coupling has been proposed. It employs partial
inductance theory and converts the loop inductance problem
into computing the partial inductance between rectangular
bars, which has empirical formula already. With this method,
the quantitative improvement of resonant inductive coupling
over traditional inductive coupling on their energy transfer
coefcients could be found obviously. Future work will be
focused on the investigation of the inductances calculation
methods with the considerations of ground or substrate doping.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work is supported in part by the Hong Kong Research
Grants Council under Project HKU 717407E and 718509E,
and in part by the University Research Committee of The
University of Hong Kong.
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