Authors
Brian McMinn, Thomas Marzetta
Abstract
Considering a wireless power transfer system receiving maximum power, we investigate just how different the power received by each antenna in a receive array can be. Antenna arrays are well described as ported networks and circuit theory can be used to maximize power transfer given constraints. Combining circuit theory and electromagnetics we show that some antennas in the receive array can actually radiate positive power while the sum-power of the array is maximized. We also explore the implications of this result with a numerical simulation of a wireless power transfer system using an acoustic model that demonstrates the power flux density and direction of waves in a linear-time-invariant medium.