INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE

II. GIMNAZIJA MARIBOR

EXTENDED ESSAY
Subject: Physics
Title: Luminosity of a wirelessly powered LED as a function of distance between magnetically
coupled coils

CANDIDATE NAME: Benjamin Knez

SCHOOL CODE: 000563
CANDIDATE PERSONAL CODE: 0014
MENTOR/SUPERVISOR: Gorazd iberna
EXAMINATION SESSION: MAY 2016
WORDCOUNT: 3025

Abstract
This essay examines how the luminosity of a LED in the process of wireless energy transmission
is affected by the distance between the two coupled coils. An experiment was designed, where
the luminosity of the LED was measured by a lux meter for each increment of distance, for three
different coils (5 turns, 10 turns and 25 turns). The results were then organized and presented in
graphs, providing also the best fit lines. It was observed that the 5-turn coil had the fastest rate of
decrease of luminosity at low distances, 10-turn coil a little slower rate, and 25-turn coil the slowest
rate. For larger distances, the rate of the 5-turn coil was the slowest, while the rates of the 10-turn
coil and 25-turn coil were very similar. The best fit line for the 5-turn coil could be defined by both,
a linear or a quadratic equation, while the best fit lines for the 10-turn and 25-turn coil could be
defined by quadratic equations. It can be concluded that wireless energy transmission is most
efficient at small distances (smaller or equal to two coil diameters) and becomes increasingly
inefficient at larger distances. The results can be used for further investigation on what the actual
effects of the number of turns on coils on the power output at larger distances actually is and can be
used to construct long distance wireless powered systems. It can also be used to assess at what
distances is the wireless power transmission still useful.
Word count: 249
Content

1 Introduction..........................................................................................................4
1.1 Research question:............................................................................................4
1.2 Hypothesis......................................................................................................4
1.3 Variables.........................................................................................................6
2 Materials and methods.............................................................................................8
2.1 Experiment design.............................................................................................8
2.2 Experimental procedures.....................................................................................9
3 Primary data collection..........................................................................................11
4 Analysis of data and discussion................................................................................15
5 Conclusion.........................................................................................................17
6 References..........................................................................................................19

List of figur
Figure 1: RLC and LC circuits used in the experiment........................................................7
Figure 3: Graph of luminosities versus the distance between coils for the 5-turn coil.................11
Figure 4: Graph of luminosities versus the distance between coils for the 10-turn coil...............12
Figure 5: Graph of luminosities versus the distance between coils for the 25-turn coil...............13

List of picturesY
Picture 1: Induced magnetic flux in two coupled coils........................................................4
Picture 2: Experiment setup with a simple secondary coil....................................................9

List of tables
Table 1: Average values of luminosities collected............................................................10

1 Introduction
1.1 Research question:
How does the luminosity of the LED during wireless power transmission change as the
distance between the coils increases?
Through carefully stated hypothesis I plan to answer my research question with an experiment I
designed. Then I plan on evaluating the errors with my experiment and suggesting improvements so
my findings are more relevant.

1.2 Hypothesis
My hypothesis was that the wireless power transmission would be most efficient at small distances,
and then the efficiency would decrease first slowly and then faster with distance. As it is seen in the
picture 1, at larger distances there would most likely be more and more losses to the surroundings
because of the smaller angle at which the magnetic flux still reaches the secondary coil.

Two magnetically coupled coils that are part of resonant circuits, can engage in the process of
resonant inductive coupling or electrodynamic induction. This is the so called near field wireless
transmission of electrical energy between the coils. In wireless energy transmission, or otherwise
also known as wireless power transmission, two RLC circuits, consisting of a coil, capacitor, and
resistor are in different devices; a transmitting coil in one device transmits electric power through
space to a resonantly receiving coil in another device. (Pawan, K., 2014) [1]

Picture 1: Induced magnetic flux in two coupled coils1

Resonant transfer works by inducing an oscillating current in the coil, which makes the coil ring.
This consequently generates an oscillating magnetic field. Because the coil is highly resonant
(highly capable of coming in resonance with the second coil), the energy that is stored in the coil is
lost relatively slowly over very many cycles; but if a second coil is brought nearer, it can pick up
most of the energy before it is lost to the surroundings, even if it is some distance away. The fields
in the process are near fields, which are non-radiative. (Pawan, K., 2014) [1]
Near field wireless transmission is a wireless transmission technique over distances of a few times
the diameter of the device(s), and up to around a quarter of the wavelengths used. Energy present in
the near field is non radiative, but some radiative losses can occur. In addition there are usually
resistive losses. Near field transfer consist of two types: magnetic (inductive), which is mostly
present, and electric (capacitive) energy transfer, which can also occur. The electrical transformer is
the simplest example of wireless energy transfer. The primary and secondary circuits of a
transformer are not directly connected. The transfer of energy takes place by electromagnetic
coupling through a process known as mutual induction. (Tanggapan, S., 2010) [3]
The electrodynamic inductive effect or resonant inductive coupling plays an important role in
1

Image

can

be

found

at:

http://www.wirelesspowerconsortium.com/technology/magnetic-resonance-andmagnetic-induction-making-the-right-choice-for-your-application.html
4

solving the main problem associated with non-resonant inductive coupling for wireless energy
transfer; the effect of distance on the transmission efficiency. Electromagnetic induction works on
the principle of a primary coil generating a predominantly magnetic field and a secondary coil being
within that field so a current is induced in the secondary. Coupling must be tight (fraction of the
flux of the primary coil that cuts the secondary is high) in order to achieve high efficiency. As the
distance from the primary is increased, more and more of the magnetic field misses the secondary.
Even for relatively small distances, the energy transfer is highly inefficient and most of the energy
never reaches the receiving coil.
The solution is the application of resonance which drastically improves the situation. When
resonant coupling is used the transmitter and receiver inductors are tuned to the same frequency by
adjusting the inductance and capacitance values and the input current is modified from a sinusoidal
to a non-sinusoidal (square wave) transient waveform. Following this method, significant amounts
of power can be transmitted over a distance of up to a few times the size of the transmitting coil.
Such transmitting and receiving coils are often single layer solenoids or flat spirals with series
capacitors, that differ from the usual multiple-layer windings that are common with non-resonant
transformers. This allows the receiving coil and the device to be tuned to the transmitting coils
frequency and reduce losses. A common use of the technology is for powering contactless smart
cards, and systems exist to power and recharge laptops and cell phones. (Tanggapan, S., 2010) [3]

1.3 Variables
There were different variables that I wanted to properly measure and/or control.
The controlled variables were:
1. Number of turns on coils (transmitting 5 turns and receiving 5 turns, 10 turns and 25 turns)
It is important to maintain adjust the capacitors values on the receiving coil, when changing the
number of turns. Capacitance and inductance are connected by the resonant frequency formula2:

2 Formula can be found at: http://www.1728.org/resfreq.htm

5

f=

1
2 L C

, where f

is the frequency in hertz,

the inductance in henrys and

the capacitance in farads.

2. Diameter of the coil loop
3. Thickness of wire
4. Type of wire (material the wire is made of)
Coil inductance is dependent on the diameter of the loop, number of turns, the wire thickness and
the relative permeability of the wire (ability of the material to support the formation of a magnetic
field). It has to be calculated in order to find the right capacitors, therefore all these values should
remain constant. Relative permeability of the wire is dependent on the type and material of the wire.
5. Resonating frequency / voltage output
In this case, the resonating frequency is not that important as the coils inductive coupling is
dependent mostly on the voltage output which has to be constant.
6. Orientation of coils
I repeated all the experiments for the same perpendicular orientation, so the magnetic flux was
transferred as efficiently as possible.
Independent variable:
7. Distance between coils
The distance between coils is in my experiment the variable that is incrementally increased in equal
intervals.
Dependent variable:
8. Luminosity of the LED
Luminosity of the LED is measured via the phone app for each interval of distance between coils
and is then organized in a graph.

2 Materials and methods

2.1 Experiment design
At first, I intended to build two simple LC circuits that are each made of a coil (transmitting and
receiving) and matching capacitors, but that proved to be inefficient and too dependent on many
factors. I then conducted further research into other versions of RLC circuits that might work, and
decided to use a proven to work transmitting RLC circuit with a transistor, connected to a voltage
output and an LC receiving circuit. This circuits are also consistent in the frequency generated by
the voltage output, which was in my case still the frequency generator. The transmitting circuit
therefore always resonates at the same frequency, which was calculated to be approximately 1 MHz.

Figure 1: RLC and LC circuits used in the experiment3

At the beginning, I planned to explore the relationship between the number of turns on the coil in
the receiving circuit and the luminosity of the LED. Since this is well documented and obvious that
the luminosity is greater with a larger amount of turns, I decided to graph a function of the
luminosity of the LED dependent on the distance between the coils in the circuits for three different

Figure

can

be

found

at:

http://voltage.g6.cz/img/bezdratovy-prenos-

energie/wet.gif
7

amounts of coil turns (5, 10 and 25). This enabled me to actually analyze some properties of
wireless power transmission, such as its inefficiency and energy losses. It is interesting to see at
what distance is the wireless power transmission still worth the procedure.
The supplies I needed to conduct the experiment were:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Frequency generator (AC source)

Magnet wire (or enameled wire is a copper wire coated with a thin layer of insulation)
LED bulb
Seven capacitors (1 nF, 4.7 nF, 100 nF, 0.3 nF, 5 nF, 1.5 nF, 0.25 nF)

5. BD139 transistor
6. Lux meter (phone application)
7. Tape
I was able to buy most of these supplies in the hardware store.

2.2 Experimental procedures

The components (capacitors, resistor and transistor) were soldered according to the circuit diagram,
using the PCB board as my template. It was important to be careful concerning the interaction
between different parts as any unwanted connections might have resulted in short circuit, and the
circuits wouldnt work.
Then, a coil had to be built that would properly resonate and hold its circular shape. A 0.2 mm
copper magnet wire was used, which had a thin coating layer. This is important in order not to
conduct electricity directly between wires when they have a direct contact with each other in the
coil. For this circuit the coil had to have three ends as the transistor also has three ends. The
transmitting coil had to be made out of two seemingly separate coils, each with five turns on a 5 cm
diameter. This consequently results in four ends, out of which two are then soldered together so
there are actually three ends. When soldering the wires it was important to scrape off the coating
layer on the ends to ensure the contact. It was also necessary to use soldering wire to add material
that can easily be melted and incorporate two wires. At the end, the frequency generator was
connected to the circuits, taking into account the positive and negative terminal. On the frequency
generator, square wave was used because of its non-sinusoidal properties discussed in the

introduction.
When building the receiving coil I had to be careful when considering the capacitors values use in
each of the three coils. With the help of an online LC circuit calculator, the capacitors values were
calculated for the designed frequency of approximately 1 MHz and the appropriate values of
inductance for all three coils. I then soldered together three times the coil, appropriate capacitor and
LED in parallel.
I also built a simple secondary coil with no capacitors attached for reference. This setup allowed the
LED to be illuminated at a maximum of approximately 2 cm of distance.

Picture 2: Experiment setup with a simple secondary coil

3 Primary data collection

My initial hypothesis was that the efficiency of the electrical power transmission, consequently the
luminosity of the LED would exponentially drop as the distance between the coils would be
increased.
In all cases, it was observable with a naked eye that at smaller distances, the rate of decrease in
luminosity was much smaller. Then toward larger distances the luminosity decreased more and
more and toward the end, only low luminosity was still seen.
Table 1: Average values of luminosities collected
5 turns
Distance in
cm

( 0.05)
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
22
24
26

Luminosity
in lux
99 1
92 1
85 1
80 1
73 1
66 1
58 1
52 1
40 1
33 1
21 1
14 1
9 1
4 1

10 turns
Distance in
cm

Luminosity

( 0.05)

in lux
99 1
95 1
91 1
87 1
80 1
75 1
68 1
58 1
46 1
34 1
23 1
16 1
11 1
4 1

0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
22
24
26

10

25 turns
Distance in
cm

( 0.05)
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
22
24
26

Luminosity
in lux
99 1
97 1
95 1
92 1
86 1
81 1
75 1
65 1
54 1
42 1
29 1
21 1
13 1
4 1

Figure 2: Graph of luminosities versus the distance between coils for the 5-turn coil
At the beginning of the measurements for the 5-turn coil, the luminosity was measured to be 99 lux.
The gradient of the rate of decrease for the initial area of two coil diameters (from 0 to 10 cm) was

calculated to be approximately -3.3

lux
. After the initial area, when the rate of decrease rapidly
cm

increased before the alleviation of the decrease, in the area between 14 and 20 cm, the gradient was

calculated to be approximately -5.1

lux
. The best fit line is approximated with a quadratic
cm

equation, although the linear equation also provides a good fit.

11

Figure 3: Graph of luminosities versus the distance between coils for the 10-turn coil
At the beginning of the measurements for the 10-turn coil, the luminosity was measured to be 99
lux. The gradient of the rate of decrease for the initial area of two coil diameters (from 0 to 10 cm)

was calculated to be approximately -2.4

lux
. After the initial area, when the rate of decrease
cm

rapidly increased before the alleviation of the decrease, in the area between 12 and 20 cm, the

gradient was calculated to be approximately -5.7

quadratic equation.

12

lux
. The best fit line is approximated with a
cm

Figure 4: Graph of luminosities versus the distance between coils for the 25-turn coil
At the beginning of the measurements for the 25-turn coil, the luminosity was measured to be 99
lux. The gradient of the rate of decrease for the initial area of two coil diameters (from 0 to 10 cm)

was calculated to be approximately -1.8

lux
. After the initial area, when the rate of decrease
cm

rapidly increased before the alleviation of the decrease, in the area between 12 and 20 cm, the

gradient was calculated to be approximately -5.8

quadratic equation.

13

lux
. The best fit line is approximated with a
cm

4 Analysis of data and discussion

The rates of decrease of luminosity can be read from the graphs using the Logger Pro software, and
can be calculated for any area of the graphs. The graphs are similar in shape, but there are some
noticeable differences in the values of luminosities for the different coils.
As verified from the graphs, transmitting energy wirelessly is most effective at rather small
distances, which are less than two diameters of the coil. At these small distances the effect of the
number of turns on coils is most present and follows the theory that more turns on the coil means
greater inductance, thus better powering of the LED. Coil with the most turns in my experiment, 25
turns, was able to be the best receiving coil in the initial stage of the process, with a rate of decrease

of luminosity of only -1.8

lux
cm

in gradient. After the small distances, the coils started to similarly

decrease their efficiency (gradient of -5.7

lux
cm

and -5.8

lux
), with the exception of the 5-turn
cm

coil which had now a lower rate of decrease of luminosity (-5.1

lux
), as the process was more
cm

linear. Therefore it was possible to see that wireless power transmission is really most practical over
small distances. My hypothesis was correct in defining the rate of decrease in luminosity across all
examples as increasing in nature and the best fit line of the graph was the quadratic equation. This
was approximated by following the Biot-Savart law which states, that the decrease in the strength of
a magnetic field along an axial distance from a current carrying coil loop is determined as the
inverse of the square of the distance. This means that the strength of the magnetic field decreases
faster at larger distances, therefore the luminosity decreases faster. [4]
There was an important limitation to the experiment, because the exact values of capacitors needed
did not always exist, and only those in appropriate intervals were available. I had to use the closest
best alternative for the capacitors. Because of that, they were not as efficiently coupled.

14

The graph for the coil with 5 turns has the highest initial rate of decrease (gradient -3.3

expected, but the maximum rate (gradient -5.1

-5.7

lux
) and 25-turn coil (gradient -5.8
cm

lux
) as
cm

lux
) is lower than the rates for 10-turn (gradient
cm

lux
). Therefore, the graph appears to be more linear
cm

than the other. It can be interpreted that while the higher number of turns on the coil leads to more
efficient wireless power transmission at small distances, the effect of this is lower at larger
distances, so the rate of decrease of luminosity rapidly increases and the luminosities are similar to
those observed at coils with lower numbers of turns. I also noticed that as the LED approached zero
luminosity, the lux meter stopped measuring at the value of 4 lux. Therefore the luminosities with
all coils approached the same values of 4 lux, which can also lead to the linearization of the graph
for the 5-turn coil.

15

5 Conclusion
My research question was: How does the luminosity of the LED during wireless power transmission
change as the distance between the coils increases?
During the investigation I was able to study the nature of the wireless power/energy transmission.
Through the experimental procedures I derived my research question, which has a lot of practical
use as this technology is constantly evolving and on the rise today. It is becoming increasingly
popular with the use of phones, and computers. The question that is often asked is how effective
wireless power transmission really is, how it can be improved, and at what distances can it still
prove to be effective. In this essay I arrived to the conclusion that wireless power transmission is
quite effective at low distances but becomes increasingly inefficient and impractical at larger
distances (more than two coil diameters).
It is important to also acknowledge the errors of the experiment. The best fit lines often dont go
through the error bars and are not within the uncertainties that the measuring instruments causes.
This can be attributed to the fact that because the measuring instrument was a phone with an
application that measures luminosity via the phones camera, measurements can often be inaccurate
because the camera was not specifically made for such purposes, while the professional lux meter
is. There is a possibility of poor interaction with light from the LED at larger distances, leading to
worse perception of luminosity changes (the alleviation of rate of decrease). The camera also cant
be calibrated, which is important to ensure relevant results. In future research a more accurate lux
meter could be used providing more accurate results.
I was also unable to assure that the orientation of the coil is always the same. There is a chance that
there were some minor negligible differences in angles and alignment. This differences might in the
end lead to lower magnetic flux density (loose coupling) and higher inefficiency.
An interesting unresolved question that started bothering me after the experiment was why did the
10-turn and 25-turn coil start decreasing their efficiency at almost the same rate (gradients -5.7

16

lux
cm

and -5.8

lux
) after the small distance of two diameters. This could be then further
cm

investigated with a more professional lux meter and assessed whether the similarities are
statistically significant. With the results, important information could be revealed concerning the
construction of long distance (range) wireless powered systems (transmitting coil connected to a
source of power with receiving coils on one or more electrically powered devices) which are
constantly distant from each other.

17

6 References
[1] Pawan, K. (2014, November 18). WiTricity - Wireless Transmission of Electricity Documents. Retrieved January 15, 2016, from http://documents.mx/documents/witricitywireless-transmission-of-electricity.html
[2] Wireless Power Consortium, (2010, April 20). Wireless Electricity Transmission. Retrieved
January 15, 2016, from http://www.wirelesspowerconsortium.com/technology/how-itworks.html
[3] Tanggapan, S. (2010, October 18). Wireless Energy Transfer By Using Electromagnetic
Induction.

Retrieved

January

15,

2016,

from

https://muhammadaltway.wordpress.com/2010/10/18/wireless-energy-transfer-by-usingelectromagnetic-induction/
[4] Kesler, M. (2013). Highly Resonant Wireless Power Transfer: Safe, Efficient, and over
Distance. Retrieved January 15, 2016, from http://www.witricity.com/assets/highlyresonant-power-transfer-kesler-witricity-2013.pdf
[5] Electrical 4u.com. Biot Savart Law. Retrieved

January

15,

2016,

from

http://www.electrical4u.com/biot-savart-law/
[6] Giancoli, D. (2005). Physics. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited. Section 20: Magnetism.

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