Smartwatch Strap Wireless Power Transfer System With Flexible PCB Coil and Shielding Material

In this paper, we designed and demonstrated a smartwatch strap wireless charging system for the first time. First, we designed a flexible printed circuit board (PCB) coil, shielding material, and receiver (Rx) circuit in a watchstrap. In the design process, we proposed a model for the flexible PCB coil with a bending radius of 40 mm and shielding materials. We used a flexible PCB coil that has 215μm thickness with dimensions of 54.5 × 16 mm. In addition, ferrite core and sheet are applied on the transmitter (Tx) and Rx coils. We verified the proposed model through a three-dimensional (3-D) electromagnetic (EM) simulation and measurement in the frequency and time domains. The proposed flexible PCB coil inductance modeling results showed 7.5% and 3.4% errors when compared to the 3-D EM simulation and measurement results, respectively. Furthermore, we demonstrated the smartwatch strap wireless charging system using an LG Watch Urbane. A resonance frequency of 100 kHz with the series–series tuning topology is used in accordance with the Qi specifications. Finally, we achieved 30% dc–dc power transfer efficiency and exposed magnetic field of 270 mG, 1 cm away from the system through measurements.