Ultimate Limitations of Wireless Power Transfer for Mobile Devices

Dr Don Tan / Mr. Will Ettes / Alireza Safaee / Prof. Ron Hui / Prof. Paul Mitcheson

Northrop Grumman / Philip / Bombardier Transportation Inc / The University of HK / Imperial College

* Dr Don Tan is Fellow / Distinguished Engineer NGAS. He earned his Ph.D. from Caltech and is an IEEE fellow. He is an authority in power management technology within Northrop Grumman, NASA, the Air Force, government communities and the space power industry. He served as President of IEEE Power Electronics Society (PELS), 2013 - 2014 and is the founding Editor-in-Chief for IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics in Power Electronics (IEEE JESTPE). His recent recognition includes IEEE PELS Owen, Jr., Distinguished Service Award in 2017, NGAS Distinguished Engineer in 2011, CIE USA Asian American Engineer of the Year Award in 2010, AIAA Space System Award in 2008, JANNAF Outstanding Achievement Award in Spacecraft Propulsion in 2007, and NGST Distinguished Patent Award in 2002. His technology has been licensed to a major telecom company.

* Mr Will Ettes was born in the Netherlands and received his B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering in 1987 from the University of Applied Sciences in Leeuwarden. Since then he is a researcher at Philips Drachten in the north of the Netherlands, working on various topics in the field of Power Electronics, Control Dynamics & Communication systems, in the application areas Domestic Appliances and Personal Care. Since 1993 he is the lecturer Power Electronics at the University of Applied Sciences in Leeuwarden. Presently, he works as a standardization architect for Philips in the Netherlands, in the area of Wireless Power Transfer.

* Dr Alireza Safaee received B.Sc. in electrical engineering from Isfahan University of Technology, M.Sc. degree in physics from Sharif University of Technology, the Ph.D. degree in engineering from University of Quebec, and the second Ph.D. degree in power electronics from Queen’s University, Canada, in 1997, 1999, 2009, and 2015, respectively. From 1997 to 2005, he was a design engineer and manager at Manabe Taghzyeh Electronic Inc., developing several chargers, inverters, stabilizers, and UPS systems for telecommunication sites and power plants. From 2011 to June 2014, he was with Bombardier Transportation improving high power wireless power transfer systems for trams, buses and cars. From 2014 to 2017 he was with OSRAM Sylvania researching new fronts of power electronics for lighting, IoT and automotive applications. He is now a power system architect at Apple Inc. His research interests include power electronics, magnetic design, resonant, and soft-switching converters, and their control methods toward applications in wireless power transfer, automotive, aviation and renewable energy systems.

* Prof. Ron Hui received the B.Sc. (Eng. Hons.) from the University of Birmingham in 1984, and the D.I.C. and Ph.D. degrees from Imperial College London, London, U.K., in 1987. Since 2011, he has been a Chair Professor with the University of Hong Kong. He has been a Part-Time Chair Professor with Imperial College London since 2010. He has published over 300 technical papers, including over 220 refereed journal publications and book chapters. Over 60 of his patents have been adopted by industry. Dr. Hui has been an Associate Editor of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER ELECTRONICS since 1997 and the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS since 2007. He is an Editor of the IEEE JOURNAL OF EMERGING AND SELECTED TOPICS OF POWER ELECTRONICS. He was appointed twice as an IEEE Distinguished Lecturer by the IEEE Power Electronics Society in 2004 and 2006. In 2010, he was a recipient of the IEEE Rudolf Chope Research and Development Award from the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society, the IET Achievement Medal (The Crompton Medal), and the 2015 IEEE Technical Field Award (IEEE William E. Newell Power Electronics Award). He is a fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and the Royal Academy of Engineering, U.K.

* Prof. Paul Mitcheson received the M.Eng. degree in electrical and electronic engineering and the Ph.D. degree in micro-power motion based energy harvesting for wireless sensor networks from the Imperial College London, London, U.K., in 2001 and 2005, respectively. He is currently a Professor in Electrical Energy Conversion with the Control and Power Research Group, Electrical and Electronic Engineering Department, Imperial College London. His research interests include energy harvesting, power electronics, and wireless power transfer to provide power to applications in circumstances where batteries and cables are not suitable. His research has been supported by the European Commission, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, and several companies. Prof. Mitcheson is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and is on the executive committee of the UK Power Electronics Centre.