Resonant Full-Bridge Synchronous Rectifier Utilizing 15V GaN Transistors for Wireless Power Transfer Applications Following AirFuel Standard Operating at 6.78MHz

Connectivity in smart devices is increasingly realized by wireless connections. The remaining reason for using connectors at all is for charging the internal battery, for which wireless power transfer is an alternative. Two industry standards, AirFuel and Qi, exist to support compatibility between devices. This work is focusing on the AirFuel standard, as it is operating at a higher frequency (6.78 MHz), than the Qi standard, and therefore allows smaller passive components, including the coupling coils. Whereas gallium-nitride (GaN) devices are being widely used on the transmitter (Tx) side, this work uses low voltage GaN transistors on the receiver (Rx) side to allow synchronous rectification and soft switching, thereby achieving high efficiency. After analyzing adequate Class-DE rectifier topologies, a Class-DE full-bridge 5 W rectifier using 15 V GaN transistors are designed and implemented. The experimental results show an efficiency above 80 % over a wide operating range and a peak efficiency of 89 %, at an arbitrary alignment of Tx and Rx coils with 3 cm distance between them.