Prof. Hiroo Sekiya

Title: Intelligent Design of Wireless Power Transfer: AI-Driven Frameworks

Abstract

Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) has attracted significant attention as an innovative technology enabling a wide range of applications, from consumer electronics and electric vehicles to industrial robotics. The development of efficient and reliable WPT systems, particularly in the MHz frequency range, requires the integrated consideration of circuits, magnetic coupling, electric-field coupling, and control. Conventional design approaches, largely dependent on expert knowledge and trial-and-error prototyping, face inherent limitations: they struggle to address fundamental challenges such as output fluctuation and efficiency degradation caused by load variation and coil misalignment, thereby restricting scalability and innovation.

This talk will provide the latest advancements in WPT, with a special focus on methods that fundamentally overcome these challenges. Beginning with the principles of inductive and electric-field coupling, the talk will cover advanced load-independent topologies and our uniquely developed AI-driven design methodologies, characterized by fully numerical optimization, high-accuracy modeling, and the integrated design of physical coil models with circuit component values. Practical case studies, including MHz-range GaN inverters and robotic applications, will demonstrate the effectiveness of these methods. Future directions such as Simultaneous Wireless Power and Data Transfer (SWPDT) will also be briefly discussed.

Biography

Hiroo Sekiya received the B.E., M.E., and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Keio University, Yokohama, Japan, in 1996, 1998, and 2001, respectively. Since April 2001, he has been with Chiba University, Chiba, Japan, where he is currently a Professor at the Graduate School of Engineering / Informatics. From February 2008 to February 2010, he was a Visiting Scholar in Electrical Engineering at Wright State University, Ohio, USA. He also serves as Honorary Professor of Xiangtan University, China, and Specially Appointed Professor of the Nagasaki Institute of Applied Science, Japan. His research interests include wireless power transfer systems, high-frequency power electronics and tuned power amplifiers, resonant converters, nonlinear circuit theory, and digital signal processing for wireless communications. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE and a Fellow of the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers (IEICE) of Japan. He has served on the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society Board of Governors (2020–2022), as President of the NOLTA Society of IEICE, and as Associate/Senior Editor for the IEEE JESTPE and IEEE JESTCAS journals.