Keynote Speech 2
Wireless Power Transfer: A Paradigm Shift for the Next Generation
Wireless power was pioneered by Tesla a century ago, but it found no commercial applications in the early half of last century. However, it was revived in recent years and its market size is expected to increase from US$ 30.75 Billion in 2024 to over US$ 127 Billion by 2032 according to Fortune Business Insights. This talk will start with a brief historical review of “near-field” magnetic wireless power transfer (WPT) dating back from Nicolas Tesla’s work a century ago. It will clarify that magnetic resonance was pioneered by Tesla in his early work and is not a recent invention. It will also explain why WPT became feasible again since 1980s with some highlights of landmark examples. The second part of the talk will focus on the latest research and developments of WPT from one-directional to omni-directional applications, with examples of portable electronics, mobile robots, drones and unmanned underwater vehicle applications and power system/information infrastructure. The speaker will end his talk by addressing the emerging and future trends of WPT technologies and international WPT standards. He will also share his views on the factors that will limit WPT applications.
Biography
Prof. Ron Hui obtained his Ph.D degree at Imperial College London in 1986. He previously held academic positions at Nottingham University and Sydney University. In 2011-2021, he was a Chair Professor of Power Electronics at the University of Hong Kong. At HKU, he held the Philip Wong Wilson Wong Professorship of Electrical Engineering. From March 2021, he holds the MediaTek Endowed Professorship at Nanyang Technological University and Chair Professorship at Imperial College London. Since January 2025, he is a Chair Professor of Power Electronics at the City University of Hong Kong. He has also held a part-time Chair Professorship at Imperial College London since 2011.
He has published over 320 refereed journal papers and has over 150 patents adopted by industry worldwide. His inventions have underpinned key dimensions of the world’s first wireless power standard Qi, launched in 2010 by the Wireless Power Consortium with over 300 company members including Apple, Samsung etc. He is the recipient of the 2015 IEEE Technical Field Award (IEEE William Newell Power Electronics Award), 2010 IEEE Rudolf Chope R&D Award, 2010 IET Crompton Medal and 2024 JJ Thomson Medal for Electronics. He is a Fellow of the IEEE (2003), Australian Academy of Technology & Engineering (2010), the US National Academy of Inventors (2018) and the Royal Academy of Engineering, UK (2016).