Investigation of reactive power distribution between two coils of inductive power transfer system by Poynting vector analysis

•The power transfer mechanism of reactive power of an IPT system through an airgap is studied by Poynting vector analysis.•Analytical analysis of the imaginary part of the Poynting vector are derived to represent the reactive power.•CST field simulation is undertaken to visualize the B/E field, and Poynting vector distributions in the proposed IPT system.•Active and reactive power is compared between the Poynting vector and circuit analysis under perfect align and misalign conditions.•The analytical analysis also shows the two mutual components of the Poynting vector contribute to the reactive power circulation between the two coils, and the self-components relates to the reactive power around each individual coil.