Litz wire homogenization by finite elements and model-order reduction

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine the broadband frequency response of the impedance matrix of wireless power transfer (WPT) systems comprising litz wire coils. Design/methodology/approach – A finite-element (FE)-based method is proposed which treats the microstructure of litz wires by an auxiliary cell problem. In the macroscopic model, litz wires are represented by a block with a homogeneous, artificial material whose properties are derived from the cell problem. As the frequency characteristics of the material closely resemble a Debye relaxation, it is possible to convert the macroscopic model to polynomial form, which enables the application of model reduction techniques of moment-matching type. Findings – FE-based model-order reduction using litz wire homogenization provides an efficient approach to the broadband analysis of WPT systems. The error of the reduced-order model (ROM) is comparable to that of the underlying original model and can be controlled by varying the ROM dimension...