High-power Wireless Power Transfer Research Articles

Evaluation of Electromagnetic Exposure in Wireless Power Transfer Systems for Electric Vehicles

In wireless power transfer (WPT) systems, the electromagnetic fields generated by a charging module may exceed the limits set by international safety guidelines. This is a matter of concern for the safety of users of high-power WPT systems, such as electric vehicles (EVs). To address this issue, this study designed a stationary WPT system for EV charging. Furthermore, the dosimetry of the system was evaluated for two exposure scenarios. Electromagnetic field data obtained using the electromagnetic field analysis tool were employed to derive the induced quantities in the human body using the impedance method. In addition, the obtained results were compared to the values recommended by international guidelines (International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection).

Machine Learning Based Foreign Object Detection in Wireless Power Transfer Systems

As power electronics continue to drive advancement in electronic devices by managing the system's energy flow, it is advantageous to examine all areas of energy transfer. Wireless power transfer is one section seeing increased adoption in consumer, industrial, and healthcare applications. This consequently increases the concern for safety, reliability, and efficiency. Power transmission to any unintended load is a primary safety issue in high-power wireless power transfer applications, such as unmanned aircraft systems. Foreign object detection is utilized to selectively transmit power to only the intended target to mitigate this issue. This paper seeks to demonstrate a novel alternative method of using machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques for performing foreign object detection solely on the transmitter portion of the system by only monitoring the TX coil current. This method is first evaluated in SPICE simulation software. Then by transitioning to a closed-loop hardware-based testbed designed to be deployed in unmanned aircraft systems. During the test process for the novel FOD method, the aggregate detection accuracy achieved was 83%, including worst-case misalignment conditions with the RX coil. When the outlying worst-case conditions are excluded, the detection accuracy improves to 97%. To measure the FOD effectiveness in preventing temperature rise in a metallic object, the metallic object was placed at the peak power draw location on the transmitter coil. When the metallic object is left at this location for extended periods, the novel FOD method lowers the maximum temperature reached by 86.8°C when compared to no FOD being active. The primary advantage to this novel method is the simplistic hardware additions, which only require minimal alterations to a WPTS without any FOD implemented. Along with this, implementing this foreign object detection method in the transmitter would mitigate the need for a direct communication link between the receiver and transmitter. As a result, the entire system complexity would decrease, thus increasing the UAS power density while maintaining a safe, effective, and reliable wireless power transmission method.

Design and implementation of a near-field focused metasurface for microwave power transmission

In this paper, a near-field focused (NFF) metasurface composed of sub-wavelength structures for microwave power transmission is designed and implemented. Through full-wave simulations, a phase-shifting unit is proposed, which covers a transmission phase range of 360°, maintains a transmission amplitude better than −1.5 dB in most regions. Accurate design of the units at different positions in the array is achieved using phase compensation theory, forming the near-field focusing metasurface. By adjusting the transmission phase of the central unit in the metasurface to 30°, higher transmission efficiency can be achieved. Simulation results indicate that the designed near-field focused metasurface has the properties of high transmission efficiency, polarization insensitivity and distance insensitivity. To verify the transmission performance of the near-field focusing metasurface, a near-field focusing experimental platform is built and the microwave power transmission efficiency is calculated. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed metasurface enhances the power received at the receiver, increasing the transmission efficiency by 433 %. The proposed near-field focusing metasurface holds potential for applications in high-power wireless power transfer and microwave intracavity focusing.

Thermal analysis for foreign objects in high-power wireless power transfer systems

PurposeThis paper aims to present a fast and modular framework implementation for the thermal analyses of foreign metal objects in the context of wireless power transfer (WPT) to evaluate whether they pose a hazard to the system. This framework serves as a decision-making tool for determining the necessity of foreign object detection in certain applications and at certain transmitted power levels.Design/methodology/approachTo assess the necessity of implementing foreign object detection, the considered WPT system is modeled, and Arnoldi-Krylov-based model order reduction is applied to generate separate reduced models of the ground and vehicle modules of the WPT system. This enables interoperable evaluations to be conducted. Further discussion on the implementation details of the system-level simulations used to evaluate the electrical and thermal characteristics is provided. The resulting modular implementation allows for efficient evaluation of the thermal behavior of the wireless charging system at various transferred power levels and under various boundary conditions.FindingsBased on the transferred power level, the WPT model, the relative positioning between the vehicle and the charging pad and the charging time, it may be necessary to divide the area of the charging pad into multiple regions for the purpose of implementing foreign object detection.Originality/valueWhile the tools and fundamentals of thermal analysis are widely known and used, their application to high-power WPT systems for electric vehicles has not yet been thoroughly discussed in this form in the literature. The approach presented in this paper is not limited to the specific WPT model discussed but rather is directly applicable to other WPT models as well.

A Multi-Inverter Multi-Rectifier Wireless Power Transfer System for Charging Stations With Power Loss Optimized Control

Electric vehicles (EVs) with different output power levels can use wireless power transfer (WPT) systems. Different vehicle assemblies (VAs) may be charged by different ground assemblies (GAs) in charging stations. However, the overall efficiency of the WPT system may drop significantly when the power class difference between GA and VA is large. To address this issue this paper proposes a DC-link parallel AC-link series (DPAS) multi-inverter multi-rectifier (MIMR) architecture for high-power WPT systems. Modulation, power transfer capability, and power sharing from the design aspects are investigated. A detailed power loss analysis and an easy-to-implemented power loss optimized control method based on mutual inductance identification are presented in this paper. Finally, experimental results are obtained from a 20-kW LCC-LCC WPT system to validate the analysis and proposed system operation.

Small-Signal Modeling and Decoupling Control Method of Modular WPT Systems

Modularization is an effective way to realize high-power wireless power transfer (WPT). A modular WPT system can be adaptive to multiple power levels by simply modifying the number of its modules. However, the cross couplings among different modules form complicated power transfer paths in the system and consequently, the output of one module will be affected by the inputs of the other modules and thereby it is difficult to achieve stable output regulation for each module by using the conventional negative-feedback control method. In this paper, a decoupling control method is proposed to compensate the adverse effect of the cross couplings among the modules, and thereby, individual output control for each module can be realized. The small-signal model of the modular WPT system is derived to analyze the stability of the proposed decoupling control method. A 7 kW two-module WPT prototype is built for experimental verification.

An Integrated Three-Phase AC–DC Wireless-Power-Transfer Converter With Active Power Factor Correction Using Three Transmitter Coils

Three-phase AC-DC converters are more commonly used for high-power applications compared to single-phase converters. For high-power wireless power transfer (WPT) applications, such as wireless electric vehicle chargers, usually a two-stage topology is applied, which consists of a three-phase AC-DC rectifier with power factor correction and a DC-DC converter for WPT. Recently, there are several studies on three-phase single-stage WPT solutions being proposed to reduce power conversion stages, and furtherly increase overall efficiency and reduce system cost. In this paper, an integrated three-phase AC-DC WPT converter topology with active power factor correction is proposed. The count of power semiconductor devices is significantly reduced compared to state-of-the-art three-phase single-stage topologies. Moreover, three transmitter coils are used to enhance the system power capacity. Topology description, operation analysis, control method, power loss analysis, and reference design guideline of the proposed topology are presented in detail. Finally, a laboratory prototype is built and evaluated. The functionalities, performances, and advantages are demonstrated by the corresponding experimental results.

A High-Power Capacity Transistor-Based Rectifier With Wide Input Power Range

This letter proposes a methodology for realizing the rectifier with a wide radio frequency (RF) input power range for large power capacity applications. The comprehensive analysis is given in this letter under the condition of class-F operation mode. The optimum conduction angle of the transistor corresponding to the maximum input power dynamic range is determined. Theoretical rectification efficiency of over 60% can be obtained in a 30 dB in-depth input power level. For validation, an RF-dc rectifier operating at 2.45 GHz is designed based on the GaN transistor. Measurements demonstrate that the rectification efficiency of between 60.4% and 82.1% is realized with a fixed dc load of 115 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\Omega $</tex-math> </inline-formula> when the RF input power is from 18 to 43 dBm. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first realization of a transistor-based RF-dc rectifier with a large input dynamic range of over 25 dB. The proposed rectifier shows great potential to be used in future high-power wireless power transfer (WPT) applications.

Novel coil design and analysis for high-power wireless power transfer with enhanced Q-factor

The power transfer efficiency (PTE) is a crucial aspect for effective wireless power transfer (WPT) applications. The quality factor (Q) of the WPT coil plays a critical role in ensuring higher PTE. In this paper, a novel method of improving the Q of a WPT coil is proposed. Resistance reduction techniques are presented which involves variation of the trace pitch, width, and thickness. This approach targets the high AC losses centered in the inner turns, which subsequently results in an increased Q. Numerical analysis with respect to the inductance and resistance models are presented, analyzed, and compared to that of the EM simulation results. To verify the efficacy of the proposed coil structure, a prototype is fabricated where good agreement is achieved between the measured and simulated results. The proposed coil attained a quality factor increment of about 19.24% at 85 kHz in comparison to the conventional one. The proposed technique can be used to optimize planar spiral coils to attain higher Q.

A Multi-Inverter High-Power Wireless Power Transfer System With Wide ZVS Operation Range

Conventional high-power wireless power transfer (WPT) systems that are required to deliver power over a wide operating range suffer from issues like hard switching, poor current sharing, and unwanted cross-coupling issues. This article proposes a new resonant inductor integrated-transformer-based multi-inverter to improve the WPT power rating without compromising performance. Viable modulation schemes of the proposed system are analyzed, and a hybrid modulation scheme is proposed for wide-range power regulation. To further investigate the feasibility of the proposed system, the power transfer capacity, current sharing among multiple inverters, and the soft switching regions are studied. A 14-kW <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">LCC</i> – <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">LCC</i> WPT experimental system with three parallel inverters is built, which achieves 93.5% efficiency, demonstrating the high performance of the proposed system. This article is accompanied by a video demonstrating these experiments.

Self-Protection Resonant Beam System for Wireless Information and Power Transfer

Long-range, high-power wireless power transfer (WPT) and high-capacity communication can be achieved simultaneously in the resonant beam system (RBS), characterized with spatially separated transmitter and receiver. However, human safety in space transmission cannot be guaranteed if the transmitted power is above a certain level (e.g., several Watts). Thus, in this article, we propose a self-protection RBS, in which the protective beams embrace the energy-transfer resonant beam and are formed by the refracting part of the resonant beam emitted from the output reflector. If an external object comes across the protective beam whose power is very low, the protective beam transmission is cut off. Meanwhile, the resonant beam is interrupted due to the limit of excitation threshold. Then, we reveal the self-protection mechanism based on electromagnetic field propagation, self-mixing interference effect, and output power model. Afterward, we demonstrate that safe energy transfer can be realized by pumping gain medium with a pumping power that is greater than the threshold of the self-protection RBS and less than that of the unprotected RBS. Finally, the numerical results show that about 4.6-W electric power and 12.8 bps/Hz spectral efficiency can be transmitted at 2-m transmission distance safely in the self-protection RBS. Hence, the self-protection RBS provides a new way for safe simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) without mechanical control.

On-Road Efficient Wireless Charging System for Electric Vehicle

With the growing popularity of Electric Vehicles (EVs), the need for a simple and robust charging scheme has become necessary. Consumers are dissatisfied with the typical recharging method at home or in station parks because it takes a long time to recharge. On a highway, waiting for a place to recharge the vehicle is not always a good idea. The super-fast recharge station has received positive feedback from drivers in terms of charging time; nevertheless, this is not always recommended, particularly in terms of battery security and durability. WPT (Wireless Power Transfer) technology has many inherent advantages over traditional means of power transfer. It has been proposed for use in a wide range of applications, ranging from low power biomedical implants (several watts) to electrical vehicle chargers (several kilowatts) to railway vehicles (several megawatts), with efficiency up to 95% or higher in some prototype systems. Capacitive coupling, magnetic coupling, frequency resonance matching, microwaves, lasers, and ultrasound waves are all methods for transferring electric power across a specified distance through air. However, resonant magnetic coupling appeared to be the most practical and promising method to date, with resonant magnetic coupling being used in the majority of medium to high power WPT systems constructed to date. In this project, a wireless charging system for lightweight electric vehicle is designed, built and tested. The problem with electrical vehicles is that it requires too much time to recharge the battery. Dynamic Charging could be the much anticipated concept that replaces the conventional method of charging of battery and reduces the time taken to change the battery. A solution to directly charge EVs as they travel along the highway will eliminate the two biggest barriers, travelling range anxiety and cost. This project is carried out using MATLAB Simulink software for simulation of the circuit. This project based on future infrastructure of EV’s technology.

A Wireless Power Transfer System With Inverse Coupled Current Doubler Rectifier for High-Output Current Applications

In this paper, a series-series wireless power transfer (WPT) system combined with an inverse coupled current-doubler rectifier (ICCDR) is proposed, as a very appropriate WPT topology for high current applications. The ICCDR uses an autotransformer to reduce the losses on the rectifier stage, which is suitable for high current low voltage output applications. Furthermore, a comprehensive comparison between the proposed WPT system with ICCDR and the traditional WPT system with diode rectifier is presented. In the proposed WPT system, the primary parameter configuration and circuit behavior keep the same, while the secondary side altered, contributing to a volume reduction on the resonant capacitor. The system overall efficiency and power density are improved significantly. Accordingly, a 10kW 400V/48V WPT prototype for battery charging is constructed and tested to validate this proposal. The output voltage is in the range between 38 Vdc and 55 Vdc, and the rated output current is 200A. The overall efficiency of the proposed system reaches 94%, improving 2% efficiency with 220W energy saving with respect to the traditional diode-rectifier system, when 9.5kW output power is delivered. Theoretical analysis and experimental results have verified that the proposed system shows great advantages in high power WPT applications.

Design of High-Power Static Wireless Power Transfer via Magnetic Induction: An Overview

Recent years have witnessed the booming development of wireless power transfer (WPT) via magnetic induction, which has the advantages of convenience, safety, and feasibility to special occasions. WPT can be applied to electric vehicles and ships, where high-power WPT technology is required to shorten the charging time with the increasing battery capacity. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art development of high-power static WPT systems via magnetic induction. Selected prototypes and demos of high-power WPT systems are demonstrated with key transfer characteristics and solutions. Theoretical foundation of magnetically coupled WPT systems is analyzed and the maximum power capability of coils is derived. Compensation topologies suitable for high-power applications are discussed. Four basic planar coils, namely the bipolar coil, the square coil, the circular coil, and the rectangular coil, are simulated and compared. The state-of-the-art silicon carbide MOSFET development is introduced. The power electronics converters with power elevation techniques, including cascading, paralleling and inductive elevation, are investigated. Future development of high-power WPT systems is discussed.

Simulation-Assisted Design Process of a 22 kW Wireless Power Transfer System Using Three-Phase Coil Coupling for EVs

The objective of this paper is to study a 22 kW high-power wireless power transfer (WPT) system for battery charging in electric vehicles (EVs). The proposed WPT system consists of a three-phase half-bridge LC–LC (i.e., primary LC/secondary LC) resonant power converter and a three-phase sandwich wound coil set (transmitter, Tx; receiver, Rx). To transfer power effectively with a 250 mm air gap, the WPT system uses three-phase, sandwich-wound Tx/Rx coils to minimize the magnetic flux leakage effect and increase the power transfer efficiency (PTE). Furthermore, the relationship of the coupling coefficient between the Tx/Rx coils is complicated, as the coupling coefficient is not only dominated by the coupling strength of the primary and secondary sides but also relates to the primary or secondary three-phase magnetic coupling effects. In order to analyze the proposed three-phase WPT system, a detailed equivalent circuit model is derived for a better understanding. To give a design reference, a novel coil design method that can achieve high conversion efficiency for a high-power WPT system was developed based on a simulation-assisted design procedure. A pair of magnetically coupled Tx and Rx coils and the circuit parameters of the three-phase half-bridge LC–LC resonant converter for a 22 kW WPT system are adjusted through PSIM and CST STUDIO SUITE™ simulation to execute the derivation of the design formulas. Finally, the system achieved a PTE of 93.47% at an 85 kHz operating frequency with a 170 mm air gap between the coils. The results verify the feasibility of a simulation-assisted design in which the developed coils can comply with a high-power and high-efficiency WPT system in addition to a size reduction.

Modeling and Phase Synchronization Control of High-Power Wireless Power Transfer System Supplied By Modular Parallel Multi-Inverters

Modular parallel multi-inverters (MPMIs) with master-slave phase synchronization control is proposed for high-power wireless power transfer (WPT) where the MPMI output voltage phase is synchronized to suppress current circulation by compensating for the time delay of the slave inverters caused by signal propagation delay. Different power levels can be conveniently satisfied by flexibly adjusting the number of MPMIs. A modeling method based on the energy-amplitude and phase is developed and linearized to get the slowly changing phase variable and to analyze the system dynamic characteristics at its operating point. To achieve the required dynamic performance of the proposed model, the parameters of a PI controller are obtained by calculating the required settling time and overshoot of the closed-loop dominant poles. A 20.07 kW WPT prototype supplied by three MPMIs with an efficiency of 92.17% was designed and tested. Experimental results show that the proposed modeling method and controller design achieved both good performances of circulating current suppression and MPMIs output voltage phase synchronization.

Electromagnetic Field Tests of a 1-MW Wireless Power Transfer System for Light Rail Transit

The high-power wireless power transfer (WPT) system in railways does not require physical contact to transfer electrical power, is electrically safe, and reduces maintenance costs from wear and tear. However, a high-power system generates a strong magnetic field that can result in problems of electromagnetic field (EMF) exposure and electromagnetic interference (EMI). In this study, EMF and EMI were measured at various positions under in-motion environment conditions for a 1-MW WPT light rail transit system. The measured maximum EMF was 2.41 μT, which is lower than the international guideline of 6.25 μT for the various locations with a potential presence of passengers. The measured EMI also satisfied international standards in the frequency range of 150 kHz–1 GHz.

Safety Analysis of Long-Range and High-Power Wireless Power Transfer Using Resonant Beam

Resonant Beam Charging (RBC) is a promising Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) technology to realize long-range and high-power charging for electronic devices. However, the safety mechanism of the RBC system has not been investigated so far. In this paper, we propose an analytical model based on electromagnetic field analysis for evaluating the performance of the RBC system with external object invasion, such as the benchmark for the WPT safety, irradiance on the invading object. For the RBC system with $\text{5}\;$ m transmission distance and $\text{1}\;$ W output electric power, the safety numerical analysis of radiation illustrates that the maximum irradiance on the invading object is $\text{0.81}\;\text{W/cm}^2$ , which is approximately $1/10$ compared with $ \text{8.22}\;\text{W/cm}^2$ for the comparable laser charging system. Particularly, the peak irradiance on the invading object of the RBC system satisfies the Maximum Permissible Exposure (MPE) requirement for human skin, which is $\text{1}\;\text{W/cm}^2$ in the standard “Safety of Laser Products IEC $60825-1$ ”. Hence, the RBC system can realize skin-safe WPT with Watt-level power over meter-level distance.

Modular Four-Channel 50 kW WPT System With Decoupled Coil Design for Fast EV Charging

High-power wireless power transfer (WPT) is an attractive option for fast charging of electric vehicles (EVs), but the power capability of the WPT system is limited by power devices and resonant elements. This paper presents a scalable modular four-channel WPT system for fast EV charging. Owing to the modular design, the four-channel system achieves 50 kW output power with low-power Silicon devices, and the reliability and robustness of the system are significantly improved. Through the coil structure and placement design, the four-channel magnetic coupler achieves inter-channel decoupling, eliminating interference between channels, simplifying control logic, and enabling scalable modular design. The four-channel magnetic coupler also has rotational symmetry, making the system have a balanced tolerance to misalignment in both lateral and vertical directions. The proposed magnetic coupler is verified by 3-D finite element method (FEM) simulation. A modular four-channel WPT prototype is built and tested. Experiments show that the prototype can deliver 50.8 kW to load with 97% dc-to-dc efficiency over a 200-mm airgap in aligned case, and has a balanced tolerance to misalignment in both the lateral and vertical directions.

Advances in High-Power Wireless Charging Systems: Overview and Design Considerations

Wireless charging systems are foreseen as an effective solution to improve the convenience and safety of conventional conductive chargers. As this technology has matured, recent broad applications of wireless chargers to electrified transportation have indicated a trend toward higher power, power density, modularity, and scalability of designs. In this article, commercial systems and laboratory prototypes are reviewed, focusing mostly on the advances in high-power wireless charging systems. The recent endeavors in magnetic pad designs, compensation networks, power electronics converters, control strategies, and communication protocols are illustrated. Both stationary and dynamic (in-motion) wireless charging systems are discussed, and critical differences in their designs and applications are emphasized. On that basis, the comparisons among different solutions and design considerations are summarized to present the essential elements and technology roadmap that will be necessary to support large-scale deployment of high-power wireless charging systems. The review is concluded with the discussion of several fundamental challenges and prospects of high-power wireless power transfer (WPT) systems. Foreseen challenges include utilization of advanced materials, electric and electromagnetic field measurement and mitigation, customization, communications, power metering, and cybersecurity.