http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel5/5610941/5624686/05624745.pdf

Power electronics

Wireless power transfer (WPT) using magnetic resonance is the technology which could set human free from the annoying wires. In fact, the WPT adopts the same basic theory which has already been developed for at least 30 years with the term inductive power transfer. WPT technology is developing rapidly in recent years. At kilowatts power level, the transfer distance increases from several millimeters to several hundred millimeters with a grid to load efficiency above 90%. The advances make the WPT very attractive to the electric vehicle (EV) charging applications in both stationary and dynamic charging scenarios. This paper reviewed the technologies in the WPT area applicable to EV wireless charging. By introducing WPT in EVs, the obstacles of charging time, range, and cost can be easily mitigated. Battery technology is no longer relevant in the mass market penetration of EVs. It is hoped that researchers could be encouraged by the state-of-the-art achievements, and push forward the further development of WPT as well as the expansion of EV.

Wireless Power Transfer for Electric Vehicle Applications

A detection method for use in a primary unit of an inductive power transfer system, the primary unit being operable to transmit power wirelessly by electromagnetic induction to at least one secondary unit of the system located in proximity to the primary unit and/or to a foreign object located in said proximity, the method comprising: driving the primary unit so that in a driven state the magnitude of an electrical drive signal supplied to one or more primary coils of the primary unit changes from a first value to a second value; assessing the effect of such driving on an electrical characteristic of the primary unit; and detecting in dependence upon the assessed effect the presence of a said secondary unit and/or a foreign object located in proximity to said primary unit.

Inductive power transfer

Inductive power transfer (IPT) was an engineering curiosity less than 30 years ago, but, at that time, it has grown to be an important technology in a variety of applications. The paper looks at the background to IPT and how its development was based on sound engineering principles leading on to factory automation and growing to a $1 billion industry in the process. Since then applications for the technology have diversified and at the same time become more technically challenging, especially for the static and dynamic charging of electric vehicles (EVs), where IPT offers possibilities that no other technology can match. Here, systems that are ten times more powerful, more tolerant of misalignment, safer, and more efficient may be achievable, and if they are, IPT can transform our society. The challenges are significant but the technology is promising.

Inductive Power Transfer

Due to limitations of low power density, high cost, heavy weight, etc., the development and application of battery-powered devices are facing with unprecedented technical challenges. As a novel pattern of energization, the wireless power transfer (WPT) offers a band new way to the energy acquisition for electric-driven devices, thus alleviating the over-dependence on the battery. This paper presents an overview of WPT techniques with emphasis on working mechanisms, technical challenges, metamaterials, and classical applications. Focusing on WPT systems, this paper elaborates on current major research topics and discusses about future development trends. This novel energy transmission mechanism shows significant meanings on the pervasive application of renewable energies in our daily life.

Wireless Power Transfer—An Overview

An LCL-T resonant converter (LCL-T RC) is shown to behave as a current source when operated at resonant frequency. A detailed analysis of the LCL-T RC for this property is presented. Closed-form expressions for converter gain, component stresses, and the condition for converter design optimized for minimum size of resonant network is derived. A design procedure is illustrated with a prototype 200-W 20-A current-source power supply and experimental results are presented. The LCL-T RC as a current source offers many advantages such as easy parallel operation and low circulating currents at light load. Additionally, with appropriate phase shift in paralleled modules, the peak-peak ripple in output current is reduced and the ripple frequency is increased, reducing filtering requirements. The leakage inductance of a transformer can be advantageously integrated into the resonant network. These merits make the topology applicable in various applications such as magnet power supply, capacitor charging power supply, laser diode drivers, etc.

Analysis and design of an LCL-T resonant converter as a constant-current power supply

A new topology of full-bridge dc-dc converter is proposed featuring zero-voltage-switching (ZVS) of active switches over the entire conversion range. In contrast to conventional techniques, the stored energy in the auxiliary inductor of the proposed converter is minimal under full-load condition and it progressively increases as the load current decreases. Therefore, the ZVS operation over the entire conversion range is achieved without significantly increasing full-load conduction loss making the converter particularly suitable in applications where the output is required to be adjustable over a wide range and load resistance is fixed (e.g., an electromagnet power supply). The principle of operation is described and the considerations in the design of converter are discussed. Performance of the proposed converter is verified with experimental results on a 500-W, 100-kHz prototype.

A Full-Bridge DC–DC Converter WithZero-Voltage-Switching Overthe Entire Conversion Range

The LCL-T resonant converter behaves as a constant-current (CC) source when operated at the resonant frequency. The output voltage of a CC power supply increases linearly with the load resistance. Therefore, a constant-voltage (CV) limit must be incorporated in the converter for its use in practical applications wherein the open-load condition is commonly experienced by a CC power supply, such as in an arc welding power supply. A novel LCL-T resonant converter with clamp diodes is proposed in this paper, which has built-in CC-CV characteristics. Since the CC-CV characteristics are inherent to the converter, and complex feedback control is not required, the proposed converter is rugged and reliable. The principle of operation of the converter is explained. Experimental results on a 500-W prototype are presented to demonstrate the inherent CC-CV behavior of the converter. Simple extensions of the topology featuring variable CV limits are described

LCL-T Resonant Converter With Clamp Diodes: A Novel Constant-Current Power Supply With Inherent Constant-Voltage Limit

An immittance converter (IC), in general, is a two-port network, in which input impedance is proportional to the load admittance connected across the output terminals and is useful in transforming a voltage source into a current source and vice versa. In this paper, a family of lumped-element resonant IC (RIC) topologies is identified by investigating the transmission parameters of various topological structures of electrical networks. In all, 24 RIC topologies have been identified with three and four reactive elements. The operating point and the design condition, under which these topologies exhibit immittance conversion characteristics, are derived. The suitability of these topologies in terms of absorbing parasitic components and providing inherent dc blocking to the transformer is examined. The analysis and design is illustrated with a newly identified four-element RIC topology as a constant-current power supply and validated with experimental results on a 250-W 105-kHz prototype converter.

Resonant Immittance Converter Topologies

The transformer winding capacitance, which is significant in high-voltage power supplies, is not gainfully utilized in an LCL-T resonant converter (RC). A simplified analysis presented in this paper predicts the severe degradation of output current regulation of an LCL-T RC due to transformer winding capacitance. The presence of winding capacitance, in fact, changes the third-order LCL-T resonant tank into fourth-order LC-LC topology. Using an AC analysis, it is shown that, under the derived design conditions, LC-LC RC also exhibits constant output current and in-phase source voltage and current, simultaneously at all loading conditions. Thus, the transformer leakage inductance and winding capacitance are gainfully utilized as a part of a resonant network, resulting in improved output characteristics. Closed-form expressions for the converter gain and component stresses are derived. The condition for converter design optimized for the minimum size of the resonant network is obtained. Experimental results on a prototype 100-mA 2-kV DC power supply confirm the observations of analysis.

Mangesh Borage

Papers

Analysis and design of an LCL-T resonant converter as a constant-current power supply

A Full-Bridge DC–DC Converter WithZero-Voltage-Switching Overthe Entire Conversion Range

LCL-T Resonant Converter With Clamp Diodes: A Novel Constant-Current Power Supply With Inherent Constant-Voltage Limit

Resonant Immittance Converter Topologies

Design of LCL-T Resonant Converter Including the Effect of Transformer Winding Capacitance