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For an inductive power transfer (IPT) system, mobility is one of the most attractive features, but coupling variations can dramatically affect the system's output. In this article, a reconfigurable rectifier-based detuned series-series (SS) compensated IPT system is proposed to tolerate an extensive coupling range and improve the system efficiency simultaneously. The reconfigurable rectifier, which can operate in a full-bridge rectifier mode or a half-bridge rectifier mode, is used to alter the equivalent ac load from one value to the other so the expected coupling range of the detuned SS topology can be extended. At the same time, the system efficiency is also partly improved because the ac load is changed to get closer to the optimal load of the IPT system. First, a detuned SS IPT system with the reconfigurable rectifier is presented and followed by the analysis of the working modes. Then, a detailed parameter design process and switching control of the reconfigurable rectifier are introduced. Finally, a 400-W prototype was constructed to verify the validity of the proposed method. The experimental results demonstrate that the output power fluctuation of the proposed IPT system is less than 17.5% and the lowest efficiency can be improved from 68.6% to 87.5% with the coupling coefficient varying from 0.1 to 0.4. The proposed method can implement significant antimisalignment and efficiency improvement simultaneously, and it is regarded as a potential solution for low-power IPT applications with high spatial mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a systematic frequency-sweeping based method for fast and accurate determination of mutual coupling coefficient in a series–series wireless power transfer system. The novel contributions involve a sensitivity analysis to evaluate the robustness of the proposed method and an evaluation of several adaptive frequency step functions to minimize detection time with an accuracy of less than 1% error. It is found that the proposed method is the most sensitive when the frequency is swept from the lower frequency boundary in a weakly-coupled system. Several adaptive frequency step functions are evaluated and compared. A power factor reference and an adaptive frequency step function are designed in a systematic way to achieve the dual purposes of minimum detection time and high accuracy. The experimental results obtained from the hardware setups show that the mutual coupling coefficients under a range of conditions can be estimated within 7 ms and with errors typically less than 1.0%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In wireless power transfer (WPT) systems, the relative position between the transmitting and receiving coils could change suddenly, which is one of the most significant distinctions between wireless and wired power transfer systems. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no theoretical analysis has been reported on the dynamic behavior of the WPT systems under the relative position transient (RPT). This article proposes the concept of “coupling-coefficient susceptibility” to describe this dynamic behavior. The extended describing function method is applied to extract the mathematical model of the coupling-coefficient susceptibility. Finally, an RPT testing platform, composed of a series-series compensated WPT system and a coil motion mechanism is designed and fabricated to verify the theoretical analysis. The experimental results exhibit a good agreement with the proposed model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Free positioning wireless charging for consumer electronics allows the devices to be charged at arbitrary positions and angles to improve user experience. However, a user-initiated sudden movement of the device during charging can cause hazards due to the abrupt variation of the coupling coefficient. To solve this issue, the coupling coefficient variation at different positions should be mitigated, which is also good for the design and high-efficiency operation of power electronics converters. This article proposes a design methodology to employ antiparallel windings to smooth the coupling coefficient variation over different positions by reducing the coupling coefficient at central positions and enhancing it at boundary positions. Two optimization methods are proposed: turn-by-turn optimization and winding-by-winding optimization. A design flow is offered. The hexagonal coil is compared with the square coil and proved to achieve better performance than the latter. An experimental prototype is implemented to validate the effectiveness of the proposed design methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To increase the power density of a wireless power transfer (WPT) system, the coupling of coils can be strong. However, in a strongly coupled series–series WPT system with a diode rectifier, currents can be distorted and discontinuous, and first harmonic approximation is no longer valid. The inverter is likely to work in hard switching, leading to extra noise, decreased efficiency, and a potential hazard for a safe operation. Through time-domain analysis, this article reveals that with a dual-side 90° phase shift, the hard switching of the inverter can be avoided, the power level can be enhanced, and the discontinuous conduction mode can be avoided to eliminate noises. The factors impacting the soft switching operations of the inverter and the rectifier are analyzed. To achieve 90° dual-side phase shift, the conventional approach of using the receiver voltage/current, which can be distorted and discontinuous in strongly coupled WPT systems, for phase synchronization is no longer suitable. A new set of coils, namely driving coils, is used for phase synchronization so that dual-side phase shift can be implemented independent from power transfer. Experimental results have validated the effectiveness of the analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A wide operating region of inductive power transfer systems indicates a stable output against large load and coupling changes. In most of the published works, output regulation is achieved by single-side regulation that utilizes either primary-side or secondary-side power converters for load regulation. However, secondary-side regulation tends to have a relatively narrow operating region due to space and cost considerations. Meanwhile, although primary-side regulation may provide a larger operating region, system performance can be degraded due to the needs of secondary-side information. To overcome the drawbacks of single-side regulation, this article proposes a dual-side cooperative output regulation method implemented by burst-mode pulse density modulation. In the proposed method, dual-side cooperative control is established by sensing primary-side current drops caused by secondary-side burst operations and, hence, requires no communication devices. With the proposed method, the system operating region can be effectively extended without sacrificing steady-state performance. Experimental results are provided in this article to validate the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maximum efficiency point tracking (MEPT) control has been adopted in state-of-the-art wireless power transfer (WPT) systems to meet the power demands with the highest efficiency against coupling and load variations. Conventional MEPT implementations use dc/dc converters on both transmitting and receiving sides to regulate the output voltage and maximize the system efficiency at the expense of increased overall complexity and power losses on the dc/dc converters. Other implementations use phase-shift control or on–off control of the transmitting side inverter and the receiving side active rectifier instead of dc/dc converters but cause new problems, e.g., hard switching, low average efficiency, and large dc voltage ripples. This paper proposes a pulse density modulation (PDM) based implementation for MEPT to eliminate all the mentioned disadvantages of existing implementations. Delta-sigma modulators are used as an example to realize the PDM. A dual-side soft switching technique is proposed for the PDM. The ripple factor of the output voltage with PDM is derived. A 50 W WPT system is built to validate the proposed method. The system efficiency is maintained higher than 70% for various load resistances when the power transfer distance is 0.5 m, which is 1.67 times the diameter of the coils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]