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Wireless charging technology presents an ideal fit for autonomous electric vehicles for realizing a fully automated system (vehicle and charger). This article presents a planning optimization analysis for a pilot project of in-route wireless charging infrastructure serving fixed-route on-demand shared automated electric shuttles (SAESs) at Greenville, SC, USA. A single-objective nonlinear mixed integer system planning optimization problem is formulated. A comprehensive cost model representing the overall inductively charged SAESs system is developed, considering road construction, power electronics and materials, traction battery, and installation costs. The optimization problem is solved to determine the best combination of the system key design parameters (number and allocations of wireless chargers, charging power level, track length, and on-board battery capacity) that show the most cost-effective solution and allow the SAESs to achieve charge-sustaining operation. The planning platform incorporates representative simulated traffic data (driving speed and routes) for four SAESs in the Greenville using the Simulation of Urban Mobility tool. These data are fed to a vehicle powertrain model and a wireless charger power model to predict the battery power, energy and state-of-charge profiles, which are provided to the search algorithm to assess the design objectives under specific constraints. The results indicate that implementing high-power (100 kW) wireless charger at a few designated stops for fixed-route SAESs with the proper track length allows the vehicles to realize charge-sustaining operation, infinite range, and zero recharge downtime, with a significant reduction in the on-board battery (36%) and road coverage (69%), at minimum cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a comprehensive solution that allows a wirelessly connected electric vehicle (EV) to be autonomously charged and discharged, during long-term parking and/or transient stops. A bilayer power flow controller for bidirectional wireless power transfer system (BWPTS) in EVs applications is proposed. The proposed controller can manage the power flow between the EV and surrounding infrastructures, such as utility grid, home micro-grid, building micro-grid, road, or another vehicle. It consists of two control layers; the first is responsible for communicating with the surrounding infrastructures and gathering information from the vehicle operator, charging station, utility grid, and battery management system. These data are analyzed to generate the reference power signal with information about the mode of operation (charge, discharge, or abstain) and rate. The second layer receives the reference signal and predicts the control parameters for the resonant converters (on both the vehicle and grid sides) to track the desired power. The proposed algorithm is adaptively estimating the mutual inductance to consider the misalignments in the system, based on a new simple real-time mutual estimation algorithm using a single voltage measurement from the vehicle side. The second control layer is designed based on an accurate analytical model for the BWPTS's power flow. For verification purposes, a prototype for BWPTS was built and driven by the proposed controller, which was implemented using a field-programmable gate array integrated circuit. Also, a vehicle-level simulation was performed to validate the operation of the proposed controller in quasi-dynamic wireless charging at traffic signals. The proposed controller shows fast and stable response during both the transient and steady-state operation in comparison with the conventional proportional-integral controller. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electric vehicle (EV) can act as an energy consuming device or a distributed energy resource in the concepts known as vehicle-to-grid (V2G) and grid-to-vehicle (G2V). The bidirectional wireless power interface is a successful choice for this application, since it provides automatic, reliable, and safe operation. Therefore, this paper presents modeling and assessment analysis for the steady-state performance of bidirectional inductive wireless power transfer system (BIWPTS) in EV implementations. The analysis is presented for the three main compensation configurations: LC-series, LC-parallel, and LCL-topology. Moreover, the steady-state equivalent circuit-based mathematical models for all topologies are developed. These models were used to precisely determine the system response during V2G and G2V operations based on Fourier series. The study presents evident criteria to pick among the different BIWPTS structures in the diverse applications. The proposed analyses were verified both in simulation and experiment. The results demonstrate the ability of the proposed models to provide accurate estimation for BIWPTS performance under various operating and control conditions. Also, the evaluation analysis shows that LCL-topology is more appropriate for the bidirectional operation due to the simple design and control requirements, and being less sensitive to the misalignment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A flexible, automatic, reliable, and safe charging and discharging system for electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid EVs is crucial in vehicle-to-grid (V2G) operation. The bidirectional inductive wireless power transfer system (BIWPTS) is an ideal solution in this situation. With authentic power-flow models for the BIWPTS in hand, designers and operators can predict, optimize, and analyze the interaction performance between the EV and the grid. Thus, this paper presents a harmonics-based theoretical power-flow model for BIWPTS for charging and discharging EVs in V2G applications. The proposed model provides accurate estimation for the active and reactive power flow during V2G and grid-to-vehicle modes. Moreover, the impact of the circuit losses and harmonics, due to the high-frequency power inverters, on the power-flow performance is investigated. This effect is stated mathematically by four novel power-flow criteria formulas. New conditions for achieving maximum active and reactive power, and unity and zero power-factor system operation, are also developed. The sensitivity of the circuit performance to the variation of its parameters has been studied. For validation purposes, a computer-based model and experimental platform of BIWPTS for EV applications are developed and tested. The comparison between the theoretical, simulation, and experimental results verified the proposed models and analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a clear methodology for achieving the optimum design of LCL bidirectional inductive wireless power transfer system (BIWPTS) for electric vehicle applications. The proposed strategy depends on electromagnetic field computations joined with analytical models. A 3-D finite-element model for 8-kW polarized double-D power pad was modeled, optimized, and built. Moreover, the choice of the power factor correction and the impedance matching elements was investigated. Following the proposed design considerations, a BIWPTS model was developed in MATLAB Simulink and its outcomes were compared with the theoretical model results. In addition, a small scale prototype was assembled using the same design with reduced dc voltage levels. The models were tested during charging and discharging operation, and good correlation was seen between every one of them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]