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During the typical constant current (CC) charging process, the supercapacitor has a pretty wide-range load variation. However, an inductive power transfer (IPT) converter can only maintain high efficiency within a certain load range around its optimum load point. Once the supercapacitor load resistance is far away from the optimum point, which usually happens in low charging power levels, i.e., the smaller load resistances, the IPT converter will suffer from the dramatic efficiency degradation and thus a step-up load transformation is required throughout the whole charging process. In this paper, a novel current-controlled semi-active rectifier (CCSAR) based IPT converter is proposed to fulfill this requirement. The characteristic of step-up load transformation is firstly identified and implemented by controlling the conduction angle of the CCSAR to enhance the efficiency in the charging process. The desired charging CC is then regulated by tuning the operating frequency of the IPT inverter. To coordinate these two objectives, a bivariate control is adopted here to achieve fast, direct and precise current output with enhanced efficiency performance over the whole load range during the CC charging process. Finally, experiment results validate the theoretical analysis well.

A high-performance capacitive power transfer (CPT) system is expected to achieve the load-independent constant output, near-zero reactive power, and soft switching of power switches simultaneously, resulting in a reduced power stage, simple control circuitry, and minimum component ratings. However, a well-compensated CPT system still suffers very high voltage stresses among not only the main coupled plates but also the leakage coupled plates due to the small coupling and edge emission, which increase the risk of air breakdown and deteriorate the electromagnetic interference (EMI) issue. To solve this problem, the voltage stresses among such coupler plates should be predesigned at an acceptable level. This paper systematically analyzes characteristics of a double-sided LCLC compensated CPT converter, which is proved to have enough design freedom providing predesigned voltage stresses for two kinds of coupled plates. Also, three operating frequencies with load-independent constant current (CC) output and input zerophase angle (ZPA) are found. Without reactive power in the circuit, a parameter design method is proposed for the doublesided LCLC compensated CPT converter at each frequency to satisfy the desired CC output and the predesigned voltage limitations. In this way, the breakdown and EMI issues can be well mitigated by the intended design and this method can also be extended to other CPT circuits. Finally, a CPT prototype is built to verify the theoretical analysis with the predesigned voltage stresses among the coupler plates.

Kinetics of a reaction network that follows mass-action rate laws can be described with a system of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) with polynomial right-hand side. However, it is challenging to derive such kinetic differential equations from transient kinetic data without knowing the reaction network, especially when the data are incomplete due to experimental limitations. We introduce a program, PolyODENet, toward this goal. Based on the machine-learning method Neural ODE, PolyODENet defines a generative model and predicts concentrations at arbitrary time. As such, it is possible to include unmeasurable intermediate species in the kinetic equations. Importantly, we have implemented various measures to apply physical constraints and chemical knowledge in the training to regularize the solution space. Using simple catalytic reaction models, we demonstrate that PolyODENet can predict reaction profiles of unknown species and doing so even reveal hidden parts of reaction mechanisms.

Multiloop constant on-time (COT) controlled buck converter uses two weight resistors for sensing inductor current and detecting output voltage in its inner loop. When an output capacitor with a small equivalent series resistance (ESR) is employed, the converter will suffer the risk of instability due to different weight settings of inductor current and output voltage using a proportional–integral (PI) compensation gain in the outer voltage loop. However, no attention has been paid for their stability effects, which are important for designing the inner loop and outer voltage loop. To address these issues, a piecewise linear model is established for multiloop COT-controlled buck converter. Circuit parameter-related bifurcation behaviors and control weight-related dynamical distributions are explored to demonstrate these stability effects. Furthermore, by deriving an approximate discrete model, a control weight-related stability criterion is expressed explicitly, from which stability boundaries for dividing the normally stable and abnormally unstable operation parameter regions are thereby yielded. Besides, control weight-related transient performances under different circuit parameter settings are analyzed. Finally, PSIM circuit simulations and hardware circuit experiments verify the theoretical analysis well.

A constant current (CC) output followed by a constant voltage (CV) threshold is usually needed for an inductive power transfer (IPT) charger to comply with the battery charging profile. This letter proposes a novel clamp coil assisted IPT battery charger that features inherent, passive, automatic, and smooth CC-to-CV transition. Since the CC-to-CV transition eliminates the necessity of state-of-charge detection, wireless feedback communication, and active control, the proposed IPT charger is rugged and reliable. The inherent CC-to-CV transition capability also tackles the open-circuit risk during a CC charging process. As minimalist design is achieved in the secondary, the proposed IPT charger is suitable for wireless onboard charging applications. Near-unity power factor design is also considered to minimize the voltage–ampere rating and permits soft switching. Experiment results validate the inherent CC-to-CV transition capability.

In situ synchrotron X-ray absorption near-edge structure characterization of thin-film titania growth by atomic layer deposition (ALD) over ZnO nanowires reveals persistent low-coordinated Ti motif...

Inductive power transfer (IPT) technologies have gained a wide acceptance in onboard battery charging applications due to some significant advantages over traditional plug-in systems. An IPT battery charger is expected to provide a configurable charging profile consisting of an initial constant current (CC) and a subsequent constant voltage (CV) efficiently. With a wide load range during the charging process, two sets of IPT topologies with the inherent load-independent CC and CV at the same zero-phase angle (ZPA) frequency are commonly combined into a hybrid topology to avoid sophisticated control schemes, while maintaining nearly unity power factor and soft switching of power switches simultaneously. However, the load-independent CC and CV are usually constrained by parameters of a loosely coupled transformer (LCT), making the LCT hard to design. To solve it, this paper systematically presents a method to derive such effective hybrid IPT converters, which starts from some existing topologies having the configurable CC or CV output and cascades a general T network for mode transition. Design principles with fewer mode switches and compensation components are proposed and some available hybrid topologies regardless of the constraint of LCT parameters are given in this paper. Control logic and sensitivities of compensation parameters to the input impedance and the load-independent output are also discussed. Finally, a 1 kW hybrid IPT battery charger prototype based on LCC-LCC and LCC-S topologies is built to verify the theoretical analysis.

Power electronic transformer (PET) is a key apparatus in smart grid system, due to the advantages of power controllability and ac/dc grids interconnection. The four-stage PETs have multiple output ports, good controllability, and flexibility, but are limited by multiple power conversion stages, complex structure, and low efficiency. Therefore, a novel modular multilevel converter (MMC)-based PET topology with mixed-frequency modulation is proposed to reduce the power conversion stage. The power decoupling circuits are designed to realize multiple output ports, including medium voltage ac (MVAC) port, medium voltage dc (MVDC) port, and low voltage dc (LVDC) port. The equivalent circuit and controllability of proposed PET are analyzed. The proposed PET topology provides the same multiple output ports by only three power conversion stages, therefore, the PET structure is simplified. In addition, simulation results are provided to verify the effectiveness of proposed PET.