Discrete misalignment detection for roadway powered electric vehicles using sensor coil arrays.

In order to address range anxiety concerns and decrease the electric vehicle (EV) charging downtime, dynamic wireless EV charging (DWC) systems are developed. These systems utilize resonant inductive power transfer (RIPT) to charge EVs on-the-move, i.e. by powering the EVs wirelessly from the roadway rather than from a stationary charging pad. Nonetheless, the inherent misalignments during the vehicle's motion significantly reduce the power transfer efficiency, and hence the power received by the EV from the DWC lane. Hence, accurate misalignment detection and correction techniques are required to maximize the power transferred in DWC systems. This work proposes a low complexity, discrete misalignment detection system using an array of auxiliary sensor coils. The size and positioning of the array ensures minimal interruption to the main power flow from the transmitter charging pad to the EV receiver. The proposed system detects the misalignment of EVs in discrete steps using the rectified induced voltage on the sensor coil array. Finite element method (FEM) simulations verify the operation of the proposed system and accurate misalignment positioning is confirmed by circuit simulations. Further optimization is required to minimize the coupling losses due to cross coupling between the adjacent auxiliary coils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]