Analysis, Design and Realization of a Wireless Power Transfer Charger for Electric Vehicles: Theoretical Approach and Experimental Results

Abstract

Wireless power transfer (WPT) chargers are promising solutions for charging electric vehicles (EVs). Due to their advantages such as ease and safety of use, these chargers are increasingly replacing conductive ones. In this paper, we first provide a detailed analysis to illustrate the effect of varying parameters on the operation of the WPT charger. Secondly, we present the main design steps of the charger elements while respecting the recommendations of the SAEJ2954 standard in terms of operating frequency, efficiency and misalignments. Regarding the design of the ground-side and vehicle-side coils, we propose three different circular geometries whose parameters are determined using an iterative approach. The latter is compared with a finite element analysis performed under Ansys Maxwell software showing the convergence between theoretical calculations and the simulation results. Finally, an experimental prototype with a power of 500 W is realized. In addition, different test scenarios are performed to validate the proposed design approach. In this respect, an efficiency of 90% is obtained for a power of 500 W and a distance between coils of 125 mm. Moreover, the test of the charger in the most unfavorable operating case (misalignments of Δx = 70 mm, Δy = 10 mm and Δz = 150 mm) gives an efficiency of 83.5%, which remains above the limit of the SAEJ2954 standard.