Coupled design approach for an integrated GaN-based wireless power transfer rotating system

Abstract

This paper concerns the design of a high-frequency GaN-based rotating transformer confined by conductive materials. The design approach combines the high-order spectral element method for the magnetic modeling, an electronic circuit model, and the finite element method for the thermal modeling. The objective of the design analysis is to minimize the ratio of core inertia to efficiency. Two different transformer topologies are considered, in which the power is either transferred in the axial or radial direction. The resulting designs are compared in terms of efficiency, core inertia, and transferred power. The radial design shows the best performance within the optimization problem.