Dynamic Wireless Power Transfer System With an Extensible Charging Area Suitable for Moving Objects

Abstract

Extensible magnetic resonance coupling-based wireless power transfer (WPT) systems are presented in this article. A transmitter (Tx) containing an 8-shape loop and two resonators is proposed to construct a bipolar Tx array. A unipolar receiver (Rx) is placed above the Tx perpendicularly to overcome the power null phenomenon. The proposed structure ensures that magnetic flux lines are confined in the vicinity of the Rx, leading to a high power transfer efficiency (PTE) over a wide range of lateral misalignment distances. Experiments demonstrated that the proposed WPT system can achieve an efficiency of 87% under perfectly aligned operating conditions, and maintain over 70% efficiency from 0 to 30 mm lateral misalignment distances. Based on the proposed Tx module, a single-feed Tx array is constructed to further increase the charging area. The PTE of a 1 x 2 array system is between 57.5% and 71.6% without the power null phenomenon. Meanwhile, the concern of heating due to magnetic field leakage can be significantly mitigated. These designs are proved to be very good candidates for dynamic WPT (DWPT) applications.