A Dynamic EV Charging System for Slow Moving Traffic Applications

Inductive power transfer (IPT) is by far the most popular method to transfer energy wirelessly and has attracted considerable attention in recent times. The Wireless Power Consortium has developed a standard (Qi) for low power consumer electronics, whereas the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) is working on a standard (J2954) to charge electric vehicles (EVs) wirelessly. SAE’s current efforts are focused only on transferring power to the vehicles at rest (static), whereas no work has been done so far on developing the standards for transferring power to the vehicles on the move (dynamic). This paper presents the magnetic design of an IPT system for a dynamic EV charging application, to continuously deliver a power of 15 kW to an EV, along the direction of travel within the lateral misalignment of ±200 mm. The experimental validation of system operation, however, was conducted at 5 kW. The design aims at distributing the cost and complexity of the system between the primary and secondary sides, while achieving a smooth power transfer profile. In addition, the system is designed to exploit the shielding effect provided by the vehicle, as the field generating components of the system are covered by the vehicle body under all operating conditions.