MULTI-PHYSICS MODELS TO SUPPORT THE DESIGN OF DYNAMIC WIRELESS POWER TRANSFER SYSTEMS

Present barriers to electric vehicle (EV) adoption include cost and range anxiety. Dynamic wireless power transfer (DWPT) systems, which send energy from an in-road transmitter to a vehicle in motion, offer potential remedies to both issues. Specifically, they reduce the size and charging needs of the relatively expensive battery system by supplying the power required for vehicle motion and operation. Recently, Purdue researchers have been exploring the development of inductive DWPT systems for Class 8 and 9 trucks operating at highway speeds. This research has included the design of transmitter/receiver coils as well as compensation circuits and power electronics that are required to efficiently transmit 200 kW-level power across a large air gap.

In this thesis, a focus is on the derivation of electromagnetic and thermal models that are used to support the design and validation of DWPT systems. Specifically, electromagnetic models have been derived to predict the volume and loss of ferrite-based AC inductors and film capacitor used in compensation circuits. A thermal equivalent circuit of the transmitter has been derived to predict the expected coil and pavement temperatures in DWPT systems that utilize either single- or three-phase transmitter topologies. A description of these models, along with their validation using finite element-based simulation and their use in multi-objective optimization of DWPT systems is provided.