GaN-Based High Efficiency Transmitter for Multiple-Receiver Wireless Power Transfer

Wireless power transfer (WPT) has attracted great attention from industry and academia due to high charging flexibility. However, the efficiency of WPT is lower and the cost is higher than the wired power transfer approaches. Efforts including converter optimization, power delivery architecture improvement, and coils have been made to increase system efficiency.In this thesis, new power delivery architectures in the WPT of consumer electronics have been proposed to improve the overall system efficiency and increase the power density.First, a two-stage transmitter architecture is designed for a 100 W WPT system. After comparing with other topologies, the front-end ac-dc power factor correction (PFC) rectifier employs a totem-pole rectifier. A full bridge 6.78 MHz resonant inverter is designed for the subsequent stage. An impedance matching network provides constant transmitter coil current. The experimental results verify the high efficiency, high PF, and low total harmonic distortion (THD).Then, a single-stage transmitter is derived based on the verified two-stage structure. By integration of the PFC rectifier and full bridge inverter, two GaN FETs are saved and high efficiency is maintained. The integrated DCM operated PFC rectifier provides high PF and low THD. By adopting a control scheme, the transmitter coil current and power are regulated. A simple auxiliary circuit is employed to improve the light load efficiency. The experimental results verify the achievement of high efficiency.A closed-loop control scheme is implemented in the single-stage transmitter to supply multiple receivers simultaneously. With a controlled constant transmitter current, the system provides a smooth transition during dynamically load change. ZVS detection circuit is proposed to protect the transmitter from continuous hard switching operation. The control scheme is verified in the experiments.The multiple-reciever WPT system with the single-stage transmitter is investigated. The system operating range is discussed. The method of tracking optimum system efficiency is studied. The system control scheme and control procedure, targeting at providing a wide system operating range, robust operation and capability of tracking the optimized system efficiency, are proposed. Experiment results demonstrate the WPT system operation

Design and Implementation of a Fixed-frequency Inductive Power Transfer System

Inductive power transfer (IPT) technology has gained immense interest for battery charging applications. IPT proves to be particularly efficient and suitable for high-power applications (≈1-20kW). This makes IPT an effective alternative for charging large batteries of electric vehicles (EVs), especially large electric transit vehicles, such as trains, trams, and buses. Because of the trend that this technology is having, it is important to understand the general characteristics and its applications. Nowadays, it is not a secret that IPT technology is and will continue revolutionizing the industry and our society. The future vision is to change the way electricity has been observed since its discovery: through wires. The main objective of this thesis is to study in details the fundamentals of IPT technology and analyze two principal stages of the system: the power supply and the resonant circuit, in order to design an IPT system using effective techniques, which will improve its performance. Additionally, the thesis helps identify and suggest a design procedure that can benefit and motivate future work on this technology. Moreover, the thesis presents a prototype setup that was built in the laboratory, in order to validate the theoretical analysis and simulation results. The thesis is structured into four main parts; the first part reviews the concepts of IPT systems, the different topologies, the explanation of important design considerations, and finally, presents initial simulation results. The second part explains the characteristics of the power supply in IPT systems, the control techniques to regulate the power flow, the explanation of a proposed control strategy, and the simulation results. The third part presents the experimental test setup and related results. Finally, the fourth part presents the conclusions and suggested future work

Development of multi-MHz Class-D soft-switching inverters

Wireless Power Transmission (WPT) systems are becoming rapidly mature and accessible to customers, and it is expected that they are going to take a large share of the electrical equipment market around the world in the near future. Many tech companies and university research labs have recently focused on design, development, and optimization of different blocks of these systems. WPT systems can be designed to transfer power either through electric fields or magnetic fields. Operating at the multi-MHz frequency will bring about the smaller size of the wireless link for both types of WPT systems. The advent of Wide Bandgap (WBG) devices like Gallium Nitride (GaN) FETs and Silicon Carbide (SiC) MOSFETs has paved the road to design multi-MHz inverters and use them as the Radio Frequency (RF) power source in the transmitter of WPT systems. Designing an efficient inverter which can maintain its soft-switching performance while facing variable load or delivering variable output power is one of the major design challenges in this field. The second challenge in this area is related to the difficulties of Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) of the inverter, which is the direct result of operating at MHz switching frequency range. The Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) level can be reduced by designing a stronger filter or trying to remove the harmonics from the switching source. In this thesis, to tackle the first challenge mentioned above regarding soft switching, the Dynamic Dead-Time Control (DDTC) approach is proposed and utilized to sustain the soft-switching of a multi-MHz Full-Bridge (FB) Class-D inverter over the full range of active load and output power. Simulation results are presented to show that dynamically controlling the Dead-Time (DT) during input DC voltage control and load variations, reduces switch-node voltage overshoot, prevents large current spikes in the switching devices, and reduces associated high switching loss. Finally, experimental results obtained from the prototype of the system are provided to validate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. Then, a soft-switching multi-MHz multi-level Class-D inverter is developed to address the second challenge of EMI issues associated with MHz switching frequency operation.The inverter is designed to eliminate the 3rd and 5th harmonics from its output voltage waveform. This will, in turn, make it possible to meet EMC and achieve the same level of harmonic attenuation on the output of the inverter with a smaller size and more efficient output EMI filter as opposed to utilizing a bulky, high-order, High-Quality (HQ) filter. The impact of DT on the modulation parameters of the multi-level inverter is investigated through mathematical analysis, and the results are utilized during the system simulations and practical implementation. A prototype is built to validate the theoretical and simulation analysis on a practical testbed. The harmonic analysis comparison carried out between the experimental results obtained from the multi-level inverter and FB Class-D inverter prototypes shows how the multi-level inverter is capable of suppressing unwanted 3rd and 5th harmonic to a much lower level which in turn leads to smaller size and more efficient output filter

A novel power control strategy for induction cooktops designed by means of analytical, circuital and FEM modelling

The main target of this thesis is to provide new, fast and accurate methodologies to model and analyse the operation of a domestic hob, with a focus on the inverter, inductor and load, which represent the cornerstone of all the induction heating systems. A novel control strategy is developed in order to avoid the use of the PDM strategy for the low power levels. In the last part, a special chapter about a new concept of smart pot is presented, with some insights about the system modellization.ope

Design of contactless capacitive power transfer systems for battery charging applications

The main aim of the thesis, is to develop a high power system for small and large air-gaps applications, concurrently possessing high efficiency. To tackle the problems stated, two modified converters where proposed. The first proposed topology could yield higher power transfer for small air-gap applications. The topology proposed exhibits better efficiency and has several advantages compared to the existing topologies for small air gap applications. The second topology is called the Dual LC topology, which reduces the voltage stress across the capacitive interface enabling the CPT system to be used for large air gap applications. The Dual LC topology showcases excellent efficiency for variation in air-gap and under misalignment conditions. In final section of this thesis, the CPT system is extended to charging an industrial electric vehicle (IEV). As the requirement of charging an IEV varies depending on its battery pack. The power flow and control for the CPT systems is implemented

Soft-Switched Resonant DC-DC Converter in Underwater DC Power Distribution Network

Power distribution with DC source is advantageous over its AC counterpart in long distance distribution network due to the absence of effects of reactive components. Long distance power distribution with traditional voltage source suffers from drop in voltage over the length of the cable due to its impedance and forces the converters in the network to be over-designed with higher power rating than needed. In underwater power distribution network such as ocean observatory, marine sensors on the sea-bed etc., power conversion modules are situated at a distance far away from the shore, ranging from tens of kilometers to hundreds of kilometers. DC current distribution offers ruggedness against voltage drop over the length of the trunk cable and thus eliminates the need of converter over-design, making it the preferred choice in underwater long distance power distribution network. Moreover, distribution with DC current source improves the overall system reliability with robustness under cable fault scenarios. Converters used in underwater system require operation with high reliability with little to no maintenance due to their geographical locations. Resonant converters offer quiet and efficient operation with low EMI due to low di/dt and dv/dt owing to sinusoidal current and/or voltage and soft-switching. This makes resonant converters an excellent choice for reliable, long term operation in underwater distribution system. However, designing resonant converters with constant current input imposes certain challenges as compared voltage source input, which are analyzed in this work. Addressing these challenges it is shown how different resonant power conversion topologies can be suitably selected and designed to meet the end goal of regulating its output current or voltage for wide range of loads. Soft switching requirements of these topologies are also investigated with appropriate vi solutions to ensure devices used in these converters switch with low loss and dv/dt. Some of the critical loads in the system demand bidirectional power transfer capability which is also presented in this work with befitting topology. Detailed modeling, analysis, design and experimental results from hardware prototypes are presented for all the converters in the system operating with 250 kHz switching frequency, regulating its output voltage or current from 1 A DC current source, up to a power level of 1 kW

High Efficiency Power Converters for Vehicular Applications

The use of power electronics in the electrical propulsion systems leads to the optimal and efficient utilization of the traction motors and the energy sources (batteries and/or fuel cells) through the recourse to suitable power converters and their proper control. Power electronics is also used for implementing the multiple conversions of the energy delivered by the sources to feed the various loads, most of them requiring different waveforms of voltage (ac or dc) and/or different levels of voltage. This work focuses on the solutions aimed at improving the efficiency of power converters for vehicular applications, which is of great importance because of the limited amount of energy that can be stored in the electric vehicles. The study takes into consideration both the traction applications and the battery charging applications whether it is done by conductive means or by wireless power transfer (WPT) systems. The improvement in traction drive efficiency results in an increment of the drivetrain efficiency of the vehicle, leading to an extension in the driving range, while the employment of efficient power converters is required to charge batteries with increasingly large capacity. The losses of power devices are even more significant when they operate at high frequencies to compact the size of the filter elements and/or the transformers. The losses of power devices can be minimized by making the commutation soft or by replacing the conventional devices with the new generation devices based on wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductor materials. In this work, the properties of the WBG semiconductor materials are illustrated and the operation of the devices based on these materials are analyzed to grasp better their characteristics and performance. The losses of individual devices (i.e. diode, IGBT, MOSFET) as well as the operation of power converters for various applications are examined in detail. To evaluate the performance of the SiC devices in electric vehicle applications, an AC traction drive for the propulsion of a typical compact C-class electric car has been considered. Two versions of the inverter have been investigated, one built up with conventional Si IGBTs and the other one with SiC MOSFETs, and the losses in the semiconductor devices of the two versions have been found along the standard New European Driving Cycle (NEDC). By comparing the results, it is emerged that the usage of the SiC MOSFETs reduces the losses in the traction inverter of about 5%, yielding an equal increase in the car range. To complete the study, calculation of the efficiency has been extended to the whole traction drive, including the traction motor and the gear. Afterwards, a power factor correction (PFC) circuit, which is commonly used to mitigate the distortion in line current, has been studied. The study is started by considering the basic and the interleaved PFC configurations and by defining their circuit parameters. After selecting the interleaved configuration, the magnitude of voltages and currents in the PFC rectifier has been determined and the values obtained have been verified by a power circuit simulation software. The digital signal processing (DSP) has been also studied as it is used for the control operation of the PFC. At last, a prototype of PFC rectifier with interleaved configuration is designed. The design process and the specification of the components are described in brief. A prototype of synchronous rectifier (SR) is designed for the output stage of a WPT system. With respect to conventional rectifiers, in SRs the diodes are replaced by MOSFETs with their antiparallel diodes. MOSFETs are bidirectional devices that conduct with a low voltage drop. During the dead time, the diodes in antiparallel to the MOSFETs are conducting. At the end of dead-time, signals are applied at the MOSFET gates that make conducting all along the remaining period, thus reducing the conduction losses. The dead-time length is optimized by using fast switching devices based on SiC semiconductor materials. The prototype is designed and tested at the line frequency. The experimental results obtained from the prototype corroborate both the analytical results and the simulation results. As SR exhibits is working with high efficiency at the line frequency, it is expected that at the higher operating frequencies of the WPT systems, the performance of SR will be even better. A DC-DC isolated power converters used to setup the battery charger through wire system are studied. Two topologies of DC-DC converters, i.e. Dual Active Bridge (DAB) and Single Active Bridge (SAB) converters, are considered. For both the topologies operation are described at steady state. For SAB converter, two possible modes of operation are examined: discontinuous current conduction (DCM) and continuous current conduction (CCM). Soft-switching operation of both SAB and DAB converters, obtained by the insertion of auxiliary capacitors, is analyzed. Moreover, the soft-switching operating zone for the two converters are found as a function of the their output voltages and currents. Finally, the comparative analysis of soft-switching operation of SAB versus DAB converter is presented. The thesis work has been carried out at the Laboratory of “Electric Systems for Automation and Automotive” headed by Prof. Giuseppe Buja. The laboratory belongs to the Department of Industrial Engineering of the University of Padova, Italy

Development of a multi-megahertz frequency converter for wireless power applications

A novel wave-shifting, frequency-reducing converter topology is developed, with the target application of capacitive wireless power transmission. The new topology combines a Class-E synchronous rectifier and Class-D inverter. Zero-voltage switching is achieved, and the converter is load-independent. The developed converter is an AC-AC converter, which can divide the input frequency by any even whole number. The power throughput of the rectifier is less than that of the total converter, especially when the ratio of input to output frequency is small. Therefore, the wave-shifting converter has a potential advantage in efficiency over AC-DC-AC frequency reducers. The feasibility of the converter is demonstrated by simulation and experimental results. The intended application of the developed converter is to drive an isolation transformer in a capacitive wireless power rectifier. High-frequency transformers have been investigated, and it is shown that a suitable transformer is compatible with the developed converter

Analysis and Design of Current-fed Wireless Inductive Power Transfer Systems

Wireless Inductive Power Transfer (IPT) technology promises a very convenient, reliable, and safe way of transferring power wirelessly. Recent research on IPT establishes its indispensable role and suitability in electric vehicle (EV) applications. Efficient design of both converters and IPT coils are essential to make this technology feasible for mass deployment. The existing research on IPT is mainly based on power converters derived from voltage-source inverter (VSI) topologies, where feasibility of current-source inverter (CSI) has received very limited attention. Considering certain limitations of voltage-fed converters, this research is focused on the concept study and feasibility analysis of current-fed power electronics for IPT systems, where the primary application is EV charging. CSI leads to parallel LC resonance in the primary side of IPT. The advantages of the parallel tank networks include lower inverter device current stress, very close to sinusoidal coil current, soft-switching of inverter devices, and natural short circuit protection during fault etc. Considering these merits, a new IPT topology is proposed in this thesis, where the inverter is full-bridge CSI and the compensations in primary and secondary sides are parallel and series types, respectively. Compared with the existing IPT topology with current-fed push-pull inverter, the proposed system does not have startup and frequency bifurcation issues. However, due to weak coupling between IPT coils, the primary side parallel capacitor experiences high voltage stress in higher power levels, and this voltage directly appears on inverter devices. To overcome this, a modified IPT topology fed from a CSI is proposed, where the primary compensation is parallel-series type and secondary compensation is series type. Detailed steady-state operation, converter design, soft-switching conditions, small-signal modelling, and closed-loop control are reported for both the topologies. To verify analytical predictions, numerical simulation is performed in PSIM 10 and experimental results obtained from a 1.6kW lab-built prototype are reported. Considering the requirement of bi-directional power flow capability to support energy injection from vehicle to grid (V2G) for future smart-grid applications, a new bidirectional IPT topology with current-fed converter is proposed. It has current-sharing feature in grid side converter and voltage doubling feature in vehicle side converter. This is the first attempt to implement bidirectional IPT with current-fed circuit and demonstrate grid to vehicle (G2V) and V2G operation. Keeping inverter output power factor lagging, ZVS turn-on of the inverter devices are always ensured irrespective of load variation. Detailed steady-state operation and converter design for both G2V and V2G modes are reported. Experimental results obtained from a 1.2kW lab-prototype are reported to verify the analysis and performances of bidirectional IPT circuit. The last part of this thesis addresses the possible improvements on reducing the number of power conversion stages to achieve higher system efficiency, compact size and reduced cost. This is usually done by using direct ac-ac converter as the primary side converter of IPT. Existing single stage IPT topologies are derived from VSI topology. From source side, these topologies have buck derived structure; therefore, none of them draw high quality current from source. In this thesis a new single stage IPT topology is proposed, which has boost derived structure and thereby capable of maintaining unity power factor at source. Dynamic load demand, source current waveshaping and effective wireless power transfer are achieved with two-loop control method. Experimental results obtained from a 1.2kW grid-connected lab-prototype are reported to justify the suitability of this single-stage IPT topology for practical use

Three-Phase Unfolding Based Soft DC-Link Converter Topologies for AC to DC Applications

Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plugin hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) are more efficient than internal combustion-based vehicles. Adaption of EVs will help reduce the carbon emissions produced by the transportation sector. The charging infrastructure has to grow at a rapid pace to encourage EV adaption. Installing higher capacity fast chargers will help alleviate the range anxiety of battery electric vehicle customers. More public charging stations are required for the full adaption of EVs. Utility power is distributed as ‘alternating current.’ A battery requires ‘direct current’ (DC) source to charge it. Hence a power converter that converts AC source to DC source is required to charge an electric vehicle battery. Public transportation is another sector that is adapting electric vehicles at a fast pace. These vehicles require more power to operate and hence have huge battery packs. These vehicles require ultra-high-power charger to keep the charging time reasonable. A 60 Hz stepdown transformer is required at the facility to use the power. The cost and time to install this heavy transformer will inhibit the setting up a charging station. Power converters than can connect to medium voltage directly will eliminate the need for the step-down transformer saving space and cost. Commercially available state-of-the-art fast charging converters are adapted from general purpose commercial and industrial application rectifiers. The efficiencies of these converters tend to be lower (around 94%) due to the two-stage power conversion architecture. All the power that flows from the AC utility grid to charge the battery will be processed and filtered through two power conversion stages. Due to the anticipated increase in demand, there is a renewed interest in developing power converter topologies specific to battery charging applications. The objective here is to develop cheaper and compact power converters for battery charging. This dissertation proposes an innovative quasi-single stage power converter topologies for battery charging applications and direct medium voltage connected converters. The proposed topology fundamentally can achieve higher efficiency and power density than the conventional two-stage based converters. Only one stage requires filtering and incurs power conversion losses. Control burden is usually higher for single stage topologies. Innovative control approaches are presented to simplify the control complexity