Precise Analysis on Mutual Inductance Variation in DynamicWireless Charging of Electric Vehicle

Wireless power transfer provides an opportunity to charge electric vehicles (EVs) without electrical cables. Two categories of this technique are distinguished: Stationary Wireless Charging (SWC) and DynamicWireless Charging (DWC) systems. Implementation of DWC is more desirable than SWC as it can potentially eliminate challenges associated with heavy weight batteries and time-consuming charging processes. However, power transfer efficiency and range, lateral misalignment of coils as well as implementation cost are issues affecting DWC. These issues need to be addressed through developing coil architectures and topologies as well as operating novel semiconductor switches at higher frequencies. This study presents a small-scale dynamic wireless power transfer system for EV. It specifically concentrates on analyzing the dynamic mutual inductance between the coils due to the misalignment as it has significant influence on the EV charging process, particularly, over the output power and overall efficiency. A simulation study is carried out to explore dynamic mutual inductance profile between the transmitter and receiver coils. Mutual inductance simulation results are then verified through practical measurements on fabricated coils. Integrating the practical results into the model, an EV DWC power transfer simulation is conducted and the relation between dynamic mutual inductance and output power are discussed technically

First self-resonant frequency of power inductors based on approximated corrected stray capacitances

Inductive devices are extensively employed in power electronic systems due to their magnetic energy storage and power transfer capabilities. The current trend is towards increasing the frequency of operation in order to reduce the size of the magnetic components, but the main drawback is that the parasitic capacitance effect can become significant, and degrade the performance of the system. This work analyses the influence of this stray capacitance, and considers how to improve the performance of the device. In general, the impact of the stray capacitance on a magnetic component can be reduced by two methods: reducing the parasitic capacitance between turns of the winding or, alternatively, modifying the arrangement of the connection between turns. To evaluate the last option, an approximated expression of the first self-resonant frequency of the magnetic device is proposed. This gives a rapid assessment of the performance of different devices maintaining the overall equivalent inductance. The proposed expression accounts for the influence of the connection between turns in the bandwidth of the component. Finally, some numerical results are verified with planar coils manufactured on two-layer printed circuit boards

Novel Conformal Strongly Coupled Magnetic Resonance Systems

Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) is an emerging technology in today’s society. Recently, many advancements to WPT systems have been implemented, such as, the introduction of the Strongly Coupled Magnetic Resonance (SCMR) and Conformal SCMR (CSCMR) methods. These methods allow WPT systems to operate at increased distances with smaller dimensional footprints. However, their range is still limited and needs to be expanded, and their footprint is sometimes large and needs to be miniaturized. Therefore, the goal of this research is to develop new designs and methodologies that can achieve the range extension and miniaturization of CSCMR systems. Furthermore, many wireless devices are used today in the proximity of the human body (e.g., wearable and implantable applications). Therefore, WPT systems should be safe to use when placed on or inside the human body. To address this need, the secondary goal of this research is to study the effects of WPT systems when placed on or inside the human body

Design of magneto-inductive waveguide for sensing applications

textThis dissertation has been motivated by the increasing application of sensing technologies in structural health monitoring. Many wireless sensor techniques exist for structural health monitoring while a challenge faced is the finite lifetime of batteries. The objective of this dissertation is to develop passive wireless technology to provide early warning of conditions that damage the structure. In this dissertation, sensing mechanism is proposed based on time and frequency domain characteristics of magneto-inductive (MI) waves. Experimental results are also presented to demonstrate the sensing mechanism. MI waves are predominantly magnetic waves that are supported in periodic arrays of magnetically coupled resonators and propagate within a narrow frequency band around the resonant frequency. The array is to be embedded in a structure and different types of transducers can be integrated for different sensing applications. With the onset of structure defect, the transducer introduces an impedance discontinuity that generates reflected MI waves along the array, which are monitored and processed by Smoothed Wigner-Ville distribution (WVD) to extract time-of-flight for frequency components in the narrow passband. The transmission and reflection coefficients of MI waves are also investigated based on the lumped-element circuit model of the array. Based on MI waves travel time, amplitude and group velocity, the position and severity of structure defect are decided. The sensing mechanisms for different distribution of defects are proposed. The validity of the sensing mechanism is examined in experiments. The guided wave testing is implemented in one-dimensional square-shaped printed spiral resonators with Q-factor of 161 at 13.6 MHz. It demonstrates that low MI waves propagation loss is achieved with value of 0.098 dB per element at mid-band with center-to-center distance of half an inch. A pitch-catch measurement system is built to capture traveling MI signal in resonant element and extract group velocity, and a pulse-echo measurement system is designed to monitor reflected MI signal and locate structure discontinuity. In both measurement systems, MI waves are excited with wide bandwidth voltage pulse, and a digitizer is attached to sense the MI signal in a specific resonant element circuit. A baseline signal is obtained from the healthy state to use as reference and comparison with the test case using pitch-catch system. The test signal subtracted from baseline signal infers the structure damage information with time and frequency domain characteristics. It can offer an effective method to estimate the structure discontinuity location, severity and type of damage. The experimental results are consistent with the theoretical predictions. At the end, future directions for the research to integrate with other technologies are suggested.Electrical and Computer Engineerin

Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Termination Impedance Effects in Wireless Power Transfer via Metamaterial

This paper presents an investigation of the transmitted power in a wireless power transfer system that employs a metamaterial. Metamaterials are a good means to transfer power wirelessly, as they are composed of multiple inductively-coupled resonators. The system can be designed and matched simply through magneto-inductive wave theory, particularly when the receiver inductor is located at the end of the metamaterial line. However, the power distribution changes significantly in terms of transmitted power, efficiency and frequency if the receiver inductor slides along the line. In this paper, the power distribution and transfer efficiency are analysed, studying the effects of a termination impedance in the last cell of the metamaterial and improving the system performance for the resonant frequency and for any position of the receiver inductor. Furthermore, a numerical characterisation is presented in order to support experimental tests and to predict the performance of a metamaterial composed of spiral inductor cells with very good accuracy

Developments of thick-metal inductors and applications to reactive lumped-element low-pass filter circuits

Strong demands for smaller, cheaper, and multifunction wireless systems have put very stringent requirements on passive devices, such as inductors and capacitors. This is especially true considering the size and weight of most radio frequency (RF) transceivers are mainly due to passives. RF micro-electro-mechanical-systems (MEMS) passives are addressing this issue by offering lower power consumption and losses, higher linearity and quality (Q)-factors, potential for integration and miniaturization, and batch fabrication. These advantages position RF MEMS passives as good candidates to replace conventional passives. Further, they also open an opportunity for using the passives as building blocks for lumped element-based RF circuits (e.g. Flters, couplers, etc.) which could replace the more-bulky distributed-element circuits. This thesis presents the design, simulation, fabrication using the deep X-ray lithography process, and testing of thick-metal RF inductors and their applications to lumped-element low-pass Filter (LPF) circuits. The 70-um tall single-turn loop inductors are structurally compatible to a pre-existing RF MEMS capacitor concept and allow the two device types to be fabricated together. This compatibility issue is crucial if they would be used to construct more complex RF circuits. At a 50-Ohm inductive reactance point, test results show Q-factors of 17- 55, self-resonant frequencies (SRF) exceeding 11 GHz, and nominal inductances of 0.4- 3 nH for 1-loop inductors and Q-factors of 11- 42, SRFs of 4- 22 GHz, and inductances of 0.8- 5.5 nH for 2-loop inductors. Further, test results reveal that high conductivity metals improve the Q-factors, and that low dielectric-constant substrates increase the SRFs. In terms of LPFs, measurements show that they demonstrate the expected third-order Chebyshev response. Two nickel Filters on a quartz glass substrate show a 0.6-dB ripple with 3-dB frequencies (f-3dB) of 6.1 GHz and 11.9 GHz respectively. On an alumina substrate, they exhibit a 1.4-dB ripple with f-3dB of 5.4 GHz and 10.6 GHz respectively. The filters are 203- 285 um tall and feature 6- 6.5 um wide capacitance air gaps. These dimensions are different than the original designs and the filter performances were shown to be somewhat sensitive to these discrepancies. Compared to a distributed approach, the lumped-element implementations led to an area reduction of up to 95%

Near-field baseband communication system for use in biomedical implants

This thesis introduces the reader to the near-field baseband pulse radio communication for biomedical implants. It details the design and implementation of the complete communication system with a particular emphasis on the antenna structure and waveform coding that is compatible with this particular technology. The wireless communication system has great employability in small pill-sized biomedical diagnostic devices offering the advantages of low power consumption and easy integration with SoC and lab-in-a-pill technologies. The greatest challenge was the choice of antenna that had to be made to effectively transmit the pulses. A systematic approach has been carried out in arriving at the most suitable antenna for efficient emanation of pulses and the fields around it are analysed electromagnetically using a commercially available software. A magnetic antenna can be used to transmit the information from inside a human body to the outside world. The performance of the above antenna was evaluated in a salt solution of different concentrations which is similar to a highly conductive lossy medium like a human body. Near-field baseband pulse transmission is a waveform transmission scheme wherein the pulse shape is crucial for decoding information at the receiver. This demands a new approach to the antenna design, both at the transmitter and the receiver. The antenna had to be analysed in the time-domain to know its effects on the pulse and an expression for the antenna bandwidth has been proposed in this thesis. The receiving antenna should be able to detect very short pulses and while doing so has to also maintain the pulse shape with minimal distortion. Different loading congurations were explored to determine the most feasible one for receiving very short pulses. Return-to-zero (RZ), Non-return-zero (NRZ) and Manchester coded pulse waveforms were tested for their compatibility and performance with the near-field baseband pulse radio communication. It was concluded that Manchester coded waveform are perfectly suited for this particular near-field communication technology. Pulse interval modulation was also investigated and the findings suggested that it was easier to implement and had a high throughput rate too. A simple receiver algorithm has been suggested and practically tested on a digital signal processor. There is further scope for research to develop complex signal processing algorithms at the receiver