Petroleum Engineering School, Southwest Petroleum University
Abstract
In this thesis, the performance, modelling and application of a planar electromagnetic
coil are discussed. Due to the small size profiles and their non‐contact nature, planar
coils are widely used due to their simple and basic design. The uncertain parameters
have been identified and simulated using ANSYS that has been run utilising a newly
developed MATLAB code. This code has made it possible to run thousands of trials
without the need to manually input the various parameters for each run. This has
facilitated the process of obtaining all the probable solutions within the defined range
of properties. The optimum and robust design properties were then determined. The
thesis discusses the experimentation and the finite element modelling (FEM)
performed for developing the design of planar coils and used in wireless chargers. In
addition, the thesis investigates the performance of various topologies of planar coils
when they are used in wireless chargers. The ANSYS Maxwell FEM package has been
used to analyse the models while varying the topologies of the coils. For this purpose,
different models in FEM were constructed and then tested with topologies such as
circular, square and hexagon coil configurations. The described methodology is
considered as an effective way for obtaining maximum Power transfer efficiency (PTE)
with a certain distance on planar coils with better performance. The explored designs
studies are, namely: (1) Optimization of Planar Coil Using Multi-core, (2) planar coil
with an Orthogonal Flux Guide, (3) Using the Variable Geometry in a Planar coil for an
Optimised Performance by using the robust design method, (4) Design and Integration
of Planar coil on wireless charger. In the first design study, the aim is to present the
behaviour of a newly developed planar coil, built from a Mu-metal, via simulation. The
structure consists of an excitation coil, sensing coils and three ferromagnetic cores
2
located on the top, middle and bottom sections of the coil in order to concentrate the
field using the iterative optimisation technique. Magnetic materials have characteristics
which allows them to influence the magnetic field in its environment.
The second design study presents the optimal geometry and material selection for
the planar with an Orthogonal Flux Guide. The study demonstrates the optimising of
the materials and geometry of the coil that provides savings in terms of material usage
as well as the employed electric current to produce an equivalent magnetic field.
The third design study presents the variable geometry in a planar inductor to obtain
the optimised performance. The study has provided the optimum and robust design
parameters in terms of different topologies such as circular, square and hexagon coil
configurations and then tested, Once the best topology is chosen based on
performance. The originality of the work is evident through the randomisation of the
parameters using the developed MATLAB code and the optimisation of the joint
performance under defined conditions.
Finally, the fourth design study presents the development of the planar coil
applications. Three shapes of coils are designed and experimented to calculate the
inductance and the maximum power transfer efficiency (PTW) over various spacing
distances and frequency
