Dynamic Wireless Power Transfer System for

Electric Vehicles to Simplify Ground Facilities

- Power Control and Efficiency Maximization
on the Secondary Side -

Katsuhiro Hata, Takehiro Imura, and Yoichi Hori

The University of Tokyo
5–1–5, Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba, 277–8561, Japan
Phone: +81-4-7136-3881, Fax: 81-4-7136-3881
Email: hata@hflab.k.u-tokyo.ac.jp, imura@hori.k.u-toyko.ac.jp, hori@k.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Abstract—A dynamic wireless power transfer (WPT) system

C1 Lm C2
for electric vehicles can extend their cruising distance and reduce I1 R1 R2 I2
the size of their energy storage system. Power control and
efficiency maximization of WPT are preferable to be controlled on
the secondary side because ground facilities of the dynamic charg-
ing system have to be simplified. Although previous research has V1 L1 L2 V2 RL
proposed a secondary-side simultaneous control of the maximum
efficiency and the desired power, the battery charging current
cannot be controlled directly. In this paper, a novel secondary-side Power source Transmitter and Receiver Load
control method for power control and efficiency maximization is
proposed. The battery charging power is controlled by the DC- (a) Equivalent circuit of magnetic resonant coupling.
DC converter and the transmitting efficiency is maximized by
Half Active Rectifier. These control strategies and the controller C1 C2
I1 R1 L1-Lm L2-Lm R2 I2
design are proposed based on the WPT circuit analysis and the
power converter model. The effectiveness of the proposed method
is verified by simulation and experiment.
Keywords—Electric vehicle, Dynamic wireless power transfer, V1 Lm V2 RL
Efficiency maximization, Power control, Secondary-side control

I. I NTRODUCTION Power source Transmitter and Receiver Load

Electric vehicles (EVs) have gathered attention for their (b) T–type equivalent circuit.
highly environmental performance. Additionally, their electric
motors can achieve a high performance in motion control Fig. 1. Equivalent circuit of wireless power transfer system.
because of a faster torque response over internal combustion
engines [1]. However, their limited mileage per charge, which
are caused by a low energy density of their energy storage
system, imposes the need for a frequent and complicated Previous research on the secondary-side control has pro-
charging on users. posed maximum efficiency control [8], [9] and power control
[10]. Additionally, efficiency and power can be controlled
Wireless power transfer (WPT) can mitigate complicated simultaneously using two power converters [11]. This control
charging operations and endure the frequent charging. Addi- method uses a DC-DC converter and Half Active Rectifier
tionally, a dynamic WPT system can provide electricity to EVs (HAR), which is a role as an AC-DC converter. The trans-
in motion. As a result, the cruising distance can be extended mitting efficiency is maximized by the DC-DC converter and
and the size of the energy storage system can be reduced [2– the transmitting power is controlled by the HAR. However,
5]. However, ground facilities of the dynamic WPT system, this method cannot control battery charging power directly.
which are composed of power source, high-frequency inverters,
transmitters, and so on, are applied to rugged roadways over This paper proposes a novel secondary-side control method
long distances. Consequently, a feasible control strategy for for power control and efficiency maximization. The proposed
the dynamic charging system is different from a stationary method directly controls the battery charging current using the
charging system. In order to simplify ground facilities, a DC-DC converter. Because the DC link voltage becomes unsta-
secondary-side control is preferable to a primary-side control ble [12], the proposed method stabilizes the DC link voltage
[6] or a dual-side control [7]. Therefore, this paper focuses on using the HAR and maximize the transmitting efficiency by
the secondary-side control without signal communication. determining the reference value of the DC link voltage.
 1 2.5
η
0.8 P 2

Transmitting efficiency η

Chaging power P [kW]

0.6 1.5

0.4 1

0.2 0.5

0 0
1 10 100 1000 10000
Load resistance RL [Ω]
Fig. 2. Transmitter and receiver coils.

TABLE I. S PECIFICATIONS OF COILS . Fig. 3. Load resistance vs. transmitting efficiency and charging power.

Primary side Secondary side

Resistance R1 , R2 1.24 Ω 1.23 Ω 1 2.5
η
Inductance L1 , L2 615 µH 615 µH
0.8 P 2

Transmitting efficiency η
Capacitance C1 , C2 4000 pF 4000 pF

Chaging power P [kW]

Resonant frequency f1 , f2 101 kHz 101 kHz
Outer diameter 440 mm 0.6 1.5
Number of turns 50 turns
Coil gap 300 mm 0.4 1

Mutual inductance Lm 37.8 µH

Coupling coefficient k 0.0615 0.2 0.5

0 0
1 10 100 1000 10000
II. W IRELESS P OWER T RANSFER VIA M AGNETIC Secondary voltage V2 [V]
R ESONANCE C OUPLING
A. Characteristics at resonance frequency Fig. 4. Secondary voltage vs. transmitting efficiency and charging power.
This paper uses WPT via magnetic resonance coupling
[13], which is compensated by a series-series (SS) circuit
topology. Fig. 1 shows an equivalent circuit of the WPT system B. Maximization of transmitting efficiency
[14]. The transmitter and receiver coils are connected to the
resonance capacitors in series. They are characterized by the In order to maximize the transmitting efficiency η, the load
self-inductances L1 , L2 , the series-resonance capacitances C1 , resistance RL should be optimized as follows [15]:
√ { }
C2 , and the internal resistances R1 , R2 , respectively. Lm is the
(ω0 Lm )2
mutual inductance between the transmitter and the receiver. RLηmax = R2 + R2 . (4)
V1 is the RMS voltage of the power source and its angular R1
frequency ω0 is the same as the resonance angular frequency In a dynamic WPT system for EVs, the mutual inductance Lm
of the transmitter and the receiver, which are expressed as changes depending on the motion of the vehicle. Therefore, RL
follows: has to be controlled according to Lm .
1 1
ω0 = √ =√ . (1) As a method to control RL , Secondary voltage control
L1 C1 L2 C2
methods have been proposed [8], [9]. In order to obtain the
The transmitter and the receiver that used in this study are optimal secondary voltage V2ηmax , the secondary voltage V2
shown in Fig. 2 and their specifications are described in versus the transmitting efficiency η and the charging power P
TABLE. I. are depicted in Fig. 4. For efficiency maximization, V2ηmax
When the load resistance is RL , the transmitting efficiency value is determined as follows [8]:
√
η and the transmitting power P can be analyzed by the circuit R2 ω0 Lm
equation and they are obtained as follows [15]: V2ηmax = √ √ V1 . (5)
R1 R1 R2 + (ω0 Lm )2 + R1 R2
(ω0 Lm )2 RL
η= (2)
(R2 + RL ){R1 R2 + R1 RL + (ω0 Lm )2 } In this study, the amplitude of the primary voltage V1 is
(ω0 Lm )2 RL fixed to simplify ground facilities. Then, if R1 is assumed
2
P = 2 V1 . (3) to be constant and given, Lm can be estimated from the
{R1 R2 + R1 RL + (ω0 Lm ) }2
secondary side [9]. Therefore, efficiency maximization using
When the amplitude of V1 equals to 100 V, Fig. 3 shows the secondary voltage control can be achieved based on secondary-
load resistance RL versus the transmitting efficiency η and the side information, which are the secondary voltage V2 and the
charging power P . secondary current I2 .
 Pin I 1 C1 R1 Lm R2 C2 I2
P Idc
PL
S1
L iL
d
Vdc r
VS V1 L1 L2 V2 Cdc

S2 E

Power source Transmitter and receiver Half Active Rectifier DC-DC converter Battery

Fig. 5. Circuit diagram of the wireless power transfer system.

PL PL
P Idc P = 0, Idc = 0
Vhigh

V2 V2 = 0 Vdc*
Vdc Vdc
Cdc Cdc Vlow
≈ ≈ ≈ ≈
t
Trect Tshort
(a) Rectification mode (b) Short mode

Fig. 6. Operation modes of Half Active Rectifier. Fig. 7. Waveform of the DC link voltage.

result, Vdc is decreased in the short mode. Therefore, Vdc can

C. System configuration
be controlled by switching between the rectification mode and
Previous research on maximum efficiency control has pro- the short mode. In this paper, Vdc is controlled using hysteresis
posed using a diode rectifier and a DC-DC converter on the comparator [16].
secondary side [8], [9]. However, this control cannot achieve
The upper bound Vhigh and the lower bound Vlow are
the desired charging power because the secondary voltage
defined as follows:
V2 is controlled for efficiency maximization. As a result, the
charging power P is determined by V2ηmax , which is given by Vhigh = Vdc ∗ + ∆V (6)
eq. (5). Vlow = Vdc ∗ − ∆V, (7)
In this paper, a secondary-side simultaneous control where Vdc ∗ is the reference value of Vdc and ∆V is the
method of efficiency maximization and power control is pro- hysteresis band. If Vdc becomes smaller than Vlow , the HAR
posed. Fig. 5 shows the circuit diagram of the WPT system is operated in the rectification mode. Additionally, when Vdc
for the simultaneous control. The diode rectifier is replaced becomes larger than Vhigh , the HAR switches to the short
with the HAR, which maximize the transmitting efficiency η. mode. As shown in Fig. 7, Vdc is kept within the desired range.
Then, the DC link voltage Vdc is regulated by the HAR to
achieve eq. (5). Additionally, the battery charging current IL B. Efficiency maximization
is controlled by the DC-DC converter. These control strategies
are described further below. In order to achieve the maximum efficiency, Vdc ∗ has to
be equal to Vdcηmax , which is given as follows [8]:
√
III. E FFICIENCY M AXIMIZATION BY H ALF ACTIVE R2 ω0 Lm
R ECTIFIER Vdcηmax = √ √ VS . (8)
R1 R1 R2 + (ω0 Lm )2 + R1 R2
A. DC link voltage control
Then, the transmitting efficiency η can be maximized during
The HAR is operated by two modes, which are shown the rectification mode. Meanwhile, losses in the short mode
in Fig. 6. In the rectification mode, the HAR is operated as is small compared to losses in the rectification mode. This is
the diode rectifier. If the charging power P is larger than the because the secondary voltage V2 is nearly equal to zero and
load power PL , Vdc is increased. On the other hand, the short the input power Pin is drastically decreased in the short mode.
mode is worked by turning on lower arm MOSFETs. Then, P In this paper, losses during the short mode are assumed to be
is cut-off and PL is supplied by the DC link capacitor. As a negligible to losses during the rectification mode.
 PL FF controller
Vdcηmax
S1 Equilibrium point
d(t) L iL r calculation
D
Vdcηmax
iL *
∆d + iL
S2 E CPI (z) DC-DC converter
+ - +
FB controller

(a) Simplified DC-DC converter

Fig. 9. Block diagram of load current control.
iL L
iL r
L r

Vdcηmax E Vdcηmax E D as the equilibrium point, iL (t) and d(t) are expressed as
follows:
(b) S1 :on, S2 :off (c) S1 :off, S2 :on iL (t) = IL + ∆iL (t) (12)
Fig. 8. Circuit diagram of the DC-DC converter. d(t) = D + ∆d(t), (13)
where ∆iL (t) and ∆d(t) are the microscopic fluctuations
around the equilibrium point. By substituting eq. (12) and
IV. P OWER C ONTROL BY THE DC-DC C ONVERTER eq. (13) in eq. (11), the linearized DC-DC converter model
is obtained as follows:
A. Circuit configuration
d r Vdcηmax
If the DC link voltage Vdc is regulated by the HAR, the ∆iL (t) = − ∆iL (t) + ∆d(t). (14)
dt L L
circuit diagram of the DC-DC converter can be indicated as
Fig. 8 (a). In this study, Vdcηmax is used as the nominal value of Therefore, the transfer function from ∆d(s) to ∆iL (s) is given
the DC link voltage to simplify the DC-DC converter model. as follows:
E is the battery voltage, L is the inductance of the reactor ∆iL (s) Vdcηmax
coil and r is the internal resistance of the reactor coil and the ∆Pi (s) = = . (15)
∆d(s) Ls + r
battery. In order to achieve power control, the load current iL
has to be controlled in battery charging.
C. Controller design
B. Modeling of the DC-DC converter Fig. 9 shows the block diagram of the load current control.
The feedforward controller is the same as the equilibrium point
This paper assumes that the DC-DC converter is operated
calculation, which is given by the constraint equation of the
in the continues conduction mode because the MOSFETs
DC-DC converter. Assuming iL ∗ is the reference value of iL ,
of the DC-DC converter are alternatively turned on and off.
the equilibrium point IL and D are obtained as follows:
Therefore, the operation modes are expressed in Fig. 8 (b)
and Fig. 8 (c). IL = i L ∗ (16)
The plant model of the DC-DC converter is obtained by E + rIL
D= . (17)
the state space averaging method. From the circuit equation, Vdcηmax
the state equation of Fig.8 (b) is described as follows:
The feedback controller is designed by the pole placement
d r 1 1 method. As the plant model of the DC-DC converter is
iL (t) = − iL (t) − E + Vdcηmax . (9)
dt L L L expressed by the first-order transfer function, we use a PI
Also, the state equation of Fig.8 (c) is expressed as follows: controller CP I (s), which is described as follow:
sKP + KI
d r 1 CP I (s) = . (18)
iL (t) = − iL (t) − E. (10) s
dt L L
If closed loop poles are expressed by a multiple root ωc , the
When d(t) is defined as the duty cycle of the upper side gains are obtained as follows:
MOSFET S1 , the state space model of the DC-DC converter
is obtained as follows: 2Lωc − r
KP = (19)
d r 1 Vdcηmax Vdcηmax
iL (t) = − iL (t) − E + d(t). (11) Lωc 2
dt L L L KI = . (20)
Vdcηmax
As the DC-DC converter is a non-linear system, it is
linearized around an equilibrium point to apply the linear In order to implement the discretized controller CP I (z),
control theory on the controller design. By defining IL and CP I (s) is redesigned by Tustin transform.
 80 1 1 40
w/ w/ w/ w/

Transmitting efficiency η

Transmitting efficiency η
DC link voltage Vdc [V]

w/o w/o

Input power Pin [W]

30
60 0.9 0.9

20
40 0.8 0.8
10

20 0.7 0.7 0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05
Time [s] Time [s] Time [s] Time [s]

(a) DC link voltage Vdc (b) Transmitting efficiency η (c) Transmitting efficiency η (zoom) (d) Input power Pin

Fig. 10. Simulation results of efficiency maximization by Half Active Rectifier

29.5 1.5 1.5 0.55

d (FF+FB)
DC link voltage Vdc [V]

D (FF)

Load current IL [A]

Load current IL [A]

29
1 1 0.5

Duty cycle
28.5

0.5 0.5 0.45

28

27.5 0 0 0.4
-0.02 -0.01 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 -0.02 -0.01 0 0.01 0.02 0.03 -1 0 1 2 3 4 -0.02 -0.01 0 0.01 0.02 0.03
-3
Time [s] Time [s] Time [s] x 10 Time [s]

(a) DC link voltage Vdc (b) Load current IL (c) Load current IL (zoom) (d) Duty cycle d

Fig. 11. Simulation results of power control by the DC-DC converter with Half Active Rectifier.

TABLE II. S IMULATION AND EXPERIMENTAL CONDITIONS .

Parameter Value
Power source voltage VS 30 V
Operating frequency f0 101 kHz
DC link voltage reference Vdc ∗ 28.38 V
Hysteresis band ∆V 0.5 V
Battery voltage E 12 V
Reactor resistance r 0.5 Ω
Reactor inductance L 1000 µH
DC link capacitance Cdc 3300 µF
Carrier frequency fc 20 kHz

Fig. 12. Half Active Rectifier and DC-DC converter.

V. S IMULATION
Simulations are performed using MATLAB Simlink Sim- maximize η during the rectification mode as shown in Fig.
PowerSystems. The circuit configuration is shown in Fig. 5. 10 (c). Additionally, Fig. 10 (d) shows that the input power
Simulation conditions are described in TABLE II. The inverter Pin is reduced during the short mode. Therefore, it is verified
supplies the transmitter with a square wave voltage. that efficiency maximization by the HAR is effective.

A. Efficiency maximization by Half Active Rectifier B. Power control by the DC-DC converter with Half Active
Rectifier.
In order to verify the effectiveness of maximum efficiency
control by the HAR, this simulation replaced the DC-DC In this simulation, Vdc was regulated by the HAR and the
converter with a constant power load, which is modeled load current iL was controlled by the DC-DC converter. The
using controlled current source [12], independent of the power closed loop poles of the load current control were placed at
control performance by the DC-DC converter. The load power -3000 rad/s (multiple root). The load current reference iL ∗ was
PL was set to 10 W. In case of without control, the HAR was changed from 0.5 A to 1 A at t = 0 s.
operated in the rectification mode at all times.
Simulation results of power control by the DC-DC con-
Fig. 10 shows simulations results of efficiency maximiza- verter with the HAR are shown in Fig. 11. The HAR can
tion by the HAR. From Fig. 10 (a) and (b) without control, the regulate Vdc within the desired range as shown in Fig. 11 (a).
DC link voltage Vdc is unstable and departs from the reference The step response of iL is shown in Fig. 11 (b) and (c). The
voltage Vdcηmax , which maximize the transmitting efficiency proposed control achieves the fast response without steady-
η. On the other hand, the HAR control using the hysteresis state errors. Fig. 11 (d) shows the duty cycle of the DC-DC
comparator can stabilize Vdc within the desired range and converter. The feedforward controller updates the equilibrium
 29.5 1.5 1.5 0.5
d (FF+FB)

0.48 D (FF)
DC link voltage Vdc [V]

29 1 1

Load current iL [A]

Load current iL [A]

Duty cycle
0.46
28.5 0.5 0.5
0.44

28 0 0
0.42

27.5 -0.5 -0.5 0.4

-0.05 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 -0.05 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 -0.005 0 0.005 0.01 0.015 -0.05 0 0.05 0.1 0.15
Time [s] Time [s] Time [s] Time [s]

(a) DC link voltage Vdc (b) Load current iL (c) Load current iL (zoom) (d) Duty cycle d

Fig. 13. Experimental results of power control by the DC-DC converter with Half Active Rectifier.

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