Magnetic couplers in kickstands for wireless charging of electric bicycles

This paper investigates magnetic couplers which could potentially be installed within or around a kickstand of an electric bicycle to provide wireless charging capability to the bicycle. The bicycle kickstands considered were the side stand and bracket stand. A cylindrical solenoidal pickup and a solenoidal bar pickup are proposed to be housed in the side stand and bracket stand respectively. Two primary pads are proposed for each of those pickups. Each of these configurations are simulated and analyzed. It is shown that a solenoidal bar pickup with a Double-D provides the highest coupling while the solenoidal bar pickup and primary appears to be the cheapest option, utilizing the least amount of ferrite and copper. A Double-D primary pad with a solenoidal bar pickup was built and practical measurements were shown to match with simulation. The built magnetic coupler was used in a prototype system and is able to produce an output of 200W with an efficiency of 86%.