A contactless bi-directional power interface for plug-in hybrid vehicles

The alarming rate, at which global energy reserves are depleting, is a major worldwide concern at economic, environmental, industrial and community levels. A partial solution to this crisis is the use of decentralized generations (DG) and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) plug-in electric vehicles. This paper presents a novel multiple pick-up bidirectional inductive power transfer (IPT) system, which enables efficient and contactless integration of hybrid vehicles into typical DG systems. The proposed system uses a reversible rectifier on each side of the contactless IPT system to control both the amount and direction of power flow through phase modulation. Simulation results suggest that the proposed bidirectional V2G IPT link is feasible, and it is expected to gain popularity amongst both commercial and residential users.