Low cost circular couplers for bi-directional IPT systems

Depletion of fossil fuels and growing concerns about climate change have resulted in an increasing trend towards the use of sustainable technologies such as electric vehicles (EVs). As a result, effective means of charging EVs and managing EVs has become one of the most researched topics in the past few years. Among the many solutions proposed, inductive power transfer (IPT) systems, especially bi-directional IPT systems, are gaining popularity as an effective method to wirelessly interface EVs with the utility grid for charging as well as dynamic demand management. To enable wide spread use of bi-directional IPT technology for interfacing EVs with the gird essentially requires low cost and efficient magnetic couplers. As such, this paper investigates three new low cost magnetic designs, as alternatives to commonly used circular couplers. The proposed designs along with a standard circular coupler with similar ratings are modeled and simulated on JMAG studio to compare the performance. Based on the simulation data and experimental results gathered from a prototype implementation, the most effective design that yields a good coupling for the lowest cost has been identified as a possible solution for magnetic couplers used in bi-directional IPT systems.