Novel Unity-Gain Frequency Tracking Control of Series–Series Resonant Converter to Improve Efficiency and Receiver Positioning Flexibility in Wireless Charging of Portable Electronics

Currently available wireless charging technology for portable electronics demonstrates several shortcomings. For the consumers, the two major shortcomings are limited receiver positioning flexibility and lower efficiency compared to hard-connected charging. For the industry, the major disadvantages are higher cost and complexity in design and control. To overcome these shortcomings and disadvantages, this paper presents a novel control method for unity-gain frequency tracking (UGFT) under coupling coefficient (k) variation in a resonant converter containing a symmetrically implemented series-series (SS) resonant tank. An SS resonant converter employing the UGFT control provides several desirable features: the need for digital communication between the transmitter and the receiver to achieve leakage inductance compensation is eliminated, the design is robust against coupling (k) and load (Q) variations, the SS resonant converter can operate most of the time at the frequency of highest efficiency (unity-gain frequency f_O), and the downstream regulator commonly employed in a wireless charging system may be eliminated. Furthermore, in this paper, frequency-domain characteristics of SS resonant tank are explained in detail to illustrate various desirable characteristics. Detailed design criteria for SS resonant tanks are provided to achieve these characteristics. Throughout the analysis, various simulation results are provided to complement the discussion. The proposed UGFT control method is validated through experimental results.