CAREER: Toward a wireless power transfer system: high-frequency power electronics

现代电子系统正在迅速转型，以实现自动化，如工厂或仓库的自动化和自动驾驶汽车。随着自动化需求的增长，人工智能、控制和智能充电系统等使能技术变得有益。然而，尽管其他技术已经发生了相当大的革命性变化，但开发智能和高效的自动化充电系统的努力并没有。电力电子是充电系统中的一项关键技术，它将电能转换为不同级别或类型的电能，以便将其输送到电力负载，如电池。因此，它必须解决阻碍我们获得智能、紧凑和高效的充电系统的关键挑战。为了克服这些挑战，人们探索了无线能量传输技术，以减少充电误差，消除人工干预对电池进行充电。它可以消除由于灰尘、污垢和其他环境因素导致的粗线电缆、连接器和电源插头故障。此外，自动驾驶技术使这项技术受益，因为他们可以在电池用完后前往充电站。然而，由于现有的技术和设计，目前用于无线电能传输的功率转换器在最大化性能方面受到限制。这项拟议的研究旨在开发一种高频功率转换器，以有效地实现无线能量传输系统的小型化，并研究开创性的电池驱动汽车充电方法。这项研究将通过改进电池充电方法，加快交通、电气化和可再生能源技术等各种应用的进步。对本科生和研究生课程的拟议研究以及本科生和代表性不足的学生参与研究，预计也会产生更广泛的变革影响。此外，还将向K-12学生和当地行业进行推广，介绍无线电力传输和电力电子电路，并确保研究活动产生广泛的变革影响。该项目旨在研究新的设计技术，以提高电力电子产品的功率密度和性能，同时研究提高WPT系统充电能力的创新方法。研究将通过相互交织的推进进行，涉及：i)设计和实现带有磁谐振耦合线圈的高频谐振转换器，以有效地提高功率密度；ii)研究双向无线电能传输系统，使用自同步整流和控制系统，提供车辆到电网的能力；以及iii)探索先进的无线电能传输充电方式，如车辆到车辆和动态充电，通过多样化的充电方法来缩短充电时间。电路性能与开关器件、磁路设计、栅极驱动电路和补偿网络拓扑结构的关系将被详细探讨。PI将在多物理软件中模拟建议的系统，以评估人类因高频下的高功率操作而暴露在电磁场中的情况。此外，还将研究多线圈结构，以减少漏磁场，并将昂贵和有损耗的屏蔽降至最低。项目的成功完成预计将扩大使用新型充电方法的无线电力传输系统的电力电子电路的工作范围和功率水平。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The modern electronic systems have been transforming rapidly to realize automation, such as automation in factories or warehouses and autonomous vehicles. As demand for automation grows, enabling technologies such as artificial intelligence, control, and smart charging systems become beneficial. However, while other technologies have been considerably revolutionized, the effort to develop a smart and efficient charging system for automation has not. Power electronics is a critical technology in the charging system to convert electric energy into a different level or type to deliver it to an electric load, such as batteries. Therefore, it must tackle the key challenges that prevent us from obtaining a smart, compact, and efficient charging system. As an effort to overcome the challenges, wireless power transfer technology has been explored to reduce the charging error and remove manual intervention to charge their batteries. It can eliminate heavy wire cables, connectors, and power plug failure resulting from dust, dirt, and other environmental factors. Moreover, the autonomous driving technology makes this technology beneficial because they can go to the charging station when their batteries run out. However, current power converters for wireless power transfer are limited in maximizing performance because of the available technologies and designs. This proposed research aims to develop a high-frequency power converter to miniaturize a wireless power transfer system efficiently and investigate pioneering charging methodologies for battery-powered vehicles. This research will accelerate advances in various applications such as transportation electrification and renewable energy technologies by improving the battery charging methodology. Broader transformative impacts are also anticipated from the proposed research into undergraduate and graduate curricula and the involvement of undergraduate and underrepresented students in research. Also, outreach to K-12 students and local industries will be pursued to introduce wireless power transfer and power-electronic circuits and ensure the broad transformative impact of the research activities.This project aims to investigate new design techniques to improve power density and performance of power electronics while studying innovative approaches that enhance the charging ability in the WPT system. The research will be performed through the intertwined thrusts that involve: i) designing and implementing a high-frequency resonant converter with magnetic resonant coupling coils to increase power density efficiently, ii) investigating a bidirectional wireless power transfer system using self-synchronous rectification and control system to provide Vehicle-to-Grid capability, and iii) exploring advanced wireless power transfer charging approaches such as vehicle-to-vehicle and dynamic charging to reduce the charging time by diversifying the charging methods. The dependence of the circuit performance on the switching devices, magnetic designs, gate drive circuitry, and compensation network topology will be explored in detail. The PI will simulate the proposed system in the multiphysics software to evaluate human exposure to electromagnetic fields due to high-power operation at high frequencies. Also, multiple coil structure will be studied to reduce the leakage fields and minimize the expensive and lossy shields. Successful project completion is anticipated to expand the operating range and power level of power-electronic circuits for wireless power transfer systems using novel charging approaches.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.