Wireless Electric vehicle charging can be accomplished using Inductive Power Transfer, which uses a high frequency magnetic field to transfer energy from a road surface to an electric vehicle. Due to the nature of magnetic fields there will always be some leakage magnetic field to the side of the vehicle. Minimising this leakage magnetic field is one of the key design issues in modern roadway wireless power transfer systems.
In this project, a hardware system is required to give an intuitive validation of the leakage field around a wireless power transfer system. While commercial, calibrated field probes exist (such as the NARDA ELT-400) they are very expensive. The aim with this project is to utilise many small low cost sensors to determine the leakage field in many locations around the wireless power transfer system simultaneously. An array of 3 x 3 sensors is suggested as a starting point.
Practically this project will require electronics design and construction, magnetic analysis and firmware and software writing. Data visualisation is a big part of this project. By creating an intuitive and realistic visualisation system, the designer and validator can get an intuitive feel for the magnetic design parameters that shape the leakage magnetic field.
If you are interested in electronics design and data visualisation this project is for you!
Undergraduate
Research components:
- Research sensors and coil sizes that accurately measure the magnetic flux density
- Research electronic circuit topologies that produce a fast and accurate measurement of magnetic flux density.
- Validate the created system against a commercial field probe
- Research ways of visualising the measured magnetic flux density in an intuitive array
None
Lab allocations have not been finalised