The primary and secondary magnetic couplers used by an inductive power transfer (IPT) based wireless EV charger are constructed as coplanar coils wound using Litz wire on ferrite bases. The loss in these couplers’ accounts for a significant portion of the total losses. As such, it is critical to understand the factors that contribute to losses and optimize the design of the magnetic couplers to improve the power transfer efficiency.
This research project, therefore, aims to investigate how the construction of the coil and the ferrite base, spacing between the turns of the coil, spacing between the ferrite blocks used for the base, specifications of the Litz wire and the placement of the Aluminum shield impacts the performance of a coupler. The students will first conduct detailed FEM simulations using Ansys Maxwell to evaluate the impact of these parameters on the coupling, leakage and losses. Afterwards, the findings will be verified experimentally by constructing prototypes and characterizing them under a few realistic operating conditions.
Undergraduate
Expected outcomes are
- Experimentally validated FEM models
- Recommend best design practices
ELECTENG 734
Lab allocations have not been finalised