Speed Variation-Based Power Regulation Concept for Dynamic Wireless Charging

On-road wireless charging of electric vehicles (EVs) in motion could potentially reduce range anxiety or battery size with widespread deployment. The planning and implementation of such systems are greatly complicated due to their susceptibility to load variation inherent to traffic flow. This article proposes a method for derisking the potential for traffic slowdowns by compensating for reduced vehicle speed and investigates how implementation may affect system performance. A load modeling case study is presented at 200 kW for a mile of high-speed roadway employing speed-based power regulation with results indicating average power usage, and maximum car hosting capability can be reduced by 20% and increased by 30%, respectively. An 85-kHz power electronics model is developed based on designs and prototypes for an 11-kW, 190-m airgap static system and a 200-kW dynamic wireless track. The simulation is validated in the 11-kW experimental prototype and modified for 200-kW operation to compare with simulated performance. Sensitivity studies are performed in MATLAB/Simulink to evaluate how parameters influence system performance and confirm the capability to reduce output power and maintain efficiency at 11 and 200 kW. The static 11-kW experimental system operates at 93.6% efficiency and multiple options exist to reduce power while maintaining efficiency greater than 90%. The capability to dynamically modify power output from wireless power transfer (WPT) coils, in an experimentally validated simulation, enables techniques to significantly mitigate load variability due to reductions in vehicle speed.