Electric field coupling wireless power transmission using disposal electric train rail for feeder

Recently, many studies on automatic power supply to the electric vehicle during running without loading battery by applying wireless power transmission (WPT) have been reported. Among others, practical application using the electric field coupling system as the WPT is most advanced. However, in this method, it is necessary to embed two feeder lines in the road, and there is a disadvantage that the infrastructure cost is increased in the depopulated area. Therefore, in this study, we propose to use rails of the site of the waste line which are abundant in depopulated areas as a feeder, and clarified its characteristics by electromagnetic field analysis. As a result of analyzing the actual size rail and the tire model, we confirmed that received power from the wheel is dominant than the steel belt of the tire, when power is supplied from the waste rail. In addition, in this case, we can reduce the influence on the received power when the tire shifts sideways from the rail.