Overview of Talkative Power Conversion Technologies

Power Line Communication (PLC) and Simultaneous Wireless Information and Power Transfer (SWIPT) are popular examples of applications, where power and information are transmitted simultaneously. In most cases, different devices have been used to generate the power and communication signals independently. Usually, the information is superimposed onto the power signal using an external modulator. Recently, power converters have been used to generate pulses not just for power conversion but also for information transfer simultaneously. This approach represents a fundamental difference because it exploits the signal processing potential of Pulse Width Modulation (PWM), where for power conversion only the average pulse width is used, while the information is represented by the harmonics instead of being filtered out, as typically done in power electronics. The concept of embedding information into the switching ripple generated by a switched-mode power converter has recently been dubbed Talkative Power (TP), in this paper referred as Talkative Power Conversion (TPC). TPC technologies are reviewed in non-isolated and isolated converters in this paper. Potential applications include visible light communications, battery management systems, switching reluctance generators/motors, microgrids, and wireless electric vehicle charging stations. Finally, trending topics are identified.