Lumped Track Layout Design for Dynamic Wireless Charging of Electric Vehicles

Dynamic wireless charging (DWC) of electric vehicles (EVs) is an emerging technology that could lead to the breakthrough of EVs. The technology is based on the inductive coupling between an electrified track deployed under the road surface and a pickup coil fitted in EV. This paper refers to a lumped track made of DD coils and is concerned with the design of the track layout, namely coil dimension in the motion direction and track coil distance for a given energy requirement. This paper starts by comparing the coupling characteristics of DD coils with different dimensions by a finite-element method (FEM) analysis. Afterward, an analytical procedure is developed to establish the track coil distance able to transfer to a moving EV the propulsion energy required per unit of traveled space. The procedure utilizes the DD-coil coupling characteristics to calculate the power and, from it, the energy transferred from the track coils to the pickup coil along the track. Instrumental in the calculation is the definition of a parameter, denoted as track flux coverage, which gives the ratio between the dimension of the track coils in the motion direction and the coil distance; such a parameter corresponds to the percentage of road populated with track coils so that it is a cost index of the DWC system implementation. Effects of a lateral displacement of the EV motion from the line joining the track coil centers are also analyzed. Design findings are checked against the results obtained with a computer-assisted analysis.