Basic Study of a Wireless Power Transmission System Using Superconducting Coil as a Ground-Side Coil for Electric Vehicles

We proposed a large-capacity wireless power transmission (WPT) system for the electric vehicle in which a high-temperature superconducting (HTS) coil is installed only on the ground side. On the other hand, the design guideline of the 100 kW class WPT system using the HTS and the copper coils for EVs has not been sufficiently discussed. Therefore, we analyzed the electric power transmission characteristics of the 100 kW class proposed WPT system using the HTS coil and the copper coil by an electromagnetic field analysis using the finite element method (FEM) and an equivalent circuit analysis. Also, we investigated the effect of a cooling temperature of the HTS coil on the receiving power and the transmission efficiency of the proposed WPT system for EVs. As a result, we found that the proposed WPT systems using the high-inductance primary and secondary coils are suitable for a low-frequency operation around 1 kHz. On the other hand, the proposed WPT systems with high-frequency operation above 10 kHz are suitable for reducing the weight of the secondary coil. In addition, although the system efficiency considering the cryocooler power loss is reduced by decreasing an operating temperature of the primary HTS coil, it is possible to realize a large-capacity WPT system with the receiving power of more than 100 kW.

Automated summary

We proposed a large-capacity wireless power transmission (WPT) system for electric vehicles (EVs) with a high-temperature superconducting (HTS) coil installed on the ground side only. We analyzed the power transmission characteristics of the proposed 100 kW class WPT system using HTS and copper coils. We also investigated the effect of the HTS coil's cooling temperature on the receiving power and transmission efficiency of the WPT system.