Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Based on the findings through the last 5 years' worth of work on wireless power transfer (WPT) systems, Prof. Williamson is now tackling issues related to high-power WPT (150-350 kW). Several industry projects are ongoing or have been completed in the last 5 years in this regard. The SAE J2954 standards essentially classify charging levels into 4 categories: Level 1 - 3.7 kW; Level 2 - 7.7 kW; Level 3 - 11.0 kW; and Level 4 - 22.0 kW. As part of the previous DG, Dr. Williamson designed, developed, tested, and validated WPT systems (including novel converters) at all 4 power levels. Both inductive power transfer (IPT) and capacitive power transfer (CPT) systems were designed using novel materials and power conversion techniques, operating at varied frequencies (85 kHz to 1.0 MHz). The proposed NSERC DG program aims to address key challenges related to WPT, specifically focusing on high-power (= 350 kW), high efficiency (~99%) fast charging applications for e-mobility. The program is divided in to 3 major tasks, as enlisted below. 1.Novel Power Converter Topologies and System-level Architectures: This task will address the design and implementation of novel universal power electronic converters catering to WPT systems. Power topologies that will integrate primary side components into a "single conversion stage" will also be investigated, with the aim of achieving ~99% input-DC-link-to-output-DC-link power transfer efficiency and reducing cost. 2.Novel Shielding/Safety Methods and New Metamaterial-based Coupler Designs: Novel shielding techniques like metallic material shielding, magnetic material shielding, active shielding techniques, and resonant current loop shielding methods to reduce electromagnetic interference (EMI) intensive losses. This will also lead to electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) testing and real-time data acquisition using the recently acquired NSERC RTI-funded "EMI/EMC Test Chamber" for WPT. 3.High-power Hybrid IPT-CPT Designs : Power transfer in a CPT system occurs through an electrostatic field, coupling a primary (source) circuit to a secondary (load) circuit. Existing CPT designs are limited to low-power levels (up to 1.0 kW) and high resonant frequencies (1-100 MHz). This task will aim to push the power envelope of CPT systems by an order of magnitude. In the new approach, 2 modular CPT systems will handle 22.0 kW each, while 2 modular IPT systems will handle 50.0 kW each, leading to a total power of ~150 kW.