Modularized Inductive Power Transfer Systems With Inherent Impedance Decoupling for High-Power Applications

Due to the capacity and costs of single-power electronic devices, the modularized inductive power transfer systems (MIPT) are widely used in high-power electronic applications. To achieve safe and efficient operation of high-power IPT technology, this article proposes a modularized topology design method with an inherent impedance decoupling feature. When the module number changes, the current and voltage stresses of the devices in the proposed system remain unchanged inside modules at the rated power. Moreover, the impedance of any module will not be affected by neighboring modules, especially in cases where the module number may change abruptly. Such a desired feature significantly improves the reliability of high power IPT systems. A 15 kW MIPT prototype with three modules connected in parallel is implemented to verify the validity of the proposed method. The result clearly shows that both the impedance and device stress are decoupled from the module number. The system exhibits a peak efficiency of 95.1% and over 92.4% when the power is between 2 and 15 kW.