A Novel Universal Magnetic Power Plug to Facilitate V2V/V2G/G2V/V2H Connectivity for Future Grid Infrastructure

Electric vehicles (EV) are increasingly connected to the power grid using the charging connectors based on the charging connector standards, such as SAE J1772, SAE Combo or CHAdeMO, which are mainly intended for single directional charging for grid-to-vehicle (G2V) application. However, with the development of smart grid, EVs should play a role as active distributed resources, that can transfer its energy into the grid and can charge or be charged by another EV. Therefore, the concept of Vehicle-to-X (V2X), where X can be the grid, the local load, or another EV, has been proposed. Unfortunately, the current standard of the charging connector do not support all possible connections of the V2X. This paper proposes a new universal power connector (UPC), which can support all possible connections of the V2X configuration. The proposed connector transfers the power through a magnetic link formed by two magnetic parts (one in the EV and another in the charging plug). Such power transfer not only ensures the ability for the chargers to achieve a higher efficiency, but it can also ensure that the galvanic isolation is achieved. To validate the proposed new power plug/connector, a scaled-down prototype of an EV charger that utilizes the proposed UPC has been designed, analysed, implemented and validated in the laboratory.