Energies 2013, 6, 1-x manuscripts; doi:10.

3390/en60x000x 1
2
energies 3
ISSN 1996-1073 4
www.mdpi.com/journal/energies 5
Article 6
A Common Inductive Power Transfer Platform for Kitchen 7
Appliances with Different Power Capacity 8
Zhi-hui Wang *, Yu-peng Li, Yue Sun, Chun-sen Tang and Xin Dai 9
Room 1903, Main Teaching Building, District A, Automation College, Chongqing University, 10
Chongqing, 400044, China; E-Mails: liyupeng_qqmail@foxmail.com(Y.P.L.); 11
syue06@cqu.edu.cn(Y.S.); step2now@gmail.com(C.S.T.); toybear@vip.sina.com(X. D.) 12
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-mail: wangzhihui@cqu.edu.cn; 13
Tel.: +86-23-65112750; Fax: +86-23-65112750. 14
Received: / Accepted: / Published: 15
16
Abstract: This paper aims at studying a high-efficiency and high-stability inductive power 17
transfer (IPT) common energy launch platform for kitchen appliances with different power 18
capacity. At first, the fundamental structure and basic circuit topology of IPT system for 19
kitchen appliances are introduced. Most of all, in order to make the designed IPT system 20
achieve the target efficiency under all different power levels, main losses of the selected 21
IPT system have been analyzed, and then, an efficiency calculation model is presented, 22
with the aid of such model and the designed online capacitor array, the control strategy of 23
the efficiency optimization as well as the segmented optimal frequency dynamic tracking 24
method has been proposed. Finally, experimental results show total efficiency of the IPT 25
system for kitchen appliances using the proposed control strategy is increased significantly 26
under all different power capacity loads. Meanwhile, the reliability and stability 27
arent declined. 28
Keywords: capacitor array; dynamic frequency; efficiency optimization; kitchen 29
appliances; inductive power transfer (IPT) 30
31
1. Introduction 32
The convenience and safety of power supply for kitchen appliances has been widely concerned. The 33
traditional power supply way of kitchen appliances may easily result in electrical safety issues such as 34
loose-contact, electric-spark and short-circuit. Therefore, a more safe, convenient and reliable 35
OPEN ACCESS
Energies 2013, 6 2


electricity access solution is needed urgently in the field of kitchen appliances. Fortunately, a wireless 36
power transmission solution based on the inductive power transfer technology has emerged as the 37
times require. 38
Inductive power transfer (IPT) technology is a practical and flexible technology for delivering 39
power efficiently from a stationary power supply to one or more movable loads. Such safe and reliable 40
technology overcomes disadvantages of the traditional power transfer methods and is developed 41
rapidly nowadays [1]-[3], moreover, it has been widely used where the electrical isolation is essential 42
for power supplies [4]-[7]. But in the field of kitchen appliances, there have been only few application 43
products so far. 44
Kitchen appliances are known for their variety of types and differences in the power capacity and 45
character of loads. Therefore, the stability of the energy transfer magnetic field and power transfer 46
capability, the constant current in primary winding and the constant output voltage across loads 47
generally must be required in the common energy launch platform of IPT system [8]. Meanwhile, it is 48
very important to analyze and optimize the efficiency under all different power capacity kitchen 49
appliances. In this way, the efficiency can reach to the target value according to the requirements of 50
consumers. 51
A transcutaneous energy transfer (TET) system has been researched in [9]. The quantitative analysis 52
and comparison of parameter affecting efficiency have been discussed from the aspects of conduction 53
losses, switching losses and core losses. But there isnt a detailed analysis about how to optimize the 54
parameters of IPT system so as to make the efficiency reach to the target value. 55
There is a comprehensive analysis about four typical resonant network topologies in [10]. A general 56
approach to optimize power and efficiency has been given. But it doesnt consider the power and 57
efficiency optimization method when the IPT system is operated under different power capacity load. 58
In this paper, focusing on the high-efficiency and high-stability common energy launch platform of 59
the IPT system for kitchen appliances with different power capacity, the circuit structure characteristic 60
and main losses of IPT system have been analyzed, with the help of the efficiency calculation model 61
and designed capacitance array, the control strategy of efficiency optimization (the IPT system is 62
allowed to operate at different segmented optimal frequency modes according to the power level of 63
loads) has been proposed. Finally, a rated power of 1000W experimental IPT system similar to the IPT 64
system for kitchen appliances has been set up in order to verify the designed efficiency optimization 65
control strategy. 66
2. Fundamental Analysis 67
2.1. Fundamental Structure 68
Fig.1 illustrates the fundamental schematic structure of an IPT system that is designed for kitchen 69
appliances with different power capacity. This system essentially is comprised of one stationary 70
primary common energy launch platform and several movable secondary pickups with different power 71
capacity. At any given time, only one pickup is allowed to operate on this common energy launch 72
platform. Kitchen appliances can work properly as long as their pickup winding is within the effective 73
area of the energy launch platforms energy transmitting winding. 74
75
Energies 2013, 6 3


Fig.1. Schematic diagram of IPT system designed for kitchen appliances 76
77
78
As for most of kitchen appliances such as toaster, electric cooker, electric kettle and coffee maker, 79
their energy consumption is mainly divided into two parts: DC control/driver circuits power supply 80
and resistor-wire heating. In order to obtain the DC control/driver circuits power supply, a rectifier, a 81
filter and a switched-mode controller are usually used. However, because the AC high-frequency 82
voltage with wide range (usually 180V-250V) can be directly added across the resistor-wire in kitchen 83
appliances, it is not necessary to have any rectifier, filter, voltage regulator or switched-mode 84
controller in the pure resistor-wire heating part. That is, the high-frequency AC voltage produced from 85
the secondary resonant network can be directly added across the resistor-wire, as shown in Fig.1. 86
2.2. Basic Circuit Topology 87
Typologically, IPT systems are either voltage-fed or current-fed. Current-fed IPT systems can be 88
further classified into PS and PP types based on the compensation style of the primary and secondary 89
windings [11]-[12]. The present paper focuses on the full-bridge inverter circuit of the PS-type 90
voltage-fed IPT system and its schematic diagram is shown in Fig.2. 91
Fig.2. Full-bridge inverter circuit of an IPT system designed for kitchen appliances 92
1
S
2
S
3
S
4
S
dc
L
dc
E
dc
i
dc
R
p
L
s
L
M
p
u
p
C
p
R
s
R
p
V
p
I
s
C
L
R
R
C
s
I
93
94
In the primary side of this IPT system, a quasi-current source can be constituted with a DC 95
voltage source E
dc
and a DC inductor L
dc
. The current source i
dc
flowing in the DC inductor can be 96
inverted and injected into the resonant tank without creating a conflict with the current between the 97
resonant inductor L
p
and compensating capacitor C
p
. The inverter network comprises four IGBT 98
Energies 2013, 6 4


switches from S
1
to S
4
. Two switch pairs (S
1
, S
4
) and (S
2
, S
3
) operate in the complementary mode to 99
produce a square wave current output. The current I
p
and voltage u
p
are the current flowing through the 100
inductor L
p
and the voltage across the capacitor C
p
respectively; the resistances R
dc
and R
p
are the 101
inherent resistances of inductors L
dc
and L
p
. V
p
is the RMS output voltage of inverter network. 102
In the secondary side, the energy pickup winding L
s
receives energy from the primary side and 103
produces resonant in the secondary pickup network comprising the resonance inductor L
s
and 104
compensating capacitor C
s
. The current I
s
is the current flowing through the inductor L
s
; R
s
is the 105
inherent resistance of pickup inductor L
s
. 106
As shown before, the energy in the secondary side mainly flows into two parts: control/driver 107
circuits power supply and resistor-wire heating. In the control/driver circuits power supply part, a 108
rectifier, a filter and a switched-mode controller are usually used to obtain the constant DC power 109
supply. Nevertheless, the high-frequency AC voltage generated from the secondary resonant network 110
can be directly added across the resistor-wire R
L
without any power conversion circuits. 111
2.3. Equivalent Model of Secondary Side 112
The filter capacitance C may be extremely small due to the low operating voltage and output power 113
(usually <15 V/5 W) of control/driver circuits. But, the AC high-frequency voltage (usually >100 V) 114
across the resistor-wire R
L
and its power (usually >50 W) are generally much larger than the voltage 115
and power of control/driver circuits. Therefore, only for the application of kitchen appliances, the full 116
bridge rectifier paralleled with a small filter capacitor as shown in Fig.2 can be ignored. Then the 117
circuit in the dashed line frame in Fig.2 is equivalent to a pure resistance R
eq
that can be approximately 118
expressed as 119
=
L
R R (1) 120
2.4. Mutual Inductance 121
For the proposed IPT system for different power capacity kitchen appliances described in Fig.1, 122
However, once system parameters and circuit structure design are complete and if the system is 123
operated at the rated condition, the distance and relative position between the primary and secondary 124
windings are fixed, that is to say, the mutual inductance M is a constant value. Therefore, in the 125
following discussion of IPT system for different power capacity kitchen appliances, the influence of 126
mutual inductance M is not taken into consideration, the load impedance R is the unique disturbance. 127
2.5. Operational Frequency 128
As shown in Fig.2, the reflecting impedance Z
r
of the secondary resonant tank in the primary 129
resonant network can be written as 130
( ) ( )
2 2
Re Im
1
e
e
e
= = +
+ +
r r r
s
s
M
Z Z j Z
j L R
j C
(2) 131
Where Re(Z
r
) and Im(Z
r
) are the real and imaginary components of reflecting impedance 132
respectively. Then, the total impedance of primary resonant network is derived as 133
Energies 2013, 6 5


1 1
1
t
t
p
p p r
Z
Y
j C
R j L Z
e
e
= =
+
+ +
(3) 134
Where Y
t
is the total admittance of primary resonant network and can be expressed as 135
( )
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
( )
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
( ) ( )
2 2 2 2
Re Im
Re Im Re Im
Re Im
p r p r
t p
p r p r p r p r
t t
R Z L Z
Y j C
R Z L Z R Z L Z
Y j Y
e
e
e e
| |
+ +
|
= +
|
+ + + + + +
\ .
= +
(4) 136
Where Re(Y
t
) and Im(Y
t
) are the real and imaginary components of total admittance respectively. So 137
that, the zero-phase-angle (ZPA) frequency of load impedance can be derived from equation 138
( )
( )
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
2 2
Im
Im 0
Re Im
p r
t p
p r p r
L Z
Y C
R Z L Z
e
e
e
+
= =
+ + +
(5) 139
Such ZPA frequency is generally assumed to be the operating frequency of IPT system [11], [13]- 140
[15]. Hence, in the following discussion, these two different frequencies are considered to be 141
equivalent. Meanwhile, ZPA operation can be achieved by controlling the inverter current to follow 142
the voltage across the parallel compensating primary winding. 143
2.6.Power Transfer Capability 144
There is a parallel compensating primary and a series compensating secondary in the IPT system 145
shown in Fig.2. In consideration of reflecting impedance Z
r
, we can get the equivalent circuit model of 146
primary and secondary resonant tank with reflecting impedance as described in Fig.3. 147
148
Fig.3 Equivalent circuit model of primary and secondary resonant tank with reflecting impedance 149
p
C
p
L
p
R
r
Z
s
L
s
C
s
R
R
150
151
For the parallel compensating primary shown in Fig.3, according to the Kirchhoffs voltage law 152
(KVL), the primary resonant current I
p
flowing through the primary inductor L
p
can be obtained as 153
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
2 2
Re Im
p p
p
p p r
p r p r
V V
I
R j L Z
R Z L Z
e
e
= =
+ +
+ + +
(6) 154
Where e is the operating (ZPA) frequency calculated using (5). Again, for the series compensating 155
secondary shown in Fig.3, according to the KVL, the load voltage across the resistor R can be derived 156
as 157
( )
0
2
2
1 1
( )
p p
L
s s s s
s s
j MI R MI R
U I R
R R L j L R R
C j C
e e
e e
e e
= = =
+ + + + +
(7) 158
The primary resonant current I
p
can be calculated by (6). As a result, the power transfer capability of 159
such IPT system can be expressed as 160
Energies 2013, 6 6


( )
2 2 2
2
0
2
2
1
( )
p
L
s s
s
M I R
P I R
R R L
C
e
e
e
= =
+ +
(8) 161
2.7. Characteristic 162
As expressed in equation (5), (6), (7) and (8), the operating frequency, primary resonant current, 163
load output voltage and power transfer capability at the steady state can be calculated accurately using 164
numerical solutions. Then, curves of the operating frequency, primary resonant current, and load 165
output voltage and power transfer capability varying with loads are illustrated in Fig.4. 166
1) Operating Frequency: As shown in Fig.4 (a), it is noted that the inconstant frequency area will 167
appear under some loads due to the frequency bifurcation phenomena and multiple soft-switching 168
operating points. Fortunately, a constant frequency area also exists, and from equation (5), the constant 169
ZPA frequency can be derived approximately as 170
1
p p
L C
e ~ (9) 171
2) Primary Resonant Current: As shown in Fig.4 (b), due to the constant frequency area, the 172
constant primary resonant current area also appears, and the constant primary resonant current value 173
can be expressed approximately as 174
( )
2
2
2
p p p
p p
p p
p p
p
p
V V C
I V
L L
R L
R
C
e
= ~ ~
+
+
(10) 175
3) Load Output Voltage: As shown in Fig.4 (c), a constant output voltage area will also emerge as 176
the appearance of the constant frequency and primary resonant current area. If a condition L
p
C
p
=L
s
C
s
177
can be met, the constant output voltage value can be simplified approximately as 178
0
2 2
p p
p
s p
p p p p
MI R MV
M
U V
R R L
L C R L
e
= ~ ~
+
+
(11) 179
4) Power Transfer Capability: it can be seen clearly from Fig.4 (d) that a power peak exists, this is 180
the maximum power transfer capability of designed IPT system. Approximately, before such power 181
peak, the IPT system would be extremely unstable due to the inconstant operating frequency, primary 182
resonant current and output voltage. On the contrary, after this peak, because of the constant 183
frequency, current and voltage area (Fig.4 (a), (b), (c)), the IPT system would be greatly stable. 184
However, for the constant output voltage, the output power will decrease as increasing the impedance 185
of load. 186
Fig.4 curves of operating frequency, primary resonant current, output voltage and power 187
transfer capability varying with loads (in Fig.b, c and d, if the multiple soft-switching 188
operating points appear, a low operating frequency is only considered). 189
Energies 2013, 6 7


0 50 100 150 200
18
20
22
24
0 50 100 150 200
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
P
r
i
m
a
r
y

r
e
s
o
n
a
n
t

c
u
r
r
e
n
t
I
p

190
(a) Operating frequency (b) Primary resonant current 191
0 50 100 150 200
0
50
100
150
200
250
0 50 100 150 200
0
400
800
1200
1600
192
(c) Output voltage (d) Power transfer capability 193
194
As shown in Fig.4, there is a constant frequency area, a constant primary area and a constant voltage 195
area when the system parameters are designed properly in the IPT system shown in Fig.2 for kitchen 196
appliances. Loads (kitchen appliances) of such IPT system should be designed to operate within the 197
constant frequency, primary resonant current and output voltage area as soon as possible. Such design 198
method can realize the operating frequency, primary resonant current and load output voltage constant 199
without any traditional switching and closed-loop control circuit. Hence, it reduces the circuit 200
complexity and electromagnetic interference (EMI) and realizes the low-cost and high-quality wireless 201
power supply for different power capacity kitchen appliances. 202
3. Efficiency Optimization 203
3.1. Losses Analysis 204
The loss components of selected IPT system for kitchen appliances shown in Fig.2 can be classified 205
into the following main categories: 206
1) Conduction Losses. Copper losses of primary and secondary windings and losses of reverse 207
parallel diodes during conduction. 208
2) Switching Losses. Turn-on and turn-off losses of IGBTs and losses of reverse parallel diodes in 209
the primary inverter network. 210
3) Radiation Losses. 211
Energies 2013, 6 8


The switching losses of the primary inverter network are very small under the ZPA condition and 212
the radiation loss is usually negligible because of the low operating frequency [9]. It is obvious that the 213
conduction losses in the primary and secondary windings contribute to the largest proportion of the 214
total losses of whole IPT system shown in Fig.2 [10]. In this paper, with the help of conclusions in [9] 215
and [10], the copper losses in the primary and secondary windings are only discussed. Hence, in the 216
process of efficiency analysis, the following assumptions should be made [16], [17]: 217
1) The devices in the primary inverter network are ideal devices. 218
2) The selected IPT system is designed to be operated at the ZPA condition. 219
3.2. Efficiency Calculation Model 220
According to the characteristics of selected IPT system and losses analysis shown above, the energy 221
consumption is mainly divided into three parts: losses of primary and secondary windings and the 222
output load power. The efficiency of the designed IPT system can be expressed as 223
( )
0
0 1 2
P
P P P
q =
+ +

(12) 224
Where q is the efficiency of system, P
0
, P
1
and P
2
are the load power, the copper losses of primary 225
and secondary windings respectively and they are given by 226
( )
2 2 2
2
0 2
p
L
s
M I R
P I R
R R
e
= =
+

(13) 227
2
1 p p
P I R = (14) 228
( )
2 2 2
2
2 2
p s
s s
s
M I R
P I R
R R
e
= =
+

(15) 229
Substituting (13), (14), (15) into (12), the efficiency of the designed IPT system can be rewritten as 230
( ) ( )
2 2
2
2 2
s p s
M R
M R R R R R
e
q
e
=
+ + +

(16) 231
According to design guidelines of IPT system proposed in [10], generally, in the PS-type IPT 232
system, we haveR>>R
s
, therefore, the equation (16) can be further simplified as 233
2 2
1
1
p
RR
M
q
e
=
+

(17) 234
As shown in equation (17), it is effective to increase the efficiency of IPT system shown in Fig.2 by 235
improving the mutual inductance M and reducing the inherent resistance of primary energy 236
transmitting winding. It is necessary to improve the mutual inductance and reduce the inherent 237
resistance of primary winding appropriately when the parameters of IPT system are being designed. 238
However, once the process of system parameter design is complete, these two parameters are fixed. 239
Therefore, the efficiency is only related to the load and operating frequency. 240
Fig.5 The three-dimensional map between the operating frequency, load and efficiency 241
Energies 2013, 6 9


242
243
According to equation (17), the three-dimensional map between the operating frequency, load and 244
efficiency can be shown in Fig.5, it can also be seen from the figure that when the efficiency value is 245
not in the saturation state, it can be increased by improving the operating frequency under the same 246
load R. While the lighter load, the lower efficiency under the same operating frequency. 247
3.3. Efficiency Optimization Strategy 248
It is indicated that the efficiency optimization presented in this study is not to make the efficiency 249
reach a maximum value, but achieve a target value. Once the efficiency of selected IPT system has 250
achieved the target value, the efficiency optimization design process ends correspondingly. 251
If the required efficiency must be higher than the target value q
0
, so that 252
0
q q > (18) 253
Substituting (18) to (17), the operating frequency must be satisfied as 254
( )
0
2
0
1
2 1
p
R
f R
M
q
t q
>

(19) 255
As shown in (19), the IPT system with a larger load impedance R (a lighter load) is required to 256
operate at the higher frequency to achieve the target efficiency. The efficiency of IPT system with a 257
smaller load impedanceR (a heavier load) can also be increased by improving the operating frequency 258
when the efficiency value is not in the saturation state. However, the narrower constant operating 259
frequency, primary resonant current and output voltage area of IPT system will appear with the higher 260
operating frequency, as shown in Fig.6. 261
Taking load R=50O for example, when the inherent resonant frequency of IPT system is allowed to 262
increase to f
1
, the practical operating frequency becomes greatly unstable. On the contrary, the 263
practical operating frequency remains approximately constant if the inherent resonant frequency is f
5
. 264
Meanwhile, the primary resonant current and output voltage at the inherent frequency f
1
are lower and 265
more unstable than f
5
. Therefore, the power transfer capability of IPT system is minimized at the 266
inherent frequency f
1
. 267
Hence, if the inherent frequency of IPT system with a smaller load is increased, the unstable 268
operating frequency, primary resonant current, output voltage area appears with the disturbance of 269
load, moreover, the stability and power transfer capability of IPT system would be decreased. 270
Energies 2013, 6 10


Fig.6 curves of normalized operating frequency, primary resonant current, output voltage 271
and power transfer capability varying with load under different inherent frequency. 272
(f
1
>f
2
>f
3
>f
4
>f
5
, f
i
(i=1-5) is the inherent frequency, under different inherent frequency, all 273
resonant parameters of IPT system are consistent apart from primary and secondary 274
compensating capacitor C
p
,C
s
and a necessary criteria L
p
C
p
=L
s
C
s
must be established. 275
Meanwhile, the operating frequency of IPT system can be changed with the change of the 276
inherent frequency. Meanwhile, to facilitate mapping and analyzing, the practical operating 277
frequencies f in Fig.6(a) are normalized using the inherent resonant frequency f
i
as u=f /fi 278
(i=1-5)). 279
0 50 100 150 200
0.86
0.88
0.90
0.92
0.94
0.96
0.98
1.00
1.02
f5
f4
f3
f2
f1
Load R (
N
o
r
m
a
l
i
z
e
d

f
r
e
q
u
e
n
c
y
u

f

/

f
i

0 50 100 150 200

8
12
16
20
24
f5
f4
f3
f2
f1
280
(a) Operating frequency (b) Primary resonant current 281
0 50 100 150 200
0
50
100
150
200
250
f5
f4
f3
f2
f1
O
u
t
p
u
t

v
o
l
t
a
g
e
U
0

0 50 100 150 200

0
400
800
1200
1600
2000
f5
f4
f3
f2
f1
P
o
w
e
r

t
r
a
n
s
f
e
r

P
0

282
(c) Output voltage (d) Power transfer capability 283
284
Though analyzing about characteristic, losses and efficiency in the IPT system for kitchen 285
appliances, a segmented optimal frequency dynamic tracking method can be proposed for optimizing 286
target efficiency using changing the inherent resonant frequency, accordingly, the operating frequency 287
is also changed. Consequently, the power transfer system is allowed to operate at different frequency 288
modes dynamically according to the power level of loads, and the lighter load requires a higher 289
frequency than the heavier load. Moreover, the designed IPT system must be within the constant 290
frequency and voltage area shown in Fig.4 under different frequency modes. 291
The phased-control inductor [18] and the switching-capacitor [19] have been used generally to 292
change the inherent resonant frequency, but it is difficult to wind and control the phased-control 293
Energies 2013, 6 11


inductor, so an online capacitor array different from switching-capacitor shown in [19] is constructed 294
to change the inherent resonant frequency in section IV. In this way, the IPT system with a lighter load 295
is allowed to operate at a higher frequency mode than a heavier load, the target efficiency of IPT 296
system for kitchen appliances shown in Fig.2 can be achieved effectively. 297
298
4. Design Implement of Efficiency Optimization 299
4.1. Capacitor Array in the Primary Side 300
The online capacitor array can be constructed to change the inherent resonant frequency, it is shown 301
in Fig.7 and paralleled with the primary resonant inductor of the common energy launch platform, the 302
capacitance in the primary resonance tank can be changed real-timely by controlling switches S
k
303
(k=1~m) to be on and off. And these switches are composed of two reverse series semiconductor 304
devices such as IGBTs or MOSFETs. 305
306
Fig.7 The working diagram of capacitor array in the primary side 307
1
C
k
C
k
S
m
C
m
S
a
b
1
S
308
309
According to different combinations of the additional capacitor array shown in Fig.7, the optional 310
primary compensating capacitance fuzzy set can be given by 311
{ }
1 1 1
1
, , , , 1,2
i i i i
m
p p p p p p
C C C C C C i
+ +

( = < e

(20) 312
If the required target efficiency of designed IPT system for kitchen appliances shown in Fig.2 must 313
be higher than the given value

, making use of equation (19), the optimization primary 314
compensating capacitance must be satisfied as 315
2
0
1
1
p
p p
M
C
L R R q
| |
s
|
\ .

(21) 316
The efficiency optimization control subsystem real-timely selects capacitance in the capacitance 317
fuzzy set described in equation (20) according to inequality (21). 318
4.2. Fore-design of Secondary Compensating Capacitor 319
In practice, as discussed in Section II-A, before kitchen appliances receive from the power 320
transmitting part at the rated condition, different from the real-time and online choice of primary 321
compensating capacitor, appropriate secondary compensating capacitors have been fore-designed and 322
installed inside the kitchen appliances permanently according to the power capacity of load, and the 323
capacitance must be satisfied as 324
Energies 2013, 6 12


2
0
1
1
p p
s
s s p
L C
M
C
L L R R q
| |
= s
|
\ .

(22) 325
4.3. Identification 326
As shown above, the power capacity of load should be identified to select the primary capacitance. 327
According to the energy relation of selected IPT system shown in Fig.2, the following equation exists 328
in the form of 329
2
2 2
p
dc p
dc
I
M
i R
E R
e
| | | |
= +
| |
|
\ . \ .

(23) 330
As shown in (23), the injection current i
dc
includes information of the load condition R. With the 331
identification result of injection current i
dc
, we can identify the load parameter. The control subsystem 332
of IPT system needs the real time sampled data about injection current i
dc
. Similar to the primary 333
compensating capacitance fuzzy set, the injection current identification fuzzy set can be written as 334
{ }
1 1
1
, , , , 1,2 1
j n j j
m
dc dc dc dc dc dc
i i i i i i j
+

( = < e

(24) 335
4.4. Start-up and Working Frequency 336
As shown in Fig.6, the constant operating frequency and output voltage area becomes narrower at 337
the higher inherent frequency, meanwhile, the power transfer capability is larger at the lower inherent 338
frequency, and it is easy to control at the lower operating frequency. Therefore, a low frequency is 339
selected as the start-up frequency of designed IPT system for kitchen appliances. 340
Fixed and variable frequency controls are two main control strategies for IPT system [20]. For fixed 341
frequency control, the frequency is forced with the driving switches at the predetermined value so that 342
it does not vary with the load and circuit parameters. In the case of variable frequency control, some 343
extent of frequency variation is allowed to follow the circuit parameters. Moreover, the cost, size of the 344
IPT system for kitchen appliances may be reduced. Thanks to the constant operating frequency area, 345
the power capability cannot be reduced. Therefore, the variable frequency control is more feasible and 346
favorable than the fixed frequency control in the proposed control strategy. 347
4.5. Control 348
The control design of IPT systems relies strongly on experience and experimental verification 349
because of the complexity regarding the interactions of the primary and secondary resonant circuits. 350
Combing (20) with (24), the control strategy of efficiency optimization can be obtained as 351
1
1 1
1
1 1,2
n n
i j j
p dc dc
m
p p dc dc dc
p dc dc
C i i
C C i i i i j
C i i
+

>

( = s < = + e

<

(25) 352
Based on the control strategy shown in equation (25), the control block diagram of variable 353
frequency control and efficiency optimization control subsystem can be designed in Fig.8. 354
355
Energies 2013, 6 13


Fig.8 The control block diagram of variable frequency control and efficiency optimization 356
control subsystem 357
dc
E
dc
i
dc
L
+

p
u
358
359
Normally, the variable frequency control subsystem needs the real time sampled data about the 360
resonant voltage (u
p
) across the primary compensating capacitor, such voltage can be divided by a 361
voltage dividing resistor network. Then, the divided voltage signal should be zero crossing sampled by 362
the LM311 chip. The FPGA chip (EP2C5T144C8N) sends switching gate signal out according to the 363
zero crossing sampled signal. The inverter network composed of four IGBTs(FGA25N120ANTD) is 364
essential to drive the resonant tank and generate the required high-frequency primary current. 365
In principle, the efficiency optimization control subsystem acquires the information of injection 366
current (i
dc
) pouring into the inverter network with the help of sampling resistor and AD574 chip, then 367
the sampled digital signal is sent into the FPGA chip, in this chip, the current identification, control 368
strategy implement of efficiency optimization and capacitance choosing are executed. 369
4.6. Operating Procedure 370
As described above, in summary, there must be a corresponding primary compensating capacitor C
p
371
and a secondary compensating capacitor C
s
for loads of different power capacity when the efficiency 372
achieves a target value, and L
p
C
p
=L
s
C
s
. The whole circuit of secondary pickup side including the 373
secondary compensating capacitor is installed within the electrical equipment (kitchen appliances). 374
When the electrical equipment receives energy from energy transmitting winding in the common 375
energy launch platform normally, the power transfer system starts working at the low inherent 376
frequency mode at first. Then, through detecting the injection current, the power capacity of this 377
equipment is identified. Finally, the corresponding value of inherent frequency mode together with 378
primary compensating capacitor is regulated by controlling switches S
k
. 379
5. Experimental Study 380
5.1. Experimental Circuit and Parameters 381
In order to verify the control strategy of efficiency optimization and realize the high-efficiency and 382
high-stability wireless power supply for all different power capacity kitchen appliances, a contactless 383
power transfer system for kitchen appliances capable of providing power of 1000W has been prepared. 384
The main parameters of such system are shown in Table I, and the primary side as well as the common 385
energy launch platform is same with the IPT system shown in Fig.2, but two circuit models prepared 386
Energies 2013, 6 14


for light load R
1
and heavy load R
2
respectively are applied at the secondary side, as shown in Fig.9. 387
With the aid of these two loads (R
1
and R
2
), two kitchen appliances of different power capacity can be 388
imitated. Meanwhile, different compensating capacitors C
s
are fore-selected so that the IPT system can 389
be operated at the secondary inherent resonant frequency as soon as possible. 390
Fig.9 Circuit model of fore-designed secondary pickup side in the experimental system. 391
(C
si
={C
s1
,C
s2
}, R
i
={R
1
, R
2
}) 392
s
L i
s
C
i
R
+
393
394
Table.I Main Parameters of Experimental System 395
Parameter Values Parameter Values
E
dc
(V) 310 M(H) 77.51
L
dc
(mH) 4.01 R
dc
(O) 0.04
C
1
(F) 0.30 C
2
(F) 0.22
L
P
(H) 117 R
p
(O) 0.05
Ls(H) 550 Rs(O) 0.54
C
S1
(F) 0.11 C
S2
(F) 0.063
R
1
(O) 500 R
2
(O) 100
P
1
(W) 100 P
2
(W) 500
5.2. Without Efficiency Optimization Control 396
The first experiment has been allowed to operate at the lower inherent frequency mode (about 20 397
kHz) without the optimization control strategy. Therefore, compensating capacitance of two secondary 398
pickup circuits can be fore-designed as C
s1
=C
s2
=0.11F, and the compensating capacitance in the 399
primary resonant tank can be selected as C
p
=0.52F. Consequently, steady-state waveforms without 400
the control strategy under both light load R
1
and heavy load R
2
are shown in Fig.10. 401
Fig.10 Steady-state waveforms without control strategy under both light load and heavy 402
load (Ch1-injection current i
dc
, Ch2-primary resonant current I
p
, Ch3-output voltage U
o
) 403
404
i
d
c
(
1
A
/
d
i
v
)
,
I
p
(
2
0
A
/
d
i
v
)
,
U
o
(
5
0
V
/
d
i
v
)
t(50us/div)
Primary resonant current Ip
Output voltage Uo
Injection current idc
i
d
c
(
1
A
/
d
i
v
)
,
I
p
(
2
0
A
/
d
i
v
)
,
U
o
(
5
0
V
/
d
i
v
)
t(50us/div)
Primary resonant current Ip
Output voltage Uo
Injection current idc
Energies 2013, 6 15


(a) Light load R
1
(b) Heavy load R
2
405
406
The efficiency of designed IPT system for kitchen appliances is 70.7% at the operating frequency 407
of 20.6 kHz (lower frequency) with an injection current i
dc
of 0.47A and output voltage U
o
of 227V 408
under light load R
1
. Meanwhile, the efficiency of system is 90.0% with an injection current i
dc
of 1.75A 409
and output voltage U
o
of 221V under heavy load R
2
, while the operating frequency under heavy load R
2
410
is same with the operating frequency under light load R
1
. It can be clearly seen that the efficiency of 411
IPT system for kitchen appliances under light load R
1
is lower relatively. Therefore, it is necessary to 412
optimize the efficiency of IPT system for kitchen appliances under light load R
1
. 413
5.3.With Efficiency Optimization Control 414
Anyway, it can be assumed that the target efficiency of IPT system for kitchen appliances is 415
q
0
=80%. Combining (20) with (21), the capacitance array fuzzy set in efficiency optimization control 416
subsystem can be given by 417
{ } { }
1 2
, 0.3 ,0.52
p p p
C C C F F = = 418
At the same time, according to (22), compensating capacitances of two secondary pickup circuits 419
can be fore-designed as C
s1
=0.063F for the light load R
1
and C
s2
=0.11F for the heavy load R
2
420
respectively. Meanwhile, relying on the experience and experimental verification, the injection current 421
identification fuzzy set can be selected as 422
{ } { }
1
1
dc dc
i i A = = 423
Hence, the control strategy of efficiency optimization can also be designed as 424
2 1
1 1
p dc dc
p
p dc dc
C i i
C
C i i
>

=

<

425
Fig.11 Waveforms with efficiency optimization control strategy under the light load (Ch1- 426
injection current i
dc
, Ch2-primary resonant current I
p
, Ch3-output voltage U
o
) 427
428
(a) Operating procedure waveforms (b) Steady-state waveforms 429
430
Operating procedure waveforms of IPT system with efficiency optimization control algorithm are 431
illustrated in Fig.11 (a) under light load R
1
. First of all, the IPT system starts working at the lower 432
inherent frequency mode f
1
=20.6kHz at time t=t
o
, because the practical identification current i
dc
is less 433
I
p
(
2
0
A
/
d
i
v
)
,
U
o
(
1
0
0
V
/
d
i
v
)
t(100ms/div)
Output voltage Uo
Primary resonant
current Ip
1
20.6
22.3
p
f kHz
I A
=
=
2
26.7
17.1
p
f kHz
I A
=
=
Frequency
switched point
0
t
1
t i
d
c
(
1
A
/
d
i
v
)
,
I
p
(
2
0
A
/
d
i
v
)
,
U
o
(
5
0
V
/
d
i
v
)
t(50us/div)
Primary resonant current Ip
Output voltage Uo
Injection current idc
Energies 2013, 6 16


than 1A under light load R
1
, then, at time t=t
1
, the primary compensating capacitance is reduced from 434
C
p
=C
p2
=0.52F to C
p
=C
p1
=0.3F through closing the switch S
2
, the IPT system under light load R
1
is 435
allowed to operate at the higher inherent frequency mode f
2
=26.7kHz. In this case, the efficiency of 436
system is 82.6% at the operating resonant frequency of 26.7kHz with an injection current i
dc
of 0.406A 437
and output voltage U
o
of 228V, steady-state waveforms are shown in Fig.11(b). It is obvious that the 438
efficiency of IPT system has been increased by 12% and achieved the target efficiency under light load 439
R
1
. The results shown above have verified the effectiveness of proposed control method. 440
However, according to the control strategy, steady-state waveforms with efficiency optimization 441
are same with steady-state waveforms without efficiency optimization control strategy under heavy 442
load R
2
shown in Fig.10(b), and they are omitted. 443
5.4. Further Discussions 444
Furthermore, a new experiment used efficiency optimization control strategy has been done. This 445
time, the assumed target efficiency is q
0
=85%. Fig.12 (a) shows the curves between experimental 446
measured efficiency and loads under different inherent frequency modes (f
1
<f
2
<f
3
), it is greatly 447
significant that increasing efficiency through improving inherent frequency mode under light load 448
R=500O, but this isnt suitable for heavy load R=50O, whats worse, the practical operating frequency 449
becomes unstable and power transfer capability drops dramatically under heavy load. Compared to 4% 450
at the higher frequency f
3
,

the drift value of frequency is only 0.54% at the lower frequency f
1
when the 451
load jumps from 100O to 50O (Fig.12 (b)). Moreover, Compared to 942W at f
1
,

the power transfer 452
capability of system is only 648W at f
3
when the load is R=50O (Fig.12 (c)). Hence, the IPT system 453
with the heavier load is allowed to operate at the lower inherent frequency mode as soon as possible. 454
On the contrary, the efficiency of IPT system with the lighter load can be boosted efficiently through 455
improving inherent frequency mode. 456
Therefore, as shown in Fig.12 (a), If the required target efficiency must be higher than the given 457
value q
0
=85, according to the control method proposed in this paper, when the equivalent resistance 458
of load R>R
2
, the system is operated under the frequency f
3
. And when R
1
<R<R
2
, the operating 459
frequency can be f
2
. Finally, when R<R
1
, the operating frequency is f
1
. 460
In summary, all the experimental results shown above have verified the rationality of the 461
segmented optimal frequency dynamic tracking method and realized the high-efficiency and high- 462
stability wireless power supply for all different power capacity kitchen appliances. 463
Fig.12 curves of efficiency, practical operating frequency and output voltage varying with 464
load at different experimental frequency modes (f
1
<f
2
<f
3
465
Energies 2013, 6 17


3
f
2
f
1
f
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
70
75
80
85
90
95
100
( ) R O
( ) % q
50 R = O
A B
1
R
2
R
0
q
466
(a) Efficiency varying with load (b) Practical frequency varying with load 467
468
469
(c) Power transfer capability varying with load 470
471
6. Conclusion 472
To realize the high-efficiency and high-stability wireless power supply for all different capacity 473
kitchen appliances, in this paper, the structure characteristic, main losses and efficiency calculation 474
model of designed IPT system have been analyzed. With the aid of such efficiency model and designed 475
online capacitance array, the control strategy of efficiency optimization has been proposed. Also, in 476
order to verify the designed efficiency optimization control strategy, a rated power of 1000W 477
experimental system similar to the contactless power transfer system for kitchen appliances has been 478
set up. Experimental results indicate that the total efficiency is increased obviously when the system 479
under a light load is allowed to operate at a higher inherent frequency mode, but this rule is not 480
suitable for the heavy load. 481
Acknowledgment 482
This research work is financially supported by The Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of High 483
er Education (No.20100191120024) and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 20110490799). 484
485
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
0.95
0.96
0.97
0.98
0.99
1.00
1.01
3
f
2
f
1
f
( ) R O Load
Normalized frequency
50 R = O
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
0
200
400
600
800
1000
3
f
2
f
1
f
( ) R O Load
( )
0
P W Power Transfer
50 R = O
Energies 2013, 6 18


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