Magnetic Structure Design in IPT Systems Based on Topology Optimization

The design of the ferrite structures of coupling pads of inductive power transfer (IPT) systems has traditionally relied upon designer experience with limited design flexibility. Therefore, this article proposes a novel two-stage approach for the design of ferrite structures that realizes not only optimized performance results but also manufacturability. The first stage fully explores ferrite structure design solutions within a predefined design domain using topology optimization (TO). The second stage uses structure simplification to allow for designer refinements to assure ferrite structure manufacturability. To reduce computation, this article also investigates the impact of partial model size on optimization results from TO. An IPT pad design using the proposed approach is undertaken and benchmarked against an existing optimized circular pad. Experimental results of a scaled-down prototype are presented showing an improvement in mutual inductance (M) by over 22% compared to the benchmarked design while using a similar amount of ferrite. An additional comparison indicates that the proposed ferrite arrangement can also be extended to a variety of pad types.