Design and Efficiency Optimization of Multi‐Tap‐Transmitting‐Coil‐Based IPT System

ABSTRACT To eliminate plug‐in and plug‐out actions in automatic power systems, a multi‐tap‐transmitting‐coil (MTTC)‐based inductive power transfer (IPT) system is proposed for efficiently supplying power to various applications that require dynamic load management. A load‐power‐model (LPM) is introduced to characterize the system, and the dependence of efficiency on the number of turns of the transmitting and receiving coils is analyzed in detail. The analysis shows that the system efficiency can be maximized by selecting the optimal transmitting coil turn number. The MTTC is designed to maximize efficiency for a limited number of power requirement points. Furthermore, the communication link is not required by the proposed control strategy based on LPM. Finally, a 6.6 kW prototype is experimentally demonstrated to validate the proposed efficiency optimization method. Experimental results show that when the output power is equal to (1.6 kW, 3.0 kW), the overall efficiency is increased to (89.7%, 91.1%), which is (3.8%, 0.8%) higher than that of the non‐optimized system.