Hybrid IPT Topologies With Constant Current or Constant Voltage Output for Battery Charging Applications

Abstract

The inductive power transfer (IPT) technique in battery charging applications has many advantages compared to conventional plug-in systems. Due to the dependencies on transformer characteristics, loading profile, and operating frequency of an IPT system, it is not a trivial design task to provide the battery the required constant charging current (CC) or constant battery charging voltage (CV) efficiently under the condition of a wide load range possibly defined by the charging profile. This paper analyzes four basic IPT circuits with series-series (SS), series-parallel (SP), parallel-series (PS), and parallel-parallel (PP) compensations systematically to identify conditions for realizing load-independent output current or voltage, as well as resistive input impedance. Specifically, one load-independent current output circuit and one load-independent voltage output circuit having the same transformer, compensating capacitors, and operating frequency can be readily combined into a hybrid topology with fewest additional switches to facilitate the transition from CC to CV. Finally, hybrid topologies using either SS and PS compensation or SP and PP compensation are proposed for battery charging. Fixed-frequency duty cycle control can be easily implemented for the converters.