A Resonant Tank Based Approach for Realizing ZPA in Inductive Power Transfer Systems

A load-independent constant current (CC)-constant voltage (CV) output is an important requirement of inductive power transfer (IPT) systems for electric vehicle charging applications. Zero phase angle (ZPA) is also a desirable feature, to ensure a lower power rating requirement for the switching converter. CC and CV output along with ZPA can be achieved by using a suitable compensation topology. Equation manipulation techniques can be used for designing the compensation topology. But, it can be mathematically intensive especially for higher order topologies. To overcome this problem, resonant-tank based approaches are adopted in several works to achieve CC and CV conditions. However, equation-based approaches are depended upon either wholly or partly for realizing ZPA. This approach can be tedious and lacks physical insight. The proposed method extends resonant tank approach to achieve ZPA also, besides CC and CV. The need for a separate method to achieve ZPA is eliminated. Further, it simplifies the process in arriving at the constraints that ensure ZPA. As a sample validation, the proposed method is applied to a S-SP compensation topology. The CC-ZPA and CV-ZPA constraints for the S-SP topology are shown to be in line with the ones arrived at using an existing equation-based impedance approach. The simplicity of the proposed method can be observed from the sample validation.