Secondary side output voltage stabilization of an IPT system by tuning/detuning through a serial tuned DC voltage-controlled variable capacitor

Abstract

This paper proposes a method to stabilize the output voltage of the secondary side of an Inductive Power Transfer (IPT) system through tuning/detuning via a serial tuned DC Voltage-controlled Variable Capacitor (DVVC). The equivalent capacitance of the DVVC changes with the conduction period of a diode in the DVVC controlled by DC voltage. The output voltage of an IPT system can be made constant when this DVVC is used as a variable resonant capacitor combined with a PI controller generating DC control voltage according to the fluctuations of the output voltage. Since a passive diode instead of an active switch is used in the DVVC, there are no active switch driving problems such as a separate voltage source or gate drivers, which makes the DVVC especially advantageous when used at the secondary side of an IPT system. Moreover, since the equivalent capacitance of the DVVC can be controlled smoothly with a DC voltage and the passive diode generates less EMI than active switches, the DVVC has the potential to be used at much higher frequencies than traditional switch mode capacitors.