A power regulation and harmonic current elimination approach for parallel multi-inverter supplying IPT systems

Abstract

The single resonant inverter is widely employed in typical inductive power transfer (IPT) systems to generate a high-frequency current in the primary side. However, the power capacity of a single resonant inverter is limited by the constraints of power electronic devices and the relevant cost. Consequently, IPT systems fail to meet high-power application requirements, such as those in rail applications. Total harmonic distortion (THD) may also violate the standard electromagnetic interference requirements with phase shift control under light load conditions. A power regulation approach with selective harmonic elimination is proposed on the basis of a parallel multi-inverter to upgrade the power levels of IPT systems and suppress THD under light load conditions by changing the output voltage pulse width and phase shift angle among parallel multi-inverters. The validity of the proposed control approach is verified by using a 1,412.3 W prototype system, which achieves a maximum transfer efficiency of 90.602%. Output power levels can be dramatically improved with the same semiconductor capacity, and distortion can be effectively suppressed under various load conditions.