Wireless Charging of a Supercapacitor Model Vehicle Using Magnetic Resonance Coupling

This paper discusses the basic considerations and development of a prototype demo system for the wireless charging of supercapacitor electric vehicles, which uses magnetic resonance coupling. Considering future ubiquitous wireless vehicle stationary and dynamic charging facilities, supercapacitor could be an ideal device to store a reasonable amount of electrical energy for a relatively short period of time. The prototype system includes all the major functional components for an electric vehicle’s powertrain and wireless charging system including coils for energy emitting and receiving, a FPGA PWM input generation board, high frequency DC/AC inverter and AC/DC rectifier circuits, an on-board supercapacitor module, sensors for SOC level measurement and charging position detection, etc. All the components are integrated into a model electric vehicle. The prototype system well demonstrates the idea of the fast and frequent wireless charging of on-board supercapacitors. Promising results from initial experiments are explained; while further investigations, optimized design of components and a system-level optimization are needed.