Digital control of contactless battery charging system

This project develops and implements a safe, reliable method for contactless charging of electric vehicle batteries. The charging system's interface to the electric utility operates with unity power factor. This system accommodates many battery types by using a novel, large signal linear digital controller that can track arbitrary current profiles. Non-ohmic charging occurs through a two part, high frequency transformer. The primary side of the charging transformer remains outside the vehicle, and mates with a secondary installed in the vehicle. The scheme for impressing an AC signal on the primary of the charging connector involves lossless MOSFET switching in a high frequency inverter, and operates in the presence of high leakage inductance. Capacitive coupling enables contactless feedback of information from the battery in the secondary to the unity power factor charging supply in the primary. For my mother, my father, and my sister Lauren. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to acknowledge my advisor, Professor Steven B. Leeb, whose endless energy, intellectual curiosity, and unwavering tenacity sparked my continuous interest in this project. His seemingly countless areas of knowledge, in combination with the many-faceted nature of the research, enabled me to exercise and grow in many technical directions. The balanced connection between theory and practice which Professor Leeb espouses, as well as the strong desire for substantial results and quality documentation which he maintains, mesh well with my own outlook on the intellectual job of engineering. I wish to thank Amp, Incorporated, who sponsored the research. I wish to thank Vivian Mizuno, without whom it seems that LEES would collapse in a day. I also wish to thank the LEES staff for creating a friendly, enriching environment. friends and professors from CMU, and friends from home. And Jeanie. I thank my father and mother, whose interest and support have never waned. And my beautiful sister, who is the most hard-working, cool sister one could have.