Description
A Master of Science thesis in Mechatronics Engineering by Abdalla Gesrou entitled, “Optimization of Electric Vehicles Wireless Charging”, submitted in December 2019. Thesis advisor is Dr. Ahmed Osman and thesis co-advisor is Dr. Shayok Mukhopadhyay. Soft copy is available (Thesis, Approval Signatures, Completion Certificate, and AUS Archives Consent Form).
Abstract
The growth of cars purchasing power, typically gasoline cars, has been a serious contributor to greenhouse effect. Fuel usage reduction through transportation electrification is currently among the most vital research topics. Nevertheless, electric vehicle (EV) high prices and driving distance limitations, have been causing significant roadblocks to the EVs market evolution. Reducing the number of batteries in the EV would lead to lowering the EV’s price, and decreasing the car’s weight, which would increase the driving distance to charging time ratio. To make this feasible, EVs public chargers have to be widely available. This would enable users to charge their cars frequently, increasing the available driving distance. Wireless charging can be used to eliminate any risks of contact wearing or sparks during plugging/unplugging the wired charger. Wireless charging can be achieved through a transmitter embedded below the EV’s parking slot, and a receiver fixed at the bottom of the EV. This thesis focuses on optimizing wireless charging through optimizing the coils geometry, and simulating the wireless power transfer process. Optimization was done using MATLAB optimization toolbox, and was double checked through mathematical derivation. A trend was obtained through the optimization process, which indicated that equal coils diameters results in maximum power transfer. The coils were designed on ANSYS Maxwell, with nine case scenarios having different geometrical values and change in radius, and their electromagnetic behavior was simulated. The full system, including the coils and the components of the electric circuit, was simulated at resonance frequency of 100 kHz, with the aid of ANSYS Simplorer. The amount of material used in the coils was calculated, as it affects the coils’ prices. The coils weights were also calculated, as they affect the EV’s consumed power. The introduced variable change in radius resulted in a 37% decrease in the coils weights to reach 26.5 kg, and a 37% decrease in the amount of material needed to manufacture the coils, to reach 2964 cm3. The variable change in radius slightly increased the amount of power transferred by 0.75%, to reach 17.54 kW at perfect alignment between the coils, and 9 cm separation distance.
