Receiving Side Current-Based Lateral Misalignment Estimation and Automated Steering Control for Dynamic Wireless Power Transfer

This article thoroughly investigates the relationship between the lateral misalignment and the receiver coil current in the dynamic wireless power transfer (DWPT) system. Based on this analysis, a control configuration is proposed to automatically reduce the lateral misalignment between the transmitter and receiver coils, thereby enhancing the DWPT efficiency. The control configuration includes a lateral position estimator, which utilizes the fusion of the inertial measurement unit and the current sensor. This algorithm enables estimating the lateral misalignment of the vehicle at the same rate as the motor drives. Furthermore, the lateral misalignment is controlled by the front steering mechanism. The proposed method has been successfully evaluated using a DWPT system and an electric vehicle developed by our research group. The test results show that the energy transmission efficiency was expected to be increased by 6.6 % in comparison with the human driving at the second transmitter coil.