Fundamental Control Dimensionality and an Accelerated Co-Design Framework for Wireless Power Transfer Systems

Abstract

Dynamic wireless power transfer (DWPT) enables electric vehicles to charge while in motion and offers a pathway toward scalable and efficient road electrification. Realizing this potential requires a unified treatment of electromagnetic design, power conversion control, and dynamic operation, rather than isolated optimization of individual subsystems.

This thesis presents an integrated analytical and computational framework for DWPT systems. It first defines six fundamental performance objectives governing optimal wireless power transfer, including efficiency maximization, output regulation, and soft-switching operation, and analytically demonstrates that at least four independent control degrees of freedom are necessary to satisfy these objectives simultaneously. Based on a fundamental harmonic model, closed-form relationships between control variables, circuit parameters, and system performance are derived, leading to a closed-form four-degree-of-freedom control strategy. Experimental and simulation validation confirms its ability to achieve high efficiency and stable output regulation under varying coupling and load conditions.

Building on the validated control layer, an accelerated hardware–control co-design framework is developed by combining analytical loss modelling with electromagnetic characterization. By exploiting key physical properties of inductive systems, the coupled co-optimization problem is significantly simplified, reducing computational cost by orders of magnitude while maintaining high accuracy.

The framework is further applied to large-scale DWPT design exploration across multiple coil geometries and misalignment conditions, yielding physically interpretable design guidelines for pad sizing, efficiency, and robustness. Overall, this work establishes a unified, scalable, and computationally efficient foundation for the design of next-generation dynamic wireless charging infrastructure.