Two researchers from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory will present on ORNL’s polyphase wireless power transfer system at 2 p.m. Tuesday, April 30.
The Zoom webinar is part of DOE’s Office of Technology Transitions National Lab Discovery Series. Register online to attend.
ORNL’s Omer Onar, group leader for vehicle power electronics research, and Mostak Mohammad, staff scientist, will explain the technology developed at the lab and answer questions about the technology’s potential applications and how to apply to be a licensee.
Wireless power transfer technology has been increasingly adopted for charging batteries in various applications, notably in electric vehicles. Traditional systems predominantly use single-phase coils, which pulse the magnetic flux through the primary coil to induce voltage in the secondary coil.
These systems have low space-time utilization of the electromagnetic fields, meaning existing systems need larger space for their power levels of design. These systems also face limitations in terms of size, weight and volume; at the same time, existing systems have difficulty in meeting the electromagnetic field emission maximum levels identified in international guidelines and safety standards. These limitations restrict the system’s ability to rapidly charge with reasonably sized coils, making it challenging to achieve high-power charging rates comparable to conventional fuel refilling.
ORNL’s polyphase wireless power transfer systems are designed to overcome the limitations of single-phase systems by utilizing a rotating magnetic field for power transfer with significantly improved space-time utilization of the electromagnetic fields. These systems have been validated for 50kW, 100kW and 270kW power levels across different air gaps like vehicle ground clearances.
Recently, the ORNL team demonstrated that a light-duty passenger electric vehicle can be wirelessly charged at 100-kW with 96% efficiency using polyphase electromagnetic coupling coils with rotating magnetic fields.
Browse ORNL’s featured technologies in its Energy and Utilities portfolio. To learn more about technologies available for licensing, email partnerships@ornl.gov or call 865-574-1051.
UT-Battelle manages ORNL for DOE’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. DOE’s Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit energy.gov/science.
