Finite Element Analysis-Aided Optimization of Rectangular Coil Assemblies Applied in Electric Vehicle Inductive Chargers

Energy efficiency and leakage magnetic field (LMF) are two important issues in electric vehicle inductive chargers. In this work, the maximum achievable coil efficiency and the corresponding LMF strength are formulated as functions of system parameters, and figures of merits (FOM) are proposed for assessing the efficiency and LMF performance of the coil assembly pair. The impacts of the coil assemblies’ geometric parameters on both FOMs are examined with the aid of finite element analysis (FEA), and measures to improve the FOMs are suggested based on FEA results. A manual optimization process is conducted on a coil assembly pair. Compared with the initial design, the optimized one results in a higher DC-to-DC efficiency and lower LMF strength while consuming less copper. The performance improvement is verified by FEA results and experimental data measured on an 85 kHz electric vehicle inductive charger prototype. The key measures for coil assembly optimization are summarized.