The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has successfully demonstrated a 20 kW wireless charging system that has achieved 90 percent efficiency—(here’s the, ahem, zinger) at three times the speed of the plug-in systems for today’s electric vehicles.
Excitingly, the technology, which ORNL has developed in partnership with big-name auto and tech companies Toyota, Cisco System, Evatran, and Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research, may lead to an easier, more widespread consumer adoption of electric vehicles.
A three-year project, the system’s architecture for passenger cars includes an ORNL-built inverter, isolation transformer, and vehicle-side electronics. Instead of utilizing complex in-car electronics to manage the charge, ORNL’s system emphasizes radio communications, augmented by software control algorithms, to regulate power flow.
“The high-frequency magnetic fields employed in power transfer across a large air gap are focused and shielded,” Madhu Chinthavali, ORNL Power Electronics Team lead, said in the press release. “This means that magnetic fringe fields decrease rapidly to levels well below limits set by international standards, including inside the vehicle, to ensure personal safety.”
For its demonstration, researchers outfitted an electric Toyota RAV4the with their single-converter system.
And while the their initial focus has been static (or motionless) wireless charging, researchers have also demonstrated the system’s dynamic charging capabilities—which means cars can charge-on-the-go.
Next up, the ORNL team is setting its sights on developing 50 kW wireless charging, which would (conveniently) match the power levels of current commercial plug-in chargers.
“Wireless power transfer is a paradigm shift in electric vehicle charging that offers the consumer an autonomous, safe, efficient and convenient option to plug-in charging,” said David Smith, vehicle systems program manager. “The technology demonstrated today is a stepping stone toward electrified roadways where vehicles could charge on the go.”
I’d say the future of automotive wireless charging is looking bright…
