A novel slow-switching control for multiple pickup IPT systems

Multiple slow-switching pickup Inductive Power Transfer Systems are popular in clean rooms and other material handling applications. Currently these systems use power supplies rated at or above the sum of all the pickup´s rated power to prevent the systems from overloading. This however constitutes a capital waste. This paper proposes a novel control method based on a conventional slow-switching controller presently used in materials handling systems to allow power supplies with smaller capacity to be used without compromising system integrity, and therefore save system cost. The proposed control method requires minimal adjustments to the current system configuration and can be easily implemented on existing systems. Experimental results have verified the validity of the proposed control method.