A Quadrature Pickup for Inductive Power Transfer Systems

The development of a new quadrature pickup configuration is described that improves the lateral tolerance of power-pickups relative to the track in inductive power transfer (IPT) systems. This is achieved using coils mounted in quadrature on a standard pick-up to capture both the tangential and vertical flux components from the IPT track. The arrangement of the two pick-up coils ensures that they remain un-coupled with each other allowing independent control and operation. A suitable pickup controller for power regulation is presented and a prototype constructed and tested in the laboratory. Measurements verify the design and show a substantially improved power profile compared with standard pick-up regulators. A method of extending the power profile further using a meander track configuration is also presented.