Inductive power transfer for Railway applications

Inductive power transfer (IPT) is used to transfer the power over relatively large air gap using the resonant phenomena. The use of IPT in the Railway transportations will enhance the system performance in terms of reducing the on board energy requirements, minimizing the visual pollution, and reducing the infrastructure. The main challenge in IPT is to transfer efficiently the power from the primary coil in the track to the secondary coil on the vehicles through the air. The presence of the air gap in the system will cause the efficiency to decrease. In this paper, the IPT for railway applications is addressed. The presented concept is validated through analysis and practical implementation.