Wireless Battery Charging Circuit Using Load Estimation without Wireless Communication

Abstract

A wireless battery charging circuit is proposed, along with a new load estimation method. The proposed estimation method can predict the load resistance, mutual inductance, output voltage, and output current without any wireless communication between the transmitter and receiver sides. Unlike other estimation methods that sense the high-frequency AC voltage and current of the transmitter coil, the proposed method only requires the DC output value of the peak current detection circuit at the transmitter coil. The proposed wireless power transfer (WPT) circuit uses the estimated parameters, and accurately controls the output current and voltage by adjusting the switching phase difference of the transmitter side. The WPT prototype circuit using a new load estimation method was tested under various coil alignment and load conditions. Finally, the circuit was operated in a constant current and constant voltage modes to charge a 48-V battery pack. These results show that the proposed WPT circuit that uses the new load estimation method is well suited for charging a battery pack.