2006 International Conference on Power System Technology

Switching Frequency Analysis of Dynamically

Detuned ICPT Power Pick-ups

Ping Si, Student Member, IEEE, Aiguo Patrick Hu, Member, IEEE, Simon Malpas, and David Budgett

is utilized in ICPT systems because it is of high voltage boost

Abstract--Dynamic detuning methods have been used in up ability [8]. A rectifier is employed to convert the ac voltage
inductive contactless power transfer (ICPT) systems for power to dc. For achieving maximum power transfer capability, a dc
flow control. However, the highly variable switching frequency inductor Ldc is commonly connected on the dc side of the
involved in the detuning operation will contribute to
electromagnetic interference (EMI) and power losses. It is rectifier. This is because the dc inductor helps to maintain
difficult to determine the detuning frequency precisely due to current flow in the circuit so that the delivered power from ac
nonlinear features of power pick-ups. Uncertainty in the to dc can remain continuous [9].
operating frequency can result in difficulties in designing filters
with suitable bandwidths and choosing suitable switching devices.
Based on detailed analytical analysis in four segments of the
detuning process, a numerical method is developed in this paper ArM-A ~~~Ldc
+ POWER
to determine the boundaries of the switching frequencies. An CONVERTER L W T R
iterative algorithm is presented using a flow chart to illustrate the s c c1tdc R
process taken in the numerical analysis. Simulation and practical
experiments are conducted to verify the algorithm so as to ensure
the calculated results are sufficiently accurate for designing EMI Primary Secondary
filters and choosing suitable switching devices.
Fig. 1. Basic structure of ICPT system.
Index Terms--Dynamic detuning, inductive contactless power
transfer (ICPT), switched capacitor circuits, frequency A main concern in such a system is that the voltage
estimation. supplied to the load may vary if there is a change in circuit
parameters such as the load R, the magnetic coupling M, and
I. INTRODUCTION primary operating frequency. To solve the problem, a novel
INDUCTIVE contactless power transfer (ICPT) technology detuning control technology has been developed to
has been developed to supply power over relatively large air dynamically control the power flow for supplying a constant
gaps to one or more moving objects. It has been adopted in dc voltage to the load [10]. Fig. 2 illustrates the principle of
many practical applications such as materials handing, the dynamic detuning control technology.
transportation, coalmining, battery charging and implantable
biomedical power supplies [1]-[7]. Fig. 1 shows the basic
structure of an ICPT system which includes a primary power
supply and a secondary power pick-up. To transfer power from
the primary to secondary, a high frequency alternating
electromagnetic field has to be generated by the primary coil
(or track) L, and links to the secondary pick-up coil L by a
mutual inductance M. The pick-up coil is connected in parallel
to a tuning capacitor C, forming a resonant circuit to improve
power transfer capability. Such a parallel tuned configuration
Fig. 2. Power pick-up with dynamic detuning control.
This project is supported by School of Engineering Guaranteed Financial
Support Scheme (GFSS), The University of Auckland, and Telemetry It can be seen from Fig. 2 that in addition to a tuning
Research Limited, New Zealand. capacitor C, a detuning capacitor C, and a semiconductor
P. Si is with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The
University of Auckland, New Zealand (e-mail: psiOOl @ec.auckland.ac.nz).
switching device S are also employed in the pick-up. They are
A. P. Hu is with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, connected in series, forming a branch connected to the pick-up
The Univeristy of Auckland, New Zealand (e-mail: a.hu@ieee.org). coil L in parallel. Thus, when S is switched on, the resonant
S. Malpas is with the Department of Physiology, The University of circuit includes both capacitor C and C,. When the switch S is
Auckland, New Zealand (e-mail: s.malpas@auckland.ac.nz).
D. Budgett is with the Bioengineering Institute, The University of off, only capacitor C is involved in resonance. Because the
Auckland, New Zealand (e-mail: d.budgett@auckland.ac.nz). maximum power transfer ability is achieved only in the fully

1-4244-0111-9/06/$20.00 c2006 IEEE.

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tuned condition, the power flow can be controlled by switching frequency accurately is not easy due to the nonlinear feature of
S on or off to change the tuning conditions of the pick-up. For a switching circuit. In this paper an approximate closed-form
example, as shown in Fig. 2 if the output voltage v,. is over the analytical analysis, as well as numerical analysis of the
reference voltage Vref, the switch S will be turned on to detune switching frequency, are undertaken to determine the upper
the pick-up so that the power transferred is reduced. boundary frequency of the dynamic detuning circuit in the
Otherwise, when the output voltage voc is under the reference power pick-ups.
Vref, the switch S will be turned off to fully tune the pick-up for
maximum power transfer. As a result, the average value of II. DYNAMIC DETUNING PROCESS
output voltage voc would be maintained at desired level of Vref. Fig. 3 shows the current and voltage waveforms of the pick-
Considering the fact that when the pick-up is fully tuned the up shown in Fig. 2, where a full bridge rectifier is employed
oscillation frequency of the resonant circuit is equal to the and the coupling between the primary and secondary is
primary operating frequency, two detuning methods are constant. The switch control signal V, is high (on) for detuning
developed for controlling the power flow, over-tuning and the pick-up, and low (off) for full tuning. If the circuit operates
under-tuning. Over-tuning means that the power transfer is under steady state conditions the waveforms are periodical, as
controlled by capacitance variations above the nominal value shown in Fig. 3. Each period shows a complete dynamic
required by full tuning. In principle, only the minimum detuning process. To calculate the maximum switching
capacitance C is needed for full tuning to achieve maximum frequency, one complete process is divided into four segments:
power transfer. In this situation, the switch S is off so that the initial, discharging, charging, and final segment. The division
capacitor C, is not connected to the resonant circuit. When the is based on the changes in the dc current idc of the dc inductor,
load does not need full power capacity, the switch S is turned and the ac voltage vac of the resonant circuit.
on so as to add capacitor C, in the resonant circuit, causing the
pick-up to be detuned from the primary operating frequency. Initial Charging
Alternatively, under-tuning means that the power transfer of
the pick-up is reduced by controlling the tuning capacitance
under the nominal value required by the full tuning. To
transfer maximum power the switch S has to keep on so that
both the capacitor C, and C are connected to the resonant
circuit to achieve full tuning. When the load decreases, the
capacitor C, is removed from the resonant circuit by switching
S off to detune the pick-up from the primary operating
frequency.
Most practical power pick-ups utilize over-tuning method
for dynamic detuning control to manage start-up problems.
During the start-up period the switch S can only be off because
insufficient power is available to drive it on. By over-tuning,
the pick-up is fully tuned initially, hence the voltage can build
up quickly to enable the circuit to start functioning.
Although the dynamic detuning technology works very well
in controlling the power flow while maintaining high power Fig. 3. Dynamic detuning waveforms.
transfer efficiency, the highly variable switching frequency of The initial segment starts from the beginning of the
the semiconductor switch S may cause electromagnetic
detuning operation. During this period the resonant voltage Vac
interference (EMI) to surrounding equipment. In the
(shown in Fig. 2) of the pick-up decreases from the maximum
application of inductive power supplies for implantable value because the pick-up is detuned from the primary
biomedical sensors, the noise generated in sensitive
operating frequency. Since the dc capacitance Cdc (shown in
biomedical sensors from an ICPT system may exceed the
Fig. 2) of the pick-up is normally very large (greater than 10
microvolt level bioelectric signals being recorded [5]. Also,
uF) for filtering out high frequency harmonics, output dc
for the contactless power supply systems combining
voltage v,C decreases more slowly than the resonant voltage
communication channels between the primary and secondary,
vac. Therefore, the voltage across the dc inductor Ldc becomes
the random switching frequency can cause difficulty in
negative, resulting in a dc current (idc) drop from its peak
designing filters with a suitable bandwidth. In addition, value, as shown in Fig. 3. The initial segment is finished when
determining the switching frequency upper boundary is very the dc current idc reaches zero.
important for choosing suitable switching devices. The The next segment, discharging, is also within the duration
switching frequency of semiconductor switch for dynamic of the detuning operation. Current idc maintains zero in this
detuning depends upon many parameters, for example, primary period because no current flows through the rectifier.
operating frequency, maximum power rating, dc capacitance, Therefore, the voltage across the dc side of the rectifier
dc inductance. Calculating the upper boundary of the switching
vdc is
 3

equal to the output dc voltage v0c. As the dc capacitor Cdc is in this segment, the voltage vd, is equal to the absolute value of
discharged through the load resistor R, both of Vdc and v,C the resonant voltage, vdc=IvacI. Fig. 5 shows the current and
drop. If their values become lower than the reference voltage voltage waveforms of the model, where the decrease of current
Vref, the switch S is turned off, ending the discharging idc from peak value Ip to zero is assumed to be linear at a rate
segment. of k.
The charging segment starts from the beginning of the full idc
tuning operation. During this segment the resonant voltage vac
increases from the minimum value because the pick-up is fully
tuned to the primary operating frequency. However, the
rectifier keeps blocking since the voltage vac is still lower than
the voltage vdc (voc) in this segment. As a result, the dc current
idc remains at zero.
The final segment begins when the rectifier conducts again.
The dc current idc increases from zero to its maximum value Fig. 4. Model of dc side of pick-up for initial segment.
during this segment. And the dc capacitor Cdc is charged by the
current idc so that the output dc voltage vOC increases again to Vsi< Initail - *
approach the reference value, Vref. The finial segment finishes,
and the next dynamic detuning process starts, when voc equals Adc i Time
to Vref. 'dc kt +JI

III. STEADY STATE ANALYSES vocii Time

In ICPT systems the quality factor Q, of pick-ups are

normally between 4 to 15 [9], [11]. This results in significant
resonant voltage (vac) variation according to the changes of the
tuning condition. In other words, if the pick-up is detuned from
the primary operating frequency the resonant voltage Vac is ~~~~~.............
------------------------1-----

nearly as low as the open circuit voltage of the pick-up coil,

although it can be boosted up to be Q, times higher than the Ti Time
open circuit voltage when the pick-up is fully tuned. To
achieve the maximum power transfer ability the inductance of Fig. 5. Voltage and current waveforms of pick-up for initial segment.
dc inductor Ldc has to be larger than the value determined by
(1), where co is the angular frequency of the electromagnetic Using the model shown in Fig. 4 a differential equation can
field generated by the primary power supply, and Rmin is the be obtained as:
minimum load resistance of the pick-up [9].
dc dv'
dc + °' kt + I (2)
=
Ldc = Rmin / C (1) dt RP
where initial condition is vclt=O=Vref
because the initial
A. Initial segment segment starts at the beginning of the detuning operation.
To analyze the initial segment of a dynamic detuning Solving (2), the output dc voltage voc can be obtained as:
process, two assumptions are made to reduce the complexities -t
resulting from the nonlinear features of switching circuit. voc = kRt-kR2CdC +IPR +e RCdc (Vref + kCdcR2- IpR) (3)
Firstly, the dc current idc is assumed to decrease linearly in this
segment. Secondly, the detuning capacitance C, is assumed to Since the output dc voltage is very close to the reference
be relatively large and its equivalent series resistance (ESR) is voltage Vref, the relation between the current and voltage of dc
zero. Thus the resonant voltage of vac quickly drops down to inductor Ldc can be written in the form of (4):
the minimum value at the beginning of this segment due to fast
discharging caused by the detuning capacitor C,. In a practical dic (4)
LdC
dt Vdcd vle-

pick-up, the capacitance C, is generally required to be at least

larger than C for a fast response in dynamic detuning. Considering that the reference voltage Vref is much higher
Simulation and practical results show that these assumptions than the vdc and the current idc decreases linearly in this
are valid for calculating the upper boundaries of the switching segment, (4) can be simplified:
frequencies.
Based on these assumptions, a model representing the dc Ldckk-Vref (5)
side of the pick-up can be represented as shown in Fig. 4. The Then the duration T1 of the initial segment can be
voltage source vdc represents the voltage across the dc side of determined as:
the rectifier. Because the current conducts through the rectifier
 4

T =- P I Ldc (6) voltage of the pick-up coil L, which is induced in the

k Vref
B. Discharging segment
The discharging segment is still within the duration of the
detuning operation. Since the dc current idc is zero, the rectifier
disconnects the ac and dc sides of the pick-up circuit. The dc
capacitor Cdc is discharged through the load resistor R,
reducing output dc voltage v0c. As discussed previously, the
discharging segment is finished when the voltage v,C drops
down to the reference voltage Vref. So the duration of the
discharging segment can be determined by calculating the
discharging time of the capacitor Cdc. Fig. 6 shows the model
for the dc side of the pick-up. The model consists of the
parallel connected dc capacitor Cdc and the load resistor R.
electromagnetic field generated by the primary. In the model
the voltage source is connected to L in series, where co is the
angular frequency of the primary operating frequency, and V,P
is the peak value of the induced voltage. It can be assumed that
the initial value of the resonant voltage vac and current iac are
zero. This is valid for a pick-up with a high boost-up factor Q,
where the voltage vac and current iac under a detuned condition
(discharging segment) are much smaller than its fully tuned
condition (charging segment).
iac L
% Va, sin(a)
I - f~C
Vac

I + 1
T dc R Fig. 7. Model of ac side of pick-up for charging segment.

The relationship of C02=1/(LC) is valid in this segment since

Fig. 6. Model of dc side of pick-up for discharging segment.
the pick-up is fully tuned to the primary frequency. The
Using this model, a differential equation can be written as: following two equations can be obtained based on the model:

=0 (7) C dvacdVac
=
- (11)
Cdc dcdt + R dt

Since the initial value of the voltage v,C in the discharging (12)
L dt = VSP sin(wt) -vac
segment is the final value from the initial segment, the initial
condition of (7) can be determined using (3) with t=Tl, as
shown below: Solving (11) and (12), the resonant voltage vac during the
charging segment can be obtained as:
IV
V,, t=O -kCdCR
= +e kRCdc (Vllf + kCdRR2 _ I pR)
(8) Vac = IVp sin(wt)- Vp Ca cos( C) (13)
Therefore, if the discharging segment begins at time zero,
the output dc voltage v,C can be obtained as: The mode of the dc side for the charging segment is the
same as that for the discharging segment shown in Fig. 6
because no dc current flows through the rectifier. However, the
voc= -kCdCR+ e kC R (V1ef + kCdcR2 IpR) eCcR (9) initial condition is different. The charging segment starts from
the beginning of the tuning operation, the output voltage must
The discharging segment is finished when dc output voltage cross the level of the reference voltage Vref. This means that
voc drops down to the reference voltage Vref. The duration T2 the initial value of v,C will equal Vref. Therefore, the output dc
of the discharging segment can be obtained as: voltage v,C can be solved using (7). The result can be shown
as:
T2= -RCdclrn V,ef kCdcR+ekRct Vef +kCdcR2 - IR) (10)
voc Vf
rf e CdR (14)

C. Charging segment The charging segment finishes when the dc current starts to
increase from zero. As shown in Fig. 8, this also means that the
In the charging segment, the dc current is still zero. This
also means that the dc and ac sides are separated by the
charging segment ends when the rectifier first starts to conduct
rectifier. As the pick-up is fully tuned in this segment, the
(Ivacl=voc). Therefore, the following equation can be obtained:
resonant voltage vac starts to increase. At the same time, the
FT, (t) = 2IV SP sin(wt)
I
load resistor keeps discharging the dc capacitor Cdc. The V SP tcos(t) -Vre eC =0 (15)
2 oft
model for the ac side of the pick-up is shown in Fig. 7, where
the ac voltage source V,Psin(cot) represents the open circuit It should be noted that the duration T3 of the charging

segment is the minimum solution of (15) because the first time
of 1Vac1=VOc is the boundary between this segment and next
segment. Although it is very difficult to obtain an explicit
solution of T3 from equation (15), numerical solution can be
achieved easily by utilizing a computer program.
idc
Ve Time
IVacli o Considering the initial condition of idclt=o=0, the
T3 Time
Fig. 8. Voltage and current waveforms of pick-up for charging segment.
D. Final segment
In final segment, the dc current idc flowing through dc
inductor starts to increase from zero to a peak value Ip. Fig. 9
shows the voltage and current waveforms of the pick-up for
this segment. Because the dc current idc is very small compared
to the resonant current iac, its effects on the resonance are
ignored. Based on this, the amplitude of the resonant voltage
vac increases at the same rate as in the charging segment.
According to (13) the voltage vac for the final segment can be
written as:
VsI Vn[(+T]
I
Vac = sin[t + T)]- T3)cos[(t+T3)]
where the zero time is at the beginning of this segment.
'dc
Ev a c~~~~~~~~~c
T4 Time
Fig. 9. Voltage and current waveforms of pick-up for finial segment.
As the dc current is not zero during the final segment, the
model of the dc side for this period is the same as that for the
initial segment shown in Fig. 4. However, it is very difficult to
achieve an explicit solution to idc by solving the differential
equations obtained from the model. So, an approximate
solution is obtained by replacing the vdc (vdc=1vac1) by its
approximate envelope env(vdC), and v,C by reference voltage
Vref, as shown below:
Ld, dt = env(vdC ) -V,f
5
(18)
env(vd ) = 1 V o)(t + T3)
2
In fact, as shown in Fig. 9, the approximate envelop of vdc
is a smooth curve crossing vdc at the angle of co(t+T3)=nn
where n is a positive integer. The simulation and practical
results have demonstrated that this approach is valid in
calculating the upper boundaries of the switching frequencies.
Errors introduced separately by Vref and env(vdC), instead of v,C
and vdc, have a canceling effect.
approximate solution of iac can be obtained as:
Vs, cot2//2+ (Vsp coT3 -2Vref ) t
tdc
(19)
2Ldc
Since when t=T4 current idc reaches its maximum value Ip,
the duration T4 of the final segment can be solved as:
-T2(V pO3-2V,,f ) + 4(VspT3- 2Vref )2 + 16IPLdCVSpC (20)
2Vp co
Finally, because in the steady state conditions the output
voltage v,C is controlled to approach the reference voltage Vref,
the average value of the dc current idc can be considered to be
equal to Vref/R. Therefore, the following equation can be
obtained:
Iaeav (T1 +T4)Ip/2 _
Vlef (21)
T, + T2+ T3 + T4 R
(16) The duration T1, T2, T3, T4 and peak value of dc current Ip
can be solved using (6), (10), (15), (20) and (21), then the
switching frequency is given by f=l/( T1+T2+T3+T4).
IV. NUMERICAL SOLUTIONS
It would be very complicated to achieve a closed form
explicit solution to the maximum switching frequency using
equation (6), (10), (15), (20) and (21). So the numerical
solutions utilizing computer programs are adopted. Fig. 10
shows the flowchart designed for calculating the maximum
switching frequency of the dynamic detuning.
The program starts with given circuit parameters LdC, L, Cdc,
Ial ) Vref, f, Pmax and V,p, enabling that the slop k of the dc current
to be equal to -Vref/L in the initial segment. The load resistor
R is determined by the maximum power transferred by the
pick-up Pmax and reference voltage Vref. Simulation and
experimental results show that the numerical results obtained
according to this flowchart are most accurate when the
minimum load resistance is applied. Then the duration T3 of
the charging segment is calculated first because it can be
determined independently using (15) and is used later in the
calculation for the final segment. An iterative computation is
applied in the calculation of T3 based on the function FT3(t3)
shown in (15). t3(0) is an estimated initial value of T3. The
next step is to check whether F13(t3(i)) has converged to a
given error index £, e.g. _=10 . When this stopping criteria is
(17)
met, the iteration terminates with T3=t3(i); otherwise, the
 6

iteration repeats with the next estimated t3(i+1).

After determining T3, the program runs another iterative
process to calculate durations of period T1, T2, and T4. This
iteration starts with an estimated initial value of the peak
current lp(O). Then, the duration T1, T2 and T4 are calculated
according to (6) (10) and (20). In the next step, the program
checks whether the average value of the current lave determined
by (21) has converged to the value of Vref/R under a given
error C'. Once the stopping criteria is met, the iteration
terminates with final value of T1, T2 and T4. Finally, the
switching frequency f is solved based on f=l/( T1+T2+T3+T4).
Although the numerical solution is from the analyses of the
pick-up with full bridge rectifier, simulation and practical
results show that the computation shown in Fig. 10 are also
suitable for calculating the maximum detuning frequency of
the pick-up with a half bridge rectifier. This is because the
frequency of the dynamic detuning circuit reflects how much
power transferred, and not what power converting method
used.

V. SIMULATION AND EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

Fig. 11 shows the simulation results of the switching
frequencies at different loading conditions. The parameters of
the simulated pick-up circuit are LdC=497 uH, L=83.4 uH,
Cdc=22 uF, Vref=30 V, f=38.4 kHz, Pmax=7.5 W and VSP=6.4 V.
From Fig. 11 it can be seen that the switching frequency of
the detuning is about zero when the pick-up operates with the
minimum load resistance. At this load, the detuning switch
remains off most of the time achieving the maximum power
transfer condition. The switching frequency increases
dramatically with the increase of the load resistance since the
detuning switch starts operating to detune the pick-up for
reduced power transfer. Then the frequency almost remains
stable around the maximum value while the resistance
continues increasing. In this situation power transferred is
mainly affected by the on duty cycle of the switching signal,
not the switching frequency. However, when the load
resistance becomes too large, the switching frequency starts to
decrease. This happens when the detuning switch starts to stay
on longer to match the much reduced power requirement.
Finally, the switching frequency drops back to zero when R is
infinitely large (no load condition). The maximum value of Fig. 10. Flowchart for calculating the maximum switching frequency of
dynamic detuning circuit.
the detuning frequency achieved in the simulation is about 8.5
kHz. As a comparison, the upper boundary of the frequency is
also computed according to the flowchart shown in Fig. 10.
N
The result of the computation is 8.9 kHz, showing the I IRmin
computed solution is sufficiently accurate for determining the
detuning frequency range for purposes such as designing EMI
filters and choosing the proper switching devices.
A power pick-up which is used to supply wireless power to U-

biotelemetry devices has been built and tested. The switching

device used for dynamic detuning is a BJT (Bipolar Junction
Transistor) with an integrated body diode, and a half bridge a n 120 180
Load Resistance(Q)
rectifier is employed to convert ac power to dc. The main
parameters of the pick-up used includes LdC=450 uH, L=17 Fig. 11. Variation of switching frequency at different loading conditions.
uH, Cdc=10 uF, Vref=3 V, f=200 kHz, Pmax=50 mW and

VSP=450 mV. The maximum power is required when the
implantable telemetry device communicates with an external
transceiver.
Fig. 12 shows the waveform of the voltage across switched
capacitor Cs when the equivalent load resistance is
approximately 190 Q. The fundamental frequency of the
waveform is about 1.7 kHz which is the switching frequency
caused by the dynamic detuning. Such a low switching
frequency appears in this situation because the pick-up load is
close to the maximum loading condition. This is identical to
the analytical result shown in Fig. 11. From Fig. 12 it can also
be seen that the voltage across Cs maintains a level of
approximately -4.5 V when the pick-up is fully tuned. This is
because the detuning capacitor Cs is charged through the body
diode of the BJT, although the BJT itself is off for full tuning
in this situation. Thus the minimum voltage across Cs would be
close to the minimum peak value of the resonant voltage, -5V.
When the pick-up is detuned, the voltage across the detuning
capacitor is sinusoidal because the switch is on in this
situation, adding the detuning capacitor Cs into the resonant
circuit. At the same time the peak value drops down to about
1.5V due to the detuning operation.
TPOWWWRW
MMEL..
Fig. 12. Experimental waveform of voltage across detuning capacitor Cs.
(Loading condition: R=190 Q.)
Fig. 13 shows the measured waveform of the pick-up output
dc voltage when the equivalent load resistance is 380 Q. In the
experiments, the maximum switching frequency has been
recorded under this loading condition. From the waveform it
can be seen that the average voltage is controlled at about
3. IV with a 200 kHz harmonic component resulting from the
EMI of the primary. The lower frequency ripple appears as
saw-tooth waveforms. This is due to the charging and
discharging of the dc capacitor Cdc caused by the dynamic
detuning. Increasing the capacitor value would reduce the
amplitude of this ripple. From the measurements of Fig. 13 it
can be seen that the shortest period lasts about 45 uS, which is
associated with the maximum switching frequency, 22.2 kHz
(1/45 uS-1). As a comparison, the iterative computation shown
in Fig. 10 is also conducted based on the practical parameters
of the pick-up circuit. The result is 23.075 kHz, which is in
7
good agreement with the measured value. In addition, the
measured frequencies shown in Fig. 12 and 13 also verify that
the switching frequency is very low when the pick-up operates
under very heavy loading conditions.
: ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
, ~ ~~~~~
~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ .......
, ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ .2
Fig. 13. Experimental waveform of output dc voltage of pick-up. (Loading
condition: R=380 Q.)
VI. CONCLUSIONS
This paper has analyzed the dynamic detuning operation
employed in ICPT pick-ups for supplying a constant output dc
voltage. The dynamic detuning process has been divided into
four segments: initial, discharging, charging and final segment.
Based on detailed analytical analysis of each segment, an
iterative method has been proposed to obtain a numerical
solution for the detuning operating frequency. The computed
results are in a good agreement with the simulation and
experimental results. It has been demonstrated that the
maximum detuning frequency occurs around the nominal load
and is maintained roughly constant over a wide range of load
conditions although switching duty cycle varies. The frequency
decreases at both ends of high and low loading conditions.
These results are very useful in designing EMI filters and
selecting power switches for power pick-up circuits.
VII. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors gratefully acknowledge the contributions from
the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and
the Bioengineering Institute of the University of Auckland, and
Telemetry Research Limited.
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 8

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[7] T. Bieler, M. Perrottet, V. Nguyen and Y. Perriard, "Contactless power
and information transmission," IEEE Trans. Industry Applications, Vol.
38, pp. 1266-1272, Sep. 2002.
[8] J. T. Boys, G. A. Covic and Y. Xu, "DC analysis technique for inductive
power transfer pick-up", IEEE Power Electronics Letters, Vol. 1, Issue
2, pp. 51-53, Jun. 2003.
[9] P. Si and A. P. Hu, "Designing the dc inductance for ICPT power pick-
ups", in Proc. The 5th IASTED International Conference on Power and
Energy Systems, Benalmadena, Spain, 2005, pp.162-167.
[10] A. P. Hu and S. Hussmann, "Improved power flow control for
contactless moving sensor applications" IEEE power Electronics
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[11] A. P.Hu, "Selected resonant converters for IPT power supplies", PhD
thesis, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University
ofAuckland, Oct. 2001.
Simon Malpas received his PhD from Otago
University in 1990. He worked as a postdoctoral
research fellow in Japan, United Kingdom and
Australia from 1990 1996 in the area of blood
pressure control with particular reference to the role
of the sympathetic nervous sy stem. He is currently
Associate Professor in the Dept of Physiology and
the Bioengineering Institute at the University of
Auckland. He is head of the Circulatory Control
Laboratory whose research focus is on the role of sympathetic activity in the
development of hypertension.
David Budgett gained his PhD in Biomedical
Engineering from Imperial College in 1995. He has
held academic positions at the University of Sussex
and the University of Auckland with research
interests in medical devices. He leads a team
developing implantable telemetry devices in the
Bioengineering Institute, University of Auckland.

IX. BIOGRAPHIES

Pr ing Si (M'2004) received his Bachelor degree in

Electrical Engineering from Xian JiaoTong
University, China, in 1998. From 1998 to 1999 he
worked as a Engineer at the Northwest Electrical
Power Testing Research Institute, China. He
received his Graduate Diploma in Computer Science
form the University of Auckland, New Zealand, in
2002. He is currently a last year PhD student in the
Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering, the University of Auckland. His research is to develop high
quality wireless power supplies for implantable biomedical devices.

Patrick Aiguo Hu (M' 1998) graduated from Xian

JiaoTong University, China, with BE and ME
degrees in 1985 and 1988 respectively. After
migrating to New Zealand in 1996 he received his
Ph.D from the University of Auckland in 2001.
Before that he worked as a lecturer, an electrical
engineer, group leader, and later the director of a
technical section in China. He holds a few patents
in microcomputer control and inductive power
transfer technologies, and co-authored a book on electrical machines. He
received the University of Auckland Ph.D scholarship, the Asian 2000
Foundation Scholarship for a four-month study visit to the National
University of Singapore, and an industrial scholarship from Wampfler AG,
Germany.
He is currently a senior lecturer in the Department of Electrical and
Electronic Engineering, the University of Auckland. He is also a co-chair of
the New Zealand IEEE Power Engineering and Power Electronics Joint
Society. His research interests include wireless power transfer, power
converters, and application of power electronics in power systems.