146 CANADIAN JOURNAL OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING, VOL. 43, NO.

3, SUMMER 2020

Design and Performance Evaluation for a New

Power Pad in Electric Vehicles Wireless
Charging Systems
Conception et évaluation de performance d’un
nouveau bloc pour les systèmes de chargement
sans fil des voitures électriques
Muhammad Sifatul Alam Chowdhury, Student Member, IEEE, and Xiaodong Liang , Senior Member, IEEE

Abstract— The introduction of wireless charging systems for electric vehicles (EVs) is a revolutionary step in
the field of electrified transportation. Misalignments between transmitting and receiving power pads significantly
affect the overall power transfer efficiency of an EV wireless charging system. In this article, a new power
pad named “double D circular” (DDC) is designed. To evaluate the proposed DDC power pad design, its
performance is compared with that of the existing circular and double D (DD) power pads by analyzing
the power transfer efficiency in the wireless charging system considering different vertical and horizontal
misalignments between the transmitting and receiving power pads. We use physical dimensions published in
the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) J2954 recommended practice for existing circular and DD power
pads in the simulation software, ANSYS Maxwell 3D. The influence of ferrite plates on the performance of
power pads is also evaluated in the article.
Résumé— L’introduction du système de chargement sans fil des voitures électriques (VEs) est une étape
révolutionnaire dans le domaine du transport électrique. Des mauvais alignements entre blocs transmetteur et
receveur d’énergie affectent significativement l’efficacité globale de transfert du système de chargement sans fil
de la VE. Dans cet article, un nouveau bloc nomme “double D circulaire” (DDC) a été conçu. Pour évaluer le
DDC proposé, sa performance a été comparée avec ceux existants la circulaire et le double D (DD), en analysant
l’efficacité de transfert de l’énergie par chargement sans fil en considérant de mauvais alignements verticaux
et horizontaux entre blocs transmetteur et le receveur d’énergie. Nous utilisons les dimensions publiées dans
le journal Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) J2954 et recommandées être pratiques pour une simulation
de la circulaire et le DD existant par le logiciel ANSYS Maxwell 3D. L’influence des plaques de ferrite sur la
performance des blocs a aussi été évaluée.
Index Terms— Electric vehicles (EVs), finite-element analysis, power pad, power transfer efficiency, wireless
charging system.

I. I NTRODUCTION
E LECTRIC vehicles (EVs) are increasingly emerging in
many countries due to their technical advancement
and environmental benefit compared with conventional vehi-
cles [1]–[3]; for example, EVs are 30% more efficient than
conventional vehicles [1]. Most commercially available EVs
in the market, such as hybrid EVs (HEVs) and plug-in
EVs (PHEVs), use a plug-in charging system to recharge the
Manuscript received May 25, 2019; accepted January 8, 2020. Date of cur-
rent version August 11, 2020. This work was supported in part by the Natural
Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery
Grant RGPIN-2016-04170. (Corresponding author: Xiaodong Liang.)
Muhammad Sifatul Alam Chowdhury is with the Department of Electrical
and Computer Engineering, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s,
NL A1B 3X9, Canada (e-mail: msachowdhury@mun.ca).
Xiaodong Liang is with the Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A9, Canada
(e-mail: xil659@mail.usask.ca).
Associate Editor managing this article’s review: Yang Shi.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/CJECE.2020.2966148
0840-8688 © 2020 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See https://www.ieee.org/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
EV’s in-house battery [4], [5]. To increase the driving range
of EVs, various energy harvesting technologies are introduced
in research. EV’s wireless charging systems have attracted
consumers’ attention recently due to their enhanced safety
features and user-friendly operational designs [1], [6]–[8].
Wireless chargers do not have physical connections between
the charging system and the vehicle.
To design advanced wireless charging systems, extensive
research was conducted by academia and industry in designing
power electronic devices and power pads. Wireless charging
can be classified into two classes: 1) stationary charging and
2) dynamic charging [2], [9]–[11]. A vehicle must be parked
when using the stationary wireless charging technology, while
a dynamic charging system enables charging when the vehicle
is in motion and reduces the initial high cost of the energy
storage system [9]. As the vehicle can be recharged while
cruising, a high energy storage capacity requirement can be
reduced [6]–[8].

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CHOWDHURY AND LIANG: DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION FOR A NEW POWER PAD 147

An EV wireless charging system consists of two parts:

the ground assembly (GA) and the vehicle assembly (VA).
Power electronic devices and power pads are required in
each assembly [12]. Wireless charging systems of EVs are
developed mainly based on an inductive power transfer (IPT)
system where the power is transferred through electromagnetic
induction [13]. Power transfer through IPT has exhibited
impressive efficiency for a shorter ground clearance of a vehi-
cle. However, depending on the air-gap between GA and VA of
a wireless charging system, the overall system performance
can greatly fluctuate. Power pads (one installed on the ground
side and another one installed on the vehicle side) play a
key role to transfer power. Power pads with different shapes
are introduced in research to obtain the maximum power
transfer efficiency [14]–[16]: circular, double D (DD), and DD
quadrature (DDQ) [17]–[20].
In this article, inspired by DDQ power pads, a new power
pad structure by combining circular and DD power pads
named “DD circular (DDC) power pad” is designed. Physical
dimensions of the circular and DD power pads provided in
the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) J2954 are used
to design the proposed DDC power pad. Its performance
is evaluated by comparing it with the existing circular and
DD power pad design. The electromagnetic analysis tool,
ANSYS Maxwell 3D, is used in the design. To evaluate power
transfer efficiency of power pads, a reduced-order model [21]
is prepared using ANSYS Simplorer. The effect of ferrite
plates is also evaluated for the proposed DDC power pads.
The article is arranged as follows. Section II represents the
detailed design procedure of the proposed DDC power pads;
a performance evaluation procedure is provided in Section III;
the electromagnetic characteristic analysis is carried out in
Section IV; the power transfer efficiency evaluation is con-
ducted in Section V; Section VI investigates the effect of
adding ferrite material on power pads, and conclusions are
drawn in Section VII. Fig. 1. Physical dimensions recommended in SAE J2954 for power pads.
(a) DD power pad. (b) Circular power pad [26].

II. D ESIGN OF P OWER PAD U SING ANSYS M AXWELL 3D

In EV wireless charging systems, power pads are placed on
both ground and vehicle sides. The time-varying magnetic field
generated by high-frequency ac currents in the transmitting
power pad on the ground side is linked to the receiving power
pad on the vehicle side. It is required that power pads should
exhibit a high value of coupling coefficient (k) (the k values
range between 0 and 1) and the capability to transfer power
in different misaligned positions [22].
Among existing power pads, circular power pads are widely
used for EV wireless charging system design due to its reduced
leakage flux and compact structure [18], but their performance
fluctuates with the increment of air-gap. DD power pads
combine the advantage of both circular power pad and flux
pipe topology, and thus, result in a higher value of coupling
coefficient than circular power pads [20], [23]. Bipolar/tripolar
power pads are prepared by combining two or three coils
together, which exhibits a better performance in misaligned
positions [23], [24]. However, the complex system architecture
for bipolar/tripolar power pads makes them unattractive. DDQ
power pads are prepared by adding a quadrature coil with DD
power pads, resulting in the excellent misalignment tolerance.
However, the size of the DDQ power pad is still an issue
as combining two different topologies increases the overall
dimension of the power pad. Power rails are generally used
for roadway powered vehicles, and these power pads are only
energized when an EV is passing over it, but the complex
system configuration and maintenance cost is an unsolved
issue when used in dynamic wireless charging systems.
SAE recommended practice J2954 provides guidelines
mainly focusing on the circular power pads, and DD power
pads are also mentioned as a potential technology. Physical
dimensions of circular and DD power pads provided in SAE
J2954 as shown in Fig. 1 are adopted in this study.
In this article, first, both circular and DD power pads are
designed separately using SAE J2954’s recommended practice.
The two types of power pads are then combined using the
finite element analysis tool, ANSYS Maxwell 3D, to create
the proposed DDC power pad at the power level up to 3.7 kW.

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148 CANADIAN JOURNAL OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING, VOL. 43, NO. 3, SUMMER 2020
Fig. 2. Proposed DDC power pad designed using ANSYS Maxwell 3D.
The dimensions of the DDC power pad are kept the same on
both GA and VA. Fig. 2 shows the final design of the DDC
power pad. The circular coil is in purple, and the DD power
pad is in green. In the physical construction of the power pad,
the circular coil is placed above the DD coil with a distance
of 1 mm in this design. The two coils are connected in parallel
electrically, sharing the same pair of power leads.
For WPT1/Z1 class wireless charging systems (Z clas-
sification is based on the expected maximum VA coil
ground clearance [1]) defined in SAE J2954, the vertical
distance/misalignment between the two GA and VA power
pads can be in the range up to 150 mm. To evaluate the
performance of the proposed DDC power pad, both vertical
and horizontal misalignments are applied. The performance
evaluation procedure for the proposed DDC power pad is
provided in Section II.
III. P ERFORMANCE E VALUATION P ROCEDURE
To evaluate the performance of a power pad, an evalua-
tion procedure is proposed in Fig. 3 in this article: Step 1,
the power pad geometry is selected and designed through
ANSYS Maxwell 3D; Step 2, the characteristic analysis of
each type of power pads is done without applying any
misalignment between the transmitting and receiving sides;
and Step 3, apply both vertical and horizontal displacements.
The simulation results are then validated by comparing the
design criteria that are commonly used in the literature. The
coupling coefficient k varies between 0 and 1, and a higher
value indicates good coupling and transfer efficiency of the
wireless charging system [25]. The power transfer efficiency
is evaluated considering two cases: 1) applying vertical mis-
alignments and 2) applying horizontal misalignments. In this
research, a vertical misalignment between 15 and 150 mm
and a horizontal misalignment between 15 and 150 mm are
considered between power pads installed on the ground and
vehicle sides. If the calculated efficiency reaches the required
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value, 85%, based on SAE J2954’s recommendation [9],
then the efficiency calculation for this specific power pad is
finished, otherwise, go back to Step 1 to fine tune the design
parameters.
IV. E LECTROMAGNETIC C HARACTERISTICS A NALYSIS
In this section, the electromagnetic simulation is con-
ducted for circular, DD, and DDC power pads using ANSYS
Maxwell 3D. Fig. 4 represents the variation of various electro-
magnetic characteristics for the three types of power pads. It is
found that the magnetic field intensity and the magnetic flux
density decrease with the increase in vertical misalignments
and are minimum when the vertical misalignment is the
maximum (150 mm). Similar trend is observed for horizontal
misalignments. According to SAE J2954, the circular and
DD power pads’ position tolerance requirements are within
±100 mm.
A. Circular Power Pads
Fig. 5 represents the coupling coefficients of circular power
pads when both vertical and horizontal misalignments are
applied. For circular power pads, the coupling coefficient k at
the smallest vertical displacement of 15 mm is 0.4870. The
values decrease with the increment of the air-gap between
transmitting and receiving power pads. The green line indi-
cates the change of coupling coefficient with respect to vertical
misalignments when the horizontal misalignment is kept con-
stant at 15 mm. Similarly, the horizontal misalignments of 45,
75, and 100 mm are applied and the coupling coefficient with
respect to vertical misalignments for these cases is shown in
the same figure.
B. DD Power Pads
For DD power pads, when the vertical displacement distance
is 15 mm, the coupling coefficient k is the highest, equal to
0.5760. The coupling coefficient gradually decreases with the
increase of vertical displacement. At the vertical displacement
equal to 150 mm, the coupling coefficient k is dropped
to 0.1189.
Fig. 6 represents the coupling coefficients of DD power
pads when both vertical and horizontal misalignments are
applied. The green line indicates the change of coupling
coefficient with respect to vertical misalignments when the
horizontal misalignment is kept constant at 15 mm. Similarly,
the horizontal misalignments of 45, 75, and 100 mm are
applied, and the coupling coefficient with respect to vertical
misalignments at these cases is also shown in Fig. 6. When
the horizontal misalignment is 15 mm, the maximum value of
the coupling coefficient k is 0.5645. The maximum coupling
coefficient values for 45, 75, and 100 mm are 0.4953, 0.3837,
and 0.2728, respectively. Therefore, the effect of horizontal
misalignment is quite significant.
C. Proposed DDC Power Pads
To evaluate the performance of the proposed DDC power
pads, the simulation using ANSYS Maxwell 3D is conducted
CHOWDHURY AND LIANG: DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION FOR A NEW POWER PAD
Fig. 3. Flowchart of the proposed procedure for performance evaluation of a power pad.
considering vertical and horizontal misalignments. The best
electromagnetic characteristics of the proposed power pad are
observed when both vertical and horizontal misalignments are
minimum. Depending on the dimension of power pads and
ground clearance, power pads between GA and VA may be
misaligned both vertically and horizontally. Fig. 7 represents
the coupling coefficient k versus vertical misalignments for
different horizontal misalignments. For example, when both
horizontal and vertical misalignments between GA and VA are
15 mm, the coupling coefficient is the maximum, equal to
0.7034. For the same 15-mm horizontal misalignment, the cou-
pling coefficient k is only 0.108 at 150-mm vertical misalign-
ment. If the horizontal misalignment increases, the coupling
coefficient will decrease. Compared with the 15-mm horizontal
misalignment, if 50-mm horizontal misalignment is chosen
instead, the coupling coefficients are 0.6203 and 0.104 for
15- and 150-mm vertical misalignments, respectively.
A minimum coupling coefficient k is 0.0726 when both
vertical and horizontal misalignments are 150 mm. The mutual
inductance of power pads between GA and VA follows the
similar pattern as shown in Fig. 8, although the shapes are
slightly different. When the power pads are 15 mm hor-
izontally misaligned, the mutual inductance values for the
vertical misalignment of 15, 50, 85, 120, and 150 mm are
36.2307, 21.7870, 13.7605, 8.020, and 5.898 µH, respectively.
The magnetic field intensity H , the magnetic flux density B,
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149
and magnetic flux lines of the power pads are demonstrated
in Fig. 4 for the case when both horizontal and vertical
misalignments are 150 mm.
D. Comparison Among Three Types of Power Pads
The performance of the proposed DDC power pad is com-
pared with the existing circular and DD power pads as shown
in Fig. 9. The coupling coefficient and mutual inductance of
the three types of power pads are evaluated considering vertical
or horizontal misalignments.
For a perfect horizontal alignment (the horizontal misalign-
ment is zero), Fig. 9(a) and (b) shows that the coupling
coefficient and mutual inductance between power pads vary
with vertical misalignments. It is found that the DDC power
pad exhibits better magnetic coupling than circular and DD
power pads. At 15-mm vertical misalignment, the coupling
coefficient is 0.712 for the DDC power pad, 0.576 for the DD
power pad, and 0.487 for the circular power pad. A higher
coupling coefficient significantly reduces the overall system
complexity and configuration cost. Circular power pads require
a higher current rating than the proposed DDC power pad to
overcome a lower coupling coefficient.
In Fig. 9(c), a comparison of the coupling coefficient k
versus horizontal misalignments is made among the circular,
DD, and DDC power pads. The vertical misalignment between
150 CANADIAN JOURNAL OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING, VOL. 43, NO. 3, SUMMER 2020

Fig. 4. Parameters variations (the vertical misalignment =150 mm). (a) Magnetic field intensity (H ) for circular power pads. (b) Magnetic flux density
(B) for circular power pads. (c) Magnetic flux lines for circular power pads. (d) Magnetic field intensity (H ) for DD power pads. (e) Magnetic flux density
(B) for DD power pads. (f) Magnetic flux lines for DD power pads. (g) Magnetic field intensity (H ) for DDC power pads. (h) Magnetic flux density (B) for
DDC power pads. (i) Magnetic flux lines for DDC power pads.

Fig. 6. Variation of coupling coefficient k when both vertical and horizontal

Fig. 5. Variation of coupling coefficient k when both vertical and horizontal
misalignments are applied to circular power pads.
the power pads is kept constant at 15 mm. The proposed DDC
power pad exhibits a much higher coupling coefficient for
different horizontal misalignments than circular and DD power
pads in this case.
In this section, the simulation is carried out without con-
sidering the shielding effect and ferrite materials. Based on
the values of the coupling coefficient and mutual induc-
tance, DD power pads exhibit better misalignment tolerance
misalignments are applied to DD power pads.
compared with circular power pads. However, considering
both vertical and horizontal misalignments, the proposed
DDC power pads exhibit impressive electromagnetic perfor-
mance [26]–[28].
V. P OWER T RANSFER E FFICIENCY A NALYSIS
A. Circular Power Pads
Circular power pads are widely used in EV wireless
charging systems due to the compact design and installation

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CHOWDHURY AND LIANG: DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION FOR A NEW POWER PAD 151

Fig. 7. Coupling coefficient versus vertical misalignments for different

horizontal misalignments for DDC power pads.

Fig. 8. Mutual inductance versus vertical misalignments for different

horizontal misalignments for DDC power pads.

flexibility. Electromagnetic properties with both vertical and

horizontal misalignments are analyzed for circular power pads
in this article. Fig. 4(a) represents the magnetic field intensity
H at a vertical misalignment/air-gap of 150 mm between the
two power pads installed at the ground and vehicle sides.
Fig. 10 shows the power transfer efficiency of the circular
power pads versus the inverter operating frequency considering Fig. 9. Proposed DDC power pad is compared with circular and DD
power pads. (a) Coupling coefficient versus vertical misalignments. (b) Mutual
five different vertical misalignments (15, 55, 95, 115, and inductance versus vertical misalignments. (c) Coupling coefficient versus
150 mm) and without horizontal misalignments. The power horizontal misalignments (vertical misalignment = 15 mm).
transfer efficiency is measured by the ratio of the transmitting
power and the receiving power through the frequency sweep
with the frequency between 10 and 200 kHz. When the vertical
misalignment is 15 mm, the peak efficiency of 99.94% is
observed at 85 kHz. The peak efficiency is 93.76% for a
55-mm vertical misalignment at 90 kHz. An increasing vertical
misalignment leads to a decreased peak efficiency. It can be
observed in Fig. 10, the peak efficiency point for the three
vertical misalignments at 95, 115, and 150 mm is located
at 90 kHz.
Fig. 11 shows the power transfer efficiency of circular
power pads versus the inverter operating frequency consid-
ering four different horizontal misalignments (15, 55, 95, Fig. 10. Power transfer efficiency versus the inverter operating frequency
and 115 mm) while the vertical misalignment is 100 mm. for different vertical misalignments (circular power pads).
The peak efficiency of 84.59% is observed at 90 kHz for
the 15-mm horizontal misalignment. With the increase in the is 90 kHz to obtain the highest efficiency considering vertical
horizontal misalignment, the peak efficiency decreases. When and horizontal misalignments.
the horizontal misalignment is 95 mm, the peak efficiency is
dropped to 69.07% at 90 kHz. For different horizontal mis- B. DD Power Pads
alignments, the corresponding frequency at the peak efficiency DD power pads exhibit good performance. For the similar
remains at 90 kHz. Therefore, it can be concluded that for size, the flux path height of DD power pads is doubled
circular power pads, the optimal inverter operating frequency compared with circular power pads. The improved flux path

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152 CANADIAN JOURNAL OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING, VOL. 43, NO. 3, SUMMER 2020
Fig. 11. Power transfer efficiency versus the inverter operating frequency
for different horizontal misalignments (circular power pads).
Fig. 12. Power transfer efficiency versus the inverter operating frequency
for different vertical misalignments (DD power pads).
height can significantly reduce the leakage flux and result in a
higher coupling coefficient. The magnetic field intensity of DD
power pads is illustrated in Fig. 4(d) for the 150-mm vertical
misalignment between the ground and vehicle sides.
Fig. 12 shows the power transfer efficiency of the DD
power pad versus the inverter operating frequency considering
five different vertical misalignments (15, 55, 95, 115, and
150 mm) and without horizontal misalignments. For a vertical
misalignment of 15 mm, the first peak efficiency is 90.14% at
70 kHz, and the second peak efficiency is 99.91% at 135 kHz.
For the 55-mm vertical misalignment, the peak efficiency is
88.63% at 75 kHz. It is found that the power transfer efficiency
decreases gradually with the increase in vertical misalignments
for DD power pads. For the three vertical misalignments at 95,
115, and 150 mm, the peak efficiency is located at 75 kHz.
Fig. 13 shows the power transfer efficiency of the DD
power pads versus the inverter operating frequency consid-
ering four different horizontal misalignments (15, 55, 95, and
115 mm) while the vertical misalignment is 100 mm. The peak
efficiency of 81.72% is observed at 75 kHz for the 15-mm
horizontal misalignment. When the horizontal misalignment
is increased to 95 mm, the peak efficiency is dropped to
27.87%. The inverter operating frequency corresponding to
the peak efficiency at the four horizontal misalignments is
75 kHz. Therefore, it can be concluded that for DD power
pads, the optimal inverter operating frequency is 75 kHz to
obtain the highest efficiency considering vertical and horizon-
tal misalignments.
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Fig. 13. Power transfer efficiency versus the inverter operating frequency
for different horizontal misalignments (DD power pads).
Fig. 14. Power transfer efficiency versus the inverter operating frequency
for different vertical misalignments (DDC power pads).
C. Proposed DDC Power Pads
The proposed DDC power pad is designed by combining
circular and DD power pads inspired by DDQ power pads.
The circular and DD power pads used in the DDC power
pad design follow physical dimensions recommended in SAE
J2954. Fig. 4(g) represents the magnetic field intensity of the
DDC power pads for a 150-mm vertical misalignment between
the ground and vehicle sides.
Fig. 14 shows the power transfer efficiency of the DDC
power pads versus the inverter operating frequency considering
five different vertical misalignments (15, 55, 95, 115, and
150 mm) and without horizontal misalignments. For the verti-
cal misalignment of 15 mm, the first peak efficiency is 94.36%
at 65 kHz, the second peak efficiency is 99.98% at 110 kHz,
and the third peak efficiency is 99.64% at 165 kHz. The peak
efficiency is 83.63% for the 55-mm vertical misalignment
at 65 kHz. The peak efficiency gradually drops with the
increment of vertical misalignments. The peak efficiencies for
the three vertical misalignments at 95, 115, and 150 mm are
all located at 70 kHz.
Fig. 15 shows the power transfer efficiency of the DDC
power pads versus the inverter operating frequency consider-
ing four different horizontal misalignments (15, 55, 95, and
115 mm), while the vertical misalignment is 100 mm. The
peak efficiency for the 15-mm horizontal misalignment is
78.90% at 60 kHz. For the 55-mm horizontal misalignment,
the peak efficiency is 91.01% at 60 kHz. The peak efficien-
cies decrease with the increase in horizontal misalignments.
CHOWDHURY AND LIANG: DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION FOR A NEW POWER PAD
Fig. 15. Power transfer efficiency versus the inverter operating frequency
for different horizontal misalignments (DDC power pads).
Fig. 16. Comparison of power transfer efficiencies among circular, DD, and
DDC power pads. (a) Vertical misalignments. (b) Horizontal misalignments.
The inverter operating frequency corresponding to peak effi-
ciencies at the four horizontal misalignments are all 60 kHz.
Therefore, it can be concluded that for the proposed DDC
power pads, the optimal inverter operating frequency is around
65 kHz to obtain the highest efficiency considering vertical and
horizontal misalignments.
D. Comparison Among Three Types of Power Pads
The power transfer efficiencies of the three types of power
pads (circular, DD, and DDC power pads) are compared
in this section. When considering vertical misalignments
in Fig. 16(a), DDC power pads have comparable efficiency to
circular and DD power pads. The DDC power pads’ efficiency
is in between circular and DD power pads, and DD power
pads have the highest efficiency at a vertical misalignment
larger than 60 mm. For the 15-mm vertical misalignment,
the efficiency is 99.98%, 99.91%, and 99.94% for DDC, DD,
and circular power pads, respectively. With the increase in
vertical misalignments, the efficiency pattern changes. For
the 115-mm vertical misalignment, the efficiency is 35.57%,
44.62%, and 28.54%, for DDC, DD, and circular power pads,
respectively.
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153
Fig. 17. DD power pads with and without Ferrite (Fe) plates. (a) Coupling
coefficient versus vertical misalignment. (b) Mutual inductance versus
vertical misalignment. (c) Peak power transfer efficiency versus vertical
misalignments.
Considering horizontal misalignments in Fig. 16(b), DDC
power pads show superior performance compared with circular
and DD power pads. At a smaller horizontal misalignment
less than 40 mm, the efficiency for the three types of power
pads is comparable, but when the horizontal misalignment
is larger than 40 mm, DDC power pads show much higher
efficiency values. For the 115-mm horizontal misalignment,
the efficiency is 77%, 14.50%, and 58.96% for DDC, DD,
and circular power pads, respectively. DDC power pads should
perform well especially for dynamic charging systems.
VI. P ERFORMANCE I MPROVEMENT U SING
F ERRITE M ATERIAL
The addition of Ferrite material can significantly improve
the overall performance of power pads. To analyze the effect
of ferrite material on overall power transfer efficiency, case
studies are carried out considering DD and DDC power pads
with ferrite plates.
A. Effect of Ferrite Material on DD Power Pads
For a perfect horizontal alignment, i.e., the horizontal mis-
alignment is zero, Fig. 17(a) and (b) shows the coupling
154 CANADIAN JOURNAL OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING, VOL. 43, NO. 3, SUMMER 2020

Fig. 18. Power transfer efficiency versus the inverter operating frequency for
various vertical misalignments for DD power pads with Ferrite (Fe) plates.

coefficient and mutual inductance between power pads vary

with vertical misalignments. For DD power pads with the
vertical displacement equal to 15 mm, the coupling coefficient
is 0.5760 without ferrite material; while after adding the
ferrite plate on both transmitting and receiving sides of power
pads, the coupling coefficient increases to 0.955. The coupling
coefficient gradually decreases with the increase in vertical
displacements. At the vertical displacement equal to 150 mm,
the coupling coefficient is 0.1189 without ferrite material, and
0.372 with ferrite material.
When considering vertical misalignments in Fig. 17(c),
DD power pads with ferrite plates exhibit impressive effi-
ciency compared with the case without ferrite plates for larger
vertical misalignments. For the 15-mm vertical misalignment,
the efficiency is the same for DD power pads regardless
with or without ferrite plates. With the increase in vertical
misalignments, the efficiency pattern changes. For the 115-mm
Fig. 19. DDC power pads with and without Ferrite (Fe) plates. (a) Cou-
vertical misalignment, the efficiency is 44.62% and 65.24% for pling coefficient versus vertical misalignment. (b) Mutual inductance versus
DD power pads without and with ferrite plates, respectively. vertical misalignment. (c) Peak power transfer efficiency versus vertical
Similarly, for the 150-mm vertical misalignment, the efficiency misalignments.
is 21.55% and 46.42% for DD power pads without and with
ferrite plates, respectively. Therefore, the addition of ferrite
plates makes the overall performance of DD power pads
significantly stable for larger vertical misalignments. coefficient is 0.71265 without ferrite plates and 0.94 with
Fig. 18 shows the power transfer efficiency of the DD power ferrite plates. The coupling coefficient gradually decreases
pads with a ferrite plate versus the inverter operating frequency with the increase in vertical displacements. At the vertical
considering five different vertical misalignments (15, 55, 95, displacement equal to 150 mm, the coupling coefficient is
115, and 150 mm) and without horizontal misalignments. For 0.1049 without ferrite plates and 0.2863 with ferrite plates.
a vertical misalignment of 15 mm, the first peak efficiency When considering vertical misalignments in Fig. 19(c),
is 99.90% at 30 kHz, and the second peak efficiency is DDC power pads with ferrite plates exhibit the improved
99.91% at 190 kHz. For the 55-mm vertical misalignment, efficiency compared with the case without ferrite plates for
the peak efficiency is 95.76% at 95 kHz. It is found that the larger vertical misalignments. For the 15-mm vertical mis-
power transfer efficiency decreases gradually with the increase alignment, the efficiency is the same with or without ferrite
in vertical misalignments for DD power pads. For vertical plates. For the 150-mm vertical misalignment, the efficiency is
misalignments at 95, 115, and 150 mm, the peak efficiency 16.49% without ferrite plates, and 80.74% with ferrite plates.
is located at 95 and 55 kHz. Therefore, the addition of ferrite plates makes the overall
performance of DDC power pads significantly improved. For
larger vertical misalignments, the power transfer efficiency of
B. Effect of Ferrite Material on Proposed DDC Power Pad DDC power pads with ferrite plates is much better than that
For a perfect horizontal alignment, i.e., the horizontal mis- without ferrite plates.
alignment is zero, Fig. 19(a) and (b) shows the coupling coef- Fig. 20 shows the power transfer efficiency of the
ficient and mutual inductance between power pads vary with DDC power pads with ferrite plates versus the inverter
various vertical misalignments for the proposed DDC power operating frequency considering five different vertical mis-
pads. When the vertical displacement is 15 mm, the coupling alignments (15, 55, 95, 115, and 150 mm) and without

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CHOWDHURY AND LIANG: DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION FOR A NEW POWER PAD
Fig. 20. Power transfer efficiency versus the inverter operating frequency for
various vertical misalignments for DDC power pads with Ferrite (Fe) plates.
horizontal misalignments. For a vertical misalignment
of 15 mm, the first peak efficiency is 99.98% at 30 kHz, and
the second peak efficiency is 99.94% at 160 kHz. For the
55-mm vertical misalignment, the peak efficiency is 99.99%
at 85 kHz. For vertical misalignments at 95, 115, and 150 mm,
the peak efficiency is all located at 40 and 45 kHz.
VII. C ONCLUSION
In this article, a new power pad topology named DDC is
proposed and a comparative analysis is carried out between
the proposed DDC power pads and existing circular and DD
power pads for EV’s wireless charging systems. The physical
models of circular and DD power pads are built using ANSYS
Maxwell 3D based on the recommended physical dimensions
in SAE J2954 recommended practice.
For each type of power pad, the vertical misalignment
between transmitting and receiving sides varies between
15 and 150 mm. Parameters such as the coupling coefficient,
mutual inductance, magnetic field intensity, and magnetic flux
density are investigated for all power pads. The efficiency for
each type of power pad is determined considering different
vertical and horizontal misalignments, and the efficiency ver-
sus the inverter operating frequency is displayed. To analyze
the impact of ferrite material on the overall performance of
power pads, a case study is carried out considering DD and
DDC power pads. The optimal inverter operating frequency
for the designed power pad can then be determined to obtain
the highest efficiency, which is 90 kHz for circular power
pads, 75 kHz for DD power pads, and 65 kHz for DDC
power pads. The proposed DDC power pad shows the best
efficiency performance considering horizontal misalignment,
which can serve as a suitable power pad for EV’s dynamic
charging systems.
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Muhammad Sifatul Alam Chowdhury (Student
Member, IEEE) was born in Chittagong,
Bangladesh. He received the B.Sc. degree
in electrical and electronic engineering from
International Islamic University, Chittagong,
in 2017, and the M.Eng. degree in electrical
engineering from the Memorial University of
Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL, Canada, in 2019.
He was the Founding Vice-Chairman of the
IEEE International Islamic University Chittagong
Student Branch and served as a Technical Engineer
(Signaling) with LSIS Bangladesh Company Limited, Chittagong, from
April 2017 to June 2017. His research focuses on power pads and charging
system design for electric vehicles.
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Xiaodong Liang (Senior Member, IEEE) was born
in Lingyuan, Liaoning, China. She received the
B.Eng. and M.Eng. degrees from Shenyang Poly-
technic University, Shenyang, China, in 1992 and
1995, respectively, the M.Sc. degree from the Uni-
versity of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada,
in 2004, and the Ph.D. degree from the University
of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada, in 2013, all in
electrical engineering.
From 1995 to 1999, she served as a Lecturer with
Northeastern University, Shenyang. In October 2001,
she joined Schlumberger, Edmonton, AB, Canada, where she was promoted
to be a Principal Power Systems Engineer with this world’s leading oil-field-
service company in 2009. After serving Schlumberger for almost 12 years,
from 2013 to 2019, she was with Washington State University, Vancouver,
WA, USA, and the Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL,
Canada, as an Assistant and later as an Associate Professor. In July 2019,
she joined the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada, where
she is currently an Associate Professor. Her research interests include power
systems, renewable energy, and electric machines.
Dr. Liang is a registered Professional Engineer in the province of
Saskatchewan, Canada.