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Thermal Management of Embedded Electric Vehicle Wireless Charging Systems

Year: 2023


Presenter Name: Conner Sabin

Description
High-powered wireless charging systems for heavy-duty vehicles such as semi-trucks encounter large temperature increases in high-power circuitry. The lack of knowledge regarding heat dissipation between roadway material and wireless charging systems is a research gap that has previously limited cost-effective and durable designs. Multi-physics simulation can determine power loss and heat rise within the system but is insufficient at determining heat transfer between the wireless charging system and the roadway due to nonlinear parameters and lack of traditional cooling methods. This simulation deficiency leads to results that approximate heat transfer to the roadway with low accuracy. Some researchers have improved simulation results by experimentally measuring thermal effects. Testing wireless charging systems embedded in concrete improves simulation results, but experiments are time intensive and costly. The purpose of this research was to utilize a novel testbed and simulation process for rapidly optimizing the thermal management of high-power wireless charging systems. This technique uses timely experimental results from a ""fluidized bed"" to refine nonlinear simulation results. A fluidized bed uses pressurized airflow to cause solid particles like grain, iron ore, or sand to behave like a fluid. This fluidization process is used to easily insert and remove wireless charging systems from a fluidized bed of sand as shown in figure 1. This process will allow researchers to obtain experimental thermal results between wireless charging systems and sand in a few days rather than the concrete-embedded time of two to three months. A fluidized bed is used for rapid prototyping of thermal management designs and results of sand-embedded tests are used in simulation to predict more accurate performance of concrete-embedded systems. This novel testbed and simulation technique will increase the speed with which accurate concrete-embedded thermal simulation can be created.
University / Institution: Utah State University
Type: Oral
Format: In Person
SESSION D (3:30-5:00PM)
Area of Research: Engineering
Faculty Mentor: Abhilash Kamineni
Location: Alumni House, HENRIKSEN ROOM (4:10pm)