TECHNOLOGY LICENSING OPPORTUNITY
Electromagnetic Shielding Systems for High Power Wireless Charging
New designs enable wireless charging up to 200 kW.
Opportunity: Idaho National Laboratory (INL), managed and operated by Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC (BEA), is offering the opportunity to enter into a license and/or collaborative research agreement to commercialize novel electromagnetic shielding technologies. This technology transfer opportunity is part of a dedicated effort to convert government-funded research into job opportunities, businesses and ultimately an improved way of life for the American people.
Overview: Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) promises convenient, autonomous, and highly efficient charging of electric vehicles and other mobile battery powered systems. However, the high-power wireless charging generates a high electromagnetic field (EMF), which becomes a critical concern for both human health and environmental protection. Previous research in this area mainly focused on aluminum or ferrite plane shielding, which works well for low power WPT. However, for power levels higher than 20 kW, or even up to 200 kW, EMF safety becomes a challenge and novel shielding designs are required. Technologies developed by researchers at INL proposes new shielding solutions to enable high power wireless charging in stationary and dynamic conditions while ensuring EMF safety.
Description: Stationary WPT Shielding: This technology provides a novel passive shielding design with a tooth shape and customized backing ferrite plate extension features. The design minimizes the surrounding emissions to meet the SAE J2954 standard for EMF safety. If needed, active shielding with canceling coils can be added to further ensure EMF safety while reducing material costs.
Dynamic WPT Shielding: A shielding design has also been optimized for in-motion dynamic high power WPT. In addition to passive elements, the design includes active shielding with multiple canceling coils installed on the ground side. The ground side canceling coils are small in size and opposite in phase to the coupler coils. The design achieves effective EMF control with minor power loss (less than 1%) without affecting the main coils’ coupling or inductance.
Benefits:
- Design enables WPT up to 200 kW while meeting EMF safety criteria under the SAE J2954 standard and ICNIRP guidelines.
- Effective active shielding design with low power loss.
Applications:
- Stationary wireless charging for light duty electric vehicles
- Dynamic (in-motion) wireless charging for light duty electric vehicles
Development Status: TRL 4. The technology has been validated in a lab environment.
IP Status: Patent Application No. PCT/US20/49167, “Electromagnetic Shield Design for High Power Wireless Charging of Electric Vehicles and Related Systems, Devices, and Methods,” BEA Docket No. BA-1110.
Patent Application No. PCT/US20/50067, “Active Electromagnetic Shielding for High Power Dynamic Wireless Charging and Related Systems, Methods and Devices,” BEA Docket No. BA-1154.
Additional Information
1. B. Zhang, R. B. Carlson, V. P. Galigekere, O. C. Onar and J. L. Pries, "Electromagnetic Shielding Design for 200 kW Stationary Wireless Charging of Light-Duty EV," 2020 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition (ECCE), 2020, pp. 5185-5192, doi: 10.1109/ECCE44975.2020.9235329. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9235329
2. B. Zhang et al., "Concept Design of Active Shielding for Dynamic Wireless Charging of Light-duty EV," 2020 IEEE Transportation Electrification Conference & Expo (ITEC), 2020, pp. 844-850, doi: 10.1109/ITEC48692.2020.9161606. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9161606
3. B. Zhang, R. B. Carlson, J. G. Smart, E. J. Dufek, and B. Liaw. Challenges of future high power wireless power transfer for light-duty electric vehicles----technology and risk management. ETransportation, 2, 100012, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.etran.2019.100012.
INL is seeking to license the above intellectual property to a company with a demonstrated ability to bring such inventions to the market. Exclusive rights in defined fields of use may be available. Added value is placed on relationships with small businesses, start-up companies, and general entrepreneurship opportunities.
Companies interested in learning more about this licensing opportunity should contact Andrew Rankin at td@inl.gov.
References
SAE J2954 standard. "Wireless Power Transfer for Light-Duty Plug-in/Electric Vehicles and Alignment Methodology." [online] available: https://www.sae.org/standards/content/j2954_202010/.
ICNIRP guideline, "ICNIRP Statement-Guidelines for limiting exposure to time-varying electric and magnetic fields (1 Hz to 100 kHz).", [online] available: https://www.icnirp.org/cms/upload/publications/ICNIRPLFgdl.pdf.
