Evaluation of a current doubler IPT pickup controller for materials handling applications

Abstract

This paper evaluates a new current doubler pickup controller for materials handling IPT applications and compares it with the conventional boost controller. The current doubling capability and switching regulation of the controller were presented. While the component count of the current doubler is slightly higher than the boost controller, most of its components require half the current rating of the boost controller. Assuming that the boost controller requires two devices in parallel to handle the high currents at high power applications, the current doubler will have a lower component count. Simulations showed that the current doubler controller has a higher efficiency of 95.4 % compared to the boost controller's 93.9 % at 5 kW. A current doubler controller prototype was built and the measured efficiency at 5 kW was 94.4 %. The measured results matches well with simulation and this shows that the current doubler controller is comparable with the conventional boost controller and is an alternative pickup controller.