News

USU scientists make breakthrough in study of electric vehicle charging systems

By Kevin Opsahl
The Herald Journal
July 6, 2011

(Eli Lucero/Herald Journal)
Ky Sealy explains how three times enough electricity to power the light bulbs is transfered between two pads separated by 10 inches at USU's Energy Dynamics Laboratory on Tuesday morning.

(Eli Lucero/Herald Journal)
Three time enough electricity to power the lightbulbs is transfered between two pads separated by 10 inches.

NORTH LOGAN - Electric roadways could one day power cars to travel for miles and miles without having to stop and recharge - at least that's the dream scientists at Utah State University's Energy Dynamics Laboratory have after making a recent scientific breakthrough.

The USU Innovation Campus recently operated the first high-power, high-efficiency wireless power transfer system capable of transferring enough energy to quickly charge an electric vehicle. The lightweight, low-profile system demonstrated 90 percent electrical transfer efficiency of 5 kilowatts over an air gap of 10 inches.

"That's significant; that's never been done before," said Eric Warren, public relations director for the USU Research Foundation.

To demonstrate the concept, EDL researcher Hunter Wu and his team - including Ky Sealy - set an electrical coil, or pad, on the floor. Plastic cylinders on top of the pad were used as spacers to create the 10-inch gap. A receiving pad goes on top of the cylinders. Electric current in the lower pad creates a magnetic field that bridges the gap. It's enough power to light up two dozen light bulbs, Wu said.

"It's a robust system that we can now apply directly to our vehicles," Sealy said. "This is the first - and biggest leap - in accomplishing that."

Several months ago, scientists at EDL explained the pad demonstration to The Herald Journal as a concept, but now they've actually been able to execute it.

The demonstration at EDL's facility further validates that electric vehicles can efficiently be charged with wireless technology, EDL Director Jeff Muhs said in a written statement. The move could help the environment by conserving fossil fuels and making the air cleaner.

"In the not-so-distant future, we will see vehicles go from being charged by plugging into the electric grid, to wirelessly charging in garages, shopping centers and dedicated refueling stations, to mass transit vehicles that are charged as they are in motion and eventually wireless electric roadways where cars will travel at 75 miles per hour while being charged," Muhs said in the statement.

This summer, EDL will place the receiving pad on the bottom of an electric vehicle and test it by driving onto a stationary charging pad.

"It's really going to pave the way for future generations in terms of getting off of fossil fuels," Sealy said.

The question is: Will this technology actually be implemented?

"There will be a need to move from the fossil fuel generation to the electric vehicle generation," Sealy said. "Of course, that's as much a social challenge as a technical one."

Researchers believe it will take the president or Congress to make it happen.

© 2011, The Herald Journal