Optimization of Planar Magnetic Devices for a 22 kW Bidirectional On-board Charger

On-Board charger (OBC) is an essential component in any Electric Vehicle.

Future commercialized OBCs will be required to achieve 98% efficiency, 4.6 kW/L power density and 35 $/kW according to the FFI and the US-drive road maps targets and requirements.

Magnetic devices are vital components in the OBC as they are the bulkiest and heaviest elements, occupying more than 40% of the total volume. Consequently, increasing the power density and reducing the cost of these components is of great importance.

The general aim of this project is to optimize the cost and the power density of the inductive components used in a 22 kW bidirectional OBC to satisfy the previous mentioned requirements. We will use Genetic Algorithms (GAs) and Pareto front concept to optimize the cost and the power density. We will perform the study on different converter topologies in order to determine the best topology.

The design will be verified with Finite Element Analysis followed by an experimental verification.