Comparison of One-Way and Two-Way Coupled Simulation for Thermal Investigation of Vehicular Wireless Power Transfer Modules

The thermal management of the vehicular module is key to the design of efficient wireless power transfer systems. In order to predict the thermal behavior by simulation, the mutual interaction of the electromagnetic and thermal fields must be taken into account. This multiphysical coupling leads to extensive computational effort. One approach to reduce the complexity by limiting the interdependencies between the domains is one-way coupling. This paper examined the applicability of one-way and two-way coupling for the prediction of the thermal management of an exemplary vehicular wireless power transfer module. The electromagnetic-thermal behavior of the proposed module was systematically studied by experiments and simulations on the component and module level. The performed studies showed that both simulation approaches accurately capture the transient thermal behavior of the coil and ferrites on the component level, whereas the one-way coupled simulation underpredicts the power losses caused by shielding by more than 20%, leading to a steady-state temperature difference of 15 K. As a result, on the module level, the two-way coupled simulation model provides a more accurate representation of the electromagnetic-thermal behavior of the proposed car pad module. Therefore, the authors recommend using a two-way coupling approach for the thermal dimensioning of wireless power transfer modules for electric vehicles.