Nonlinear Modeling and Feedback Control of WPT
System via Magnetic Resonant Coupling Considering
Continuous Dynamic Tuning
Cheng Chen, Hong Zhou, Qijun Deng and Xin Luo
Department of Automation, Wuhan University
Wuhan, 430072, China
E-mail: dqj@whu.edu.cn
Abstract—In a wireless power transfer (WPT) system via
magnetic resonant coupling, the detuning will greatly reduce the
transmission power and efficiency. In this paper, a nonlinear
tuning model and feedback controllers of the system considering
the continuous dynamic tuning are developed to eliminate the
disturbance from the detuning. The phase difference between the
primary and secondary side is employed to predicate the
resonant state. The model is linearized around the operating
point by small-signal analysis methodology. Based on the
dynamics of the linearized model, a PI controller for each side of
the system is designed. It enables the system to simultaneously
tuning at the primary and secondary side using a parallel
digitally tunable capacitance. The closed-loop nonlinear state-
space model is built and the numerical simulations verify the fast
dynamic tuning ability of the resonant tank to cope with the
detuning disturbance.
Keywords—nonlinear tuning model; phase difference; feedback
control; wireless power transfer.
I. INTRODUCTION
Magnetic resonant wireless power transfer system is
preferred in many daily and industrial applications due to
delivering electrical energy cordlessly. As a kind of special
power supply, the robustness and steadiness for power and
efficiency of the system are an important issues of concern [1-
3]. Generally, the inherent parameters of the resonant tank and
the operating frequency may dynamically drift away because of
the temperature, moisture, ageing of the resonant tanks or
ambient interference [4]. Furthermore, the detuning will greatly
reduce the transmission efficiency and power. In the
preliminary studies [3-9], various tuning technologies have
been investigated to maintain the maximum efficiency and
power against parameter variations. In [5], the tuning
technologies are divided into two types, frequency-tuned
method and impedance-tuned method. In order to compensate
for changes of the detuning, the operating frequency of the
frequency-tuned system is variable and controllable. In
contrast, the impedance-tuned system employs variable
capacitance/ inductance to track the optimum impedance-
matching point in the case of varying parameters and operating
frequency. A serial or parallel capacitance matrix is introduced
‹,(((
in [7], where the impedance can be automatically
reconfigured. Ren et al. [4] depict a synchronous-tuning
method using a vacuum variable capacitance. A saturable DC-
feed inductor [8] and a transistor-controlled capacitance [3] are
used to provide continuously adjustable impedance. All of the
methods mentioned above can maintain maximum efficiency
and power by applying different iterative algorithms. But the
dynamic analysis of the frequency-tuned or impedance-tuned
system has not been extensively studied, with previous work
mainly concentrated on the steady-state models and
experimental verification.
The dynamics of the tuning model are necessary for the
design of the feedback controller, and the phase and gain
margin of the system should be properly designed to guarantee
the robustness and steadiness. In [9], a direct phase control
approach based on the Second-Order Generalized Integrator
Phase-Locked Loop (SOGI-PLL) is proposed to track the
resonant frequency and the controller is designed by the
dynamic characteristics of the SOGI-PLL. Li et al. [10], [11]
present a nonlinear model to describe the coupled resonances
by using the slowly varying amplitudes and phases of coupled
modes rather than resonant currents and voltages. It is able to
analyze the dynamics of the phase around the resonant state.
To eliminate the disturbance from the detuning, this paper
presents a design procedure for the tuning controller of the
WPT system. In the design process, the dynamic
characteristics of the tuning model have been taken into
consideration. The parallel digitally tunable capacitance is
chosen as the tuning actuator and the PI controller is used to
remove the steady state error while maintaining the closed-loop
system.
The paper is organized as follows: Section II analyzes the
phase difference between the primary and secondary side under
different resonant states and the minimal zero voltage
switching (ZVS) phase. Section III focuses on the nonlinear
modeling and linearizing. In section IV, the simulation model
and circuit are set up to verify the proposed tuning controller
and the experimental results are provided.
II. PROPOSED TOPOLOGY AND PHASE ANALYSIS

Fig.1. Topology circuit of the analysed wireless charging system.
A. Analysis of Resonances and Phase Difference
A series–series compensated topology of the WPT system,
as shown in Fig. 1, consists of a DC input voltage, a full-bridge
inverter, the primary and secondary resonant tanks, a full-
bridge rectifier and load. By sensing the primary and secondary
currents, the phase difference and a PI controller are used to
maintaining the closed-loop system. The primary and
secondary sides consist of the inductance L1, L2, the series-
resonance capacitance C1, C2, the parallel digitally tunable
capacitance C1v, C2v, and the equivalent series resistance R1, R2
respectively. i1, i2, v1 and v2 represent the current across the
coils and the voltage of the series-resonance capacitance. RL is
the load resistance and M is the mutual inductance between two
coils.
Assuming that: 1) the angular switching frequency of the
full-bridge inverter is Ȧs, 2) the voltage and current waves of
the both side are sinusoid, 3) the filter capacitance of the full-
bridge rectifier is big enough. The fundamental components of
the input voltage at primary side of the resonant tank and the
equivalent resistance of the rectifier and load can be simplified
as
vab = VI cos (ωs t + θ s )
Rcd = 8 RL / π 2
where VI is the DC voltage source, șs is the initial phase of the
fundamental voltage vab.
Combination of (1) and (2) leads to the equivalent circuit
shown in Figure 2. According to this equivalent circuit, the
impedances of the primary and secondary resonant tanks are
expressed as following:
Z1 = R1 + jωs L1 + 1/ jωs ( C1 + C1v ) + Z sreflect
Z sreflect = (ωs M ) / Z 2
2
Z 2 = R2 + Rcd + jωs L2 + 1/ jωs ( C2 + C2v )
Fig.2. The equivalent circuit diagram of WPT system.
where Zsreflect is the equivalent impedance that reflected by the
secondary side. The primary and secondary currents can be
expressed as
vab Z 2
i1 = (4)
(ω s M )
2
+ Z1 Z 2
jωs Mi1
i2 = − (5)
Z2
(1) It is assumed that the phase difference between the current
i1 and equivalent fundamental voltage vab is ǻij, and ǻȖ is the
(2) phase difference between the currents i2 and i1. According to
(4), when the operating frequency Ȧs and mutual inductance M
are fixed, the phase difference ǻȖ is only determined by Z2 and
ǻij is related to Z1 and Z2. Moreover, only if C2+C2v=1/Ȧ2L2,
the secondary resonant tank of the system achieves resonance
and the ǻȖ is constant by ʌ/2. Only when C1+C1v
=1/Ȧ2L1=C2+C2v =1/Ȧ2L2, the both side of the system are
simultaneously at resonance state and the current i1 and voltage
vab have the same phase. Therefore, changing the value of ǻij
and ǻȖ by the adjustment of the parallel digitally tunable
capacitance enables the WPT system to maintain the resonant
state.
(3)
B. Minimum ZVS Phase angle
The Zero voltage switching (ZVS) condition of the inverter
circuit may be interrupted by the detuning. In order to maintain

the ZVS operation, a minimum angle [12] between the current ­d m

i1 and equivalent fundamental voltage vab is needed to make the ° xi = fi ( x ) + ¦ gi ( x ) ui

resonant tank equivalent to an inductive load. The minimum ® dt i =1 (9)
angle ȗmin is defined as ° y = h ( x)
¯ i i

where, x= [a1㸪ș1㸪a2㸪ș2]T and y1= θ s − x2 , y2= x4 − x2 .

§ 2ωs CossVI ·
ζ min ≥ arccos ¨1 − ¸ (6) B. Model Linearization
© Im ¹
This nonlinear tuning model, also known as the large-signal
model, includes the frequency-tuned and inductance-tuned
where Coss is the output capacitor of the MOSFET, I m is the model. And it also represents the envelope of the phase
effective value of the current across the MOSFET and VI is the difference under both steady-state and transient conditions. In
DC input voltage. other words, the large-signal model contains both the operating
point and the small-signal model. Thus, each variables can be
III. DYNAMIC ANALYSIS OF THE TUNING SYSTEM written as the sum of operation point and Small-signal
Based on the amplitude and phase model and taking into
account the phase difference between the primary and
secondary side around the resonant state, a dynamic tuning x = xo + Δx (10)
model is established in this section.
u = uo + Δu (11)
A. Model Development
The following dynamic equations describe the behavior of In this paper, the parallel digitally tunable capacitance is
the equivalent circuit in Fig. 2: chosen as the tuning actuator. By substituting (10) into (9), the
nonlinear capacitance-tuned model can be linearized using the
Taylor’s series expansion and written in the state-space form
­ di1 (t ) di2 (t )
°vab = v1 + i1 R1 + L1 dt − M dt
°
°i = C + C dv1 (t ) ­d
°° 1 ( 1 1v )
° Δx = A ⋅ Δx + B ⋅ Δu
dt ® dt (12)
® (7) °¯ y = C ⋅ Δx
° M 1 = v + i ( R + R ) + L di2 (t )
di (t )
° dt
2 2 2 cd 2
dt
° dv ( t ) where ǻx=[a1o, ș1o 㸪 a2o 㸪 ș2o ]T, ǻu=[ǻC1v 㸪 ǻC2v]T, and
°i2 = ( C2 + C2 v ) 2 y1= θ s − Δx2 , y2= Δx4 − Δx2 .
°̄ dt
Parameters of main components are listed in Table I, where
According to [10], [11], when the resonances are loosely the ESRs of the coils are measured at the frequency 149.69kHz,
coupled, the voltages and currents of WPT system can be the value of mutual inductance is calculated using Ansoft
represented as Maxwell 15 when the power transfer distance is 100 cm.
IRF840 MOSFET is selected to construct the switching leg of
the inverter and the output capacitance can be achieved by
­ 2 querying the instructions. The initial value of the tunable
°in = ⋅ an cos(ωs t + θ n ) capacitances is 0.5nF.
° Ln
® (8) The operation point is calculated by setting the derivative
°v = 2
° n ⋅ an sin(ωs t + θ n ) terms in (9) to zero, and is given as
¯ ( C n + Cnv )

where an and șn(n=1,2) are defined so that the energy contained x0 = [ 0.239 −0.089 0.077 1.483]
T
(13)
in the primary and secondary resonant tank is a2n and the phase
angle of the current in, respectively. The nonlinear time-variant
model derived from equations (7) and (8) can be averaged by Substitution of xo and the circuit parameters into the state
taking the average values during a switching period. Because space-model yields the matrices (A B C) as given in (11)
the resonant state can be fixed by keeping the phase difference
ǻijm and ǻȖm to be constant, the nonlinear turning model can ª −309.5 26.1 −4134.4 8.686 º
be derived as follows: « −457.1 −309.5 −472.8 −1330.5 »»
A=« (14)
« 4133.8 −0.7 −1.3 × 104 −2.8 »
« 4 »
¬ 35.4 1.3 × 10 472.7 −1.3 × 10 4 ¼


 ª 0 45.4 º ªG ( s ) º
« −1.3 × 105 −4.4 × 10−6 »
'
G pij ( s ) = « p11 »
G p 22 ( s ) »¼
(19)
B=« » (15) «¬
« −141.1 0 »
« −5 5 »
¬ −4.2 × 10 −1.3 × 10 ¼ where Gp11(s) and Gp22(s) is open-loop transfer function from u1
to y1 and from u2 to y2,
ª 0 −1 0 0 º
C=« » (16)
¬ 0 1 0 −1¼
1.3 × 105 s 3 + 3.5 × 109 s 2 + 2.6 × 1013 s + 3.6 × 1016
G p11 ( s ) = (20)
s 4 + 2.6 × 104 s 3 + 5.5 ×1011 s 2 + 4.5 ×1014
TABLE I. MAIN PARAMETERS OF WPT SYSTEM
1.3 × 105 s 3 + 2 × 109 s 2 + 5.7 ×1012 s + 4.7 ×1015
G p 22 ( s ) = (21)
Parameter Description Value s 4 + 2.6 ×104 s 3 + 5.5 × 1011 s 2 + 4.5 × 1014
The primary side resonant
L1 323.1ȝH
inductance
The primary side resonant
From the analysis of root locus and frequency-domain, the
C1
capacitance
3nF zero-poles, amplitude and phase characteristics of the closed-
loop system can be used to predict both time-domain transient
R1 The primary side ESR 0.2ȍ
and steady-state system performances. It can be seen from (20)
The secondary side resonant and (21), the root locus diagrams that the zero-poles composed
L2 323ȝH
inductance
by three pairs of dipoles and a dominant pole are all located in
The secondary side resonant
C2
capacitance
3nF the left s-plane, and each loop of the system indicate a first-
order inertia frequency characteristic. Thus the conclusions are
R2 The secondary side ESR 0.2ȍ drawn as following: 1) the transfer functions are closed-loop
M Mutual inductance 2.84ȝH stable, 2) the overshoot mainly depends on the damping
decrement of the dominant pole, 3) the settling times are
VI Input DC voltage 20V
6.1×10 -4 s and 7.8×10-5 s, 4) the loops can be simplified to a
fs
Switching frequency of the
149.69kHz first-order inertia process. To stabilize the system, a
inverter proportional gain much smaller than unity is necessary. This
RL Load resistance 10ȍ results in a PI controller of the following form:
Initial phase of the input AC
șs 0.01rad
voltage
§ 1 ·
C oss MOSFET output capacitance 350pF
Gc ( s ) = K c ¨1 + ¸ (22)
The range of the primary side © Tis ¹
C 1v 0.01~1nF
tunable capacitance
The range of the secondary side
C 2v 0.01~1nF where K c and T i are the proportional coefficient and the
tunable capacitance
integral time respectively. After several adjustments, the final
C. Input/output Characteristics and Controller Design parameter sets are selected to be: K c1 =0.4, Ti1=2.5×10-5,
From (12)-(16), it can be seen that the state-space model K c2 =0.2, T i2 =1.7×10 -5 . Assuming that the range of the
obtained is a linear process with couplings between each loops, digitally tunable capacitance is wide enough, comparing to the
where the output equations of y1 and y2 contain all the control disturbance from the detuning, the steady-state error can be
inputs u1 and u2. The relative gain Ȝij can be expressed as removed by the PI controllers.

IV. SIMULATION VARIFICATION

λij = Kij / K ij' (17) Fig. 4 shows the nonlinear tuning model of WPT system
shown in Fig. 1 is simulated by MATLAB Simulink with the
where Kij and K’ij are the open-loop gain and closed-loop gain, parameters listed in Table I to verify the capability of the
respectively. And the relative gain matrix is calculated by tuning controllers in this section. There are two PI controllers
combining (14)-(18) as are used to remove the steady state error while maintaining the
closed-loop system. The minimum angle ȗmin and constant ʌ/2,
as the set points, are used to achieve ZVS condition and the
ª0.9999999972 2.8 × 10−9 º maximum efficiency and power, respectively. To validate the
ȁ= « −9 » (18) capability of the controllers, the different detuning cases are
¬ 2.8 × 10 0.9999999972 ¼ listed in Table II and emulated by step changing the parameters
of the resonant capacitances C1 and C2, respectively. From the
The matrix is diagonal dominance so that the couplings perspective of the phase in both side, the detuning cases caused
between each loop are too weak to be considered. The transfer by the inductance and the resonant frequency are similar to the
function matrix of the multi input multi output (MIMO) model cases in Table II. And the dynamic performance indexes of the
can be simplified to cases are arranged in table III.


 Fig.4. The nonlinear tuning model of WPT system with PI controller.

TABLE II. THE DETUNING CASES

Case The step changes of the parameters The step time

I C 1 : 3nF ĺ2.98nF 0.01s

II C 2 : 3nF ĺ2.94nF 0.01s

Fig.7. The tunable capacitances C1v and C2v of the case I.

is apparent that, without controller, the transmission power

Fig.5. The transmission power of the case I.
drops from 145W to 65W and the value of the phase difference
ǻij changes from -0.09 rad to 1 rad. On the contrary, the PI
controller can remove the error from the disturbance and keep
the transmission power and phase difference stabilized after
two oscillations in 1.5ms. Fig. 7 shows the tunable capacitance
C1v in the primary side changes from 0.5nF to 0.52nF when the
detuning appeared at the meantime.

TABLE III. DYNAMIC PERFORMANCE INDEX

CASE Parameter Description Value

ı The overshoot of ǻij 30%

ts The regulation time of ǻij 1.5ms

I
ı The overshoot of ǻȖ 5.8%

ts The regulation time of ǻȖ 1.5ms

ı The overshoot of ǻij 30%

ts The regulation time of ǻij 1.5ms

Fig.6. The phase difference ǻij and ǻȖ of the case I. II
ı The overshoot of ǻȖ 2.1%

ts The regulation time of ǻȖ 1.5ms

The response curves of the power, phase differences and
tunable capacitances under the case I are shown in Fig. 5-7. It



Fig.7. The transmission efficiency of the case II.
Fig.8. The phase difference ǻij and ǻȖ of the case II.
Fig.9. The tunable capacitances C1v and C2v of the case II.
In the case II, the efficiency, phase differences and tunable
capacitances response to the disturbances are shown in Fig. 7-9.
Fig. 7 depicts the PI controllers are able to make the efficiency
to stabilize after two period of adjustment in 1.5ms. It can be
seen in Fig. 8 that the phase difference ǻij and ǻȖ are also
quickly stabilized at the set points (ȗmin and ʌ/2). Fig. 9 depicts
the tunable capacitance C2v in the primary side changes from
0.5nF to 0.56nF due to the controller action.

V. CONCLUSION
This paper focuses on the dynamic analysis and feedback
controller design of a capacitance-tuned WPT system with two
digitally tunable capacitances. Based on the amplitude and
phase model and taking into account the phase difference
between the primary and secondary side around the resonant
state, a nonlinear capacitance-tuned model is proposed to
analyze the dynamics of the feedback control loops. After that
the nonlinear tuning model of WPT system is established by
using MATLAB Simulink. The experiments of the detuning
case I and II show that, under the control, the capacitance-
tuned WPT system is able to achieve the ZVS condition, and
keep a steady transmission efficiency and power against the
tuning of the primary and secondary resonant tanks.
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