Multi-physics simulation on transient thermal response of inductive power transfer pad

Inductive power transfer is an important technological alternative for charging infrastructure, crucial for accelerating the future adoption of electronic vehicles. The magnetic components of an inductive charging pad generate inevitable thermal losses, which, if not properly managed, can exceed the pad's safe operating temperature. Accurate simulation of both steady-state and transient thermal responses is thus essential for evaluating the pad's suitability for real-world applications. None of the state-of-the-art thermal prediction proposals in this field, however, are able to perform long-term transient analyses efficiently while being versatile enough to simulate generic case studies. This paper presents a multi-physics methodology that aims to address this gap. The numerical framework comprises three coupled modules: electromagnetic, fluid dynamics, and solid heat conduction. To solve the issue of time-scale discrepancies, only the latter module was solved as a transient problem, while the remaining were approximated as near steady-state physics, continuously updated at every time step. The appropriateness of the resultant hybrid transient solution was verified with a fully transient solution from an equivalent heat-conjugate problem. Finally, the prediction capability of the proposed method was validated by reproducing the thermal responses of a lab-scale charging pad energized at various excitation levels and ambient conditions, both outside of and flush-embedded inside an asphalt slab. The relative errors between the measured and simulated thermal responses were consistently within 10%, demonstrating that the multi-physics approach was able to accurately simulate the long-duration transient temperature rise and drop of the test pad.