Search

This paper proposes a novel inductive and capacitive combined wireless power transfer (IC-WPT) system for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) applications. First, a new compact inductive and capacitive combined coupler is presented. The magnetic field coupled power transmission of the compact coupler contains one magnetic transmitting unit, which is composed of two biorthogonal L-type cores and two rectangular coils wound on each of the short edges of the L-type ferrite core in the vertical position, and two air-cored receiving coils embedded in the legs. Meanwhile, the electric field coupled power transmission of the compact coupler consists of four pieces of copper foil, where two are attached on the primary side and two are attached on the secondary sides for wireless energy transmission through capacitive coupling. Second, a simple resonant compensation network is developed for the IC-WPT system. To make the secondary side lightweight, the receiver self-inductance of the inductive power transfer (IPT) coupler and compensating capacitance of the capacitive power transfer (CPT) receiver can be used to compensate each other. A prototype of the proposed UAV IC-WPT system is built and tested. Experimental results show that the wireless power transfer system can deliver 130 W at an efficiency of 81.2%, which means it can be adopted to the autonomous charging of UAVs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is a key mobile node in the ocean observation network. However, the limited endurance capacity and limited cruising range have become the bottlenecks in the wide application of the AUVs. In order to extend cruising range, this article develops a uniform power inductive power transfer (IPT) system for AUVs. A novel magnetic coupler with a low output fluctuation, low weight of receiver and a low space occupation of the AUV is proposed in this article. The proposed magnetic structure employing a quadruple-coil transmitter and a crossed dipole receiver utilizes uniform horizontal magnetic flux to establish stable coupling against rotational and axial misalignment. An IPT circuit topology is designed and analyzed in detail, meanwhile, the phase difference of the excitation currents is optimized to achieve the power and efficiency stability versus misalignments. The proposal is analyzed, established, and tested in this article. The magnetic receiver weighs only 414 g. The results show that the prototype can deliver 964.7 W with a dc–dc efficiency of 90.9%. In the process of rolling dislocation from –20° to 20° and axial dislocation from –30 mm to 30 mm, the maximum fluctuation of output power is 12.1% and 20.2%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a misalignment-tolerant wireless charging system based on multidimensional cross-coupling for autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) is proposed. The four transmitting coils of the proposed system magnetic coupler are divided evenly into two pairs as bipolar transmitting units. Subsequently, the uniform multi-dimensional horizontal magnetic flux can be obtained by two current vectors with a 90° phase difference exciting in the bipolar transmitting units. For the receiver, a couple of orthogonal coils are designed to form cross-coupling with the transmitter to pick up the maximum magnetic flux. Then, the proposed magnetic coupler combined with the proposed transmitter and receiver is designed through finite element analysis. Finally, a 900 W prototype is built and tested. Experimental results show that the system has stable output characteristics in the ranges of a − 20° to 20° rolling misalignment and a − 30 to 30 mm axial misalignment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compact design in receiver and misalignment tolerance are two basic considerations for practical applications of wireless power transfer (WPT) in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). To balance these two requirements, a novel magnetic design with the composite interval-acted parallel- & vertical-flux throw, orthogonal two-dimensional flux pick-up, and power-flow summed output is proposed in this letter. The resulting magnetic structure includes a target-shaped transmitter and two quadrature receivers, and the transmitter consists of four annular-type coils which are magnetized in a bipolar mode, making it possible to form a magnetic field with a parallel- and vertical-flux complementary distribution. Moreover, by integrating two orthogonal receiving coils into one receiver, a stable summed output current can supply the UAV onboard load with only a small size receiver. A UAV WPT prototype is established based on the proposal. The results show that the prototype can deliver 325 W with a system efficiency of 86%, and especially the variation of the output current is within ±0.76 A for different landing positions and directions. The overall system efficiency is from 87.3% down to 83.1%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]