Compact and Free-Positioning Omnidirectional Wireless Power Transfer System for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Charging Applications

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%.

Automated summary

A novel magnetic design for wireless power transfer in unmanned aerial vehicles is proposed in this research. The design achieves a balance between compactness and misalignment tolerance. The prototype demonstrates stable output current and high system efficiency.