Anti‐misalignment and lightweight magnetic coupler with H‐shaped receiver structure for AUV wireless power transfer

Abstract

Abstract Inductive power transmission technology provides a new way to solve the energy problem of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). The performance of the magnetic coupler determines the system transfer capacity. A novel open‐type magnetic coupler with a simple structure, lightweight, strong anti‐misalignment performance and high self‐inductance stability is proposed for the arc‐shaped shell of AUV. The proposed magnetic coupler employs an arc‐shaped transmitter and the receiver uses an H‐shaped ferrite core to realize the close coupling of magnetic flux in the vertical direction. The parameters of the magnetic coupler are optimized based on ANSYS Maxwell simulation, which ensures its coupling performance and anti‐misalignment performance while minimizing the volume and weight of the receiver. To verify the proposal, a wireless charging system with a 183.9 g receiver is built. The maximum self‐inductance change rate of the coil and maximum coupling coefficient change rate under the conditions of axial misalignment from −25 mm to 25 mm and rotational misalignment from −10° to 10° are 2.9% and 14.3%, respectively. In the case of full alignment, it can deliver 735.6 W at a DC‐DC efficiency of 90.87%.