A contactless induction system for battery recharging of autonomous vehicles

Abstract

Contactless induction mechanisms represent a valuable solution to recharge battery-powered vehicles when plugging to the mains reveals troublesome or impossible. A relevant example is that of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) employed in hostile environments for persistent surveillance and perils reconnaissance. To complete long duration missions, these vehicles have to land on mobile platforms several times to recharge. Specifically, the vehicle has to land on the platform, which is covered by a landing pad with copper contacts, precisely positioning on the contacts otherwise fails to recharge. Also, the recharging platform can be neutralized by dust deposited on the landing pad and corrosion due to chemical causes. A contactless power transfer system that relies on induction mechanisms and permits to improve the reliability of the recharging platform is presented. The ground electronics and the on-board front-end utilized to capture the induction flow and convert the associated power to recharge the batteries are described in detail

An Embedded Wireless Sensor Network with Wireless Power Transmission Capability for the Structural Health Monitoring of Reinforced Concrete Structures

“…Tests outcomes first confirmed the matching of the built system with the one described in the reference papers [ 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ]. Moreover, according to a possible scenario of a recharging operation at 10–15 cm distance, tests proved the effectiveness of the technique for recharging the node system even in case of an alignment percentage down to 25%, which represented the worst case.…”

“…A wireless, high-efficiency, low-frequency charging system is therefore required to transfer the energy required by the nodes. All the literature about wireless power transfer (WPT) methods, in particular the work by Angrisani et al [ 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ], proposes an inductive WPT method based on very low frequency signals to transfer energy within a range up to 30 cm, suitably outperforming commercial inductive chargers, whose operating range is limited to 5 cm.…”

“…The inductive charging system has previously been developed in the work by Angrisani et al [ 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ] and largely tested in free air; these tests have been reproduced as a reference for the subsequent tests in concrete.…”

Inductive power transmission for wireless sensor networks supply

“…The proposed wireless power transmission solution is based on an inductive coupling mechanism [10]- [16].…”

Design of a Mobile Underwater Charging System

“…Inductive Power Transfer systems are currently in active development and utilize a magnetic resonance coupling between primary and secondary coils to transfer power without wires [67,68]. This technology is relatively well understood in air and is commonly used for aerial and ground vehicles [69,70,71]; systems designed for submerged operation are being developed currently [66,72,73,74]. One company that produces a range of inductive power transfer systems is WFS Technologies [75].…”