Design and Implementation of Removable and Closed-Shape Dual-Ring Pickup for Contactless Linear Inductive Power Track System

In this paper, the design process of a new removable and closed-shape dual-ring pickup of a contactless linear inductive power track system is presented. This proposed pickup is used to improve the coupling efficiency of existing track systems in material handling applications as the flux path of the core matches with the magnetic field pattern of the primary-side track cable and results in a lower total equivalent reluctance. According to the calculation of reluctance, a magnetic equivalent model of the proposed dual-ring-shaped pickup is established for analyzing the relevance of geometric specifications to the coupling performance of the pickup. Using these results of the theoretical analysis, a practical prototype of the contactless linear inductive power track with removable and closed-shape dual-ring pickup is implemented in laboratory scale. The fundamental experiments are carried out, and then, the experimental data are demonstrated to verify the capability and feasibility of this system.