Free-Rotation Wireless Power Transfer System Based on Composite Anti-Misalignment Method for AUVs

In the underwater environment, the ocean current will have a great influence on the anti-misalignment performance of the wireless power transfer (WPT) system for the autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). In this letter, a free-rotation WPT system with a new magnetic coupler for AUVs is proposed to improve the rotational and axial misalignment tolerance. The magnetic coupler has two decoupled transmitters and one segmented arc solenoid receiver with reversely wound adjacent receiver coils. The mutual inductances between the receiver and the two transmitters can compensate each other. Moreover, cooperated with the phase control between the two transmitters, the system can achieve more stable output power under the rotational and axial misalignment. A free-rotation WPT prototype was set up and the experimental results showed that the output power can reach 700 W and the output power fluctuation is below 5% based on the proposed anti-misalignment method.