Additive Manufacturing for Inductive Power Transfer in Robotic Applications

The following study presents an approach to innovative power transfer in robotic applications. It demonstrates how energy can be transferred along robot segments and how a wireless, wear-free energy transfer system between two robot segments could be realized. The deposition of silver ink for the fabrication of a conductive 3D-printed coil is explored, by leveraging an five-axis 3D-printing system in combination with piezo-jet technology. As a result, two inductive power transfer (IPT) systems with different parameters related to conductor cross-section and number of turns were developed. An additional magnetic shielding is additively manufactured using a PLA infused with iron particles, to strengthen the magnetic field inside the coils and reduce the magnetic field emitted into the surroundings. In addition to analytical and simulationbased analyses, the IPT performance between the two coils was validated through an experimental setup. This 3D-printed approach to manufacturing coils offers the advantage that IPT systems can be tailored to specific applications.