Design of a Wireless Charging System for Airborne Sensor of a Tunnel Boring Machine

In the current application of power supply for sensors in shield machines, traditional wired power systems face safety hazards such as wire aging and the susceptibility of interfaces to damage. Additionally, maintenance is challenged by the difficulty of disassembly and assembly. To address the issues associated with wired power supply, this paper proposes a wireless power transfer (WPT) system as a replacement. In the sensor power supply scenario of shield machines, coils are installed within metal structures, which are influenced by the surrounding metallic environment. This paper optimizes the coil design by introducing suppression mechanisms and ferrite magnetic isolation sheets, followed by simulation and experimental validation. The experimental results demonstrate that the wireless power transfer system with the optimized coil structure exhibits higher transmission efficiency and power in a metallic environment.