A universal wireless charging platform with novel bulged‐structure transmitter design for multiple heterogeneous autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs)

Abstract

AbstractAutonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) are important mobile equipment for ocean observation. Subsea docking stations are used to charge AUV batteries to increase their cruise duration. Here, a universal wireless charging platform with a novel transmitter is developed to address the issues of poor compatibility existing in conventional docking stations. In order to guarantee a sufficient charging area and reduce copper losses, the proposed transmitter is designed to have a bulged‐structure surrounding coil and a centre coil in coaxial. Moreover, the parameters of the transmitter that impact the magnetic flux density are analysed and optimized by non‐linear programming by Quadratic Lagrangian (NLPQL) algorithm to achieve a field with desirable intensity and uniformity. The characteristics of the circuits under single‐load and double‐load conditions have been tested in air and tank experiments. The results verify that the proposed platform achieves both the universality and misalignment tolerance requirements.