A wireless charging method with lightweight pick-up structure for UAVs

Abstract

Recently, more and more unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been used in industry, public services and commercial fields. However, the UAV is generally limited by the battery capacity, and the operation radius is greatly limited. In this paper, to increase the flight time of the UAV, the recharging station by using wireless power transfer technology is proposed. A new receiver magnetic coupler is given, the receiver coil is wound around the hollow ferrite core, which realizes the strong coupling of the primary and secondary coils, and improves the anti-misalignment ability of the UAV. The weight of the receiver is relatively light, so the effect on the weight bearing of UAV is small. In addition, the compact coil structure is also easy to install on the UAV. The feasibility of the proposed wireless charging method is verified by a 185 W laboratory prototype. The weight of the magnetic receiver is 98 g and the operating distance is 20 mm, with a measured maximum efficiency of 90.40%.