Experimental Results and Analysis of Midrange Underwater Asymmetric Wireless Power Transfer

Abstract

The eddy current loss caused by the conductivity of seawater results in a relatively low transfer efficiency of underwater wireless power transfer (WPT). And the transfer distance of the current WPT system is relatively short. Considering that most of the wireless power transfer devices in practical applications are asymmetric, few studies have explored the transfer characteristics of asymmetric midrange WPT in seawater. In this study, it is experimentally found that the load voltage and transfer efficiency of an asymmetric midrange WPT system with reduced primary balancing resistance in seawater are nearly twice as high as those of a symmetric one at a 50 cm transfer distance and a 410 kHz operation frequency with a 44.4 Ω load resistance. A new circuit model of the underwater WPT system with complex impedance and complex mutual inductance is then presented, and the load voltages predicted by the model are consistent highly with the experimental values; the model is then utilized for the explanation of the experimental observations. Changing the load resistance also improves the transfer efficiency of the system; however, the eddy current loss results in a relatively low transfer efficiency of 30.9% at an optimal load resistance of 90 Ω. The asymmetric midrange underwater WPT system can be applied in scenarios where the transfer distance is prioritized.