Multioutput Wireless Charger for Drone Swarms With Reduced Switch Requirements and Independent Regulation Capability

Abstract

This paper develops a cost-effective and efficient wireless charger with multiple outputs based on newly proposed H3 bridge inverter, which has the benefits of reduced switch requirements and independent regulation capability. The output power of each channel is regulated by asymmetric duty cycle control. With the help of auxiliary LC branch, soft switching is ensured in spite of load variations. The sequential logic of driver signals is analyzed in detail to explore the independent regulation characteristic. For arbitrary 2 <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">n</i> (or 2 <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">n</i> +1) outputs, the total number of required switches is only 3 <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">n</i> (or 3 <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">n</i> +2) and the voltage stress of switches is the input voltage, which can reduce switch requirements. Simulation and experimental results are in good agreement with each other, proving the proposed wireless charger as a feasible solution for drone swarms.