Power Transfer Efficiency of Mutually Coupled Coils in an Aluminum AUV Hull.

摘要

To charge the United States Navy's Remote Environmental Measuring Units (REMUS) autonomous undersea vehicle (AUV) in situ requires the REMUS to mate with a docking station. There are two problems with this docking station. The docking system requires the REMUS to make electrical contact with the dock, which can lead to electrical shorting in an undersea environment. The dock is also designed to fit a single type of AUV. AUVs of different sizes require a new docking system. A different means of power transfer is required that can be used in a universal docking station. An inductive power transfer (IPT) system can be used in a universal docking station. In this report, we calculated the power transfer efficiency of an IPT system operating at 100 kHz using circular coils. These calculated results were then compared to three sets of measured efficiency data: an IPT system without ferrite tiles; an IPT system with the receiving coil attached to ferrite tiles; and an IPT system with the receiving coil/ferrite tile combination placed inside an aluminum AUV hull. Efficiency was poor, less than 10 percent with an air gap of 55 mm, when the receiving coil was placed inside the aluminum hull.