Ferrite Loaded Coils for Improved Wireless Power Transfer Efficiency.

摘要

Recharging the battery system on Navy Autonomous Underwater Vehicles requires physical electrical contact between the vehicle and a docking station specifically designed to accommodate only one particular hull size. Inductive power transfer using mutually coupled coils eliminates physical contact, which can lead to an electrical short in a seawater environment, and provides the flexibility needed to create a docking station that can accommodate numerous hull sizes. Unfortunately, the power-transfer efficiency between these coils in an undersea environment can be very poor due to the conductivity of seawater. To improve the power-transfer efficiency, the magnetic flux generated by the transmitting coil can be better concentrated through the receiving coil by careful geometric placement of ferrite materials. In this report, various ferrite configurations were evaluated using Computer Simulation Technology, and several high performance models were selected for construction and laboratory testing. The measured data collected in the laboratory are in good agreement with the simulation results, which indicate that the laboratory model and circuit closely adhered to the physical and electrical parameters of the simulation. This also underscores CST's usefulness for continued work in the field.