Coupling mechanism optimization to improve misalignment tolerance in UAV wireless charging systems

Wireless power transfer (WPT) technology has been extensively developed for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) application in recent years. However, misalignment tolerance has always been an unsolved problem for UAV wireless charging. In this paper, a coupling system attached to UAV landing gear is demonstrated. In the design process, a flexible curved coil has been designed for structure utilization. First, the magnetic induction strength of the arch bending coil is calculated. Then, an unequal turn spaced coil structure is proposed based on the genetic algorithm for parameter optimization. In addition, a 3D EM simulation is implemented for comparison before and after optimization. A resonance frequency of 75 kHz with an SS tuning topology is adopted in accordance with the Qi standard. Finally, the experimental setup is made and the results show that the UAV charging system has better misalignment tolerance.