A Resonance Based Inductive Wireless Power Transfer System for Charging Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) Batteries

Autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) has a significant influence on marine applications due to its endurance and effectiveness in performing challenging missions. Since most AUVs employ batteries as prime energy storage, their underwater mission time is limited. Moreover, they need to be hauled out of the water for recharging batteries prior to every mission, which is a time consuming and tedious process. Hence, recharging AUV batteries underwater using a wireless power transfer technology is a feasible and secure option to overcome the aforementioned limitation. In this paper, a resonance based inductive power transfer system for wireless charging of AUVs has been developed. Further, the performance of wireless charging system is validated through simulation in MATLAB/Simulink platform and verified through preliminary experimentation carried out in a 1 kW laboratory scale hardware prototype. The experimental results in saline water environment showcase a power transfer efficiency of 85-86% considering a gap of 3 cm between primary and secondary coils.