Electromagnetic Locking/Releasing System for UAVs Wireless Charging Stations

A drone is an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) controlled from the ground by an operator. These vehicles have been under strong development in the last decade both for civil/commercial (surveillance of overhead power lines, territory mapping, fast transports over short distances, PV power plant supervision, fertilizer spreading in agriculture etc.) and military purposes. A main feature of these drones is their action range. This feature is limited by the weight and capacity of the current batteries, which is why it is necessary to recharge them frequently. So far, in-flight battery charging or quick automatic battery swapping on the ground have not been applied. Instead, ground charging is used through conductive technology with galvanic contact or wireless technology. Galvanic contact is affected by difficult atmospheric conditions (wind, rain, snow, mud). This paper presents a novel electromagnetic system that is able to lock the drone on the charging station during wireless charging and to release it at the end of the process.