Frequency selection of an inductive contactless power transmission system for ocean observing

Abstract Inductive Contactless Power Transmission (ICPT) may suffer considerable power loss due to eddy currents in seawater when applied undersea rather than on land. The loss of power, which is harmful to transmission efficiency, is closely related to the transmission frequency. However, the relationship between the transmission frequency and the efficiency has rarely been studied. In this paper, we analytically deduce the power transmission efficiency in air and the power loss of ICPT in seawater. Based on the theoretical calculation and analysis, guidelines are provided to select the optimum frequency to maximise the efficiency. A case study is then performed to numerically determine the optimum frequency for an undersea ICPT system. Laboratory experiments are conducted to confirm the theoretical results. A prototype ICPT system power is designed and built. A lake trial demonstrates that the designed system is able to transmit power contactless to actual undersea observation network equipment underwater with an efficiency of approximately 85% and a 5 mm gap distance.

[1]  F. Sato,et al.  Construction of non-contacting power feeding system to underwater vehicle utilizing electro magnetic induction , 2005, Europe Oceans 2005.

[2]  Kouki Yamamoto,et al.  Highly efficient contactless electrical energy transmission system , 2002, IEEE 2002 28th Annual Conference of the Industrial Electronics Society. IECON 02.

[3]  Kin-Lu Wong,et al.  Printed diversity monopole antenna for WLAN operation , 2002 .

[4]  M. D. Feezor,et al.  An interface system for autonomous undersea vehicles , 2001 .

[5]  Grant Covic,et al.  Power transfer capability and bifurcation phenomena of loosely coupled inductive power transfer systems , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics.

[6]  Hao Ma,et al.  Design Considerations of Compensation Topologies in ICPT System , 2007, APEC 07 - Twenty-Second Annual IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition.

[7]  Sumit Roy,et al.  System Design Considerations for Undersea Networks: Link and Multiple Access Protocols , 2008, IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications.

[8]  Robert D. Lorenz,et al.  Contactless underwater power delivery , 1994, Proceedings of 1994 Power Electronics Specialist Conference - PESC'94.

[9]  A. W. Green,et al.  10 kHz inductively coupled power transfer-concept and control , 1994 .

[10]  Ying Chen,et al.  Design considerations for electromagnetic couplers in contactless power transmission systems for deep-sea applications , 2010, Journal of Zhejiang University SCIENCE C.

[11]  Hiroshi Nagase,et al.  A highly efficient contactless electrical energy transmission system , 2004 .

[12]  Grant A. Covic,et al.  Design of loosely coupled inductive power transfer systems , 2000, PowerCon 2000. 2000 International Conference on Power System Technology. Proceedings (Cat. No.00EX409).