Inductive Power Transfer for AUVs: A Comparative Study Between Circular Topology Transformers

Abstract

This work presents a simulation study on Inductive Power Transfer (IPT) applied to Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV), conducting a comparison between three topologies of Split Core Transformers (SCT): Solenoid-Solenoid, Solenoid-Planar Spiral (SP) and Solenoid-Toroid (ST). The three topologies are designed based on a target inductance algorithm with exhaustive search, where literature equations are used for the calculation of self and mutual inductances. The study shows that all three topologies exhibit good tolerance to misalignments, presenting a theoretical efficiency of approximately 96% for a misalignment of 100%.