Wireless Charging System Integrated in a Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) with High Tolerance to Planar Coil Misalignment

An innovative coil configuration for inductively-based wireless power transfer (WPT) technology is presented to recharge the battery of a compact unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) (i.e., a remotely controlled drone). To improve the tolerance of the WPT system to coil misalignment caused by imperfect landing, a large primary coil is proposed in combination with a single turn, secondary coil. The on-board secondary coil is integrated in a part of the drone used as protection of the propellers. The single turn configuration of the secondary coil is efficient from an electrical point of view and very convenient as the additional weight installed on-board the drone is very limited.