WIRELESS UAV CHARGING SYSTEM WITH BATTERY BALANCING FUNCTIONALITY
Cite as: V.V. Burlaka, S.V. Gulakov, A.Y. Golovin, D.S. Mironenko. Wireless UAV charging system with battery balancing functionality // Izvestiya SFedU. Engineering Sciences – 2024. – N. 6. - P. 267-273. doi: 10.18522/2311-3103-2024-6-267-273
Abstract
The issue of creating a wireless charging system for an on-board battery of an unmanned aerial vehicle
(UAV) is considered, taking into account the need to balance the voltages of its elements. When designing
the system, based on a brief overview of the principles of wireless energy transmission, the principle
of using magnetically coupled circuits is taken as the most suitable in terms of its technical and economic
properties. The aim of the work is to develop a circuit solution for a UAV's wireless battery charging
system with the ability to balance voltages both during charging and during load operation. The use of
such a system will improve the safety of battery operation and extend its service life by leveling the degree
of wear (aging) of the elements. As a result of the research, a circuit was developed and an experimental
sample of the specified wireless charging system was manufactured. When synthesizing the circuit, the
task was to minimize the number of components in the power circuits in order to reduce the mass of the
system and its cost. The maximum power of the experimental wireless charging system exceeds 100 Watts
(25 V · 4 A) and is somewhat excessive for an on-board battery with a capacity of 1,500 mAh. Forced
cooling of the receiving part is not required. The weight of the receiving part mounted on an unmanned
aerial vehicle is 79 g (40 g is the receiving coil and 39 g is the electronics unit) and has reserves for reduction
by reducing the cross–section of the receiving coil conductors, using a textolite with a lower
thickness in the electronics unit, sealing the installation and using a two–sided arrangement of components.
Laboratory tests have been carried out, confirming the operability of the proposed technical solutions,
and the effectiveness of balancing during charging has been evaluated. In order to evaluate the
effectiveness of the balancing system during the experiments, the output resistance of the receiver (U/I)
was calculated relative to one of the elements of the on-board battery when the voltage on it changes.
The result was 1.9 ohms with a charge current of 0.8 A (6S 1500 mAh battery).
References
and data communication applications, Proceedings of the PIERS, Beijing, China, 2009,
Vol. 2327, pp. 528531.
2. Costanzo A. and Masotti D. Energizing 5g: Near-and far-field wireless energy and data trantransfer as
an enabling technology for the 5g iot, IEEE Microwave Magazine, 2017, Vol. 18, No. 3, pp. 125-136.
3. Garnica J., Chinga R.A., and Lin J. Wireless power transmission: From far field to near field, Proceedings
of the IEEE, 2013, Vol. 101, No. 6, pp. 1321-1331.
4. Li K.-R., See K.-Y., Koh W.-J., and Zhang J.-W. ‘Design of 2.45 GHz microwave wireless power transfer
system for battery charging applications, in Proc. Prog. Electromagn. Res. Symp.-Fall (PIERSFALL),
Nov. 2017, pp. 2417-2423.
5. Ouyang J., Che Y., Xu J., and Wu K. Throughput maximization for laser-powered uav wireless communication
systems, in 2018 IEEE International Conference on Communications Workshops (ICC
Workshops). IEEE, 2018, pp. 1-6.
6. Iyer V., Bayati E., Nandakumar R., Majumdar A., and Gollakota S. ‘Charging a smartphone across a
room using lasers, Proc. ACM Interact., Mobile, Wearable Ubiquitous Technol, Jan. 2018, Vol. 1,
No. 4, pp. 1-21.
7. Huang L., Hu A.P., Swain A., Kim S., and Ren Y. An overview of capacitively coupled power transfer
– a new contactless power transfer solution, in 2013 IEEE 8th Conference on Industrial Electronics
and Applications (ICIEA). IEEE, 2013, pp. 461-465.
8. Raciti A., Rizzo S.A., and Susinni G. Drone charging stations over the buildings based on a wireless
power transfer system, in 2018 IEEE/IAS 54th Industrial and Commercial Power Systems Technical
Conference (I&CPS). IEEE, 2018, pp. 1-6.
9. Aldhaher S., Mitcheson P.D., Arteaga J.M., Kkelis G., and Yates D.C. Light-weight wireless power
transfer for mid-air charging of drones, in 2017 11th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation
(EUCAP). IEEE, 2017, pp. 336-340.
10. Vincent D., Huynh P.S., Patnaik L., and Williamson S.S. Prospects of capacitive wireless power transfer
(c-wpt) for unmanned aerial vehicles, in 2018 IEEE PELS Workshop on Emerging Technologies:
Wireless Power Transfer (Wow). IEEE, 2018, pp. 1-5.
11. Koruprolu A., Nag S., Erfani R., and Mohseni P. Capacitive wireless power and data transfer for implantable
medical devices, in 2018 IEEE Biomedical Circuits and Systems Conference (BioCAS).
IEEE, 2018, pp. 1-4.
12. Yao Y., Wang Y., Liu X., Cheng H., Liu M., and Xu D. Analysis, design, and implementation of a wireless
power and data transmission system using capacitive coupling and double-sided lcc compensation
topology, IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, 2018, Vol. 55, No. 1, pp. 541-551.
13. Li Y. and Stevens C.J. ‘Capacitor connected grids for wireless power transfer, in Proc. IEEE Wireless
Power Transf. Conf., May 2014, pp. 122-125.
14. Minnaert B., Mastri F., Mongiardo M., Costanzo A., and Stevens N. Constant capacitive wireless power
transfer at variable coupling, in IEEE MTT-S Int. Microw. Symp. Dig., May 2018, pp. 1-4.
15. Ustun D., Balci S., and Sabanci K. A parametric simulation of the wireless power transfer with inductive
coupling for electric vehicles, and modelling with artificial bee colony algorithm, Measurement,
Jan. 2020, Vol. 150, Art. no. 107082.
16. Shi Y., Zhang Y., Shen M., Fan Y., Wang C., and Wang M. Design of a novel receiving structure for
wireless power transfer with the enhancement of magnetic coupling, AEU-Int. J. Electron. Commun,
Oct. 2018, Vol. 95, pp. 236-241.
17. Dai J. and Ludois D.C. Wireless electric vehicle charging via capacitive power transfer through a conformal
bumper, in Proc. IEEE Appl. Power Electron. Conf. Expo. (APEC), Mar. 2015, pp. 3307-3313.
18. Lu F., Zhang H., and Mi C. A review on the recent development of capacitive wireless power transfer
technology, Energies, Nov. 2017, Vol. 10, No. 11, pp. 1752.
19. Deittert M., Richards A., Toomer C.A., and Pipe A. Engineless unmanned aerial vehicle propulsion by
dynamic soaring, J. Guid., Control, Dyn., Sep. 2009, Vol. 32, No. 5, pp. 1446-1457.
20. Richardson P.L. Upwind dynamic soaring of albatrosses and UAVs, Prog. Oceanogr., Jan. 2015,
Vol. 130, pp. 146-156.
21. Malaver A., Motta N., Corke P., and Gonzalez F. Development and integration of a solar powered
unmanned aerial vehicle and a wireless sensor network to monitor greenhouse gases, Sensors, Feb.
2015, Vol. 15, No. 2, pp. 4072-4096.
22. Galkin B., Kibilda J., and DaSilva L.A. UAVs as mobile infrastructure: Addressing battery lifetime,
IEEE Commun. Mag., Jun. 2019, Vol. 57, No. 6, pp. 132-137.
23. Burlaka V.V., Gulakov S.V., Golovin A.Yu., Mironenko D.S. Sistema besprovodnoy peredachi
elektricheskoy energii [Wireless electric power transmission system], Izvestiya YuFU. Tekhnicheskie
nauki [Izvestiya SFedU. Engineering Sciences], 2023, No. 5 (235), pp. 174-182.
24. Moghaddam Farzan A. and Van den Bossche A. A single transformer for active cell equalization
method of lithium-ion batteries with two times fewer secondaries than cells, Electronics, 2019, Vol. 8,
No. 9, Art. no. 951.
