Modular Wireless Power Transfer System for the Supply of Mobile Industrial Production Equipment

In the factory of the future, production lines have to be reconfigured more frequently than today, driven by the volatile market influences. To enable a fast, cost-effective and user-friendly reconfigurability of production equipment, it is essential to break down the complex production machinery into autonomous, mutually compatible functional units that can be positioned anywhere on the shop floor. Enabling the units to be mobile, its power supply must be wireless. This paper introduces a new design of energy transfer modules forming a complete power distribution network for the industrial use. The transfer system is suitable to be installed on the entire shop floor and thus ensures a location-independent wireless energy transfer. The paper shows the basic design of a primary- and secondary-sided LCC–compensated wireless power transfer system in form of an electrical equivalent circuit. The compensation capacitors and inductors are determined analytically from the equivalent circuit diagram and the values are confirmed in simulation. The system’s dynamic magnetic behavior is simulated based on a three dimensional finite element analysis. In addition, the electrical behavior is simulated by a parameterized SPICE model.