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This study deals with the design and the optimization of a wireless power transfer (WPT) charging system based on magnetic resonant coupling applied to an electric vertical take-off and landing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). In this study, a procedure for primary and secondary coil design is proposed. The primary circuit in the ground station consists of an array of coils in order to mitigate the negative effects on the coupling factor produced by the possible misalignment between the coils due to an imperfect landing. Key aspects for the design of the secondary coil onboard the UAV are the lightness and compactness of the WPT system components. A demonstrative prototype of the WPT system is applied to a commercial drone. The WPT electrical performances are calculated and measured. Finally, an automatic battery recharge station is built where the drone can autonomously land, recharge the battery and take off to continue its flight mission.

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A Wireless Power Transfer (WPT) system based on magnetic resonant coupling is applied to a small electrical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) to recharge its battery. The transmitting coil is assumed to be on a terrestrial base station, while the receiving coil is onboard. The operation frequency is fixed to 150 kHz. Key aspects for this kind of application are the reduction of the weight of the onboard WPT system while maintaining high WPT efficiency and avoiding EMC/EMI problems on the drone electronic system. In this study, the feasibility of the WPT charging system applied to a demonstrative drone has been proved

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A near-field wireless power transfer (WPT) technology is applied to recharge the battery of a small size drone. The WPT technology is an extremely attractive solution to build an autonomous base station where the drone can land to wirelessly charge the battery without any human intervention. The innovative WPT design is based on the use of a mechanical part of the drone, i.e., landing gear, as a portion of the electrical circuit, i.e., onboard secondary coil. To this aim, the landing gear is made with an adequately shaped aluminum pipe that, after suitable modifications, performs both structural and electrical functions. The proposed innovative solution has a very small impact on the drone aerodynamics and the additional weight onboard the drone is very limited. Once the design of the secondary coil has been defined, the configuration of the WPT primary coil mounted in a ground base station is optimized to get a good electrical performance, i.e., high values of transferred power and efficiency. The WPT design guidelines of primary and secondary coils are given. Finally, a demonstrator of the WPT system for a lightweight drone is designed, built, and tested.

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