Design and implementation of a contact‐less power charger for robot applications

摘要

ABSTRACT In this paper, a contact‐less power charger for robot applications is studied and developed. Contact‐less charging can be achieved by a separable transformer design. The transformer primary core is in the charger unit, and the secondary core is in the robots. The transformer air‐gap is equal to the distance between these two parts. By theoretical analysis, software simulations, and circuit implementation, the relationship among the transformer's coupling coefficient, the core geometry, and gap are formulated. In addition, a high‐efficiency circuit topology for the studied contact‐less charger is fulfilled. It is anticipated that the research results of this paper can contribute to the development of the contact‐less charging techniques for robot systems. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.