Abstract
In this research, a novel optimal design process is proposed for the domino inductive power transfer (D-IPT) system which is able to charge the battery of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) from the high voltage transmission line. The series topology is assumed for the compensating circuits; the application of flat spiral coils embedded in the insulators and under the UAV is considered; the mutual inductance matrix is calculated accurately. The optimal design process is essential to provide the nominal charging power to the UAV's battery while maximizing the power transfer efficiency, respecting the zero voltage switching of the power electronic switches and the space limitations of the coils. In the proposed process, a metaheuristic solver is applied to resolve the defined objective function properly and handle included inequality constraints, and thus determine critical parameters for the coils (inner radius, turn number, screw pitch, compensating capacitance). If it is not deemed fit to embed repeater coils in all candidate insulators, optimal locations of host insulators for repeater coils embedment can also be determined. The proposed optimal design process has been successfully evaluated and verified by developing a system model and optimization scripts in MATLAB software and conducting simulations through the MATLAB/Simulink platform.