Communication-Free Power Control Algorithm for Drone Wireless In-Flight Charging Under Dual-Disturbance of Mutual Inductance and Load

Though the wireless in-flight charging is an ideal way for the energy supply of drones, it also faces the practical challenges, namely dual-disturbance of continuous fluctuation of mutual inductance and battery load variation, changed expected charging power, and the lightweight and no communication design demands for pickup, which have been nearly unexplored in previous article on wireless power transfer (WPT) system. To address the issue, this article proposes a novel communication-free output power control algorithm based on the load identification scheme with automatic frequency adjust. Only the primary current needs to be measured in the proposed algorithm, which can reduce the system complexity with the enhanced real-time performance for WPT system. Simulated and experimental results validate the feasibility of the proposed control algorithm with the identification accuracy of more than 92%, control accuracy of 95%, and average response time within 100 ms. Furthermore, the follow-up of desired output power and the implementation of lightweight pickup demonstrate the flexibility of the power control algorithm, which ensures the rapid and safe energy supply for drones in the drone wireless in-flight charging system.