A Novel Charging Station on Overhead Power Lines for Autonomous Unmanned Drones

Innovative drone-based technologies provide novel techniques to guarantee the safety and quality of power supply and to perform these tasks more efficiently. Electric multirotor drones, which are at the forefront of technology, face significant flight time limitations due to battery capacity and wei...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied sciences 2023-09, Vol.13 (18), p.10175
Main Authors: Muñoz-Gómez, Antonio-Miguel, Marredo-Píriz, Juan-Manuel, Ballestín-Fuertes, Javier, Sanz-Osorio, José-Francisco
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
aerial robotic manipulation
Alternative energy sources
Battery chargers
Cables
Control algorithms
Design
drone charging station
drone perching on cables
Drones
Electricity distribution
Emission standards
Energy consumption
Energy resources
inductive energy harvesting
Infrastructure (Economics)
Magnetic fields
Mechanical engineering
Permeability
Power electronics
Power lines
Renewable resources
Robotics
Unmanned aerial vehicles
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Summary:Innovative drone-based technologies provide novel techniques to guarantee the safety and quality of power supply and to perform these tasks more efficiently. Electric multirotor drones, which are at the forefront of technology, face significant flight time limitations due to battery capacity and weight constraints that limit their autonomous operation. This paper presents a novel drone charging station that harvests energy from the magnetic field present in power lines to charge the drone’s battery. This approach relies on a charging station that is easy to install by the drone on an overhead AC power line without modifying the electrical infrastructure. This paper analyses the inductive coupling between the energy harvester and the power line, electrical protection, the power electronics required for maximum power point tracking and the mechanical design of the charging station. A drone that perches on a cable, an end effector for installation procedures and the charging maneuver are described, along with discussion of the robotic and electrical tests performed in a relevant environment. Finally, a lightweight drone charging station capable of harvesting 145 W of power from a 600 A line current is reported.
ISSN:2076-3417
2076-3417
DOI:10.3390/app131810175