Design and Realization of an Inductive Power Transfer for Shuttles in Automated Warehouses

Energies

Giuseppe Tomasso¹  Mauro Di Monaco¹  Giovanni Lutzemberger²  Rocco Rizzo²  Massimo Ceraolo²  Valentina Consolo²  Antonino Musolino² 

[1] Department of Electrical and Information Engineering “Maurizio Scarano”, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, Viale dell’Università, 03043 Cassino, FR, Italy;Department of Energy, Systems, Territory and Constructions Engineering, University of Pisa, Lungarno Antonio Pacinotti, 43, 56126 Pisa, PI, Italy;

关键词: inductive power transfer (IPT);    finite elements method (FEM);    contactless charging;    autonomous shuttle;    Ni–MH batteries;   

DOI  :  10.3390/en14185660

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The inductive power transfer (IPT) is expected to greatly contribute towards electrification in transportation. In fact, IPT charging technology has the potential to overcome several limitations of conductive charging: in particular, the process can be fully automatable, and both static and dynamic charging are allowed, thus reducing the size of the battery pack. Additionally, safety is increased due to the absence of safety issues related to loss of cable insulation or to the unwanted interruption of the plug-socket connection. This paper presents, from a systematic approach, the design and realization of a prototype for IPT charging of autonomous shuttles in automated warehouses. First of all, the typical mission profile of the shuttle was properly identified, and a storage system based on power-oriented electrochemical cells was sized. Based on that, the architecture of the IPT system was chosen, both for transmitting and receiving sections. The pads were designed for this purpose, by considering the geometric constraints imposed by the manufacturer, through the utilization of the finite elements method. Finally, the power electronic circuitry was also designed. Numerical simulations of the components, as well as of the complete system, were performed and a prototype was built to widely verify the correspondence of the simulation outputs with the results obtained from an experimental measurements campaign.

【 授权许可】

Unknown