An Inductive Power Transfer System with Multiple Receivers Utilizing Diverted Magnetic Field and Two Transmitters for IoT-Level Automatic Catering Vehicles

Automatic catering vehicles (ACVs) are increasingly adopted in restaurants to save expensive human resources. Especially in special situations such as a pandemic, ACV offers a wise choice to keep social distance. In this article, a wireless power transfer (WPT) system is proposed to charge four ACVs at the same time. With the help of ferrite cores, the flux can be guided through all four receivers while the leakage magnetic field can be reduced simultaneously. Two transmitters are utilized to confine the flux path further. Both areas #A and #B can charge ACVs with the consideration of the mechanical structure of the food preparation area and charging standby area (Areas #A and #B). The presented system can also realize zero phase angle (ZPA) to degrade the volt-ampere (VA) rating. Finally, an experimental setup is constructed, and the overall dc-dc efficiency is 87.6% when delivering 120 W to four loads.