A novel lightweight tubular receiver for drone wireless charging system

In the research of drone wireless charging, the lightweight design of the wireless charging device has a large impact on the overall performance of the drone. To realize the lightweight, the tubular coil, which caused by high‐frequency excitation to produce skin effect in the conductor becomes a way to optimize the weight of the receiver coil. This paper proposes an aluminum tube with a thin copper layer plated on the surface as a drone receiver coil and landing gear. This solution can not only replace the original bracket but also be lightweight and obtain high coupling coefficient. Experiments show that this novel receiver can receive power up to 30 W at 250 kHz excitation source with 78% average transmission efficiency and has good antimisalignment ability. This new tubular coupler is more suitable for the demand of lightweight wireless charging for drones.