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

Massimo Ceraolo, Valentina Consolo, Mauro Di Monaco, Giovanni Lutzemberger, Antonino Musolino, Rocco Rizzo and Giuseppe Tomasso
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Massimo Ceraolo: Department of Energy, Systems, Territory and Constructions Engineering, University of Pisa, Lungarno Antonio Pacinotti, 43, 56126 Pisa, PI, Italy
Valentina Consolo: Department of Energy, Systems, Territory and Constructions Engineering, University of Pisa, Lungarno Antonio Pacinotti, 43, 56126 Pisa, PI, Italy
Mauro Di Monaco: Department of Electrical and Information Engineering “Maurizio Scarano”, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, Viale dell’Università, 03043 Cassino, FR, Italy
Giovanni Lutzemberger: Department of Energy, Systems, Territory and Constructions Engineering, University of Pisa, Lungarno Antonio Pacinotti, 43, 56126 Pisa, PI, Italy
Antonino Musolino: Department of Energy, Systems, Territory and Constructions Engineering, University of Pisa, Lungarno Antonio Pacinotti, 43, 56126 Pisa, PI, Italy
Rocco Rizzo: Department of Energy, Systems, Territory and Constructions Engineering, University of Pisa, Lungarno Antonio Pacinotti, 43, 56126 Pisa, PI, Italy
Giuseppe Tomasso: Department of Electrical and Information Engineering “Maurizio Scarano”, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, Viale dell’Università, 03043 Cassino, FR, Italy

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 18, 1-20

Abstract: 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.

Keywords: inductive power transfer (IPT); finite elements method (FEM); contactless charging; autonomous shuttle; Ni–MH batteries (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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