Design of a Phi-2 and a Class E inverter for underwater systems

In Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs), many potential failure modes exist due to pressure housing and the need for connections between different pressure housings. Waterproof connectors do exist but drive up the price and weight of underwater systems, a costly disadvantage as mass and volume are at a premium for an underwater system. If we can remove the necessity for physical connectors, we can design cheaper, more robust submarines. This can be done with wireless power transfer (WPT), which can transmit power efficiently across mediums within the submarine, therefore eliminating the need for physical connections and making underwater systems more compact and light-weight. The thesis presents two WPT systems for an AUV with two different inverters that convert DC power to AC power that drive the WPT system. The first system presented uses a Class E Inverter, a common topology for DC-AC conversion, and the second system utilizes a Phi-2 Inverter, a topology that uses the inherent parasitic capacitances to substitute for physical components. The WPT system utilizes magnetic resonance coupling to transmit power from transmitter coils attached to the inverters to receiver coils attached to a load through a rectifier. Simulations show that, when correctly tuned, the two designs can give comparable performance in power transfer efficiency and range. The choice of design is likely to be decided by a combination of the size and weight of the finished system, along with the ease of design.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2020

Author dc:creator

• Pinzón, Carla Nicole.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• James Bales.

• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses may be protected by copyright. Please reuse MIT thesis content according to the MIT Libraries Permissions Policy, which is available through the URL provided.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/129917

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/129917