A Wide Air Gap IPT System for Distribution Insulator Applications Based on Reconfigurable Autotransformer Coupling Structure

In this paper, an inductive power transfer (IPT) system for distribution insulator based on reconfigurable autotransformer magnetic coupler (ATMC) is proposed. A three-stage IPT system architecture is proposed based on the form of a 35kV insulator structure. A novel multi-tap magnetic coupler in the form of autotransformer is proposed. The voltage conversion ratio and output characteristics of the IPT system can be reconstructed by changing the winding taps connected to the IPT system. An ATMC-based IPT system circuit model is established. The parameters of ATMC are optimized. The effect of system parameter reconstruction by changing the winding taps of ATMC is analyzed. An IPT system based on a reconfigurable ATMC with three winding taps on both the primary and secondary sides is designed, an experimental prototype is built. 3× 3 sets of experiments are completed, and the solution to reconstruct the system state by changing the winding taps of ATMC is verified. The maximum efficiency of the system is close to 90%.