As an auxiliary function of the wireless power transfer (WPT) system, coil positioning can solve the power and efficiency degradation during power transmission caused by misalignment of the magnetic coupler. In this paper, a Hall sensor array is used to measure the change of magnetic flux density. By comparing the multisensor data fusion results with the preset data obtained from the coil alignment, the real-time accurate positioning of the receiving coil can be realized. Firstly, the positioning model of the receiving coil is built and the variation of magnetic flux density with the coil misalignment is analyzed. Secondly, the arrangement of the Planar 8-direction symmetric sensor array and the positioning algorithm based on data fusion of magnetic flux density variations are proposed. In order to avoid coil positioning misalignment caused by the unstable magnetic field distribution which is actually affected by the change of mutual inductance during automatic guided vehicle (AGV) alignment, the constant current strategy of primary and secondary sides is proposed. Finally, the coil positioning experimental platform is built. The experimental results show that the coil positioning method proposed in this paper has high accuracy, and the positioning error is within 4 cm.
Keywords: Hall sensor array; coil positioning; positioning algorithm; wireless power transfer (WPT).