A Novel Expandable O4DO-Type Modular Magnetic Coupler for Swarm AUVs Underwater Wireless Power Transfer Systems

The collaborative execution of tasks by unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) in a swarm has gradually become one of the typical working modes of underwater unmanned equipment. However, there are few efficient solutions to the autonomous power supply issue of the swarm UUVs. In this paper, a novel expandable O4DO-type modular magnetic coupler is presented for swarm UUV wireless power transfer systems, which exhibit superior performance in terms of high efficiency, conformality, reliability, receiver power density, anti-misalignment tolerance, modularity, and scalability. The design and optimization methodology of the proposed O4DO-type magnetic coupler are thoroughly elaborated, followed by comprehensive experimental validation under various operational conditions. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed swarm O4DO magnetic coupler enables simultaneous wireless charging for multiple UUVs in docking alignment, achieving a system efficiency exceeding 93%. Moreover, the system supports flexible scalability based on the number of UUVs and incorporates fault-tolerant capabilities, ensuring long-term underwater endurance for swarm operations.