Wireless Power Transfer for Maritime Application: A Study on Dual-Medium Capacitive Coupler

The escalating demand for efficient maritime power transfer has driven the exploration of wireless power transfer (WPT) solutions. This article aims to develop a novel dual medium capacitive coupler that leverages the characteristics of air and seawater to overcome limitations in traditional capacitive power transfer (CPT). Traditional capacitive couplers that use air alone exhibit low power density, while those relying solely on seawater suffer from high self-coupling due to its conductivity, which impedes effective power transfer. The proposed dual medium coupler mitigates these issues by situating one set of plates in seawater and another in air, thus eliminating self-coupling constraints and ensuring consistent underwater coupling regardless of distance or misalignment. This innovative approach reduces space and cost requirements, providing a promising alternative for maritime power transfer. The study provides a detailed explanation of the coupler's structure and principles, parameter design methodology, and experimental validation. Notably, the proposed coupler achieves a significant power output of 10 kW with a DC-to-DC efficiency of up to 94.8%. This underscores the potential of the novel coupler to address WPT challenges in maritime environments.