Development of a multiple input power conversion system for the DeciZebro

Abstract

The DeciZebro is a six-legged autonomous robot is being developed by the Zebro team at the TU Delft. The robot should become autonomous and be able to "feed" itself like a real animal. Currently, it is only possible to charge the DeciZebro using a laptop charger. The goal is to allow the robot to charge itself without human intervention using a solar panel and a wireless charging pad. This thesis is part of a project that needs to develop a power management system and a battery management system that make it possible to charge the batteries wirelessly and by using a solar panel that will be placed on top of the DeciZebro. This thesis focuses on the design choices of the part of the project that handles the laptop charger, wireless charger and solar charger interfaces and the power converters necessary to supplement them.
The wireless charging interface was made in compliance with the Qi standard and allows for charging the batteries in conjunction with any Qi compliant wireless charging pad. Because a power path selector was built, the wireless charging receiver and the laptop charger could be implemented using a single Ćuk converter to regulate the voltage.
The solar panel voltage was also regulated using a Ćuk converter. This converter was designed with all the peripherals needed to implement a Perturb and Observe maximum power tracking algorithm for the solar panel.
Working prototypes have been produced for the solar panel Ćuk converter and for the power path selector. At the time of writing the wireless charging receiver has not yet been tested and the Ćuk converter for the laptop and wireless charger needs more testing to guarantee its successful implementation.