Study on Antennas for Wireless Power Transfer to In-Line Inspection Robots

Abstract

Gas pipelines are indispensable to our daily lives, and it is necessary to keep the soundness of pipelines by conducting inspections. In order to conduct inspections, In-Line Inspection(ILI) Robots has been invented. We considered of wireless power transfer system to these robots by propagating microwaves inside pipelines. Experiments to verify our previous study had been conducted, and the results led us to design antennas that can generate a single mode. We designed a power receiving antenna for this system as well. We measured efficiency for each propagation mode and considered of suitable antenna design that can be attached to ILI Robots. Further more, this antenna is useful to generate single mode as transmitting antenna.