As essential equipment, autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) play a vital role in ocean detection, pipeline inspection, and military patrol. However, the cruise time is always limited by the low energy capacity. Wireless power transfer (WPT) technology is regarded as a safe and effective energy supply method for AUVs in the future. Conventionally, the magnetic core in WPT systems is spliced by pieces of ferrites, which is time-consuming and makes it difficult to realize a seamless fit on the curved surface. This project proposes and designs a compact coupler with a novel flexible nanocrystalline flake ribbon (NFR) magnetic core. The NFR not only enhances the application flexibility of the WPT system but also significantly reduces the system’s weight. The transmission characteristics and temperature performance of the AUV WPT system have been investigated under different power levels. Finally, the NFR with a permeability of 800 is chosen as the magnetic core, and the DC-DC system efficiency reaches 92.85% with 1 kW output power. Moreover, the maximum temperature can be restricted to 54.1 ℃, and the weight of the NFR cores is 290 g, accounting for merely 4.65% of the coupler.
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