Contactless power transmission in an azimuth thruster

An azimuth thruster for a marine vessel, the thruster comprising at least one shaft configured to rotate an underwater propeller and a system for contactless power transmission, the system comprising:

• a first body comprising a plurality of capacitively loaded first inductors forming a tuned LC circuit to provide a magnetic field, wherein each of the plurality of first inductors is configured as a discrete module, the first body being arranged within a lower housing of the thruster;
• a second body comprising a plurality of capacitively loaded second inductors forming a tuned LC circuit to provide a magnetic field to generate an electrical current from the magnetic field, wherein each of the plurality of second inductors is configured as a discrete module, the second body being arranged within a lower housing of the thruster, wherein the plurality of capacitively loaded first inductors and the plurality of capacitively loaded second inductors are concentrically configured at multiple different radial positions within the respective first and second bodies, each capacitively loaded second inductor being located in a matching circumferential and radial location relative to a respective capacitively loaded first inductor, the second body being configured to be rotatable relative to the first body;
• at least one first sensor configured in the lower housing, the at least one first sensor configured to sense at least one operating condition of the thruster;
• a first controller configured to receive first data from the at least one first sensor relating to the least one operating condition of the thruster, and responsive to the received first data, cause transmission of at least a portion of the received first data;
• each of the plurality of first inductors and the plurality of second inductors being configured to generate an electrical current from the magnetic field at all relative rotational positions between the first body and the second body regardless of the rotation of the at least one shaft;
• and
• each of the plurality of capacitively loaded first inductors forming a tuned LC circuit being tuned to resonate within a predetermined frequency band and each of the plurality of capacitively loaded second inductors forming a tuned LC circuit being tuned to resonate within a predetermined frequency band, the frequency band of each of the plurality of second inductors at least partially overlapping with the frequency band of each of the plurality of first inductors;
• wherein the system is configured for providing power to the at least one.