The invention relates to a charging device (28) for the
inductive charging of electric vehicles (4), said device being is equipped with a
power electronics unit (2) and a ground coil unit (1) connected to the
power electronics unit (2). The
power electronics unit (2) is designed to convert a supply
voltage into an alternating
voltage for
inductive charging and to output the alternating
voltage to the ground coil unit (1). The ground coil unit (1) has a flat coil (8) arranged in a main extension plane (6), a rear plate (10) which is at least approximately parallel to the flat coil (8) and is made of a non-magnetic material, a
ferrite layer (9) arranged between the flat coil (8) and the rear plate (10), and a housing (11). The flat coil (8), the
ferrite layer (9) and the rear plate (10) are arranged in the housing (11). A distance between the flat coil (8) and a top side of the housing (11) is smaller than a distance between the
ferrite layer (9) and the housing top side. Furthermore, an
actuator (13) is provided, which is also arranged in the housing (11) and is designed to move at least the flat coil (8) and the ferrite layer (9) along a displacement path (12) parallel to a surface normal of the main extension plane (6). According to the invention, the charging device (28) also comprises a
control unit (26) which is designed to receive an overlap measure from the
electric vehicle (4), to compare the received overlap measure with a predefined
lower threshold and a predefined upper threshold, and to control the
actuator (13) to move at least the flat coil (8) and the ferrite layer (9) towards the housing top side if the overlap measure falls below the
lower threshold value, and to control the
actuator (13) to move at least the flat coil (8) and the ferrite layer (9) away from the housing top side if the overlap measure exceeds the upper threshold value.