Ripple current reduction for wireless electric vehicle charging

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10630090-B2
Application number	US-201715709314-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 19, 2017
Priority date	Sep 19, 2017
Publication date	Apr 21, 2020
Grant date	Apr 21, 2020

Abstract

The present disclosure describes aspects of ripple current reduction for wireless electric vehicle charging. In some aspects, an apparatus for wireless power transmission includes an inverter circuit to provide alternating current and a resonant circuit having a tuning portion and a coil portion to transmit power based on the alternating current. The apparatus also includes a current sensor to provide an indication of peak-to-peak amplitude (e.g., ripple current) of the alternating current that flows to the coil portion of the resonant circuit. Based on this indication, a control signal of the inverter is altered to adjust the peak-to-peak amplitude of the alternating current, such as to reduce ripple current in the coil portion. By so doing, ripple current can be reduced in power-transmitting or power-receiving devices, which may improve power transmission efficiency, enable use of smaller decoupling capacitors, or reduce stress on elements of respective resonant circuits.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for wireless power transmission comprising:
a power input node configured to receive direct-current (DC) power;
an inverter circuit having an input coupled to the power input node;
a resonant circuit coupled to outputs of the inverter circuit, the resonant circuit including a tuning portion and a coil portion;
a current sensor coupled to the resonant circuit; and
a controller coupled to the inverter circuit and the current sensor, the controller configured to:
apply, to the inverter circuit, a periodic control signal for use by the inverter circuit to invert the DC power to alternating current;
receive, from the current sensor, an indication of a peak-to-peak amplitude of the alternating current that flows to the coil portion of the resonant circuit; and
alter, based on the indication, the periodic control signal to adjust the peak-to-peak amplitude of the alternating current that flows between the tuning portion and the coil portion of the resonant circuit.

2. The apparatus as recited in claim 1 , wherein altering the periodic control signal to adjust the peak-to-peak amplitude of the alternating current is effective to reduce the peak-to-peak amplitude of the alternating current.

3. The apparatus as recited in claim 1 , wherein:
the peak-to-peak amplitude of the alternating current that flows into the coil portion of the resonant circuit corresponds to ripple current; and
altering the periodic control signal is effective to reduce an amplitude of the ripple current that flows into the coil portion of the resonant circuit.

4. The apparatus as recited in claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
sample, based on the periodic control signal, the indication of the peak-to-peak amplitude to measure the peak-to-peak amplitude of the alternating current;
compare the measured peak-to-peak amplitude of the alternating current with a predefined threshold for the peak-to-peak amplitude of the alternating current; and
alter, responsive to the measured peak-to-peak amplitude exceeding the predefined threshold, the periodic control signal to reduce the measured peak-to-peak amplitude of the alternating current below the predefined threshold.

5. The apparatus as recited in claim 1 , wherein:
applying the periodic control signal to the inverter circuit causes the inverter circuit to invert the DC power to the alternating current at a first frequency;
the peak-to-peak amplitude of the alternating current corresponds to a second frequency; and
the second frequency to which the peak-to-peak amplitude corresponds is different from the first frequency at which the alternating current is inverted.

6. The apparatus as recited in claim 5 , wherein:
the first frequency at which the inverter circuit inverts the alternating current is greater than 20 kHz; and
the second frequency to which the peak-to-peak amplitude corresponds is less than 400 Hz.

7. The apparatus as recited in claim 1 , further comprising a DC blocking circuit coupled between the outputs of the inverter circuit and the resonant circuit of the apparatus.

8. The apparatus as recited in claim 1 , further comprising a coil switch circuit coupled between the outputs of the inverter circuit and the resonant circuit of the apparatus.

9. The apparatus as recited in claim 1 , further comprising signal conditioning circuitry coupled between an input the controller and an output of the current sensor of the apparatus, the signal conditioning circuitry including at least one of an amplifier, a rectifier, or a low-pass filter.

10. The apparatus as recited in claim 9 , wherein the signal conditioning circuitry includes the amplifier, the rectifier, and the low-pass filter.

11. A system for wirelessly transmitting power comprising:
a direct-current (DC) power source configured to convert alternating-current (AC) power of a first frequency to DC power;
an inverter circuit coupled to the DC power source, the inverter circuit configured to invert, based on a pulse-width modulation (PWM) control signal, the DC power to alternating current of a second frequency that is different from the first frequency;
a resonant circuit coupled to the inverter circuit, the resonant circuit including a tuning portion and a coil configured to wirelessly transmit, based on the alternating current, power to another resonant circuit of a power-receiving device;
a current sensor coupled to the resonant circuit; and
a controller configured to:
receive, from the current sensor, an indication of the alternating current flowing to the coil of the resonant circuit;
determine, based on the indication, an amount of the alternating current flowing to the coil at a third frequency, the third frequency being less than one half of the second frequency; and
alter, based on the determined amplitude, the PWM signal of the inverter circuit to reduce the amount of the alternating current flowing to the coil at the third frequency.

12. The system as recited in claim 11 , wherein the third frequency at which the amount of alternating current flows to the coil is approximately twice the first frequency of the AC power.

13. The system as recited in claim 11 , wherein the controller is further configured to measure, based on the PWM control signal, an amplitude of the indication to determine the amount of the alternating current flowing to the coil at the third frequency.

14. The system as recited in claim 13 , wherein measuring the amplitude of the indication includes determining a time at which to measure the amplitude of the indication based on a transition of the PWM control signal.

15. The system as recited in claim 11 , wherein the alternating current flowing to the coil of the resonant circuit at the third frequency is ripple current of the DC power of the DC power source.

16. The system as recited in claim 11 , further comprising signal conditioning circuitry coupled between the current sensor and the controller of the system.

17. The system as recited in claim 16 , wherein the signal conditioning circuitry includes at least one of an amplifier, a rectifier, or a low-pass filter.

18. The system as recited in claim 16 , wherein the signal conditioning circuitry includes at least one of a variable-gain amplifier, an active rectifier, or an active low-pass filter.

19. The system as recited in claim 11 , wherein:
the first frequency of the AC power is less than 100 Hz;
the second frequency of the alternating current provided by the inverter circuit is greater than 60 kHz; and
the third frequency at which the alternating current flows into the coil is less than 30 kHz.

20. The system as recited in claim 11 , wherein the system is implemented as part of a wireless electric vehicle charging (WEVC) system, a bi-polar WEVC system; or a dual coil WEVC system.

21. A method for wireless power transmission comprising:
receiving direct-current (DC) power;
applying, to an inverter circuit, a periodic control signal used by the inverter circuit to invert the DC power to provide alternating current;
applying the alternating current provided by the inverter circuit to a resonant circuit that includes a tuning portion and a coil portion;
receiving, from a current sensor, an indication of peak-to-peak amplitude of the alternating current flowing to the coil portion of the resonant circuit; and
altering, based on the indication, the periodic control signal to adjust the peak-to-peak amplitude of the alternating current flowing

Assignees

• Witricity Corp

Inventors

• Fischer Marcel
• Lattmann Patrick

Classifications

• H02J50/80

  involving the exchange of data, concerning supply or distribution of electric power, between transmitting devices and receiving devices · CPC title

• H02J7/04

  Regulation of charging current or voltage · CPC title

• B60L53/12

  Inductive energy transfer · CPC title

• H02J7/025

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H02J7/0029 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic