Mobile vehicle and wireless power transfer system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10644544-B2
Application number	US-201715669307-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 4, 2017
Priority date	Oct 21, 2016
Publication date	May 5, 2020
Grant date	May 5, 2020

Abstract

A mobile vehicle wirelessly receives AC power from a power transmission device including first and second power transmission electrodes arranged along a road surface. The mobile vehicle includes: a sensor that detects an obstacle located at least either on a route of the mobile vehicle or under the mobile vehicle; a first power reception electrode that forms electric field coupling with the first power transmission electrode when facing the first power transmission electrode; a second power reception electrode that forms electric field coupling with the second power transmission electrode when facing the second power transmission electrode; an actuator that moves at least the part of the first power reception electrode in a direction of gravity; and a control circuit that controls the actuator based on a result of detection by the sensor to avoid contact between the first power reception electrode and the obstacle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A mobile vehicle, comprising:
a sensor that detects an obstacle located at least on a route of the mobile vehicle or under the mobile vehicle;
a first power reception electrode that forms an electric field by coupling with a first power transmission electrode of a power transmission device when the first power reception electrode faces the first power transmission electrode, thereby wirelessly receiving alternating current power from the first power transmission electrode, the first power transmission electrode having a flat surface extending along a road surface;
a second power reception electrode that forms an electric field by coupling with a second power transmission electrode of the power transmission device when the second power reception electrode faces the second power transmission electrode, thereby wirelessly receiving alternating current power from the second power transmission electrode, the second power transmission electrode being arranged away from the first power transmission electrode in a direction along the road surface and having a flat surface extending along the road surface;
an actuator that moves at least a part of the first power reception electrode in a direction of gravity; and
a control circuit that controls the actuator, based on a result of detection by the sensor, to avoid contact between the first power reception electrode and the obstacle, wherein
the sensor detects the obstacle located on the route of the mobile vehicle when the mobile vehicle is moving along the road surface,
when the control circuit determines that the first power reception electrode will come into contact with the obstacle while the mobile vehicle is moving, the control circuit controls the actuator to set a distance between the road surface and at least part of the first power reception electrode greater than a height of the obstacle, thereby avoiding the contact between the first power reception electrode and the obstacle, and
when the control circuit determines that the first power reception electrode will come into contact with the obstacle and the second power reception electrode will not come into contact with the obstacle while the mobile vehicle is moving, the control circuit controls the actuator to set the distance between the road surface and at least the part of the first power reception electrode greater than the height of the obstacle, thereby avoiding the contact between the first power reception electrode and the obstacle, while maintaining a position of the second power reception electrode.

2. The mobile vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein
the first power reception electrode includes a plurality of first power reception electrodes,
the actuator moves at least the part of each of the first power reception electrodes in the direction of gravity, and
the control circuit controls the actuator based on the result of detection by the sensor to avoid contact between each of the first power reception electrodes and the obstacle.

3. The mobile vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein
the actuator moves at least a part of the second power reception electrode in the direction of gravity, and
the control circuit controls the actuator based on the result of detection by the sensor to avoid contact between the second power reception electrode and the obstacle.

4. The mobile vehicle according to claim 3 , wherein
the second power reception electrode includes a plurality of second power reception electrodes,
the actuator moves at least the part of each of the second power reception electrodes in the direction of gravity, and
the control circuit controls the actuator based on the result of detection by the sensor to avoid contact between each of the second power reception electrodes and the obstacle.

5. The mobile vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein the control circuit controls a distance g 1 between the first power reception electrode and the first power transmission electrode within a range of 0<g 1 <25 mm.

6. The mobile vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein
when the control circuit determines that the first power reception electrode will not come into contact with the obstacle, the control circuit sets a distance between the first power reception electrode and the first power transmission electrode to a base distance g 0 , and
when the control circuit determines that the first power reception electrode will come into contact with the obstacle, the control circuit sets a distance g 1 between the first power reception electrode and the first power transmission electrode greater than a height of the obstacle and smaller than 1.45 g 0 .

7. A wireless power transfer system comprising;
the power transmission device; and
the mobile vehicle according to claim 1 .

8. A mobile vehicle, comprising:
a sensor that detects an obstacle located at least on a route of the mobile vehicle or under the mobile vehicle;
a first power reception electrode that forms an electric field by coupling with a first power transmission electrode of a power transmission device when the first power reception electrode faces the first power transmission electrode, thereby wirelessly receiving alternating current power from the first power transmission electrode, the first power transmission electrode having a flat surface extending along a road surface;
a second power reception electrode that forms an electric field by coupling with a second power transmission electrode of the power transmission device when the second power reception electrode faces the second power transmission electrode, thereby wirelessly receiving alternating current power from the second power transmission electrode, the second power transmission electrode being arranged away from the first power transmission electrode in a direction along the road surface and having a flat surface extending along the road surface;
an actuator that moves at least a part of the first power reception electrode in a direction of gravity; and
a control circuit that controls the actuator, based on a result of detection by the sensor, to avoid contact between the first power reception electrode and the obstacle, wherein
the sensor detects the obstacle located on the route of the mobile vehicle when the mobile vehicle is moving along the road surface,
when the control circuit determines that the first power reception electrode will come into contact with the obstacle while the mobile vehicle is moving, the control circuit controls the actuator to set a distance between the road surface and at least part of the first power reception electrode greater than a height of the obstacle, thereby avoiding the contact between the first power reception electrode and the obstacle,
the first power reception electrode includes two first power reception electrodes aligned in a moving direction of the mobile vehicle,
the actuator moves each of the two first power reception electrodes in the direction of gravity, and
when the control circuit determines that one of the two first power reception electrodes on a front side will come into contact with the obstacle while the mobile vehicle is moving, the control circuit controls the actuator to set the distance between the road surface and the one of the two first power reception electrodes greater than the height of the obstacle, thereby avoiding contact between the one of the two first power reception electrodes and the obstacle, while maintaining a position of a second of the two first power reception electrodes.

9. A mobile vehicle, comprising:
a sensor that detects an obstacle located at least on a route of the mobile vehicle or under the mobile vehicle;
a first power reception electrode that forms an electric field by co

Assignees

• Panasonic Ip Man Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kanno Hiroshi

Classifications

• H02J50/60 Primary

  responsive to the presence of foreign objects, e.g. detection of living beings · CPC title

• H02J50/05 Primary

  using capacitive coupling · CPC title

• B60L5/38

  for collecting current from conductor rails (B60L5/40 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H02J50/10

  using inductive coupling · CPC title

• B60L50/53

  in combination with an external power supply, e.g. from overhead contact lines · CPC title