Charging miniature devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10833525-B2
Application number	US-201616307331-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 1, 2016
Priority date	Jul 1, 2016
Publication date	Nov 10, 2020
Grant date	Nov 10, 2020

Abstract

Techniques for wirelessly charging small power receiving units are disclosed. An example power receiving unit includes a transportation mechanism to enable the power receiving unit to move and a wireless communication system that enables the power receiving unit to communicate with a plurality of other power receiving units. The power receiving unit is a master unit and the other power receiving units are nodes that take commands from the master unit. The power receiving unit also includes a controller to command the nodes to form a composite receive coil over a power transmitting unit and communicate with the power transmitting unit to start a charging session.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A power receiving unit comprising:
a transportation mechanism to enable the power receiving unit to move;
a wireless communication system to enable the power receiving unit to communicate with a plurality of other power receiving units, wherein the power receiving unit is a master unit and the plurality of other power receiving units are nodes that take commands from the master unit; and
a controller to:
command the nodes to form a composite receive coil over a power transmitting unit; and
communicate with the power transmitting unit to start a charging session.

2. The power receiving unit of claim 1 , wherein the controller is to monitor a battery charge level of each of the nodes and determine that the battery charge level of at least one of the nodes is below a threshold.

3. The power receiving unit of claim 1 , comprising charge circuitry that enables the power receiving unit to draw a portion of the energy from the composite receive coil to charge a battery of the power receiving unit.

4. The power receiving unit of claim 3 , wherein the charge circuitry comprises a coil that inductively couples energy from the composite receive coil.

5. The power receiving unit of claim 1 , wherein each of the nodes is configured to activate one of a plurality of operating modes during the charging session.

6. The power receiving unit of claim 5 , wherein the plurality of operating modes includes a bypass mode that prevents the nodes from coupling energy from the composite receive coil.

7. The power receiving unit of claim 5 , wherein the master unit determines which one of the plurality of operating modes will be activated during the charging session.

8. The power receiving unit of claim 1 , comprising a conductive link that enables the power receiving unit to conductively couple to one of the nodes to form the composite receive coil.

9. The power receiving unit of claim 8 , wherein the conductive link comprises a metal pin that is bent at one end and is to be rotated to make contact with another conductive link of one of the nodes.

10. The power receiving unit of claim 1 , wherein the power receiving unit is an Internet of Things (IoT) device.

11. A method of wirelessly charging a plurality of power receiving units, comprising:
monitoring a charge level of each one of the plurality of power receiving units;
determining that the charge level of at least one of the power receiving units is below a threshold;
arranging the plurality of power receiving units to form a composite receive coil over a transmitting coil of a power transmitting unit; and
starting a charge session with the power transmitting unit.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein one of the plurality of power receiving units is assigned the role of master, wherein the master communicates with the power transmitting unit to start the charge session.

13. The method of claim 11 , comprising determining an assigned position for each of the power receiving units and communicating the assigned position to the power receiving units, wherein the power receiving units autonomously move to the assigned positions.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein each of the power receiving units comprises a conductive link configured to form a portion of the composite receive coil.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein to form the composite receive coil each of the power receiving units rotates its conductive link until it makes contact with the conductive link of its neighbor.

16. The method of claim 11 , comprising selecting operating modes to be engaged during the charging session by the power receiving units, wherein the operating modes determine how charge circuitry of each of the power receiving units is coupled to the composite receive coil.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein selecting operating modes comprises selecting a bypass mode for a particular power receiving unit of the power receiving units so that the particular power receiving unit does not draw power from the composite receive coil.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein selecting operating modes comprises selecting a capacitor mode for a particular power receiving unit of the power receiving units so that the particular power receiving unit adjusts an impedance of the composite receive coil.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein selecting operating modes comprises selecting a capacitor mode for a particular power receiving unit of the power receiving units so that the particular power receiving unit draws a charge from the composite receive coil for charging a battery.

20. The method of claim 11 , comprising determining that each of the power receiving units is fully charged, ending the charge session and decomposing the composite receive coil.

21. A tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, direct the processor to control a wireless charging session, the instructions to control the processor to:
monitor a charge level of each one of a plurality of power receiving units;
determine that the charge level of at least one of the power receiving units is below a threshold;
arrange the plurality of power receiving units to form a composite receive coil over a transmitting coil of a power transmitting unit; and
start a charge session with the power transmitting unit.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 21 , comprising instructions to assign one the plurality of power receiving units as a master unit, wherein the master unit communicates with the power transmitting unit to start the charge session.

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 21 , comprising instructions to determine an assigned position for each of the power receiving units and communicate the assigned position to the power receiving units, wherein the power receiving units autonomously move to the assigned positions.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 21 , wherein each of the power receiving units comprises a conductive link configured to form a portion of the composite receive coil.

25. The computer-readable medium of claim 24 , comprising instructions to direct each of the power receiving units to rotate its conductive link until it makes contact with the conductive link of its neighbor.

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Pogorelik Oleg
• Priev Avi
• Porat Shahar
• Yang Songnan
• Yanakiev Boyan

Classifications

• H02J7/42

  with electronic devices having internal batteries, e.g. mobile phones · CPC title

• H02J7/50 Primary

  acting upon multiple batteries simultaneously or sequentially · CPC title

• Y02T10/7072

  Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors · CPC title

• Y02T10/70

  Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries · CPC title

• G01R19/16542

  for batteries (charge condition monitoring in G01R31/36) · CPC title