Dynamic multi-coil tuning

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11469041-B2
Application number	US-202117140948-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 4, 2021
Priority date	Jan 6, 2020
Publication date	Oct 11, 2022
Grant date	Oct 11, 2022

Abstract

Systems, methods and apparatus for wireless charging are disclosed. A wireless charging device has a plurality of charging cells provided on a first surface and a processor configured to provide a charging current to a first charging coil in a surface of the wireless charging device, determine that an impedance of a resonant circuit has varied from a threshold or setpoint impedance, and restore the threshold or setpoint impedance by modifying frequency of the charging current. The resonant circuit may include the first charging coil. A method for operating the wireless charging device includes providing a charging current to a first charging coil in a surface of the wireless charging device, determining that an impedance of a resonant circuit has varied from a threshold or setpoint impedance, and restoring the threshold or setpoint impedance by modifying frequency of the charging current. The resonant circuit may include the charging coil.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for operating a wireless charging device, comprising:
providing a charging current to a first charging coil in a surface of the wireless charging device;
determining that an impedance of a resonant circuit has varied from a threshold or setpoint impedance, wherein the resonant circuit includes the first charging coil; and
restoring the threshold or setpoint impedance by modifying frequency of the charging current coupling a second charging coil to the resonant circuit; providing the charging current to the second charging coil, wherein coupling the second charging coil modifies the impedance of the resonant circuit; and using a lookup table to determine the frequency of the charging current to be used after the second charging coil is coupled to the resonant circuit.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
decoupling a second charging coil from the resonant circuit, wherein decoupling the second charging coil modifies the impedance of the resonant circuit.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
using a lookup table to determine the frequency of the charging current to be used after the second charging coil is decoupled from the resonant circuit.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the impedance of the resonant circuit is modified by a change in location of a receiving device on the surface of the wireless charging device.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting a change in a monitored current that flows in the resonant circuit; and
determining that the impedance of the resonant circuit has varied based on the change in the monitored current.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
receiving a feedback signal representative of the change in the monitored current; and
controlling the frequency of the charging current using the feedback signal.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein controlling the frequency of the charging current comprises:
incrementally adjusting the frequency of the charging current until the impedance of the resonant circuit matches the threshold or setpoint impedance.

8. The method of claim 5 , wherein controlling the frequency of the charging current comprises:
delaying modification of the frequency of the charging current.

9. A wireless charging device, comprising:
a plurality of charging cells provided on a surface of the wireless charging device; and
a processor configured to:
provide a charging current to a first charging coil in a surface of the wireless charging device;
determine that an impedance of a resonant circuit has varied from a threshold or setpoint impedance, wherein the resonant circuit includes the first charging coil; and
restore the threshold or setpoint impedance by modifying frequency of the charging current couple a second charging coil to the resonant circuit; provide the charging current to the second charging coil, wherein coupling the second charging coil modifies the impedance of the resonant circuit; and use a lookup table to determine the frequency of the charging current to be used after the second charging coil is coupled to the resonant circuit.

10. The wireless charging device of claim 9 , wherein the processor is configured to:
decouple a second charging coil from the resonant circuit, wherein decoupling the second charging coil modifies the impedance of the resonant circuit.

11. The wireless charging device of claim 10 , wherein the processor is configured to:
use a lookup table to determine the frequency of the charging current to be used after the second charging coil is decoupled from the resonant circuit.

12. The wireless charging device of claim 9 , wherein the impedance of the resonant circuit is modified by a change in location of a receiving device on the surface of the wireless charging device.

13. The wireless charging device of claim 9 , wherein the processor is configured to:
detect a change in a monitored current that flows in the resonant circuit; and
determine that the impedance of the resonant circuit has varied based on the change in the monitored current.

14. The wireless charging device of claim 13 , wherein the processor is configured to:
receive a feedback signal representative of the change in the monitored current; and
control the frequency of the charging current using the feedback signal.

15. The wireless charging device of claim 13 , wherein the processor is configured to:
incrementally adjust the frequency of the charging current until the impedance of the resonant circuit matches the threshold or setpoint impedance.

16. The wireless charging device of claim 13 , wherein the processor is configured to:
delay modification of the frequency of the charging current.

Assignees

• Aira Inc

Inventors

• Goodchild Eric Heindel
• Winters John

Classifications

• H02J50/402 Primary

  the two or more transmitting or the two or more receiving devices being integrated in the same unit, e.g. power mats with several coils or antennas with several sub-antennas · CPC title

• H01F38/14 Primary

  Inductive couplings {(for wireless supply or distribution of electric power using inductive coupling H02J50/10)} · CPC title

• H02J50/12

  of the resonant type · CPC title

• H02J50/40

  using two or more transmitting or receiving devices (H02J50/50 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H02J7/02

  for charging batteries from AC mains by converters · CPC title