Charging pad and a method for charging one or more receiver devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11798737-B2
Application number	US-202117541891-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 3, 2021
Priority date	Dec 15, 2016
Publication date	Oct 24, 2023
Grant date	Oct 24, 2023

Abstract

A charging pad for charging one or more receiver devices is disclosed. The charging pad includes a power drive unit configured to generate a first AC voltage signal having a first frequency and a second AC voltage signal having a second frequency. Further, the charging pad includes a transmitting unit including a single power exchange coil coupled to the power drive unit, wherein the single power exchange coil includes a first coil segment configured to transmit the first AC voltage signal having the first frequency when the first AC voltage signal is received from the power drive unit. Also, the single power exchange coil includes a second coil segment configured to transmit the second AC voltage signal having the second frequency when the second AC voltage signal is received from the power drive unit.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A charging pad comprising:
a power drive unit comprising:
a signal generator capable of generating a first AC voltage signal having a first frequency and a second AC voltage signal having a second frequency different from the first frequency, and
an adder configured to combine the first AC voltage signal and the second AC voltage signal to create a combined AC voltage signal; and

a transmitting unit coupled to the power drive unit, the transmitting unit comprising a power exchange coil configured to:
receive the combined AC voltage signal from the power drive unit;
transmit, via a first coil segment of the power exchange coil, the first AC voltage signal having the first frequency; and
transmit, via a second coil segment of the power exchange coil, the second AC voltage signal having the second frequency.

2. The charging pad of claim 1 , wherein the transmitting unit further comprises a first resonator comprising the first coil segment and a first capacitor coupled to the first coil segment, and wherein the first resonator is configured to resonate at the first frequency to transmit the first AC voltage signal having the first frequency.

3. The charging pad of claim 2 , wherein the transmitting unit further comprises a second resonator comprising the second coil segment and a second capacitor coupled to the second coil segment, and wherein the second resonator is configured to resonate at the second frequency to transmit the second AC voltage signal having the second frequency.

4. The charging pad of claim 1 , wherein the power exchange coil has a distributed inductance and a distributed capacitance, wherein the power exchange coil is configured to resonate at the first frequency to transmit the first AC voltage signal having the first frequency.

5. The charging pad of claim 1 , wherein the first coil segment is configured to inductively transmit the first AC voltage signal having the first frequency to a first receiver device.

6. The charging pad of claim 5 , wherein the second coil segment is configured to inductively transmit the second AC voltage signal having the second frequency to a second receiver device.

7. The charging pad of claim 1 , wherein the first coil segment and the second coil segment are interwound spirally to form a swiss roll structure.

8. The charging pad of claim 1 , wherein the power drive unit comprises an AC voltage signal generator comprising a AC signal generator selected from the group consisting of a converting unit and an oscillating unit.

9. The charging pad of claim 1 , wherein the first coil segment has a first internal capacitance and a first internal inductance such that the first coil segment is configured to excite at the first frequency to transmit the first AC voltage signal having the first frequency and wherein the second coil segment has a second internal capacitance and a second internal inductance such that the second coil segment is configured to excite at the second frequency to transmit the second AC voltage signal having the second frequency.

10. A wireless charging device comprising:
a charging pad comprising:
a power drive unit capable of generating a first AC voltage signal having a first frequency and a second AC voltage signal having a second frequency, the power drive unit including an adder configured to combine the first AC voltage signal and the second AC voltage signal to create a combined AC voltage signal; and
a transmitting unit coupled to the power drive unit, the transmitting unit comprising a power exchange coil configured to:
receive, from the power drive unit, the combined AC voltage signal;
transmit, via a first coil segment of the power exchange coil, the first AC voltage signal having the first frequency; and
transmit, via a second coil segment of the power exchange coil, the second AC voltage signal having the second frequency; and

a control unit operatively coupled to the power drive unit and configured to control a voltage gain of the power drive unit.

11. The wireless charging device of claim 10 , wherein the control unit is further configured to send at least one of a first frequency control signal and a second frequency control signal to the power drive unit.

12. The wireless charging device of claim 11 , wherein the power drive unit comprises a converting unit configured to:
convert a DC voltage signal of an input power to the first AC voltage signal having the first frequency if the first frequency control signal is received from the control unit; and
convert the DC voltage signal of the input power to the second AC voltage signal having the second frequency if the second frequency control signal is received from the control unit.

13. The wireless charging device of claim 10 , wherein the power drive unit comprises an oscillating unit configured to generate an AC voltage comprising a voltage selected from the group consisting of the first AC voltage signal having the first frequency and the second AC voltage signal having the second frequency.

14. The wireless charging device of claim 10 , wherein the transmitting unit further comprises a first resonator comprising the first coil segment and a first capacitor coupled to the first coil segment, and wherein the first resonator is configured to resonate at the first frequency to transmit the first AC voltage signal having the first frequency.

15. The wireless charging device of claim 14 , wherein the transmitting unit further comprises a second resonator comprising the second coil segment and a second capacitor coupled to the second coil segment, and wherein the second resonator is configured to resonate at the second frequency to transmit the second AC voltage signal having the second frequency.

16. The wireless charging device of claim 10 , wherein the power exchange coil comprises a distributed inductance and a distributed capacitance, wherein the power exchange coil is configured to resonate at the first frequency to transmit the first AC voltage signal having the first frequency.

17. The wireless charging device of claim 10 , wherein the first coil segment is configured to inductively transmit the first AC voltage signal having the first frequency to a first receiver device.

18. The wireless charging device of claim 17 , wherein the second coil segment is configured to inductively transmit the second AC voltage signal having the second frequency to a second receiver device.

19. The wireless charging device of claim 10 , wherein the power drive unit comprises a drive coil magnetically coupled to the power exchange coil of the transmitting unit.

20. The wireless charging device of claim 10 , wherein the transmitting unit is capable of transmitting the first AC voltage signal concurrently with the second AC voltage signal.

Assignees

• Gen Electric

Inventors

• Bhat Suma Memana Narayana
• Aravind Deepak
• Ramachandrapanicker Somakumar
• Raghunathan Arun Kumar

Classifications

• H02J7/70

  characterised by the mechanical construction · CPC title

• H01F38/14 Primary

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

• H02J7/0042

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H02J50/12

  of the resonant type · CPC title

• H02J50/40

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