Wireless power transfer unit, device, and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12046917-B2
Application number	US-202318340355-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 23, 2023
Priority date	Dec 25, 2020
Publication date	Jul 23, 2024
Grant date	Jul 23, 2024

Abstract

This application provides a wireless power transfer unit, device, and method. The wireless power transfer unit includes a radiation source, a light-emitting body, a controller, and a metasurface. The radiation source is configured to emit an electromagnetic wave signal. The controller is configured to control the light-emitting body to provide light sources of different light intensities. The light-emitting body provides the light sources of different light intensities in response to control of the controller. The metasurface is configured to perform phase adjustment on the electromagnetic wave signal that is incident to the metasurface. Equivalent impedance of the metasurface varies with a change of the light intensity, so that an offset of a phase of the electromagnetic wave signal emitted through the metasurface also varies with the change of the light intensity.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A wireless power transfer unit, comprising:
a radiation source configured to emit an electromagnetic wave signal;
a light-emitting body;
a controller configured to control the light-emitting body to provide light sources of different light intensities; and
a metasurface, wherein
the light-emitting body is configured to provides the light sources of different light intensities in response to control of the controller; and
the metasurface is configured to perform phase adjustment on the electromagnetic wave signal that is incident to the metasurface, so that a phase of the electromagnetic wave signal emitted through the metasurface shifts relative to a phase before the electromagnetic wave signal is incident, wherein equivalent impedance of the metasurface varies with a change of a light intensity of the light source, so that an offset of the phase of the electromagnetic wave signal emitted through the metasurface also varies with the change of the light intensity of the light source.

2. The wireless power transfer unit according to claim 1 , wherein the metasurface comprises at least one photosensitive device and a metal sheet connected to two electrodes of the at least one photosensitive device, and when the electromagnetic wave signal is incident to the metasurface, the at least one photosensitive device and the metal sheet form an equivalent resonant circuit, wherein capacitance of the at least one photosensitive device varies with the change of the light intensity so that the equivalent impedance of the metasurface also varies with the change of the light intensity.

3. The wireless power transfer unit according to claim 2 , wherein the at least one photosensitive device is a photosensitive capacitor.

4. The wireless power transfer unit according to claim 2 , wherein the at least one photosensitive device comprises a photodiode and a varactor, wherein a positive electrode of the photodiode is connected to a negative electrode of the varactor, and a negative electrode of the photodiode is connected to a positive electrode of the varactor, to apply a voltage to the varactor; and the voltage applied by the photodiode to the varactor varies with the change of the light intensity; so that capacitance of the varactor also varies with the change of the light intensity.

5. The wireless power transfer unit according to claim 2 , wherein the light-emitting body comprises at least one light-emitting unit, and the controller comprises at least one control unit, wherein each of the at least one control unit corresponds to one or more of the at least one light-emitting unit, and each of the at least one control unit is configured to control the corresponding at least one light-emitting unit to emit light or be extinguished, to control a light-emitting region and/or a light intensity of the light-emitting body.

6. The wireless power transfer unit according to claim 5 , wherein each of the at least one light-emitting unit corresponds to one or more of at least one optoelectronic unit; and each of the at least one optoelectronic unit comprises one of the at least one photosensitive device and the metal sheet connected to the two electrodes of the one of the at least one photosensitive device.

7. The wireless power transfer unit according to claim 6 , wherein the radiation source comprises at least one radiating element, and each of the at least one light-emitting unit corresponds to one or more of the at least one radiating element; and each of the at least one light-emitting unit and the corresponding at least one optoelectronic unit are configured to control the offset of the phase that is generated when the electromagnetic wave signal emitted by the corresponding one or more radiating elements passes through the metasurface.

8. The wireless power transfer unit according to claim 7 , wherein the at least one light-emitting unit is in a one-to-one correspondence with the at least one radiating element.

9. The wireless power transfer unit according to claim 7 , wherein the at least one radiating element is a microstrip antenna unit, and the microstrip antenna unit comprises one or more microstrip patch antennas.

10. The wireless power transfer unit according to claim 7 , wherein the wireless power transfer unit further comprises a grid layer, and the grid layer comprises a plurality of grids; and each of the at least one light-emitting unit and the corresponding one or more optoelectronic units and the at least one radiating elements are located in one grid of the grid layer.

11. The wireless power transfer unit according to claim 10 , wherein the at least one light-emitting unit and the at least one radiating element are located on a first surface of a dielectric layer, and the first surface is opposite to an incident surface of the metasurface.

12. The wireless power transfer unit according to claim 11 , wherein the controller is located on a second surface of the dielectric layer, and the second surface is away from the incident surface of the metasurface.

13. The wireless power transfer unit according to claim 12 , wherein the wireless power transfer unit further comprises a feeder end that feeds the radiation source, the feeder end is located on the second surface of the dielectric layer, and the second surface is away from the incident surface of the metasurface.

14. The wireless power transfer unit according to claim 1 , wherein the electromagnetic wave signal is a microwave signal.

15. A wireless power transfer device, comprising:
a microwave power source; and
one or more wireless power transfer units,
wherein each of the one or more wireless power transfer units comprises:
a radiation source configured to emit an electromagnetic wave signal,
a light-emitting body,
a controller configured to control the light-emitting body to provide light sources of different light intensities, and
a metasurface, wherein
the light-emitting body is configured to provide the light sources of different light intensities in response to control of the controller, and
the metasurface is configured to perform phase adjustment on the electromagnetic wave signal that is incident to the metasurface, so that a phase of the electromagnetic wave signal emitted through the metasurface shifts relative to a phase before the electromagnetic wave signal is incident, wherein equivalent impedance of the metasurface varies with a change of a light intensity of the light source, so that an offset of the phase of the electromagnetic wave signal emitted through the metasurface also varies with the change of the light intensity of the light source,
wherein the microwave power source is configured to provide a microwave signal to the one or more wireless power transfer units.

16. The wireless power transfer device according to claim 15 , wherein the wireless power transfer device comprises a plurality of wireless power transfer units, and the wireless power transfer device further comprises a power splitter, configured to perform power distribution on the microwave signal, to output a plurality of microwave signals to one or more of the plurality of wireless power transfer units.

17. The wireless power transfer device according to claim 16 , wherein emergent surfaces of the one or more of the plurality of wireless power transfer units face at least two different directions, to emit the plurality of microwave signals in the at least two different directions.

18. A wireless power transfer method, wherein the method comprises:
receiving an energy feedback from a power receiving d

Assignees

• Huawei Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Jiang Weipeng
• Huang Tao

Classifications

• H02J7/42

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

• G01J2001/446

  Photodiode · CPC title

• G01J1/46

  using a capacitor · CPC title

• H02J50/40

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

• G02B1/002

  made of materials engineered to provide properties not available in nature, e.g. metamaterials · CPC title