Wirelessly powered battery pack for retrofit in legacy devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12155259-B2
Application number	US-202318456991-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 28, 2023
Priority date	Apr 30, 2021
Publication date	Nov 26, 2024
Grant date	Nov 26, 2024

Abstract

A device charging system includes a legacy battery-powered mobile electronic device configured for wired-only charging and a wireless charging enabled battery pack. The wireless charging enabled battery pack may contain one or more battery cells as well as a power management integrated circuit (IC) configured to manage charging of the battery cells. The wireless charging enabled battery pack also contains a wireless power module to receive power wirelessly from a WPT (wireless power transfer) power source outside of the legacy device. In keeping with embodiments of the disclosure, a pack microcontroller in the battery pack interfaces to the legacy device, presenting an interface consistent with a wired-only charged battery pack.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A wireless charging system comprising:
a mobile electronic device including a removable battery pack, wherein the mobile electronic device is configured for wired-only charging of the removable battery pack via a wired charging port;
a component group within the removable battery pack, the component group comprising:
one or more battery cells;
a power management integrated circuit (IC) configured to manage charging of the one or more battery cells;
a wireless receiver system configured to charge the one or more battery cells, wherein the wireless receiver system is configured to wirelessly receive power from a wireless transmission system outside of the mobile electronic device when the removable battery pack is installed in the mobile electronic device and when the removable battery pack is removed from the mobile electronic device; and
a pack microcontroller interfaced to the mobile electronic device, presenting an interface between components of the mobile electronic device and the component group within the removable battery pack.

2. The wireless charging system in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the one or more battery cells comprise one or more lithium ion battery cells.

3. The wireless charging system in accordance with claim 2 , wherein the one or more battery cells are configured as a one-serial/two-parallel (1S2P) battery.

4. The wireless charging system in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the power management IC is configured to select one of wireless charging or wired charging of the one or more battery cells.

5. The wireless charging system in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the pack microcontroller communicates in accordance with I2C protocol.

6. The wireless charging system in accordance with claim 5 , wherein the pack microcontroller is configured to act as an I2C slave with respect to the mobile electronic device and as an I2C master with respect to the power management IC and the wireless receiver system.

7. The wireless charging system in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the wireless receiver system is configured to operate over a range of operating frequencies, and wherein the range of operating frequencies comprise one of about 87 kilohertz (kHz) to about 205 kHz, about 200 kHz to about 360 kHz, about 6.78 megahertz (MHz), and about 13.56 MHz.

8. A removable battery pack comprising:
one or more battery cells;
a power management integrated circuit (IC) configured to manage charging of the one or more battery cells;
a pack microcontroller configured to interface to a mobile electronic device configured for wired-only battery charging of the one or more battery cells of the removable battery pack via a wired charging port when the removable battery pack is installed in the mobile electronic device, and to present an interface between components of the mobile electronic device and a component group within the removable battery pack; and
a wireless receiver system configured to charge the one or more battery cells, wherein the wireless receiver system is configured to wirelessly receive power from a wireless transmission system outside of removable battery pack when the removable battery pack is installed in the mobile electronic device and when the removable battery pack is removed from the mobile electronic device.

9. The removable battery pack in accordance with claim 8 , wherein the one or more battery cells comprise one or more lithium ion battery cells.

10. The removable battery pack in accordance with claim 9 , wherein the one or more battery cells are configured as a one-serial/two-parallel (1S2P) battery.

11. The removable battery pack in accordance with claim 8 , wherein the power management IC is configured to select one of wireless charging or wired charging of the one or more battery cells.

12. The removable battery pack in accordance with claim 8 , wherein the pack microcontroller communicates in accordance with I2C protocol.

13. The removable battery pack in accordance with claim 12 , wherein the pack microcontroller is configured to act as an I2C slave with respect to the mobile electronic device and as an I2C master with respect to the power management IC and the wireless-receiver system.

14. The removable battery pack in accordance with claim 8 , wherein the wireless receiver system is configured to operate over a range of operating frequencies, and wherein the range of operating frequencies comprise one of about 87 kilohertz (kHz) to about 205 kHz, about 200 kHz to about 360 kHz, about 6.78 megahertz (MHz), and about 13.56 MHz.

15. A wireless charging system comprising:
a wireless charging dock having multiple charging stations, wherein each of the multiple charging stations is configured to receive one or both of (i) a removable battery pack configured to be installed in a mobile electronic device manufactured to support wired-only battery charging via a wire charging port, and (ii) the mobile electronic device having the removable battery pack installed in a battery compartment; and
a wireless power transfer unit associated with each of the multiple charging stations, the wireless power transfer unit having a wireless power transfer coil configured to align with a wireless power receiver coil within the removable battery pack when the removable battery pack is one of (i) installed in a battery compartment of the mobile electronic device when the mobile electronic device is installed on one of the multiple charging stations, and (ii) when the removable battery pack is removed from the mobile electronic device and the removable battery pack is installed on one of the multiple charging stations.

16. The wireless charging system in accordance with claim 15 , wherein each of the multiple charging stations includes one or more features to retain at least one of (i) the mobile electronic device with the removable battery pack installed, and (ii) the removable battery pack.

17. The wireless charging system in accordance with claim 15 , wherein the wireless charging dock is configured to operate at a specific operating frequency.

18. The wireless charging system in accordance with claim 17 , wherein the wireless charging dock is configured to operate at the specific operating frequency within a frequency range of one of about 87 kilohertz (kHz) to about 205 kHz, about 200 kHz to about 360 kHz, about 6.78 megahertz (MHz), and about 13.56 MHz.

19. The wireless charging system in accordance with claim 15 , wherein the wireless charging dock is configured to initiate charging when one of the mobile electronic device is placed in one of the multiple charging stations and the removable battery pack is placed in one of the multiple charging stations.

20. The wireless charging system in accordance with claim 19 , wherein the wireless charging dock is configured to initiate charging by activating the wireless power transfer unit associated with each of the multiple charging stations in which one of the mobile electronic device has been placed and the removable battery pack has been placed.

Assignees

• Nucurrent Inc

Inventors

• Luzinski Jason
• Melone Mark D
• Diebold Rob

Classifications

• H02J7/731

  specially adapted for holding portable devices containing batteries (H02J7/751 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H02J7/50

  acting upon multiple batteries simultaneously or sequentially · CPC title

• H02J7/70

  characterised by the mechanical construction · CPC title

• H02J7/40

  characterised by the exchange of charge or discharge related data · CPC title

• H02J50/80

  involving the exchange of data, concerning supply or distribution of electric power, between transmitting devices and receiving devices · CPC title