Aggregated wireless power transfer with multiple coils and communication channels

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12237691-B2
Application number	US-202017755978-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 20, 2020
Priority date	Nov 21, 2019
Publication date	Feb 25, 2025
Grant date	Feb 25, 2025

Abstract

This disclosure provides systems, devices, apparatus and methods, including computer programs encoded on storage media, for wireless power transmission. A wireless power transmission apparatus may transmit multiple wireless power signals to a wireless power reception apparatus configured to combine the power from the multiple wireless power signals. The wireless power reception apparatus may provide a combined wireless power signal to a load such as a battery charger or electronic device. In some implementations, each set of primary coil and secondary coil may utilize low power wireless power signals (such as 15 Watts or less) in accordance with a wireless charging standard. By combining power from multiple low power wireless power signals, the wireless power reception apparatus may support higher power requirements of an electronic device. Multiple communication channels may be established between the wireless power transmission apparatus and the wireless power reception apparatus.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A wireless power transmission apparatus, comprising:
a plurality of primary coils for transmission of wireless power to different secondary coils of a wireless power reception apparatus, the plurality of primary coils including at least a first primary coil and a second primary coil;
a power signal generator electrically connected to the plurality of primary coils and configured to selectively provide power to the plurality of primary coils;
at least one transmission (TX) controller coupled with the power signal generator and the plurality of primary coils, wherein the at least one TX controller is configured to control an amount of power provided by the power signal generator to the plurality of primary coils; and
a plurality of communication units communicatively coupled with the at least one TX controller and configured to communicate with the wireless power reception apparatus, wherein each of the plurality of communication units correspond to a different one of the plurality of primary coils, and wherein a first communication unit of the plurality of communication units enables communication via at least a first communication channel at the first primary coil and a second communication unit of the plurality of communication units enables communication via a second communication channel at the second primary coil.

2. The wireless power transmission apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the first communication unit is configured to receive a first communication from the wireless power reception apparatus via the first communication channel at the first primary coil, and
the second communication unit is configured to receive a second communication from the wireless power reception apparatus via the second communication channel at the second primary coil.

3. The wireless power transmission apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the first communication and the second communication are received at different times.

4. The wireless power transmission apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the first communication includes a first identifier for identifying the first communication channel, and wherein the second communication includes a second identifier for identifying the second communication channel.

5. The wireless power transmission apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the at least one TX controller is configured to detect a foreign object at either the first primary coil or the second primary coil based, at least in part, on the first communication or the second communication, respectively.

6. The wireless power transmission apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the at least one TX controller is configured to:
determine a first quality factor (Q-factor) for the first primary coil;
determine a second Q-factor for the second primary coil;
obtain a first reference quality value from the first communication;
obtain a second reference quality value from the second communication; and
detect the foreign object based on either a first comparison of the first Q-factor with the first reference quality value or a second comparison of the second Q-factor with the second reference quality value.

7. The wireless power transmission apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the at least one TX controller is configured to:
obtain, from the first communication, a first received power metric regarding wireless power received from the first primary coil by a first secondary coil of the wireless power reception apparatus;
obtain, from the second communication, a second received power metric regarding wireless power received from the second primary coil by a second secondary coil of the wireless power reception apparatus;
determine a first transmitted power metric for the first primary coil;
determine a second transmitted power metric for the second primary coil; and
detect the foreign object based on either a first comparison of the first transmitted power metric with the first received power metric or a second comparison of the second transmitted power metric with the second received power metric.

8. The wireless power transmission apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the at least one of the first communication unit or the second communication unit is further configured to transmit a third communication to the wireless power reception apparatus via either or both of the first primary coil and the second primary coil.

9. The wireless power transmission apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the first communication and the second communication are received by demodulating amplitude load modulation signals, and wherein the third communication is transmitted by modulating the wireless power using frequency modulation.

10. The wireless power transmission apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the amplitude load modulation signals include amplitude shift keying (ASK) modulation, and wherein the frequency modulation includes frequency shift keying (FSK) modulation.

11. The wireless power transmission apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each primary coil is configured to produce an electromagnetic field for inductive transmission of wireless power not exceeding 15 Watts, and wherein the plurality of primary coils collectively enable wireless power transmission over 15 Watts.

12. The wireless power transmission apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of primary coils includes at least four primary coils and the plurality of primary coils collectively enable wireless power transmission of at least 60 Watts.

13. The wireless power transmission apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
one or more switches electrically coupled to at least one primary coil of the plurality of primary coils, wherein the one or more switches can be selectively opened by the at least one TX controller to disable at least one primary coil of the plurality of primary coils if the at least one primary coil is not transmitting wireless power to the wireless power reception apparatus or if a foreign object is detected between the at least one primary coil and the wireless power reception apparatus.

14. The wireless power transmission apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each primary coil is compatible with a power class zero (PC0) rating, and wherein the plurality of primary coils collectively enable wireless power transmission for a power class one (PC1) rating.

15. The wireless power transmission apparatus of claim 14 ,
wherein the plurality of primary coils is configured to provide power via more than one primary coil when the wireless power reception apparatus has a PC1 rating power requirement, and
wherein the plurality of primary coils is configured to provide power via one primary coil when the wireless power reception apparatus has a PC0 rating power requirement.

16. The wireless power transmission apparatus of claim 15 , further comprising:
the at least one TX controller being configured to identify whether the wireless power reception apparatus has the PC0 rating power requirement or the PC1 rating power requirement based, at least in part, on a communication received from the wireless power reception apparatus via at least one of the plurality of primary coils.

17. The wireless power transmission apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a charging surface associated with the plurality of primary coils; and
one or more alignment aids to increase a likelihood that a plurality of secondary coils in the wireless power reception apparatus will correspondingly align with the plurality of primary coils when the wireless power reception apparatus is placed on the charging surface.

18. A wireless power reception apparatus, comprising:

Assignees

• Ge Hybrid Tech Llc
• Dolby Laboratories Inc

Inventors

• Ganesh Jayanti
• Kanakasabai Viswanathan

Classifications

• H02J7/82

  Control of state of charge [SOC] · CPC title

• H02J7/62

  against overcurrent · CPC title

• H02J7/65

  against overtemperature · CPC title

• H02J7/64

  against overvoltage · CPC title

• H02J7/42

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