Wireless power transfer

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016190872-A1
Application number	US-201514830692-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 19, 2015
Priority date	Nov 12, 2013
Publication date	Jun 30, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method of generating a DC power from incident RF waves, includes, in part, measuring the amount of power being received by a device generating the DC power, and controlling the phases of the RF waves being transmitted by a multitude of RF transmitters in accordance with the measured power. A programmable test load is optionally used at the device to measure the received power. The device optionally includes, an antenna, an RF-to-DC converter to generate the DC power, an impedance matching/transformation circuit, and an RF load/matching circuit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A recovery unit adapted to receive a radio frequency (RF) power and generate a DC power in response, the recovery unit comprising:
at least one antenna for receiving the RF power; an RF-to-DC converter generating the DC power; an impedance matching/transformation circuit disposed between the at least one antenna and the RF-to-DC converter and adapted to provide impedance matching between the antenna and the RF-to-DC converter; and an RF load/matching circuit coupled to the RF-to-DC converter and adapted to block the RF signal from reaching an output terminal of the RF-to-DC converter.

2 . The recovery unit of claim 1 further comprising:
a DC-to-DC converter coupled to the output terminal of the RF-to-DC converter.

3 . The recovery unit of claim 1 further comprising:
an amplitude/power detector.

4 . The recovery unit of claim 3 wherein said amplitude/power detector is coupled to an output terminal of the at least one antenna.

5 . The recovery unit of claim 3 wherein said amplitude/power detector is coupled to an input terminal of the RF-to-DC converter.

6 . The recovery unit of claim 3 wherein said amplitude/power detector is coupled to the output terminal of the RF-to-DC converter.

7 . The recovery unit of claim 3 further comprising:
a programmable load coupled to an input terminal of the DC-to-DC converter.

8 . The recovery unit of claim 3 further comprising:
a programmable load coupled to an output terminal of the DC-to-DC converter.

9 . The recovery unit of claim 3 further comprising:
a digital control block adapted to generate control signals for the recovery unit and to provide communication/control signals to a device receiving the DC power; and
an analog-to-digital converter adapted to convert an output of the amplitude/power detector to a digital signal.

10 . The recovery unit of claim 3 further comprising:
a digital control block adapted to generate control signals for the recovery unit; and
a transceiver adapted to communicate with a device receiving the DC power.

11 . A recovery unit adapted to receive a radio frequency (RF) power and generate a DC power in response, the recovery unit comprising:
a plurality of recovery elements coupled to one another in parallel, each recovery element comprising:
at least one antenna for receiving the RF power;
an RF-to-DC converter;
an impedance matching/transformation circuit disposed between the at least one antenna and the RF-to-DC converter and adapted to provide impedance matching between the antenna and the RF-to-DC converter; and
an RF load/matching circuit coupled to the RF-to-DC converter and adapted to block the RF signal from reaching an output terminal of the RF-to-DC converter;
a DC-to-DC converter coupled to an output terminal of each of the plurality of recovery elements; an amplitude/power detector coupled to an output of the DC-to-DC converter; and a programmable load coupled to the output of the DC-to-DC converter.

12 . The recovery unit of claim 10 further comprising:
a digital control block adapted to generate control signals for the recovery unit and to provide communication/control signals to a device receiving the DC power; and
an analog-to-digital converter adapted to convert an output of the amplitude/power detector to a digital signal.

13 . The recovery unit of claim 10 further comprising:
a digital control block adapted to generate control signals for the recovery unit; and
a transceiver adapted to communicate with a device receiving the DC power.

14 . A recovery unit adapted to receive a radio frequency (RF) power and generate a DC power in response, the recovery unit comprising:
a plurality of recovery elements each comprising:
at least one antenna for receiving the RF signal;
an RF-to-DC converter;
an impedance matching/transformation circuit disposed between the at least one antenna and the RF-to-DC converter and adapted to provide impedance matching between the antenna and the RF-to-DC converter; and
an RF load/matching circuit coupled to the RF-to-DC converter and adapted to block the RF signal from reaching an output terminal of the RF-to-DC converter;
a plurality of DC-to-DC converters each associated with and coupled to an output of a different one of the plurality of recovery elements, wherein output terminals of the plurality of DC-to-DC converters are coupled to a common node; an amplitude/power detector coupled to the common node; and a programmable load coupled to the common node.

15 . The recovery unit of claim 14 further comprising:
a digital control block adapted to generate control signals for the recovery unit and to provide communication/control signals to a device receiving the DC power; and
an analog-to-digital converter adapted to convert an output of the amplitude/power detector to a digital signal.

16 . The recovery unit of claim 14 further comprising:
a digital control block adapted to generate control signals for the recovery unit; and
a transceiver adapted to communicate with a device receiving the DC power.

17 . A recovery unit adapted to receive a radio frequency (RF) power and generate a DC power in response, the recovery unit comprising:
a plurality of recovery elements each comprising:
at least one antenna for receiving the RF power;
an RF-to-DC converter;
an impedance matching/transformation circuit disposed between the at least one antenna and the RF-to-DC converter and adapted to provide impedance matching between the antenna and the RF-to-DC converter; and
an RF load/matching circuit coupled to the RF-to-DC converter and adapted to block the RF signal from reaching an output terminal of the RF-to-DC converter;
a plurality of DC-to-DC converters each associated with and coupled to an output of a different one of the plurality of recovery elements, wherein output terminals of the plurality of DC-to-DC converters are coupled to a common node; a plurality of amplitude/power detectors each associated with and coupled to an output of a different one of the plurality of recovery elements; a programmable load coupled to the common node.

18 . The recovery unit of claim 17 further comprising:
a digital control block adapted to generate control signals for the recovery unit and to provide communication/control signals to a device receiving the DC power; and
an analog-to-digital converter adapted to convert an output of the amplitude/power detector to a digital signal.

19 . The recovery unit of claim 17 further comprising:
a digital control block adapted to generate control signals for the recovery unit; and
a transceiver adapted to communicate with a device receiving the DC power.

20 . A recovery unit adapted to receive a radio frequency (RF) power and generate a DC power in response, the recovery unit comprising:
a plurality of recovery elements coupled to one another in series, each recovery element comprising:
at least one antenna for receiving the RF power;
an RF-to-DC converter;
an impedance matching/transformation circuit disposed between the at least one antenna and the RF-to-DC converter and adapted to provide impedance matching between the antenna and the RF-to-DC converter; and
an RF load/matching circuit coupled to the RF-to-DC converter and adapted to block the RF signal from reaching an output terminal of the RF-to-DC converter;
a DC-to-DC converter coupled to an output terminal of a last one of the plurality of recovery elements; a

Assignees

• California Inst Of Techn

Inventors

• Bohn Florian
• Abiri Behrooz
• Hajimiri Seyed Ali

Classifications

• H02J50/20 Primary

  using microwaves or radio frequency waves · CPC title

• H02J50/60

  responsive to the presence of foreign objects, e.g. detection of living beings · CPC title

• H02J50/402

  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

• H02J7/80

  including monitoring or indicating arrangements · CPC title

• H03H7/38

  Impedance-matching networks · CPC title