System and method for in-vehicle wireless charging

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016301236-A1
Application number	US-201514685203-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 13, 2015
Priority date	Apr 13, 2015
Publication date	Oct 13, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method and apparatus for wirelessly charging a chargeable device, such as a smart phone, digital music player, or navigation device, using a wireless charger. The wireless charger includes a connector, a retainer, and a wireless power transmitter. The connector is configured to secure the wireless charger to a visor in a passenger compartment of a vehicle. The retainer is configured to selectively retain a chargeable device having a recipient coil. The wireless power transmitter includes a charging coil configured to carry a fluctuating electric current that generates a changing magnetic field for receipt by a recipient coil of the chargeable device. The changing magnetic field induces a fluctuating electric current in the recipient coil, which is used to charge a battery pack of the chargeable device.

First claim

We claim:

1 . A wireless charger comprising:
a connector configured to secure the wireless charger to a visor of a passenger compartment of a vehicle; a retainer configured to selectively retain a chargeable device with respect to the visor and having a recipient coil; and a wireless power transmitter including a charging coil carrying a fluctuating electric current that generates a changing magnetic field for receipt by the recipient coil of the chargeable device.

2 . The wireless charger as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the connector is configured to removably secure the wireless charger to the visor.

3 . The wireless charger of claim 1 , wherein the charging coil is a repeater coil that is magnetically coupled to a source coil, and wherein the source coil is electrically coupled to a power source of the vehicle and is located on the vehicle in a location other than the visor.

4 . The wireless charger of claim 1 , wherein the charging coil is a repeater coil that is magnetically coupled to a source coil, and wherein the source coil is physically independent of and external to the passenger compartment.

5 . The wireless charger of claim 1 , wherein the charging coil is a flat-wound coil having a first planar side facing the visor and a second planar side facing away from the visor and toward the retainer.

6 . The wireless charger of claim 1 , wherein the charging coil and the recipient coil are tightly coupled.

7 . The wireless charger of claim 1 , further comprising:
a power input; and a coil driving unit coupled to and receiving power from the power input and having an output, wherein the coil driving unit outputs the fluctuating electric current derived from the power received from the power input, wherein the charging coil of the wireless power transmitter is coupled to the output of the coil driving unit to receive the fluctuating electric current.

8 . The wireless charger claim 7 , wherein the power input is coupled to power wires that extend through a cavity in an arm of the visor, the power wires electrically coupled to a power source of the vehicle.

9 . The wireless charger of claim 1 , further comprising:
a power input; and a coil driving unit coupled to and receiving power from the power input and having an output, wherein the coil driving unit outputs the fluctuating electric current derived from the power received from the power input, and the power input is coupled to a power source and the power source includes one selected from the group of a photovoltaic cell, a fuel cell, a vehicle battery, and a vehicle electrical system.

10 . The wireless charger claim 9 , wherein the coil driving unit includes an impedance matching network and a resonant matching network in communication with a controller, and the charging coil, the impedance matching network, and the resonant matching network form a supply-side LC circuit that resonates at a resonant frequency shared by a device-side LC circuit that includes the recipient coil.

11 . The wireless charger claim 1 , further comprising:
a second retainer configured to selectively retain a second chargeable device having a second recipient coil; and a second charging coil configured to have a second fluctuating electric current that generates a second changing magnetic field for receipt by the second recipient coil of the second chargeable device.

12 . A method of wireless charging:
attaching a wireless charger to a visor in a passenger compartment of a vehicle via a connector; securing a chargeable device to a retainer of the wireless charger, thereby securing the chargeable device to the visor; driving a charging coil with fluctuating electric current to thereby generate a changing magnetic field; inducing, by the changing magnetic field, a charging current in a recipient coil of the chargeable device; and charging the chargeable device using the charging current.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the charging coil is a repeater coil, and driving the charging coil with fluctuating electric current includes receiving, by the charging coil, a changing magnetic field from a source coil, which induces the fluctuating electric current.

14 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising electrically coupling the source coil to a power source of the vehicle and positioning the source coil on the vehicle in a location other than the visor.

15 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the charging coil is flat wound such that the charging coil has a planar form with a first planar side and a second planar side opposite the first planar side, and wherein attaching the wireless charger to the visor includes positioning the charging coil such that the first planar side faces the visor and the second planar side faces away from the visor.

16 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising
loosely coupling the charging coil and the recipient coil and transmitting power from the charging coil to the recipient coil via magnetic resonance, or tightly coupling the charging coil and the recipient coil by at least positioning the recipient coil within a distance of the charging coil that is less than a diameter of the charging coil and the recipient coil.

17 . The method of claim 12 , wherein driving the charging coil with fluctuating electric current includes:
receiving, by a coil driving unit, power from a power input; outputting the fluctuating electric current, by the coil driving unit, derived from the power received from the power input; and receiving, by the charging coil, the fluctuating electric current from the coil driving unit.

18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein receiving, by the coil driving unit, power from the power input includes receiving power from a power source of the vehicle via power wires that extend through a cavity in an arm of the visor and that are electrically coupled to the power input.

19 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising:
controlling an impedance matching network and a resonant matching network, with a controller, to set a resonant frequency of a supply-side LC circuit including the charging coil such that it matches the resonant frequency of a device-side LC circuit including the recipient coil; and transmitting power from the charging coil to the recipient coil via magnetic resonance.

20 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
securing a second chargeable device to a second retainer of the wireless charger; driving a second charging coil with second fluctuating electric current to thereby generate a second changing magnetic field; inducing, by the second changing magnetic field, charging current in a second recipient coil of the second chargeable device; and charging the second chargeable device using the charging current induced in the second recipient coil.

Assignees

• Motorola Solutions Inc

Inventors

• Krishnamurthi Macwien
• Che At Mohd Hisham Muddin
• Chong Kow Chee
• Kiger William

Classifications

• H02J50/12 Primary

  of the resonant type · CPC title

• H02J7/42

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

• H02J7/00

  Circuit arrangements for charging or discharging batteries or for supplying loads from batteries · CPC title

• H02J5/005

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H02J7/025 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic