Vehicle, power transmitting device and contactless power supply system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9373971-B2
Application number	US-201313860962-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 11, 2013
Priority date	May 21, 2012
Publication date	Jun 21, 2016
Grant date	Jun 21, 2016

Abstract

A contactless power supply system contactlessly transmits electric power from a power transmitting device to a vehicle. The vehicle includes: a power receiving unit that contactlessly receives electric power from the power transmitting device; an electrical storage device that stores electric power received by the power receiving unit; and an impedance adjustment unit that includes a DC/DC converter and a relay and that is used to adjust an impedance between the power receiving unit and the electrical storage device. A vehicle ECU switches between a power supply path of which the impedance is adjusted by the DC/DC converter and a power supply path that does not use the DC/DC converter on the basis of a state of charge of the electrical storage device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle comprising:
a power receiving unit configured to contactlessly receive electric power from a power transmitting device;
an electrical storage device configured to store electric power received by the power receiving unit; and
an impedance adjustment unit electrically connected between the power receiving unit and the electrical storage device, the impedance adjustment unit being configured to adjust an impedance between the power receiving unit and the electrical storage device, the impedance adjustment unit being configured to switch an adjusted state of the impedance between a first adjusted state and a second adjusted state on the basis of a power transfer state from the power transmitting device to the power receiving unit, and electric power received by the power receiving unit in the first adjusted state being supplied to the electrical storage device in a state where the impedance is not adjusted, wherein
the power transmitting device includes a power transmitting unit configured to contactlessly supply electric power, and
a coupling coefficient between the power transmitting unit and the power receiving unit is smaller than or equal to 0.1.

2. The vehicle according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a control unit configured to control the impedance adjustment unit, the control unit being configured to switch between the first adjusted state and the second adjusted state on the basis of a magnitude of a charging electric power supplied to the electrical storage device.

3. The vehicle according to claim 2 , wherein
the control unit is configured to charge the electrical storage device with a first charging electric power or a second charging electric power on the basis of a state of charge of the electrical storage device, the second charging electric power being smaller than the first charging electric power, and
the control unit is configured to switch the impedance adjustment unit to the first adjusted state when the first charging electric power is used and to switch the impedance adjustment unit to the second adjusted state when the second charging electric power is used.

4. The vehicle according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a control unit configured to control the impedance adjustment unit, the control unit being configured to switch between the first adjusted state and the second adjusted state on the basis of a power transfer efficiency between the power transmitting device and the power receiving unit.

5. The vehicle according to claim 4 , wherein
the control unit is configured to, when the power transfer efficiency becomes lower than a predetermined threshold at the time when electric power is being transferred in the first adjusted state, switch the impedance adjustment unit from the first adjusted state to the second adjusted state.

6. The vehicle according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a rectifying unit configured to rectify electric power received by the power receiving unit, wherein
the impedance adjustment unit includes a DC/DC converter configured to convert a voltage from the rectifying unit and configured to supply the converted voltage to the electrical storage device.

7. The vehicle according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a rectifying unit configured to rectify electric power received by the power receiving unit, wherein
the impedance adjustment unit includes a matching transformer provided between the power receiving unit and the rectifying unit, the matching transformer being configured to include at least one of a coil and a capacitor.

8. The vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein
the impedance adjustment unit includes a switching unit configured to switch between the first adjusted state and the second adjusted state.

9. The vehicle according to claim 8 , further comprising:
a control unit configured to control the switching unit, the control unit being configured to determine whether there is an abnormality in the switching unit on the basis of a state of electric power supplied to the electrical storage device and a state of switching of the switching unit.

10. The vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein
a difference between a natural frequency of the power transmitting unit and a natural frequency of the power receiving unit is smaller than or equal to ±10% of one of the natural frequency of the power transmitting unit and the natural frequency of the power receiving unit.

11. The vehicle according to claim 1 , wherein
the power receiving unit is configured to receive electric power from the power transmitting unit through at least one of a magnetic field and an electric field, the magnetic field being formed between the power receiving unit and the power transmitting unit, the magnetic field oscillating at a predetermined frequency, the electric field being formed between the power receiving unit and the power transmitting unit, and the electric field oscillating at a predetermined frequency.

12. A contactless power supply system that contactlessly supplies electric power, comprising:
a vehicle; and
a power transmitting device that includes: a power supply unit, a power transmitting unit and a first impedance adjustment unit, the power transmitting unit being configured to contactlessly supply electric power to the vehicle, the electric power being supplied from the power supply unit; the first impedance adjustment unit being electrically connected between the power supply unit and the power transmitting unit, and the first impedance adjustment unit being configured to adjust an impedance between the power supply unit and the power transmitting unit,
the first impedance adjustment unit being configured to switch an adjusted state of the impedance between a first adjusted state and a second adjusted state on the basis of a power transfer state from the power transmitting device to the vehicle, electric power from the power supply unit in the first adjusted state being supplied to the power transmitting unit in a state where the impedance is not adjusted,
the vehicle including: a power receiving unit, an electrical storage device and a second impedance adjustment unit, the power receiving unit being configured to contactlessly receive electric power from the power transmitting unit, the electrical storage device being configured to store electric power received by the power receiving unit, the second impedance adjustment unit being electrically connected between the power receiving unit and the electrical storage device, the second impedance adjustment unit being configured to adjust an impedance between the power receiving unit and the electrical storage device,
the second impedance adjustment unit being configured to switch an adjusted state of the impedance between a third adjusted state and a fourth adjusted state on the basis of the power transfer state from the power transmitting device to the vehicle, electric power received by the power receiving unit in the third adjusted state being supplied to the electrical storage device in a state where the impedance is not adjusted, wherein
a coupling coefficient between the power transmitting unit and the power receiving unit is smaller than or equal to 0.1.

13. The contactless power supply system according to claim 12 , further comprising:
a control unit configured to control the first and second impedance adjustment units, the control unit being configured to adjust a mismatch of the impedance due to a positional deviation between the power transmitting unit and the power receiving unit with the use of the first impedance adjustment unit, and the control unit being configured to adjust a mismatch of the i

Assignees

• Ichikawa Shinji
• Kondo Tadashi
• Gorai Naoki
• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Ichikawa Shinji
• Kondo Tadashi
• Gorai Naoki

Classifications

• B60L53/126

  Methods for pairing a vehicle and a charging station, e.g. establishing a one-to-one relation between a wireless power transmitter and a wireless power receiver · CPC title

• B60L53/122

  Circuits or methods for driving the primary coil, e.g. supplying electric power to the coil · CPC title

• B60L2210/30

  AC to DC converters · CPC title

• B60L2220/14

  Synchronous machines · CPC title

• Y02T90/14

  Plug-in electric vehicles · CPC title