Contactless charger and battery management

• US 10,023,057 B2
• Filed: 04/19/2016
• Issued: 07/17/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2015
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Cristian A. Sobota Rodriguez
• Original Assignee: Cristian A. Sobota Rodriguez
• Inventors: Sobota Rodriguez, Cristian A.
• Primary Examiner(s): GRANT, ROBERT J
• Application Number:
  US15/133,189
• Publication Number:
  US 20160311329A1
• Time in Patent Office: 819 Days
• Field of Search: 320108
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/547 Voltage
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/549 Current
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/12 Inductive energy transfer
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/122 Circuits or methods for driving the primary coil, e.g. supplying electric power to the coil
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/126 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 Class Codes: B60L 53/30 Constructional details of charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/62 in response to charging parameters, e.g. current, voltage or electrical charge
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/66 Data transfer between charging stations and vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/18 of two or more battery modules
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 39/024 of the remote controlled vehicle type, i.e. RPV
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 39/028 Micro-sized aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: B64F 1/007 Helicopter portable landing pads
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 10/13 Flying platforms
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/00 UAVs specially adapted for particular uses or applications
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/23 for providing telephone services
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/29 for cleaning
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/40 for agriculture or forestry operations
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/64 for parcel delivery or retrieval
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 50/19 using electrically powered motors
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 50/38 by wireless transmission
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 70/00 : Launching, take-off or landing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 70/90 : Launching from or landing on platforms
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/44 : for aircrafts
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/48 : for electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV]
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/10 : using inductive coupling
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/80 : involving the exchange of data, concerning supply or distribution of electric power, between transmitting devices and receiving devices
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00 : Circuit arrangements for charging or depolarising batteries or for supplying loads from batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00034 : Charger exchanging data with an electronic device, i.e. telephone, whose internal battery is under charge
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0014 : Circuits for equalisation of charge between batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0042 : characterised by the mechanical construction
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00711 : with introduction of pulses during the charging process
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/06 : using discharge tubes or semiconductor devices
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/70 : Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/7072 : Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/12 : Electric charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/14 : Plug-in electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/16 : Information or communication technologies improving the operation of electric vehicles

Abstract

An apparatus comprising a contactless battery synchronous power and a battery management system (BSP-BMS) is disclosed. This system includes a battery monitoring unit for monitoring the state of the batteries and a synchronous power unit for controlling the intensity and direction of current during both, charging and discharging processes, including one or several opto-inductive discs for the wireless energy transfer and fast and a lightweight communication scheme. The full system disclosed in this invention is very small in size, lightweight, cost effective and reliable due to its scalable structure, easy parallelization of current control elements and paths, and local and reliable opto-inductive coupling. The invention is aimed at universal, fast and automated charge processes and internal stored energy management for unmanned autonomous vehicles (UAVs) but it can be an effective solution for manned electric vehicles like electric bikes, electric motorcycles or other electric powered vehicles.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a stationary unit comprising;

a power source;

a first inductive device coupled to said power source;

a first control unit comprising an opto-communicating circuit; and

a first switching circuit coupled to said power source and to said first inductive device, wherein said first switching circuit is controlled by said first control unit to transfer energy from said power source to said first inductive device;

a mobile unit comprising;

one or more batteries;

a second inductive device coupled to said batteries, wherein said second inductive device is capable of receiving energy from said first inductive device when said first inductive device and said second inductive device are in proximity;

a second control unit comprising an opto-communicating circuit, wherein said second control unit communicates with said first control circuit when said first control unit and said second control unit are in proximity;

a second switching circuit coupled to said batteries and to said second inductive device, wherein said second switching circuit is controlled to transfer energy from said second inductive device to said one or more batteries;

a battery management system coupled to said batteries, to said second control circuit and to said second switching circuit;

wherein said battery management system controls said second switching circuit and controls said second control circuit to communicate with said first control circuit to control the transfer of energy between said first inductive unit and said second inductive unit, and wherein said battery management system causes said first switching circuit to be activated and said second switching circuit to be deactivated during a first time period, and causes said first switching circuit to be deactivated and said second switching circuit to be activated during a second time period.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising a battery monitoring unit that monitors the state of said one or more batteries and wherein said battery management system further monitors the discharging process when said first inductive device and said second inductive device are not in proximity.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein said battery management system comprises a microprocessor and program code that controls the operation of said battery management system.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein said battery management system controls the timing of said first switching circuit and said second switching circuit so that said one or more batteries are charged at a rate of approximately 1 C or greater.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein said mobile unit is part of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and said stationary unit is part of a landing platform.

9. The system of claim 1 further comprising a battery monitoring unit that monitors the state of said one or more batteries and wherein said battery management system further monitors the discharging process when said first inductive device and said second inductive device are not in proximity, wherein said battery management system comprises a microprocessor and program code that controls the operation of said battery management system, and wherein said battery management system controls the timing of said first switching circuit and said second switching circuit so that said one or more batteries are charged at a rate of approximately 1 C or greater.

6. A system comprising:

a stationary unit comprising;

a power source;

a plurality of first opto-inductive transceivers, each comprising;

a first inductive device coupled to said power source;

a first control unit comprising one or more opto-communicating circuits; and

a first switching circuit coupled to said power source and to said first inductive device, wherein said first switching circuit is controlled by said first control unit to transfer energy from said power source to said first inductive device;

a mobile unit comprising;

one or more batteries;

a plurality of second opto-inductive transceivers, each comprising;

a second inductive device coupled to said batteries, wherein said second inductive device is capable of receiving energy from a respective one of said first inductive devices when said one of said first inductive device and said second inductive device are in proximity;

a second control unit comprising one or more opto-communicating circuits, wherein said second control unit communicates with a respective one of said first control circuits;

a second switching circuit coupled to said batteries and to said second inductive device;

a battery management system coupled to said batteries, to said plurality of second control circuits and to said plurality of second switching circuits;

wherein said battery management system controls said plurality of second switching circuits to transfer energy from said plurality of second inductive devices to said batteries, and wherein said battery management system controls each of said second control circuits to communicate with a respective one of said first control circuits to control the transfer of energy between a respective first inductive unit and a respective second inductive unit, and wherein said battery management system causes one of said first switching circuits to be activated and a respective one of said second switching circuits to be deactivated during a first time period, and causes said one of said first switching circuits to be deactivated and said respective one of said second switching circuits to be activated during a second time period.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein said battery management system controls each of said plurality of first switching circuits and respective second switching circuits in a sequence that causes the transfer of energy from each of said first inductive devices to a respective one of said second inductive devices in a sequence.

8. The system of claim 6 wherein said mobile unit is part of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and each of said second inductive devices is incorporated into a leg of said UAV, and wherein said stationary unit is part of a landing platform.

10. The system of claim 6 further comprising a battery monitoring unit that monitors the state of said one or more batteries and wherein said battery management system further monitors the discharging process when said first inductive device and said second inductive device are not in proximity, wherein said battery management system comprises a microprocessor and program code that controls the operation of said battery management system, and wherein said battery management system controls the timing of said first switching circuit and said second switching circuit so that said one or more batteries are charged at a rate of approximately 1 C or greater.