Antenna alignment and vehicle guidance for wireless charging of electric vehicles

• US 10,090,885 B2
• Filed: 12/19/2011
• Issued: 10/02/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WiTricity Corporation
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Widmer, Hanspeter, Sieber, Lukas, Cook, Nigel P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kessie, Daniel
• Application Number:
  US13/330,517
• Publication Number:
  US 20120262002A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,479 Days
• Field of Search: 307104
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2210/30 AC to DC converters
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2210/40 DC to AC converters
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/36 Temperature of vehicle components or parts
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2250/16 by display
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 3/0023 Detecting, eliminating, remedying or compensating for drive train abnormalities, e.g. failures within the drive train
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 3/04 Cutting off the power supply under fault conditions protective devices and circuit arrangements in general H01H; H02H
• 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 53/36 by positioning the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/38 specially adapted for charging by inductive energy transfer
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/39 with position-responsive activation of primary coils
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/63 in response to network capacity
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/64 Optimising energy costs, e.g. responding to electricity rates
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/65 involving identification of vehicles or their battery types
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 55/00 Arrangements for supplying energy stored within a vehicle to a power network, i.e. vehicle-to-grid [V2G] arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/48 for electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV]
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/12 of the resonant type
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/20 using microwaves or radio frequency waves
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/90 involving detection or optimisation of position, e.g. alignment
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0013 : acting upon several batteries simultaneously or sequentially H02J7/1423 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0042 : characterised by the mechanical construction
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/266 : One coil at each side, e.g. with primary and secondary coils
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/79 : for data transfer in combination with power transfer
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/00 : Enabling technologies; Technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation
• 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 10/72 : Electric energy management in electromobility
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/167 : Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for supporting the interoperability of electric or hybrid vehicles, i.e. smartgrids as interface for battery charging of electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV]
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 10/126 : the energy generation units being or involving electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV], i.e. power aggregation of EV or HEV, vehicle to grid arrangements [V2G]
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 30/14 : Details associated with the interoperability, e.g. vehicle recognition, authentication, identification or billing

Abstract

Embodiments are directed to a wireless power antenna alignment systems and methods for electric vehicles. A system may include a sensor configured to detect the strength of an electromagnetic field in multiple dimensions and a processor configured to determine at least one of a direction and a position of a transmitted beacon signal based on an output of the sensor.

Claims

1. An apparatus for receiving wireless power, the apparatus comprising:

a sensor coupled to a wireless power receive antenna, the wireless power receive antenna including a wireless power receive induction coil, the sensor collocated with the wireless power receive antenna, the sensor comprising;

a core;

a first coil wound about the core, the first coil located in a first plane;

a second coil wound about the core, the second coil located in a second plane that is different than the first plane and intersects the first plane; and

a third coil wound about the core, the third coil located in a third plane that is different than the first and second planes and intersects the first and second planes, the sensor configured to determine at least two vector components of a first electromagnetic field at a particular point based on respective signals from each of the first coil, the second coil, and the third coil, each vector component comprising a magnitude and direction;

a processor configured to determine, based on the at least two vector components, a direction of a source of the first electromagnetic field with respect to the sensor and a distance to the source of the first electromagnetic field from the sensor; and

a power conversion circuit configured to receive power from at least one of the first coil, the second coil, and the third coil to power a load.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second plane is substantially perpendicular to the first plane, and wherein the third plane is substantially perpendicular to the first and second planes.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a user interface configured to transmit alignment information to a user based on the direction and the distance.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wireless power receive antenna additionally includes a wireless power receive core, and wherein the sensor is positioned in a central location of the wireless power receive core.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising an actuator configured to move the wireless power receive antenna relative to the source based on the direction and the distance.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the actuator is configured to move the wireless power receive antenna in a vertical direction relative to a ground surface.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first electromagnetic field corresponds to a beacon signal transmitted by a transmitter, the apparatus further comprising a resonance capacitor configured to tune a resonant frequency of the sensor to the frequency of the beacon signal.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a spindle connected to the wireless power receive antenna, and an actuator configured to control the spindle to rotate the wireless power receive antenna.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to determine the at least one of a direction and a distance by discriminating and mapping the sensed electromagnetic field components into a multi-dimensional signal vector with unity magnitude.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first electromagnetic field corresponds to a beacon signal transmitted by a transmitter, and wherein a frequency of the beacon signal is selected from a reuse pattern of a plurality of beacon frequencies.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a display configured to provide guidance, alignment, direction, and position information.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the source of the first electromagnetic field is capable of charging a battery based on power collected by the wireless power receive antenna.

13. A method for receiving power via a first electromagnetic field at a position, the method comprising:

sensing a first signal indicative of a strength of the first electromagnetic field, the first signal corresponding to a first plane of the first electromagnetic field at the position;

sensing a second signal indicative of a strength of the first electromagnetic field, the second signal corresponding to a second plane of the first electromagnetic field at the position, the second plane being different than the first plane and intersecting the first plane;

sensing a third signal indicative of a strength of the first electromagnetic field, the third signal corresponding to a third plane of the first electromagnetic field at the position, the third plane being different than the first plane and the second plane and intersecting the first plane and the second plane;

determining at least two vector components of a first electromagnetic field at a particular point based on the first signal, the second signal, and the third signal, each vector component comprising a magnitude and direction;

determining, based on the at least two vector components, a direction of the source of the first electromagnetic field with respect to a sensor and a distance to a source of the first electromagnetic field from the sensor, the sensor coupled to and collocated with a wireless power receive antenna; and

receiving a power signal associated with at least one of the first signal, the second signal, and the third signal to power a load.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the second plane is substantially perpendicular to the first plane, and wherein the third plane is substantially perpendicular to the first and second planes.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising displaying guidance and alignment information based on the direction and the distance.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising moving the wireless power receive antenna relative to the source based on the at least one of the direction and distance.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein determining the direction and distance further comprises mapping the first signal, the second signal, and the third signal to a multi-dimensional signal vector with unity magnitude.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the first electromagnetic field corresponds to a beacon signal transmitted by a transmitter, the method further comprising selecting a frequency of the beacon signal from a reuse pattern of a plurality of beacon frequencies.

19. The method of claim 13, further comprising charging a battery based on the received power signal.

20. An apparatus for receiving power via a first electromagnetic field at a position, the apparatus comprising:

means for sensing a first signal indicative of a strength of the first electromagnetic field, the first signal corresponding to a first plane of an electromagnetic field at the position;

means for sensing a second signal indicative of a strength of the first electromagnetic field, the second signal corresponding to a second plane of the first electromagnetic field at the position, the second plane being different than the first plane;

means for sensing a third signal indicative of a strength of the first electromagnetic field, the third signal corresponding to a third plane of the first electromagnetic field at the position, the third plane being different than the first plane and the second plane;

means for determining at least two vector components, each component comprising a magnitude and direction, of a first electromagnetic field at the position based on the first signal, the second signal, and the third signal;

means for determining, based on the at least two vector components, a direction of the source of electromagnetic field with respect to a sensor and a distance to the source of the first electromagnetic field from the sensor; and

means for receiving power from at least one of the first signal, the second signal, and the third signal to power a load, the means for receiving power coupled to and collocated with the sensor.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the means for sensing a first signal comprises a first coil wrapped about a core, the first coil being located in the first plane, the means for sensing a second signal comprises a second coil wrapped about a core, the second coil being located in the second plane, the means for sensing the third signal comprises a third coil wrapped about a core, the third coil being located in the third plane, the means for determining the at least two vector components comprises a sensor, and the means for determining the direction to the source and the distance to the source comprises a processor.

22. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the second plane is substantially perpendicular to the first plane, and wherein the third plane is substantially perpendicular to the first and second planes.

23. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising means for receiving power capable of charging a battery from the source of the first electromagnetic field.