Non-contact power supply control system for controlling power supply by living body detection

• US 10,128,681 B2
• Filed: 10/29/2014
• Issued: 11/13/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Tanaka, Yasuhiro, Sakaida, Atusi, Taniguchi, Toshihisa, Gouko, Norio, Yazaki, Yoshitaro, Shiraishi, Yoshihiko, Harada, Toshikazu, Saitou, Keita
• Primary Examiner(s): McCarry, Jr., Robert J
• Application Number:
  US15/033,032
• Publication Number:
  US 20160254697A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,476 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/36 Temperature of vehicle components or parts
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2250/10 by alarm
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2270/147 electro magnetic [EMI]
• 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 5/005 without mechanical contact between the collector and the power supply line
• 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 53/124 Detection or removal of foreign bodies
• 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 53/305 Communication interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/65 involving identification of vehicles or their battery types
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/665 Methods related to measuring, billing or payment
• CPC Class Codes: B60M 1/04 Mechanical protection of line; Protection against contact by living beings
• CPC Class Codes: B60M 7/00 Power lines or rails specially adapted for electrically-propelled vehicles of special types, e.g. suspension tramway, ropeway, underground railway
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 3/10 using induction coils
• 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 50/402 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 Class Codes: H02J 50/60 responsive to the presence of foreign objects, e.g. detection of living beings
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/70 involving the reduction of electric, magnetic or electromagnetic leakage fields
• 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 7/0048 : Detection of remaining charge capacity or state of charge [SOC]
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/02 : for charging batteries from ac mains by converters
• 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
• 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 30/14 : Details associated with the interoperability, e.g. vehicle recognition, authentication, identification or billing

Abstract

A non-contact power supply control system includes: an electric transmission pad connected to a power source unit; a control unit controlling current supply to the electric transmission pad; a living body detecting means detecting a living body present around the electric transmission pad; a power receiving pad magnetically coupled to the electric transmission pad to excite power, when current is supplied from the power source unit to the electric transmission pad; and a power storage unit storing power excited by the power receiving pad. The living body detecting means are arranged on the road surface side, and the control unit, when determining that no living body is present around the electric transmission pad on the basis of a result from the living body detecting means, controls the power supply unit to supply power to the power storage unit.

Claims

1. A non-contact power supply control system, comprising:

an electric transmission pad arranged on a road surface side and connected to an external power supply unit;

a control unit controlling current supply to the electric transmission pad by controlling the power supply unit;

a living body detecting means detecting a living body present around the electric transmission pad;

a power receiving pad mounted to a vehicle and magnetically coupled to the electric transmission pad to excite power when current is supplied from the power supply unit to the electric transmission pad;

a power storage unit mounted to the vehicle to store power excited by the power receiving pad; and

a metal detecting means arranged on the road surface side to detect metal present around the electric transmission pad, wherein

the living body detecting means is arranged on the road surface side,

the control unit, when determining that no living body is present around the electric transmission pad on the basis of a result from the living body detecting means, controls the power supply unit to supply current to the electric transmission pad, thereby exciting power in the power receiving pad to store the power in the power storage unit,

the control unit, when determining that no living body is present around the electric transmission pad on the basis of a result from the living body detecting means and when determining that no metal is present around the electric transmission pad on the basis of a result from the metal detecting means, controls the power supply unit to store power in the power storage unit,

the living body detecting means and the metal detecting means are configured with common heat flux sensors that output sensor signals according to heat flux,

the heat flux sensors includes, when viewed from a direction normal to the road surface, inner heat flux sensors arranged inside the electric transmission pad and outer heat flux sensors arranged around the electric transmission pad, and

the control unit compares a measured value based on the sensor signals outputted from the outer heat flux sensors with a predetermined threshold, while supplying current to the electric transmission pad to cause the power storage unit to store power, and when the measured value is more than the predetermined threshold, determines that at least either one of the living body and the metal is present around the electric transmission pad and stops current supply to the electric transmission pad.

2. The non-contact power supply control system according to claim 1, wherein

the control unit compares a measured value based on the sensor signals with a predetermined threshold before current is supplied to the electric transmission pad to cause the power storage unit to store power,

determines that no living body is present around the electric transmission pad when the measured value is not more than the predetermined threshold,

supplies current to the electric transmission pad for a predetermined period to heat the metal when it is determined that no living body is present but metal is present around the electric transmission pad, followed by comparing the measured value based on the sensor signals with a predetermined threshold, and

determines that no metal is present around the electric transmission pad when the measured value is not more than the predetermined threshold, to start current supply to the electric transmission pad and cause the power storage unit to store power.

3. The non-contact power supply control system according to claim 1, wherein

the heat flux sensors are arranged, when viewed from a direction normal to the road surface, inside the electric transmission pad, and

the control unit supplies current to the electric transmission pad for a predetermined period to cause the power storage unit to store power, followed by comparing a measured value based on the sensor signals outputted from the heat flux sensors with the predetermined threshold, and, when the measured value is more than the predetermined threshold, determines that at least either one of the living body and the metal is present around the electric transmission pad.

4. The non-contact power supply control system according to claim 1, wherein

each of the heat flux sensors is configured to include an insulating substrate made of a thermoplastic resin where a plurality of first and second via holes penetrating in a thickness direction are formed, the first and second via holes being filled with first and second interlayer connection members made of metals different from each other, the first and second interlayer connection members being alternately connected in series, and

at least one of the metals forming the first and second interlayer connection members is a sintered alloy where a plurality of metal atoms are sintered in a state of maintaining a crystal structure of the metal atoms.

5. A non-contact power supply control system, comprising:

an electric transmission pad arranged on a road surface side and connected to an external power supply unit;

a control unit controlling current supply to the electric transmission pad by controlling the power supply unit;

a living body detecting means detecting a living body present around the electric transmission pad;

a power receiving pad mounted to a vehicle and magnetically coupled to the electric transmission pad to excite power when current is supplied from the power supply unit to the electric transmission pad;

a power storage unit mounted to the vehicle to store power excited by the power receiving pad; and

a metal detecting means arranged on the road surface side to detect metal present around the electric transmission pad, wherein

the living body detecting means is arranged on the road surface side,

the control unit, when determining that no living body is present around the electric transmission pad on the basis of a result from the living body detecting means, controls the power supply unit to supply current to the electric transmission pad, thereby exciting power in the power receiving pad to store the power in the power storage unit,

the control unit, when determining that no living body is present around the electric transmission pad on the basis of a result from the living body detecting means and when determining that no metal is present around the electric transmission pad on the basis of a result from the metal detecting means, controls the power supply unit to store power in the power storage unit,

the living body detecting means and the metal detecting means are configured with common heat flux sensors that output sensor signals according to heat flux,

the heat flux sensors are arranged, when viewed from a direction normal to the road surface, inside the electric transmission pad, and

the control unit supplies current to the electric transmission pad for a predetermined period to cause the power storage unit to store power, followed by comparing a measured value based on the sensor signals outputted from the heat flux sensors with the predetermined threshold, and, when the measured value is more than the predetermined threshold, determines that at least either one of the living body and the metal is present around the electric transmission pad.

6. A non-contact power supply control system, comprising:

an electric transmission pad arranged on a road surface side and connected to an external power supply unit;

a control unit controlling current supply to the electric transmission pad by controlling the power supply unit;

a living body detecting means detecting a living body present around the electric transmission pad;

a power receiving pad mounted to a vehicle and magnetically coupled to the electric transmission pad to excite power when current is supplied from the power supply unit to the electric transmission pad;

a power storage unit mounted to the vehicle to store power excited by the power receiving pad; and

a metal detecting means arranged on the road surface side to detect metal present around the electric transmission pad, wherein

the living body detecting means is arranged on the road surface side,

the control unit, when determining that no living body is present around the electric transmission pad on the basis of a result from the living body detecting means, controls the power supply unit to supply current to the electric transmission pad, thereby exciting power in the power receiving pad to store the power in the power storage unit,

the control unit, when determining that no living body is present around the electric transmission pad on the basis of a result from the living body detecting means and when determining that no metal is present around the electric transmission pad on the basis of a result from the metal detecting means, controls the power supply unit to store power in the power storage unit,

the living body detecting means and the metal detecting means are configured with common heat flux sensors that output sensor signals according to heat flux,

each of the heat flux sensors is configured to include an insulating substrate made of a thermoplastic resin where a plurality of first and second via holes penetrating in a thickness direction are formed, the first and second via holes being filled with first and second interlayer connection members made of metals different from each other, the first and second interlayer connection members being alternately connected in series, and

at least one of the metals forming the first and second interlayer connection members is a sintered alloy where a plurality of metal atoms are sintered in a state of maintaining a crystal structure of the metal atoms.