Foreign object detection device

• US 10,254,427 B2
• Filed: 08/21/2015
• Issued: 04/09/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Automotive Systems Company of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Adachi, Kazuhiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Hollington, Jermele M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Rajaputra, Suresh K
• Application Number:
  US15/507,098
• Publication Number:
  US 20170248726A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,327 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 3/108 the emitter and the receiver coils or loops being uncoupled by positioning them perpendicularly to each other
• CPC Class Codes: H01F 27/28 Coils; Windings; Conductive connections
• CPC Class Codes: H01F 38/14 Inductive couplings for wireless supply or distribution of electric power using inductive coupling H02J50/10
• CPC Class Codes: H01F 5/00 Coils superconducting coils H01F6/06; fixed inductances of the signal type H01F17/00
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/60 responsive to the presence of foreign objects, e.g. detection of living beings

Abstract

A foreign object detection device in the present disclosure includes: a set sensor coil; and a determination device that detects a foreign object, based on voltage of the set sensor coil. A first sensor coil group in the set sensor coil includes unit sensor coils wound in a first winding direction and unit sensor coils wound in a second winding direction opposite to the first winding direction, these coils wound in the respective directions being electrically connected in series. Each unit sensor coil includes a coil conductor prescribing its external shape. Coil conductors are continuously and electrically connected in series. A part or the whole of the coil conductor forming the unit sensor coil in the first winding direction is a part or the whole of the coil conductor forming the unit sensor coil in the second winding direction.

Claims

1. A foreign object detection device comprising:

a set sensor coil; and

a determination device that detects a foreign object, based on an electromotive force of the set sensor coil,

wherein the set sensor coil includes at least one sensor coil group,

the at least one sensor coil group includes, electrically connected in series;

a plurality of unit sensor coils that are wound in a first winding direction; and

a plurality of unit sensor coils that are wound in a second winding direction, between the plurality of unit sensor coils that are wound in the first winding direction,

the plurality of unit sensor coils that are wound in the first winding direction generate a first-sign electromotive force that causes a current to flow in a first direction in response to a change in an external magnetic field in which magnetic field distribution is uniform,

the plurality of unit sensor coils that are wound in the second winding direction generate a second-sign electromotive force that causes a current to flow in a second direction opposite to the first direction in response to the change in the external magnetic field,

each of the plurality of unit sensor coils has a coil conductor that prescribes an external shape of the unit sensor coil,

a plurality of the coil conductors included in the at least one sensor coil group are continuously and electrically connected in series, and a part or a whole of the coil conductor forming the unit sensor coil wound in the first winding direction is a part or a whole of the coil conductor forming the unit sensor coil wound in the second winding direction, and

an external shape of each of the plurality of unit sensor coils that are wound in the second winding direction is prescribed when the coil conductor of each of the plurality of unit sensor coils that are wound in the first winding direction prescribes the external shape of the unit sensor coil.

2. The foreign object detection device according to claim 1,

wherein the set sensor coil includes a plurality of sensor coil groups.

3. The foreign object detection device according to claim 2,

wherein the plurality of sensor coil groups are electrically connected in series.

4. The foreign object detection device according to claim 2,

wherein the determination device obtains the electromotive force of the set sensor coil by separately calculating an electromotive force for each of the plurality of the sensor coil groups.

5. The foreign object detection device according to claim 2,

wherein a sum of areas of the plurality of unit sensor coils wound in the first winding direction is equal to a sum of areas of the plurality of unit sensor coils wound in the second winding direction.

6. The foreign object detection device according to claim 2,

wherein the plurality of sensor coil groups include:

a first sensor coil group; and

a peripheral sensor coil group,

the first sensor coil group includes;

the plurality of unit sensor coils wound in the first winding direction; and

the plurality of unit sensor coils wound in the second winding direction,

the peripheral sensor coil group includes

at least one of (i) one or more peripheral unit sensor coils wound in the first winding direction and (ii) one or more peripheral unit sensor coils wound in the second winding direction, and

the one or more peripheral unit sensor coils are disposed in regions in which the plurality of unit sensor coils are absent in an outermost peripheral portion of the set sensor coil.

7. The foreign object detection device according to claim 1,

wherein the sensor coil group includes a plurality of Y-axis-direction sensor coil groups, each of which includes one or more of the unit sensor coils that are wound in the first winding direction and are arranged in a Y axis direction,

the plurality of Y-axis-direction sensor coil groups are arranged side by side in an X axis direction that crosses the Y axis direction,

at least one of the plurality of Y-axis-direction sensor coil groups includes a plurality of the unit sensor coils,

the coil conductors are electrically connected in series so that peripheries of the plurality of Y-axis-direction sensor coil groups are continuous, and

the coil conductors forming two adjacent Y-axis-direction sensor coil groups among the plurality of Y-axis-direction sensor coil groups are continuously and electrically connected in series.

8. The foreign object detection device according to claim 7, wherein each of the plurality of Y-axis-direction sensor coil groups includes the unit sensor coils that are wound in the first winding direction and are arranged in a staggered manner in the Y axis direction.

9. A foreign object detection device comprising:

a set sensor coil; and

a determination device that detects a foreign object, based on an electromotive force of the set sensor coil,

wherein the set sensor coil includes a plurality of sensor coil groups,

each of the plurality of sensor coil groups includes at least one of

(i) a plurality of unit sensor coils that are wound in a first winding direction and generate a first-sign electromotive force that causes a current to flow in a first direction in response to a change in an external magnetic field, and

(ii) a plurality of unit sensor coils that are wound in a second winding direction between the plurality of unit sensor coils that are wound in the first winding direction, and generate a second-sign electromotive force that causes a current to flow in a second direction opposite to the first direction in response to the change in the external magnetic field,

each of the plurality of unit sensor coils has a coil conductor that prescribes an external shape of the unit sensor coil,

a plurality of the coil conductors included in each of the plurality of sensor coil groups are continuously and electrically connected in series, and

an external shape of each of the plurality of unit sensor coils that are wound in the second winding direction is prescribed when the coil conductor of each of the plurality of unit sensor coils that are wound in the first winding direction prescribes the external shape of the unit sensor coil.

10. The foreign object detection device according to claim 9,

wherein the coil conductors of one sensor coil group among the plurality of sensor coil groups are disposed away from the coil conductors of another sensor coil group.

11. The foreign object detection device according to claim 9, wherein the coil conductors of one sensor coil group among the plurality of sensor coil groups are displaced with respect to the coil conductors of another sensor coil group.

12. The foreign object detection device according to claim 11,

wherein a part or a whole of the coil conductor forming the unit sensor coil wound in the first winding direction is a part or a whole of the coil conductor forming the unit sensor coil wound in the second winding direction.

13. The foreign object detection device according to claim 9, further comprising

a switch that selects a sensor coil group to be driven from among the plurality of sensor coil groups.

14. The foreign object detection device according to claim 13,

wherein the switch drives simultaneously at least two sensor coil groups from among the plurality of sensor coil groups, and

in each of the at least two sensor coil groups, a total number of the plurality of unit sensor coils wound in the first winding direction is equal to a total number of the plurality of unit sensor coils wound in the second winding direction.