Roadway powered electric vehicle system
First Claim
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1. An electric vehicle inductive power system for use with a primary conductive path associated with a roadway over which a vehicle may travel, the inductive power system comprising:
- a plurality of power transmission modules adapted to be placed in or on the roadway relative to the primary conductive path so as to be inductively coupled to the primary conductive path, the power transmission modules wirelessly receiving power from the primary conductive path, each power transmission module comprising a first coil for receiving power wirelessly at a first frequency from the primary conductive path, and a second coil operable to supply power wirelessly at a second frequency which is different than the first frequency to at least one electric vehicle when the at least one electric vehicle is on the roadway and sufficiently near the power transmission module to receive power therefrom.
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Abstract
A roadway powered electric vehicle system includes a power supply (101) which makes power available inductively to one or more modules (111) provided in or under a roadway. Modules (111) make a magnetic field selectively available to one or more vehicles travelling over the roadway corresponding to the location of the vehicle. The presence or strength of the magnetic field provided on the roadway may be dependent upon the vehicle type or category.
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Citations
32 Claims
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1. An electric vehicle inductive power system for use with a primary conductive path associated with a roadway over which a vehicle may travel, the inductive power system comprising:
a plurality of power transmission modules adapted to be placed in or on the roadway relative to the primary conductive path so as to be inductively coupled to the primary conductive path, the power transmission modules wirelessly receiving power from the primary conductive path, each power transmission module comprising a first coil for receiving power wirelessly at a first frequency from the primary conductive path, and a second coil operable to supply power wirelessly at a second frequency which is different than the first frequency to at least one electric vehicle when the at least one electric vehicle is on the roadway and sufficiently near the power transmission module to receive power therefrom. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. An electric vehicle inductive power system comprising:
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a plurality of power transmission modules in or on a vehicle surface, each power transmission module being capable of receiving power wirelessly at a first frequency and supplying power wirelessly at a second frequency which is different than the first frequency to at least one electric vehicle when the at least one electric vehicle is on the vehicle surface in a region of that power transmission module, a controller to selectively allow each power transmission module to make inductive power available to the electric vehicle when the electric vehicle is sufficiently near the power transmission module to receive power therefrom and energize adjacent power transmission modules in phase.
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17. An electric vehicle inductive power system comprising:
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a plurality of power transmission modules in or on a vehicle surface, each power transmission module being capable of receiving power wirelessly at a first frequency and supplying power wirelessly at a second frequency which is different than the first frequency to at least one electric vehicle when the at least one electric vehicle is on the vehicle surface in a region of that power transmission module, a controller to allow each power transmission module to vary a quantity of non-zero inductive power made available to the at least one electric vehicle when the at least one electric vehicle is sufficiently near the power transmission module to receive power therefrom. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A method for powering electric vehicles inductively, the method comprising:
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energizing a primary conductive path associated with a vehicle surface over which a vehicle may travel; receiving power wirelessly from the primary conductive path at a first frequency; and selectively energizing at least one of a plurality of power transmission modules in or on the vehicle surface at a second frequency which is different than the first frequency when the electric vehicle is on the vehicle surface and sufficiently near the power transmission module to receive power wirelessly therefrom. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. A method for powering vehicles wirelessly from a primary conductive path associated with a roadway over which a vehicle may travel, the method comprising:
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providing a plurality of power transmission modules, each power transmission module being operable to supply power wirelessly at a second frequency to at least one vehicle when the at least one electric vehicle is on the roadway and sufficiently near the power transmission module to receive power therefrom; and placing the power transmission modules in or on the roadway relative to the primary conductive path so as to wirelessly receive power at a first frequency from the primary conductive path, wherein the first frequency is different than the second frequency.
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Specification