Faraday cage for wireless charging devices

• US 10,340,711 B2
• Filed: 09/08/2017
• Issued: 07/02/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/23/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Graham, Christopher S., Karanikos, Demetrios B., Kasar, Darshan R., Thompson, Paul J., Jol, Eric S., Haug, Grant S., Larsson, Karl Ruben F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tso, Edward
• Assistant Examiner(s): Omar, Ahmed H
• Application Number:
  US15/699,995
• Publication Number:
  US 20180090971A1
• Time in Patent Office: 662 Days
• Field of Search: 320108
• CPC Class Codes: H01F 27/288 Shielding
• CPC Class Codes: H01F 27/325 Coil bobbins formers for coils in general H01F5/02
• CPC Class Codes: H01F 38/14 Inductive couplings for wireless supply or distribution of electric power using inductive coupling H02J50/10
• 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 7/0042 characterised by the mechanical construction
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/24 Inductive coupling
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/263 Multiple coils at either side
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/79 for data transfer in combination with power transfer
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 9/0007 Casings standardised racks H05K9/0062

Abstract

Embodiments describe a wireless charging device including: a housing having a planar charging surface and one or more walls that define an interior cavity; a transmitter coil arrangement positioned within the interior cavity; and a faraday cage enclosing the transmitter coil arrangement. The faraday cage includes: an electromagnetic shield positioned between the transmitter coil arrangement and the first shell; an interconnection structure positioned within the interior cavity below the transmitter coil arrangement, the interconnection structure including a plurality of packaged electrical components mounted on the interconnection structure; a ferromagnetic shield positioned between the transmitter coil arrangement and the interconnection structure; and a conductive grounding fence disposed around a perimeter of the interconnection structure and between the electromagnetic shield and the interconnection structure.

Claims

1. A wireless charging device comprising:

a housing having a planar charging surface and one or more walls that define an interior cavity;

a transmitter coil arrangement positioned within the interior cavity, the transmitter coil arrangement including a plurality of transmitter coils positioned within the interior cavity in an overlapping arrangement such that different coils in the plurality of coils are on different planes and each of the plurality of transmitter coils has a central axis positioned a lateral distance away from the central axes of all other transmitter coils of the plurality of transmitter coils; and

a faraday cage enclosing the transmitter coil arrangement, the faraday cage comprising;

an electromagnetic shield positioned between the transmitter coil arrangement and a first shell;

an interconnection structure positioned within the interior cavity below the transmitter coil arrangement, the interconnection structure including a plurality of packaged electrical components mounted on the interconnection structure;

a ferromagnetic shield positioned between the transmitter coil arrangement and the interconnection structure; and

a conductive grounding fence disposed around a perimeter of the interconnection structure and between the electromagnetic shield and the interconnection structure.

2. The wireless charging device of claim 1, wherein the conductive grounding fence is directly coupled to both the electromagnetic shield and the interconnection structure.

3. The wireless charging device of claim 1, wherein the transmitter coil arrangement is configured to generate a time-varying magnetic flux and an electric field;

the electromagnetic shield is configured to allow the time-varying magnetic flux to pass through the electromagnetic shield while preventing the electric field from passing through the electromagnetic shield;

the plurality of packaged electrical components is configured to operate the plurality of transmitter coils during wireless power transfer;

the ferromagnetic shield is configured to redirect the time-varying magnetic flux to prevent the time-varying magnetic flux from propagating through to the interconnection structure;

the conductive grounding fence prevents the time-varying magnetic flux from propagating through the conductive grounding fence;

and the faraday cage allows the time-varying magnetic flux to propagate out of the faraday cage in one direction, while preventing the propagation of magnetic flux out of the faraday cage in all other directions.

4. The wireless charging device of claim 1, wherein the electromagnetic shield is laser welded onto a top surface of the conductive grounding fence.

5. The wireless charging device of claim 3, wherein the electromagnetic shield is configured to capture the electric field generated by the transmitter coil arrangement, which exists in the form of voltage on the electromagnetic shield.

6. The wireless charging device of claim 5, wherein the conductive grounding fence is configured to discharge the voltage to ground.

7. The wireless charging device of claim 1, wherein the conductive grounding fence is a length of wire.

8. The wireless charging device of claim 1, wherein the ferromagnetic shield is disposed on the interconnection structure and laterally from the conductive grounding fence.

9. The wireless charging device of claim 1, wherein the electromagnetic shield comprises:

an electromagnetic body configured to capture electromagnetic fields generated by the transmitter coil arrangement; and

a copper border surrounding the electromagnetic body, wherein the copper border couples with the conductive grounding fence.

10. A wireless charging device comprising:

a housing having a planar charging surface and one or more walls that define an interior cavity;

a transmitter coil arrangement positioned within the interior cavity, the transmitter coil arrangement including a plurality of transmitter coils positioned within the interior cavity in an overlapping arrangement such that different coils in the plurality of coils are on different planes and each of the plurality of transmitter coils has a central axis positioned a lateral distance away from the central axes of all other transmitter coils of the plurality of transmitter coils; and

a faraday cage enclosing the transmitter coil arrangement, the faraday cage comprising;

an electromagnetic shield positioned between the transmitter coil arrangement and a first shell, wherein the electromagnetic shield comprises;

an electromagnetic body configured to capture electromagnetic fields generated by the transmitter coil arrangement; and

a copper border surrounding the electromagnetic body;

an interconnection structure positioned within the interior cavity below the transmitter coil arrangement, the interconnection structure including a plurality of packaged electrical components mounted on the interconnection structure, wherein the interconnection structure is a printed circuit board (PCB);

a ferromagnetic shield positioned between the transmitter coil arrangement and the interconnection structure; and

a conductive grounding fence disposed around a perimeter of the interconnection structure and between the electromagnetic shield and the interconnection structure, wherein the conductive grounding fence is a length of wire formed of a conductive material, and wherein the copper border couples with the conductive grounding fence.

11. The wireless charging device of claim 10, wherein the conductive grounding fence is directly coupled to both the electromagnetic shield and the interconnection structure.

12. The wireless charging device of claim 10, wherein the transmitter coil arrangement is configured to generate a time-varying magnetic flux and an electric field;

the electromagnetic shield is configured to allow the time-varying magnetic flux to pass through the electromagnetic shield while preventing the electric field from passing through the electromagnetic shield;

the plurality of packaged electrical components is configured to operate the plurality of transmitter coils during wireless power transfer;

the ferromagnetic shield is configured to redirect the time-varying magnetic flux to prevent the time-varying magnetic flux from propagating through to the interconnection structure;

the conductive grounding fence prevents the time-varying magnetic flux from propagating through the conductive grounding fence;

and the faraday cage allows the time-varying magnetic flux to propagate out of the faraday cage in one direction, while preventing the propagation of magnetic flux out of the faraday cage in all other directions.

13. A wireless charging system, comprising:

an electrical device comprising a receiver coil configured to generate a current to charge a battery when exposed to a time-varying magnetic flux; and

a wireless charging mat configured to generate the time-varying magnetic flux to wirelessly charge the electrical device, the wireless charging mat comprising;

a housing having a planar charging surface, the housing including first and second shells defining an interior cavity;

a transmitter coil arrangement, the transmitter coil arrangement including a plurality of transmitter coils positioned within the interior cavity in an overlapping arrangement such that different coils in the plurality of coils are on different planes and each of the plurality of transmitter coils has a central axis positioned a lateral distance away from the central axes of all other transmitter coils of the plurality of transmitter coils; and

a faraday cage enclosing the transmitter coil arrangement, the faraday cage comprising;

an electromagnetic shield positioned between the transmitter coil arrangement and the first shell;

an interconnection structure positioned within the interior cavity below the transmitter coil arrangement, the interconnection structure including a plurality of packaged electrical components mounted on the interconnection structure;

a ferromagnetic shield positioned between the transmitter coil arrangement and the interconnection structure; and

a conductive grounding fence disposed around a perimeter of the interconnection structure and between the electromagnetic shield and the interconnection structure.

14. The wireless charging system of claim 13, wherein the conductive grounding fence is directly coupled to both the electromagnetic shield and the interconnection structure.

15. The wireless charging system of claim 13, wherein the transmitter coil arrangement is configured to generate a time-varying magnetic flux and an electric field;

the electromagnetic shield is configured to allow the time-varying magnetic flux to pass through the electromagnetic shield while preventing the electric field from passing through the electromagnetic shield;

the plurality of packaged electrical components is configured to operate the plurality of transmitter coils during wireless power transfer;

the ferromagnetic shield is configured to redirect the time-varying magnetic flux to prevent the time-varying magnetic flux from propagating through to the interconnection structure;

the conductive grounding fence prevents the time-varying magnetic flux from propagating through the conductive grounding fence;

and the faraday cage allows the time-varying magnetic flux to propagate out of the faraday cage in one direction, while preventing the propagation of magnetic flux out of the faraday cage in all other directions.

16. The wireless charging system of claim 13, wherein the electromagnetic shield is configured to capture the electric field generated by the transmitter coil arrangement, which exists in the form of voltage on the electromagnetic shield.

17. The wireless charging system of claim 16, wherein the conductive grounding fence is configured to discharge the voltage to ground.

18. The wireless charging system of claim 13, wherein the conductive grounding fence is a length of wire.

19. The wireless charging system of claim 13, wherein the ferromagnetic shield is disposed on the interconnection structure and laterally from the conductive grounding fence.

20. The wireless charging system of claim 13, wherein the electromagnetic shield comprises:

an electromagnetic body configured to capture electromagnetic fields generated by the transmitter coil arrangement; and

a copper border surrounding the electromagnetic body, wherein the copper border couples with the conductive grounding fence.