Wireless charging system and method

• US 10,389,159 B2
• Filed: 10/01/2016
• Issued: 08/20/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Lahti, Saku, Komulainen, Mikko S., Nokkonen, Erkki
• Primary Examiner(s): Fleming, Fritz M
• Application Number:
  US15/283,344
• Publication Number:
  US 20180097394A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,053 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/12 of the resonant type
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00 Circuit arrangements for charging or depolarising batteries or for supplying loads from batteries

Abstract

A wireless charging system and a method for tuning the wireless charging system is described. The system can include matching circuitry coupled to a transmission coil and a controller coupled to the matching circuitry. The transmission coil can have a load inductance. The controller can control the matching circuitry to adjust a voltage associated with the capacitance value based on the load inductance to cause the voltage associated with the capacitance value and a current associated with the capacitance value to be in phase.

Claims

1. A wireless charging system, comprising:

matching circuitry operatively coupled to a transmission coil having a load inductance, the matching circuitry including a capacitor having a capacitance value and a switch in parallel with the capacitor; and

a controller operatively coupled to the matching circuitry and configured to control the switch of the matching circuitry to selectively short the capacitor to adjust a voltage across the capacitor based on the load inductance to cause the voltage across the capacitor to be in phase with a current of the capacitor.

2. The wireless charging system of claim 1, wherein the switch is configured to selectively short the capacitor based on a control signal generated by the controller to adjust the voltage across the capacitor.

3. The wireless charging system of claim 2, wherein the control signal is generated based on the load inductance.

4. The wireless charging system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to adjust a duty cycle in which the switch shorts the capacitor based on the load inductance.

5. The wireless charging system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to control the switch to selectively short the capacitor such that the voltage across the capacitor returns to zero when an input voltage supplied to the matching circuitry reaches its maximum.

6. The wireless charging system of claim 1, wherein the capacitor is coupled in series between the transmission coil and a power source providing an input voltage to the matching circuitry.

7. The wireless charging system of claim 1, further comprising a filter coupled in series between the transmission coil and the matching circuitry.

8. The wireless charging system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to control the matching circuitry to adjust the voltage associated with the capacitance value to tune the wireless charging system into resonance.

9. The wireless charging system of claim 1, wherein the capacitor is a fixed capacitor.

10. The wireless charging system of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to control the switch of the matching circuitry to selectively short the capacitor to maintain a 90°

phase shift between the voltage across the capacitor and an input voltage supplied to the matching circuitry.

11. The wireless charging system of claim 1, wherein an input voltage supplied to the matching circuitry reaches its maximum at a first time, the controller being configured to control the switch to close and short the capacitor at the first time.

12. The wireless charging system of claim 11, wherein the controller is configured to control the switch to open at a second time following the first time to phase shift the voltage across the capacitor such that the voltage across the capacitor returns to zero when the input voltage supplied to the matching circuitry reaches its next maximum.

13. A wireless charging system, comprising:

matching circuitry coupled to a transmission coil having a load inductance, the matching circuitry comprising;

a capacitor having a capacitance value; and

a switch coupled in parallel to the capacitor and configured to selectively short the capacitor to adjust a voltage across the capacitor; and

a controller coupled to the switch of the matching circuitry, the controller being configured to control the switch to selectively short the capacitor to force the voltage across the capacitor to be in phase with a current of the capacitor to adjust an impedance of the wireless charging system based load inductance.

14. The wireless charging system of claim 13, wherein the capacitor is a fixed capacitor and the capacitance value is a fixed capacitance value.

15. The wireless charging system of claim 13, wherein the controller is configured to control the switch to selectively short the capacitor based on the load inductance.

16. The wireless charging system of claim 13, wherein the controller is configured to adjust a duty cycle in which the switch shorts the capacitor based on the load inductance.

17. The wireless charging system of claim 13, wherein the controller is configured to control the switch to selectively short the capacitor such that the voltage across the capacitor returns to zero when an input voltage supplied to the matching circuitry reaches its maximum.

18. The wireless charging system of claim 13, wherein the capacitor is coupled in series between the transmission coil and a power source providing an input voltage to the matching circuitry.

19. The wireless charging system of claim 13, further comprising a filter coupled in series between the transmission coil and the matching circuitry.

20. The wireless charging system of claim 13, wherein the controller is configured to control the switch to selectively short the capacitor to tune the wireless charging system into resonance.

21. A method to tune a wireless charging system, the method comprising:

calculating a load inductance of the wireless charging system; and

selectively shorting a capacitor of the wireless charging system based on the load inductance to cause a voltage across the capacitor and a current of the capacitor to be in phase.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein adjusting the voltage comprises selectively shorting the capacitor based on the load inductance.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising calculating a duty cycle in which the capacitor is shorted based on the load inductance.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the capacitor is selectively shorted such that the voltage across the capacitor returns to zero when an input voltage driving the wireless charging system reaches its maximum.

25. The method of claim 21, wherein the voltage across the capacitor is adjusted to tune the wireless charging system into resonance.