CONTACTLESS POWER AND DATA TRANSMISSION APPARATUS

• US 20090185658A1
• Filed: 01/18/2008
• Published: 07/23/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/18/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Schleifring Medical Systems, LLC (GE Healthcare Technologies, Inc.), General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: Schleifring Medical Systems, LLC (GE Healthcare Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Chan, Kai Chi, Katcha, Jason Stuart, Dunlap, Gregory Martin
• Granted Patent: US 7,717,619 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 378/15
• CPC Class Codes: G08C 17/04 using magnetically coupled devices
• CPC Class Codes: H01F 2038/143 for signals
• CPC Class Codes: H01F 38/18 Rotary transformers

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for an imaging system are provided. The imaging system includes a gantry having a stationary member coupled to a rotating member. The rotating member has an opened area proximate an axis about which the rotating member rotates. An x-ray source provided on the rotating member. An x-ray detector may be disposed on the rotating member and configured to receive x-rays from the x-ray source. A rotary transformer having circumferentially disposed primary and secondary windings may form part of a contactless power transfer system that rotates the rotatable portion of the gantry at very high speeds, the primary winding being disposed on the stationary member and the secondary winding being disposed on the rotating member.

Claims

1-3. -3. (canceled)

11. (canceled)

14-16. -16. (canceled)

21. An apparatus for transmitting power and data, said apparatus comprising:

a rotary transformer having first and second transformer portions relatively rotatable around a common axis and separated from one another by a gap;

differential windings on the first and second transformer portions, the differential windings configured to transfer power between the first and second transformer portions across the gap;

a first data transmitter and a first data receiver on the first transformer portion; and

a second data transmitter and a second data receiver on the second transformer portion, the first data transmitter communicating data to the second data receiver and the second data transmitter communicating data to the first data receiver across the gap, wherein at least one of the first and second data transmitters comprise a stripline transmission line.

4. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the first data transmitter and the second data transmitter comprise sectioned circular antennas.

5. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the first data receiver and the second data receiver comprise sectioned circular antennas.

6. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the first and second data receivers include sectioned antennas that are phased to reduce phase discontinuities in coupled data signals.

7. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the first transformer portion and the second transformer portion are substantially facing one another.

8. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the first transformer portion and the second transformer portion comprise substantially concentric cylinders.

9. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein one of the first rotary transformer portion and the second rotary transformer portion is constrained to be stationary.

10. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the rotary transformer comprises a plurality of B-cores with open sides of the B-cores facing one another.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the stripline transmission line is a differential stripline transmission line comprising a plurality of striplines.

23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the stripline transmission line is wrapped around the corresponding transformer portion.

24. A computed tomography (CT) imaging system comprising:

a stationary gantry portion including a differential winding, a data transmitter and a data receiver;

a rotatable gantry portion separated from the stationary gantry portion by a gap and configured to rotate about an axis relative to the stationary gantry portion, the rotatable gantry portion including a differential winding configured to communicate power with the differential winding of the stationary gantry portion across the gap, a data transmitter configured to transmit data to the data receiver of the stationary gantry portion across the gap, and a data receiver configured to receive data from the data transmitter of the stationary gantry portion across the gap; and

a radiation source and detector joined to the rotatable gantry portion and disposed opposite one another to image a target positioned between the radiation source and detector, wherein at least one of the data transmitters is configured to transmit data across the gap in a direction transverse to the axis.

12. The CT imaging system of claim 24, wherein the data transmitters and data receivers use at least one of an electric, magnetic and optical signal to transmit data in a contactless manner.

13. The CT imaging system of claim 24, wherein the stationary gantry portion and the rotatable gantry portion comprise substantially concentric cylinders.

25. The CT imaging system of claim 24, wherein at least one of the data transmitters is a stripline transmission line.

26. The CT imaging system of claim 25, wherein the stripline transmission line is wrapped around the corresponding one of the stationary gantry portion and the rotatable gantry portion.

27. A wind turbine comprising:

a rotor joined to at least one blade, the rotor rotatably coupled to the generator by a shaft; and

a transformer comprising a rotatable portion connected with the shaft and a stationary portion, the rotatable and stationary portions separated from one another by a gap, each of the rotatable and stationary portions comprising transformer windings, a data transmitter and a data receiver, wherein the transformer windings communicate power across the gap in a contactless manner and the data transmitters and data receivers communicate data across the gap in different directions.

17. The wind turbine of claim 27, wherein the data receiver and the data transmitter of the rotatable portion are coupled electrically and the data receiver and the data transmitter of the stationary portion are coupled at least one of electrically, magnetically, or optically.

18. The wind turbine of claim 27, wherein the data transmitters comprise sectioned, circular antennas.

19. The wind turbine of claim 27, wherein the data transmitters are subdivided into sections that are phased to reduce phase discontinuities in data signals communicated using the data transmitters.

20. The wind turbine of claim 27, wherein the transformer comprises a pair of B-cores with open sides of the B-cores facing one another.