CONTACTLESS CHARGING APPARATUS, CONTACTLESS CHARGING BATTERY APPARATUS, AND CONTACTLESS CHARGING SYSTEM INCLUDING SAME

• US 20120169279A1
• Filed: 01/15/2010
• Published: 07/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: TriGem Computer Incorporated
• Original Assignee: TriGem Computer Incorporated
• Inventors: Kim, Jun ll
• Application Number:
  US13/496,136
• Publication Number:
  US 20120169279A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 320/108
• CPC Class Codes: H01F 27/2871 Pancake coils
• 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 50/80 involving the exchange of data, concerning supply or distribution of electric power, between transmitting devices and receiving devices
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/007 Regulation of charging or discharging current or voltage
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/04 Regulation of charging current or voltage

Abstract

Provided are a contactless charging apparatus, a contactless charging battery apparatus, and a contactless charging system including same. According to one embodiment of the present invention, a contactless charging apparatus for charging a contactless charging battery apparatus comprises: a first coil unit including a plurality of coils; a charge control unit for determining a charging power corresponding to the contactless charging battery apparatus; and a power distribution unit for selecting one or more coils from the plurality of coils in accordance with the charging power, wherein the charging power is the power required for charging the contactless charging battery apparatus.

Claims

1. A contactless charging apparatus for charging a contactless charging battery apparatus, comprising:

a first coil unit, comprising a plurality of coils;

a charging control unit, configured to determine charging power corresponding to the contactless charging battery apparatus; and

a power distribution unit, configured to select one or more coils among the plurality of coils according to the charging power,

wherein the charging power is electric power required for charging the contactless charging battery apparatus.

2. The contactless charging apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first coil unit is arranged with the plurality of coils, of which the size of respective hollow portions becomes gradually smaller, inside all outermost coil of the plurality of coils, and

wherein the outermost coil is a coil that is arranged on an outermost side of the plurality of coils.

3. The contactless charging apparatus of claim 1 or 2, wherein the first coil unit comprises the plurality of coils that have a same center of gravity and a different size of respective hollow portions.

4. The contactless charging apparatus of claim 1, wherein the plurality of coils of the first coil unit generate respective magnetic fields that are different from one another.

5. The contactless charging apparatus of claim 1, wherein the power distribution unit selects one or more coils of the plurality of coils corresponding to the charging power and distributes driving power to the selected coil in order to drive the selected coil.

6. The contactless charging apparatus of claim 5, further comprising a coil driving unit that includes a plurality of coil driving circuits corresponding to the plurality of coils, respectively.

7. The contactless charging apparatus of claim 6, wherein the coil driving circuit corresponding to the coil selected by the power distribution unit uses the driving power provided by the power distribution unit to drive the selected coil.

8. The contactless charging apparatus of claim 1, wherein the coil comprises a hollow portion in a form selected from the group consisting of a circle, an oval and a polygon.

9. A contactless charging battery apparatus for charging by use of a contactless charging apparatus, comprising:

a battery which is rechargeable;

a battery control unit, configured to generate charging power data by determining charging power for charging the battery and to transmit the charging power data to the contactless charging apparatus; and

a second coil unit coupled magnetically with the contactless charging apparatus and configured to generate induced electromotive force by the contactless charging apparatus,

wherein the charging power is electric power required for charging the battery and corresponds to the charging power data.

10. The contactless charging battery apparatus of claim 9, further comprising:

a rectifier configured to rectify an AC power of the induced electromotive force to a DC power;

a voltage/current regulation unit configured to generate constant voltage and constant current to charge the battery by using the DC power; and

a charging regulation unit configured to regulate a charging status of the battery.

11. A contactless charging system comprising a contactless charging apparatus and a contactless charging battery apparatus, the contactless charging system comprising:

a contactless charging apparatus comprising a first coil unit constituted with a plurality of coils and configured to determine a charging power to charge the contactless charging battery by using charging power data received from the contactless charging battery apparatus and to select one or more coils of the plurality of coils according to the charging power; and

a contactless charging battery apparatus, configured to generate the charging power data by using the charging power for charging the battery and comprising a second coil unit configured to generate induced electromotive force by magnetic field generated by the first coil unit.

12. The contactless charging system of claim 11, wherein, in the, first coil unit, an (n+1)th coil of the plurality of plurality of coils is formed to surround an outline of an n^th coil, and the plurality of coils are formed to be separated from one another, n being a natural number.

13. The contactless charging system of claim 12, wherein the plurality of coils of the first coil unit generate respective magnetic fields that are different from one another, and the (n+1)th coil generates a greater magnetic field than the n^th coil.

14. The contactless charging system of claim 12, wherein each of the plurality of coils is formed by winding a coil were at least once, and the (n+1)th coil generates a magnetic field that is a same size as the (n+1)th coil according to a number of winding of the coil wire.

15. The contactless charging system of claim 12, wherein each of the plurality of coils is formed by winding a coil were at least once, and the plurality of coils of the first coil unit respectively generate different sizes of magnetic field according to numbers of winding of the coil wire.

16. The contactless charging system of claim 11, wherein the contactless charging apparatus selects one or more coils of the plurality of coils to correspond to the charging power and further comprises a power distribution unit for distributing driving power to the selected coil in order to drive the selected coil.

17. The contactless charging system of claim 16, wherein the contactless charging system further comprises a coil driving unit that includes a plurality of coil driving circuits corresponding to the plurality of coils, respectively, and

wherein the coil driving circuit corresponding to the coil selected by the power distribution unit drives the selected coil by using the driving power provided by the power distribution unit.

18. The contactless charging system of claim 11, wherein the contactless charging apparatus further comprises a charging control unit configured to determine charging power to charge the contactless charging battery apparatus by using the charging power data received through a receiving unit from the contactless charging battery apparatus and to provide the charging power to the power distribution unit, and

wherein the contactless charging battery apparatus further comprises a battery control unit configured to generate the charging power data by determining charging power for charging the battery and to transmit the charging power data to the contactless charging apparatus through a transmitting unit.