DEVICE FOR THE INDUCTIVE TRANSFER OF ELECTRICAL ENERGY

• US 20120187773A1
• Filed: 07/09/2010
• Published: 07/26/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ENRX IPT GmbH
• Original Assignee: Conductix-Wampfler AG (Delachaux Group SA)
• Inventors: Wechlin, Mathias, Green, Andrew
• Granted Patent: US 9,203,258 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 307/104
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/11 DC charging controlled by the charging station, e.g. mode 4
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/12 Inductive energy transfer
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/39 with position-responsive activation of primary coils
• 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 50/90 involving detection or optimisation of position, e.g. alignment
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/342 The other DC source being a battery actively interacting with the first one, i.e. battery to battery charging with circuits for polarity protection H02J7/0034
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/70 Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/7072 Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/12 Electric charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/14 Plug-in electric vehicles

Abstract

The invention relates to a device for the inductive transfer of electric energy from a stationary unit that has at least two similar primary inductances (1-4) to a vehicle (5) standing adjacent to said unit. The primary inductances (1-4) of the stationary unit can be supplied with electrical current independently of one another and the current supply can be individually activated or deactivated by a central control unit (12). Preferably, the device is equipped with a uniform two-dimensional arrangement (26-32, 27A-31A) of a plurality of primary inductances that are similar to one another and are in the form of a rectangular matrix (26-31). Either a dedicated output of a central current supply unit or a dedicated current supply unit (7-10) is assigned to each primary inductance. Preferably, the vehicle has several secondary inductances that are similar to one another, the dimensions and arrangement of said inductances being designed in such a way that several pairs of secondary and primary inductances overlap at any one time in at least one position of the vehicle (5A, 5B, 5C).

Claims

1-14. -14. (canceled)

15. Device for inductive transmission of electrical energy from a stationary unit to a vehicle standing in the vicinity hereof, wherein the stationary unit exhibits at least two primary inductors which are of the same type and which can be supplied with electrical current independently of one another, and wherein their supply of current can be activated or deactivated individually by a central control unit, wherein each primary inductor is assigned either its own output of a central current supply unit or its own current supply unit, in that the central current supply unit exhibits a measuring device or the individual current supply units each exhibit a measuring device by which either the impedance or an induced voltage can be measured at each primary inductor, in that the control unit exhibits an evaluation device for determining the distribution of the measured impedance values or voltage values of the individual primary inductors inside the stationary unit, and in that the evaluation unit controls the supply of current to the primary inductors depending on the determined distribution of the impedance or voltage.

16. Device according claim 15, wherein the stationary unit exhibits a regular two-dimensional arrangement of a plurality of primary inductors which are of the same type.

17. Device according to claim 16, wherein the primary inductors are arranged in the form of a rectangular matrix.

18. Device according to claim 16, wherein the arrangement of the primary inductors has the form of a plurality of rows each with the same grid spacing within the rows and the same row spacing, and in that successive rows are in each case offset in their longitudinal direction by half the grid spacing of a row.

19. Device according to claim 15, wherein the individual outputs of the central current supply unit or the individual current supply units can be activated or deactivated individually by the control unit.

20. Device according to claim 15, wherein the control unit only activates the supply of current to a primary inductor when an impedance value measured by the measuring device differs from a reference value by a predetermined minimum amount or a voltage value measured by the measuring device exceeds a predetermined threshold.

21. Device according to claim 15, wherein the vehicle exhibits at least one secondary inductor the dimensions of which are such that in at least one position of the vehicle an overlap exists between at least one secondary inductor of the vehicle and at least one primary inductor of the stationary unit.

22. Device according to claim 15, wherein the vehicle exhibits a plurality of secondary inductors which are of the same type and the dimensions and arrangement of which are such that in at least one position of the vehicle a simultaneous paired overlap exists between a plurality of secondary inductors of the vehicle and primary inductors of the stationary unit.

23. Device according to claim 21, wherein the secondary inductors exhibit at least roughly the same base areas as the primary inductors.

24. Device according to claim 21, wherein the secondary inductors exhibit smaller base areas than the primary inductors.

25. Device according to claim 21, wherein the arrangement of the secondary inductors matches at least a part section of the arrangement of the primary inductors.