APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR TRANSMITTING WIRELESS POWER

• US 20130181664A1
• Filed: 01/10/2013
• Published: 07/18/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/13/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Wit Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co., Ltd. (Samsung Group)
• Inventors: Min, Jun Ki, Lee, Hyun Seok, Kim, Eung Ju, Lee, Kwang Du
• Granted Patent: US 9,176,551 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 320/108
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/26 Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof for memories G11C
• 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: H04B 5/263 Multiple coils at either side
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/79 for data transfer in combination with power transfer

Abstract

Provided are an apparatus and a method for transmitting wireless power. According to an embodiment of the present invention, a wireless power transmission apparatus includes: a switching block receiving distributed power signals and delivering the power signals as periodical preamble signals that make a detour around a power amplification and transmission block or delivering the power signals to the power amplification and transmission block; the power amplification and transmission block amplifying the power signals and transmitting the power signals to a coil array block; a sensing block detecting the preamble signals on the respective paths that are delivered to the coil array block, and sensing changes in the preamble signals according to whether wireless power receiving apparatuses appear; and a power distribution and control block controlling the switching block according to sensing results to transmit the power signals to the power amplification and transmission block.

Claims

1. A wireless power transmission apparatus, comprising:

a switching block having a plurality of switches, receiving distributed power signals, and delivering the power signals as periodical preamble signals that make a detour around a power amplification and transmission block or delivering the power signals to the power amplification and transmission block in accordance with switching under control;

the power amplification and transmission block amplifying the power signals received through the switching block on respective paths and transmitting the amplified power signals to a coil array block;

a sensing block detecting the preamble signals on the respective paths that make a detour around the power amplification and transmission block and are delivered to the coil array block, and sensing changes in the preamble signals according to whether wireless power receiving apparatuses receiving the wireless power from the coil array block appear; and

a power distribution and control block controlling the preamble signals to be periodically transmitted to the respective paths through the switching block, and controlling the switching block, on the paths where the wireless power receiving apparatuses appear, according to sensing results received from the sensing block to transmit the power signals to the power amplification and transmission block.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a driving amplification block disposed between the power distribution and control block and the switching block for amplifying and transmitting the power signals distributed from the power distribution and control block.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a coil array block wirelessly transmitting, to the wireless power receiving apparatuses, the power signals received from the power amplification and transmission block and the received preamble signals that make a detour around the power amplification and transmission block.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the coil array block includes a plurality of transmission coils, and the transmission coils are electromagnetically coupled with reception coils of the wireless power receiving apparatuses on the respective paths to wirelessly transmit the power signals.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the power amplification and transmission block comprises:

a plurality of power amplifiers that amplify the power signals received through the switches of the switching block on the respective paths; and

a plurality of matching circuits that transmit, with a low loss, the signals amplified by the respective power amplifiers to the coil array block through the respective paths.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the power distribution and control block includes:

a power distributor that distributes powers of a power source and transmits the powers to the switches of the switching block on the respective paths; and

a signal adjustment unit controlling the power signals distributed from the power distributor to be transmitted as the preamble signals that make a detour around the power amplification and transmission block through the switching block at the time of initially broadcasting the preamble signals, controlling the switches of the switching block, on the paths where the wireless power receiving apparatuses appear, to transmit the power signals distributed from the power distributor to the power amplification and transmission block through the corresponding paths in accordance with the sensing results received from the sensing block, and controlling the switches of the switching block, on the paths where the wireless power receiving apparatuses do not appear, to prevent the power signals from being transmitted to the power amplification and transmission block through the corresponding paths.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the signal adjustment unit switches to a wireless power transmission mode by turning on the switches for power input of the switching block on the paths where the wireless power receiving apparatuses appear and a bias power source for power amplification of the power amplification and transmission block, and maintains a sleep mode by turning off the switches for power input of the switching block on the paths where the wireless power receiving apparatuses do not appear and the bias power source for power amplification of the power amplification and transmission block, in accordance with the sensing results from the broadcast preamble signals.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the signal adjustment unit controls the preamble signals to make a detour around the power amplification and transmission block through the switching block and to be transmitted while keeping the switches for power input of the switching block on the paths where the wireless power receiving apparatuses do not appear in an off state in accordance with the sensing results from the broadcast preamble signals.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the sensing block is disposed on each path that are common to the paths of the preamble signals that make a detour around the power amplification and transmission block and are delivered to the coil array block and the paths of the power signals that are amplified by the power amplification and transmission block and delivered to the coil array block, and detects the changes in preamble signals or power signals delivered to the coil array block on the respective paths, and

the signal adjustment unit determines the charge progress state of the wireless power receiving apparatuses on the corresponding paths in accordance with the changes in power signals detected by the sensing block with respect to the paths switched to the wireless power transmission mode, and switches to the sleep mode by turning off the switches for power input of the switching block on the corresponding paths and the bias power source for power amplification of the power amplification and transmission block at the time of charge completion.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the signal adjustment unit assigns temporary identifiers (IDs) to the coil array block, determines the sensing results of the broadcast preamble signals for each of the temporary IDs and controls a display apparatus to display whether the mode needs to be switched to the wireless mode transmission mode, and controls the display apparatus to display the reception state or charge progress state of the wireless power receiving apparatuses in accordance with the sensing results for each of the temporary IDs with respect to the paths switched to the wireless power transmission mode.

11. A method of transmitting wireless power, comprising:

(a) inputting, under control, distributed power signals to a switching block having a plurality of switches, and transmitting the power signals as periodical preamble signals on detour paths that make a detour around power amplification paths;

(b) detecting the preamble signals that are delivered to a coil array block having transmission coils for wireless power transmission through the detour paths, and sensing changes in preamble signals in accordance with whether wireless power receiving apparatuses receiving the wireless power from the coil array block appear;

(c) controlling the switching block on the paths where wireless power receiving apparatuses appear, in accordance with the changes in sensed preamble signals, transmitting the power signals input to the switching block to the power amplification paths, amplifying the power signals on the power amplification paths, and transmitting the amplified power signals to the coil array block; and

(d) performing, by the coil array block, wireless power transmission.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

driving-amplifying the power signals before the power signals are input to the switches of the switching block in (a) and (c).

13. The method of claim 11, wherein amplifying and transmitting the power signals in (c) includes:

(c-1) amplifying, by power amplifiers on the respective paths, the power signals transmitted from the switches of the switching block on the respective paths to the power amplification paths; and

(c-2) transmitting the amplified signals with a low loss to the coil array block through matching circuits on the respective paths.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

(a-0) transmitting the power signals distributed from a power source to the switches of the switching block on the respective paths,

wherein (c) includes;

(c1) controlling the switches of the switching block, on the paths where the wireless power receiving apparatuses appear, to transmit the power signals to the power amplification paths through the corresponding paths, in accordance with the changes in sensed preamble signals; and

(c2) controlling the switches of the switching block, on the paths where the wireless power receiving apparatuses do not appear, to prevent the power signals from being transmitted to the power amplification paths, in accordance with the changes in sensed preamble signals.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein in (c1), a mode is switched to a wireless power transmission mode by turning on the switches for power input of the switching block on the paths where the wireless power receiving apparatuses appear and a bias power source for power amplification on the power amplification paths, and

in (c2), a sleep mode is maintained by turning off the switches for power input of the switching block on the paths where the wireless power receiving apparatuses do not appear and the bias power source for power amplification on the power amplification paths.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein in (c2), the switches for power input of the switching block on the paths where the wireless power receiving apparatuses do not appear are kept in an off state while the preamble signals make a detour around the power amplification paths through the switching block and are transmitted.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein (c1) includes:

with respect to the paths switched to the wireless power transmission mode,

(c1-a) inputting the distributed power signals to the switching block having the switches and transmitting the power signals to the power amplification paths in accordance with switching to the wireless power transmission mode;

(c1-b) detecting the power signals delivered to the coil array block having the transmission coils through the power amplification paths, and sensing the changes in power signals in accordance with the reception state of the wireless power receiving apparatuses receiving the wireless power from the coil array block on the corresponding paths; and

(c1-c) determining the charge progress state of the wireless power receiving apparatuses on the corresponding paths in accordance with the changes in sensed power signals, and switching to the sleep mode by turning off the switches for power input of the switching block on the corresponding paths and the bias power source for power amplification on the power amplification paths at the time of charge completion.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein in (c), the sensing results of the broadcast preamble signals for each of temporary IDs assigned to the coil array block are determined to display whether the mode needs to be switched to the wireless power transmission mode in (c1), and the reception state or charge progress state of the wireless power receiving apparatuses according to the changes in sensed power signals for each of the temporary IDs in (c1-c) is displayed with respect to the paths switched to the wireless power transmission mode in (c1).