WIRELESS ENERGY TRANSFER ANTENNAS AND ENERGY CHARGING SYSTEMS

• US 20130265004A1
• Filed: 06/04/2013
• Published: 10/10/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/06/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toyota Chuo Kenkyusho (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Incorporated (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: IIZUKA, HIDEO, LEE, JAE SEUNG, SCHMALENBERG, PAUL DONALD, ROBERT, BRIAN JOSEPH
• Granted Patent: US 8,803,484 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 320/108
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/122 Circuits or methods for driving the primary coil, e.g. supplying electric power to the coil
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/126 Methods for pairing a vehicle and a charging station, e.g. establishing a one-to-one relation between a wireless power transmitter and a wireless power receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/10 using inductive coupling
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/12 of the resonant type
• 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 7/0044 specially adapted for holding portable devices containing batteries H02J7/0045 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0045 concerning the insertion or the connection of the batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/79 for data transfer in combination with power transfer
• 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

A resonant wireless energy transfer system comprises first and second antennas made up of dual parallel wire helixes wherein the wires are terminated by short wires. Voltage controlled variable capacitors are connected into the antennas to permit progressive variation between folded dipole and normal dipole operating modes such that optimum energy transfer can be achieved between the antennas over a wide range of antenna separation distances. A vehicle battery charging system using the above-described antennas is provided including an installation which allows purchase of battery charging power by members of the general public. In-vehicle energy transfer for sensors, computers, cell phones and the like is also described.

Claims

1. A wireless energy coupling system comprising:

a transmitting antenna disposed at a charging location and including a first helix of dual parallel wires; and

a receiving antenna associated with a transportable energy consuming device including a second helix of dual parallel wires;

each of said antennas being substantially identically configured;

said system further comprising means for varying the configurations of said antennas in concert between folded dipole and normal dipole configurations to achieve high efficiency energy transfer therebetween over a range of distances between said antennas.

2. A wireless energy coupling system as defined in claim 1 wherein said means includes first and second capacitor means connected to the first and second helixes, respectively, for selectively varying the distance of the maximum energy transfer efficiency between said transmitting and receiving antennas to produce a resonant coupling therebetween.

3. A wireless system as defined in claim 2 further including means for communicating capacitor setting values between the consuming device and the charging location such that the distance of the maximum energy transfer efficiency between the transmitting and receiving antennas can be varied together.

4. A wireless energy coupling system as defined in claim 2 wherein the capacitor means are selectively varied to produce resonant coupling of the transmitting and receiving antenna at different distances from one another.

5. A wireless energy coupling system as defined in claim 4 wherein the capacitor means are connected between the wires of the helixes so as to selectively progressively vary the antennas between normal dipole and folded dipole modes.

6. A wireless energy coupling system as defined in claim 5 wherein each antenna has a feed point defined by a pair of contacts, the first capacitor means comprises a first variable capacitor connected across the parallel wires at one contact, a second variable capacitor connected across the parallel wires at another contact, and a third variable capacitor connected between the first and second variable capacitors.

7. A wireless energy coupling system as defined in claim 6 wherein the second capacitor means comprises a first variable capacitor connected across parallel wires of the receiving antenna at one contact, a second variable capacitor connected across the parallel wires of the receiving antenna at the other contact, and a third variable capacitor connected between the first and second variable capacitors of the receiving antenna.

8. A wireless energy charging installation for installation on a vehicle having a rechargeable battery comprising:

a receiving antenna comprising a helix of dual, interconnected parallel wires; and

means for selectively tuning said antenna for resonant coupling for another, off-vehicle antenna;

wherein said means is capable of reconfiguring said antenna from a folded dipole to normal dipole configurations.

9. A wireless electrical power transfer system on-board an automotive vehicle comprising:

a power utilization device equipped with a receiving antenna to wirelessly receive power for operation; and

a transmitter antenna mounted in the vehicle for wirelessly transferring electrical power to said receiving antenna.

10. A system as defined in claim 9 wherein the device is selected from the group consisting of cell phones, tire pressure sensors, O₂ sensors, battery monitors and portable computers.

11. A method of charging a battery in a transportable power using device from a fixed power delivery location comprising the steps of:

(a) activating a transmitting antenna at the power delivery location at a low power level;

(b) testing to determine that power is being transferred from the delivery location antenna to a receiving antenna associated with the power using device; and

(c) upon determining that power is being transferred at or above a predetermined level, increasing the power level at the delivery location.

12. The method of claim 11 including the further step of actively configuring the transmitting and receiving antennas in concert to maximize power transfer by resonant coupling.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the antennas are of substantially identical configuration and are reconfigurable as between folded dipole configurations to accommodate differing distances between the antennas.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein the delivery location is a vehicle charging location placarded to designate vehicle location and having a user-initiated input device, and the power using device is a vehicle.