POWER FEED DEVICE, POWER RECEPTION DEVICE AND POWER FEED METHOD

• US 20160141919A1
• Filed: 06/23/2014
• Published: 05/19/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/01/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Automotive Systems Company of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: OHASHI, OSAMU, NISHIO, TSUYOSHI, ASAOKA, NORIAKI, KOIZUMI, MASAYOSHI
• Granted Patent: US 10,008,883 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2270/147 electro magnetic [EMI]
• 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: B60L 53/62 in response to charging parameters, e.g. current, voltage or electrical charge
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/48 for electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV]
• 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 50/90 involving detection or optimisation of position, e.g. alignment
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00034 Charger exchanging data with an electronic device, i.e. telephone, whose internal battery is under charge
• 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 10/92 Energy efficient charging or discharging systems for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors specially adapted for vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/12 Electric charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/14 Plug-in electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/16 Information or communication technologies improving the operation of electric vehicles

Abstract

Power feed device (100) supplies power to storage battery (152) mounted on vehicle (150), through power receiving unit (154) of vehicle (150). Power supply unit (104) performs preliminary supply to power receiving unit (154) while sequentially changing a frequency, and performs main supply with power larger than in the preliminary supply. Power supply-side controller (103) acquires frequency characteristics associated with power supply coil (104a), and specifies a resonance frequency based on the acquired frequency characteristics. Power supply-side controller (103) determines whether or not to supply power to power reception coil (154a) based on a frequency difference between resonance frequencies.

Claims

1. A power feed device that supplies power to an external power reception coil, by using electromagnetic action, the power feed device comprising:

a power supply coil that supplies power by using the electromagnetic action;

a frequency characteristic acquisition unit that acquires frequency characteristics associated with the power supply coil;

a resonance frequency specifying unit that specifies a plurality of resonance frequencies, based on the frequency characteristics; and

a power supply controller that determines whether or not to supply power to the power reception coil, based on a frequency difference between the plurality of resonance frequencies.

2. The power feed device of claim 1,

wherein when the number of resonance frequencies is two, if the frequency difference between the resonance frequencies is a threshold or more, the controller determines to supply power to the power reception coil.

3. The power feed device of claim 1,

wherein when the number of resonance frequencies is two, if a frequency difference between a frequency, at which the power supply coil resonates in a state without a power reception coil, and any of the resonance frequencies is a threshold or more, the controller determines to supply power to the power reception coil.

4. The power feed device of claim 1,

wherein when the number of resonance frequencies is three or more, if a frequency difference between any two resonance frequencies is a threshold or more, the controller determines to supply power to the power reception coil.

5. The power feed device of claim 1,

wherein the power reception coil is mounted on a vehicle,

wherein the power feed device supplies power to a storage battery mounted on the vehicle, and

wherein the power supply controller acquires a residual capacity of the storage battery from the vehicle, corrects the frequency difference between the resonance frequencies based on the residual capacity, and determines whether or not to supply power to the power reception coil.

6. The power feed device of claim 1,

wherein the resonance frequency specifying unit acquires reception power information including a value of reception power of the power reception coil from an outside, and specifies a resonance frequency of the power supply coil, based on a value of supplying power of the power supply coil and the reception power information.

7. The power feed device of claim 1,

wherein the resonance frequency specifying unit specifies a frequency with a maximum value, among the frequency characteristics, as a resonance frequency.

8. The power feed device of claim 1, further comprising:

a power supply unit that supplies an alternating current (AC) power to the power supply coil, while varying a drive frequency,

wherein the frequency characteristic acquisition unit acquires frequency characteristics of a current value associated with a current flowing through the power supply coil, or frequency characteristics of a voltage value associated with a voltage applied to the power supply coil, at a time when receiving the supplied AC power, as frequency characteristics associated with the power supply coil.

9. The power feed device of claim 8, wherein the current value associated with the current flowing through the power supply coil is a value of a current flowing to the power supply coil, an input current value of an AC/DC converter that converts an electrical energy supplied from an external AC power source into a direct current (DC) electrical energy, and supplies the DC electrical energy to the power supply unit, or an output current value of the AC/DC converter.

10. The power feed device of claim 8, wherein the voltage value associated with the voltage applied to the power supply coil is a voltage value of the power supply coil, or an output voltage value of an AC/DC converter that converts an electrical energy supplied from an external AC power source into a DC electrical energy, and supplies the DC electrical energy to the power supply unit.

11. A power reception device to which power is supplied from an external power supply coil, by using electromagnetic action, the power reception device comprising:

a power reception coil to which power is supplied from the power supply coil by using the electromagnetic action;

a frequency characteristic acquisition unit that acquires frequency characteristics of power supply efficiency between the power supply coil and the power reception coil;

a resonance frequency specifying unit that specifies a resonance frequency based on the frequency characteristics; and

a power supply permission determination unit that determines whether or not to permit power supply from the power supply coil to the power reception coil, based on a frequency difference between the resonance frequencies.

12. A power feed method of supplying power to an external power reception coil, by using electromagnetic action, the power feed method comprising:

a power supplying step of supplying power to a power supply coil by using the electromagnetic action;

a frequency characteristic acquisition step of acquiring frequency characteristics associated with the power supply coil to which power is supplied;

a resonance frequency specifying step of specifying a resonance frequency, based on the acquired frequency characteristics; and

a determination step of determining whether or not to supply power to the power reception coil, based on a frequency difference between the resonance frequencies.

13. The power feed method of claim 12, wherein in the determination step, when the number of resonance frequencies is two, if the frequency difference between the resonance frequencies is a threshold or more, it is determined to supply power to the power reception coil.