ELECTRICAL ENERGY TRANSFER

• US 20160285314A1
• Filed: 11/07/2014
• Published: 09/29/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/08/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Arindam Phani, Charles William Van Neste, John Errington Hawk, Jonathan Backs, Nurichi Guseynov, Richard Hull, Thomas George Thundat
• Original Assignee: The Governors of the University of Alberta (University of Alberta)
• Inventors: VAN NESTE, Charles William, THUNDAT, Thomas George, HAWK, John Errington, HULL, Richard, BACKS, Jonathan, GUSEYNOV, Nurichi, PHANI, Arindam
• Granted Patent: US 10,622,839 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 50/00 Circuit arrangements or systems for wireless supply or distribution of electric power
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/05 using capacitive coupling
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/12 of the resonant type
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/40 using two or more transmitting or receiving devices H02J50/50 takes precedence

Abstract

An electrical source excites a conductive object. A receiver is electrically connected to the object to receive energy from the object, and can power a device. The object can be non-resonant under excitation by the source, and the receiver is excited into resonance by electrical contact with the object. The object can also be resonant under the excitation by the source, and the receiver receives energy from the resonance of the object.

Claims

1. A receiver for receiving energy from a conductive object having a changing electrical voltage, a first end of the receiver being configured to be placed into electrical connection to the object and the receiver having an inductance and stray capacitance configured to be excited into resonance by the electrical connection to the object and to generate via the resonance a voltage within the receiver larger than the voltage of the object;

and the receiver being configured to connect to a device to power the device using the resonance of the receiver.

2. The receiver of claim 1 in which the receiver has a connection for connecting to the device, the connection comprises a first electrical junction and second electrical junction for connecting the device between the first and second junctions.

3. The receiver of claim 2 in which at least a portion of the inductance of the receiver is disposed between the first and second electrical junctions.

4. The receiver of claim 3 in which at a frequency of the resonance the impedance of the portion of the inductance disposed between the first electrical junction and the second electrical junction functionally matches an impedance of a load provided by the device when the device is connected between the first and second junctions.

5. The receiver of claim 3 or claim 4 in which the first junction is located at the first end of the receiver and the second junction is located at a position intermediate the first end and a second end of the receiver.

6. The receiver of claim 3 or claim 4 in which the first junction is located at a position intermediate the first end and a second end of the receiver and the second junction is located at the second end of the receiver.

7. The receiver of claim 3 or claim 4 in which the first junction and the second junction are each located intermediate the first end and a second end of the receiver.

8. The receiver of claim 3 or claim 4 in which the first junction is located at the first end of the receiver and the second junction is located at a second end of the receiver.

9. The receiver of claim 2 in which the connection for connecting to a device is in series with the inductance of the receiver.

10. The receiver of claim 1 in which the receiver is configured to emit a magnetic field to couple to a magnetic coupling element connected to the device and to transmit energy from the receiver to the magnetic coupling element through the magnetic field coupling to power the device.

11. The receiver of claim 1 in which the receiver is configured to emit an electric field to couple to an electrostatic coupling element connected to the device and to transmit energy from the receiver to the electrostatic coupling element through the electric field coupling to power the device.

12. The receiver of any one of claims 1-11 in which the receiver comprises a coil.

13. The receiver of any one of claims 1-12 in which the receiver is configured to be movable over at least a portion of the conductive object.

14. The receiver of claim 13 in which the receiver is configured to be at least intermittently in electrical connection to the object when in motion over the at least a portion of the conductive object.

15. The receiver of any one of claims 1-14 in which the receiver is configured to be placed into electrical connection to the object capacitively through a dielectric separating the receiver from at least a portion of the object.

16. An electrical energy source configured to supply a changing electrical voltage to a conductive object to excite into resonance a receiver as claimed in any one of claims 1-15 connected to the object.

17. The energy source of claim 16 configured to supply a changing electrical voltage to the object at multiple frequencies to excite into resonance multiple receivers as claimed in any one of claims 1-15 connected to the object.

18. The energy source of claim 16 configured to supply the multiple frequencies sequentially.

19. The energy source of claim 16 configured to supply the multiple frequencies simultaneously.

20. A system for identifying an object, comprising:

an energy source as claimed in any one of claims 17-19 for supplying energy to the object;

multiple receivers as claimed in any one of claims 1-15 for receiving energy from the object;

one or more measuring devices connected to the multiple receivers to measure a parameter of at least a portion of the electrical energy received by each receiver; and

a processor configured to receive the measured parameters from the one or more measuring devices to create a measured profile and to compare the measured profile to a stored profile to identify the object.

21. The system of claim 20 in which the receivers are connected to an electronic device and the electronic device is configured to turn on conditional to the profile matching the stored profile.

22. The system of claim 20 in which the receivers receive electrical energy from the resonance at multiple frequencies and deliver the received energy to at least one connected electronic device.

23. The system of claim 20 in which the receivers are connected to an electronic device and the electronic device is configured to turn on conditional to the profile matching the stored profile, and the receivers receive electrical energy from the resonance at multiple frequencies and deliver the received energy to the electronic device.

24. A method for transmitting electrical energy, comprising:

supplying electrical energy to a first portion of a conductive object having an accumulative spatial distribution of self-inductance and an accumulative spatial distribution of stray capacitance to excite at least a second portion of the object into resonance to produce an electrical standing wave around at least the second portion of the object, the resonance being dependent on the accumulative spatial distribution of self-inductance and the accumulative spatial distribution of self-capacitance; and

obtaining electrical energy from the electrical standing wave at a receiver connected to a location at the second portion of the object.

27. The method of any one of claims 24-26 in which the receiver is put into resonance from the received electrical energy around the surface of the object.

28. The method of any one of claims 24-26 in which the receiver comprises a connector to connect the device to receive energy directly from the object.

29. The method of any one of claims 24-26 in which the receiver comprises a pair of connectors to connect the device to a pair of locations on the object to receive energy directly from the object.

30. The method of any one of claims 24-27 in which the second portion of the object is magnetically coupled to the receiver.

31. The method of any one of claims 24-28 in which the second portion of the object is capacitively coupled to the receiver.

32. The method of any one of claims 24-31 in which the resonance comprises multiple frequencies.

33. The method of any one of claims 24-32 further comprising obtaining electrical energy from the resonance of the object at one or more additional receivers each located at respective additional locations at the object.

34. The method of claim 33 in which the receiver connected to the location at the second portion receives electrical energy at a first frequency, and each additional receiver at a respective additional location receives electrical energy at a different respective frequency, and the source is configured to supply electrical energy at the first frequency and each of the different respective frequencies simultaneously.

35. The method of claim 33 in which the receiver connected to the location at the second portion receives electrical energy at a first frequency, and each additional receiver at a respective additional location receives electrical energy at a different respective frequency, and the source is configured to supply electrical energy at one frequency at a time, and to supply electrical energy at each of the different respective frequencies in turn.

36. The method of any one of claims 24-35 in which at least one receiver is mobile over at least a section of the object.

25. A method for transmitting electrical energy, comprising:

supplying electrical energy to a first portion of a conductive object by connecting the first portion of the conductive object into a circuit supplying a changing electrical current through the first portion of the conductive object, the object having a self-inductance and stray capacitance, the supply of changing electrical current through the first portion of the conductive object exciting the self-inductance and stray capacitance into resonance, the resonance including a changing electrical current or voltage at a second portion of the object, and

obtaining electrical energy from the resonance at a receiver connected to a location at the second portion of the object.

26. The method of claim 25 in which the self-inductance has an accumulative spatial distribution and the self-capacitance has an accumulative spatial distribution;

and the resonance is dependent on the accumulative spatial distribution of self-inductance and the accumulative spatial distribution of self-capacitance and produces a standing wave around at least the second portion of the object.