WAVEGUIDE HOUSING CHANNELS FOR WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS

• US 20180041070A1
• Filed: 08/04/2016
• Published: 02/08/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Texas Instruments, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Texas Instruments, Inc.
• Inventors: MUENSTER, RALF J., DJABBARI, ALI, HERBSOMMER, JUAN ALEJANDRO
• Granted Patent: US 10,658,868 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/4207 for several batteries or cells simultaneously or sequentially
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/425 Structural combination with electronic components, e.g. electronic circuits integrated to the outside of the casing printed circuits H05K1/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 2010/4278 Systems for data transfer from batteries, e.g. transfer of battery parameters to a controller, data transferred between battery controller and main controller
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 50/202 Casings or frames around the primary casing of a single cell or a single battery
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 50/209 adapted for prismatic or rectangular cells H01M50/216 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 50/284 with incorporated circuit boards, e.g. printed circuit boards [PCB]
• CPC Class Codes: H01P 11/002 Manufacturing hollow waveguides
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 13/00 Circuit arrangements for providing remote indication of network conditions, e.g. an instantaneous record of the open or closed condition of each circuitbreaker in the network; Circuit arrangements for providing remote control of switching means in a power distribution network, e.g. switching in and out of current consumers by using a pulse code signal carried by the network
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00302 Overcharge protection
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00306 Overdischarge protection
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0031 using battery or load disconnect circuits H02J9/002 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/10 Energy storage using batteries

Abstract

An apparatus includes a housing for an electronic circuit. The housing includes at least three planes that form a structure to house the electronic circuit. At least one channel is formed along at least one of the three planes to provide a waveguide in the housing for wireless communications. A wireless communications module communicates via the waveguide to control the electronic circuit enclosed in the housing.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a housing for an electronic circuit, the housing includes at least three planes that form a structure to house the electronic circuit, at least one channel is formed along at least one of the three planes to provide a waveguide in the housing for wireless communications; and

a wireless communications module to communicate via the waveguide to control the electronic circuit enclosed in the housing.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wherein the electronic circuit includes a battery pack that is housed in the housing.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the wireless communications module sends a control command to connect or disconnect the battery pack from a charging power source.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the wireless communications module receives the control command from a host system that communicates via the waveguide.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the channel is formed having an X dimension and a Y dimension that is corrugated along at least two of the three planes.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the X dimension is about 0.148 inches to about 0.02 inches and the Y dimension is about 0.074 inches to about 0.01 inches that provides a frequency range of about 50 to about 500 Giga Hertz for the waveguide.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the channel is a partial channel that forms a rectangular waveguide with at least one other housing.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the channel is a rectangular appendage or a circular tube that is fastened to the housing to form the waveguide.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the channel is formed along a first waveguide portion of a given plane and coupled via a circuit to another waveguide portion of the given plane.

10. A system, comprising:

a first housing for a first electronic circuit, the first housing includes at least three planes that form a first structure to house the first electronic circuit, at least one channel is formed along at least one of the three planes of the first housing to provide a waveguide in the first housing for wireless communications;

a second housing for a second electronic circuit, the second housing includes at least three planes that form a structure to house the second electronic circuit, at least one channel is formed along at least one of the three planes of the second housing to provide a waveguide in the second housing for wireless communications, the waveguide in the first housing is operatively coupled to the waveguide in the second housing to form a wireless communications network between the first and the second housing; and

a host system to send control commands to the first electronic circuit of the first housing and the second electronic circuit of the second housing over the wireless network formed between the first and second housing.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the wherein each of the first and second electronic circuit includes a battery pack that is enclosed in each of the first and second housing.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising a first and second wireless communications module coupled to each of the first and the second electronic circuits respectively, to send a control command to connect or disconnect the respective battery pack from a charging power source.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the first and second wireless communications modules receives the control command from the host system that communicates via the waveguide.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the at least one channel in each of the first housing and the second housing is a partial channel that forms a rectangular waveguide between the first and second housing.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the channel in the first or second housing is a rectangular appendage or a circular tube that is fastened to the housing to form the waveguide.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the channel is formed across a first waveguide portion of a given plane and coupled via a circuit to another waveguide portion of the given plane.

17. A method comprising:

constructing a housing for an electronic circuit that includes at least three planes to house the electronic circuit;

forming at least one channel in at least one of the three planes to provide a waveguide in the housing for wireless communications; and

coupling the electronic circuit in the housing to a wireless module that communicates to the waveguide.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the wherein the electronic circuit includes a battery pack that is housed in the housing.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising sending a control command to connect or disconnect the battery pack from a charging power source.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising receiving the control command from a host system that communicates via the waveguide.