Contactless electricity-supplying device

• US 9,130,388 B2
• Filed: 11/12/2010
• Issued: 09/08/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/21/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Matsui, Ryoji, Fujita, Toshiyuki, Kambara, Hironori, Ozaki, Masayoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhang, Jue
• Assistant Examiner(s): Jackson, Lakaisha
• Application Number:
  US13/574,312
• Publication Number:
  US 20120314465A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,761 Days
• Field of Search: 363/67, 363/69, 363/70, 363/84, 363/89, 307/104, 320/108
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/10 using inductive coupling
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 3/1584 with a plurality of power processing stages connected in parallel
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 3/33576 having at least one active switching element at the secondary side of an isolation transformer
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 3/33592 having a synchronous rectifier circuit or a synchronous freewheeling circuit at the secondary side of an isolation transformer

Abstract

There is provided a contactless electricity-supplying device that can safely and efficiently supply power to a load.

A contactless electricity-supplying device includes a plurality of electricity-supplying coils; a DC/AC converter that converts an output voltage from a DC supplying unit into an AC voltage to be applied to each electricity-supplying coils; a plurality of electricity-receiving coils selectively and detachably mounted on positions where the electricity-receiving coils are electromagnetically coupled to the electricity-supplying coils to receive AC voltages from the corresponding electricity-supplying coils in a contactless manner; a plurality of rectifying/smooth units that each convert an AC voltage output from each electricity-receiving coil into a DC voltage and smooth the DC voltage; a switching device that connects the DC voltages output from the rectifying/smoothing units to a single load; an electricity-reception detection sensor for detecting that the electricity-receiving coils receive the AC voltages from the corresponding electricity-supplying coils; and a control unit that turns on the switching device when it is detected that all of the electricity-receiving coils receive the AC voltages from the corresponding electricity-supplying coils.

Claims

1. A contactless electricity-supplying device comprising:

a plurality of electricity-supplying coils;

DC/AC converters that convert an output voltage from a DC supplying unit into AC voltages to be applied to the electricity-supplying coils;

at least two electricity-receiving coils selectively and detachably mounted in parallel on positions where the electricity-receiving coils are electromagnetically coupled to the electricity-supplying coils to receive AC voltages from the corresponding electricity-supplying coils in a contactless manner;

a plurality of rectifying/smooth units that each convert an AC voltage output from each electricity-receiving coil into a DC voltage and smooth the DC voltage;

a switching device that connects the DC voltages output from the rectifying/smoothing units to a single load;

electricity-reception detection sensors for detecting that the electricity-receiving coils receive the AC voltages from the corresponding electricity-supplying coils; and

a control unit that turns on the switching device when it is detected that all of the electricity-receiving coils receive the AC voltages from the corresponding electricity-supplying coils.

2. The contactless electricity-supplying device according to claim 1, wherein the electricity-reception detection sensor is a sensor for detecting whether or not a voltage is induced to each electricity-receiving coil from each corresponding electricity-supplying coil.

3. The contactless electricity-supplying device according to claim 1, further comprising a current balance resistance that is inserted between each of the rectifying/smoothing units and the load.

4. The contactless electricity-supplying device according to claim 1, wherein the DC/AC converters include individual converters that individually apply an AC voltage to the electricity-supplying coils, each individual converter comprising an attachment detection sensor for driving the corresponding individual converter when detecting that the electricity-receiving coil is mounted on a position to be electromagnetically coupled to the electricity-supplying coil.

5. The contactless electricity-supplying device according to claim 4, wherein each of the electricity-supplying coils and each of the DC/AC converters are accommodated in a socket unit, each of the electricity-receiving coils is accommodated in a plug unit, the socket unit is mounted in a recess formed on a wall of a building, and the plug unit is detachably inserted in the recess from a surface of the wall.

6. The contactless electricity-supplying device according to claim 1, wherein a power supplying circuit from the DC/AC converter to the rectifying/smoothing unit has a voltage drop characteristic.

7. The contactless electricity-supplying device according to claim 1, wherein each of the electricity-supplying coils and each of the electricity-receiving coils are wound around an electricity-supplying-side iron core and an electricity-receiving-side iron core, respectively.

8. The contactless electricity-supplying device according to claim 1, wherein the electricity-supplying coils include three electricity-supplying coils, and the electricity-receiving coils include three electricity-supplying coils.

9. The contactless electricity-supplying device according to claim 1, wherein the electricity-supplying coils include three electricity-supplying coils, and the electricity-receiving coils include two electricity-supplying coils.

10. The contactless electricity-supplying device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to turn on the switching device when it is detected that all of the electricity-receiving coils simultaneously receive the AC voltages from the corresponding electricity-supplying coils.

11. The contactless electricity-supplying device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to turn off the switching device and thereby not supply power to the load when the control unit detects that any one of the electricity-receiving coils to which the control unit is connected does not receive AC voltage from its corresponding electricity-supplying coil.