Charging mechanism with ground contact and non-contact coupling

• US 9,368,998 B2
• Filed: 10/26/2012
• Issued: 06/14/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Calkins, Willis, Gummalla, Ajay Chandra Venkata
• Primary Examiner(s): BOATENG, ALEXIS ASIEDUA
• Application Number:
  US13/661,875
• Publication Number:
  US 20150249358A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,327 Days
• Field of Search: 320/108, 320/109, 320/114, 320/107, 320/115, 320/112, 320/137, 320/139, 320/110, 320/111, 320/113, 320/134, 320/103, 320/106, 320/128, 320/136, 320/138, 320/157, 320/162, 307/104
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/05 using capacitive coupling
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/10 using inductive coupling
• 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 7/007 Regulation of charging or discharging current or voltage
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/04 Regulation of charging current or voltage

Abstract

The embodiments provide a device including an enclosure having circuitry associated with the device and a battery configured to power the circuitry, and a power plug receiving unit configured to receive a power plug of a power charger to charge the battery. The power plug receiving unit includes a ground contact that is exposed through the enclosure for contact with a secondary ground contact of the power plug, and an active electrode configured to receive alternating current (AC) energy from the power charger for charging the battery or powering the circuitry via non-contact coupling.

Claims

1. A device comprising:

an enclosure having circuitry associated with the device and a battery configured to power the circuitry; and

a power plug receiving unit configured to receive a power plug of a power charger to charge the battery, the power plug receiving unit including a ground contact that is exposed through the enclosure for contact with a secondary ground contact of the power plug such that the ground contract and the secondary ground contact, when coupled, create a ground return, an active electrode configured to receive alternating current (AC) energy from the power charger for charging the battery or powering the circuitry via non-contact coupling, and a dielectric material disposed between the active electrode and the ground contact such that the ground contact is electrically isolated from the active electrode.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the non-contact coupling includes capacitance coupling or inductive coupling.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the device is a laptop computer having a display portion rotatably coupled to a base portion, and the power plug receiving unit is disposed on a side portion of the base portion.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the power plug receiving unit includes an inner circular portion and an outer circular portion, the inner circular portion including the ground contact, and the outer circular portion including the active electrode.

5. The device of claim 4, wherein the inner circular portion and the outer circular portion are separated by the dielectric material.

6. The device of claim 1, further comprising:

a rectification unit configured to convert the AC energy to direct current (DC) energy.

7. The device of claim 6, wherein the rectification unit includes:

a down transformer configured to downscale the AC energy;

a rectifier configured to convert the downscaled AC energy to DC energy; and

a DC-to-DC converter configured to generate a plurality of DC energy levels based on the DC energy.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein the active electrode is configured to transfer a portion of the AC energy to a near field communication (NFC) antenna of a mobile device such that the battery of the device and a battery of the mobile device is simultaneously changed.

9. The device of claim 1, further comprising:

a power charging negotiator configured to determine power requirements of the device; and

a communication antenna configured to wirelessly transmit the power requirements of the device to the power charger, wherein the device receives a level of AC energy according to the determined power requirements.

10. The device of claim 1, further comprising:

an antenna configured to wirelessly transmit at least one of video data and audio data to the power charger.

11. The device of claim 1, wherein the ground contact includes a magnetic ground pad.

12. The device of claim 1, wherein the active electrode completely surrounds the ground contact.

13. The device of claim 1, wherein the active electrode is concealed by the housing and the ground contact is exposed through the housing.

14. A device comprising:

an enclosure having circuitry associated with the device and a battery configured to power the circuitry; and

a power plug receiving unit configured to receive a power plug of a power charger to charge the battery, the power plug receiving unit including;

a ground contact that is exposed through the enclosure for contact with a ground contact of the power plug such that the ground contract and the secondary ground contact, when coupled, create a ground return;

an active electrode configured to receive alternating current (AC) energy from the power charger for charging the battery or powering the circuitry via non-contact coupling;

a dielectric material disposed between the active electrode and the ground contact such that the ground contact is electrically isolated from the active electrode; and

at least one antenna configured to wirelessly communicate with the power charger, the at least one antenna being configured to transmit power requirement information of the device to the power charger such that the device receives AC energy according to the power requirement information.

15. The device of claim 14, wherein the non-contact coupling includes capacitance coupling.

16. The device of claim 14, wherein the non-contact coupling includes inductive coupling.

17. The device of claim 14, wherein the at least one antenna is configured to transmit video and audio data to the power charger.