Charging device for a portable device in a motor vehicle

• US 9,831,708 B2
• Filed: 05/02/2013
• Issued: 11/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Continental Automotive GmbH (Continental AG)
• Original Assignee: Continental Automotive GmbH (Continental AG)
• Inventors: Froitzheim, Herbert
• Primary Examiner(s): Dinh, Paul
• Application Number:
  US14/398,986
• Publication Number:
  US 20150091513A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,671 Days
• Field of Search: 320108, 320114, 320137-139
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/12 of the resonant type
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/60 responsive to the presence of foreign objects, e.g. detection of living beings
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00712 the cycle being controlled or terminated in response to electric parameters

Abstract

A charging device for a portable device, e.g., in a motor vehicle, includes a resonant circuit, controllable by a trigger device, for inductive transmission of energy to the portable device, wherein the trigger device is designed such that the curve shape of the excitation for the resonant circuit is generated based on an operating state of the charging device.

Claims

1. A charger for a portable device deployed in a motor vehicle, the charger comprising:

a resonant circuit configured to inductively transmit energy from the motor vehicle to the portable device; and

an actuation apparatus configured to control the resonant circuit, wherein the actuation apparatus provides input to the resonant circuit with a curve shape selected from a set of predetermined shapes, a particular curve shape chosen from the set of predetermined shapes based at least in part on an operating state of the motor vehicle;

each particular curve shape in the set of predetermined shapes defined differently from the other shapes by more than amplitude and frequency.

2. The charging device of claim 1, wherein a curve shape of the excitation of the resonant circuit in a first operating state is different than a curve shape of the excitation of the resonant circuit in a second operating state based on a power loss occurring in the actuation apparatus.

3. The charging device of claim 1, wherein in a first operating state the selected curve shape is a square-wave oscillation for the excitation of the resonant circuit.

4. The charging device of claim 3, wherein the first operating state comprises at least one of:

charging an energy store of the portable device, during which an energy content of the energy store is increased; and

charging the energy store of the portable device while an ignition of the vehicle is switched off.

5. The charging device of claim 2, wherein in a second operating state the curve shape is a sinusoidal oscillation or a trapezoidal oscillation for the excitation of the resonant circuit.

6. The charging device of claim 5, wherein the second operating state comprises at least one of:

charging an energy store of the portable device, during which the energy which is extracted from the energy store is obtained;

charging with charging pulses;

charging with an interval between two charging phases; and

charging the energy store of the portable device, during which an energy content of the energy store is increased, as long as a power loss limit of the actuation apparatus has not yet been reached.

7. The charging device of claim 1, wherein the actuation apparatus switches over from a first operating state to a second operating state in response to reaching a power loss limit of the actuation apparatus.

8. The charging device of claim 1, wherein the actuation apparatus switches over from a first operating state to a second operating state in response to reaching a predefined state of change of an energy store of the portable device.

9. The charging device of claim 1, wherein the actuation apparatus is configured such that an amplitude of the excitation in a first operating state is reduced compared to an amplitude of the excitation of the second operating state.

10. The charging device of claim 1, wherein the actuation apparatus is configured such that in a first operating state a time interval up to an interrogation regarding at least one of the presence of the portable device near the charging device and a state of an energy store of the portable device is increased compared to a second operating state.

11. A method for charging a portable device using an energy store associated with a motor vehicle, the method comprising:

inductively transmitting energy to the portable device from the motor vehicle with a charger, and

selecting a particular curve shape of an excitation provided as input to a resonant circuit of the charger from a set of predetermined curve shapes, the particular curve shape selected from the set of predetermined curve shapes based at least in part on an operating state of the motor vehicle,

each shape in the set of predetermined shapes defined differently from the other shapes by more than amplitude and frequency.

12. The method of claim 11, comprising controlling the resonant circuit such that the curve shapes of the excitation of the resonant circuit is different in a first operating state than in a second operating state based on a power loss occurring in the actuation apparatus.

13. The method of claim 11, comprising using a square-wave oscillation as the curve shape for the excitation of the resonant circuit in a first operating state.

14. The method of claim 13, comprising using a sinusoidal oscillation or a trapezoidal oscillation as the curve shape for the excitation of the resonant circuit in a second operating state.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising switching over from a first operating state to a second operating state in response to reaching a power loss limit of the actuation apparatus.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising switching over from a first operating state to a second operating state in response to reaching a predefined state of charge of an energy store of the portable device.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein an amplitude of the excitation is reduced in a second operating state compared to an amplitude of the excitation in a second operating state.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein in a first operating state a time interval up to the interrogation regarding at least one of the presence of the portable device near the charging device and a state of an energy store of the portable device is increased compared to a second operating state.