Mobile terminal charger and vehicle equipped with same

• US 9,859,730 B2
• Filed: 11/24/2015
• Issued: 01/02/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/13/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Automotive Systems Company of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Tojo, Yuki
• Primary Examiner(s): Williams, Arun
• Application Number:
  US14/950,974
• Publication Number:
  US 20160079782A1
• Time in Patent Office: 770 Days
• Field of Search: 320108
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/10 using inductive coupling
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/90 involving detection or optimisation of position, e.g. alignment
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0044 specially adapted for holding portable devices containing batteries H02J7/0045 takes precedence

Abstract

In control means (10), a position of a mobile terminal (15) on an upper surface of a mobile terminal installation plate (6) is detected a plurality of times by a position detection coil (14) used as detection means, and when a previous detected position and a subsequent (referred to as next) detected position are the same, a charging coil (8) is moved by motors (28), (33) used as driving means to a charging position opposed to the previous detected position or the next detected position detected by the position detection coil (14), and the charging is then started.

Claims

1. A mobile terminal charger comprising:

a body case with a mobile terminal installation plate disposed in an upper surface of the body case;

a detector that detects a position of a mobile terminal installed on an upper surface of the mobile terminal installation plate;

a charging coil disposed movably and facing to a lower surface of the mobile terminal installation plate inside the body case;

a driver that moves the charging coil facing to the lower surface of the mobile terminal installation plate; and

a controller connected to the driver and the charging coil,

wherein the controller causes the detector to detect the position of the mobile terminal on the upper surface of the mobile terminal installation plate a plurality of times, and causes the driver to move the charging coil to a charging position opposed to a previous detected position or a subsequent detected position detected by the detector when the previous detected position and the subsequent detected position are the same, and then starts the charging, and

wherein the detector is formed of a plurality of detection coils, and the controller moves a central point of the charging coil to a standby position set to a portion deviated from respective central points of the plurality of detection coils when the charging of the mobile terminal by the charging coil ends, or when the charging is interrupted.

2. The mobile terminal charger according to claim 1, wherein a supporting leg is provided under the charging coil, and a gap is provided between a lower surface of the supporting leg and an upper surface of a supporting plate disposed under the supporting leg.

3. The mobile terminal charger according to claim 1, wherein the controller moves the charging coil from the standby position after the detector specifies the position of the mobile terminal.

4. A vehicle in which the mobile terminal charger according to claim 1 is disposed in an interior of the vehicle.

5. The mobile terminal charger according to claim 1, wherein when the previous detected position and the subsequent detected position are different, the position of the mobile terminal is again detected.