Method of and apparatus for generating an adjustable reactance

• US 10,319,517 B2
• Filed: 08/01/2017
• Issued: 06/11/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: InductEV Inc.
• Original Assignee: Momentum Dynamics Corporation
• Inventors: Long, Bruce Richard, Daga, Andrew William, Hackman, Daniel S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Barnie, Rexford N
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mourad, Rasem
• Application Number:
  US15/665,688
• Publication Number:
  US 20180053598A1
• Time in Patent Office: 679 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H01F 38/14 Inductive couplings for wireless supply or distribution of electric power using inductive coupling H02J50/10
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/10 using inductive coupling
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/12 of the resonant type
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/10 Technologies improving the efficiency by using switched-mode power supplies [SMPS], i.e. efficient power electronics conversion e.g. power factor correction or reduction of losses in power supplies or efficient standby modes
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/70 Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/7072 Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/14 Plug-in electric vehicles

Abstract

A method for adjusting reactance includes an adjustable reactance generator including a comparator receiving an input sinusoidal waveform and outputting a square wave that retains the frequency and phase of the applied sinusoidal waveform. The reactance adjustment is generated using a power switching circuit that receives the square wave from the comparator as a control signal and outputs a square wave that retains the frequency and phase of the applied sinusoidal voltage waveform, an adjustable power supply that adjusts the amplitude of the square wave output by the power switching circuit, and an amplitude detector that controls the output level of the adjustable power supply. The power switching circuit output, when converted to a sinusoid, provides the effect of an adjustable reactance.

Claims

1. An adjustable reactance generator, comprising:

a resonant air gap transfer transformer having a primary side resonant LC circuit and a secondary side resonant LC circuit;

a power generator that provides a first square wave through a first DC blocking capacitor and a first Thevenin inductor to a summing node of the primary side resonant LC circuit;

a reactance generator that provides a second square wave through a second DC blocking capacitor and a second Thevenin inductor to the summing node of the primary side resonant LC circuit, wherein phase and amplitude differences between said first square wave and said second square wave produce a current into the summing node of the primary side resonant LC circuit that provides an impedance to said resonant air gap transfer transformer that is adjusted by adjusting the phase and/or the magnitude of the first and second square waves; and

a rectifier-filter load circuit connected to said secondary side resonant LC circuit.

2. The adjustable reactance generator of claim 1, wherein the reactance generator comprises a voltage comparator that receives a voltage waveform at said summing node of the primary side resonant LC circuit and outputs a square wave on-off representation of the voltage at the summing node of the primary side resonant LC circuit, an inverter connected to an output of said voltage comparator, and a half bridge pair of power semiconductor switches respectively connected to an output of said voltage comparator and an output of said inverter.

3. The adjustable reactance generator of claim 2, wherein the power semiconductor switches comprise field effect transistors, bipolar transistors, insulated gate bipolar transistors, vacuum tubes, and/or photo-conductive switches.

4. The adjustable reactance generator of claim 2, wherein the magnitude of the second square wave is set by a controllable power supply that provides power to said second half bridge pair of power semiconductor switches.

5. The adjustable reactance generator of claim 4, wherein the controllable power supply comprises a controlled voltage source having an output voltage that is proportional to the amplitude of the voltage waveform at said summing node of the primary side resonant LC circuit.

6. The adjustable reactance generator of claim 5, wherein the proportionality of the output voltage of the power supply to the amplitude of the voltage waveform at said summing node of the primary side resonant LC circuit is 1/(1−

G), where G is gain of the reactance generator.

7. The adjustable reactance generator of claim 4, wherein the controllable power supply comprises a controlled current source having an output current that is proportional to the amplitude of the voltage waveform at said summing node of the primary side resonant LC circuit.

8. The adjustable reactance generator of claim 7, wherein the proportionality of the output current of the power supply to the amplitude of the voltage waveform at said summing node of the primary side resonant LC circuit is 1/(1−

G), where G is gain of the reactance generator.

9. The adjustable reactance generator of claim 4, wherein the controllable power supply comprises a controlled voltage source having an output voltage that is proportional to the amplitude of the current waveform at said summing node of the primary side resonant LC circuit.

10. The adjustable reactance generator of claim 9, wherein the proportionality of the output voltage of the power supply to the amplitude of the current waveform at said summing node of the primary side resonant LC circuit is 1/(1−

G), where G is gain of the reactance generator.

11. The adjustable reactance generator of claim 4, wherein the controllable power supply comprises a controlled current source having an output current that is proportional to the amplitude of the current waveform at said summing node of the primary side resonant LC circuit.

12. The adjustable reactance generator of claim 11, wherein the proportionality of the output current of the power supply to the amplitude of the current waveform at said summing node of the primary side resonant LC circuit is 1/(1−

G), where G is gain of the reactance generator.

13. The adjustable reactance generator of claim 2, wherein the magnitude of the second square wave is set by a power supply that provides fixed output power to said half bridge pair of power semiconductor switches and a pulse width modulator that modulates the output of the half bridge pair of power semiconductor switches to adjust gain of the reactance generator.