Wireless power near-field repeater system that includes metamaterial arrays to suppress far-field radiation and power loss

• US 10,389,140 B2
• Filed: 11/13/2015
• Issued: 08/20/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: X Development LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Adolf, Brian John, DeVaul, Richard Wayne
• Primary Examiner(s): Borroto, Alfonso Perez
• Application Number:
  US14/940,747
• Publication Number:
  US 20170141582A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,376 Days
• Field of Search: 307104
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/05 using capacitive coupling
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/12 of the resonant type
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/502 the energy repeater being integrated together with the emitter or the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00045 Authentication, i.e. circuits for checking compatibility between one component, e.g. a battery or a battery charger, and another component, e.g. a power source

Abstract

Embodiments described herein may relate to a system including a transmit resonator configured to couple power from a source into an oscillating field generated with a reference phase by the transmit resonator resonating at an oscillation frequency; one or more repeaters, each at a respective location, each including: a repeat resonator configured to resonate at the oscillation frequency, where each of the one or more repeaters is configured to regenerate the oscillating field with a phase shift relative to a phase at the respective location; and at least one receiver, the at least one receiver including: a receive resonator configured to resonate at the oscillation frequency in response to coupling to the oscillating field, where the at least one receiver is configured to transfer a power of the oscillating field to a load associated with the at least one receiver.

Claims

1. A system for wireless power transfer comprising:

a transmitter comprising;

a transmit resonator configured to couple power from a power source into an oscillating field generated with a reference phase by the transmit resonator resonating at an oscillation frequency, the oscillating field being at least one of an oscillating electric field or an oscillating magnetic field;

one or more repeaters, each at a respective location, each comprising;

a repeat resonator configured to resonate at the oscillation frequency in response to coupling to the oscillating field at the respective location,

wherein each of the one or more repeaters is configured to, in response to a coupling resonator resonating at the oscillation frequency, regenerate the oscillating field with a phase shift relative to a phase at the respective location,

and wherein the oscillating field at the respective location is at least one of;

the oscillating field generated by the transmit resonator or the oscillating field regenerated by a different repeater of the one or more repeaters; and

at least one receiver, the at least one receiver including;

a receive resonator configured to resonate at the oscillation frequency in response to coupling to the oscillating field,

wherein the at least one receiver is configured to, in response to the receive resonator resonating at the oscillation frequency, transfer at least a portion of power of the oscillating field to a load associated with the at least one receiver.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the transmit resonator is configured to couple power from the power source into the oscillating field by coupling power from the power source into a non-radiative near field region of the oscillating field.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more repeaters form an aggregate array of repeaters.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the aggregate array of repeaters comprises a metamaterial configured to suppress electromagnetic radiation at the oscillation frequency.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more repeaters is a metamaterial repeater.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more repeaters is an active repeater, wherein the at least one active repeater comprises a secondary power source, wherein the secondary power source is configured to apply a respective gain to the oscillating field.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the system further comprises:

a controller configured to;

determine the respective phase shift of at least one of the one or more repeaters; and

based at least on the determined phase shift, adjust a phase shift element of the at least one of the one or more repeaters.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the transmit resonator comprises at least one of:

a transmit inductor or at least one transmit capacitor, and

wherein the one or more repeat resonators comprises at least one of;

a repeat inductor or at least one repeat capacitor, and

wherein the at least one receive resonator comprises at least one of;

a receive inductor or at least one receive capacitor.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein one or more of the transmit inductor, the transmit capacitor, the one or more repeat inductors, the one or more repeat capacitors, the one or more receive inductors, and the one or more receive capacitors is a distributed element.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the transmit resonator is configured to resonate at one or more transmitter resonance frequencies, wherein the one or more transmitter resonance frequencies comprise at least the oscillation frequency, and

wherein each repeat resonator of the one or more repeat resonators is configured to resonate at one or more repeater resonance frequencies, wherein the one or more repeater resonance frequencies of at least one of the one or more repeat resonators comprises at least the oscillation frequency, and

wherein the at least one receive resonator is configured to resonate at one or more receiver resonance frequencies, wherein the one or more receiver resonance frequencies comprise at least one of the one or more repeater resonance frequencies of at least one repeat resonator.

11. The system of claim 1, a mode of operation of the system comprises at least one of three coupling modes, wherein the three coupling modes are capacitive common mode, capacitive differential mode, and inductive mode.

19. The system for wireless power transfer of claim 1, wherein the regenerated oscillating field oscillates at the oscillation frequency.

12. A method for wireless power transfer comprising:

coupling power from a power source into an oscillating field generated with a reference phase by a transmit resonator resonating at an oscillation frequency, the oscillating field being at least one of an oscillating electric field or an oscillating magnetic field;

causing a respective repeat resonator of each of one or more repeaters, each at a respective location, to resonate at the oscillation frequency in response to coupling to the oscillating field at the respective location;

specifying a respective phase shift relative to a phase of the oscillating field at each respective location;

regenerating the oscillating field by each of the one or more repeaters in response to the respective coupling resonator resonating at the oscillation frequency, wherein the oscillating field is regenerated with the specified phase shift at the respective location,

and wherein the oscillating field at the respective location is at least one of the oscillating field generated by the transmit resonator or the oscillating field regenerated by a different repeater of the one or more repeaters;

causing a respective receive resonator of at least one receiver to resonate at the oscillation frequency in response to the receive resonator coupling to the oscillating field at a location of the at least one receiver; and

in response to the receive resonator of the at least one receiver resonating at the oscillation frequency, transferring at least a portion of power of the oscillating field to a load associated with the at least one receiver.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the one or more repeaters form an aggregate array of repeaters, wherein the aggregate array of repeaters is configured to suppress electromagnetic radiation at the oscillation frequency.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the aggregate array of repeaters comprises a metamaterial.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein at least one of the one or more repeaters is a metamaterial repeater.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein one or more of the transmit resonator, the repeat resonator, and the receive resonator comprises a distributed element.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein at least one of the one or more repeaters is an active repeater, wherein the at least one active repeater comprises a secondary power source, and wherein the method further comprises:

applying, using the secondary power source, a respective signal gain to the oscillating field.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the method further comprises:

determining a mode of operation, wherein the mode of operation comprises at least one of three coupling modes, wherein the three coupling modes are capacitive common mode, capacitive differential mode, and inductive mode.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein the regenerated oscillating field oscillates at the oscillation frequency.