Phase and magnitude control for wireless power transmitters

• US 10,411,493 B2
• Filed: 05/17/2017
• Issued: 09/10/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/17/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Von Novak, III, William Henry, White, II, Mark, Jeong, Seong Heon
• Primary Examiner(s): Parihar, Suchin
• Application Number:
  US15/597,944
• Publication Number:
  US 20180337546A1
• Time in Patent Office: 846 Days
• Field of Search: 320108
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 1/3787 from an external energy source
• 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 2310/23 The load being a medical device, a medical implant, or a life supporting device
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/12 of the resonant type
• 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 7/00034 Charger exchanging data with an electronic device, i.e. telephone, whose internal battery is under charge

Abstract

Certain aspects of the present disclosure are generally directed to apparatus and techniques for wireless charging. One example apparatus generally includes a plurality of inductive elements and signal generation circuitry coupled to the plurality of inductive elements and configured to generate a plurality of signals, where at least two signals of the plurality of signals have different magnitudes. In certain aspects, the signal generation circuitry is configured to drive the plurality of inductive elements using the plurality of signals, where at least one first inductive element of the plurality of inductive elements is driven using at least one first signal of the plurality of signals having a first phase and at least one second inductive element of the plurality of inductive elements is driven using at least one second signal of the plurality of signals having a second phase different from the first phase.

Claims

1. An apparatus for wireless charging, comprising:

a plurality of inductive elements; and

signal generation circuitry coupled to the plurality of inductive elements, the signal generation circuitry being configured to;

generate a plurality of signals, at least two signals of the plurality of signals having different magnitudes; and

drive the plurality of inductive elements using the plurality of signals, at least one first inductive element of the plurality of inductive elements being driven using at least one first signal of the plurality of signals having a first phase and at least one second inductive element of the plurality of inductive elements being driven using at least one second signal of the plurality of signals having a second phase different from the first phase, wherein;

at least one third inductive element of the plurality of inductive elements is located in a center portion of an arrangement of the plurality of inductive elements;

at least one fourth inductive element of the plurality of inductive elements is located at an outer portion of the arrangement; and

the at least one third inductive element is driven using at least one third signal of the plurality of signals having a different magnitude than at least one fourth signal of the plurality of signals used to drive the at least one fourth inductive element.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one third signal used to drive the third inductive element has a higher magnitude than the at least one fourth signal used to drive the fourth inductive element.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the at least one first inductive element and the at least one second inductive element are on different rows, on different columns, or both on different rows and different columns.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein each of the inductive elements is shaped as a polygon having four sides.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the inductive elements are positioned to form a square or rectangular arrangement.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the first inductive element and the second inductive element are disposed on opposite sides of the arrangement of the plurality of inductive elements; and

the first signal is 180 degrees out of phase from the second signal.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a controller configured to receive an indication of whether a power receiving unit (PRU) is receiving sufficient charge and generate at least one control signal based on the indication, wherein the signal generation circuitry is configured to generate the plurality of signals based on the control signal, and wherein at least one phase of the plurality of signals is set by the control signal based on the indication.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the PRU comprises an implantable device, and wherein the plurality of inductive elements are configured to be arranged around a body to charge the implantable device.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a phase of each of the plurality of signals is selected based on a location of a respective inductive element driven by the signal.

10. An apparatus for wireless charging, comprising:

a plurality of inductive elements, wherein at least one first inductive element of the plurality of inductive elements is located at a center portion of an arrangement of the plurality of inductive elements, and wherein at least one second inductive element of the plurality of inductive elements is located at an outer portion of the arrangement;

a controller configured to receive an indication of whether a power receiving unit (PRU) is receiving sufficient charge and generate at least one control signal based on the indication; and

signal generation circuitry coupled to the plurality of inductive elements and configured to;

generate a plurality of signals based on the control signal, at least one phase of the plurality of signals being set by the control signal based on the indication; and

drive the plurality of inductive elements using the plurality of signals, wherein the signal generation circuitry is configured to generate the plurality of signals by generating at least one first signal to drive the at least one first inductive element and at least one second signal to drive the second inductive element, the first signal having a higher magnitude than the second signal.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the indication is received from the PRU.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein at least one magnitude of the plurality of signals is set by the control signal based on the indication.

13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the controller is configured to:

receive another indication of whether the PRU is receiving sufficient charge after generating the control signal; and

generate another control signal to adjust the phase of one or more of the plurality of signals if the PRU is not receiving sufficient charge as determined based on the other indication.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein two or more of the plurality of signals have different phases.

15. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein a third signal of the plurality of signals is 180 degrees out of phase from a fourth signal of the plurality of signals.

16. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the PRU comprises an implantable device, and wherein the plurality of inductive elements are configured to be arranged around a body to charge the implantable device.

17. A method for wireless charging, comprising:

generating a plurality of signals via signal generation circuitry, at least two signals of the plurality of signals having different magnitudes; and

driving a plurality of inductive elements using the plurality of signals generated via the signal generation circuitry, the plurality of inductive elements being coupled to the signal generation circuitry, at least one first inductive element of the plurality of inductive elements being driven using at least one first signal of the plurality of signals having a first phase, and at least one second inductive element of the plurality of inductive elements being driven using at least one second signal of the plurality of signals having a second phase different from the first phase, wherein;

at least one third inductive element of the plurality of inductive elements is located in a center portion of an arrangement of the plurality of inductive elements;

at least one fourth inductive element of the plurality of inductive elements is located at an outer portion of the arrangement; and

driving the plurality of inductive elements comprises driving the at least one third inductive element using at least one third signal of the plurality of signals having a different magnitude than at least one fourth signal of the plurality of signals used to drive the at least one fourth inductive element.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the at least one third signal used to drive the third inductive element has a higher magnitude than the at least one fourth signal used to drive the fourth inductive element.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein:

the at least one first inductive element and the at least one second inductive element are on different rows, on different columns, or both on different rows and different columns.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein each of the inductive elements is shaped as a polygon having four sides.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the inductive elements are positioned to form a square or rectangular arrangement.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein:

the first inductive element and the second inductive element are disposed on opposite sides of the arrangement of the plurality of inductive elements; and

the first signal is 180 degrees out of phase from the second signal.

23. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

receiving an indication of whether a power receiving unit (PRU) is receiving sufficient charge; and

generating at least one control signal based on the indication, wherein the plurality of signals are generated based on the control signal, and wherein at least one phase of the plurality of signals is set by the control signal based on the indication.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the PRU comprises an implantable device, and wherein the plurality of inductive elements are configured to be arranged around a body to charge the implantable device.

25. A method for wireless charging, comprising:

receiving an indication of whether a power receiving unit (PRU) is receiving sufficient charge;

generating at least one control signal based on the indication;

generating a plurality of signals based on the control signal via signal generation circuitry, at least one phase of the plurality of signals being set by the control signal based on the indication; and

driving a plurality of inductive elements using the plurality of signals, the plurality of inductive elements being coupled to the signal generation circuitry, wherein;

at least one first inductive element of the plurality of inductive elements is located at a center portion of an arrangement of the plurality of inductive elements;

at least one second inductive element of the plurality of inductive elements is located at an outer portion of the arrangement; and

the generating of the plurality of signals comprises generating at least one first signal to drive the at least one first inductive element and generating at least one second signal to drive the at least one second inductive element, the first signal having a higher magnitude than the second signal.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein at least one magnitude of the plurality of signals is set by the control signal based on the indication.

27. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

receiving another indication of whether the PRU is receiving sufficient charge after generating the control signal; and

generating another control signal to adjust the phase of one or more of the plurality of signals if the PRU is not receiving sufficient charge as determined based on the other indication.