Inductive power receiver

• US 10,447,090 B1
• Filed: 11/16/2017
• Issued: 10/15/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2016
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Abdolkhani, Ali
• Primary Examiner(s): Deberadinis, Robert L
• Application Number:
  US15/815,267
• Time in Patent Office: 698 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 50/12 of the resonant type
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/007 Regulation of charging or discharging current or voltage
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 1/0003 Details of control, feedback or regulation circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 1/0006 Arrangements for supplying an adequate voltage to the control circuit of converters
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 1/0058 by employing soft switching techniques, i.e. commutation of transistors when applied voltage is zero or when current flow is zero using an auxiliary actively switched resonant commutation circuit connected to an intermediate DC voltage or between two push-pull branches of an inverter bridge H02M7/4811; in resonant inverters H02M7/4815; in inverters operating from a resonant DC source H02M7/4826
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 1/007 Plural converter units in cascade push-pull DC/DC converters with pre-regulator H02M3/3374; DC-AC converters following a DC-DC stage including a high frequency transformer H02M7/4807; DC-AC converters following a DC-DC conversion stage generating periodically varying voltages H02M7/4826
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 1/0085 Partially controlled bridges
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 3/33592 having a synchronous rectifier circuit or a synchronous freewheeling circuit at the secondary side of an isolation transformer
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 7/219 in a bridge configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/79 for data transfer in combination with power transfer
• 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

Abstract

An inductive power receiver, comprising: a receiving coil; a bridge circuit configured to connect to the receiving coil comprising: a first branch including a first semiconductor device; a second branch including a second semiconductor device; a third branch including a first capacitor; and a forth branch including a second capacitor, and a controller configured to control at least one of the first semiconductor device and the second semiconductor device to regulate power provided to a load.

Claims

1. An inductive power receiver, comprising:

a. a receiving coil;

b. a bridge circuit adapted to couple to the receiving coil, the bridge circuit comprising;

i. a first branch including a first semiconductor device;

ii. a second branch including a second semiconductor device;

iii. a third branch including a first capacitor; and

iv. a fourth branch including a second capacitor, and

c. a controller adapted to control at least one of the first semiconductor device and the second semiconductor device to regulate power provided to a load.

2. The inductive power receiver as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first semiconductor device is a first semiconductor switch.

3. The inductive power receiver as claimed in claim 2, wherein the second semiconductor device is a diode.

4. The inductive power receiver as claimed in claim 2, wherein the second semiconductor device is a second semiconductor switch.

5. The inductive power receiver as claimed in claim 1, wherein the receiver includes a smoothing capacitor coupled in parallel across the load.

6. The inductive power receiver as claimed in claim 1, wherein the bridge circuit is an H-bridge circuit.

7. The inductive power receiver as claimed claim 1, wherein the receiving coil is coupled to a resonant capacitor.

8. The inductive power receiver as claimed in claim 7, wherein the resonant capacitor is coupled in series with the receiving coil.

9. The inductive power receiver as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first semiconductor device is a first semiconductor switch and wherein the first branch includes a further semiconductor switch coupled in series with the first semiconductor switch.

10. The inductive power receiver as claimed in claim 1, wherein the receiver includes a detuning network, comprising a detuning component and a detuning switch, the detuning switch adapted to detune the receiving coil.