Near field, full duplex data link for resonant induction wireless charging

• US 10,826,565 B2
• Filed: 09/13/2019
• Issued: 11/03/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 09/05/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: InductEV Inc.
• Original Assignee: Momentum Dynamics Corporation
• Inventors: Daga, Andrew W., McMahon, Francis J., Gander, Edward J., Ward, Matthew L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Sandiford, Devan A
• Application Number:
  US16/570,801
• Publication Number:
  US 20200059266A1
• Time in Patent Office: 417 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: H02J 50/80 involving the exchange of data, concerning supply or distribution of electric power, between transmitting devices and receiving devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/30 for homodyne or synchrodyne receivers demodulator circuits H03D1/22
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/24 Inductive coupling
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/72 for local intradevice communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/79 for data transfer in combination with power transfer

Abstract

A full duplex, low latency, near field data link controls a resonant induction, wireless power transfer system for recharging electric vehicles. An assembly of a vehicle is aligned with respect to a ground assembly to receive a charging signal. The vehicle assembly includes one or more coils, each coil having a full duplex inductively coupled data communication system that communicates with a ground assembly including one or more coils, with each coil also having a full duplex inductively coupled data communications system. The coils of the ground assembly and the vehicle assembly are selectively enabled based on geometric positioning of the vehicle assembly relative to the ground assembly for charging. As appropriate, the transmit/receive system of the ground assembly and/or the vehicle assembly are adjusted to be of the same type to enable communication of charging management and control data between the ground assembly and the vehicle assembly during charging.

Claims

1. A vehicle charging system comprising:

a ground assembly comprising one or more coils, with each coil having a full duplex inductively coupled data communications system comprising a first transmit/receive system that transmits a first signal over a first inductive link and receives a second signal over a second inductive link; and

a vehicle assembly comprising one or more coils, with each coil having a full duplex inductively coupled data communication system comprising a second transmit/receive system that receives the first signal over the first inductive link and transmits the second signal over the second inductive link,

wherein the first and second transmit/receive systems are adapted to use and switch among circuitry for at least two of amplitude modulation, phase modulation, frequency modulation, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), and spread spectrum circuitry that implements techniques including at least one of direct sequence spread spectrum, Chirp spread spectrum (CSS), binary orthogonal keying (BOK), frequency hopping, and direct modulation (DM), and

wherein coils of the ground assembly are configured to be disposed in parallel to the coils of the vehicle assembly to receive a charging signal during charging and selectively enabled to match a geometry of the vehicle assembly during charging.

2. A vehicle charging system as in claim 1, wherein the ground assembly comprises a processor that processes data from the ground assembly and external systems for transmission to the vehicle assembly and processes data received from the vehicle assembly for delivery to the ground assembly and the external systems for processing.

3. A vehicle charging system as in claim 2, wherein when a failure event is detected by the ground assembly or received from the vehicle assembly, the processor disables the charging signal.

4. A vehicle charging system as in claim 1, wherein the vehicle assembly comprises a processor that processes at least one of commands and data from the vehicle assembly and from at least one of a vehicle battery management system, a vehicle occupant information system, and a vehicle entertainment system for transmission to the ground assembly and processes data received from the ground assembly for delivery to the vehicle assembly and at least one of the vehicle battery management system, the vehicle occupant information system, and the vehicle entertainment system.

5. A vehicle charging system as in claim 4, wherein the vehicle assembly further comprises a digital interface and the processor provides measurements related to the first signal, the second signal, and the charging signal to the digital interface.

6. A vehicle charging system as in claim 5, wherein the measurements include at least one of signal strength, bit-error-rate, sum and difference of first or second signal as received by first and second antenna structures of the vehicle assembly and ground assembly, respectively, ratio of Energy per Bit to a Spectral Noise Density, received signal strength indication, center frequency, and amplitude and phase shift at the first and second antenna structures of the vehicle assembly and ground assembly.

7. A vehicle charging system as in claim 6, further comprising a vehicle-based processor, wherein the measurements are delivered via the digital interface to the vehicle-based processor for at least one of alignment detection and closed loop charging system management and control.

8. A vehicle charging system as in claim 7, wherein the vehicle-based processor provides near real-time voltage and current measurements on the vehicle assembly, thermal measurements of the vehicle assembly, Z-gap changes due to loading or unloading of the vehicle, vehicle assembly or ground assembly failure alerts, alerts regarding mid-charging performance events, and additional vehicle sensing data related to the vehicle assembly or a vehicle electrical system to the processor for transmission.

9. A vehicle charging system as in claim 1, wherein the first signal and the second signal are configured as either narrowband or wideband signals depending on a stage of a charging cycle or whether a threshold of signal quality has been crossed.

10. A vehicle charging system as in claim 1, wherein the first signal and the second signal are configured as an asynchronous spread spectrum signal using complementary code sequences.

11. A vehicle charging system as in claim 10, wherein the transmit/receive system comprises a direct sequence spread spectrum system that transmits code sequences that allow for each transmit/receive system to distinguish between signals and co-channel interference.

12. A method of charging a vehicle comprising:

positioning a vehicle assembly of a vehicle with respect to a ground assembly so as to receive a charging signal, the vehicle assembly comprising one or more coils, with each coil having a full duplex inductively coupled data communication system comprising a first transmit/receive system that receives a first signal over a first inductive link and transmits a second signal over a second inductive link, and the ground assembly comprising one or more coils, with each coil having a full duplex inductively coupled data communications system comprising a second transmit/receive system that transmits the first signal over the first inductive link and receives the second signal over the second inductive link;

selectively enabling coils of the ground assembly and the vehicle assembly based on geometric positioning of the vehicle assembly relative to the ground assembly for charging;

switching at least one of the first transmit/receive system and the second transmit/receive system to a same type of signal processing circuitry as used by the other of the first and second transmit/receive system; and

communicating charging management and control data between the first and second transmit/receive systems over the first and second inductive links during charging.

13. A method as in claim 12, wherein switching comprises switching the at least one of the first transmit/receive system and the second transmit/receive system between at least two of amplitude modulation circuitry, phase modulation circuitry, frequency modulation circuitry, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) circuitry, and spread spectrum circuitry that implements techniques including at least one of direct sequence spread spectrum, Chirp spread spectrum (CSS), binary orthogonal keying (BOK), frequency hopping, and direct modulation (DM).

14. A method as in claim 12, further comprising communicating at least one of software updates, diagnostic or telemetry information, and passenger entertainment services data between the ground assembly and the vehicle assembly via the first and second inductive links during charging.