Wireless charging mats with multi-layer transmitter coil arrangements

• US 10,897,148 B2
• Filed: 09/08/2017
• Issued: 01/19/2021
• Est. Priority Date: 09/23/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Graham, Christopher S., Karanikos, Demetrios B., Jol, Eric S., Larsson, Karl Ruben F., Kowalski, Stefan A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Henze-Gongola, David V
• Application Number:
  US15/699,978
• Publication Number:
  US 20180090955A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,229 Days
• Field of Search: 320108
• CPC Class Codes: H01F 27/288 Shielding
• CPC Class Codes: H01F 27/325 Coil bobbins formers for coils in general H01F5/02
• 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 50/402 the two or more transmitting or the two or more receiving devices being integrated in the same unit, e.g. power mats with several coils or antennas with several sub-antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/60 responsive to the presence of foreign objects, e.g. detection of living beings
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/70 involving the reduction of electric, magnetic or electromagnetic leakage fields
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0042 characterised by the mechanical construction
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/24 Inductive coupling
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/263 Multiple coils at either side
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/79 for data transfer in combination with power transfer
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 9/0007 Casings standardised racks H05K9/0062

Abstract

Embodiments describe a wireless charging device including: a housing having an outer perimeter and a charging surface within the outer perimeter, the housing including a first wall and a second wall that define an interior cavity; and a transmitter coil arrangement disposed within the interior cavity and below the planar charging surface. The transmitter coil arrangement includes: a plurality of transmitter coils arranged in different layers, each transmitter coil having a first termination end, a second termination end, and a coil of wire that winds from an inner diameter to an outer diameter between the first and second termination ends; where the first termination end of each transmitter coil is disposed within the inner diameter of its respective coil of wire and the second termination end of each transmitter coil is disposed outside the outer diameter of its respective coil of wire.

Claims

1. A wireless charging device comprising:

a housing having an outer perimeter and a charging surface within the outer perimeter, the housing including a first wall and a second wall that define an interior cavity; and

a transmitter coil arrangement disposed within the interior cavity and below the charging surface, the transmitter coil arrangement comprising;

a plurality of transmitter coils arranged in different layers, each transmitter coil having a first termination end, a second termination end, and a coil of wire that winds from an inner diameter of the coil of wire to an outer diameter of the coil of wire between the first and second termination ends, wherein the transmitter coil arrangement includes a left-most transmitter coil and a right-most transmitter coil, and wherein the left-most transmitter coil include more turns of transmitter coils and generate a greater amount of flux than other transmitter coils in a layer,

wherein the first termination end of each transmitter coil is a first point at which the respective transmitter coil physically ends and is disposed coplanar to and within an inner diameter of its respective coil of wire and the second termination end of each transmitter coil is a second point at which the respective transmitter coil physically ends opposite of the first point and is disposed coplanar to and outside the outer diameter of its respective coil of wire, at least one second termination end of a first transmitter coil of the plurality of transmitter coils extends laterally from a first point positioned inside an outer diameter of an adjacent second transmitter coil to a second point positioned inside an inner diameter of an adjacent third transmitter coil to terminate in the inner diameter of the adjacent third transmitter coil.

2. The wireless charging device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of transmitter coils comprises a plurality of inner transmitter coils and a plurality of outer transmitter coils positioned around the inner transmitter coils.

3. The wireless charging device of claim 2, wherein the plurality of outer transmitter coils is arranged in a first radial arrangement and the plurality of inner transmitter coils is arranged in a second radial arrangement different than the first radial arrangement, each of the first radial arrangement and the second radial arrangement being a specific pattern of radial directions in which the respective group of transmitter coils are positioned.

4. The wireless charging device of claim 3, wherein the second radial arrangement is such that at least two of the plurality of inner transmitter coils are oriented in radial directions that are at an angular offset with each other.

5. The wireless charging device of claim 4, wherein the angular offset is between 50 to 70 degrees.

6. The wireless charging device of claim 1, wherein at least one transmitter coil is non-circular in shape, and wherein the at least one transmitter coil is in the shape of a letter “

D”

.

7. The wireless charging device of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of interconnection structures formed independently from the plurality of transmitter coils, each interconnection structure having a first end and a second end opposite of the first end, wherein the first end is positioned coplanar to a respective transmitter coil and is coupled to the first termination end of the respective transmitter coil, and wherein the second end is positioned non-coplanar to the respective transmitter coil.

8. The wireless charging device of claim 1, wherein each transmitter coil in the plurality of transmitter coils comprises a coil of wire that is looped around the inner diameter of the coil is a plurality of times defining a plurality of turns of the wire such that the plurality of turns define both the inner diameter of the coil and outer diameter of the coil.

9. A wireless charging device comprising:

a housing having an outer perimeter and a planar charging surface within the outer perimeter of the wireless charging device, the housing including first and second shells defining an interior cavity;

a transmitter coil arrangement disposed within the interior cavity and below the planar charging surface, the transmitter coil arrangement comprising;

a plurality of transmitter coils arranged in different layers each transmitter coil having a first sector and a second sector having more turns than the first sector, and each transmitter coil including a first termination end, which is a first point at which the respective transmitter coil physically ends, positioned coplanar to and within an inner diameter of its respective coil of wire and a second termination end, which is a second point at which the respective transmitter coil physically ends opposite of the first point, positioned coplanar to and outside of its respective coil of wire, at least one second termination end of a first transmitter coil of the plurality of transmitter coils extends laterally from a first point positioned inside an outer diameter of an adjacent second transmitter coil to a second point positioned inside an inner diameter of an adjacent third transmitter coil to terminate in the inner diameter of the adjacent third transmitter coil, wherein each coil of wire of the plurality of transmitter coils winds from the inner diameter of the coil of wire to the outer diameter of the coil of wire between the first and second termination ends, wherein the transmitter coil arrangement includes a left-most transmitter coil and a right-most transmitter coil, and wherein the left-most transmitter coil and the right-most transmitter coil include more turns of transmitter coils and generate a greater amount of flux than other transmitter coils in a layer;

wherein the plurality of transmitter coils comprises a plurality of inner transmitter coils and a plurality of outer transmitter coils positioned around the inner transmitter coils; and

wherein the first sectors of the outer transmitter coils are oriented toward the outer perimeter of the wireless charging device.

10. The wireless charging device of claim 9, wherein at least two of the plurality of inner transmitter coils are oriented in radial directions that are at an angular offset with each other.

11. The wireless charging device of claim 10, wherein the angular offset is between 50 to 70 degrees.

12. The wireless charging device of claim 9, wherein the plurality of outer transmitter coils is a single line of transmitter coils positioned closest to the outer perimeter of the wireless charging device.

13. The wireless charging device of claim 9, wherein at least one transmitter coil is non-circular in shape, and wherein the at least one transmitter coil is in the shape of a letter “

D”

.

14. A wireless charging system, comprising:

an electrical device comprising a receiver coil configured to generate a current to charge a battery when exposed to a time-varying magnetic flux; and

a wireless charging mat configured to generate the time-varying magnetic flux to wirelessly charge the electrical device, the wireless charging mat comprising;

a housing having an outer perimeter and a charging surface within the outer perimeter, the housing including a first wall and a second wall that define an interior cavity; and

a transmitter coil arrangement disposed within the interior cavity and below the charging surface, the transmitter coil arrangement comprising;

a plurality of transmitter coils arranged in different layers, each transmitter coil having a first termination end, a second termination end, and a coil of wire that winds from an inner diameter of the coil of wire to an outer diameter of the coil of wire between the first and second termination ends, wherein the transmitter coil arrangement includes a left-most transmitter coil and a right-most transmitter coil, and wherein the left-most transmitter coil and the right-most transmitter coil include more turns of transmitter coils and generate a greater amount of flux than other transmitter coils in a layer,

wherein the first termination end of each transmitter coil is a first point at which the respective transmitter coil physically ends and is disposed coplanar to and within the inner diameter of its respective coil of wire and the second termination end of each transmitter coil is a second point at which the respective transmitter coil physically ends opposite of the first point and is disposed coplanar to and outside the outer diameter of its respective coil of wire, at least one second termination end of a first transmitter coil of the plurality of transmitter coils extends laterally from a first point positioned inside an outer diameter of an adjacent second transmitter coil to a second point positioned inside an inner diameter of an adjacent third transmitter coil to terminate in the inner diameter of the adjacent third transmitter coil.

15. The wireless charging system of claim 14, wherein the plurality of transmitter coils comprises a plurality of inner transmitter coils and a plurality of outer transmitter coils positioned around the inner transmitter coils.

16. The wireless charging system of claim 15, wherein the plurality of outer transmitter coils is arranged in a first radial arrangement and the plurality of inner transmitter coils is arranged in a second radial arrangement different than the first radial arrangement, each of the first radial arrangement and the second radial arrangement being a specific pattern of radial directions in which the respective group of transmitter coils are positioned.