WIRELESS ENERGY TRANSFER

• US 20120228960A1
• Filed: 05/22/2012
• Published: 09/13/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/12/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Original Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Inventors: Karalis, Aristeidis, Kurs, Andre B., Moffatt, Robert, Joannopoulos, John D., Fisher, Peter H., Soljacic, Marin
• Granted Patent: US 9,444,265 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 307/104
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2210/20 AC to AC converters
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/126 Methods for pairing a vehicle and a charging station, e.g. establishing a one-to-one relation between a wireless power transmitter and a wireless power receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 7/00 Loop antennas with a substantially uniform current distribution around the loop and having a directional radiation pattern in a plane perpendicular to the plane of the loop
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 9/04 Resonant antennas
• 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 50/90 involving detection or optimisation of position, e.g. alignment
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/79 for data transfer in combination with power transfer
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/70 Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/7072 Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/72 Electric energy management in electromobility
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/12 Electric charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/14 Plug-in electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/4902 Electromagnet, transformer or inductor

Abstract

Disclosed is an apparatus for use in wireless energy transfer, which includes a first resonator structure configured to transfer energy non-radiatively with a second resonator structure over a distance greater than a characteristic size of the second resonator structure. The non-radiative energy transfer is mediated by a coupling of a resonant field evanescent tail of the first resonator structure and a resonant field evanescent tail of the second resonator structure.

Claims

1. An energy transferring system, comprising:

a source-side resonator for receiving an energy, wherein the source-side resonator has a first resonant frequency;

an intermediate resonant module having a second resonant frequency substantially the same with the first resonant frequency, wherein the energy on the source-side resonator is coupled to the intermediate resonant module, such that non-radiative energy transfer is performed between the source-side resonator and the intermediate resonant module, and the coupling between the source-side resonator and the intermediate resonant module corresponds to a first coupling coefficient; and

a device-side resonator having a third resonant frequency substantially the same with the second resonant frequency, wherein the energy coupled to the intermediate resonant module is further coupled to the device-side resonator, such that non-radiative energy transfer is performed between the intermediate resonant module and the device-side resonator, and the coupling between the intermediate resonant module and the device-side resonator corresponds to a second coupling coefficient;

wherein the coupling between the source-side resonator and the device-side resonator corresponds to a third coupling coefficient.

2. The energy transferring system according to claim 1, wherein the first coupling coefficient is larger than the third coupling coefficient, and the second coupling coefficient is larger than the third coupling coefficient.

3. The energy transferring system according to claim 1, wherein magnetic energy transfer is performed between the source-side resonator and the intermediate resonant module.

4. The energy transferring system according to claim 1, wherein power energy transfer is performed between the source-side resonator and the intermediate resonant module.

5. The energy transferring system according to claim 1, further comprising:

a power supply to provide the energy to the source-side resonator; and

a load to receive the energy from the device-side resonator,

wherein the work-drainage rate is configured to maximize the efficiency of the energy transfer from the power supply to the load.

6. The energy transferring system according to claim 1, wherein the intermediate resonant module has at least one intermediate resonator.

7. The energy transferring system according to claim 6, wherein the intermediate resonator is a conductive coil structure with self-capacitance.

8. The energy transferring system according to claim 6, wherein the intermediate resonator has a dielectric disk structure.

9. The energy transferring system according to claim 6, wherein the intermediate resonator has a metallic sphere structure.

10. The energy transferring system according to claim 6, wherein the intermediate resonator has a metallodielectric sphere structure.

11. The energy transferring system according to claim 6, wherein the intermediate resonator has a plasmonic sphere structure.

12. The energy transferring system according to claim 6, wherein the intermediate resonator has a polaritonic sphere structure.

13. The energy transferring system according to claim 1, wherein the source-side resonator has a solenoid inductance structure.

14. The energy transferring system according to claim 1, wherein the device-side resonator has a solenoid inductance structure.

18. The energy transferring system of claim 1, wherein the intermediate resonant module is configured to receive energy from the source-side resonator and transfer energy to the device-side resonator.

19. The energy transferring system of claim 1, wherein each of the first, second, and third coupling coefficients decreases with increasing distance between the respective two of the source-side resonator, the intermediate resonant module, and the device side resonator.

15. An energy transferring method, comprising:

providing a source-side resonator to receive an energy;

providing an intermediate resonant module, wherein the energy on the source-side resonator is coupled to the intermediate resonant module, such that non-radiative energy transfer is performed between the source-side resonator and the intermediate resonant module, and the coupling between the source-side resonator and the intermediate resonant module corresponds to a first coupling coefficient; and

providing the energy for coupling a device-side resonator to the intermediate resonant module, wherein the energy is further coupled to the device-side resonator, such that non-radiative energy transfer is performed between the intermediate resonant module and the device-side resonator, and the coupling between the intermediate resonant module and the device-side resonator corresponds to a second coupling coefficient, wherein;

the coupling between the source-side resonator and the device-side resonator corresponds to a third coupling coefficient.

16. The energy transferring method according to claim 15, wherein the source-side resonator, the intermediate resonant module and the device-side resonator respectively have a first resonant frequency, a second resonant frequency and a third resonant frequency, and the first resonant frequency, the second resonant frequency and the third resonant frequency are substantially the same.

17. The energy transferring method of claim 15, wherein the first coupling coefficient is larger than the third coupling coefficient, and the second coupling coefficient is larger than the third coupling coefficient.

20. The energy transferring method of claim 15, wherein the intermediate resonant module is configured to receive energy from the source-side resonator and transfer energy to the device-side resonator.

21. The energy transferring method of claim 15, wherein each of the first, second, and third coupling coefficients decreases with increasing distance between the respective two of the source-side resonator, the intermediate resonant module, and the device side resonator.

22. An energy transferring system, comprising:

a first resonant object for receiving an energy;

a second resonant object;

a third resonant object configured to transfer energy with one or more of the first and second resonator objects, wherein

energy in the first resonant object is coupled to the third resonant object such that non-radiative energy transfer is performed between the first resonant object and the third resonant object and the energy coupled to the third resonant object is further coupled to the second resonant object such that non-radiative energy transfer is performed between the third resonant object and the second resonant object,

the first, second, and third resonant objects having the same resonant frequency,

the coupling between the first resonator object and the third resonator object corresponds to a first coupling constant,

the coupling between the third resonant object and the second resonant object corresponds to a second coupling constant, and

the coupling between the first resonant object and the third resonant object corresponds to a third coupling constant.

23. The energy transferring system of claim 22, wherein the third resonant object is configured to receive energy from the first resonant object and transfer energy to the second resonant object.

24. The energy transferring system of claim 22, wherein each of the first, second, and third coupling constants decreases with increasing distance for energy transfer between the respective two of the first, second, and third resonant objects.

25. The energy transferring system according to claim 22, further comprising:

a power supply to provide the energy to the first resonant object; and

a load to receive the energy from the second resonant object,

wherein the work-drainage rate is configured to maximize the efficiency of the energy transfer from the power supply to the load.

26. An energy transferring method, comprising:

providing a first resonant object to receive an energy;

providing a second resonant object; and

providing the third resonant object, wherein the energy in the first resonant object is coupled to the third resonant object, such that non-radiative energy transfer is performed between the first resonant object and the third resonant object and energy in the third resonant object is further coupled to the second resonant object, such that non-radiative energy transfer is performed between the third resonant object and the second resonant object, wherein

the coupling between the first resonant object and the third resonant object corresponds to a first coupling constant,

the coupling between the third resonant object and the second resonant object corresponds to a second coupling constant, and

the coupling between the first resonant object and the third resonant object corresponds to a third coupling constant.

27. The energy transferring method of claim 26, wherein the third resonant object is configured to receive energy from the first resonant object and transfer energy to the second resonant object.

28. The energy transferring method of claim 26, wherein each of the first, second, and third coupling coefficients decrease with increasing distance for energy transfer between the respective two of the first, second, and third resonant objects.