WIRELESS POWER RECEIVER AND METHOD OF MANAGING THEREOF

• US 20150022149A1
• Filed: 10/06/2014
• Published: 01/22/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/21/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Innotek Company Limited (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Innotek Company Limited (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: BAE, Su Ho
• Granted Patent: US 9,531,444 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 320/108
• 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 50/80 involving the exchange of data, concerning supply or distribution of electric power, between transmitting devices and receiving devices
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00304 Overcurrent protection
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00308 Overvoltage protection
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 1/14 Arrangements for reducing ripples from dc input or output
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 7/06 using discharge tubes without control electrode or semiconductor devices without control electrode
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 7/46 using discharge tubes without control electrode or semiconductor devices without control electrode
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/00 Near-field transmission systems, e.g. inductive or capacitive transmission systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/263 Multiple coils at either side
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/266 One coil at each side, e.g. with primary and secondary coils
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/79 for data transfer in combination with power transfer

Abstract

A receiver to wirelessly receive power from a transmitter, and including a receiving unit to receive AC power from the transmitter; a rectifying unit to rectify the received AC power to DC power, a power management unit to manage power to be transferred to a load based on the rectified DC power and a DC-DC converter to supply a DC voltage required by the load, or to the load with the rectified DC power. The power management unit generates and transmits a control signal to adjust the power transferred to the load based on the rectified DC power.

Claims

1. A receiver to wirelessly receive power from a transmitter, the receiver comprising:

a receiving unit to receive AC power from the transmitter;

a rectifying unit to rectify the received AC power to DC power;

a power management unit to manage power to be transferred to a load based on the rectified DC power; and

a DC-DC converter to supply a DC voltage required by the load, or to the load with the rectified DC power,

wherein the power management unit generates a control signal in order to adjust the power transferred to the load based on the rectified DC power and transmits the control signal to the transmitter.

2. The receiver of claim 1, wherein the power managing unit transmits the control signal to the transmitter to increase the power transferred to the load if the rectified DC power is less than a first threshold value, and the first threshold value is a minimum power required to normally operate the receiver.

3. The receiver of claim 1, wherein the power managing unit transmits the control signal to the transmitter to decrease the power transferred to the load if the rectified DC power is equal to:

—

or greater than a first threshold value, and the first threshold value is a maximum power required to normally operate the receiver.

4. The receiver of claim 3, wherein the power managing unit inhibits the load from being damaged by reducing the power transferred to the load if the rectified DC power is equal to or greater than a second threshold value.

5. The receiver of claim 4, wherein the power managing unit inhibits the load from being damaged by using a switch which maintains or shuts off the power transferred to the load.

6. The receiver of claim 5, wherein the power managing unit shorts the switch such that the power transferred to the load is maintained if the rectified DC power is less than the second threshold value and opens the switch such that the power transferred to the load is shut off if the rectified DC power is equal to or greater than the second threshold value.

7. The receiver of claim 5, wherein the power managing unit includes a comparator circuit including an amplifier and a plurality of resistors, and wherein the comparator circuit determines if the rectified DC power is equal to or greater than the second threshold value to control an operation of the switch.

8. The receiver of claim 4, wherein the power managing unit inhibits the load from being damaged by using a Zener diode which absorbs the power transferred to the load depending on whether the rectified DC power is equal to or greater than the second threshold value.

9. The receiver of claim 1, wherein the receiving unit includes a reception induction coil to receive the AC power from the transmitter using electromagnetic induction.

10. The receiver of claim 1, wherein the receiving unit includes a reception resonant coil to receive the AC power from the transmitter using resonant coupling.

11. The receiver of claim 1, wherein the rectifying unit includes at least one of a rectifier to convert the received AC power to the DC power or a smoothing circuit to remove a ripple component from the converted DC power, and the rectifier includes a bridge diode.

12. The receiver of claim 1, wherein the power management unit transmits the control signal to the transmitter through out-of-band communication.

13. A transmitter to wirelessly transmit power to a receiver, the transmitter comprising:

a transmission resonant coil to transmit AC power to the receiver; and

a receiving unit to receive a control signal from the receiver,

wherein the transmitter adjusts the AC power and transmits the adjusted AC power to the receiver based on the received control signal, and

wherein the control signal is generated by the receiver based on a rectified DC power to be transferred to a load of the receiver.

14. The transmitter of claim 13, wherein the transmitter decreases the AC power if the rectified DC power is equal to or greater than a first threshold value based on the control signal and the first threshold value is a maximum power required to normally operate the receiver.

15. The transmitter of claim 13, wherein the transmitter increases the AC power if the rectified DC power is less than a first threshold value based on the control signal and the first threshold value is a minimum power required to normally operate the receiver.

16. The transmitter of claim 13, wherein the transmitter inhibits an over voltage from being applied to the load if the rectified DC power is equal to or greater than a second threshold value based on the control signal and the second threshold value is a maximum voltage to inhibit the load from being damaged.

17. The transmitter of claim 13, wherein the control signal includes state information for detecting the variation of a rectified DC power in the receiver.

18. The transmitter of claim 17, wherein the state information further includes at least one of information related to a present charging quantity and information related to a change of charge quantity.

19. The transmitter of claim 13, the transmitter transmits state information of the transmitter to the receiver, and

wherein the state information of the transmitter includes at least one of information related to a maximum amount of power to be supplied by the transmitter and information for the a number of receivers that can be supported by the transmitter.