SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR COIL SENSOR DESIGN, ALIGNMENT AND TUNING
First Claim
1. An inductively coupled sensor comprising:
- a first structure;
a reader coil substantially disposed about an axis and at least partially embedded in the first structure;
a second structure;
a transponder coil substantially disposed about the axis at least partially embedded in the second structure; and
a member operatively coupled to the first structure and to the second structure, the member constructed and arranged to constrain movement of the first structure with respect to the second structure.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present disclosure relates generally to a sensor including inductively coupled coils. Alignment of the coils may be maintained by constraining relative movement of the structures into which each of the coils is embedded. Alignment of the coils may be established by maintaining the transponder coil stationary while moving the reader coil with respect to the transponder coil and monitoring the current at the source supplying the reader coil. When the current at the source is at an extreme value (substantially maximized or minimized), the reader coil and the transponder coil are aligned. Additionally disclosed is an iterative process for designing coil geometries and resonant circuits for a sensor employing inductively coupled coils.
13 Citations
14 Claims
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1. An inductively coupled sensor comprising:
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a first structure; a reader coil substantially disposed about an axis and at least partially embedded in the first structure; a second structure; a transponder coil substantially disposed about the axis at least partially embedded in the second structure; and a member operatively coupled to the first structure and to the second structure, the member constructed and arranged to constrain movement of the first structure with respect to the second structure. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method for aligning an inductively coupled sensor comprising a reader coil, a reader resonant circuit, a transponder coil, and a transponder resonant circuit, the method comprising:
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a) maintaining one of the transponder coil and the reader coil stationary; b) exciting the reader coil at a frequency and a first voltage amplitude; c) changing a position of an other of the transponder coil and the reader coil with respect to the coil maintained stationary in step (a); d) measuring a current in the reader resonant circuit at a current position of the transponder coil and the reader coil; e) determining if the current in the reader resonant circuit is substantially at an extreme value; f) if it is determined at step (e) that the current in the reader resonant circuit is substantially at the extreme value, determining that the present positions of the reader coil and the transponder coil are aligned; and g) if it is determined at step (e) that the current in the reader resonant circuit is not substantially at the extreme value, repeating steps (c)-(g). - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method for designing an inductively coupled sensor comprising a reader coil, a reader resonant circuit, a transponder coil, and a transponder resonant circuit that satisfy a predetermined power transfer requirement and a predetermined power transfer efficiency requirement, the method comprising:
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a) determining a minimum output voltage and a maximum output voltage for powering a device coupled to the transponder coil; b) determining a mutual inductance, a coupling factor, a reader coil inductance and a transponder coil inductance; c) determining a reader coil design and a transponder coil design; d) determining whether the reader coil design and the transponder coil design satisfies the predetermined power transfer requirement; e) selecting a different value for at least one of an unloaded reader coil quality factor, a loaded reader coil quality factor, an unloaded transponder coil quality factor, and a loaded transponder coil quality factor and repeating steps (a)-(g), based on determining at step (d) that the reader coil design and the transponder coil design do not satisfy the predetermined power transfer requirement; f) determining whether the reader coil design and the transponder coil designs satisfy the predetermined power transfer efficiency requirement, based on determining at step (d) that the reader coil design and the transponder coil design do satisfy the predetermined power transfer requirement; and g) selecting a different value for at least one of the unloaded reader coil quality factor, the loaded reader coil quality factor, the unloaded transponder coil quality factor, and the loaded transponder coil quality factor and repeating steps (a)-(g), based on determining at step (f) that the reader coil design and the transponder coil design satisfy the predetermined power transfer efficiency requirement. - View Dependent Claims (14)
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Specification