SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR TRANSMITTING POWER TO RECEIVERS

• US 20170077735A1
• Filed: 09/16/2015
• Published: 03/16/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Energous Corporation
• Original Assignee: Energous Corporation
• Inventors: LEABMAN, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 10,199,850 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/20 using microwaves or radio frequency waves
• 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 50/80 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: H02J 7/00034 Charger exchanging data with an electronic device, i.e. telephone, whose internal battery is under charge
• 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

Embodiments disclosed herein may generate and transmit power waves that, as result of their physical waveform characteristics (e.g., frequency, amplitude, phase, gain, direction), converge at a predetermined location in a transmission field to generate a pocket of energy. Receivers associated with an electronic device being powered by the wireless charging system, may extract energy from these pockets of energy and then convert that energy into usable electric power for the electronic device associated with a receiver. The pockets of energy may manifest as a three-dimensional field (e.g., transmission field) where energy may be harvested by a receiver positioned within or nearby the pocket of energy.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

transmitting, by a transmitter, a low power wave to each of a plurality of segments in a transmission field; and

in response to the transmitter receiving a communications signal from a receiver containing data indicating a segment containing the receiver;

transmitting, by the transmitter, one or more power waves configured to converge at the segment containing the receiver.

2. A computer-implemented method comprising:

transmitting, by a transmitter device, into a transmission field associated with the transmitter device one or more power waves and a communications signal, the communications signal containing a first set of transmission parameters defining one or more characteristics of the one or more power waves;

in response to the transmitter receiving via the communications signal from a receiver device, device data indicating a location of the receiver in the transmission field;

transmitting, by the transmitter device, a second set of transmission parameters into a sub-segment of the transmission field in accordance with the device data, the second set of transmission parameters defining the one or more characteristics of the one or more power waves;

determining, by the transmitter device, one or more refined characteristics for the one or more power waves, based upon a set of one or more refined parameters defining the one or more refined characteristics, the refined parameters based upon refined location data received from the receiver device indicating a refined location within the sub-segment;

generating, by the transmitter device, the one or more refined power waves having the one or more refined characteristics, according to the set of refined parameters; and

transmitting, by the transmitter, the one or more refined power waves into the sub-segment of the transmission field, thereby forming a pocket of energy at the refined location.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein determining the one or more refined characteristics further comprises:

receiving, by the transmitter device, from the receiver device the refined location data indicating the refined location of the receiver relative to the transmitter, wherein the refined location is within the sub-segment of the transmission field.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein generating the one or more refined power waves having the one or more refined characteristics further comprises:

determining, by the transmitter device, whether the refined location satisfies a predetermined sub-segment threshold level.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the transmitter device continues to transmit a next refined set of transmission parameters into a next granular sub-segment of the transmission field in accordance with the refined location data for a preceding sub-segment of the transmission field.

6. The method according to claim 2, wherein generating the one or more refined power waves having the one or more refined characteristics further comprises:

increasing, by the transmitter device, a power level in the one or more characteristics of the power waves.

7. The method according to claim 2, wherein a transmission parameter for a power wave is selected from the group consisting of:

a power level, a radial distance, an azimuth angle, an elevation angle, a relative height of the receiver, a height coordinate, a relative horizontal location of the receiver, a horizontal coordinate, a relative distance to the receiver, and a distance coordinate.

8. The method according to claim 2, further comprising continuously and sequentially scanning, by the transmitter device, one or more sub-segments of the transmission field.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein continuously scanning the transmission field further comprises:

continuously receiving, by the transmitter device and from the receiver, updated location data indicating the relative location of the receiver; and

identifying, by the transmitter device, a displacement of the transmitter based upon the updated location data.

10. The method according to claim 8, wherein continuously scanning the transmission field further comprises:

sequentially transmitting, by the transmitter device, a power wave and a set of transmission parameters into a plurality of sequential sub-segments of the transmission field, wherein each respective sub-segment is associated with the respective power wave and the respective transmission parameters for the power wave.

11. The method according to claim 8, wherein the transmitter device comprises a plurality of transmitter antennas, a first subset of one or more transmitter antennas continuously scanning the transmission field, and a second subset of one or more transmitter antennas continuously transmitting the one or more power waves to the receiver.

12. The method according to claim 2, wherein determining the one or more refined characteristics for the power waves further comprises:

updating, by the transmitter device, a heat-map memory according to the location data received from the receiver, the heat-map memory comprising non-transitory machine-readable storage configured to store the location data of one or more devices for each sub-segment of the transmission field.

13. A wireless power system comprising:

a mapping memory comprising non-transitory machine-readable storage media configured to store one or more receiver records containing data for one or more receivers;

one or more transmitters associated with a transmission field, a transmitter comprising;

an antenna array configured to transmit an exploratory power wave into one or more segments of a transmission field;

a communications component configured to;

transmit to each respective segment of the transmission field a set of parameters indicating one or more characteristics of the exploratory power wave transmitted into the respective segment, and

transmit to a sub-segment of a first segment a second set of parameters indicating one or more refined characteristics of a second exploratory power wave transmitted into the sub-segment, upon receiving location data indicating the receiver is in the first segment from a receiver device at a location in a first segment; and

a transmitter processor configured to determine the one or more characteristics for the exploratory wave based upon one or more parameters for each respective segment of the transmission field, and determine the one or more refined characteristics for the second exploratory power wave upon receiving the first segment location data from the receiver.

14. The system according to claim 13, wherein the transmitter processor is further configured to store into the mapping memory a record for the receiver upon.

15. The system according to claim 13, wherein the transmitter processor is further configured to determine whether the location of the receiver is within a predetermined proximity threshold in the sub-segment.

16. The system according to claim 13, the antenna array of the transmitter further comprising a plurality of transmitter antennas,

wherein a first subset of the one or more transmitter antennas continuously scans the transmission field, and

wherein a second subset of one or more transmitter antennas continuously transmits one or more power waves to the location of the receiver in the sub-segment.

17. The system according to claim 16, wherein the transmitter processor is further configured increase a power level in the one or more characteristics of the one or more power waves transmitted to the location of the receiver in the sub-segment.

18. The system according to claim 17, wherein the communications component receives updated location data from the receiver, and

wherein the transmitter processor determines an updated location in a second segment of the transmission field based upon the updated location data.

19. The system according to claim 18, wherein the transmitter processor is further configured to update the record of the location in the mapping memory in accordance with the updated location data.