Wireless energy transfer using array of resonant objects

• US 8,890,366 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2010
• Issued: 11/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc. (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc. (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation)
• Inventors: Wang, Bingnan, Teo, Koon Hoo, Huang, Da
• Primary Examiner(s): Fureman, Jared
• Assistant Examiner(s): DHILLON, JAGDEEP S
• Application Number:
  US12/895,279
• Publication Number:
  US 20120080956A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,510 Days
• Field of Search: 307/104, 307/149, 307/151, 320/108
• US Class Current: 307/104
• CPC Class Codes: B66B 7/00 Other common features of elevators
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/05 using capacitive coupling
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/12 of the resonant type
• 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

Abstract

A system for exchanging energy wirelessly comprises an array of at least three objects having a resonant frequency, each object is electromagnetic (EM) and non-radiative, and generates an EM near-field in response to receiving the energy, wherein each object in the array is arranged at a distance from all other objects in the array, such that upon receiving the energy the object is strongly coupled to at least one other object in the array via a resonant coupling of evanescent waves; and an energy driver for providing the energy at the resonant frequency to at least one object in the array, such that, during an operation of the system, the energy is distributed from the object to all other objects in the array.

Claims

1. A system for exchanging energy wirelessly, comprising:

a first array of at least three objects having a resonant frequency, each object is electromagnetic (EM) and non-radiative, and generates an EM near-field in response to receiving the energy, wherein each object in the first array is arranged at a distance from all other objects in the first array, wherein the objects are uniformly distributed in the first array, such that upon receiving the energy the object is strongly coupled to at least one other object in the first array via a resonant coupling of evanescent waves;

a second array of objects including at least three objects, each object in the energy source and energy sink has a resonant frequency, is electromagnetic (EM) and non-radiative and generates an EM nearfie1d in response to receiving the energy; and

an energy driver for providing the energy at the resonant frequency to at least one object in the first array, such that, during an operation of the system, the energy is distributed from the object to all other objects in the array and oscillates among the objects of the array in such a way that each object in the first array is configured to exchange the energy wirelessly with the second array via the resonant coupling of evanescent waves, and wherein the second array is configured to move with respect to the first array during the energy exchange with at least one degree of freedom.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the energy driver provides the energy to more than one object.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the array has a complex shape.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the array is multi-dimensional.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

an energy sink for receiving the energy wirelessly from at least one object of the array via a coupling of evanescent waves.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the energy sink is arranged such that the energy is received concurrently from multiple objects of the array.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the energy sink is movable with respect to the array.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein the energy sink is a resonant object having the resonant frequency.

9. A system configured to exchange energy wirelessly, comprising:

an energy source comprising a first array of objects including at least three objects;

an energy sink comprising a second array of objects including at least three objects, each object in the energy source and energy sink has a resonant frequency, is electromagnetic (EM) and non-radiative, and generates an EM near-field in response to receiving the energy;

an energy driver for providing the energy at the resonant frequency to at least one object in the energy source, such that, during an operation of the system, the energy is distributed from the object in the energy source to all other objects in the energy source; and

a load from receiving the energy from the energy sink, wherein each object in the first and the second arrays is arranged at a distance from all other objects in, respectively, the first and the second arrays, such that upon receiving the energy the objects in the first and the second arrays are strongly coupled to, respectively, at least one other object in the first and the second array, via a resonant coupling of evanescent waves, and wherein the energy sink is arranged to receive energy wirelessly from the energy source via the resonant coupling of one or many objects in the first array with one or many objects in the second array, wherein the distance between objects of the first arrays is less than a distance between the energy source and the energy sink, and wherein the second array is configured to move with respect to the first array during the energy exchange with at least one degree of freedom.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein a size of the first array is greater than a size of the second array.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein a size of the first array equals a size of the second array.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the first array and the second array are two-dimensional arrays.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the energy driver provides the energy concurrently to multiple objects of the energy source.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the load receives the energy concurrently from multiple objects of the energy sink.