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Tunable wireless power architectures

  • US 9,384,885 B2
  • Filed: 08/06/2012
  • Issued: 07/05/2016
  • Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2011
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A wireless energy transfer system for transferring energy between a power supply and a load, comprising:

  • a source resonator coil;

    a device resonator coil inductively coupled to the source resonator coil;

    a tunable switching amplifier driven by the power supply and driving the source resonator coil through a source impedance matching network, the switching amplifier having electronically controllable switching elements;

    a tunable switching rectifier driving the load and receiving energy from the device resonator coil though a device impedance matching network, the switching rectifier having electronically controllable switching elements;

    a source amplifier control configured to control switching characteristics of the switching elements of the amplifier to regulate power extracted from the power supply; and

    a rectifier control configured to control switching characteristics of the switching elements of the rectifier to regulate a characteristic of an output presented to the load, the rectifier control communicatively coupled to the source amplifier control,wherein during operation of the system;

    the source amplifier control provides a substantially fixed switching frequency to the switching elements of the amplifier;

    the source amplifier control is configured to control at least one dead time of the switching characteristics of the switching elements of the amplifier to substantially maintain zero voltage switching;

    at a maximum load power level, impedance matching is achieved throughout the wireless energy transfer system so that a predetermined output DC voltage is presented to the load; and

    the source amplifier control is configured so that, when a power demand by the load is less than the maximum load power level, the amplifier control reduces an output power level of the tunable switching amplifier by decreasing a duty cycle of the switching elements of the tunable switching amplifier, thereby maintaining the impedance matching throughout the wireless energy transfer system.

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