Patent Document

BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    The present invention relates to systems and methods for transferring power wirelessly from a sending device to a receiving device. 
         [0003]    2. Background 
         [0004]    The applications of wireless transfer to charge batteries of cell phones and other portable electronics devices are still emerging technology. The current technologies have several drawbacks. First the maximum efficiency of the existing inductive power transfer technology is significantly lower than those of wired regulators. Second, the wireless power transfer inherently has larger load range requirements since the coupling conditions can vary significantly. Thus progress needs to be made in two areas for its successful commercialization: 1) High efficiency. Energy transfer efficiency has to be reasonably close to wired power transfer and potentially has to meet Energy Star standard, which means the efficiency has to be above 80% over entire range of operational loading conditions, 2) Noise issue. The High energy levels needed for wireless power transfer and the low efficiency together create a strong noise for the electronics inside the phone, which can make the phone&#39;s wireless communication non-functional during charging. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0005]    These and other problems are solved by a system that includes a transmitter with a feedback loop for efficient switching of a MOSFET or other electronic switch in a switched amplifier/oscillator. In one embodiment, the MOSFET gate and drain voltage is used to tune the switching frequency and duty cycle to ensure Class-E/zero voltage switching operation transmitter. 
         [0006]    In one embodiment, a push-pull coupled transmitter planar coil pair and a planar receiving coil that can be embedded into a thin PCB/FPC are used. This wireless power transfer construction allows highly efficient coupling between transmitter and receiver, and relatively insensitive to the environment. It also effectively provides a shielding for the electronics which are adjacent to the receiving coil in the real applications. 
         [0007]    One embodiment includes a bi-directional data channel. The data channel includes: 1) sensing instantaneous voltage on the transmitter coil sensing on the transmitter side (this voltage varies with the switching on the receiving side because of the magnetic coupling is bi-directional, and 2) Dual (frequency) series LC resonance sensing on the receiver side. 
         [0008]    One embodiment includes an efficient power transmitter having an electronically-controlled switch controlled by a first pulse width modulation control circuit, the switch configured to pull current through a first inductor when the switch is closed, the first pulse width modulation control circuit outputting a PWM output signal to control the switch, a first feedback signal obtained from a control input of the switch, and a second feedback signal obtained from a terminal of the inductor, wherein a control feedback signal is computed, at least in part, as a difference between the first feedback signal and the second feedback signal is provided to the first pulse width modulation control circuit, the control circuit adjusting a frequency of the PWM output signal, at least in part, in response to the control feedback. 
         [0009]    In one embodiment, the transmitter of the electronically-controlled switch includes a MOSFET. In one embodiment, the transmitter includes an electronically-controlled delay line controlling a time delay of the control. In one embodiment, an output of the transmitter is provided to a transmitting coil. In one embodiment, the transmitter includes a filter that filters frequency components of voltages across the transmitting coil and provides a filtered signal to the first pulse width modulation control circuit. 
         [0010]    One embodiment includes an efficient wireless transmission system having a transmitter that includes an electronically-controlled switch controlled by a first pulse width modulation control circuit, the switch configured to pull current through a first inductor when the switch is closed, the first pulse width modulation control circuit outputting a PWM output signal to control the switch, a first feedback signal obtained from a control input of the switch, a transmitting coil, a second feedback signal obtained from a terminal of the inductor, wherein a control feedback signal is computed, at least in part, as a difference between the first feedback signal and the second feedback signal is provided to the first pulse width modulation control circuit, the control circuit adjusting a frequency of the PWM output signal, at least in part, in response to the control feedback. 
         [0011]    In one embodiment, a receiver includes a receiving coil provided to a receiver switch; and a second pulse with modulation controller, the second pulse width modulation controller controlling the receiver switch to deliver a desired power from the receiving coil to a load. 
         [0012]    In one embodiment, the electronically-controlled switch includes a MOSFET. In one embodiment, an electronically-controlled delay line controls a time delay of the control. In one embodiment, the receiver includes a filter that filters frequency components corresponding to a switching frequency of the second pulse width modulation controller provides a filtered signal to the first pulse width modulation control circuit. 
         [0013]    In one embodiment, the transmitting coil includes a substantially flat conductor, the conductor comprising a series of holes/via spaced along a length of the conductor. In one embodiment, the receiving coil includes a substantially flat conductor, the conductor comprising a series of holes/via spaced along a length of the conductor. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0014]      FIG. 1  shows a wireless power transfer system having power transmitter and a device with a power receiver. 
           [0015]      FIG. 2A  shows a simple class-E amplifier. 
           [0016]      FIG. 2B  shows the gate and drain voltage waveforms of the amplifier in  FIG. 2A . 
           [0017]      FIG. 3  shows an improved amplifier that operates efficiently with different load conditions. 
           [0018]      FIG. 4  shows the amplifier of  FIG. 3  coupled to a passive receiving circuit. 
           [0019]      FIG. 5  shows the amplifier of  FIG. 3  coupled to a switching receive circuit. 
           [0020]      FIG. 6  shows the amplifier of  FIG. 5  coupled to a switching receive circuit wherein the switching frequency of the receive circuit is sensed by the amplifier. 
           [0021]      FIG. 7  shows the amplifier of  FIG. 6  coupled to a switching receive circuit wherein the switching frequency of the receive circuit is sensed by the amplifier. 
           [0022]      FIG. 8  shows one embodiment of a receive coil configured to couple to a pair of transmit coils. 
           [0023]      FIG. 9  shows an improved coupling coil that includes impedance matching holes. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0024]      FIG. 1  shows a wireless power transfer system  100  having a power transmitter  101  that transmits electromagnetic radiation and a device  102  with a receiving coil  103  that receives the electromagnetic radiation and provides the received power to a receiver circuit that powers the device  102  (or charges a battery in the device  102 ). The efficiency of wireless power transfer is determined by 1) the efficiency of the electronics in the transmitter  101  and 2) the receiver  103  and the inductive/wireless coupling through the air. The coupling between the transmitter  101  and the receiver changes with their distance and relative locations and the presence of metallic objects in the vicinity. 
         [0025]      FIG. 2A  shows a simple class-E amplifier  200  using a MOSFET  202 . A first terminal of an inductor L 1   203  is provided to the drain of the MOSFET  202 . A second terminal of the inductor L 1   203  is provided to a positive terminal of a DC power source  201 . A negative terminal of the power source  201  is provided to ground. A source of the MOSFET  202  is provided to ground. A first terminal of a capacitor C 1   204  is provided to the drain of the MOSFET  202  and a second terminal of the capacitor C 1   204  is provided to ground. A first terminal of a capacitor C 2   205  is provided to the drain of the MOSFET  202  and a second terminal of the capacitor C 2   205  is provided to a first terminal of an inductor L 2   206 . A first terminal of a load resistor  207  is provided to a second terminal of the inductor L 2   206  and a second terminal of the resistor  207  is provided to ground. A fixed oscillator/driver  210  drives a gate of the MOFET  202 . 
         [0026]      FIG. 2B  shows the gate and drain voltage waveforms of the amplifier in  FIG. 2A . 
         [0027]    Class-E RF amplifier is a classical amplifier that provides relatively high efficiency when delivering power to a known fixed load. As shown in  FIG. 2B , the gate voltage of the MOSFET  202  is substantially 180 degrees out of phase with respect to the drain voltage. This switching minimizes switching losses in the MOSFET  202  because the MOFET I is switched when drain source voltage is relatively small. The value of L 1   203  and C 1   204  depend on the load and switching frequency. In the conventional class E amplifiers, the load R  207  is fixed, and thus the switching frequency and duty cycle and the values of L 1   203 , C 1   204 , L 2   205  and L 2   206  can be chosen to provide maximum efficiency. 
         [0028]    Unfortunately, in the wireless power applications, the coupling of through the air is a variable, and thus the amplifier  200  will not operate efficiently in this application. 
         [0029]      FIG. 3  shows an improved amplifier  300  that operates efficiently with different load conditions. The amplifier  300  is similar to the amplifier  200  and includes the MOSFET  202 , the inductor L 1   203 , the power source  201 , the capacitor C 1   204 , the capacitor C 2   205  and the inductor L 2   206  as shown in  FIG. 2 . However, in the amplifier  300  the load  207  is replaced with a variable load  307 . The load  307  includes a variable inductance L 3   308  in series with a variable resistance  309 . In the amplifier  300 , the fixed oscillator driver  210  is omitted and the gate of the MOSFET  202  is driven by an output variable delay line  324  via a gate resistor  325 . The drain of the MOSFET  202  is provided to an input of a bandpass filter  321  and an output of the bandpass filter  320  is provided to a non-inverting input of an adder  323 . The gate of the MOSFET  202  is provided to an input of a bandpass filter  321  and an output of the bandpass filter  320  is provided to an inverting input of the adder  323 . An output of the adder  323  is provided through an integrator  326  to a control input of a Pulse Width Modulator (PEM)  310 , and an optional analog delay element  324  which delays the PWM signal from PWM controller  310  according to the output from  326 . The delay function can be digitally implemented by PWM  310 . Analog delay  324  can useful for operating when a low cost PWM controller has limited processing speed. 
         [0030]    The resistance  309  includes resistive losses in the transmit coil, radiative losses, and losses due to power delivered to the receiver  103 . 
         [0031]    The amplifier  300  uses the feedback loop formed from the bandpass filter  320 , the bandpass filter  321 , the adder  323 , the PWM  310  and the delay line  324  to control the switching of the MOSFET  202  to produce efficient operation in the presence of the varying load  307 . It is not practical to directly sense the instantaneous load resistance  307 , and the drain voltage and current waveform are noisy for non-ideal MOSFET and driver devices. Thus, the amplifier  300  uses feedback to adjust the frequency and/or duty cycle and/or timing of the gate drive to ensure high efficiency operation for large range of air distance between coils. 
         [0032]    In the transmitter  300 , the timing at the MOSFET  202  gate is controlled by the PWM  310  and the delay line  324 . The output from the adder  323  is integrated fed back to control the delay line  324 . When the voltage waveforms at MOSFET  202  gate and drain are approximately 180 degree out of phase, the output of adder  323  is maximized (because the gate voltage of the MOSFET  202  is inverted). The bandpass filters  320  and  321  have pass-band at the designed switch frequencies. These two filters remove the spurious signals due to the noise and parasitic capacitances of the MOSFET  202 . 
         [0033]    The output signal from adder  323  is feedback to control frequency and the timing of PWM signal for the exact turn-on and turn-off of the MOSFET gate. When the air distance between transmit and receive coil is varied, the inductance ( 206 ) will also change. This will change the resonance frequency of LC oscillator ( 205  and  206 ). However, the feedback loop will adjust PWM frequency and the delay of the turn-on and turn-off timing of the MOSFET gate accordingly, ensure that MOSFET is turned-off when the drain voltage is nonzero. This ability to digitally control the exact cycle-by-cycle timing of MOSFET gate voltage makes it possible to minimize the switching power loss in all loading conditions. 
         [0034]      FIG. 4  shows the amplifier of  FIG. 3  coupled to a simple passive receiving circuit. In  FIG. 4 , the variable load  307  is replaced with a transmitting coil  441 . The transmitting coil  441  is electromagnetically coupled to a receiving coil  442  in the receiver. A first terminal of the coil  441  is provided to a first terminal of a capacitor  443  and to a first terminal of a load resistor  407 . A second terminal of the coil  442  is provided to a second terminal of the capacitor  443  and to a second terminal of the resistor  407 . 
         [0035]    Energy coupled from the coil  441  to the coil  442  is provided to the resistor  407 . Thus, the resistor  407  appears as a load to the amplifier. Changes in the resistor, or changes in the separation between the coils  441  and  442  will change the impedance reflected back to the amplifier. These impedance changes will change the relationship between the gate and drain voltages of the MOSFET  202 . The feedback loop formed from the bandpass filter  320 , the bandpass filter  321 , the adder  323 , the PWM  310  and the delay line  324  will sense these changes in the gate and drain voltages and adjust the switching of the MOSFET  202  to produce efficient operation in the presence of the varying load. 
         [0036]      FIG. 5  shows the amplifier of  FIG. 3  coupled to a switching receive circuit. In  FIG. 5 , the variable load  307  is replaced with a transmitting coil  441 . The transmitting coil  441  is electromagnetically coupled to a receiving coil  442  in the receiver. A first terminal of the coil  441  is provided to a first terminal of a capacitor  443 , to an anode of a diode  545  and to a source of a MOSFET switch  549 . A second terminal of the coil  442  is provided to a second terminal of the capacitor  443 , to an anode of a zener diode  547 , and to the second terminal of the resistor  407 . A drain of the MOSFET  549  is provided to the first terminal of the resistor  407 . A cathode of the diode  545  is provided to a power input of a receiver PWM  548  and to a first terminal of a current-limiting resistor  546 . A second terminal of the resistor  546  is provided to a cathode of the zener diode  547 . A control output of the PWM  548  is provided to a gate of the MOSFET  549 . The first terminal of the resistor  407  is provided to a voltage sense input of the PWM  548 . Optionally, the first terminal of the coil  442  is provided to an input of a frequency-sensing filter  550  and an output of the frequency-sensing filter  550  is provided to an input of the PWM  548 . In one embodiment, the filter  500  includes an LC filter. 
         [0037]    The zener diode  547  is used to regulate supply voltage to the PWM controller  548  at start-up. The PWM controller  548  adjusts the switching frequency based on load conditions. The optional frequency-sensing filter  550  senses the switching frequency of the PWM  310  and provides the frequency information to the PWM controller  548 . 
         [0038]    The purpose of PWM controller  548  is to regulate the received energy into a DC current required for the load. The switching frequency is typically much lower frequency than PWM  310 . In addition, this frequency is coded to varies with voltage and/or current desired by the load. 
         [0039]      FIG. 6  shows the circuit of  FIG. 5 , with the addition of a bandpass filter  650  to provide frequency feedback from the receiver PWM  548  to the transmitter PWM  310 . The first terminal of the coil  440  is provided to an input of the bandpass filter  650  and an output of the bandpass filter  650  is provided to an input of the PWM  310 . Switching frequency components from the receiver are coupled back through the coils  441  and  442  from the receiver side to the transmitter side. The bandpass filter  650  is configured to attenuate frequency components generated by the switching of the MOSFET  202  and to pass frequency components corresponding to the switching of the MOSFET  549 . Thus, the PWM  310  can sense the switching frequency of the PWM. 
         [0040]      FIG. 7  shows the amplifier of  FIG. 6  with the addition of a regulator  770  to control current and voltage to the load  407 . The regulator  770  is provided in series between the drain of the MOSFET  549  and the first terminal of the resistor  407 . In one embodiment, the regulator  770  is a battery charging regulator and the load  407  includes a battery being charged by the regulator  770 . 
         [0041]    For many batteries, including Li-Ion rechargeable batteries, two modes are typically used. In the first stage (CI) when the battery energy is low, a constant current is supplied to fast charge the battery. When the battery energy level reached a voltage threshold, this threshold voltage (CV) is maintained while a decreasing current is supplied to charge the battery to full capacity. 
         [0042]    The CICV (constant current constant voltage) operation can be implemented by using the switching frequency as a feedback to transmitter side. When the MOSFET  549  is turned on, the energy stored in the LC tank circuit will be drained. This will be reflected back to the transmitter side as a higher impedance load. The switching frequency on the receiver side can thus be detected on the transmitter side via the bandpass filter  650 . The transmitter PWM controller  310  adjusts the delay of the start time of next cycle to reduce the energy to be transferred. 
         [0043]      FIG. 8  shows one embodiment of receive coil  442  configured to couple to a pair of transmit coils. In the system of  FIG. 8 , the transmitter coil  441  has been configured as two coils  811 ,  812  in series and wound 180 degrees out of phase with respect to one another. The receive coil  442  is wound on a portion of magnetic material provided between a first pad  801  and a second pad  803 . The pads  801  and  803  are made of magnetic material and positioned to couple to the coils  811  and  812 , respectively. 
         [0044]    For the strong resonance coupling through the air, the receiver coil design is important. For cell phone and portable electronics applications, planar spiral inductors are typically used to capture magnetic flux. 
         [0045]    Planar coils are typically in the form of a spiral. However, planar spirals are simply never used in conventional high efficiency power supplies. Spiral coils have poor efficiency because the inter-winding flux cancellation and the loss increases very rapidly as the number of turn increases. The air gap between windings cannot be too small as the proximity effects and intertwining capacitance work against the resonance. On the other hand, for efficient flux collection, number of turns need to be sufficient as required for the resonance inductance. One additional requirement for strong resonance is that coil must have as low AC impedance as possible. 
         [0046]    For strong coupling, it is desirable to reduce inductance as much as possible for a given resonance resonant frequency. However, the flux collected by a given coil is proportional to the surface area, which increases with inductance. This leads to the following design for much more efficient coupling: 
         [0047]    The push-pull action of the transmitter functions as a source/drain for magnetic flux. The dipole magnetic flux concentrator minimizes the energy loss to the stray magnetic flux in the typical spiral coils. 
         [0048]    This topology allows reduced inductance without reducing the flux receiving area, and maximizes the coupling efficiency by providing a closed circuit path for magnetic flux (as the two transmitter coils have different polarities). The receiving structure acts as a flux concentrator to minimize the coupling loss. The flux concentrators can be combined as a single piece and goes through the receiving coil. This will increase the inductance of the receiving coil. As a result, the maximum energy transferred will be reduced but the coupling efficiency will not be reduced. 
         [0049]    The transmitter  101  generates energy at a desired frequency to provide coupling between the transmitter  101  and receiver  103 . In order to limit the size of transmit and receive coils which is required for portable electronics, it is advantageous to use a relatively high frequency. As frequency increases, the current flows on the surface of conductor, i.e., the skin effect. The copper skin depth is 210 um at 100 khz, 66 um at 1 Mhz and 21 um at 10 Mhz. The copper thickness of standard 1 oz PCB/FPC is 34 um, and ½ oz is 18 um. This means that standard PCB/FPC process are good for 10 MHz range of operation because it minimizes AC impedance of the conductor, and allows the maximum resonance. Unlike the previous arts which uses Litz wire to minimize the impedance of coil, an improved planar PCB coil is disclosed below: 
         [0050]      FIG. 9  shows an improved coupling coil  900  that includes impedance matching holes (or Via)  902 . The coil  900  is configured as a loop of multilayer substantially flat conductive material, and the holes/Via  902  are disposed along the length of the conductor to connect the conductors on the different layers. The two ends of the conductor  901  are provided to a receiver circuit  905 . In this arrangement, the coil  900  is an embodiment of the coil  442 . One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the coil  900  can be used as an embodiment of the transmitting coil  441 . The conductor width, spacing between holes/Via  902  and the distance between conductors between layers are chosen to minimize the skin effect loss and proximity effect loss of the coil  900 . This allows the coil to be tuned to provide maximum efficiency over a desired frequency band. 
         [0051]    Although the above-disclosed embodiments have shown, described, and pointed out the fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to the above-disclosed embodiments, it should be understood that various omissions, substitutions, and changes in the form of the detail of the devices, systems, and/or methods shown can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, although the above specification describes MOFETS  202  and  549 , one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the MOSFETS  202  and  549  are merely examples of electronically-controlled switches and other electronically-controlled switches can be used, such as, for example, FETS, transistors, etc. Moreover, various portions of the circuits shown in  FIGS. 3-7  can be implemented in hardware and/or in combinations of hardware and software. Consequently, the scope of the invention should not be limited to the foregoing description, but should be defined by the appended claims.

Technology Category: h