POWER GENERATING SYSTEM AND WIRELESS POWER TRANSMISSION SYSTEM
A power generating system includes: a plurality of power generating units for transmitting generated electric power by wireless via magnetic coupling between resonators; an AC combining section for combining AC energy output from AC converting and outputting sections of the power generating units and supplying the converted AC energy to an AC load; a DC combining section for combining DC energy output from DC converting and outputting sections of the power generating units and supplying the combined DC energy to a DC load; and an output control section for controlling an output of each power generating unit by transmitting a control signal to an output switching section of each power generating unit based on power consumption of at least one of the AC load and the DC load.
1 . A power generating system, comprising:
a plurality of power generating units, each of the units including:
a power generating device configured to output DC energy;
an oscillator configured to convert the DC energy output from the power generating device into high-frequency energy and output the converted high-frequency energy;
a transmitting antenna configured to transmit the high-frequency energy output from the oscillator;
a receiving antenna configured to receive at least part of the high-frequency energy transmitted by the transmitting antenna;
an AC converting and outputting section configured to convert the high-frequency energy into AC energy having a relatively low frequency and outputting the converted AC energy;
a DC converting and outputting section configured to convert the high-frequency energy into DC energy and outputting the converted DC energy; and
an output switching section configured to connect a plurality of outputting sections including the AC converting and outputting section and the DC converting and outputting section to the receiving antenna, the output switching section being configured to transmit the high-frequency energy received by the receiving antenna to any one of the plurality of outputting sections based on a control signal;
an AC combining section configured to combine. AC energy output from the AC converting and outputting sections of the plurality of power generating units and supplying the combined AC energy to an AC load;
a DC combining section configured to combine DC energy output from the DC converting and outputting sections of the plurality of power generating units and supplying the combined DC energy to a DC load; and
an output control section configured to control an output of each of the plurality of power generating units by transmitting the control signal to the output switching section of each of the plurality of power generating units based on power consumption of at least one of the AC load and the DC load.
2 . The power generating system of claim 1 , wherein the output control section generates the control signal based on power consumption of both of the AC load and the DC load.
3 . The power generating system of claim 1 , further comprising:
an AC power detecting section configured to detect the power consumption of the AC load and notifying the output control section of the detected power consumption; and
a DC power detecting section configured to detect the power consumption of the DC load and notifying the output control section of the detected power consumption.
4 . The power generating system of claim 1 , wherein:
each of the plurality of power generating units further includes a generated energy detecting section for detecting a magnitude of the high-frequency energy output from the receiving antenna; and
the output control section generates the control signal based on the magnitude of the high-frequency energy detected by the generated energy detecting section.
5 . The power generating system of claim 1 , wherein:
each of the plurality of power generating units further includes an HF outputting section configured to output the received high-frequency energy without any conversion;
the power generating system further comprises an HF combining section configured to combine the high-frequency energy output from the HF outputting sections of the plurality of power generating units and supplying the combined HF energy to an HF load; and
the output control section controls the output of each of the plurality of power generating units based on power consumption of the HF load.
6 . The power generating system of claim 5 , wherein the output control section controls the output of each of the plurality of power generating units so that electric power supply to the HF load has priority over electric power supply to the AC load and the DC load.
7 . The power generating system of claim 5 , wherein each of the plurality of power generating units further includes an HF power detecting section configured to detect the power consumption of the HF load and notifying the output control section of the detected power consumption.
8 . The power generating system of claim 5 , wherein the output control section controls the output of each of the plurality of power generating units based on the power consumption of each of the AC load, the DC load, and the HF load detected by a current amount flowing through each of the AC load, the DC load, and the HF load.
9 . The power generating system of claim 8 , wherein the output control section transmits the control signal to the output switching section in each of the plurality of power generating units so that the current amount flowing through the AC load, the DC load, and the HF load approaches 0.
10 . The power generating system of claim 1 , wherein the AC combining section is connected to a power grid.
11 . The power generating system of claim 1 , wherein one of the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna in each of the plurality of power generating units includes a series resonance circuit and the other includes a parallel resonance circuit.
12 . The power generating system of claim 11 , wherein the following equation is satisfied:
( L 2 /L 1)≧( k/Voc )2,
where Voc represents a voltage step-up ratio of the oscillator, L 1 represents an inductance of an inductor included in the transmitting antenna, L 2 represents an inductance of an inductor included in the receiving antenna, and k represents a coupling coefficient between the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna in each of the plurality of power generating units.
13 . A power generating system, comprising:
a plurality of power generating units, each of the units including:
a power generating device configured to output DC energy;
an oscillator configured to convert the DC energy output from the power generating device into high-frequency energy and output the converted high-frequency energy;
a transmitting antenna configured to transmit the high-frequency energy output from the oscillator;
a receiving antenna configured to receive at least part of the high-frequency energy transmitted by the transmitting antenna;
an AC converting and outputting section configured to convert the high-frequency energy into AC energy having a relatively low frequency and outputting the converted AC energy;
an HF outputting section configured to output the received high-frequency energy without any conversion; and
an output switching section configured to connect a plurality of outputting sections including the AC converting and outputting section and the HF outputting section to the receiving antenna, the output switching section being configured to transmit the high-frequency energy received by the receiving antenna to any one of the plurality of outputting sections based on a control signal;
an AC combining section configured to combine AC energy output from the AC converting and outputting sections of the plurality of power generating units and supplying the combined AC energy to an AC load;
an HF combining section configured to combine the high-frequency energy output from the HF outputting sections of the plurality of power generating units and supplying the combined high-frequency energy to an HF load; and
an output control section configured to control an output of each of the plurality of power generating units by transmitting the control signal to the output switching section of each of the plurality of power generating units based on power consumption of at least one of the AC load and the HF load.
14 . A wireless power transmission system for use in claim 1 , comprising:
a plurality of power transmission units, each of the units including:
an oscillator configured to convert DC energy into high-frequency energy and output the converted high-frequency energy;
a transmitting antenna configured to transmit the high-frequency energy output from the oscillator;
a receiving antenna configured to receive at least part of the high-frequency energy transmitted by the transmitting antenna;
an AC converting and outputting section configured to convert the high-frequency energy into AC energy having a relatively low frequency and outputting the converted AC energy;
a DC converting and outputting section configured to convert the high-frequency energy into DC energy and outputting the converted DC energy; and
an output switching section configured to connect a plurality of outputting sections including the AC converting and outputting section and the DC converting and outputting section to the receiving antenna, the output switching section being configured to transmit the high-frequency energy received by the receiving antenna to any one of the plurality of outputting sections based on a control signal;
an AC combining section configured to combine AC energy output from the AC converting and outputting sections of the plurality of power transmission units and supplying the combined AC energy to an AC load;
a DC combining section configured to combine DC energy output from the DC converting and outputting sections of the plurality of power transmission units and supplying the combined DC energy to a DC load; and
an output control section configured to control an output of each of the plurality of power transmission units by transmitting the control signal to the output switching section of each of the plurality of power transmission units based on power consumption of at least one of the AC load and the DC load.
15 . A wireless power transmission system, comprising:
a plurality of power transmission units, each of the units including:
an oscillator configured to convert DC energy into high-frequency energy and output the converted high-frequency energy;
a transmitting antenna configured to transmit the high-frequency energy output from the oscillator;
a receiving antenna configured to receive at least part of the high-frequency energy transmitted by the transmitting antenna;
an AC converting and outputting section configured to convert the high-frequency energy into AC energy having a relatively low frequency and outputting the converted AC energy;
an HF outputting section configured to output the received high-frequency energy without any conversion; and
an output switching section configured to connect a plurality of outputting sections including the AC converting and outputting section and the HF outputting section to the receiving antenna, the output switching section being configured to transmit the high-frequency energy received by the receiving antenna to any one of the plurality of outputting sections based on a control signal;
an AC combining section configured to combine AC energy output from the AC converting and outputting sections of the plurality of power transmission units and supplying the combined AC energy to an AC load;
an HF combining section configured to combine the high-frequency energy output from the HF outputting sections of the plurality of power transmission units and supplying the combined high-frequency energy to an HF load; and
an output control section configured to control an output of each of the plurality of power transmission units by transmitting the control signal to the output switching section of each of the plurality of power transmission units based on power consumption of at least one of the AC load and the HF load.