Granted Patent B2

US 9,711,991 · App. 13/946,070 · Granted Jul 18, 2017

Inventors: Katherine L. Hall (Arlington, MA); Morris P. Kesler (Bedford, MA); Konrad J. Kulikowski (North Andover, MA); Andrew J. Campanella (Somerville, MA)

Assignee: WiTricity Corporation

H02J7/025H02J5/005

Abstract

Claims (39)

1. A wireless power converter comprising:

at least one receiving magnetic resonator configured to capture electrical energy received wirelessly through a first oscillating magnetic field characterized by a first plurality of parameters;

at least one transferring magnetic resonator configured to generate a second oscillating magnetic field characterized by a second plurality of parameters different from the first plurality of parameters;

wherein the electrical energy from the at least one receiving magnetic resonator is used to energize the at least one transferring magnetic resonator to generate the second oscillating magnetic field; and

wherein the at least one receiving magnetic resonator and the at least one transferring magnetic resonator is tunable.

2. The converter of claim 1 , wherein the first plurality of parameters includes a first frequency hopping sequence different from a second frequency hopping sequence of the second plurality of parameters.

3. The converter of claim 1 , wherein the first plurality of parameters includes a first on/off sequence different from a second on/off sequence of the second plurality of parameters.

4. The converter of claim 1 , further comprising a first converter circuit configured to convert the electrical energy captured by the at least one receiving magnetic resonator into a direct current signal.

5. The converter of claim 4 , further comprising a second converter circuit configured to convert the direct current signal from the first converter circuit into an alternating current signal, wherein the alternating current signal is used to energize the at least one transferring magnetic resonator.

6. The converter of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the at least one receiving magnetic resonator and the at least one transferring magnetic resonator has a quality factor Q>100.

7. The converter of claim 1 , wherein the at least one receiving magnetic resonator is reconfigurable to capture energy from magnetic fields with different parameters.

8. The converter of claim 1 , wherein the at least one transferring magnetic resonator is reconfigurable to generate magnetic fields with different parameters.

9. The converter of claim 1 , wherein the at least one receiving magnetic resonator and the at least one transferring resonator share a loop inductor.

10. The converter of claim 1 , wherein the first plurality of parameters includes a power level different from a second power level of the second plurality of parameters.

11. A system comprising:

a source resonator configured to generate a first oscillating magnetic field characterized by a first plurality of parameters;

a device resonator configured to capture electrical energy received wirelessly through a second oscillating magnetic field characterized by a second plurality of parameters different from the first plurality of parameters;

a wireless power converter including conversion circuitry configured to capture energy from the second oscillating magnetic field and to energize the source resonator to generate the first oscillating magnetic field; and

wherein the source resonator and the device resonator is tunable.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the wireless power converter is powered by electrical energy captured by the device resonator.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein at least one of the source resonator and the device resonator has a quality factor Q>100.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the source resonator and the device resonator include a shared loop inductor.

15. The converter of claim 13 , where tuning the source resonator and the device resonator achieves frequency conversion in a wireless power system.

16. The converter of claim 13 , where tuning the source resonator and the device resonator achieves power level conversion in a wireless power system.

17. The converter of claim 13 , where tuning the source resonator and the device resonator achieves energy multiplexing conversion in a wireless power system.

18. A method of wireless power conversion comprising:

providing a configurable magnetic resonator;

tuning the configurable magnetic resonator to capture a first oscillating magnetic field characterized by a first plurality of parameters;

converting the oscillating magnetic field into electrical energy;

storing the electrical energy as stored energy in an energy storage element;

tuning the configurable magnetic resonator to generate a second oscillating magnetic field characterized by a second plurality of parameters;

energizing the configurable magnetic resonator using the stored energy to produce the second oscillating magnetic field; and

enabling efficient energy transfer between other magnetic resonators with different operating parameters.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the configurable magnetic resonator has a quality factor Q>100.

20. The method of claim 18 , further comprising converting the electrical energy into a direct current signal prior to storing the electrical energy in the energy storage element.

21. The method of claim 18 , wherein the different operating parameters comprise operating frequencies.

22. The method of claim 18 , wherein the different operating parameters comprise resonant frequencies.

23. The method of claim 18 , wherein the different operating parameters comprise power levels.

24. The method of claim 18 , wherein the different operating parameters comprise energy multiplexing schemes

Assignments (4)

Continuity (34)