Granted Patent B2

US 12,206,256 · App. 17/755,940 · Granted Jan 21, 2025

Inventors: Viswanathan Kanakasabai (Bangalore, IN); Suma Memana Narayana Bhat (Bangalore, IN); Jayanti Ganesh (Bangalore, IN); Rupam Basak (Howrah, IN)

H02J50/402G01R19/10H02J50/10H02J50/80H02J50/90

Abstract

Claims (67)

1. A wireless power receiving apparatus, comprising:

a plurality of wireless power receiver (RX) circuits, wherein each RX circuit includes at least one secondary coil, each secondary coil being capable of receiving wireless power from a different primary coil of at least one wireless power transmission apparatus and providing a wireless power to a power combination circuit;

one or more RX controllers connected to the plurality of RX circuits and including at least a first RX controller configured to control a first RX circuit of the plurality of RX circuits based on at least a first droop configuration that represents a relationship between a voltage level at the first RX circuit and an amount of current from the first RX circuit to the power combination circuit; and

the power combination circuit electrically coupled to the plurality of RX circuits and configured to combine the wireless power from at least two RX circuits and to provide a combined wireless power to at least a first load.

2. The wireless power receiving apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a single RX controller of the one or more RX controllers controls multiple RX circuits, and wherein the single RX controller is configured to control the multiple RX circuits based, at least in part, on different droop characteristics for the multiple RX circuits.

3. The wireless power receiving apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first RX controller is configured to:

determine a measured voltage and a measured current of the wireless power provided by the first RX circuit to the power combination circuit;

determine an expected current based on measured voltage and the first droop configuration, wherein the first droop configuration indicates different expected current levels based on different measured voltages;

determine a current error value based on a difference between the expected current with the measured current; and

cause the first RX circuit to communicate a feedback communication to a wireless power transmission apparatus based on the current error value, wherein the feedback communication is configured to cause the wireless power transmission apparatus to update an operating point of the wireless power transmitted by a first primary coil of the wireless power transmission apparatus to a first secondary coil of the first RX circuit.

4. The wireless power receiving apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first RX controller is configured to:

receive a transmitter communication from the wireless power transmission apparatus;

determine an alignment metric that indicates how well the first RX circuit is aligned with a first primary coil of the wireless power transmission apparatus; and

select between the first droop configuration and a second droop configuration based on the alignment metric.

5. The wireless power receiving apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of RX circuits is capable of receiving a low power wireless signal in accordance with a wireless charging standard, and wherein the power combination circuit is configured to provide the combined wireless power as a high-power signal to the first load.

6. The wireless power receiving apparatus of claim 5 , wherein each low power wireless signal is not over 15 Watts, and wherein the high-power signal is over 15 Watts.

7. The wireless power receiving apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of RX circuits is configured with a same droop configuration such that the each of the plurality of RX circuits contribute same amounts of wireless power to the power combination circuit when each of the plurality of RX circuits have a same degree of alignment.

8. The wireless power receiving apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of RX circuits includes the first RX circuit and a second RX circuit, and wherein the first RX circuit and the second RX circuit contribute different amounts of wireless power to the power combination circuit based on different droop configurations or different alignments.

9. The wireless power receiving apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the different amounts of wireless power are based, at least in part, on differences between

the first droop configuration for a first alignment of a first secondary coil of the first RX circuit with a first primary coil and

a second droop configuration for a second alignment of a second secondary coil of the second RX circuit with a second primary coil.

10. The wireless power receiving apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of RX circuits is connected in parallel with each other and to the power combination circuit.

11. The wireless power receiving apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of RX circuits is connected in series such that the first RX circuit and a last RX circuit are connected to the power combination circuit.

12. The wireless power receiving apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a first set of RX circuits of the plurality of RX circuits are connected in series with each other, and a second set of RX circuits of the plurality of RX circuits are connected in series, and wherein the first set of RX circuits and the second set of RX circuits are connected in parallel to the power combination circuit.

13. The wireless power receiving apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:

a set of switches that are configured to add or remove selected ones of the plurality of RX circuits to a parallel or series circuit before connecting the selected ones of the plurality of RX circuits to the power combination circuit.

14. The wireless power receiving apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:

at least one power output configured to provide the combined wireless power to the first load, wherein the first load is external to the wireless power receiving apparatus.

15. The wireless power receiving apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:

a plurality of power outputs including at least a first power output port and a second power output port.

16. The wireless power receiving apparatus of claim 15 , wherein each of the plurality of power outputs are associated with different output power ratings.

17. The wireless power receiving apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:

a housing for the plurality of RX circuits, the housing configured to attach to an electronic device, wherein the first load includes a battery charger of the electronic device.

18. The wireless power receiving apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:

at least one supervisory controller configured to manage the plurality of RX circuits, the supervisory controller configured to determine when to enable or disable one or more of the plurality of RX circuits based on a respective droop configuration for an alignment between each RX circuit and a corresponding wireless power transmitter (TX) circuit.

19. The wireless power receiving apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the supervisory controller is further configured to determine when to enable or disable the one or more of the plurality of RX circuits based on a power consumption of the first load and the combined wireless power.

20. The wireless power receiving apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:

at least one power input connection configured to receive power from an external RX circuit and provide the power to the power combination circuit.

21. The wireless power receiving apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the power combination circuit is configured to provide a first power signal to the first load via a first power output and a second power signal to a second load via a second power output.

22. A method of a wireless power receiving apparatus, the method comprising:

receiving, by a plurality of wireless power receiver (RX) circuits, wireless power from at least one wireless power transmission apparatus, wherein each RX circuit includes at least one secondary coil to receive the wireless power from a different primary coil of the at least one wireless power transmission apparatus and provide the wireless power to a power combination circuit;

controlling, by at least a first RX controller, a first RX circuit of the plurality of RX circuits based on at least a first droop configuration that represents a relationship between a voltage level at the first RX circuit and an amount of current from the first RX circuit to the power combination circuit;

combining, by the power combination circuit, the wireless power received by the plurality of RX circuits to form a combined wireless power; and

providing the combined wireless power to at least a first load.

23. The method of claim 22 , further comprising:

determining to deactivate the first RX circuit based, at least in part, on a misalignment of a first secondary coil in the first RX circuit with a first primary coil of a wireless power transmission apparatus.

24. The method of claim 22 , further comprising:

deactivating one or more of the plurality of RX circuits based on a determination that the first load is using less power than the combined wireless power.

25. The method of claim 22 , further comprising:

activating one or more of the plurality of RX circuits based on a determination to reduce an amount of wireless power contributed by each of the plurality of RX circuits.

26. The method of claim 22 , further comprising:

providing a first wireless power from the power combination circuit to the first load via a first power output; and

providing a second wireless power from the power combination circuit to a second load via a second power output.

27. The method of claim 22 , further comprising:

determining a measured voltage and a measured current of the wireless power provided by the first RX circuit to the power combination circuit;

determining an expected current based on the measured voltage and the first droop configuration, wherein the first droop configuration indicates different expected current levels based on different measured voltages;

determining a current error value based on a difference between the expected current and the measured current; and

causing the first RX circuit to communicate a feedback communication to a wireless power transmission apparatus based on the current error value, wherein the feedback communication is configured to cause the wireless power transmission apparatus to update an operating point of the wireless power transmitted by a first primary coil of the wireless power transmission apparatus to a first secondary coil the first RX circuit.

28. The method of claim 27 , further comprising:

receiving a transmitter communication from the wireless power transmission apparatus;

determining an alignment metric that indicates how well the first RX circuit is aligned with the first primary coil of the wireless power transmission apparatus; and

selecting between the first droop configuration and a second droop configuration based on the alignment metric.

29. The wireless power receiving apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first RX controller comprises at least one of:

a processor and a memory, wherein the memory has stored thereon the first droop configuration;

logic circuitry configured to receive at least one voltage measurement and to generate at least one expected current value in accordance with the first droop configuration; or

a programmable logic device (PLD) configured to receive the at least one voltage measurement and to generate the at least one expected current value in accordance with the first droop configuration.

30. The wireless power receiving apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the single RX controller is further configured to control the multiple RX circuits based, at least in part, on an alignment metric for each RX circuit.

Assignments (4)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (101)