Witricity Corporation

Herbert Toby Lou

Morris P Kesler

Katherine L Hall

Ron Fiorello

Simon Verghese

Andre B Kurs

Konrad J Kulikowski

Eric R Giler

Noam Katz

David A Schatz

Aristeidis Karalis

Andrew J Campanella

Christopher Buenrostro

Arunanshu Mohan Roy

Matthew Dillon

Marin Soljacic

Alexander Patrick McCauley

Nathan Andrew Pallo

Kylee Devro Sealy

Aaron Gilchrist

Gozde Guckaya

Matthew J MacDonald

Daniel Bronson

Michael F Lamenza

Colin McCarthy

Benjamin K Sampson

Steven Joseph Ganem

The disclosure features wireless power transfer systems that include a power transmitting apparatus configured to wirelessly transmit power, a power receiving apparatus connected to an electrical load and configured to receive power from the power transmitting apparatus, and a controller connected to the power transmitting apparatus and configured to receive information about a phase difference between output voltage and current waveforms in a power source of the power transmitting apparatus, and to adjust a frequency of the transmitted power based on the measured phase difference.

Impedance adjustment in wireless power transmission systems and methods

A control architecture for electric vehicle wireless power transmission systems that may be segmented so that certain essential and/or standardized control circuits, programs, algorithms, and the like, are permanent to the system and so that other non-essential and/or augmentable control circuits, programs, algorithms, and the like, may be reconfigurable and/or customizable by a user of the system. The control architecture may be distributed to various components of the wireless power system so that a combination of local or low-level controls operating at relatively high-speed can protect critical functionality of the system while higher-level and relatively lower speed control loops can be used to control other local and system-wide functionality.

Reconfigurable control architectures and algorithms for electric vehicle wireless energy transfer systems

A wireless energy transfer system includes a foreign object debris detection system. The system includes at least one wireless energy transfer source configured to generate an oscillating magnetic field. The foreign object debris may be detected by at least one field gradiometer positioned in the oscillating magnetic field. The voltage of the at least one field gradiometer may be measured using readout circuitry and a feedback loop based on the readings from the gradiometers may be used to control the parameters of the wireless energy source.

Foreign object detection in wireless energy transfer systems

The disclosure features apparatus, methods, and systems for wireless power transfer that include a power source featuring at least one resonator, a power receiver featuring at least one resonator, a first detector featuring one or more loops of conductive material and configured to generate an electrical signal based on a magnetic field between the power source and the power receiver, a second detector featuring conductive material, and control electronics coupled to the first and second detectors, where during operation, the control electronics are configured to measure the electrical signal of the first detector and compare the measured electrical signal of the first detector to baseline electrical information for the first detector to determine information about whether debris is positioned between the power source and the power receiver.

This application includes a source for a wireless power transfer system including: sensing and measurement circuitry configured to process signals associated with a source resonator and a source impedance matching network including a tunable component; a PWM generator coupled with power transistors of an amplifier coupled with the source impedance matching network, wherein the PWM generator is configured to control a driving signal to drive the source resonator using the power transistors; and a controller coupled with the sensing and measurement circuitry to receive measured signals, wherein the controller is configured to control a component value or an operating point of at least one of the tunable component(s), and the controller is configured to modify operation of the PWM generator based on the measured signals to modify at least a phase of the driving signal while changing power delivered to the source resonator.

Tunable wireless energy transfer systems

Described herein are improved configurations for a wireless power transfer for electronic devices. In embodiments reconfigurable or flexible attachment between a source and a device is realized using permanent magnets or electromagnets. Magnetic material may be positioned on or around one or more of the resonator to provide for locations for attaching permanent magnets. A permanent magnet attached to or near one of a source or device or repeater resonators may be used to flexibly attach to the non-lossy magnetic material of another resonator structure. In embodiments, replacing lossy permanent magnets and/or electromagnets in even one of the resonators of a wireless power system may be advantageous to system performance.

Flexible resonator attachment

This application includes systems and techniques relating to wireless power transfer, such as a system including: sensing and measurement circuitry configured to process signals associated with a resonator and an impedance matching network coupled with the resonator; a PWM (pulse width modulation) generator configured to control a driving signal to drive the resonator through the impedance matching network; and a controller coupled with the sensing and measurement circuitry, the controller configured to adjust operation of the PWM generator and operation of the impedance matching network based on measured signals from the sensing and measurement circuitry.

Wireless power transfer frequency adjustment

The disclosure features a wireless power transmission system for an elevator that includes at least two wireless power sources disposed at intervals along a wall of an elevator shaft and coupled to a power supply, and at least one wireless power receiving device configured to be mounted to an exterior of an elevator cab and to be coupled to a load onboard the elevator cab, where during operation, the at least two wireless power sources are configured to generate an oscillating magnetic field to transfer wireless energy to the at least one wireless power receiving device.

Wireless power transmission systems for elevators

Improved configurations for wireless energy transfer can include system elements of a wireless energy transfer system that may pair in-band and out-of-band communication channels by exchanging related information. Energy transfer signals may be modulated according to defined waveforms. Information about the signal may be transmitted using an out-of-band communication channel. A system element that receives both the signal and information may verify that they correspond to the same system element.

Communication in wireless energy transfer systems

Growing community of inventors

Carlisle, MA, United States of America

Herbert Toby Lou