Renesas Electronics America Inc.

Integrated Device Technology, Inc.

Jiangjian Huang

Rui Liu

Hulong Zeng

Nicholaus Wayne Smith

Gustavo James Mehas

Tao Qi

Amit Dharmendra Bavisi

Turev Acar

Amit D Bavisi

Chan Young Jeong

Zhitong Guo

Feng Zhou

Marco Sautto

Mihail Jefremow

Sercan Ipek

Gabriel Aungurencei

Xue Ke

Gopinath Akkinepally

In an embodiment, a semiconductor device is disclosed that includes a wired input/output, a wireless input/output, and a battery. A wired charging path between the wired input/output and the battery includes a first transistor and a second transistor. A wireless charging path between the wireless input/output and the battery includes a third transistor and the second transistor.

Multi path battery charger

Systems and methods for wireless power transfer systems are described. A controller of a device can communicate with a power device by a first modulation mode. The controller can detect a failure condition between the controller and the power device. The controller can, in response to the detection of the failure condition, communicate with the power device by a second modulation mode. The first modulation mode can include capacitive modulation and the second modulation mode can include resistive modulation.

Alternating capacitive and resistive modulation for wireless power transfer

A wireless transmitter coordinates changes in the transmitter's input or output voltages with changes in the transmitter's operating frequency to counteract the transmitter's output power changes while changing the voltages. When the voltages are being increased, the output frequency is moved away from the resonant frequency. Consequently, the output power increase due to the increased voltages is restrained by the frequency change. Before or after the voltage increase, increased output power can be obtained by changing the output frequency while the input and output voltages are held constant or near constant. Some embodiments follow similar procedures when reducing the transmitter's input or output voltages. Calibration is performed before power transfer to determine suitable voltage and frequency profiles for voltage change operations. Other features are also provided.

Coordinating voltage and frequency changes in wireless power transfer

An apparatus, a method and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program for controlling power receiving operation. The apparatus includes a controller configured to compare a frequency of an electric current generated by a voltage induced in a power receiving circuit by a magnetic field generated by a power transmitting apparatus, against a frequency threshold to determine whether the frequency is equal to or below the frequency threshold, and in response to determining that the frequency is equal to or below the frequency threshold, control a communications circuit to communicate a control command message instructing the power transmitting apparatus to modify a power charge signal used to provide the magnetic field in a manner for protecting the apparatus.

Active receiver overvoltage and overpower protection in wireless power transfer

Systems and apparatuses for wireless power transfer system are described. A receiver may send an amplitude shift key (ASK) signal to a transmitter. The transmitter may receive the ASK signal from the receiver. The transmitter may perform a demodulation on the ASK signal. The transmitter may, in response to a failure to demodulate the ASK signal, encode a notification of failure in a frequency shift key (FSK) signal. The transmitter may transmit the FSK signal to the receiver. The receiver may receive the FSK signal. The receiver may perform a function to resolve the failure to demodulate the ASK signal.

Alternating communication for wireless power transfer

A wireless power receiver according to some embodiments includes an integrated circuit which includes: a full-bridge rectifier coupled to receive wireless power from a receiver coil; a wireless receiver controller coupled to control the full-bridge rectifier; a pass device coupled between the full-bridge rectifier and an output; and a configurable controller coupled to the switch, the configurable controller configurable as a LDO controller or a Buck controller. A second controller can be coupled to the configurable controller that interfaces to an external Buck low-side transistor if the configurable controller is the Buck controller and provides GPIO if the configurable controller is the LDO controller. A third controller can be coupled to the full-bridge rectifier, which operates as a full-bridge sync rectifier driver multiplexer to select an external driver for one or more of the rectifier transistors. Other features are also provided.

Wireless power receiver configurable for LDO or buck operation

Apparatuses including multiple selectable circuit elements are described. In an example, an apparatus may include a power supply configured to output a voltage. The apparatus may further include a controller connected to the power supply and a transmission unit connected to the controller. The transmission unit may be configured to output power. The transmission unit may include comprising an inverter connected to the power supply. The inverter may include a high-side switching element. The transmission unit may further include a circuit element a circuit connected to the power supply. The circuit may be configured to select the circuit element. The circuit may include a switch connected between the inverter and the circuit element. The switch and the high-side switching element may be configured to be driven by the voltage outputted by power supply. The controller may be configured to control the power being outputted by the transmission unit.

Multi-element driver topology for element selection

Methods and apparatuses for controlling a rectified voltage outputted by a rectifier circuit is described. In response to an occurrence of an overvoltage condition, an apparatus can regulate a gate-source voltage of a low-side switching element of the rectifier circuit to control the rectified voltage. The apparatus can include an operational amplifier that can compare a reference voltage and with a scaled voltage measured at a node between the low-side switching element and a high-side switching element of the rectifier circuit. The operational amplifier can output a voltage to regulate a gate-source voltage of a low-side switching element. The apparatus can further include a current sensor configured to sense current flowing through the low-side switching element. A power dissipation of the low-side switching element can be controlled based on the current being sensed by the current sensor.

Over voltage protection for wireless power receiver circuits

Embodiments described herein a method for controlling operating frequency for a wireless power charging system. Specifically, a transmitter coil at a wireless power transmitter is driven under an operating frequency and an input voltage. Deadtime information at the wireless power receiver is received, from a wireless power receiver having a receiver coil that receives wireless power from the transmitter coil. A microcontroller then determines, based on the received deadtime information or the operating frequency, whether the operating frequency deviates from a target operating frequency range. Based on the determination, one or both of the operating frequency or the input voltage are adjusted thereby causing the operating frequency to fall within the target operating frequency range.

Systems and methods for operation efficiency in wireless power transfer

In a wireless power transfer operation, the operating parameters are adjusted to improve efficiency by reducing the transmit and receive coil currents as follows. First, the transmitter causes the receiver to reduce the receive coil current to the lowest value based on the transmitter/receiver communication while still delivering the same amount of power to the load as before the AC current was adjusted to the minimum value. Then the transmitter may change the operating parameters to increase or preserve the power provided to the receiver without decreasing efficiency or with only small decrease in efficiency, or with increasing the efficiency. For example, the transmitter may increase the VBRG voltage (the DC voltage powering the transmit coil) or the operating frequency to maintain or increase output power levels at lower or the same AC and DC current levels. Other features are also provided.

Wireless power maximum efficiency tracking by system control

A wireless power circuit is presented that includes a transmit coil coupled to a first node; a receive coil coupled to the first node; a switch circuit coupled to the transmit coil and the receive coil opposite the first node, the switch switching the transmit coil to a second node in a transmit mode and switching the receive coil to the second node in a receive mode; a controller coupled to the first node and the second node, the controller coupled to provide signals to the switch circuit; and a self-start circuit coupled to the receive coil (or Tx coil) that automatically selects one of the coils to be used, the self-start circuit providing power to the switch circuit to hold the switch circuit in the receive mode (or predefined coil to be selected by default).

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Jiangjian Huang