Witricity Corporation

Noam Katz

Morris P Kesler

Andre B Kurs

Arunanshu Mohan Roy

Herbert Toby Lou

Katherine L Hall

Simon Verghese

Christopher Buenrostro

Alexander Patrick McCauley

Nathaniel Endale Atnafu

Jude R Jonas

Nathan Andrew Pallo

Ron Fiorello

Aaron Gilchrist

Oguz Atasoy

Daniel Bronson

Matthew Dillon

Karl Twelker

Shrenik Vora

Dustin J Alinger

Benjamin K Sampson

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

The disclosure features wireless energy transfer sources that include at least two source resonators and a power source, where: each of the at least two source resonators has a nominal impedance when a device resonator is not positioned on or near any of the at least two source resonators, the nominal impedances of each of the at least two source resonators varying by 10% or less from one another; and the at least two source resonators are configured so that during operation of the wireless energy transfer source, when a device resonator is positioned on or near a first one of the at least two source resonators: (a) the impedance of the first source resonator is reduced to a value smaller than the nominal impedances of each of the other resonators by a factor of 2 or more.

Wireless power transfer systems for surfaces

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.

Foreign object detection in wireless energy transfer systems

Systems and methods for detecting foreign object debris around a wireless power transfer system include a plurality of detectors, each detector featuring one or more loops of conducting material, and a controller configured to measure at least one of a voltage and a current in each detector and to determine, based on the measurements, whether foreign object debris is present around the wireless power transfer system, where at least some of the plurality of detectors include a first number of loops of the conducting material, and at least some of the plurality of detectors include a second number of loops of the conducting material larger than the first number.

The disclosure features wireless power transmitters configured to detect a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, the transmitters including a transmitter resonator, a transmitter impedance matching network coupled to the transmitter resonator, an amplifier coupled to the transmitter impedance matching network, a detection subsystem connected to the transmitter resonator, and a controller coupled to the amplifier and to the detection subsystem and configured so that during operation of the transmitter, the controller is configured to control the transmitter resonator, the amplifier, and the impedance matching network to cycle the transmitter between a power transmission mode and a RFID tag detection mode.

RFID tag and transponder detection in wireless energy transfer systems

The disclosure features living object detectors for a wireless energy transfer systems that include a sensor featuring a first conductor positioned adjacent to a first surface of a substrate, a shield featuring a second conductor different from the first conductor, where at least a portion of the second conductor is positioned proximal to the first conductor and adjacent to the first surface of the substrate, a ground reference featuring a third conductor spaced from the substrate and positioned on a side of the substrate opposite to the first surface, and an electrical circuit coupled to the first, second and third conductors and configured so that during operation of the living object detector, the electrical circuit applies a first electrical potential to the first conductor and a second electrical potential to the second conductor, the first and second electrical potentials being approximately similar.

Object detection for wireless energy transfer systems

Wireless power transfer frequency adjustment

Growing community of inventors

Norwood, MA, United States of America

Noam Katz