KR101375637B1 - Active energy repeater for wireless power transmission and wireless power transmission method and system using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

A transmission / reception antenna for receiving power from a wireless power transmitter and transmitting power to a wireless charger in a self-resonant manner, a relay antenna for relaying power received from the wireless power transmitter to the wireless charger, and a magnetic field communication protocol. An active energy repeater including a magnetic field communication modem for performing magnetic field communication with the wireless charger, a control unit for transmitting, receiving, storing, and relaying wireless power, and a battery for charging power received from the wireless power transmitter. Is provided. The active energy repeater communicates with the wireless charger to obtain the information of the wireless charger by using magnetic field communication. Therefore, the power is stored in the low-dense time zone and the active energy repeater is used in the high-dense time zone. By retransmitting energy, safety can be improved by reducing energy use at high energy densities and by reducing magnetic energy exposure time to users. In addition, by having a communication function for control, it is possible to reduce the burden of power control for each wireless charger that must be integrated in the wireless power transmitter.

Description

Active energy repeater for wireless power transmission and wireless power transmission method and system using the same {active energy repeater for wireless power transmission and wireless power transmission method and system using the same}

The present invention relates to wireless power transmission, and more particularly, to an active energy repeater for wireless power transmission, and a wireless power transmission method and system using the same.

A wireless charging system using a magnetic induction phenomenon is being used as a wireless power transmission technology for transferring energy wirelessly.

For example, an electric toothbrush or a wireless shaver is charged with the principle of electromagnetic induction, and recently, wireless charging products capable of charging a portable device such as a mobile phone, a PDA, an MP3 player, and a notebook computer by using electromagnetic induction have been introduced .

However, the magnetic induction method of inducing current through a magnetic field from one coil to another is very sensitive to the distance and relative position between the coils, so that the transmission efficiency drops rapidly even if the distance between the two coils is slightly dropped or twisted. Accordingly, such a magnetic induction type charging system has a weak point that it can be used only at a short distance of a few cm or less.

On the other hand, US Patent 7,741,735 discloses a non-radiative energy transfer method based on the attenuation wave coupling of the resonant field. This is because two resonators with the same frequency do not affect other non-resonators around them, but they tend to couple with each other and are introduced as a technology that can transfer energy over a long distance compared to conventional electromagnetic induction. .

Although the wireless charging method using resonance can transmit energy to a far distance than the conventional electromagnetic induction method, there is still a limitation of distance, and if the distance is far, there is a problem that the charging efficiency is sharply lowered. In technology, increasing transmission distance and transmission efficiency is a major problem.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in the technical background as described above, and an object thereof is to provide an active energy repeater capable of increasing the transmission distance and transmission efficiency of wireless power transmission and a wireless power transmission method and system using the same.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an active energy repeater capable of efficiently distributing energy in wireless power transmission, and a wireless power transmission method and system using the same.

In order to solve the above problems, in the present invention, a transmission and reception antenna for receiving power from a wireless power transmitter and transmitting power to a wireless charger in a self-resonant manner, and relaying the power received from the wireless power transmitter to the wireless charger. A relay antenna, a magnetic field communication modem for performing magnetic field communication with the wireless charger using a magnetic field communication protocol, a control unit for transmitting, receiving, storing, and relaying wireless power, and the power received from the wireless power transmitter. An active energy repeater is provided that includes a battery for charging the battery.

Here, the battery is preferably a lithium ion battery or an electric double-layer capacitor (EDLC).

The magnetic field communication modem may also perform magnetic field communication with the wireless power transmitter, and the magnetic field communication may be performed through the transmission / reception antenna or the repeater antenna.

The control unit includes an impedance matching unit for automatically performing impedance matching with the wireless power transmitter or the wireless charger, the impedance matching unit having a plurality of capacitors (capacitor array) having different capacitances, and the plurality of capacitors and optional It is preferable to include a switch array that can be connected to.

According to another aspect of the present invention, an active energy repeater as described above, a passive energy repeater for transmitting power transmitted from the wireless power transmitter to the wireless charger without using a battery, the wireless power transmitter and one; Provided is a wireless power transmission system using magnetic resonance including the above wireless charger.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a wireless charging method of a wireless power transfer system including an active energy repeater as described above, the wireless charging method comprising the steps of: sensing the wireless charger around the active energy repeater; Storing the power received from the wireless power transmitter in the battery of the active energy repeater if there is no detected wireless charger; and if there is a detected wireless charger, the number of detected wireless chargers is determined in advance. Determining whether the number exceeds the predetermined number; if the number of the wireless chargers does not exceed the predetermined number, relaying the power received from the wireless power transmitter to the wireless charger; If the number exceeds the predetermined constant number, the battery The stored energy to the group includes transmitting the wireless charger.

The method may further include relaying power received from the wireless power transmitter to the wireless charger when the number of the wireless chargers exceeds the predetermined predetermined number.

Using the active energy repeater of the present invention, it is possible to increase the transmission distance and transmission efficiency of the wireless power transmission, and to efficiently distribute energy according to the number and time of the user.

The active energy repeater communicates with the wireless charger to obtain the information of the wireless charger by using magnetic field communication. Therefore, the power is stored in the low-dense time zone and the active energy repeater is used in the high-dense time zone. By retransmitting energy, safety can be improved by reducing energy use at high energy densities and by reducing magnetic energy exposure time to users.

In addition, by having a communication function for control, it is possible to reduce the burden of power control for each wireless charger that must be integrated in the wireless power transmitter.

1 is a block diagram schematically showing the overall configuration of a wireless power transmission system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a configuration of an active energy repeater for wireless power transmission according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a control unit of the active energy repeater of FIG. 2.
4 is a circuit diagram illustrating an impedance matching unit in the controller of FIG. 3.
5 is a flowchart illustrating a wireless power transmission method according to user density according to an embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a block diagram schematically showing the overall configuration of a wireless power transmission system according to another embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example in which the wireless power transmission system of FIG. 6 is applied in a home.

Advantages and features of the present invention and methods for achieving them will be apparent with reference to the embodiments described below in detail with the accompanying drawings. The present invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Is provided to fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art, and the invention is only defined by the scope of the claims. It is to be understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. In the present specification, the singular form includes plural forms unless otherwise specified in the specification. It is noted that the terms "comprises" and / or "comprising" used in the specification are intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the components, steps, operations, and / Or additions.

Hereinafter, an active energy repeater for wireless power transmission and a wireless power transmission method and system using the same will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a block diagram schematically showing the overall configuration of a wireless power transmission system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the wireless power transmission system according to the embodiment of the present invention has a predetermined distance from the wireless power transmitter 100 and the wireless power transmitter 100 that supply power wirelessly through a magnetic resonance method. As far away as possible, a plurality of wireless chargers 200_1, 200_2, .., 200_N, which are wirelessly powered from the wireless power transmitter 100, and the wireless power transmitter 100 and the wireless chargers 200_1, 200_2. , .., 200_N) and comprises an active repeater 300 that receives power from the wireless power transmitter 100 and stores it or delivers it to the wireless chargers 200_1, 200_2, .., 200_N. do.

The self-resonance method is a method of maximizing the radio transmission efficiency of energy by resonance between the transmission antenna and the reception antenna. To this end, a resonance channel is formed between the wireless power transmitter 100 and the wireless charger 200 to form a resonant channel and transmit wireless power therethrough.

The wireless power transmitter 100 and the active repeater 300 may be wirelessly charged including identification information, type, location, or state of charge of the charger through magnetic field communication with the wireless chargers 200_1, 200_2,..., 200_N. Information of the devices 200_1, 200_2,..., 200_N may be received, and power may be transmitted to the wireless chargers 200_1, 200_2, .., 200_N based on the charging information.

The wireless power transmission apparatus 100 may be implemented as a fixed type or a mobile type. When the wireless power transmitter 100 is implemented as a fixed type, the wireless power transmission device 100 may be installed in a furniture such as a ceiling or a table indoors, and may be installed in an implant type in a bus stop or a subway station outdoors. In addition, the wireless power transmission apparatus 100 may be installed inside a moving object such as a vehicle, a train, and a subway. When the wireless power transmitter 100 is implemented as a mobile, the wireless power transmitter 100 may be implemented as a separate mobile apparatus or may be implemented as part of another digital device such as a cover of a notebook computer. .

The active repeater 300 may also be implemented as a fixed or mobile type, and an appropriate installation position may be selected according to the positions of the wireless power transmitter 100 and the wireless chargers 200_1, 200_2,..., 200_N.

The wireless charging devices 200_1, 200_2, .., 200_N may include all digital devices having batteries such as various mobile terminals, digital cameras, notebook computers, and the like, And may be an electronic device such as a sensor and a meter to be disposed.

2 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a configuration of an active energy repeater for wireless power transmission according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 2, the active energy repeater 300 for wireless power transmission according to the embodiment of the present invention receives power from the wireless power transmitter 100 in a self-resonant manner and powers the wireless charger 200. Transmitting and receiving antenna 310 for transmitting the power, the relay antenna 320 for relaying the power received from the wireless power transmitter 100 to the wireless charger 200, the wireless power transmitter 100 using a magnetic field communication protocol and And / or the magnetic field communication modem 340 for performing magnetic field communication with the wireless charger 200, the controller 330 for controlling power reception / storage / transmission / relay, and the power received from the wireless power transmitter 100. It includes a battery 350 to charge.

In the magnetic field communication modem 340, the active energy repeater 300 communicates with the wireless charger 200 to receive information of the wireless charger 200 including identification information, type, location, or state of charge of the charger. In order to transmit power to the wireless charger 200 based on the received charging information.

The active energy repeater 300 according to an embodiment of the present invention relays the power received from the wireless power transmitter 100 to the wireless charger 200 or charges the received power to the built-in battery 350. You can resend when needed.

In particular, since the information of the wireless charger 200 can be obtained by communicating with the wireless charger 200 by using magnetic field communication, the energy is stored in a time when user density is low in the space, and active energy in a time when user density is high. By re-transmitting the energy from the repeater 300 to the device used, it is possible to reduce the energy use at a high energy density time and to lower the magnetic energy exposure time to the user to improve safety. In addition, by having a communication function for control, the burden of power control for each wireless charger to be integrated in the wireless power transmitter 100 may be reduced.

The battery 350 of the active energy repeater 300 according to the embodiment of the present invention is preferably implemented using a lithium ion battery or an electric double-layer capacitor (EDLC) that is an environmentally friendly device.

3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a control unit of the active energy repeater of FIG. 2.

As shown in FIG. 3, the control unit 330 detects a change in impedance according to a change in distance from the wireless power transmitter 100 or the wireless charger 200 which is a transmitting / receiving terminal to improve transmission efficiency, and automatically matches the impedance. To the impedance matching unit 331, the switching unit 333 for switching the energy charging / energy retransmission mode, the rectifier 335 and the DC-DC converter / charger 337 used for energy charging, the battery 350 An inverter / amplifier 339 is used to retransmit the stored energy.

When the active energy repeater 300 is in the charging mode, the impedance matching unit 331 performs impedance matching with the wireless power transmitter 100, and the switching unit 333 connects the received power to the rectifier 335 to provide DC. Allows the battery 350 to charge with DC converter / charger 337.

On the contrary, when the active energy repeater 300 is in the energy retransmission mode, the impedance matching unit 331 performs impedance matching with the wireless charger 200, and the switching unit 333 is connected to the inverter / amplifier 339 to connect the battery. The power stored in the 350 is transmitted to the wireless charger 200 through the antennas 310 and 320.

On the other hand, the active energy repeater 300 may operate in the form of a passive energy repeater that simply transfers energy transmitted from the wireless power transmitter 100 to the wireless charger 200 without using the battery 350. . In this regard, the active energy repeater 300 according to the embodiment of the present invention may be referred to as a hybrid type energy repeater.

The impedance matching unit 331 that performs automatic impedance matching may be implemented using a simple capacitor-array structure circuit.

4 is a circuit diagram illustrating an impedance matching unit 331 in the controller of FIG. 3.

As shown in FIG. 4, a switch array that can be selectively connected with a plurality of capacitor arrays having different capacitances is included, so that impedance matching can be performed by appropriate capacitance as required.

As mentioned above, since the active energy repeater 300 according to the embodiment of the present invention can detect a user by using a communication function, efficient energy transmission can be achieved by using the same.

5 is a flowchart illustrating a wireless power transmission method according to user density according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 5, the active energy repeater 300 according to an embodiment of the present invention senses a user around the wireless charger 200 using magnetic field communication (S510).

If no user is detected (NO in S520), since the energy transmitted from the wireless power transmitter 100 may not be relayed or the energy stored in the battery 350 may not be transmitted, the wireless power transmitter 100 may be removed from the wireless power transmitter 100. The received energy is stored in the battery 350 of the repeater (S530). In this way, when no user needs charging, the energy wasted can be efficiently reused later.

If the user is detected (YES in S520), it is determined whether the number of detected users exceeds a predetermined predetermined number (S540).

When the number of users does not exceed a predetermined predetermined number (No in S540), it may be considered that it is sufficient to relay the energy transmitted from the wireless power transmitter 100, so that the wireless power transmitter 100 operates as a passive repeater. The energy transmitted from the) is relayed to the user (S550).

On the contrary, when the number of detected users exceeds a predetermined predetermined number (YES in S540), the energy stored in the repeater battery 350 is transmitted to the user (S560). In this case, transmission of stored energy and transmission of energy transmitted from the wireless power transmission apparatus 100 may be simultaneously performed.

5 shows an example of the use of a wireless power transmission system including an active energy repeater according to an embodiment of the present invention. In addition, various embodiments, such as the number of users, the state of charge, and the current time, may be used. The charging scenario can be configured. In particular, after the electricity is stored in the late-night hours when power demand is low and the electricity price is low, the charged power is used during the high-demand time period, so that the energy can be used economically and environmentally. By saving energy and retransmitting energy during times of high user density, it is possible to improve safety by reducing energy use and reducing magnetic energy exposure time to users during high energy concentrations.

By using the active energy repeater and the passive energy repeater according to an embodiment of the present invention can be configured a wireless power transmission system that can be used to charge a variety of wireless charger in the environment, such as home.

6 is a block diagram schematically showing the overall configuration of a wireless power transmission system according to another embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 6, active and passive energy repeaters 630, 641, and 642 may be arranged in various topologies between one wireless power transmitter 610 and a plurality of wireless chargers 621, 622, and 623. have.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example in which the wireless power transmission system of FIG. 6 is applied in a home.

As shown in FIG. 7, the wireless power transmitter 710 is fixedly installed, and a plurality of passive energy repeaters 741, 742, 743, 744, 745, and 746 are installed along the wall and are active in the center of the space. The energy repeater 730 is arranged fixed or mobile.

Passive energy repeaters 741, 742, 743, 744, 745, 746 can be effectively used to charge stationary electronics 726, 727, 728 installed along the wall, while at the same time moving electronics located inside the space ( 721, 722, 723, 724, 725 can be used to charge.

The active energy repeater 730 may be used to charge mobile electronic devices 721, 722, 723, 724, 725 located primarily inside the space, and store the late night green energy from the wireless power transfer device 710. It can be reused in the time zone as described above.

While the invention has been described in terms of the preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to embrace all such modifications and variations as fall within the true spirit of the invention.

100, 610, 710: wireless power transmission device
200, 621-623, 721-728: Wireless Charger
300, 630, 730: active energy repeater
310: transmit and receive antenna 320: repeater antenna
330: control unit 340: magnetic field communication modem
350: battery 331: matching network
333: switch 335: rectifier
337: DC-DC converter / charger 339: Inverter / amplifier
641, 642, 741, 742, 743, 744, 745, 746: passive energy repeater

Claims (8)

A battery for charging power received from a wireless power transmitter;
A transmission / reception antenna for receiving power for charging the battery from the wireless power transmitter in a self-resonant manner, and transmitting power charged in the battery to a wireless charger;
A relay antenna for relaying power received from the wireless power transmitter to the wireless charger;
A magnetic field communication modem for performing magnetic field communication with the wireless charger using a magnetic field communication protocol;
Active energy repeater comprising a control unit for controlling the transmission, reception, storage, relay of the wireless power. The method of claim 1, wherein the battery,
Active energy repeater that is a lithium ion battery or electric double-layer capacitor (EDLC). The method of claim 1, wherein the magnetic field communication modem,
An active energy repeater for further performing magnetic field communication with the wireless power transmitter. The method of claim 1, wherein the magnetic field communication,
Active energy repeater made through the transmitting and receiving antenna or the repeater antenna. The apparatus of claim 1,
An impedance matching unit for automatically performing impedance matching with the wireless power transmitter or the wireless charger;
The impedance matching unit includes a plurality of capacitors (capacitor array) having different capacitances, and an active energy repeater including a switch array that can be selectively connected to the plurality of capacitors. The active energy repeater of any one of claims 1 to 5,
A passive energy repeater which does not use the battery and transfers power transmitted from the wireless power transmitter to the wireless charger;
The wireless power transmitter,
Wireless power transmission system using magnetic resonance comprising one or more of the wireless charger. A wireless charging method of a wireless power transmission system comprising the active energy repeater of any one of claims 1 to 5,
The active energy repeater detects a surrounding wireless charger;
Storing power received from the wireless power transmitter in the battery of the active energy repeater when no wireless charger is detected;
If there is a detected wireless charger, determining whether the number of the detected wireless chargers exceeds a predetermined number;
Relaying power received from the wireless power transmitter to the wireless charger when the number of the wireless chargers does not exceed the predetermined predetermined number;
And transmitting energy stored in the battery to the wireless charger when the number of the wireless chargers exceeds the predetermined predetermined number. The method of claim 7, wherein the number of the wireless charger exceeds the predetermined predetermined number,
And relaying power received from the wireless power transmitter to the wireless charger.

Images