The present disclosure is generally directed to antenna apparatuses for cylindrical bodies.
Radio frequency identification (RFID) is gaining in popularity in applications such as security, inventory management, access control, etc. As a sub-category, near field communication (NFC) using the same carrier frequency as RFID in the High-Frequency (HF) range (13.56 MHz) are used in applications such as wireless sensors. The number of NFC-enabled smart phones is growing as well as the various applications of passive or active transponders (RFID tags/NFC tags). Current RFID/NFC loop antennas used in RFID/NFC tags resonate in the 13.56 MHz range and are typically dipole antennas with a rectangular or circular shape. The spatial response of the dipole antenna is two-directional with maximums when the reader's antenna and the tag antenna are parallel and nulls when they are perpendicular.
If a 3-dimensional (3D) response is required, e.g. when the object carrying the RFID/NFC tag is placed in an arbitrary position or moving in an arbitrary direction, two antennas that are substantially orthogonal to each other are required. Such a combination is difficult to fabricate, tune, and match to the RFID/NFC chip and will most likely require a custom Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC). Because a typical battery is cylindrical, the combination is further complicated if the antenna is required to be placed on a cylinder.
Accordingly, a need exists for a single omni-directional antenna for a cylindrical body for RFID and/or NFC applications.
In one embodiment, an apparatus for an antenna for a cylindrical body may include a flexible substrate coupled to a cylindrical body. The flexible substrate may have an antenna on it with a first terminal and a second terminal coupled to an integrated circuit. The integrated circuit may include an analog to digital converter and a communication circuit and be configured to sense a condition of a battery and to signally communicate the condition of the battery.
In another embodiment, an apparatus for a folding antenna for a cylindrical body, may include a flexible substrate coupled to a cylindrical body and including an aperture disposed within the flexible substrate and configured to allow the cylindrical body to pass within the aperture and wrap the flexible substrate around the cylindrical body. An antenna with a first terminal and a second terminal may be coupled to the flexible substrate along with an integrated circuit. The integrated circuit may include an analog to digital converter and a communication circuit and be configured to sense a condition of a battery and to signally communicate the condition of the battery to a reader.
In yet another embodiment, an apparatus for a battery status indication circuit on a battery may include a flexible ferrite shield coupled to a cylindrical battery. A continuous loop antenna with a first terminal and a second terminal may be printed on the ferrite shield. An integrated circuit may be electrically coupled to the first terminal and the second terminal of the antenna and may include an analog to digital converter and a communication circuit configured to sense a condition of a battery and signally communicate the condition to a reader. The integrated circuit may be electrically coupled to the battery by a first lead electrically coupled to an anode of the battery and a second lead electrically coupled to a cathode of the battery.
These and additional features provided by the embodiments described herein will be more fully understood in view of the following detailed description, in conjunction with the drawings.
The embodiments set forth in the drawings are illustrative and exemplary in nature and not intended to limit the subject matter defined by the claims. The following detailed description of the illustrative embodiments can be understood when read in conjunction with the following drawings, where like structure is indicated with like reference numerals and in which:
Referring now to
In some embodiments, the flexible substrate 50 may be an electromagnetic field (EMF) deflector for use on the cylindrical body 53 if, for example, the cylindrical body 53 is made from any material that may conduct or circulate currents (Eddy currents) as a result of exposure to a magnetic field, such as time varying magnetic field. Materials that may conduct or circulate currents when exposed to a magnetic field may include any ferrous and/or non-ferrous metal or any material with the ability to conduct a finite amount of electrons. The EMF deflector may be painted, printed, or glued to the cylindrical body 53 and may serve to block or diminish any magnetic fields either induced by the omni-directional antenna 40 and/or induced by the environment from producing Eddy currents in the cylindrical body 53. The EMF deflector may be a flexible ferrite shield that is coupled to the cylindrical body 53 or made from any other material with high magnetic permeability at a specified frequency. Another name for the EMF deflector may be a “magnetic diverter” as shown and described in US Provisional Application No. 61/746,265 which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. The EMF deflector should not be electrically conductive to prevent Eddy currents from forming and collapsing the field around the antenna. Other materials may be used as the ferrite shield which provide a high magnetic permeability with electrical isolation such as, for example, iron, nickel, or cobalt and their corresponding alloys which are not electrically conductive. The EMF deflector may allow RFID/NFC technology to work on the cylindrical body 53 that may conduct or circulate currents as a result of exposure to a magnetic field.
Referring to
In another embodiment, the EMF deflector may be interposed or situated between the cylindrical body 53 and the flexible substrate 50. The EMF deflector may be painted, printed, or glued to the cylindrical body 53 and the flexible substrate 50 may be shrunk or adhered to the EMF deflector.
A chip location 55 may be positioned anywhere on the flexible substrate 50 but it is preferably near a first terminal 60 and a second terminal 65 of the antenna trace 45. The first terminal 60 and the second terminal 65 may provide joint connections for solder, conductive adhesive, ultrasonic welding, or crimping of an integrated circuit (IC). The IC may comprise a communication circuit, and/or an analog-to-digital (ADC) chip electrically coupled together to perform a function. The IC may include other circuits to include, but not limited to, an indication circuit, a power circuit, a RFID chip, a NFC chip, an input/output circuit or port, etc. The IC may physically co-locate the communication circuit and ADC together side-by-side or physically integrate them together. The IC may be coupled to the flexible substrate 50 or it may be coupled directly to the cylindrical body 53. The IC may also comprise an ASIC that is specifically manufactured to encompass the performance of the function required. The function may be to determine a specified condition of a battery and relay that information to a reader in the form of function information. The function may also be to signally communicate a notification of the specific condition of the battery or the function may be to provide an indication of the specified condition of the battery which may include audible, visible, or pallesthesia indications. Pallesthesia is the ability to sense a vibration and a pallesthesia indication is a mechanical or electromechanical means to provide the sense of vibration. The specified condition of the battery may include the power output of a battery, rate of discharge, when the battery is nearing the end of its useful life and provide an indication that it needs to be used or replaced, or a state of charge of the battery. The function may be to provide function information concerning: over-discharge protection; over-charge protection; remaining capacity determination; voltage determination; cycle life determination; and power management. Power management functions may include battery identification; battery state of health; battery protection; cell balancing; fuel gauging; charge control; voltage conversion; load regulation; powering battery on/off; power setting adjustment; allow or prevent recharging; battery by-pass; temperature monitoring; and charging rate adjustment. Function information may also include identification information as described below.
A first lead 70 and a second lead 75 may be used to couple to the ends of the cylindrical body 53. The first lead 70 and the second lead 75 may not cross the antenna trace 45 and may be either printed either directly on the cylindrical body 53 or on the flexible substrate 50. The first lead 70 and/or the second lead 75 may be electrically isolated from the cylindrical body 53. If for example, the cylindrical body 53 is a battery, the first lead 70 may extend from the chip location 55 to the upper battery end (anode) and remain electrically isolated from the battery till it is electrically coupled to the upper battery end. The second lead 75 may also extend from the chip location 55 to the lower battery end (cathode) or the second lead 75 may terminate on the cylindrical body 53 at the chip location 55. The first lead 70 and the second lead 75 may be coupled to the ends of the cylindrical body 53 by conductive adhesive such as, for example a silver epoxy, or by ultrasonic welding.
The IC, for example, may physically integrate and electrically couple together the RFID chip and/or the NFC chip, ADC, the first terminal 60, the second terminal 65, the first lead 70 and the second lead 75. The IC may also be configured with a unique identifier (RFID tag equivalent) that indicates either a unique sequence of numbers/symbols or information such as, for example, manufacturing date, lot number, serial number, and the other identifiable information. The IC may be configured to sense a voltage of a battery with a first lead electrically coupled to an anode of the battery and a second lead electrically coupled to a cathode of the battery. The IC may sense the voltage between the anode and cathode of the battery and signally report that voltage to a reader.
The two symmetrical loop omni-directional antenna is shown in an out-of-phase configuration 200 in
In some embodiments, the flexible substrate 50 may be a multi-layer printed circuit board (PCB). The first terminal 60 may be electrically coupled to the IC on the chip location 55 via a different layer on the multi-layered PCB than the antenna trace 45. This may allow the overlap of traces as shown in
Referring to
A first tab 310 of the flexible substrate 50 may provide structure for the first lead 70 and may be folded over to flexibly couple the first lead 70 to the top of the cylindrical body. A second tab 311 of the flexible substrate 50 may provide structure for the second lead 75 and may be folded over to flexibly couple the second lead 75 to the bottom of the cylindrical body.
It should be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to a maximum of three symmetrical loops but may be of any number required to achieve the desired read range. As explained below in regards to the communication circuit, a low-frequency (from about 125 kHz to about 134.2 kHz and from about 140 kHz to about 148.5 kHz), a high-frequency (about 13.56 MHz) or a ultra-high frequency (from about 868 MHz to about 928 MHz) may be used to conform to RFID standards already in use around the globe. The corresponding IC input capacitance and antenna inductance must be accounted for in deciding how many symmetrical loops and or how many turns per symmetrical loop may be used to provide a LC (inductance and capacitance) tank circuit with a tunability range to meet the RFID chip and RFID chip reader resonance frequencies.
Referring to
The antenna trace 45, the first terminal 60, the second terminal 65, the first lead 70, and the second lead 75 may be made from copper, aluminum, silver, gold, or other conductive metals. Other examples include conductive polymers, conductive glues, and conductive carbon, such as graphite. In one embodiment, the antenna trace 45, the first terminal 60, the second terminal 65, the first lead 70, and the second lead 75 may be printed as described above. In another embodiment, the antenna trace 45, the first terminal 60, the second terminal 65, the first lead 70, and the second lead 75 may be a pre-formed wire that is either insulated or bare. If the pre-formed wire is bare, it may be covered by a non-conductive sheet, a non-conductive tape, a non-conductive flexible substrate, or a non-conductive shrink wrap. For example, the non-conductive sheet or shrink wrap may be a product label.
In one embodiment, the IC may be powered by the battery 10 (active). In another embodiment, the IC may be only powered by the battery when a reader is detected 10 (battery-assisted passive) and in yet another embodiment, the IC may not be powered by the battery (passive), e.g., powered by energy harvesting from external power source.
The communications circuit may use any suitable communications protocol such as, but not limited to, radio-frequency identification (RFID) circuitry (RFID tag) and/or near field communication (NFC) circuitry (NFC tag) as included within, for example, ISO/IEC 14223, 14443, 15693, 15961, 15962, 15963, 18000, 18092, and 21481 communication standards; Bluetooth circuitry as included within, for example, IEEE 802.15.1 communication standard; WiFi circuitry as included within, for example, IEEE 802.11 communication standard; Zigbee circuitry as included within, for example, IEEE 802 communication standard; and any suitable fixed wireless communication circuitry. The communications circuit may utilize any suitable frequency bands such as high frequency (HF), ultra-high frequency (UHF), or microwave frequency.
It should be understood that this disclosure is not limited to a single battery and may apply to any cylindrical body or objects that uses a RFID tag (chip) or NFC tags (chip) for monitoring its status. For example, the cylindrical body may be a rechargeable battery, a fuel cell, a stack of coin batteries, or a stack of cylindrical batteries. Cylindrical batteries may include, for example, AAAA, AAA, AA, C, D, CR2, A123, and other batteries with a cylindrical shape.
The reader may be any device capable of reading the RFID tag or NFC tag. Specific examples may include a smartphone, tablet, personal computer (PC), dedicated RFID tag reader, a dedicated NFC tag reader, a handheld computing device, or a wand antenna electrically coupled to a computing device. The reader may be used to excite the IC by transmitting an interrogation signal or may transmit a “wake-up” signal to the IC. The interrogation signal may be a RF pulse of a predetermined frequency used to energize the circuit in the IC and provide power to the IC to transmit its function information. The “wake-up” signal may also be a RF pulse but the IC may use power from another source to power the IC and to transmit its function information. The reader may include a display to visibly present the function information or audible device capable of audibly presenting the function information. The reader may also include algorithms to interpret and/or modify the function information before presenting.
It is noted that the terms “substantially” and “about” may be utilized herein to represent the inherent degree of uncertainty that may be attributed to any quantitative comparison, value, measurement, or other representation. These terms are also utilized herein to represent the degree by which a quantitative representation may vary from a stated reference without resulting in a change in the basic function of the subject matter at issue.
Certain terminology is used in the disclosure for convenience only and is not limiting. The words “left”, “right”, “front”, “back”, “top”, “bottom”, “upper”, and “lower” designate directions in the drawings to which reference is made. The terminology includes the words noted above as well as derivatives thereof and words of similar import.
The dimensions and values disclosed herein are not to be understood as being strictly limited to the exact numerical values recited. Instead, unless otherwise specified, each such dimension is intended to mean both the recited value and a functionally equivalent range surrounding that value. For example, a dimension disclosed as “40 mm” is intended to mean “about 40 mm.”
Every document cited herein, including any cross referenced or related patent or application, is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety unless expressly excluded or otherwise limited. The citation of any document is not an admission that it is prior art with respect to any invention disclosed or claimed herein or that it alone, or in any combination with any other reference or references, teaches, suggests or discloses any such invention. Further, to the extent that any meaning or definition of a term in this document conflicts with any meaning or definition of the same term in a document incorporated by reference, the meaning or definition assigned to that term in this document shall govern.
While particular embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described, it would be obvious to those skilled in the art that various other changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It is therefore intended to cover in the appended claims all such changes and modifications that are within the scope of this invention.
The present application is a continuation application of U.S. application Ser. No. 15/332,925, filed Oct. 24, 2016, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/974,778, filed Aug. 23, 2013, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/901,225 filed May 23, 2013, the entirety of each of which are incorporated by reference herein.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20180159225 A1 | Jun 2018 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 15332925 | Oct 2016 | US |
Child | 15886479 | US | |
Parent | 13974778 | Aug 2013 | US |
Child | 15332925 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 13901225 | May 2013 | US |
Child | 13974778 | US |