Patent Application
20200195052
The present invention relates to a resonance-type power reception device that receives power having a high frequency.
Conventionally, a wireless power transmission system that adjusts the resonant coupling impedance of a transmission and reception unit in accordance with fluctuation in the input impedance of a reception power supply has been known (for example, refer to Patent Literature 1). The wireless power transmission system disclosed in this Patent Literature 1 includes a resonant coupling impedance adjustment unit that adjusts the resonant coupling impedance on the basis of the waveform of at least one of a voltage or a current in an input unit of a transmitting antenna. This resonant coupling impedance adjustment unit can also deal with impedance fluctuation not only at a time of a stationary operation of the wireless power transmission system but also when the reception power supply starts.
Patent Literature 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No.: 2014-103778
However, the time required for the reception power supply to start is approximately several milliseconds to several tens of milliseconds. Therefore, an impedance matching operation performed by the resonant coupling impedance adjustment unit at the time that the reception power supply starts needs a resolution equal to or less than a millisecond (ms) unit. Therefore, a problem is that in the case of implementing an impedance matching operation at the time that the reception power supply starts, the circuit scale of the wireless power transmission system becomes large. Then, as the circuit scale becomes large, the power consumption increases and the cost increases.
The present invention is made in order to solve the above-mentioned problem, and it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a resonance-type power reception device that makes it possible for a receive side to deal with impedance fluctuation at the time that the receive side starts.
A resonance-type power reception device according to the present invention includes: a DC-DC converter having an input terminal connected to a first line; a switching circuit for connecting or disconnecting a second line to which power is inputted to or from the first line; and a switch control unit for causing the switching circuit to connect the second line to the first line after a voltage in the power exceeds a threshold voltage set for an input voltage of the DC-DC converter.
According to the present invention, because the configuration is provided as above, the receive side can deal with impedance fluctuation at the time that the receive side starts.
Hereafter, the preferred embodiments of the present invention will be explained in detail with reference to the drawings.
The resonance-type power transmission system includes an inverter circuit 1, a transmitting antenna (TX-ANT) 2, a receiving antenna (RX-ANT) 3, a rectifier circuit (REC) 4, a switching circuit 5, a switch control unit 6, a DC-DC converter 7, and a load 8, as shown in
The inverter circuit 1 converts direct current power inputted thereto into high-frequency power (alternating current power) having a frequency that is the same (including a meaning of “substantially the same”) as a resonance frequency that the transmitting antenna 2 has. This inverter circuit 1 is one of resonant switching type (DC/AC inverter circuit) such as a class E inverter circuit.
The transmitting antenna 2 resonates at a frequency that is the same (including a meaning of “substantially the same”) as the frequency that the high-frequency power outputted by the inverter circuit 1 has, thereby performing power transmission.
The receiving antenna 3 resonates at a frequency that is the same (including a meaning of “substantially the same”) as the resonance frequency that the transmitting antenna 2 has, thereby receiving the high-frequency power transmitted by the transmitting antenna 2. The high-frequency power (alternating current power) received by this receiving antenna 3 is outputted to the rectifier circuit 4.
A power transmission method used between the transmitting antenna 2 and the receiving antenna 3 is not particularly limited, and any of the following methods: a method using magnetic-field resonance, a method using electric-field resonance, and a method using electromagnetic induction can be used. Further, the transmitting antenna 2 and the receiving antenna 3 are not limited to antennas of non-contact type as shown in
The rectifier circuit 4 converts the alternating current power outputted by the receiving antenna 3 into direct current power. The direct current power acquired by this rectifier circuit 4 is outputted to a line 9 (second line) connected to an output terminal.
The switching circuit 5 connects or disconnects the line 9 connected to the output terminal of the rectifier circuit 4 to or from a line 10 (first line) connected to an input terminal of the DC-DC converter 7, in accordance with control by the switch control unit 6. The switching circuit 5 is constituted by, for example, a field effect transistor (FET), a solid state relay (SSR), or a mechanical relay.
The switch control unit 6 controls the switching circuit 5. Here, it is assumed that at the time that the resonance-type power reception device starts, the switch control unit 6 is in a state of placing the switching circuit 5 in the off state to disconnect the lines 9 and 10 from each other. In contrast, after the voltage V1 in the direct current power outputted to the line 9 by the rectifier circuit 4 exceeds a threshold voltage Vin(th), the switch control unit 6 switches on the switching circuit 5 to connect the lines 9 and 10. The threshold voltage Vin(th) is set for the input voltage Vin of the DC-DC converter 7, and is preset in accordance with the characteristics of the DC-DC converter 7. Further, in
The DC-DC converter 7 increases or decreases the voltage (input voltage) Vin in the direct current power inputted from the line 10 connected to the input terminal thereof. The direct current power acquired by this DC-DC converter 7 is outputted to the load 8.
The load 8 is a circuit or equipment that functions with the direct current power outputted by the DC-DC converter 7.
Next, the functions of the resonance-type power reception device in the first embodiment will be explained.
Here, the output impedance of the inverter circuit 1 is denoted by Zo. Further, the input impedance of the transmitting antenna 2 is denoted by Zin. Further, the input impedance of the rectifier circuit 4 is denoted by Ro. Further, the inductance of the transmitting antenna 2 is denoted by LTX. Further, the inductance of the receiving antenna 3 is denoted by LRX. Further, the mutual inductance between the transmitting antenna 2 and the receiving antenna 3 is denoted by M. Further, the distance between the transmitting antenna 2 and the receiving antenna 3 is denoted by d. Further, the input voltage of the DC-DC converter 7 is denoted by Vin. Further, the input current of the DC-DC converter 7 is denoted by Iin. When the switching circuit 5 is in the on-state, the voltage V1=the input voltage Vin.
Here, there arises a problem that when there is a large mismatch between the output impedance Zo of the inverter circuit 1 and the input impedance Zin of the transmitting antenna 2, the DC-DC converter 7 does not start. This problem is caused by the characteristics of the resonance-type wireless power transmission and the characteristics of the DC-DC converter 7.
The characteristics of the resonance-type wireless power transmission will be shown below.
The input impedance Zin of the transmitting antenna 2 is shown by the following equation (1). In the equation (1), ω=2πf, and a character “f” denotes the transmission frequency.
Zin=(ωM)2/Ro (1)
Further, the input impedance Ro of the rectifier circuit 4 is shown by the following equation (2). In the equation (2), it is assumed that there is almost no loss in the rectifier circuit 4.
Ro≈Vin/Iin (2)
Further, the mutual inductance M between the transmitting antenna 2 and the receiving antenna 3 is shown by the following equation (3). In the equation (3), a character “K” denotes the coefficient of coupling between the inductance LTX of the transmitting antenna 2 and the inductance LRX of the receiving antenna 3, and is in inverse proportion to the distance d between the transmitting antenna 2 and the receiving antenna 3. Therefore, the mutual inductance M varies as the distance d between the transmitting antenna 2 and the receiving antenna 3 varies.
M=K√(LTXLRX) (3)
Then, using the equations (1) to (3), the input impedance Zin of the transmitting antenna 2 is given by the following equation (4).
Zin≈(ωM)2/(Vin/Iin)
=((ωM)2Iin)/Vin (4)
A relation among the parameters (Zin, M, Ro, Iin) shown by the equations (1) to (4) is shown in
As shown in
In
Next, an example of the characteristics of the input voltage Vin and the input current Iin of the DC-DC converter 7 and an example of the characteristics of the input impedance Zin of the transmitting antenna 2 at the time that the resonance-type power reception device starts are shown in
As shown in
In contrast, when the reception criterion does not satisfy the above-mentioned condition, the input current Iin (reference numeral 303) and the input impedance Zin (reference numeral 402) do not drop, and the input impedance Zin has a mismatch with the output impedance Zo. Further, the input voltage Vin (reference numeral 304) cannot exceed the threshold voltage Vin(th). Therefore, in this case, the DC-DC converter 7 does not start.
As mentioned above, in the conventional resonance-type power transmission system, only when the reception criterion satisfies a certain condition, the DC-DC converter 7 can be started, whereas when another condition is satisfied, the DC-DC converter 7 cannot be started.
Further, even when the reception criterion satisfies a certain condition, the input impedance Zin rises temporarily and abruptly, and, after exceeding the output impedance Zo, decreases and its value converges to the value of the output impedance Zo. Therefore, the start of the resonance-type power reception device becomes unstable, and this instability is unpreferable in terms of performance.
Therefore, in the resonance-type power reception device according to the first embodiment, after the voltage V1 exceeds the threshold voltage Vin(th), the switch control unit 6 switches the switching circuit 5 to the on-state, and the switching circuit 5 connects the lines 9 and 10. In
As a result, the input current Iin (reference numeral 305) and the input impedance Zin (reference numeral 403) can be made to gradually shift from small values to large values regardless of the reception criterion. By gradually raising the input impedance Zin in this way, it becomes possible to surely make the input impedance Zin converge to the same value as the output impedance Zo (to provide characteristics Zo≈Zin). Further, the DC-DC converter 7 starts at the time of Zo≈Zin or when the input impedance gets close to the state Zo≈Zin.
Further, in the resonance-type power reception device, only by connecting the rectifier circuit 4 and the DC-DC converter 7 after the voltage V1 exceeds the threshold voltage Vin(th), the impedance matching at the time that the resonance-type power reception device starts can be implemented. Therefore, the impedance matching can be implemented using the simple circuit, and downsizing, weight reduction, low power consumption, and cost reduction of the resonance-type power transmission system can be achieved.
Although the switch control unit 6 can switch the switching circuit 5 to the on-state immediately after the voltage V1 exceeds the threshold voltage Vin(th), the DC-DC converter 7 does not start in some cases. Therefore, it is more desirable that the switch control unit 6 switches the switching circuit 5 to the on-state after the voltage V1 sufficiently exceeds the threshold voltage Vin(th).
Further, in the above explanation, the case in which the switch control unit 6 directly detects the voltage V1 and, after the voltage V1 exceeds the threshold voltage Vin(th), switches on the switching circuit 5 is shown. However, this embodiment is not limited to this example, and the switch control unit 6 can be configured so as to switch on the switching circuit 5 after a lapse of a preset specified time. More specifically, because the rising waveform of the voltage V1 can be roughly grasped in advance, the time required for the voltage V1 to exceed the threshold voltage Vin(th) can be roughly grasped. For example, when the time to in
As mentioned above, according to the first embodiment, because the DC-DC converter 7 having an input terminal connected to the line 10, the switching circuit 5 for connecting or disconnecting the line 9 to which power is inputted to or from the line 10, and the switch control unit 6 for causing the switching circuit 5 to connect the line 9 to the line 10 after the voltage V1 exceeds the threshold voltage Vin(th) are included, the receive side can deal with impedance fluctuation at the time that the receive side starts, and stable start of the resonance-type power reception device can be implemented. Further, downsizing, weight reduction, low power consumption, and cost reduction of the resonance-type power transmission system can be achieved.
Further, because the impedance matching at the time that the resonance-type power reception device starts can be implemented only by the resonance-type power reception device, stable start of the resonance-type power reception device can be implemented even in power transmission, at the above-mentioned start time, between the resonance-type power reception device and the resonance-type power transmission device that does not have an impedance matching function.
In the first embodiment, the case in which the impedance matching at the time that the resonance-type power reception device starts is performed by switching the connection between the line 9 connected to the output terminal of the rectifier circuit 4 and the line 10 connected to the input terminal of the DC-DC converter 7 by using the switching circuit 5 is shown. In contrast to that, in the second embodiment, a case in which impedance matching at the time that a resonance-type power reception device starts is performed by controlling the timing at which to start a DC-DC converter 7b is shown.
The DC-DC converter 7b increases or decreases a voltage (input voltage) Vin in direct current power outputted by the rectifier circuit 4. Further, the DC-DC converter 7b has a function of performing soft start when starting. The direct current power acquired by this DC-DC converter 7b is outputted to a load 8.
The converter control unit 11 controls the timing at which to start the DC-DC converter 7b. Here, the converter control unit 11 causes the DC-DC converter 7b to remain stopped at the time that the resonance-type power reception device starts. In contrast, the converter control unit 11 starts the DC-DC converter 7b after the input voltage Vin exceeds a threshold voltage Vin(th). Further, in
As shown in
As a result, an input current Iin (reference numeral 305) and an input impedance Zin (reference numeral 403) can be made to gradually shift from small values to large values regardless of a reception criterion, as shown in
A time period (reference numeral 603 shown in
Further, in the resonance-type power reception device, only by starting the DC-DC converter 7b after the input voltage Vin exceeds the threshold voltage Vin(th), the impedance matching at the time that the resonance-type power reception device starts can be implemented. Therefore, the impedance matching can be implemented using the simple circuit, and downsizing, weight reduction, low power consumption, and cost reduction of the resonance-type power transmission system can be achieved.
Although the converter control unit 11 can start the DC-DC converter 7b immediately after the input voltage Vin exceeds the threshold voltage Vin(th), the DC-DC converter 7b does not start in some cases. Therefore, it is more desirable that the converter control unit 11 starts the DC-DC converter 7b after the input voltage Vin sufficiently exceeds the threshold voltage Vin(th).
Further, in the case in which the converter control unit 11 starts the DC-DC converter 7b after the input voltage Vin sufficiently exceeds the threshold voltage Vin(th), the DC-DC converter 7b does not have to perform the soft start. Therefore, in this case, the DC-DC converter 7b that does not have the soft start function can be used.
Further, in the above explanation, the case in which the converter control unit 11 directly detects the input voltage Vin and, after the input voltage Vin exceeds the threshold voltage Vin(th), starts the DC-DC converter 7b is shown. However, this embodiment is not limited to this example, and the converter control unit 11 can be configured so as to start the DC-DC converter 7b after a lapse of a preset specified time, like the switch control unit 6 in the first embodiment.
As mentioned above, according to the second embodiment, even in the case in which the DC-DC converter 7b to which power is inputted, and the converter control unit 11 for starting the DC-DC converter 7b after the input voltage Vin exceeds the threshold voltage Vin(th) are included, the same advantages as those of the first embodiment can be provided.
Finally, an example of the hardware configuration of the switch control unit 6 in the first embodiment will be explained by referring to
The function of the switch control unit 6 is implemented by a processing circuit 51. The processing circuit 51 can be hardware for exclusive use, as shown in
In the case in which the processing circuit 51 is hardware for exclusive use, the processing circuit 51 is, for example, a single circuit, a composite circuit, a programmable processor, a parallel programmable processor, an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or a combination of these circuits.
In the case in which the processing circuit 51 is the CPU 52, the function of the switch control unit 6 is implemented by software, firmware, or a combination of software and firmware. Software and firmware are described as programs and the programs are stored in the memory 53. The processing circuit 51 implements the function by reading and executing the programs stored in the memory 53. Further, it can also be said that these programs cause a computer to perform a procedure or a method which the switch control unit 6 uses. Here, the memory 53 is, for example, a non-volatile or volatile semiconductor memory, such as a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a flash memory, an EPROM (Erasable Programmable ROM), or an EEPROM (Electrically EPROM), a magnetic disk, a flexible disk, an optical disk, a compact disk, a mini disk, a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), or the like.
A part of the function of the switch control unit 6 can be implemented by hardware for exclusive use, and a part of the function can be implemented by software or firmware.
In this way, the processing circuit 51 can implement the above-mentioned function by using hardware, software, firmware, or a combination of hardware, software, and firmware.
While the invention has been described in its preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that an arbitrary combination of two or more of the above-mentioned embodiments can be made, various changes can be made in an arbitrary component according to any one of the above-mentioned embodiments, and an arbitrary component according to any one of the above-mentioned embodiments can be omitted within the scope of the invention.
The resonance-type power reception device according to the present invention makes it possible for the receive side to deal with impedance fluctuation at the time that the receive side starts, and is suitable for use as a resonance-type power reception device or the like that receives power having a high frequency.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2017/016197 | 4/24/2017 | WO | 00 |
