Self-configuring charging techniques for electronic devices
The present invention is directed to a method and system for charging an electrical device having a photovoltaic electrical power generator that includes a photovoltaic sensor. The includes sensing optical energy over an area of a surface upon which the electrical device is placed; identifying regions of the surface having different flux of optical energy impinging thereupon, defining a shape; and activating a source of light to direct optical energy toward the surface to illuminate the shape. A system is also disclosed that operates in accordance with the method.
The present invention relates to electricity production and more particularly to the charging of electronic devices not continuously coupled to an electrical grid.
Historically, electricity is generated at a central location, commonly referred to as a power station, and transmitted over a network of transmission lines to substations located proximate to demand centers. This is referred to as an electrical grid. The substations typically step-down the voltage and transmit the stepped-down electricity to end users of the demand centers. With the advent of computing technology mobile devices using electricity have increased the demand for devices that use electricity and are not continuously coupled to the electrical grid. Examples of such devices include cameras, sensors, telephones, radios, tablet computers, wearable electronic devices, lighting systems, automobiles and drones just to name a few.
Mobile electrical devices, such as cellular telephones, computing tablets and laptops have become the preferred device for the personal computing experience and have driven recent changes in power generating technology. This is, in part, attributable to the ease of transport that provides substantially continued access, as well as the expansion of wireless access to networked computing environments, such as the internet. Additionally, the computational power of these devices has attained a level almost equal to that of the traditional desktop computing environment. However, with the increased computational power of the mobile electrical devices the energy usage of the same also increases. This provides the deleterious effect of necessitating an increase in the size of the power storage device, e.g., battery. This reduces one or more of the attractive features of these devices, ease of transport. As the size of the power storage device increases, so does the size and weight of the mobile electrical device. The typical solution to overcome the conflicting requirements of increasing the computation power of a mobile electrical device without increasing the weight and/or size of the same is to increase the efficiency of the computing device and/or the efficiency of the energy storage system. Another manner by which to address these conflicting requirements is to reduce the time required to charge a mobile device or increase the ease of charging the device.
One manner in which to reduce the time required to charge a mobile device employs magnetic resonance charging, also known as electromagnetic induction charging. To that end, the mobile electronic device is fitted with a shroud, or “sleeve” that facilitates coupling of electrical charge generated from a base station hardwired to the electrical grid. The shroud includes connectors compatible with the electrical charging receptacles of the mobile electronic device. The base inductively couples electrical energy from the grid to the shroud, which in turn, transmits electrical energy to the mobile electronic device. Specifically, the base emits an oscillating magnetic field that induces electric current in the “sleeve”. Electrical current is transmitted to the mobile electronic device's battery using the conventional charge port included with the mobile electronic device mobile device.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,906,495 to Cheng et al. discloses a system and method for transferring power that does not require direct electrical conductive contacts. There is provided a primary unit having a power supply and a substantially laminar surface having at least one conductor that generates an electromagnetic field when a current flows therethrough and having an active area defined within a perimeter of the surface, the at least one conductor being arranged such that electromagnetic field lines generated by the at least one conductor are substantially parallel to the plane of the surface within the active area; and at least one secondary device including at least one conductor that may be wound about a core; wherein the active area has a perimeter large enough to surround the conductor or core of the at least one secondary device in any orientation thereof substantially parallel to the surface of the primary unit in the active area, such that when the at least one secondary device is placed on or in proximity to the active area in a predetermined orientation, the electromagnetic field induces a current in the at least one conductor of the at least one secondary device.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,271,569 to Oglesbee discloses a contactless, inductive Charger having a generally planar surface is provided. An image, text or other visual indicator is disposed upon the substantially planar surface such that the visual indicator represents a preferred placement orientation for an electronic device for optimal inductive charging. The Charger includes a primary coil positioned within the boundaries of the image, such that a user has a visual guide for placing the device on the charging surface for maximum efficiency in charging. The visual indicator, which may be a picture, outline, text or other directional indicator, may be geometrically similar to a shape of the electronic device or may be in the shape of a generic device. It may be disposed upon the charger by a method selected from the group consisting of painting, molding, silk screening, plating, vapor deposition and adhesive retention. Drawbacks with the prior art charging systems are manifold, including incompatibility of conflicting charging standards and perceived health issues with the presence of inductively coupled electromagnetic energy into a surrounding ambient.
A need exists, therefore, to provide improved techniques for charging of electronic devices.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention is directed to a method and system for charging an electrical device having a photovoltaic electrical power generator that includes a photovoltaic sensor. The method includes sensing optical energy over an area of a surface upon which the electrical device is placed; identifying regions of the surface having different flux of optical energy impinging thereupon, defining a shape; and activating a source of light to direct optical energy toward the surface to illuminate the shape A system is also disclosed that operates in accordance with the method. Other embodiments of the current invention are described more fully below.
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Additionally, operating of charging system 12 may be under control of processor 46 operating on computer readable instructions stored in memory 48, which is in electrical communication therewith. To that end, processor 46 is in electrical communication with one or more of switching elements 40, 42 and 44 and/or source 22, heating elements 36 and oscillator 38 to control the operations thereof, i.e., activation and deactivation as well as a range of luminescence produced by source 22, a range of temperatures produced by heating elements 36 and a range of frequencies and amplitude of vibratory signals produced by oscillator 38. One example of charging station 12 includes a single switch 40, i.e., switches 42 and 44 being omitted, and processor 46 is in electrical communication with heating elements 36 and oscillator 38 to control the operation thereof, including activation and deactivation of source 22, heating elements 36 and oscillator 38, in an alternative embodiment processor 46 may be in electrical communication with only switching elements 40, 42 and 44 thereby enabling activation and deactivation of source 22, heating elements 36 and oscillator 38 and control of the operation thereof through switching elements 40, 42 and 44. In yet another embodiment only a single switching element, element 40, is included and processor 46 controls operation of one or more of source 22, heating elements 36 and oscillator 38 through switching element 40, as well as activation and deactivation of the same.
At step 54 a determination has made to determine whether the desired level of charge been stored in a battery, i.e., has a desired level of charge been stored in primary power storage system 30. If the level reached is that which is desired, then the operation of charging station 12 ceases at step 56. If not, step 54 repeats. The manner in which to determine whether a desired charge level has been reached may be based upon the passage of a predetermined time. To that end, a user-configurable timer, shown as element 60 may be included that operates to deactivate source after a period of time. Alternatively, element 60 may be a photo-sensor that senses optical energy from source 22 and causes source 22 to deactivate after sensing a desired quantity of flux. Specifically, element 60 may be in signal communication with processor 46 to cause the same to deactivate source 22. In another embodiment, element 60 may be an inductively coupled charge sensing device that measures the change in charge present in primary power storage system 30. Once element 60 determines that the change in charge has substantially ceased it operates to cause processor 46 to deactivate operation of charging station 12. Of course element 60 may be omitted entirely, as can processor 46 and memory 48. Alternatively, processor 46 may be omitted, as well as memory 48 and element 60 may be connected to one or more of switching elements 40, 42 and 44 to cause switching elements 40, 42 and 44 to deactivate source. 22, heating elements 36 and oscillator 38, respectively. Were only a single switching element, such as element 40, employed to control operation of each of source 22 heating elements 36 and oscillator 38, element 60 would be in signal communication with element 40 to cause deactivation of one or more of source 22, heating elements 36 and oscillator 38.
It is conceivable that operation of charging station 12 may occur in a myriad of situations, such as charging of a mobile computing device. For example, the charging may occur in locations where optical energy generated by source 22 diffusing into the environment surrounding charging system 14 is undesired. One manner in which to satisfy this requirement is to control the flux of optical energy produced by source 22 so as to illuminate a region 62 of surface 29 that is in superimposition with electrical device 10. This could be achieved, in part, by minimizing the optical energy impinging upon surface 29 outside of region 62. However, it is desirous to maximize the flux of optical energy impinging upon electrical device 10, i.e., to minimize the portions of electrical device 10 that sense optical energy in furtherance of producing electrical current in response thereto that are outside of the flux of the optical energy. To that end, alignment marks (not shown) may be present on surface to indicate the proper orientation of electrical device 10 with respect to source 22. The marks (not shown) may be indicia (not shown) present on surface 29 may be detents (not shown) or protrusions (not shown) extending therefrom and between the sides of electrical device 10.
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Another benefit of charging system 112 is that it enables more precise control over optical energy diffusing into the environment surround charging system 12. In one embodiment, surface 129 is coextensive with the shape of electrical device 10. In this manner, the entire area of surface of source 122 is in superimposition with electrical device. The ease of alignment between base portion 118 and electrical device 10 may be easily achieved by using a user's fingers (not shown). Alternatively, guides may be present on the periphery of base portion 118 between which are fitted the sides of electrical device.
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Typically, surface 229 is positioned between the plurality of emitter-sensor pairs 223. It is desired that the material from which surface is fabricate to be substantially transparent to the optical energy produced by emitters 225. Moreover, it should be understood that emitters 225 and sensors, need not be concentrically disposed. Emitters 325 and sensors 327 of emitter-sensor pair 323 may be positioned side-by-side, as shown in
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It should be understood that the foregoing description is merely an example of the invention and that modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention. For example, the foregoing discussion is with respect to mobile electrical devices; however, the present invention may be employed with electrical devices that are not mobile, i.e., continuously andfor intermittently connected to an electrical grid. Furthermore, discussing the implementation of the present invention in a smartphone is not meant to limit the application of the current invention to smartphone mobile electrical devices. The present invention may be implemented in virtually any mobile electrical device, such as cameras, sensors, telephones, radios, tablet computers, wearable electronic devices, lighting systems, automobiles and drones just to name a few. The scope of the invention should be determined with respect to the appended claims, including the full scope of equivalents thereof.
Claims
1. A method for charging an electrical device having a photovoltaic electrical power generator that includes a photovoltaic sensor, said method comprising:
- sensing optical energy over an area of a surface upon which said electrical device is placed;
- identifying regions of said surface having different fluxes of optical energy impinging thereupon, defining a shape; and
- activating a source of light to direct optical energy toward said surface to illuminate said shape, while avoiding illumination of regions of said surface outside of said shape.
2. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein sensing occurs after activating.
3. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein sensing occurs before activating.
4. The method as recited in claim 1 further including providing a plurality of spaced-apart emitter-sensor pairs, defining said source and activating further including activating all emitters in response to determining regions of said surface not having different fluxes of optical energy impinging thereupon.
5. The method as recited in claim 1 further includes providing a plurality of spaced-apart emitter-sensor pairs, defining said source and activating further includes activating all of said plurality of the emitters of said spaced-apart emitter-sensor pairs associated with sensors in superimposition with said shape.
6. The method as recited in claim 1 further includes providing a plurality of spaced-apart emitter-sensor pairs, defining said source and activating further includes deactivating all of said plurality of the emitters of said spaced-apart emitter-sensor pairs associated with sensors in superimposition with regions of said surface outside of said shape.
7. A method for charging an electrical device having a photovoltaic electrical power generator that includes a photovoltaic sensor, said method comprising:
- sensing optical energy over an area of a surface upon which said electrical device is placed;
- placing said electrical device upon said surface;
- identifying regions of said surface having different flux of optical energy impinging thereupon, defining a shape of said electrical device; and
- activating a plurality of emitters to produce light directed toward said surface to illuminate said surface, with each of said plurality of emitters being associated with an optical sensor and deactivating a subset of said plurality of emitters directing light toward said surface outside of said shape.
8. The method as recited in claim 7 wherein activating further includes having said plurality of emitters direct optical energy toward said surface while avoiding illuminating regions of said surface not in superimposition with said electrical device.
9. The method as recited in claim 7 each of said emitters has associated therewith a an optical sensor, defining a plurality of emitter-sensor pairs, with each of said sensors detecting optical energy present on said surface.
10. The method as recited in claim 7 each of said emitters has associated therewith a an optical sensor, defining a plurality of emitter-sensor pairs, and further including determining whether regions of said surface having different fluxes of optical energy impinging thereupon, defining said shape; and activating further including activating all of said plurality of emitters in response to determining region of said surface do not have different fluxes of optical energy impinging thereupon.
11. The method as recited in claim 7 wherein sensing occurs before activating.
12. The method as recited in claim 7 wherein sensing occurs before activating.
13. A charging system for charging an electrical device electrically coupled to a photovoltaic electrical power generator, said system comprising:
- a source of light including a plurality of light spaced-apart light emitter-sensor units; and
- a base portion having a surface, with said source being disposed to impinge optical energy toward said surface and produce an illuminated region having a shape that substantially conforms to a shape of said electrical device; and
- a processor in data communication with a computer readable memory having non-transitory computer readable instructions stored therein when operated on by said processor causing said system to carry out the steps:
- sensing optical energy over an area of a surface upon which said electrical device is placed;
- identifying regions of said surface having different flux of optical energy impinging thereupon, defining a shape; and
- activating said source of light to direct optical energy toward said surface to illuminate said shape.
14. The charging system of claim 13 wherein said non-transitory computer readable instructions operated on by said processor carry out the step of activating further includes computer code to cause said source to direct optical energy toward said surface while avoid illuminating regions of said surface outside of said shape.
15. The charging system of claim 13 wherein said non-transitory computer readable instructions operated on by said processor carry out the step of sensing includes computer code to cause said charging system to carry out the step of sensing after activating.
16. The charging system of claim 13 wherein, said non-transitory computer readable instructions operated on by said processor carry out the step of sensing includes computer code to cause said charging system to carry out the step of sensing before activating.
17. The charging system of claim 13 wherein said non-transitory computer readable instructions operated on by said processor carry out the step of deactivating a subset of said plurality of emitters directing light toward said suffice outside of said shape.
6906495 | June 14, 2005 | Cheng et al. |
7271569 | September 18, 2007 | Oglesbee |
20030140960 | July 31, 2003 | Baum |
20150270742 | September 24, 2015 | MacWilliams et al. |
Type: Grant
Filed: Mar 20, 2014
Date of Patent: Nov 15, 2016
Patent Publication Number: 20150270736
Inventors: Graham T. MacWilliams (Los Altos Hills, CA), Duncan S. MacWilliams (Los Altos Hills, CA)
Primary Examiner: Edward Tso
Application Number: 14/221,222
International Classification: H01M 10/44 (20060101); H01M 10/46 (20060101); H02J 7/02 (20160101);