Operation of an Inductive Power Transfer System

Abstract

The invention relates to method of detecting an arrangement having a primary unit of an inductive power transfer system and/or a secondary unit of the inductive power transfer system. The method including: using a detector device to detect the arrangement, the detector device having at least one electrical conductor, determining at least one electrical property of the detector device and generating determination results consisting of a determination result for each of different regions of the arrangement, and comparing the determination results with existing information about the arrangement to be detected. The existing information includes information about expected values for the different regions of the arrangement, thereby generating a comparison result, and deciding from the comparison result whether the determination results indicate that the detector device has detected the arrangement as expected.

Claims

1. A method of detecting an arrangement comprising a primary unit of an inductive power transfer system and/or a secondary unit of the inductive power transfer system, wherein the primary unit comprises a primary winding structure for generating a magnetic or electromagnetic field to be received by the secondary unit, wherein the secondary unit has a secondary winding structure in which an electric voltage is induced when the magnetic or electromagnetic field is received and wherein the method comprises: using a detector device to detect the arrangement, the detector device comprising at least one electrical conductor, determining at least one electrical property of the detector device and generating determination results consisting of a determination result for each of different regions of the arrangement, comparing the determination results with existing information about a signature, which signature is characteristic for the arrangement to be detected, wherein the existing information includes information about expected values for the different regions of the arrangement, thereby generating a comparison result, deciding from the comparison result whether the determination results indicate that the detector device has detected the arrangement as expected, thereby identifying the arrangement comprising the primary unit and/or the secondary unit wherein different types of primary units have different signatures and/or different types of secondary units have different signatures and wherein the arrangement comprising a primary unit of a specific type of primary units and/or a secondary unit of a specific type of secondary units, for which specific type of primary units and/or specific type of secondary units information about its signature exists, is identified by deciding from the comparison result whether the determination results indicate that the detector device has detected the arrangement comprising the primary unit of the specific type of primary units and/or the secondary unit of the specific type of secondary units.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein a plurality of detection elements of the detector device is used to detect the arrangement, wherein each detection element comprises an electrical conductor, wherein each of the plurality of detection elements is assigned to one or more than one of the different regions of the arrangement and wherein at least one electrical property of each of the detection elements is determined, thereby generating the determination results consisting of a determination result for each of the detection elements.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a plurality of detection field antennae are used to generate an electromagnetic detection field or electromagnetic detection fields and wherein the determination results are obtained in response to the electromagnetic detection field.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one electrical property depends on a frequency of an electromagnetic detection field, which couples the detector device with the arrangement to be detected, wherein the at least one electrical property is determined with respect to a plurality of frequency values, thereby determining information on a frequency dependency of the at least one electrical property, and wherein the information on the frequency dependency is used to identify different materials of the arrangement.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one electrical property depends on a frequency of an electromagnetic detection field, which couples the detector device with the arrangement to be detected, wherein the at least one electrical property is determined with respect to a resonance frequency of a winding or of windings of at least one electrical conductor of the primary unit and/or the secondary unit.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the determination results are ordered according to a geometric order of the different regions of the arrangement so as to prepare comparing the determination results with the existing information.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one deviation between the determination results and the existing information is detected and it is decided that the arrangement comprises an additional object, which is part of the detected arrangement in addition to the primary unit and/or secondary unit.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein a location of the additional object is determined by determining a corresponding one or a corresponding plurality of the different regions of the arrangement for which the determination result deviates from the existing information.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the determination results are compared with existing information about a plurality of possible arrangements to be detected and wherein one of the plurality of possible arrangements is identified as an arrangement actually detected by the plurality of detection elements.

10. (canceled)

11. The method of claim 1, wherein different primary units of a same type of primary units have different individual signatures and/or different secondary units of a same type of secondary units have different individual signatures and wherein the arrangement comprising a specific primary unit of the same type of primary units and/or a specific secondary unit of the same type of secondary units, for which specific primary unit and/or specific secondary unit information about its individual signature exists, is identified by deciding from the comparison result whether the determination results indicate that the detector device has detected the arrangement comprising the specific primary unit of the same type of primary units and/or the specific secondary unit of the same type of secondary units.

12. A method of operating an inductive power transfer system, comprising the method of claim 1, wherein an operation of the inductive power transfer system is not started, is stopped or is modified, if it is decided from the comparison result that the determination results do not indicate that the detector device has detected the arrangement as expected.

13. A primary unit arrangement of an inductive power transfer system, comprising: a primary unit having a primary winding structure for generating a magnetic or electromagnetic field to be received by a secondary unit of the inductive power transfer system in which an electric voltage is induced by magnetic induction, a detector device for detecting an arrangement comprising the secondary unit, the detector device comprising an electrical conductor, a determination unit for determining at least one electrical property of the detector device for different regions of the arrangement, thereby generating determination results consisting of a determination result for different regions of the arrangement, a comparison unit for comparing the determination results with existing information about a signature, which signature is characteristic for the arrangement to be detected, wherein the existing information includes information about expected values for the different regions of the arrangement, thereby generating a comparison result, a decision unit for deciding from the comparison result whether the determination results indicates that the detector device has detected the arrangement as expected, thereby identifying the arrangement comprising the secondary unit wherein different types of secondary units have different signatures and wherein the decision unit is adapted to identify the arrangement comprising the secondary unit of a specific type of secondary units, for which specific type of secondary units information about its signature exists, by deciding from the comparison result of the comparison unit whether the determination results indicate that the detector device has detected the arrangement comprising the secondary unit of the specific type of secondary units.

14. A secondary unit arrangement of an inductive power transfer system, comprising: a secondary unit having a secondary winding structure for receiving a magnetic or electromagnetic field generated by a primary unit of the inductive power transfer system and for producing an electric voltage by magnetic induction, a plurality of detection elements for detecting an arrangement comprising the primary unit, the detector device comprising an electrical conductor, a determination unit for determining at least one electrical property of the detector device with respect to different regions of the arrangement, thereby generating determination results consisting of a determination result for different regions of the arrangement, a comparison unit for comparing the determination results with existing information about the arrangement to be detected, wherein the existing information includes information about expected values for the different regions of the arrangement, thereby generating a comparison result, a decision unit for deciding from the comparison result whether the determination results indicates that the detector device has detected the arrangement as expected, thereby identifying the arrangement comprising the primary unit wherein different types of primary units have different signatures and wherein the decision unit is adapted to identify the arrangement comprising the primary unit of a specific type of primary units, for which specific type of primary units information about its signature exists, by deciding from the comparison result of the comparison unit whether the determination results indicate that the detector device has detected the arrangement comprising the primary unit of the specific type of primary units.

15. The primary unit arrangement of claim 13, wherein the detector device has a plurality of detection elements, each detection element comprising an electrical conductor, wherein the determination unit is adapted to determine at least one electrical property of each of the detection elements, thereby generating the determination results consisting of a determination result for each of the detection elements.

16. The primary unit arrangement of claim 13, further comprising at least one detection field generator for generating an electromagnetic detection field, the detection field generator having an alternating voltage source which is electrically coupled or can be coupled to at least one detection field antenna, thereby forming an oscillating circuit in order to generate an electromagnetic detection field or electromagnetic detection fields, wherein the determination results are obtained in response to the detection fields.

17. The primary unit arrangement of claim 13, wherein the determination unit is adapted to determine the at least one electrical property with respect to a plurality of frequency values of an electromagnetic detection field, which couples the detector device with the arrangement to be detected, thereby determining information on a frequency dependency of the at least one electrical property, and is adapted to identify different materials of the arrangement from the information on the frequency dependency.

18. The primary unit arrangement of claim 13, wherein the determination unit is adapted to determine the at least one electrical property with respect to at least one frequency of an electromagnetic detection field, which couples the detector device with the arrangement to be detected, wherein the at least one electrical property is determined with respect to one frequency or more than one frequencies which is a resonance frequency or which are resonance frequencies of a winding or of windings of at least one electrical conductor of the primary unit.

19. (canceled)

20. The primary unit arrangement of claim 13, wherein different primary units of a same type of primary units have different individual signatures and wherein the decision unit is adapted to identify the arrangement comprising a specific primary unit of the same type of primary units, for which specific primary unit information about its individual signature exists, by deciding from the comparison result of the comparison unit whether the determination results indicate that the detector device has detected an arrangement comprising the specific primary unit of the same type of primary units.

21. The secondary unit arrangement of claim 14, further comprising at least one detection field generator for generating an electromagnetic detection field, the detection field generator having an alternating voltage source which is electrically coupled or can be coupled to at least one detection field antenna, thereby forming an oscillating circuit in order to generate an electromagnetic detection field or electromagnetic detection fields, wherein the determination results are obtained in response to the detection fields.

22. The secondary unit arrangement of claim 14, wherein the determination unit is adapted to determine the at least one electrical property with respect to a plurality of frequency values of an electromagnetic detection field, which couples the detector device with the arrangement to be detected, thereby determining information on a frequency dependency of the at least one electrical property, and is adapted to identify different materials of the arrangement from the information on the frequency dependency.

23. The secondary unit arrangement of claim 14, wherein the determination unit is adapted to determine the at least one electrical property with respect to at least one frequency of an electromagnetic detection field, which couples the detector device with the arrangement to be detected, wherein the at least one electrical property is determined with respect to one frequency or more than one frequencies which is a resonance frequency or which are resonance frequencies of a winding or of windings of at least one electrical conductor of the secondary unit.

24. The secondary unit arrangement of claim 14, wherein different secondary units of a same type of secondary units have different individual signatures and wherein the decision unit is adapted to identify the arrangement comprising a specific secondary unit of the same type of secondary units, for which specific secondary unit information about its individual signature exists, by deciding from the comparison result of the comparison unit whether the determination results indicate that the detector device has detected an arrangement comprising the specific secondary unit of the same type of secondary units.

Description

[0049] Examples of the present invention will be described with reference to the attached drawings in which:

[0050] FIG. 1 shows an IPT system with a detector device,

[0051] FIG. 2 schematically shows a secondary unit of an IPT system as viewed from the detector device on a primary side of the IPT system, in particular the secondary unit of FIG. 1,

[0052] FIG. 3 shows an area on the right hand side of FIG. 2 as detected by the detector device and

[0053] FIG. 4 shows the area of FIG. 3 and an additional foreign object as detected by the detector device.

[0054] The IPT system 5 shown in FIG. 1 comprises a primary unit 7 embedded in the ground and a secondary unit 34 being part of an on-board receiving unit on board a vehicle (not shown). During operation, the primary unit 7 is provided with power from a primary side power converter 29 and generates an electromagnetic field, thereby transferring power to the secondary unit 34.

[0055] A detector device 31 is placed above the primary unit 7 and below the surface of a route 11, i.e. the detector device 31 is placed in between the primary unit 7 and the secondary unit 34. A voltage generator 30 is electrically connected to the detector device 31 and, for example, generates voltage pulses 32 which cause detection field antennae (not shown) integrated in the detector device 31 to generate electromagnetic fields. Other than schematically shown in FIG. 1, the voltage generator 30 may produce pulse width modulation signals. Generally speaking, the voltage generator 30 may produce any desired frequency or range of frequencies. In particular, the electromagnetic detection field(s) produced by operating the voltage generator 30 may comprise at least one resonance frequency of a winding of the secondary unit 34 and, in addition, may comprise at least one further frequency so that resonant currents through the winding and local effects (e.g. eddy currents) in the material of the secondary unit 34 are triggered.

[0056] The electromagnetic fields inductively couple the arrangement consisting of the secondary unit 34 and of a foreign object 4 on the surface of the route 11 to the detector device 31. An evaluation device 36 is connected to the detector device 31, which evaluation device 36 comprises a determination unit for determining at least one electrical property of the detector device 31 for different regions of the arrangement 4, 34, comprises a comparison unit for comparing the determination results with existing information about the arrangement 4, 34 to be detected and comprises a decision unit deciding from the comparison result whether the determination results indicate that the detector device 31 has detected the secondary unit 34 as expected. Since there is the foreign object 4, the secondary unit 34 has not been detected as expected.

[0057] If the foreign object 4 is an electrically conductive object eddy currents are induced in the object 4 and interact with the electromagnetic fields. Otherwise, depending on the electron mobility in the object 4, it may interact with the electromagnetic fields by induced oscillations of the electrons. Magnetisable objects interfere with the magnetic component of the electromagnetic fields. Only if the foreign object 4 does not interact at all with the electromagnetic fields, it cannot be detected by the detector device 31. In this case, the foreign object 4 does not interfere with the operation of the IPT system.

[0058] Several alternative embodiments and modifications to the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 are possible. For example, the detector device may be combined with the secondary unit and may be located at the lower surface of the secondary unit 34 shown in FIG. 1. Alternatively, a detector device may be combined with each of the primary and secondary unit. In any case, it is preferred that the detector device(s) is/are placed in between the primary unit and the secondary unit.

[0059] In FIG. 2, the structure of a secondary unit 34 is shown as can be detected by a detector device on the primary side of the IPT system. The secondary unit comprises a plurality of coils of electric lines which are referred to as windings 43 that form the winding structure of the secondary unit 34. In the viewing direction behind the windings 43 shields 41 of magnetizable material, in particular of ferrite, are placed. There are four shields 41 and in front of each shield 41, three windings 43 are placed. The windings 43 extend in parallel to each other in a longitudinal direction, the direction from top to bottom in FIG. 2. The structural groups comprising one shield 41 and three windings 43 are placed next to each other in the lateral direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction.

[0060] A detector device, such as the detector device 31 of FIG. 1, preferably detects the whole structure shown in FIG. 2 and produces detected information for a plurality of regions of the structure, which can be processed to form a two-dimensional image of the structure. Each region results in a pixel of a two-dimensional image. A processing unit, e.g. the evaluation device 36 of FIG. 1, may be combined with the detector device which performs the processing steps necessary to form the image from the information detected by the detector device. The image may be represented by digital data in any form suitable for digital two-dimensional images. Analogue information about the at least one electrical property of the detector device, in particular of the individual detection elements of the detector device, is output from the detector device to an analogue/digital converter which converts the analogue information into digital information and outputs the digital information to the processing unit. It may be in practice, for example, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a personal computer or another digital computing unit. The processing unit processes the received digital information and thereby generates the detection results. For example, it determines for each of the detection elements the phase angle and amplitude of the impedance of the detection element, in particular by evaluating the amplitude of the current through the detection element and the amplitude of the voltage across the detection element. In this case, the analogue information provided by the detector device comprises corresponding measurement values. Alternatively, other procedures for determining the impedance or inductive or capacitive reactance of the detection element can be performed. Preferably, the electrical property, which may be at least one of the electrical quantities mentioned, is determined at a plurality of frequency values of the frequency of the current through the detection element and of the voltage across the detection element.

[0061] In any case, it is preferred that for each region of the detected structure, in particular for each detection element which is assigned to one of the regions, the predominant material in the region is determined.

[0062] A corresponding image comprising pixels of the detected structure is shown in FIG. 3. For simplicity, only a part of the complete image is shown, namely the part which corresponds to the area on the right hand side in FIG. 2, where the shield 41 on the right hand side behind three of the windings 43 is located. This area in FIG. 2 shows the grid illustrated by dashed lines which corresponds to the partial image shown in FIG. 3. While the grid in FIG. 2 separates the individual regions of the structure which are detected by the detector device, the grid in FIG. 3 separates the pixels of the partial image obtained. Each pixel in FIG. 3 has a value which characterizes the predominant material in the corresponding region of the structure. In the example shown, the partial area has only two different predominant materials, namely copper of the windings 43 indicated by C and ferrite of the shield 41 indicated by F.

[0063] If the foreign object 4 shown in FIG. 1 is present below the partial area which is represented by the partial image and if the foreign object interferes with the electromagnetic fields generated for detecting the structure, the material of the foreign object 4 is also detected, for example iron, and the pixels in the partial image which correspond to the region or regions of the foreign object 4 have the value I for iron (see FIG. 4) instead of the copper or ferrite shown in FIG. 3. While the partial image shown in FIG. 3 is identical to the signature of the structure, the modified image shown in FIG. 4 comprises pixels having the value I. Therefore, the obtained image does not correspond to the signature. Consequently, the foreign object can be detected by comparing the image which is the signature of the structure with the image produced by the detector device and the processing unit. For the comparison, known methods of comparing digital images can be performed by a comparison unit implemented in the processing unit and a decision unit also implemented in the processing unit decides that there is a deviation between the signature and the image taken. In particular, the decision unit may output a deviation signal to a control of the IPT system, for example to a control of the power converter 29 shown in FIG. 1 and the control may switch off the primary unit, in particular by stopping operation of the power converter.