Method of Load/Fault Detection for Loosely Coupled Planar Wireless Power Transfer System With Power Delivery Tracking

A method to determine various operating modes of a high-efficiency inductive wireless power transfer system which is capable of supporting more than one receiver is proposed. The three operating modes are no-load, safe, and fault modes. The detection scheme probes the transmitter circuitry periodically to determine the operating mode. For power saving, the transmitter is powered down when there is no valid receiver placed on the transmitting coil. If any conductive or magnetic object that can affect the total effective inductance of the transmitting coil is located nearby, the system will enter the fault mode and shut down the transmitter so that it will not be damaged. The safe mode is the nominal operation mode when the power transmission efficiency is high with minimum power loss and zero-voltage switching operation of the class-E transmitter is achieved. The determination of the operating mode is achieved by analyzing the transmitting coil voltage and supply current space, requiring no communication link between the transmitter and receiver. The linear relationship between the power delivery and the supply current can be used to calculate the power delivered to the load(s).