US 11,942,794 B2
Power amplifier based wireless power transfer and communications
John Christopher Price, Austin, TX (US); Daniel Keith Van Ostrand, Leander, TX (US); and Phuong Huynh, Fairfax, VA (US)
Assigned to SIGMASENSE, LLC., Austin, TX (US)
Filed by SIGMASENSE, LLC., Wilmington, DE (US)
Filed on Nov. 17, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/528,244.
Application 17/528,244 is a continuation of application No. 16/936,635, filed on Jul. 23, 2020, granted, now 11,190,054.
Application 16/936,635 is a continuation of application No. 16/428,131, filed on May 31, 2019, granted, now 10,756,578, issued on Aug. 25, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2022/0263347 A1, Aug. 18, 2022
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. H02J 50/12 (2016.01); G05B 19/042 (2006.01); H02J 50/80 (2016.01)
CPC H02J 50/12 (2016.02) [G05B 19/042 (2013.01); H02J 50/80 (2016.02); G05B 2219/2639 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A device that is operative to transfer power wirelessly, the device comprising:
a drive-sense circuit (DSC) operably coupled to generate a drive signal based on a reference signal, wherein, when enabled, the DSC operably coupled and configured to:
provide the drive signal to a first coil via a single line and via a resonating capacitor such that the single line is connected to a connection between a power amplifier and a voltage divider and simultaneously to sense the drive signal including to sense one or more electrical characteristics of the drive signal, wherein the drive signal being provided to the first coil is operative to transfer power wirelessly from the first coil to a second coil of another device; and
generate a digital signal that is representative of the one or more electrical characteristics of the drive signal based on an error signal corresponding to a difference between the drive signal and the reference signal, wherein the DSC includes:
a comparator configured to produce the error signal based on comparison of the reference signal to the drive signal;
the power amplifier configured to generate the drive signal based on the error signal and to provide the drive signal to the connection between the power amplifier and the voltage divider to which the resonating capacitor is connected; and
an analog to digital converter (ADC) configured to process the error signal to generate the digital signal that is representative of the one or more electrical characteristics of the drive signal.