[001] The present subject matter described herein, relates to the technical field of wireless mobile charger. The present subject matter, in particularly, relates to an in-vehicle wireless charger to charge mobile phones while travelling. The in-vehicle wireless charger, according to the present subject matter, can be adjusted by rotational or transverse motion.
BACKGROUND AND PRIOR ART AND PROBLEM IN PRIOR ART:
[002] Background description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the presently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
[003] As the utility of mobile phones are increasing day by day, the power consumption of mobile phones has become extremely large. For this reason, some users have to charge their mobile phones even while driving. Automotive vehicles often include electrically powered systems that connect electronics devices, such as mobiles, via wired connections. However, charging of the mobile devices through cable creates problems we all experience regularly. For different types of charging ports, different kinds of charging cables are required.
[004] To overcome the problems, wireless chargers are introduced in the vehicles for charging mobile phones. Generally, wireless chargers are provided on the cup holder, provided adjacent to driver’s seat. The wireless chargers provided in vehicles are designed to hold a specific size of phones due to space constraints. Any mobile phone having a bigger size creates a lot of problem while charging, as the space to effectively hold the phone is less. Further, for phones having a smaller size creates a lot of problem while charging as maintaining the orientation of phone in obedience with the coil of the wireless charger is a challenging task.
[005] Further, while driving the driver has to change the gears quite often. During charging, due to space constraints, the driver often encounters hindrance while changing the gears. The hindrance results in discomfort and non-engaging on gears which increases the risk of accidents, as the user has to look down towards the gear shift lever while changing the gears.
[006] Furthermore, in the existing in-vehicle wireless chargers, no provision to adjust the position of wireless charger is provided. Typically, while charging the mobile phone using existing wireless chargers, the mobile screen is usually not in the point of view (POV) of the user.
[007] There is a need for a wireless charger, which can be adjusted as per user need and POV.
[008] The information disclosed in this background of the disclosure section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION:
[009] It is therefore the object of the present subject matter to overcome the aforementioned and other drawbacks in prior method/product/apparatus.
[0010] The principal objective of the present subject matter is to develop an in-vehicle wireless charger with plurality of ball and spring arrangements.
[0011] Another object of the present subject matter is to develop an in-vehicle wireless charger having transverse movement.
[0012] Another object of the present subject matter is to develop an in-vehicle wireless charger having rotary movement.
[0013] Another object of the present subject matter is to develop an in-vehicle wireless charger which can charge all wireless charging enabled mobile phones, irrespective of their size.
[0014] Yet another object of the present subject matter is to develop an in-vehicle wireless charger having higher output charging efficiency.
[0015] Yet another object of the present subject matter is to develop an in-vehicle wireless charger which can avoid fouling with the surrounding parts in the vehicle.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0016] One or more drawbacks of conventional wireless chargers, and additional advantages are provided through the in-vehicle wireless charger, as claimed in the present disclosure. Additional features and advantages are realized through the technicalities of the present disclosure. Other embodiments and aspects of the disclosure are described in detail herein and are considered to be a part of the claimed disclosure.
[0017] The present subject matter discloses an in-vehicle wireless charger to charge the phone while travelling through a vehicle. The in-vehicle wireless charger comprises an upper housing, a lower housing, a rotating mechanism and a transverse mechanism. The upper housing is provided to accommodate mobile phone while charging. The lower housing works as a stand for the wireless charger. The rotating mechanism is rotatably attached to the lower housing. The rotating mechanism provides rotating motion to the upper housing of the wireless charger. The transverse mechanism is movably attached to the rotating mechanism. The transverse mechanism provides transverse movement to the upper housing of the wireless charger.
[0018] In an aspect, a plurality of rotational ball and spring arrangements are provided in the rotating mechanism to hold the rotating movement of the upper housing in user adjusted position.
[0019] In an aspect, the lower housing is hollow and has a first terminal provided on the lower surface acting as an entrance point for wiring and a second terminal provided on the top surface acting as an exit for wiring.
[0020] In an aspect, the second terminal has an inner protrusion provided around the periphery to pivotally hold the rotation mechanism.
[0021] In an aspect, the second terminal has a concentric circular protuberance having u-shaped serrations provided on the inner side to hold the rotation mechanism temporarily at user adjusted position.
[0022] In an aspect, the rotating mechanism comprises a hollow clamping means, a plate and a spring holding plate. The hollow clamping means is rotatably engaged with the protrusion provided in the second terminal of the lower housing. The hollow clamping means facilitates rotating motion. The plate engages with the hollow clamping means. The plate has u-shaped serrations provided on a pair of opposite sides. The spring holding plate integrally provided below the plate to hold the plurality of rotational ball and spring arrangements. The balls of the plurality of rotational ball and spring arrangements engage with the u-shaped serrations provided on the inner side of the concentric circular protuberance to hold the rotating mechanism at one position.
[0023] In an aspect, the size of the balls of the plurality of rotational ball and spring arrangements are in conformity with size of the u-shaped serrations provided on the inner side of the concentric circular protuberance to provide good engagement of the balls with the u-shaped serrations.
[0024] In an aspect, slots in the plate (302) and the spring holding plate (304) is provided for overpassing of wires.
[0025] In an aspect, the transverse mechanism comprises a pair of cuboidal plates with a guiding channel along the length to facilitate restricted transverse movement of the plate and a channel along the breadth to accommodate a transversal ball and spring arrangement to hold the transverse movement in one position.
[0026] In an aspect, the size of the balls of the transversal ball and spring arrangements are in conformity with size of the u-shaped serrations provided on the plate to provide good engagement of the balls with the u-shaped serrations.
[0027] In an aspect, the pair of cuboidal plates has slots provided in the upper surface to facilitate clamping of the upper housing with the pair of cuboidal plates.
[0028] In an aspect, the upper housing comprises a base and a phone holding tray. The base has a hollow rectangular box shaped contour to accommodate charging circuitry. A slot is provided in lower surface of the base to guide electric wires to facilitate connection of wires with charging circuitry. The phones holding tray accommodates phone while charging.
[0029] In an aspect, the charging circuitry includes a printed circuit board, a plurality of magnetic coils, a plurality of resistors, a plurality of LED indicator lights and a foreign object detection unit.
[0030] In an aspect, a clamping mechanism is provided to clamp the phone, in desired position, on the phone holding tray.
[0031] In an aspect, peripheral walls are provided around the phone holding tray to hold the phone, in the desired position while charging.
[0032] In an aspect, an anti-slip material is used on the surface of the phone holding tray to hold the phone, in the desired position while charging.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0033] It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only typical embodiments of the present subject matter and are therefore not to be considered for limiting of its scope, for the invention may admit to other equally effective embodiments. The description is described with reference to the accompanying figures. In the figures, a reference number identifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. The same numbers are used throughout the figures to reference like features and components. Some embodiments of system or methods or structure in accordance with embodiments of the present subject matter are now described, by way of example, and with reference to the accompanying figures, in which:
[0034] Fig. 1a illustrating side view of an in-vehicle wireless charger according to one of the embodiments of the present subject matter;
[0035] Fig. 1b illustrates exploded view of an in-vehicle wireless charger according to one of the embodiments of the present subject matter;
[0036] Fig. 2 illustrates top view of lower housing with plurality of rotational ball and spring arrangements of an in-vehicle wireless charger, according to one of the embodiment of present subject matter.
[0037] Fig. 3 illustrates sectional view of the rotating mechanism, engaged with transversal ball and spring arrangements, attached to the lower housing of an in-vehicle wireless charger, according to one of the embodiment of present subject matter;
[0038] Fig. 4 illustrates components of transverse mechanism of an in-vehicle wireless charger, according to one of the embodiment of present subject matter;
[0039] Fig. 5 illustrates top view of rotating mechanism attached to the transverse mechanism of an in-vehicle wireless charger, according to one of the embodiment of present subject matter; and
[0040] Fig. 6 illustrates side view of upper housing of an in-vehicle wireless charger, according to one of the embodiment of present subject matter.
[0041] The figures depict embodiments of the present subject matter for the purposes of illustration only. A person skilled in the art will easily recognize from the following description that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the disclosure described herein.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS:
[0042] While the embodiments of the disclosure are subject to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiment thereof have been shown by way of example in the figures and will be described below. It should be understood, however, that it is not intended to limit the disclosure to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the disclosure is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternative falling within the scope of the disclosure.
[0043] The terms “comprises”, “comprising”, or any other variations thereof used in the disclosure, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a device, system, assembly that comprises a list of components does not include only those components but may include other components not expressly listed or inherent to such system, or assembly, or device. In other words, one or more elements in a system or device proceeded by “comprises… a” does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of other elements or additional elements in the system or device.
[0044] Referring to figure 1a and 1b, illustrating side and exploded view of an in-vehicle wireless charger 100 according to one of the embodiments of the present subject matter. The in-vehicle wireless charger 100 comprises a lower housing 101, a rotating mechanism 102, a transverse mechanism 103 and an upper housing 104. The lower housing 101 is hollow and works as a stand for the wireless charger 100. The lower housing 101 has a first terminal for entrance of electric wires and a second terminal for exit of the electric wires. According to the preferable embodiment, the first terminal is located on the lower surface of the lower housing 101 and the second terminal 201 is provided on the top surface of the lower housing 101. The second terminal 201 has an inner protrusion 301 provided around the periphery which act as a clamp to pivotally hold the rotation mechanism 102.
[0045] Referring to figure 2, illustrating top view of lower housing 101 with plurality of rotational ball and spring arrangements of an in-vehicle wireless charger 100, according to one of the embodiment of present subject matter. A circular protuberance 202, concentric with the second terminal 201 of the lower housing 101 is provided to facilitate the rotation of the rotating mechanism. On the inner side of the circular protuberance 202, u-shaped serrations 203 are provided to temporarily hold the rotation mechanism 102 at user adjusted position.
[0046] Referring to Figure 3, illustrating sectional view of the rotating mechanism 102, engaged with transversal ball and spring arrangements, attached to the lower housing of an in-vehicle wireless charger 100, according to one of the embodiment of present subject matter. The rotating mechanism 102 comprises a plate 302 having u-shaped serrations 303 provided on a pair of opposite sides, a spring holding plate 304 integrally provided below the plate 302 and a hollow clamping means 305 integrally provided below the spring holding plate 304 in the middle. The hollow clamping means 305 get pivotally engaged with the inner protrusion 301 provided on the second terminal 201 of the lower housing 101. The size of the spring holding plate 304 provided above the hollow clamping means 305 is such that it can be accommodated inside the circular protuberance 202 provided on the lower housing 101. The spring holding plate 304 holds springs 204a, 204b, of the plurality of rotational ball and spring arrangements, one end of which is engaged with the u-shaped serrations 203 provided on the circular protuberance 202, via balls 205a, 205b. The size of the balls 205a, 205b is in conformity with the size of the u-shaped serrations 203 to provide good engagement with the serrations 203. For overpassing of wires, slots in the plate 302 and the spring holding plate 304 is provided above the hollow clamping means 305. The plurality of rotational ball and spring arrangement provided in the spring holding plate 304 hold the rotating movement of the upper housing in user adjusted position..
[0047] Referring to figure 4, illustrating components of transverse mechanism of an in-vehicle wireless charger 100, according to one of the embodiment of present subject matter. The transverse mechanism 103 comprises two cuboidal plates 401a, 401b having a guiding channel 402a, 402b provided, along the length, on the front edge of the cuboidal plates 401a, 401b. In between the channels 402a, 402b, a channel 403a, 403b is also provided, along the breadth, to accommodate a transversal ball and spring arrangement. Two slots 404a, 404b are provided on each of the cuboidal plates 401a, 401b, respectively, for the purpose of attachment of the upper housing 104. The transversal ball and spring arrangement, provided in the channel 403a, 403b, engages with the plate (302) to temporarily hold the transverse movement of the upper housing (104) in user adjusted position. The size of the balls 306a, 306b is in conformity with the size of the u-shaped serrations 303 to provide good engagement with the serrations 303.
[0048] Referring to figure 5, illustrating top view of rotating mechanism 102 attached to the transverse mechanism 103 of an in-vehicle wireless charger 100, according to one of the embodiment of present subject matter. The rotating mechanism 102 rotatably engaged in the second terminal 201 of the lower housing 101. The u-shaped serrations 303 provided on the pair of opposite sides of the plate 302, engages with the transversal ball and spring arrangements of the cuboidal plates 401a, 401b of the transverse mechanism 103. The guiding channel 402a, 402b supports the plate 203 from the bottom. The rotation movement of the wireless charger 100 is facilitated by the plurality of rotational ball and spring arrangements of the rotation mechanism 102. The balls 205a, 205b which is engaged with the u-shaped serrations 203 provided on the circular protuberance 202, on applying force, gets engaged with adjacent u-shaped serrations 203 on the circular protuberance 202. The springs 204a, 204b attached to the balls 205a, 205b ensures the engagement of balls 205a, 205b with the serrations 203. Further, the transverse movement of the wireless charger 100 is facilitated by the transversal ball and spring arrangements of the transverse mechanism 103. The balls 306a, 306b which is engaged with the u-shaped serrations 303 provided on the plate 302 of the rotation mechanism 102, on applying force, gets engage with the adjacent u-shaped serrations 303 provided on the plate 302 of the rotating mechanism 102. The springs 307a, 307b attached to the balls 306a, 306b, respectively, ensures the engagement of balls 306a, 306b with the serrations 303.
[0049] Referring to figure 6, illustrating side view of upper housing of an in-vehicle wireless charger 100, according to one of the embodiment of present subject matter. The upper housing 104 comprises a base 601 having a hollow rectangular box shaped contour and a phone holding tray 602. The base 601 accommodates charging circuitry which includes a Printed Circuit Board (PCB), a plurality of magnetic coils, a plurality of resistors, a plurality of LED indicator lights and a foreign object detection circuit. The base 601 has a slot provided on its lower surface to guide electric wires which act as a power source for the charging circuitry. The phone holding tray 602 is provided to accommodate phone while charging. The phone holding tray 602 holds the phone by either clamping mechanism, or by providing peripheral walls or by using anti-slip material as the face material of the phone holding tray 602. The upper housing 104 is fastened on the transverse mechanism 103 through slots 404a, 404b provided on the cuboidal plates 401a, 401b.
[0050] The wireless charger 100 can be mounted on the cup holder via double sided tape or can be fastened on the cup holder through fastening means. Phone is placed on the phone holding tray 602 for charging. While driving, the driver can adjust the orientation of phone through rotation mechanism 102 and transverse mechanism 103 as per his/her own ease. The plurality of rotational ball and spring arrangement provided in the rotation mechanism 102 facilitates the rotation of the upper housing 104. The guiding channel 402a, 402b of the transverse mechanism 103 facilitate the restricted forward and backward movement of the upper housing 104 of the wireless charger 100. Both the rotation mechanism 102 and the transverse mechanism 103 help in adjusting the orientation of wireless charger 100, so that, the gears can be changed without any hindrance from the wireless charger 100. Further, the driver can adjust the phone according to his/her point of view (POV).
[0051] Provision of an indication light showing status of charging and not charging is provided on the phone holding tray 402 to indicate the instant status. Also, a mobile displacement indication light is provided to alert the driver, when the phone is not effectively in contact with the phone holding tray 602. Further, a foreign object detection light is provided which is connected with the foreign object detection circuit to alert the driver that a foreign object, other than the mobile, is placed on the phone holding tray. The foreign object detection circuit also prevent conductive materials from receiving power from the charger.
[0052] As there is plurality of magnetic coils provided in the upper housing, the output charging efficiency of the wireless charging increases manifold.
[0053] It will be understood by those within the art that, in general, terms used herein, and especially in the appended claims (e.g., bodies of the appended claims) are generally intended as “open” terms (e.g., the term “including” should be interpreted as “including but not limited to,” the term “having” should be interpreted as “having at least,” the term “includes” should be interpreted as “includes but is not limited to,” etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such an intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitation no such intent is present. For example, as an aid to understanding, the following appended claims may contain usage of the introductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” to introduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinite articles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containing such introduced claim recitation to inventions containing only one such recitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases “one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or “an” (e.g., “a” and/or “an” should typically be interpreted to mean “at least one” or “one or more”); the same holds true for the use of definite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, even if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should typically be interpreted to mean at least the recited number (e.g., the bare recitation of “two recitations,” without other modifiers, typically means at least two recitations, or two or more recitations). Furthermore, in those instances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B, and C, etc.” is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, and C” would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). In those instances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B, or C, etc.” is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, or C” would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that virtually any disjunctive word and/or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in the description, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplate the possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, or both terms. For example, the phrase “A or B” will be understood to include the possibilities of “A” or “B” or “A and B.”
[0054] It will be further appreciated that functions or structures of a plurality of components or steps may be combined into a single component or step, or the functions or structures of one-step or component may be split among plural steps or components. The present invention contemplates all of these combinations. Unless stated otherwise, dimensions and geometries of the various structures depicted herein are not intended to be restrictive of the invention, and other dimensions or geometries are possible. In addition, while a feature of the present invention may have been described in the context of only one of the illustrated embodiments, such feature may be combined with one or more other features of other embodiments, for any given application. It will also be appreciated from the above that the fabrication of the unique structures herein and the operation thereof also constitute methods in accordance with the present invention. The present invention also encompasses intermediate and end products resulting from the practice of the methods herein. The use of “comprising” or “including” also contemplates embodiments that “consist essentially of” or “consist of” the recited feature.

CLAIMS:We claim:
1. An in-vehicle wireless charger (100), the wireless charger comprises:
an upper housing (104) provided to accommodate mobile phone while charging;
a lower housing (101) working as a stand for the wireless charger (100);
a rotating mechanism (102), rotatably attached to the lower housing (101), wherein the rotating mechanism (102) provide rotating motion to the upper housing (104) of the wireless charger (100); and
a transverse mechanism (103) movably attached to the rotating mechanism (102) to provide transversal movement to the upper housing (104) of the wireless charger (100).
2. The in vehicle wireless charger (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein a plurality of rotational ball and spring arrangements are provided in the rotating mechanism (102) to hold the rotating movement of the upper housing (104) in user adjusted position.
3. The in-vehicle wireless charger (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein lower housing (101) is hollow and has a first terminal provided on the lower surface acting as an entrance point for wiring and a second terminal (201) provided on the top surface acting as an exit for wiring.
4. The in-vehicle wireless charger (100) as claimed in claim 2, wherein the second terminal (201) has an inner protrusion (301) provided around the periphery to pivotally hold the rotation mechanism (102).
5. The in-vehicle wireless charger (100) as claimed in claim 2, wherein the second terminal (201) has a concentric circular protuberance (202) having u-shaped serrations (203) provided on the inner side to hold the rotation mechanism (102) temporarily at user adjusted position.
6. The in-vehicle wireless charger (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the rotating mechanism (102) comprises:
a hollow clamping means (305) rotatably engaged with the inner protrusion (301) provided in the second terminal (201) of the lower housing (101), wherein the hollow clamping means (305) facilitate rotating motion;
a plate (302) engaged with hollow clamping means (305), wherein the plate (302) has u-shaped serrations (303) provided on a pair of opposite sides;
a spring holding plate (304) integrally provided below the plate (302) to hold the plurality of rotational ball and spring arrangements, wherein the balls of the plurality of rotational ball and spring arrangements engages with the u-shaped serrations (203) provided on the inner side of the concentric circular protuberance (202) to hold the rotating mechanism (102) at one position.
7. The in-vehicle wireless charger (100) as claimed in claim 6, wherein the size of the balls (205a, 205b) of the plurality of rotational ball and spring arrangements are in conformity with size of the u-shaped serrations (203) provided on the inner side of the concentric circular protuberance (202) to provide good engagement of the balls (205a, 205b) with the u-shaped serrations (203).
8. The in-vehicle wireless charger (100) as claimed in claim 5, wherein slots in the plate (302) and the spring holding plate (304) is provided for overpassing of wires.
9. The in-vehicle wireless charger (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the transverse mechanism (103) comprises a pair of cuboidal plates (401a, 402b) with a guiding channel (402a, 402b) along the length to facilitate restricted transverse movement of the plate (302) and a channel (403a, 403b) along the breadth to accommodate a transversal ball and spring arrangement to hold the transverse movement in one position.
10. The in-vehicle wireless charger (100) as claimed in claim 9, wherein the size of the balls (306a, 306b) of the transversal ball and spring arrangements are in conformity with size of the u-shaped serrations (303) provided on the plate (302) to provide good engagement of the balls (306a, 306b) with the u-shaped serrations (303).
11. The in-vehicle wireless charger (100) as claimed in claim 8, wherein the pair of cuboidal plates (401a, 401b) has slots (404a, 404b) provided in the upper surface to facilitate clamping of the upper housing (104) with the pair of cuboidal plates (401a, 401b).
12. The in-vehicle wireless charger (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the upper housing (104) comprises:
a base (601) having a hollow rectangular box shaped contour to accommodate charging circuitry, wherein a slot is provided in lower surface to guide electric wires to facilitate connection of wires with charging circuitry; and
a phone holding tray (602) to accommodate phone while charging.
13. The in-vehicle wireless charger (100) as claimed in claim 10, wherein the charging circuitry includes a printed circuit board, a plurality of magnetic coils, a plurality of resistors, a plurality of LED indicator lights and a foreign object detection unit.
14. The in-vehicle wireless charger (100) as claimed in claim 10, wherein a clamping mechanism is provided to clamp the phone, in desired position, on the phone holding tray.
15. The in-vehicle wireless charger (100) as claimed in claim 11, wherein peripheral walls are provided around the phone holding tray (602) to hold the phone, in the desired position while charging.
16. The in-vehicle wireless charger (100) as claimed in claim 11, wherein an anti-slip material is used on the surface of the phone holding tray (602) to hold the phone, in the desired position while charging.