Sloped Wheel Guide for Wireless Charging Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle charging stations face challenges in ensuring precise alignment of vehicles for efficient wireless charging, particularly for hybrid electric and fully electric motor vehicles, due to variations in ride height and vehicle models, which can lead to inconsistent charging performance.
Innovation Solution
A wheel guide structure with sloped and tapered wheel slots is introduced to guide the vehicle's wheels into precise alignment with the charging station's transmitter, ensuring proper positioning and centering through a gradual increase in slope from shallow to vertical, facilitating easy alignment and feedback to the driver.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If a flat wheel guide structure is used, then the structure is simple and easy to manufacture, but the vehicle alignment precision deteriorates due to variations in ride height and vehicle models
Solution Approach 1:
The wheel guide structure incorporates localized sloped surfaces and tapered slots at specific positions rather than making the entire structure complex. The sloped portions are concentrated at the entrance areas where wheels need guidance, while other areas maintain simpler geometries. This localized application of complexity resolves the contradiction by providing precise alignment functionality only where needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The wheel guide employs curved sloped surfaces and tapered (conical) slot geometries instead of flat, straight lines. The tapered slots narrow gradually from entrance to exit, creating a funnel-like effect that naturally guides wheels into proper alignment. These curved and tapered geometries provide self-aligning characteristics that improve precision without requiring complex active control mechanisms.
2Manufacturing precision
If vertical walls are used throughout the wheel slot, then alignment precision is improved, but the difficulty of wheel entry increases
Solution Approach 1:
The wheel guide structure applies different wall geometries at different locations: sloped walls at the entrance region to facilitate easy wheel entry, and increasingly vertical walls toward the terminal end to improve alignment precision. This spatial variation in wall characteristics allows the structure to perform multiple functions - easy entry at the beginning and precise alignment at the end - resolving the contradiction between entry ease and alignment precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The sloped entrance walls perform the preliminary action of gently guiding and capturing the wheel as it approaches, preventing difficult direct entry. This preliminary gentle guidance prepares the wheel for the subsequent alignment phase in the tapered section, where the increasingly vertical walls take over to provide precise positioning. The preliminary action resolves the entry difficulty before precision alignment is required.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the wheel guide accommodates all vehicle models, then versatility is improved, but alignment precision for specific vehicles deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The wheel guide structure is designed with tapered slots and sloped surfaces that can accommodate wheels of various sizes and vehicle types. The tapered geometry naturally adapts to different wheel positions, and the sloped entrance facilitates entry for diverse vehicle ride heights. This universal design allows a single structure to serve multiple vehicle models while maintaining adequate alignment precision through the self-aligning properties of the tapered and sloped geometries.
Data Source
AI summary
A wheel guide for a vehicle charging station includes front and back sides, and a top extending between the front and back sides. The top defines an aperture sized to circumscribe a wireless transmitter of the charging station. The wheel guide further includes a pair of spaced apart wheel slots recessed into the top. Each wheel slot includes an entrance defined in the front side and a pair of longitudinal walls extending from the entrance toward the back side. At least a portion of each of the walls is configured such that a slope of the wall is shallowest at the entrance and becomes increasingly vertical in a direction towards the back side to guide a wheel of a vehicle towards a centerline of the slot.