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AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsDonatus Andreas Josephine KEES, Anthemios Philemon PETRIDIS
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A motor vehicle is disclosed having an energy storage device that is replenished with energy by inductive coupling with a fixed inductive charging point using a vehicle mounted inductive coupling member. A three dimensional positioning mechanism is used to position the inductive coupling member so that it is aligned with and positioned in close proximity to the fixed charging point thereby ensuring a high coupling efficiency between the inductive coupling member and the fixed charging point. The use of a three dimensional positioning mechanism has the advantage that the inductive coupling member can be positioned accurately without the need to position the motor vehicle accurately.
A motor vehicle comprising:
A method for replenishing energy in an energy storage device of a motor vehicle by inductive coupling with a fixed ground located inductive charging point wherein the method comprises manoeuvring the motor vehicle so as to position it in a general location of a fixed charging point, using a sensor system to locate the position of the fixed charging point relative to a predefined location on the motor vehicle, using a three dimensional positioning mechanism to move an inductive coupling member supported by the positioning mechanism to a position in which the inductive coupling member is aligned with and positioned in close proximity to the fixed charging point and connecting the energy storage device to the fixed charging point using inductive coupling so as to replenish an energy level of the energy storage device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.