CLAIMS What is claimed is:1. An apparatus for producing a magnetic field, comprising: a coil, wherein the coil is a planar spiral coil, where the coil has at least two loops, wherein a spacing between adjacent loops decreases continuously from an inner loop toward an outer loop of the coil, and a driver, wherein the driver drives the coil to produce a magnetic field, wherein a magnitude of the magnetic field in a direction perpendicular to a plane of the coil is substantially uniform over a region of interest.
2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the magnitude of the magnetic field in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the coil is substantially uniform over the region of interest such that is less than or equal to 0.2 over the region of interest, where
AVERAGE
MAX and MIN are the maximum magnitude, and minimum magnitude, of the magnet field over♦ tuhe region off in+teres♦t, respec ,ti-veily, and , A.yVcLDRA.rGcE i.s MAX + MlN .
i
3.T ThUe appara+tus accordAi-ng+ to c ilai •m o 2, wth,erei •n+ tuhe MAX - MIN i .s . less t .han or equal
AVERAGE to 0.1 over the region of interest.
4Λ. π The apparatus accord ,i.ng to c ,lai.m 2„, w,herei-n t,he MAX -MIN i .s , less than or equal
AVERAGE to 0.05 over the region of interest.
5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the magnetic field is time-varying.
6. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the time-varying magnetic field has a frequency in the range 1 kHz to 10 MHz.
7. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the time-varying magnetic field has a frequency in the range 100 kHz to 400 kHz.
8. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the time varying magnetic field has a frequency less than or equal to 1 MHz.
9. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the coil is a planar elliptical spiral coil.
10. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the coil is a planar circular spiral coil, wherein the coil follows the equation: p(θ) = po + l(θ)θ where p (θ) is the radius of the coil, />o is the initial radius of the coil, θ is the angle with respect to the initial radius of the coil, and l(θ) is a function of θ.
11. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein a derivative of l(θ) is positive.
12. The apparatus according to claim 1 1, wherein the derivative of l(θ) decreases as θ increases over at least a portion of the coil.
13. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the derivative of l(θ) decreases as θ increases over the coil.
14. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the spiral coil further follows the equation: p(θ) = r + (! - (] - ~^-Ϋ)(R - r)
2πN where R is an outermost radius of the coil, r is the initial radius of the coil, and N is a number of loops of the coil.
15. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the region of interest is a second plane parallel to a plane of the coil.
16. The apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the second plane is offset from the plane of the coil by a distance d.
17. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein d is less than 30 cm.
18. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein d is less than 10 cm.
19. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein d is less than R, where R is an outermost radius of the coil.
20. The apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the region of interest is a region covering at least a portion of an area of the coil.
21. The apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the region of interest is a region covering an area of the coil.
22. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the coil is a polygonal spiral coil.
23. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the coil is a rectangular spiral coil.
24. An apparatus for producing a magnetic field, comprising: a coil, wherein the coil is a planer polygonal spiral coil wherein the coil has at least two loops, wherein a spacing between adjacent loops either stays the same or decreases at each corner of the polygonal going from an inner loop toward an outer loop of the coil; and a driver, wherein the driver drives the coil to produce a magnetic field, wherein a magnitude of the magnetic field in a direction perpendicular to a plane of the coil substantially is uniform over a region of interest.
25. The apparatus according to claim 24, wherein the magnitude of the magnetic field in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the coil is substantially uniform over the region of
. , MAX -MIN . , ,Λ ^ , interest such that — is less than or equal to 0.2 over the region of interest, where
AVERAGE
MAX and MIN are the maximum magnitude, and minimum magnitude, of the magnet field
,, ■f . . ,. , ,A VCD λ rc . MAX + MIN over the region or interest, respectively, and AVERAGE is .
26. The apparatus according to claim 25, wherein the is less than or
AVERAGE equal to 0.1 over the region of interest.
27. The apparatus according to claim 25, wherein the is less than or
AVERAGE equal to 0.05 over the region of interest.
28. The apparatus according to claim 24, wherein the magnetic field is time-varying.
29. The apparatus according to claim 28, wherein the time-varying magnetic field has a frequency in the range 1 kHz to 10 MHz.
30. The apparatus according to claim 25, wherein the time-varying magnetic field has a frequency in the range 100 kHz to 400 kHz.
31. The apparatus according to claim 25, wherein the time varying magnetic field has a frequency less than or equal to 1 MHz.
32. The apparatus according to claim 24, wherein the spacing between adjacent loops follows the equation: p(2nπ) - p[2(n - l)π] , n = 1 , 2, ... , N, where p is the function
p(θ) = r + (\ - (1 - -^7)4Xi? - r)
2πN where R is an outermost radius of the coil, r is an innermost radius of the coil, and N is a number of loops of the coil.
33. The apparatus according to claim 24, wherein the region of interest is a second plane parallel to the plane of the coil.
34. The apparatus according to claim 33, wherein the second plane is offset from the plane of the coil by a distance d.
35. The apparatus according to claim 34, wherein d is less than 30 cm.
36. The apparatus according to claim 34, wherein d is less than 10 cm.
37. The apparatus according to claim 34, wherein d is less than R, where R is an outermost radius of the coil.
38. The apparatus according to claim 33, wherein the region of interest is a region covering at least a portion of an area of the coil.
39. The apparatus according to claim 33, wherein the region of interest is a region covering an area of the coil.
40. The apparatus according to claim 24, wherein the polygonal coil is a square coil.
41. The apparatus according to claim 24, wherein the polygonal coil is a hexagonal coil.
42. An apparatus for producing a magnetic field, comprising: a coil, wherein the coil is a planar spiral coil, where the coil has at least two loops, wherein a spacing between starting points of adjacent loops decreases from an inner loop toward an outer loop of the coil, and a driver, wherein the driver drives the coil to produce a magnetic field, wherein a magnitude of the magnetic field in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the coil is
. „ .^ , . , , MAX -MIN . , substantially uniform over the region of interest such that is less than or equal
AVERAGE  to 0.2 over the region of interest, where MAX and MIN are the maximum magnitude, and minimum magnitude, of the magnet field over the region of interest, respectively, and
AVERAGE is , wherein a magnitude of the magnetic field in a direction
perpendicular to a plane of the coil is substantially uniform over a region of interest.
43. A method for producing a magnetic field, comprising: providing a coil, wherein the coil is a planar spiral coil, where the coil has at least two loops, wherein a spacing between adjacent loops decreases continuously from an inner loop toward an outer loop of the coil, and driving the coil to produce a magnetic field, wherein a magnitude of the magnetic field in a direction perpendicular to a plane of the coil is substantially uniform over a region of interest.
44. The method according to claim 43, wherein the magnitude of the magnetic field in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the coil is substantially uniform over the region of
, , MAX -MIN . . ,n ^ i interest such that is less than or equal to 0.2 over the region of interest, where
A VERAGE
MAX and MIN are the maximum magnitude, and minimum magnitude, of the magnet field
MAX + MIN over the region of interest, respectively, and AVERAGE is
2
45. The method according to claim 44, wherein the is less than or equal
AVERAGE to 0.1 over the region of interest.
MAX - MIN
46. The method according to claim 44, wherein the is less than or equal
AVERAGE to 0.05 over the region of interest.
47. The method according to claim 44, wherein the magnetic field is time-varying.
48. The method according to claim 47, wherein the time-varying magnetic field has a frequency in the range 1 kHz to 10 MHz.
49. The method according to claim 47, wherein the time-varying magnetic field has a frequency in the range 100 kHz to 400 kHz.
50. The method according to claim 47, wherein the time varying magnetic field has a frequency less than or equal to 1 MHz.
51. An method according to claim 43, wherein the coil is a planar elliptical spiral coil.
52. The method according to claim 43, wherein the coil is a planar circular spiral coil, wherein the coil follows the equation: p(θ) = po + l(θ)θ where p (θ) is the radius of the coil, po is the initial radius of the coil, θ is the angle with respect to the initial radius of the coil, and l(θ) is a function of θ.
53. The method according to claim 52, wherein a derivative of l(θ) is positive.
54. The method according to claim 53, wherein the derivative of l(β) decreases as θ increases over at least a portion of the coil.
55. The method according to claim 54, wherein the derivative of l(θ) decreases as θ increases over the coil.
56. The method according to claim 43, wherein the spiral coil further follows the equation: p(θ) = r + (l - (I - -L-Y)(R - r)
2πN  where R is an outermost radius of the coil, r is the initial radius of the coil, and N is a number of loops of the coil.
57. The method according to claim 43, wherein the region of interest is a second plane parallel to a plane of the coil.
58. The method according to claim 57, wherein the second plane is offset from the plane of the coil by a distance d.
59. The method according to claim 58, wherein d is less than 30 cm.
60. The method according to claim 58, wherein d is less than 10 cm.
61. The method according to claim 58, wherein d is less than R, where R is an outermost radius of the coil.
62. The method according to claim 57, wherein the region of interest is a region covering at least a portion of an area of the coil.
63. The method according to claim 57, wherein the region of interest is a region covering an area of the coil.
64. The method according to claim 43, wherein the coil is a polygonal spiral coil.
65. The method according to claim 43, wherein the coil is a rectangular spiral coil.
66. An method for producing a magnetic field, comprising: producing a coil, wherein the coil is a planer polygonal spiral coil wherein the coil has at least two loops, wherein a spacing between adjacent loops either stays the same or decreases at each corner of the polygonal going from an inner loop toward an outer loop of the coil; and  driving the coil to produce a magnetic field, wherein a magnitude of the magnetic field in a direction perpendicular to a plane of the coil substantially is uniform over a region of interest.
67. The method according to claim 66, wherein the magnitude of the magnetic field in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the coil is substantially uniform over the region of
, , MAX -MIN . , ,n ^ , interest such that is less than or equal to 0.2 over the region oτ interest, where
AVERAGE
MAX and MIN are the maximum magnitude, and minimum magnitude, of the magnet field over the region of interest, respectively, and AVERAGE is .
68. The method according to claim 67, wherein the is less than or equal
AVERAGE to 0.1 over the region of interest.
69. The method according to claim 67, wherein the is less than or equal
AVERAGE to 0.05 over the region of interest.
70. The method according to claim 66, wherein the magnetic field is time-varying.
71. The method according to claim 70, wherein the time-varying magnetic field has a frequency in the range 1 kHz to 10 MHz.
72. The method according to claim 67, wherein the time-varying magnetic field has a frequency in the range 100 kHz to 400 kHz.
73. The method according to claim 67, wherein the time varying magnetic field has a frequency less than or equal to 1 MHz.
74. The method according to claim 66, wherein the spacing between adjacent loops follows the equation: p(2nπ) - p[2(n - Y) π] , n = 1 , 2. ... , N, where p is the function
p(θ) = r + (l - (\ - ^)4)(R -~ r)
where R is an outermost radius of the coil, r is an innermost radius of the coil, and N is a number of loops of the coil.
75. The method according to claim 66, wherein the region of interest is a second plane parallel to the plane of the coil.
76. The method according to claim 75, wherein the second plane is offset from the plane of the coil by a distance d.
77. The method according to claim 76, wherein d is less than 30 cm.
78. The method according to claim 76, wherein d is less than 10 cm.
79. The method according to claim 76, wherein d is less than R, where R is an outermost radius of the coil.
80. The method according to claim 75, wherein the region of interest is a region covering at least a portion of an area of the coil.
81. The method according to claim 75, wherein the region of interest is a region covering an area of the coil.
82. The method according to claim 66, wherein the polygonal coil is a square coil.
83. The method according to claim 66, wherein the polygonal coil is a hexagonal coil.
84. An method for producing a magnetic field, comprising: providing a coil, wherein the coil is a planar spiral coil, where the coil has at least two loops, wherein a spacing between starting points of adjacent loops decreases from an inner loop toward an outer loop of the coil, and driving the coil to produce a magnetic field, wherein a magnitude of the magnetic field in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the coil is substantially uniform over the
MAX -MIN . , , , region of interest such that is less than or equal to 0.2 over the region of
AVERAGE interest, where MAX and MIN are the maximum magnitude, and minimum magnitude, of the magnet field over the region of interest, respectively, and AVERAGE is ,
wherein a magnitude of the magnetic field in a direction perpendicular to a plane of the coil is substantially uniform over a region of interest.
85. A system for inductive power transfer, comprising: an apparatus for producing a magnetic field according to any of claims 1-42; and a receiver coil, wherein when the receiver coil is positioned proximate the apparatus for producing the magnetic field, power is inductively transfer to the receiver coil.
86. The system according to claim 85, wherein the coil has an area in the range of 2 to 12 times as large as an area of the receiver coil.
87. A method for inductively transferring power, comprising: implementing the method according to any of claims 43-84; and providing a receiver coil proximate to the coil such that power is inductively coupled to the receiver coil.
88. The method according to claim 87, wherein the coil has an area in the range of 2 to 12 times as large as an area of the receiver coil.