Patents Examined by Bao Q. Vu
  • Patent number: 9030852
    Abstract: A power conversion device according to the aspects of the present technique is presented. The device includes a first converter and a second converter operatively coupled to the first converter. Moreover, the device includes a phase leg operatively coupled between the first converter, the second converter, where the phase leg includes a first unidirectional switch, a second unidirectional switch operatively coupled to the first unidirectional switch, and a first bidirectional switch, where a first end of the first bidirectional switch is operatively coupled to at least one of the first unidirectional switch and the second unidirectional switch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2015
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Piniwan Thiwanka Bandara Wijekoon, Said Farouk Said El-Barbari
  • Patent number: 8923016
    Abstract: A solar module has a solar cell which generates a DC voltage. The module has a converter for converting a DC voltage fed into its input. The module contains a semiconductor switch and a controller which drives a switching input of the semiconductor switch. The controller drives the semiconductor switch variably so that the semiconductor switch switches more slowly during the transition operation than during normal operation, thereby reducing a dynamic overvoltage on the switch such that the voltage present on the switch does not exceed the blocking voltage of the switch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 30, 2014
    Inventors: Rainer Weiss, Peter Beckedahl, Ingo Staudt
  • Patent number: 8866451
    Abstract: A power supply apparatus includes a first power factor correction circuit, a second power factor correction circuit and a control circuit that includes a first switching control unit that outputs a first switching signal for controlling a first switching element of the first power factor correction circuit generated in accordance with a detected result by an output voltage of the first power factor correction circuit and a current flowing through the first switching element, and a second switching control unit that outputs a second switching signal for controlling a second switching element of the second power factor correction circuit generated in accordance with a detected result by an output voltage of the second power factor correction circuit and a current flowing through the second switching element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 21, 2014
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventor: Takeshi Iwata
  • Patent number: 8829970
    Abstract: A standard cell circuit including an input terminal to which input an input signal is input; an output terminal to output an output signal; a first wiring conductor, connected to an external power supply that outputs a first power supply voltage; a second wiring conductor to supply a second power supply voltage that is lower than the first power supply voltage; a standard cell to operate at the second power supply voltage supplied from the second wiring conductor; and a conversion circuit, connected to the first wiring conductor and the second wiring conductor, to convert the first power supply voltage input from the first wiring conductor into the second power supply voltage for output to the second wiring conductor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 9, 2014
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Emi Okunishi, Keiichi Yoshioka
  • Patent number: 8829865
    Abstract: The disclosure provides a power factor correcting (PFC) circuit, a power supply and a method of manufacturing a power converter. In one embodiment, the PFC circuit has a positive input terminal, an output terminal and a ground terminal and includes: (1) a power factor inductor coupled in series between the positive input terminal and the output terminal, (2) a main switch configured to periodically connect the power factor inductor to the ground terminal and (3) a clamping capacitor coupled to the power factor inductor and configured to provide zero turn-off loss for the main switch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 5, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 9, 2014
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventor: Moshe Domb
  • Patent number: 8829866
    Abstract: DC to DC converters are described that include two converters interconnected and operated to mitigate at least some of the effects of low duty cycle operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 9, 2014
    Assignee: Volterra Semiconductor Corporation
    Inventor: Patrice Lethellier
  • Patent number: 8824169
    Abstract: A multiple inverter with neutral line inductor and an active power filter system are disclosed. In the disclosure, the multiple inverter comprises at least two inverter units connected in parallel, the midpoint of the direct current bus in each inverter unit is connected to the neutral line N through the respective neutral line inductor. The multiple inverter can suppress the ripple produced by the neutral line current without increasing the direct current bus capacitor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2014
    Assignee: Delta Electronics (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Bin Wang, Pude Yu, Wentao Zhan, Hongyang Wu
  • Patent number: 8823336
    Abstract: A bridgeless power factor corrector with a single choke is electrically connected to an AC power source. The bridgeless power factor corrector includes a choke element, a first switch, a second switch, a first diode, a second diode, a capacitor, a first rectify diode, and a second rectify diode. The choke element is electrically connected between the first switch and the second switch. The first switch and the second switch are controlled to be turned on or turned off by a first control signal and a second control signal, respectively, to provide a power factor correction for the AC power source when the AC power source is in a positive half cycle or a negative half cycle. Furthermore, a method of operating the bridgeless power factor corrector is provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2014
    Assignee: Chicony Power Technology Co., Ltd
    Inventors: Lieh-Chung Yin, Chia-Hsien Yen
  • Patent number: 8817492
    Abstract: A DC/DC converter includes two input terminals for a DC input voltage, two output terminals for a DC output voltage, an inverter converting a DC voltage into an AC voltage, and a rectifier converting an AC voltage from the inverter into a DC voltage between a first one of the input terminals and a first one of the output terminals. At least one galvanically isolating element is arranged between the output of the inverter and the input of the rectifier, and a capacitance is coupled between the output terminals. The inverter converts a partial DC voltage, being smaller than the full DC input voltage, across a capacitance between the second one of the input terminals and the second one of the output terminals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 26, 2014
    Assignee: SMA Solar Technology AG
    Inventors: Klaus Rigbers, Carsten Althof, Frank Papenfuss
  • Patent number: 8817498
    Abstract: A DC to DC converter system, includes inverter circuitry having a first and a second switch, the inverter circuitry further configured to generate a first and a second gate control signal, the signals configured to open and close the first and second switch, respectively, and generate an AC signal from a DC input signal. The system further includes transformer circuitry configured to transform the AC signal into a sinusoidal AC signal, second stage circuitry configured to rectify the sinusoidal AC signal to a DC output signal, and hybrid control circuitry configured to modulate the first and second gate control signals, wherein the modulation comprises pulse frequency modulation (PFM) and pulse width modulation (PWM).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 26, 2014
    Assignee: Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation
    Inventor: Hangseok Choi
  • Patent number: 8810219
    Abstract: A voltage regulator having good transient response characteristics and maintaining stable operation is provided. The voltage regulator includes: a first MOS transistor having a gate terminal connected to an output terminal of the differential amplifier circuit; a first constant current source provided between the first MOS transistor and a ground terminal; an output MOS transistor having a gate terminal connected to a drain terminal of the first MOS transistor via a phase compensation circuit; a second MOS transistor having a gate terminal to which an output of the differential amplifier circuit is input and a drain terminal connected to the gate terminal of the output MOS transistor; and a second constant current source provided between the second MOS transistor and a ground terminal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 19, 2014
    Assignee: Seiko Instruments Inc.
    Inventor: Teruo Suzuki
  • Patent number: 8811043
    Abstract: The present invention discloses a switching regulator, including: a power stage including at least one power transistor which switches according to a switch control signal to convert an input voltage to an output voltage; a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal generator generating a PWM signal according to the output voltage; an over current detection circuit comparing a current sensing signal with a reference signal to generate an over current signal indicating whether an over current is occurring; and a signal adjustment circuit adjusting the PWM signal or a clock signal to generate the switch control signal for controlling an ON time of the power transistor of the power stage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 19, 2014
    Assignee: Richtek Technology Corporation
    Inventors: Kuang-Fu Chang, Yu-Chang Chen
  • Patent number: 8804383
    Abstract: A starter of the grid-connected inverter and a control method thereof are disclosed. The starter comprises a controller, and a first switch and a first resistor connected in parallel. The controller includes an input end, and first and second output ends. The input end inspects the DC voltage signal from the inverter. When the DC voltage exceeds a predetermined voltage threshold, the first output end sends a first control signal to turn on the first switch, and the second output end sends a second control signal to make the grid-connected inverter enter into a chopping mode. There is a delay period between the send time of the first control signal and that of the second control signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2014
    Assignee: Delta Electronics, Inc.
    Inventors: Wen-Tao Zhan, Liang Li, Hong-Yang Wu, Heng Huang, Bin Wang
  • Patent number: 8804387
    Abstract: To measure input power as accurate as possible, a power supply apparatus includes an AC/DC converter that generates a direct-current internal power supply from an alternating-current commercial power supply, an output-voltage measurement unit that measures an output voltage of the internal power supply, an output-current measurement unit that measures an output current of the internal power supply, a temperature measurement unit that measures an environmental temperature of the power supply apparatus itself, a storage device that stores therein in advance conversion efficiency data in which a correspondence between a conversion efficiency ? of the AC/DC converter and the environmental temperature is recorded, and a computation unit that determines the conversion efficiency ? based on the environmental temperature and the conversion efficiency data and calculates the input power of the commercial power supply by using the determined conversion efficiency ?, the output voltage, and the output current.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 17, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2014
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventor: Takahiko Yamanaka
  • Patent number: 8791672
    Abstract: This regulated power supply system with high input voltage dynamics, of the type having a shared inductance buck/boost transformer and having at least two controllable semiconductor switching members, one associated with the buck function of the transformer and the other with the boost function of the transformer, is characterized in that one of the controllable semiconductor switching members is driven by control means as a function of the system's input voltage, and the other is driven continuously by enslavement means on the output voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 29, 2014
    Assignee: Thales
    Inventors: Francois Klein, Christophe Taurand
  • Patent number: 8787048
    Abstract: A method is described for controlling a plurality of parallel-connected power converters 20a, 20b, each of which operates in accordance with a pulse width modulation (PWM) strategy defined by an independent voltage carrier signal and an independently controllable modulating sinusoidal voltage signal which are used to generate a PWM command signal for each PWM strategy. The voltage carrier signals of the PWM strategies have the same switching period and desynchronisation of the PWM command signals causes an unwanted circulating current to flow between the power converters 20a, 20b. The method thus comprises providing the independently controllable modulating sinusoidal voltage signal of the PWM strategy of at least one of the plurality of power converters 20a, 20b with a dc voltage offset to modify the PWM command signal of the at least one power converter and thereby increase the synchronisation of the PWM command signals so that the magnitude of any unwanted circulating current is reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 22, 2014
    Assignee: GE Energy Power Conversion Technology Limited
    Inventors: Veimar Yobany Moreno-CastaƱeda, Chunmei Feng, Jeremy Stephen Prevost Knight, Richard Stuart Webb
  • Patent number: 8787044
    Abstract: An energy recovery snubber circuit for use in switching power converters. The power converters may include a switch network coupled to a primary winding of an isolation transformer, and rectification circuitry coupled to a secondary winding of the isolation transformer. The energy recovery snubber circuit may include clamping circuitry that is operative to clamp voltage spikes and/or ringing at the rectification circuitry. The clamped voltages may be captured by an energy capture module, such as a capacitor. Further, the energy recovery snubber circuitry may include control circuitry operative to return the energy captured by the energy capture module to the input of the power converter. To maintain electrical isolation between a primary side and a secondary side of the isolation transformer, a second isolation transformer may be provided to return the captured energy back to the input of the power converter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 7, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 22, 2014
    Assignee: Flextronics AP, LLC
    Inventors: Zaohong Yang, Paul Garrity
  • Patent number: 8779731
    Abstract: A novel switching hysteretic power converter is presented. The converter includes the generation of a synthetic ripple signal and a feedback network to combine a signal in phase with the inductor current with a signal proportional to the regulated output voltage. The presented approach provides a switching boost converter with a much simpler control method with respect to conventional inductive boost power converters. The hysteretic control provides stable operation in all conditions with excellent load and line transient response. Furthermore the hysteretic control allows high frequency switching, reducing the size and cost of the passive components. The presented converter includes the Discontinuous Conduction Mode of operation to achieve very high efficiency at light loads. The presented approach can also be applied to buck switching power converters with excellent performance in terms of transient response, stability, efficiency and operation at high switching frequencies.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 15, 2014
    Assignee: ETA Semiconductor Inc.
    Inventors: Paolo Menegoli, Fabio Alessio Marino
  • Patent number: 8773870
    Abstract: A converter section (2) includes three pairs of switching elements (Srp, . . . , Stn), each pair having two switching elements connected in series between two direct current links (L1, L2), and phases of an input three-phase alternating current are connected to nodes between the series-connected switching elements one by one. Each of the switching elements (Srp, . . . , Stn) is made of a transistor having a bipolar structure. The control unit (5) controls the switching elements (Srp, . . . , Stn) such that line voltages between a reference phase, which is one of the phases of the input three-phase alternating current, and each of the other phases are output to the two direct current links (L1, L2) on a time division basis. The control unit (5) applies a predetermined gate voltage to one or more of the switching elements (Srp, . . . , Stn) to which a reverse bias is applied.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 7, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 8, 2014
    Assignee: Daikin Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Takayuki Fujita, Kenichi Sakakibara
  • Patent number: 8773096
    Abstract: A voltage regulator includes an amplifier to generate a difference voltage responsive to a comparison of a reference voltage and a feedback voltage. An output driver is coupled to the amplifier and drives a regulated output voltage responsive to the difference voltage. An impedance circuit is coupled between the output driver and a low power source and establishes the feedback voltage responsive to a current through the impedance circuit. A variation detector is operably coupled between the regulated output voltage and the difference voltage and is configured to modify the difference voltage. In some embodiments, the difference voltage is modified responsive to a rapid change of the regulated output voltage capacitively coupled to the variation detector. In other embodiments, the difference voltage is modified responsive to a rapid change of the feedback voltage capacitively coupled to the variation detector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 8, 2014
    Assignee: Integrated Device Technology, inc.
    Inventors: Shawn Wang, Yumin Zhang, Jeffrey G. Barrow