Patents Examined by Elim Ortiz
  • Patent number: 11909220
    Abstract: A wireless power device is presented that avoids transmit conflicts. The device can include a rectifier circuit coupled to a coil; a transmit driver coupled to the rectifier circuit; a transmit detect circuit configured to detect receipt of transmitted wireless power at the coil; and a controller coupled to the transmit driver and the transmit detect circuit, the controller receiving a signal from the transmit detect circuit and providing an alert of the presence of the transmitted wireless power, the controller activating the transmit driver to transmit wireless power in absence of the signal. The wireless device can determine an operating mode and in a transmit mode determine presence of a received power. If received power is detected an alert can be provided and an off state initiated. If transmit power is not detected the transmit driver can be activated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2024
    Assignee: Integrated Device Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Nicholaus Smith, Chan Young Jeong, Detelin Martchovsky, Ashley DeWolfe, Damla Acar
  • Patent number: 11894572
    Abstract: A power tool battery pack enclosure is configured to be retrofittedly coupled to battery pack receptacles of a plurality of power tools, each battery pack receptacle configured to removably receive a plurality of power tool battery packs. The enclosure includes a first clamshell member and a second clamshell member configured to be coupled around at least a portion of an exterior surface of each battery pack receptacle. Each of the first and second clamshell members have a top wall portion configured to be received over the exterior surface of the battery pack receptacle and a sidewall portion that extends downward from the top wall portion over at least a portion of the battery pack housing when the battery pack is received in the battery pack receptacle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 20, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2024
    Assignees: BLACK & DECKER INC., GRACO INC.
    Inventors: Steven Jay Wrobel, Diane Leigh Olson, David John Thompson, David Keith Esslinger, Michael Varipatis
  • Patent number: 11890958
    Abstract: A system in a vehicle includes a first winding section including first two or more windings and a second winding section including second two or more windings. Each of the second two or more windings corresponds to one of the first two or more windings of the first winding section. The system also includes an inverter including a high side switch and a low side switch corresponding to each of the first two or more windings. The inverter is coupled to a battery of the vehicle and boosts a voltage of a direct current (DC) charger during charging of the battery with the DC charger, converts alternating current (AC) from an AC grid to DC during charging of the battery with the AC grid, and converts DC to AC during supply of the AC grid by the battery.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2024
    Assignee: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC
    Inventors: Rashmi Prasad, Chandra S. Namuduri, Lei Hao, Suresh Gopalakrishnan
  • Patent number: 11888337
    Abstract: A system and method of controlling inductive power transfer in an inductive power transfer system and a method for designing an inductive power transfer system with power accounting. The method of controlling inductive power transfer including measuring a characteristic of input power, a characteristic of power in the tank circuit, and receiving information from a secondary device. Estimating power consumption based on the measured characteristic of tank circuit power and received information and comparing the measured characteristic of input power, the information from the secondary device, and the estimated power consumption to determine there is an unacceptable power loss. The method for designing an inductive power transfer system with power accounting including changing the distance between a primary side and a secondary side and changing a load of the secondary side.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: Philips I.P. Ventures B.V.
    Inventors: David W. Baarman, Joshua K. Schwannecke, Neil W. Kuyvenhoven, Esai E. Umenei, Dale R. Liff, Andrew C. Zeik, Mark A. Blaha, Jason L. Amistadi, Robert D Gruich
  • Patent number: 11886217
    Abstract: A control device is connected to at least one solar cell module and an inverter, and controls the at least one solar cell module by MPPT control. The control device includes an opening/closing unit and a control unit. The opening/closing unit includes a semiconductor relay and a mechanical relay connected in parallel with the semiconductor relay. The control unit controls opening and closing of the opening/closing unit in response to a control signal from the inverter. In a case of connecting the at least one solar cell module and the inverter, the control unit turns ON the semiconductor relay to turn ON the mechanical relay, and then disconnects the semiconductor relay. In a case of cutting off the connection between the at least one solar cell module and the inverter, the control unit connects the semiconductor relay to disconnect the mechanical relay, and then disconnects the semiconductor relay.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: OMRON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ryo Ogura, Tomoko Endo, Erica Martin, Tsuyoshi Uchida
  • Patent number: 11884177
    Abstract: An electric vehicle (EV) charging system includes a plurality of electrical vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) units, a plurality of associated EV charging stations, electrical power distribution wires or cables for distributing electrical power from the plurality of EVSE units to the plurality of EV charging stations, and an EVSE communications bus. Each EVSE unit includes a microcontroller unit (MCU) and a solid-state switch that control whether electrical current is able to flow to an associated EV charging station and connected plug-in EV (PEV) load. The MCUs communicate over the EVSE communications bus and, as PEVs charge, plug into, and unplug from the plurality of EV charging stations, reallocate or reapportion an available supply current among the plurality of EVSE units while also dynamically adjusting one or more circuit protection attributes also provided by the EVSE units.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: Atom Power, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael J. Harris, Ryan Kennedy, Denis Kouroussis
  • Patent number: 11881712
    Abstract: An arrangement is for compensating voltage drops in a power supply network. The arrangement includes at least one first converter system and a second converter system. The intermediate circuits thereof are coupled, and the first converter system is connected to a first distribution and the second converter system is connected to a second distribution.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2024
    Assignee: Fluence Energy, LLC
    Inventors: Peter Eckert, Oliver Reimann
  • Patent number: 11878603
    Abstract: A contactor control system includes a switching member, a high voltage load, a high voltage energy storage, a bi-directional DC/DC-converter operatively connected to the switching member, a high-voltage capacitor operatively connected to the high-voltage load, and a low voltage energy storage operatively connected to the bi-directional DC/DC-converter, wherein the switching member is adapted to connect and disconnect the high voltage energy storage to and from the high voltage load, where the bi-directional DC/DC-converter is adapted to pre-charge the high-voltage capacitor to a predefined voltage value from the low voltage energy storage before the switching member is closed and adapted to discharge the high-voltage capacitor to the low voltage energy storage when the switching member has been opened. The advantage of the invention is that a DC-link capacitor can be charged from and discharged to a low voltage battery by using a bi-directional DC/DC-converter. Energy losses can thus be minimized.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2024
    Assignee: Ningbo Geely Automobile Research & Dev. Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Björn Isaksson
  • Patent number: 11876446
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a power converter for use in a host vehicle. The power converter comprises a DC link, a DC link capacitor, and a pre-charge circuit configured to charge the DC link capacitor. The pre-charge circuit comprises a boost converter comprising a switch and inductor coupling terminals configured to couple to an inductive component external to the power converter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2024
    Assignee: THERMO KING LLC
    Inventor: Matthias Gorski
  • Patent number: 11869344
    Abstract: A load control system may include multiple control devices that may send load control messages to load control devices for controlling an amount of power provided electrical loads. To prevent collision of the load control messages, the load control messages may be transmitted using different wireless communication channels. Each wireless communication channel may be assigned to a load control group that may include control devices and load control devices capable of communicating with one another on the assigned channel. A control device may send load control messages to a load control device within a transmission frame allocated for transmitting load control messages. The transmission frame may include equal sub-frames and load control messages may be sent at a random time within each sub-frame. Control devices may detect a status event within a sampling interval to offset transmissions from multiple control devices based on detection of the same event.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Assignee: Lutron Technology Company LLC
    Inventors: John H. Bull, Jordan H. Crafts, James P. Steiner
  • Patent number: 11863072
    Abstract: A power control system includes a battery system and a DC-DC converter with first, second, third, and fourth power switches. A second terminal of the first power switch is connected to a first terminal of the second power switch. A second terminal of the third power switch is connected to a first terminal of the fourth power switch. A first inductor includes a first terminal connected to the second terminal of the first power switch and the first terminal of the second power switch and a second terminal connected to the second terminal of the third power switch and the first terminal of the fourth power switch. A first bypass switch is connected in parallel to the first power switch. A second bypass switch is connected in parallel to the third power switch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC
    Inventors: Yusheng Zou, Lei Hao, Chengwu Duan, Jian Yao, Chandra S. Namuduri
  • Patent number: 11854729
    Abstract: A vehicle, a vehicle electronics power assembly, and a method for providing and cooling an inductor assembly are provided. The vehicle has provided with a vehicle electrical system with a variable voltage converter (VVC) and an inductor assembly with a core and a winding. A housing is provided with a first housing member and a second housing member. The first and second housing members cooperate to encapsulate the winding and at least a portion of the core of the inductor assembly. The first housing member defines a first inlet and a first outlet, and the second housing member defines a second inlet and a second outlet. A fluid system is connected to the first inlet, the second inlet, the first outlet, and the second outlet to provide pressurized fluid to the first and second inlets to circulate fluid through the housing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Lihua Chen, Fan Wang
  • Patent number: 11840423
    Abstract: A hybrid energy storage system for an elevator car includes a converter disposed on the elevator car and receives power from a power source and provides a first DC voltage to a first DC bus and a second DC voltage to a second DC bus, a first energy storage device connected to the converter receives the first DC voltage on the first DC bus, and a second energy storage device connected to the converter receives the second DC voltage on the second DC bus. The system also includes a first load connected to the first DC bus and a second DC bus, and a second load connected to the second DC bus. Power is provided from the first energy storage device to the first load under a first selected condition and power is supplied from the second energy storage device to the first load under second selected condition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2023
    Assignee: OTIS ELEVATOR COMPANY
    Inventors: Suman Dwari, Stephen Savulak, Enrico Manes, Ronnie E. Thebeau, Xin Wu
  • Patent number: 11824353
    Abstract: A DC power distribution system includes: a transformer; a rectification device; a DC bus through which DC power flows; a plurality of DC branch lines branching off from the DC bus; an AC interrupting portion connected to an input side of the transformer; a first DC interrupting portion connected between the rectification device and the DC bus; and a plurality of second DC interrupting portions respectively provided to the plurality of DC branch lines. An interrupting-operation time for each second DC interrupting portion is set to be shorter than interrupting-operation times for the AC interrupting portion and the first DC interrupting portion. An inductance value of a short-circuit impedance of the transformer is set to a value at which short-circuit current can be limited to take a value not larger than a maximum current value permitted for the rectification device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2023
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hayato Takeuchi, Kenichi Fukuno, Takaharu Ishibashi, Takushi Jimichi
  • Patent number: 11817597
    Abstract: In general, one aspect disclosed features a battery system for a vehicle, the battery system comprising: multiple battery modules, wherein each battery module comprises one or more battery cells, and wherein each battery module comprises an exhaust port; and one or more structural members mechanically coupled to the multiple battery modules; wherein the one or more structural members and the multiple battery modules define an exhaust chamber; wherein the exhaust chamber is in fluid communication with the exhaust ports of the multiple battery modules; wherein the one or more structural members comprise an outlet port in fluid communication with the exhaust chamber and an exterior of the exhaust chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2023
    Assignee: Ampaire, Inc.
    Inventor: Jeffrey Spitzer
  • Patent number: 11813946
    Abstract: An electrical system can include a power supply configured to provide electrical power to components at a time at which the electrical system experiences an electrical fault. The electrical system can include a first battery electrically coupled in parallel to a second battery via an electrical bus, whereby the first and second batteries can provide electrical power to a first electrical load and a second electrical load. Upon experiencing a fault, a first circuit element can electrically decouple the first battery and the second battery by opening a circuit provided by the electrical bus, thereby isolating the first battery from the second battery. Next, the battery experiencing the fault can include a second circuit element that can electrically decouple the battery experiencing the fault from a respective electrical load, while the battery isolated from the fault can continue to provide electrical power to components.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2023
    Assignee: Zoox, Inc.
    Inventors: Moritz Boecker, Robert Ng, Kyle Matthew Foley, Bryan Booth, Timothy David Kentley-Klay
  • Patent number: 11811236
    Abstract: A counter-solar power plant may include a controller configured to execute instructions stored in a memory, the instructions including operations to receive data associated with power outputs of a plurality of legacy solar-only resources (LSORs), determine an estimated power output of the plurality of LSORs based on the received data, obtain a target power delivery profile of the plurality of LSORs, the target power delivery profile including a plurality of target power outputs, determine an output of a CSPP renewable energy system (RES) and a charge/discharge of a CSPP energy storage system (ESS) such that a combined output of the CSPP and the estimated power output of the plurality of LSORs satisfies at least one of the plurality of target power outputs of the target power delivery profile, and control the CSPP RES and CSPP ESS according to the determined CSPP RES output and CSPP ESS charge/discharge.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2023
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2023
    Assignee: 8ME NOVA, LLC
    Inventor: Thomas Buttgenbach
  • Patent number: 11799329
    Abstract: A shield for redirecting magnetic field generated from a plurality of transmitter coils includes a ferromagnetic structure divided into segments by a plurality of boundary regions, each segment comprises a first material having a first magnetic permeability and each boundary region comprises a second material having a second magnetic permeability lower than the first magnetic permeability, where the plurality of boundary regions are configured to resist a propagation of magnetic field from a first area of the ferromagnetic structure to a second area of the ferromagnetic structure, where the first area intercepts the magnetic field generated from at least one active transmitter coil of the plurality of transmitter coils.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2023
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Jouya Jadidian, Vaneet Pathak, Martin Schauer, Cheung-Wei Lam, Darshan R. Kasar, Christopher S. Graham, Andro Radchenko
  • Patent number: 11799285
    Abstract: A method for starting a photovoltaic rapid shutdown system, an application apparatus and a system are provided. In this method, the inverter system controls a voltage of a direct current bus in the photovoltaic rapid shutdown system. The photovoltaic module breaker makes determination based on a detected output voltage of the photovoltaic module breaker. In a case that the change characteristics of the voltage of the direct current bus connected to the photovoltaic module breaker meets the predetermined turn-on condition, the photovoltaic module breaker controls itself to be turned on. Therefore, the photovoltaic module breaker can determine whether the photovoltaic module breaker receives a turn-on signal only based on its own voltage acquisition device without an additional receiving apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2023
    Assignee: Sungrow Power Supply Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yu Yang, Yanfei Yu, Jun Xu, Qiaodi Chen
  • Patent number: 11791649
    Abstract: This application provides a charging system and an electric vehicle. The charging system mainly includes an MCU and a motor. N bridge arms in the MCU and N motor windings in the motor are multiplexed to constitute a voltage conversion circuit. When a power supply voltage is less than a minimum charging voltage of a power battery, the MCU may perform boost conversion on the power supply voltage by using the voltage conversion circuit, and output the power supply voltage obtained after boost conversion to the power battery as a first output voltage, where the first output voltage is not less than the minimum charging voltage. In this application, space occupied by the charging system and costs of the charging system can be reduced while the charging system is used to perform boost conversion on the power supply voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 21, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2023
    Assignee: Huawei Digital Power Technologies Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yang Cheng, Xueliang Zhang