Patents Examined by Robert DeBeradinis
  • Patent number: 10059215
    Abstract: Some embodiments include an energy source supply appliance. The energy source supply appliance can comprise an appliance energy source supply system, which in turn can comprise a first appliance energy source supply subsystem and a second appliance energy source supply subsystem. The first appliance energy source supply subsystem can be configured to receive a first energy source. Meanwhile, the second appliance energy source supply subsystem can be configured to make available a second energy source to a first receiver vehicle, and the second energy source can be different from the first energy source. Further, the first receiver vehicle can comprise a first drive system, and the first drive system can be configured to use the second energy source received by the first receiver vehicle to motively power the first receiver vehicle. Other embodiments of related systems, devices, and methods also are provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 28, 2018
    Assignee: A3 LABS, LLC
    Inventors: David Haberman, Tyler Elm
  • Patent number: 10063063
    Abstract: A harmonic harvesting circuit design for harvesting un-rectified AC power contained in the fundamental and harmonic frequencies at the output of conventional rectifying circuits.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 28, 2018
    Inventor: Chi-Chih Chen
  • Patent number: 10062524
    Abstract: A disconnect system for a solar installation shuts down power upstream from an inverter, so that it is safe for solar field personnel to perform work related to a solar installation. The system actuates multiple disconnect devices in one motion by a linkage assembly which can associate 2-4 disconnect switches with a single handle. This system preferably includes hardware and logic for monitoring the current and voltage output of electrically coupled combiner/recombiner boxes in the solar field, and for wirelessly transmitting this data to a user. A single disconnect cabinet can accommodate 2-20 inputs from associated lead assemblies and/or recombiner lead assemblies with 5 handles or less.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 28, 2018
    Assignee: SHOALS TECHNOLOGIES GROUP, LLC
    Inventor: Dean Solon
  • Patent number: 10056761
    Abstract: Systems and methods include a voltage transformer connected to a power source. The voltage transformer transforms a high voltage of the power source to a first low voltage signal. Regulators are connected to the voltage transformer, and the regulators receive the first low voltage signal from the voltage transformer and convert the first low voltage signal to a second low voltage signal. A remote device is connected to each of the regulators. The remote device is powered by the second low voltage signal from the regulator to which it is connected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2018
    Assignee: iControl Networks, Inc.
    Inventors: Reza Raji, Paul Dawes
  • Patent number: 10046660
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and apparatus are disclosed for wirelessly charging an electric vehicle. In one aspect, a method for transferring power via a magnetic field in a wireless power transfer system is provided. The method includes outputting an alternating electric current to a wireless power transmitter, generating, at the wireless power transmitter, the magnetic field in response to being driven with the alternating electrical current, receiving a value indicative of an electrical characteristic of the wireless power transmitter, and adjusting an operating characteristic of the wireless power transmitter to trigger a change in an electrical current in the receiver, the amount of adjustment selected to cause adjustment of an amount of reactive power in the wireless power transfer system based on changes in the receiver that automatically occur to maintain the output power substantially constant in response to the change in the electrical current in the receiver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 14, 2018
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Martin Pavlovsky, Felix Weidner
  • Patent number: 10048723
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides for a power supply module for supplying a power to a load. The power supply module includes a solar battery and a storage battery. The solar battery is configured to supply power to the load when the solar battery is irradiated by light to generate electrical energy. The storage battery is configured to supply power to the load when the solar battery does not supply power to the load.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 14, 2018
    Assignees: BOE TECHNOLOGY GROUP CO., LTD., BEIJING BOE DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Mengran Guo
  • Patent number: 10044196
    Abstract: Described herein are systems and devices for providing a utility distribution infrastructure for one or more moveable pieces of active furniture. The utility distribution infrastructure is configured to provide one or more utilities such as electrical power, heating, cooling, fluid, gas, communications, and so forth, to one or more pieces of active furniture, which may be repositioned within the infrastructure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2018
    Assignee: AMAZON TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: William Spencer Worley, III, Louis Leroi Legrand, III
  • Patent number: 10038322
    Abstract: Systems and methods for controlling performance parameters for an energy storage device include providing primary control signals to an energy storage device that indicate at least one operating value in a range defined by at least one set point value for one or more performance parameters of the energy storage device. In one embodiment, an actual performance score for the energy storage device operated in accordance with the primary control signals is determined and compared with a required performance score to determine a performance score evaluation parameter. Additional control signals are then determined and provided to the energy storage device in a manner that adjusts the at least one operating value of the one or more primary control signals relative to the at least one set point value for the one or more performance parameters based at least in part on the performance score evaluation parameter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 31, 2018
    Assignee: GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY
    Inventors: Lukas Mercer Hansen, Kenneth McClellan Rush
  • Patent number: 10036182
    Abstract: An electronic locking system provided with an electronic lock may include a lock detecting part to detect locking condition of the lock; a power outage-detecting part to detect power outage; a charging part to supply electric power to the lock during power outage; a power-supplying part to supply power to the lock and charging part; and a switching part structured such that power is supplied to the lock from the power-supplying part in a primary state, and power is supplied to the electronic lock from said charging part in a secondary state. The switching part is in said primary state during normal operation where no power outage is detected. The switching part is structured such that, when power outage is detected, said switching part is switched from said primary state to said secondary state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 31, 2018
    Assignee: NIDEC SANKYO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shinichi Yoshikawa, Noboru Ashibe, Goro Nakamura
  • Patent number: 10033194
    Abstract: An intelligent electrical power network control and/or protection device comprises at least one power supply connection for connecting the device to a main power source and an auxiliary power source and at least one unit configured to monitor main power, the unit being configured to activate a signal indicating lack of main power in response to lack of main power. The device further comprises at least one unit configured to provide a state control operation for changing an operating state of at least one unit of the device or an operating state of at least one unit to be connected to the device from an operative mode t a power saving mode in response to the activated signal indicating the detected lack of main power.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2018
    Assignee: ABB Schweiz AG
    Inventors: Kim Hagström, Jarkko Holmlund, Antti Hakala-Ranta
  • Patent number: 10033191
    Abstract: A power generation system (200) comprises a photovoltaic device (201) and a voltage source (202). The voltage source (202) is arranged to raise the bias voltage across the photovoltaic device (201), thereby increasing the power output of the power generation system (200).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2018
    Assignee: SOLARIS PHOTONOICS LTD
    Inventor: Arnaldo Galbiati
  • Patent number: 10033318
    Abstract: A system for modulating a current level of a power grid includes a perturbation module that injects a sinusoidal signal, at a cross-over frequency, to modulate a duty cycle to a power converter connected to the power grid; a current controller that monitors a reference current and a current at grid-side terminal of the power converter, the current controller further monitors a current of the power grid; and a parameter calculation module that calculates a plurality of gain values for the current controller based at least in part on a phase margin, a cross-over frequency, a current of an alternating current side of the power converter, and the duty cycle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2018
    Assignee: OTIS ELEVATOR COMPANY
    Inventors: Virgilio Valdivia Guerrero, Francisco Jose Gonzalez Espin, Raymond Francis Foley
  • Patent number: 10029895
    Abstract: A method and an arrangement for operating a storage and retrieval unit (3) are specified. A rail line (1) respectively a power supply rail (6) for the storage and retrieval unit (3) is set to a risk mode voltage, the rectified value/effective value of which lies below a minimum rectified value/minimum effective value necessary to move the storage and retrieval unit (3) but above zero, if a risk posed by the storage and retrieval unit (3) is detected. Alternatively or in addition, the voltage applied to the rail line (1)/power supply rail (6) can also be investigated in the storage and retrieval unit (3) for modulated change signals. The applied voltage is passed on to a traction motor (5) of the storage and retrieval unit (3) only when it has been established that the normal operation-traction voltage and not the risk mode voltage has been applied to the rail line (1)/power supply rail (6).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2018
    Assignee: TGW Mechanics GmbH
    Inventor: Eric Grosse
  • Patent number: 10027169
    Abstract: Provided is a wireless power supply system including a power transmitting apparatus and a power receiving apparatus. The power transmitting apparatus includes a power transmitting coil that transmits AC power to the power receiving apparatus, a first modulation/demodulation unit that performs a modulation/demodulation process on the AC power of the power transmitting coil, a first transreceiver unit that transmits application data to the power receiving apparatus via the first modulation/demodulation unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 17, 2018
    Assignee: Renesas Electronics Corporation
    Inventors: Gaku Masumoto, Takefumi Endo
  • Patent number: 10027317
    Abstract: Systems, methods and devices for aircraft power distribution include a bipolar high voltage direct current source component; an electrical loading component capable of drawing electrical power from the bipolar high voltage direct current source component; a set of switching components configured to selectively couple power from the bipolar high voltage DC source component to the electrical loading; and a transient suppression component. The transient suppression component is configured to limit current flowing through the first or the second subset of the set of switching components when the first and the second subsets are not in the same state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 17, 2018
    Assignee: GE Aviation Systems Limited
    Inventor: Peter James Handy
  • Patent number: 10027177
    Abstract: Disclosed are various embodiments of load shedding techniques for a guided surface wave power delivery system. In one embodiment, among others, a guided surface wave receive structure is configured to obtain electrical energy from a guided surface wave traveling along a lossy conducting medium. A user device is coupled to the guided surface wave receive structure as an electrical load, where a load shedding application of the user device is configured to receive load shedding instructions from a controller device coupled to the guided surface waveguide probe and is configured to regulate user device consumption of the electrical energy provided by the guided surface wave.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 17, 2018
    Assignee: CPG TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventors: James F. Corum, Kenneth L. Corum, James D. Lilly, Stephen W. Wilson, Basil F. Pinzone, Jr., Joseph F. Pinzone, Richard T. Devereaux, John Robert Ashcroft, Michael W. Miller
  • Patent number: 10027244
    Abstract: A power conditioning unit used in an electrical system. The power conditioning unit includes a positive bus and a negative bus that are electrically connected to a direct current load to enable supplying direct current electrical power to the direct current load; and a first phase leg, which includes a first diode electrically connected to the positive bus, a first transistor electrically connected to the negative bus, and a first node between the first diode and the first transistor. The first node is electrically connected to an alternating current power source to enable the first phase leg to receive a first phase of alternating current electrical power from the alternating current power source and the first transistor opens and closes to control flow of the first phase through the first phase leg to facilitate generating the direct current electrical power at a target voltage using the alternating current electrical power.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 17, 2018
    Assignee: GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY
    Inventors: Yash Veer Singh, Arvind Kumar Tiwari, Scott Brian Wright, Kapil Jha
  • Patent number: 10027181
    Abstract: An optical power transfer device includes a transmitter circuit, including a laser light source that is configured to emit coherent light responsive to operation above a lasing threshold, and is configured to emit incoherent light responsive operation below the lasing threshold. A proximity sensor circuit is coupled to the transmitter circuit and is configured to output a detection signal therefrom responsive to authentication of an optical receiver including at least one photovoltaic cell having surface area of about 4 square millimeters or less within a proximity thereof. The transmitter circuit is configured to operate the laser light source below the lasing threshold to emit the incoherent light responsive to an absence of the detection signal from the proximity sensor circuit. Related devices and methods of operation are also discussed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 17, 2018
    Assignee: X-Celeprint Limited
    Inventors: Brent Fisher, Brian Cox, Matthew Meitl, Scott Burroughs, Joseph Carr
  • Patent number: 10020149
    Abstract: To avoid additional costs, in particular by replacing a switching element too early or by expensive monitoring measures thereof, a control apparatus for controlling a switching element is provided. The control apparatus has an operating unit for setting a load stage at which the switching element can be operated, a control unit for calculating a first numerical value which reflects expected switching cycles of the switching element estimated on the basis of the set load stage and which corresponds to an expected service life of the switching element in dependence on the set load stage, and for determining a second numerical value which reflects effected switching cycles of the switching element. Information from a difference between the first and second numerical values or from a quotient from the second numerical value to the first numerical value during operation of the switching element is provided to a user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 10, 2018
    Assignee: SICK AG
    Inventors: Franz Dold, Jonas Weidenmuller, Stephan Henneberger, Frederik Behre
  • Patent number: 10020687
    Abstract: An inductive power transfer device including: a resonant circuit, having a power transfer coil and a power transfer capacitor; a coupling coil, magnetically-coupled to the power transfer coil; a variable impedance; and a controller configured to determine the impedance value of the variable impedance based on predetermined criteria including: substantially regulating power provided to a load; tuning the resonant circuit resonant frequency substantially to a predetermined frequency; adjusting a frequency of a magnetic field associated with the power transfer coil; and/or adjusting an impedance reflected by the power transfer coil to a corresponding coupled power transfer coil.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 10, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Eugenio Jr. Sia Lecias, Junbo Zeng, Saining Ren, Daniel James Robertson, Michael Nasa, Ron Rafer Floresca, Arunim Kumar, Ali Abdolkhani