Patents by Inventor Zhihui Yuan

Zhihui Yuan has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 11456660
    Abstract: A power conversion system includes one or more power conversion devices coupled to a grid connection. Each of the power conversion devices includes a power converter for converting a first multiphase current provided by the grid connection into a second current; a grid side filter coupled between the grid connection and an input of the power converter; a load side filter coupled to an output of the power converter; neutral points of the grid side filter and the load side filter connected together to form a first node; wherein the first node is not directly grounded.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2022
    Assignee: GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY
    Inventors: Zhihui Yuan, Stefan Schroeder, Jie Shen, Mohamed Ahmed Abdelmohsen Hashem, Yunzheng Chen
  • Patent number: 10928450
    Abstract: A method for protecting a circuit is provided, wherein the circuit comprises a plurality of switch devices connected in series. The method comprises detecting a failure risk indicator of each switch device; determining whether each switch device has a failure risk based on the corresponding failure risk indicator; and making each of the switch device(s) having the failure risk in a constant on-state to eliminate the failure risk and prevent a failure of the switch device optionally if a number of the switch device(s) which have or had the failure risk is less than or equal to a preset value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 4, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2021
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Marius Michael Mechlinski, Stefan Schroeder, Jie Shen, Fan Zhang, Zhihui Yuan
  • Patent number: 10916947
    Abstract: A modular substation (10) for subsea applications includes a plurality of modular DC/AC converters (32) configured for converting DC electrical power transmitted along a DC transmission link (24) into AC electrical power for supplying to a plurality of subsea loads (56). The plurality of modular DC/AC converters (32) is configured to couple in series to the DC transmission link (24) and couple in parallel to an AC distribution network (52). At least a first modular DC/AC converter (32) is configured to be selectively electrically and mechanically disconnected from the DC transmission link (24) and the AC distribution network (52) to facilitate maintenance of the first modular DC/AC converters (32) while the AC distribution network (52) continues to supply AC electrical power to at least one of the plurality of subsea loads (56). The modular substation (10) also comprises protection and bypass circuits (26) intended to isolate faulty DC/AC converters (32) and to facilitate safe maintenance and repair.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 9, 2021
    Assignee: GE OIL & GAS UK LTD
    Inventors: Jie Shen, Zhihui Yuan, Christof Martin Sihler, Stefan Schroeder, Mark Aaron Chan, Fei Xu
  • Patent number: 10732685
    Abstract: A method of operating a multilevel power converter includes using, through a processing device, a model of an electrical circuit that includes a plurality of switching devices, a plurality of flying capacitors, and an AC terminal. The method also includes regulating a voltage level of the AC terminal through selecting, at least partially based on the model, a possible charging state of the electrical circuit. Each possible switching state has a voltage level that at least partially corresponds to a commanded voltage level for the AC terminal. The method further includes selecting, at least partially based on the model of the electrical circuit and at least partially based on the selected possible switching state, a charging state from a plurality of possible charging states. The method also includes setting the switching state of the electrical circuit at least partially based on the selected charging state of the electrical circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2020
    Assignee: GE Energy Power Conversion Technology Limited
    Inventors: Zhihui Yuan, Stefan Schroeder, Qingyun Chen, Jie Shen, Nora Cheng-Huei Han
  • Patent number: 10644609
    Abstract: Provided is an apparatus, including a capacitor module having a plurality of connecting terminals and a plurality of switch elements. Each switch element has at least one switch terminal coupled to a corresponding connecting terminal, wherein the switch elements are configured for mutually exclusive operation via a control device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2020
    Assignee: GE Energy Power Conversion Technology, Ltd.
    Inventors: Fan Zhang, Richard S. Zhang, Kunlun Chen, Stefan Schroeder, Zhihui Yuan, Jie Shen
  • Patent number: 10630068
    Abstract: A system, a switch assembly and an associated method. The system includes a number of switch assemblies, each including a switch module, isolation circuits, a detection unit, and a drive unit. The switch module includes power switch devices connected in parallel. The switch modules are connected in series. The isolation circuits each are connected in series to a gate terminal of at least one corresponding power switch device of the power switch devices. Each isolation circuit includes a capacitor or a controllable switch. The detection unit detects faults in at least one of the power switch devices. The drive unit is coupled to the switch module via the isolation circuits for driving the power switch devices of the corresponding switch module, and when the fault is detected, the drive unit is for turning on the power switch devices parallel connected to the at least one of faulty power switch devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 21, 2020
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Zhihui Yuan, He Xu, Jie Shen, Fan Zhang, Stefan Schroeder
  • Patent number: 10585134
    Abstract: A drive system includes a current sensor configured to generate a first current signal representative of a current flowing in one or more electrical devices electrically coupled together through a power supply bus, a power output bus, and a common ground. The drive system also includes a voltage sensor configured to generate a first voltage signal representative of a voltage with respect to the common ground in the one or more electrical devices. The drive system further includes a ground fault detection controller configured to determine a ground fault in the one or more electrical devices based on a change in at least one of the first current signal and the first voltage signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 10, 2020
    Assignee: general electric company
    Inventors: Max-Josef Kell, Stefan Schroeder, Jie Shen, Zhihui Yuan, Yunzheng Chen, Mohamed Hashem
  • Patent number: 10521005
    Abstract: A power converter includes primary and secondary bridges, a transformer, and a controller configured to generate a switching mode map that correlates each of a plurality of switching modes to a respective set of value ranges of system parameters of the power converter. The sets of system parameter value ranges are contiguous and non-overlapping across the switching mode map, each of the plurality of switching modes includes gate trigger voltage timings for commuting at least one of the primary and secondary bridges. The controller is configured to obtain a plurality of measured system parameter values, select from the switching mode map one of the plurality of switching modes that correlates to the set of system parameter values containing the plurality of measured system parameter values, and adjust gate trigger voltage timings of at least one of the primary and secondary bridges, according to the selected switching mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2019
    Assignee: GE GLOBAL SOURCING LLC
    Inventors: Simon Herbert Schramm, Said Farouk Said El-Barbari, Stefan Schroeder, Zhihui Yuan
  • Patent number: 10497642
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to an integrated power semiconductor packaging apparatus and a power converter containing the integrated power semiconductor packaging apparatus. The integrated power semiconductor packaging apparatus comprises a plurality of power semiconductor devices and an electrically insulative substrate formed integrally. The electrically insulative substrate comprises a flat surface, at least one separation wall protruding from the flat surface and a flow channel inside the electrically insulative substrate. The at least one separation wall is configured to separate the flat surface into a plurality of flat areas, and each of the plurality of flat areas is configured to receive one of the plurality of power semiconductor devices. The flow channel is configured for allowing a coolant flowing through to remove heat from the plurality of power semiconductor devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2019
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Saijun Mao, Bo Qu, Jingkui Shi, He Xu, Jie Shen, Lin Lan, Rui Li, Zhihui Yuan, Alistair Martin Waddell, Stefan Schroeder, Marius Michael Mechlinski, Mark Aaron Chan
  • Patent number: 10476373
    Abstract: A method for controlling a plurality of series connected switch modules each including at least two parallel connected electronic switches, the method includes the step of, in response to failure of any electronic switch of one or more switch modules, turning on any non-faulty electronic switch of one or more faulty switch modules when the electronic switches of other non-faculty switch modules are controlled to be turned on.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2019
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Zhihui Yuan, Richard S. Zhang, Stefan Schroeder, Yingqi Zhang, Jie Shen, Fan Zhang
  • Patent number: 10389230
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a snubber circuit which comprises a static snubber unit, connected in parallel with the switch, for balancing a static voltage sharing across a switch when the switch is in a state of turn-on or turn-off; and a dynamic snubber unit for balance a dynamic voltage sharing across the switch when the switch is in a process of turn-on or turn-off, comprising a dynamic voltage sharing capacitor connected in parallel with the switch and having a relationship between a capacitance and a voltage of the dynamic voltage sharing capacitor; and a controller for controlling the capacitance of the dynamic voltage sharing capacitor to be in a predetermined working area of capacitance rising while the voltage across the switch is increasing. The present disclosure also relates to a power semiconductor device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 20, 2019
    Assignee: GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY
    Inventors: Saijun Mao, Stefan Schroeder, Jingkui Shi, He Xu, Marius Michael Mechlinski, Bo Qu, Zhihui Yuan, Yingqi Zhang, Jie Shen
  • Publication number: 20190220083
    Abstract: A power converter includes primary and secondary bridges, a transformer, and a controller configured to generate a switching mode map that correlates each of a plurality of switching modes to a respective set of value ranges of system parameters of the power converter. The sets of system parameter value ranges are contiguous and non-overlapping across the switching mode map, each of the plurality of switching modes includes gate trigger voltage timings for commuting at least one of the primary and secondary bridges. The controller is configured to obtain a plurality of measured system parameter values, select from the switching mode map one of the plurality of switching modes that correlates to the set of system parameter values containing the plurality of measured system parameter values, and adjust gate trigger voltage timings of at least one of the primary and secondary bridges, according to the selected switching mode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 28, 2019
    Publication date: July 18, 2019
    Inventors: Simon Herbert Schramm, Said Farouk Said El-Barbari, Stefan Schroeder, Zhihui Yuan
  • Publication number: 20190207599
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a detection device for a circuit comprising a plurality of switch devices coupled in series. The detection device comprises a plurality of detecting circuits, wherein each detecting circuit is integrated with a gate driver of a corresponding switch device. Each detecting circuit comprises a voltage divider and a signal processor. The voltage divider is coupled in parallel with the corresponding switch device and comprises a plurality of voltage dividing components coupled in series. The signal processor is coupled with one of the voltage dividing components and configured to receive a divided voltage across the voltage dividing component and output an output signal indicating the voltage across the switch device. Embodiments of the present disclosure also relate to a system and method for protecting series-connected switch devices.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 18, 2018
    Publication date: July 4, 2019
    Inventors: Marius Mechlinski, Zhihui Yuan, Jingkui Shi, Stefan Schroeder
  • Publication number: 20190207598
    Abstract: A protection circuit for a controllable switch comprising a control terminal, a first terminal, and a second terminal having a lower electric potential than the first terminal, the protection device comprising: an active clamping module, coupled between the first terminal and the control terminal of the controllable switch, configured to clamp a first voltage across the first terminal and the second terminal; and a damping module, coupled to an output of the active clamping module and configured to damp oscillations of a second voltage across the control terminal and the second terminal. Embodiments of the present disclosure also relate to a protection method for a controllable switch.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 18, 2018
    Publication date: July 4, 2019
    Inventors: Hao Yu, Fan Zhang, Zhihui Yuan, Jiao Liu, Stefan Schroeder, Yingqi Zhang
  • Patent number: 10296071
    Abstract: A power converter includes primary and secondary bridges, a transformer, and a controller configured to generate a switching mode map that correlates each of a plurality of switching modes to a respective set of value ranges of system parameters of the power converter. The sets of system parameter value ranges are contiguous and non-overlapping across the switching mode map, each of the plurality of switching modes includes gate trigger voltage timings for commuting at least one of the primary and secondary bridges. The controller is configured to obtain a plurality of measured system parameter values, select from the switching mode map one of the plurality of switching modes that correlates to the set of system parameter values containing the plurality of measured system parameter values, and adjust gate trigger voltage timings of at least one of the primary and secondary bridges, according to the selected switching mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2019
    Assignee: GE GLOBAL SOURCING LLC
    Inventors: Simon Herbert Schramm, Said Farouk Said El-Barbari, Stefan Schroeder, Zhihui Yuan
  • Publication number: 20190089350
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a method for controlling voltage balance of a serialized power switching device, comprising generating a reference voltage based on actual individual voltage of each switch of the serialized power switching device or setting a reference voltage based on supplied voltage to the serialized power switching device; determining an individual blocking voltage mismatch of at least one switch when existing a difference between the reference voltage and the actual individual voltage of at least one switch, wherein the individual voltage mismatch is based on the difference between the reference voltage and the actual individual voltage; calculating an individual delay mismatch for the at least one switch; and compensating the individual delay mismatch for the at least one switch. The present disclosure also relates to a system for controlling voltage balance of a serialized power switching device. The present disclosure also relates to a power switching device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 31, 2018
    Publication date: March 21, 2019
    Inventors: Bo QU, Ying ZHANG, Marius Michael MECHLINSKI, Saijun MAO, Jingkui SHI, He XU, Zhihui YUAN, Jie SHEN, Stefan SCHROEDER
  • Publication number: 20190073021
    Abstract: A power converter includes primary and secondary bridges, a transformer, and a controller configured to generate a switching mode map that correlates each of a plurality of switching modes to a respective set of value ranges of system parameters of the power converter. The sets of system parameter value ranges are contiguous and non-overlapping across the switching mode map, each of the plurality of switching modes includes gate trigger voltage timings for commuting at least one of the primary and secondary bridges. The controller is configured to obtain a plurality of measured system parameter values, select from the switching mode map one of the plurality of switching modes that correlates to the set of system parameter values containing the plurality of measured system parameter values, and adjust gate trigger voltage timings of at least one of the primary and secondary bridges, according to the selected switching mode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 7, 2018
    Publication date: March 7, 2019
    Inventors: Simon Herbert Schramm, Said Farouk Said El-Barbari, Stefan Schroeder, Zhihui Yuan
  • Publication number: 20180342943
    Abstract: A power conversion system includes one or more power conversion devices coupled to a grid connection. Each of the power conversion devices includes a power converter for converting a first multiphase current provided by the grid connection into a second current; a grid side filter coupled between the grid connection and an input of the power converter; a load side filter coupled to an output of the power converter; neutral points of the grid side filter and the load side filter connected together to form a first node; wherein the first node is not directly grounded.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 19, 2016
    Publication date: November 29, 2018
    Inventors: Zhihui YUAN, Stefan SCHROEDER, Jie SHEN, Mohamed Ahmed Abdelmohsen HASHEM, Yunzheng CHEN
  • Publication number: 20180342349
    Abstract: An integrated system for signal and power transmission with galvanic isolation is disclosed. The integrated system comprises an insulative layer having a primary side and a secondary side; a planar signal transformer and a planar power transformer for signal and power transmission between the primary and the secondary sides of the insulative layer respectively. The planar signal transformer comprises two signal coupling elements which are disposed on the primary and the secondary sides of the insulative layer respectively. The planar power transformer includes two power coupling elements which are disposed on the primary and the secondary sides of the insulative layer respectively. Each of the two signal coupling elements and the two power coupling elements is embedded in at least one layer of a multi-layer printed circuit board. The integrated system of the present disclosure has a compact structure and is suitable for automatic assembly and manufacturing.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 23, 2018
    Publication date: November 29, 2018
    Inventors: Saijun Mao, Bo Qu, Jingkui Shi, He Xu, Jie Shen, Tingting Song, Zhihui Yuan, Xin Jiang, Xi Lu, Stefan Schroeder, Marius Michael Mechlinski
  • Publication number: 20180337109
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to an integrated power semiconductor packaging apparatus and a power converter containing the integrated power semiconductor packaging apparatus. The integrated power semiconductor packaging apparatus comprises a plurality of power semiconductor devices and an electrically insulative substrate formed integrally. The electrically insulative substrate comprises a flat surface, at least one separation wall protruding from the flat surface and a flow channel inside the electrically insulative substrate. The at least one separation wall is configured to separate the flat surface into a plurality of flat areas, and each of the plurality of flat areas is configured to receive one of the plurality of power semiconductor devices. The flow channel is configured for allowing a coolant flowing through to remove heat from the plurality of power semiconductor devices.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 17, 2018
    Publication date: November 22, 2018
    Inventors: Saijun MAO, Bo QU, Jingkui SHI, He XU, Jie SHEN, Lin LAN, Rui LI, Zhihui YUAN, Alistair Martin WADDELL, Stefan SCHROEDER, Marius Michael MECHLINSKI, Mark Aaron CHAN