Using Semiconductor-type Converter Patents (Class 363/123)
  • Patent number: 11916434
    Abstract: An uninterruptible power supply device includes a bidirectional chopper that converts a first DC voltage supplied from a battery into a second DC voltage and supplies the second DC voltage to an inverter when a power failure of a commercial AC power supply occurs. The bidirectional chopper includes a capacitor that stabilizes the second DC voltage. The uninterruptible power supply device further includes: a current detector that detects an output current of the battery; and a control circuit that, based on a detection result by the current detector, calculates an estimated temperature increase value of the capacitor every time a predetermined time period elapses, and stops an operation of the bidirectional chopper when the calculated estimated temperature increase value is higher than an upper limit value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2024
    Assignee: TOSHIBA MITSUBISHI-ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL SYSTEMS CORPORATION
    Inventor: Hiroki Shigeta
  • Patent number: 11791711
    Abstract: A DC to AC converter system for solar energy installations reduces cost by eliminating low-frequency power transformers. One DC input polarity is selectively switched to an output terminal when the instantaneous AC output from a second output terminal is desired to be of the opposite polarity, while the other DC input polarity is used to form an approximation to a segment of a sine wave of the desired polarity at the second output terminal. Switching transistors in H-bridge circuits, with a reservoir capacitor across each H-bridge circuit, may be equivalently configured into a first and second bank of series-connected transistors connected across the DC source, with the reservoir capacitors connected in a nested fashion. The DC to AC converter approximates a sine wave by summing integer multiples of a voltage step size at different times, or may output a desired voltage value by jittering between higher and lower voltage values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2023
    Assignee: Koolbridge Solar, Inc.
    Inventor: Paul Wilkinson Dent
  • Patent number: 11745599
    Abstract: A power electronics converter may include a converter commutation cell having a power circuit and a gate driver circuit. The power circuit includes at least one power semiconductor switching element and at least one capacitor. Each power semiconductor switching element is included in a power semiconductor prepackage, each prepackage including one or more power semiconductor switching elements embedded in a solid insulating material, each power semiconductor switching element having at least three terminals including a gate terminal. The gate driver circuit is electrically connected to and configured to provide switching signals to the gate terminal of each of the at least one power semiconductor switching element. A peak rated power output of the power electronics converter is greater than 25 kW and a value of a converter parameter ? is less than or equal to 5 pHm3.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2022
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2023
    Assignee: Rolls-Royce Deutschland Ltd & Co KG
    Inventors: Uwe Waltrich, Stanley Buchert
  • Patent number: 11750127
    Abstract: The invention discloses a control method for balancing scaling errors of multiple current sensors for PMSM. An impedance network is set between a direct current power supply and a three-phase inverter connected to a PMSM to avoid positive and negative poles of the direct current power supply being short-circuited under actions of shoot-through vectors. Under actions of two shoot-through vectors in a PWM cycle, three-phase current sensors are used to respectively sample the sum of currents in each branch of three-phase output branches of the three-phase inverter and a branch of the same bridge arm of the three-phase inverter, according to the sampled currents, operating to obtain the relationship between the scaling error coefficients of the three-phase current sensors. Then, correction coefficients are calculated. The correction of the scaling errors of the current sensors is implemented using correction coefficient feedback control.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2023
    Assignees: ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY ADVANCED ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT INNOVATION CENTER, ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Zhichen Lin, Tingna Shi, Zhen Zhang, Changliang Xia
  • Patent number: 11689104
    Abstract: An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a voltage converter including: an inductor in which a first electrode thereof receives an input voltage and a second electrode thereof is connected to a first node; a first transistor in which a first electrode thereof is connected to the first node and a second electrode thereof is connected to a second node providing an output voltage; a second transistor in which a first electrode thereof is connected to the first node and a second electrode thereof is connected to a reference terminal; and a current sensor connected to the first node and the second node, wherein the current sensor includes: a third transistor in which a first electrode thereof is connected to the first node and a second electrode thereof is connected to a third node; and a current mirror circuit that mirrors currents flowing through the second node, the third node, and a sensing terminal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2022
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2023
    Assignee: SAMSUNG DISPLAY CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Yoon Young Lee
  • Patent number: 11664304
    Abstract: A semiconductor module is provided that includes a low side switch, a high side switch and a control chip. The low side switch and the high side switch are arranged laterally adjacent one another and coupled by a switch node connector to form a half bridge circuit. The switch node connector includes two or more branches that have an arrangement with respect to the low side switch and to the high side switch and that each have a cross-sectional area. The arrangement and the cross-sectional area of the two or more branches are selected so as to homogenise the current density distribution within the switch node connector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2023
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies Austria AG
    Inventors: Sergey Yuferev, Robert Fehler, Angela Kessler, Gerhard Noebauer, Petteri Palm
  • Patent number: 11549991
    Abstract: A method of monitoring a state of charge of a battery of a field device wherein the field device includes the battery, a voltage converter and a battery-powered component connected to the voltage converter, is disclosed. The method includes enabling the voltage converter and subsequently operating the voltage converter in duty cycles based on a current flowing from the battery to the voltage converter by repeatedly: disabling the voltage converter when the current exceeds an upper limit and enabling the voltage converter again when the current drops below a lower limit; and at least once determining and providing a state of charge of the battery determined based on a duration of at least one first time interval during which the voltage converter was enabled during one of the duty cycles and a previously determined dependency of the durations on the state of charge of the battery.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2023
    Assignee: Endress+Hauser SE+Co. KG
    Inventors: Ralf Lobenstein, Gautham Karnik
  • Patent number: 11508897
    Abstract: A driver for a circuit with a capacitive load, includes a power converter configured to receive a DC input voltage from an input stage, generate a switching voltage at a switching node, and output an output voltage forming an analog waveform at an output stage. The power converter includes a first switch connected between an inductive device and a ground, a second switch connected between the inductive device and the output stage, and a controller to control the first switch and the second switch. The analog waveform has an amplitude at least two times greater than the input voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2022
    Assignee: President and Fellows of Harvard College
    Inventor: Simon Chaput
  • Patent number: 11451091
    Abstract: A converter including a bridge circuit having a first leg and a second leg, each leg including a high switch and a low switch, the high switches being connected to a first energy source and the low switches being connected to ground, a coupling network(s) having a first connection between the switches of the first leg and a second connection between the switches of the second leg, and a second (or multiple secondary) energy source(s) connected between the coupling network(s) and ground, wherein the coupling network comprises a first inductive element connected between the second energy source and the switches of the first leg, and a second inductive element connected between the second energy source and the switches of the second leg.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2022
    Assignee: Auckland UniServices Limited
    Inventors: Duleepa Jayanath Thrimawithana, Udaya Kumara Madawala, Gaurav Rajesh Kalra, Baljit Singh Riar, Martin Neuburger, Steven Ian Ruddell, Regan Andrew Zane
  • Patent number: 11404974
    Abstract: In a High Efficient and Reliable Inverter Concept power conversion device, control is performed with one cycle divided into four periods, wherein in a first period when the signs of an AC voltage and an AC current are both positive, first and fourth switches perform switching operation, second and third switches are opened, and a sixth switch is closed; in a second period when the signs are positive and negative, a current is passed through freewheeling diodes when a fifth switch is opened while the fifth switch performs switching operation; in a third period when both signs are negative, the second and third switches perform switching operation, the first and fourth switches are opened, and the fifth switch is closed; and in a fourth period when the signs are negative and positive, a current is passed through freewheeling diodes when the sixth switch is opened while the sixth switch performs switching operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: SUMITOMO ELECTRIC INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventor: Naoki Ayai
  • Patent number: 11368098
    Abstract: A power system with communication function applied to a solid state transformer structure includes a plurality of conversion units, a bus path, a plurality of coupling units, and a control module. The conversion units are coupled to the bus path and the coupling units, and the coupling units are coupled to the control module. Each coupling unit is correspondingly coupled to a control unit of each conversion unit. A first-connected coupling unit of the coupling units is coupled to the control module.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2022
    Assignee: DELTA ELECTRONICS, INC.
    Inventor: Sheng-Hua Li
  • Patent number: 11196355
    Abstract: A power conversion apparatus includes power conversion circuitry including a plurality of sub-modules connected in series to each other, a control device to generate a control command for controlling operation of the plurality of sub-modules, and a relay apparatus to relay communication between the control device and the plurality of sub-modules. For each sub-module of the plurality of sub-modules, the relay apparatus generates path information indicating a communication path from the control device to the sub-module, and outputs the generated path information to the sub-module. Each sub-module of the plurality of sub-modules generates identification information of the sub-module based on the path information corresponding to the sub-module.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 7, 2021
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yasunori Ido, Hideaki Ohashi, Noriyuki Imada
  • Patent number: 11133769
    Abstract: Provided is a motor control device that can detect an abnormality of a motor at an early stage. A motor control device includes: a control unit that calculates a voltage command value based on an input current command value and controls drive of the motor by using the calculated voltage command value; a virtual motor unit that simulates the value of a current flowing through the motor, based on the voltage command value calculated by the control unit and a plurality of parameters related to specifications of the motor; and a determination unit that determines whether or not the motor is in an abnormal state by comparing the current command value input to the control unit and the current value simulated by the virtual motor unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 28, 2021
    Assignee: OMRON Corporation
    Inventors: Hitoshi Fukuhara, Satoshi Miyagawa
  • Patent number: 11011911
    Abstract: An MMC converter linked to a HVDC system and a sub-module are proposed. The sub-module includes: first and second power semiconductor switches serially connected in the same direction, each including a semiconductor switch and a diode connected in anti-parallel to the semiconductor switch; a capacitor parallelly connected to the first and second power semiconductor switches serially connected; a first terminal connected to a first node between the first and second power semiconductor switches; a second terminal connected to a second node between the second power semiconductor switch and the capacitor; a third power semiconductor switch of which a side is connected to the second node, the third power semiconductor switch including a semiconductor switch and a diode connected in anti-parallel to the semiconductor switch; and a third terminal connected to a terminal of an AC grid system and connected to the other side of the third power semiconductor switch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 18, 2021
    Assignee: HYOSUNG HEAVY INDUSTRIES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Jung Won Hong, Hong Ju Jung, Sung Min Oh, Hyun Ho Yoo, Joo Yeon Lee
  • Patent number: 10992173
    Abstract: An integrated circuit (IC) comprises a regulator circuit, a bootstrap control circuit, and a gate driver that drives a transistor pair in buck or boost mode to switch current through an inductor. The IC has a VIN terminal coupled to receive a voltage generated from an AC power source, a STR terminal coupled to receive a voltage from a stored power source (e.g., a capacitor bank), and a HSB terminal that is capacitively coupled to the inductor. When bucking or boosting, the regulator circuit generates VDD supply voltage from the stored power source, supplies the VDD supply voltage onto the bootstrap control circuit, and the bootstrap control circuit generates a gate driver supply voltage that is supplied to the gate driver circuit. When not bucking or boosting, voltage on the HSB terminal is maintained between a voltage threshold from the AC power source without draining the stored power source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 27, 2021
    Assignee: Active-Semi, Inc.
    Inventors: Thuc Huu Lam, Khanh Quang Dinh, Tung Van Nguyen, Hue Khac Trinh
  • Patent number: 10958183
    Abstract: There is provided a method of generating a control strategy based on at least three switching states of a matrix converter. The at least three switching states are selected based on at least a predicted output current, associated with each switching state, and a desired output current. In particular, mathematical transformations of a desired output current as well as output currents associated with each of a plurality of switching states are used to identify appropriate switching states.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 23, 2021
    Assignee: ITT Manufacturing Enterprises LLC
    Inventors: Manjusha Vijayagopal, César Armando Silva Jiménez, Lee Empringham, Liliana Vittoria De Lillo
  • Patent number: 10937737
    Abstract: A wiring member to electrically connect a positive direct-current terminal and an alternating-current terminal to each other, the positive direct-current terminal being formed in a semiconductor element module, the alternating-current terminal being formed in a semiconductor element module, a positive potential being applied to the positive direct-current terminal, a positive potential and a negative potential being appropriately applied to the alternating-current terminal, the wiring member including an insulative partition formed on the wiring member, the insulative partition being upright so as to block the line of sight between the positive direct-current terminal and the alternating-current terminal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 2, 2021
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventor: Ryota Hamaguchi
  • Patent number: 10879814
    Abstract: In a multilevel power converter (20), a power conversion circuit is formed of semiconductor modules (1 to 4), the multilevel power converter (20) includes: a capacitor (5) on the positive electrode side; a capacitor (6) on the negative electrode side; an AC bus (L1); a capacitor bus (L2); a positive electrode bus (L3); and a negative electrode bus (L4), and the semiconductor modules (1 to 4) are arranged such that the inductance in a communication loop is reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2020
    Assignee: TOSHIBA MITSUBISHI-ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL SYSTEMS CORPORATION
    Inventor: Yosuke Fujii
  • Patent number: 10855201
    Abstract: The cascaded multilevel inverter utilizes a delta polyphase circuit and transformers in each leg using cross-phase connection windings. Transformers corresponding to a number of phases of the inverter use an in-phase connection winding and a cross-phase connection winding to respective other legs, so that the respective transformers having the in-phase connection windings are connected in series with a DC power supply.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2020
    Assignee: KING SAUD UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Abdullah Mohammed Ali Noman, Abdulaziz Abdullah Alkuhayli
  • Patent number: 10756646
    Abstract: The invention provides a multi-level inverter control device that is capable of reducing loss of a switching element of a maximum current phase that occurs in an extremely low speed region or at zero frequency. The control device has a maximum current phase selector 52 configured to select a maximum current phase whose current amplitude is a maximum on the basis of current detected values or current command values of a three-phase N-level inverter (N is odd number of three or more); a subtractor 54U, 54V, 54W configured to subtract a voltage command value of a selected maximum current phase from each of the voltage command values of the three phases of the inverter; and a switching signal generator 55 configured to compare each of subtracted voltage command values of the three phases with the (N?1) carrier signals and generate a switching signal of each switching element of the inverter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 25, 2020
    Assignee: MEIDENSHA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kazuya Ogura, Kunihiko Saiki
  • Patent number: 10749437
    Abstract: A power conversion device has semiconductor modules, a cooling unit, a capacitor module, a discharge resistance substrate, a control circuit substrate and a casing. The semiconductor modules from a power conversion circuit. The capacitor module is electrically connected to the semiconductor module. The discharge resistance is arranged on the discharge resistance substrate, and electrically discharges the capacitor module. The control circuit substrate controls operation of the semiconductor modules. The casing accommodates the semiconductor module, the cooling unit, the capacitor module, the discharge resistance substrate and the control circuit substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 18, 2020
    Assignees: DENSO CORPORATION, TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Masaru Miyazaki, Tomohisa Sano, Kentaro Hirose
  • Patent number: 10727843
    Abstract: A method for operating a wind turbine configured to supply electrical power to an electrical power supply network via a converter comprises measuring a phase angle and measuring a voltage of the electrical power supply network. A value of at least one parameter for a phase locked loop is determined depending on the measured voltage. The phase locked loop is used to determine a corrected phase angle depending on the measured phase angle and the voltage of the electrical power supply network. The corrected phase angle is input into the converter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2020
    Assignees: Nordex Energy GmbH, Woodward Kempen GmbH
    Inventors: Nils-Hendric Schall, Andreas Genius, Nils Hoffmann
  • Patent number: 10707747
    Abstract: Two versions of an isolated single stage converter AC/DC Power Factor Corrected (PFC) converter topology have been invented. One is with a full bridge rectifier at its input and the other is a True Bridgeless version. The two versions of the topology feature new configurations and circuitry including a simplified damper circuit and a clamp capacitor flipping circuit and control methods that allow them to realize improved single stage isolated power factor converters which are suitable for high power operation, features Zero Voltage Switching to maximize conversion efficiency and to minimize ElectroMagnetic Interference generation, does not need an additional circuit to limit the inrush current, achieves reasonably low input current Total Harmonic Distortion (THD), and is easy to control. The second version provides a true bridgeless single stage isolated power factor converter with even higher efficiency and lower input current THD.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2020
    Inventor: Christopher Donovan Davidson
  • Patent number: 10707775
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for multi phase shift control of a power converter. In one embodiment, the method comprises controlling a phase shift between a left leg and a right leg of a first bridge of the power converter during operation of the power converter; and controlling a phase shift between the first bridge and a second bridge of the power converter during the operation of the power converter, wherein the phase shift between the left and the right legs and the phase shift between the first and the second bridges are controlled based on an input voltage of the power converter and a required output voltage of the power converter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2020
    Assignee: Enphase Energy, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael J. Harrison, Donald Richard Zimmanck, Martin Fornage
  • Patent number: 10666164
    Abstract: Disclosed is a bidirectional conversion circuit, including a first bidirectional conductive network, a second bidirectional conductive network, a first switching transistor, a second switching transistor, a first diode, and a second diode, where the first bidirectional conductive network is connected in series to the first switching transistor to form a first branch, and a first end of the first branch is connected to a cathode of the first diode to form a first endpoint; and the second bidirectional conductive network is connected in series to the second switching transistor to form a second branch, and a second end of the second branch is connected to an anode of the second diode to form a third endpoint.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 26, 2020
    Assignee: HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kui Zhou, Yiping Huang, Haoren Shan
  • Patent number: 10615717
    Abstract: A three phase inverting device includes a three phase inverter module and a three phase filter module. The three phase inverter module includes a plurality of switches, each two switches are connected for forming a bridge arm, an input end of each of the bridge arm are coupled for forming a DC end, the DC end is connected to a DC load. The three phase filter module is connected to the three phase inverter module, wherein the three phase filter module includes a plurality of inductances and a plurality of capacitances, the inductances are connected at one side of the capacitances, a portion of the capacitances are connected to a output end of each of the bridge arm of the three phase inverter module, a portion of the inductances are connected to an AC end.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2020
    Assignee: NATIONAL TSING HUA UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Tsai-Fu Wu, Ying-Yi Jhang, Yen-Hsiang Huang, Ling-Chia Yu
  • Patent number: 10511303
    Abstract: The present disclosure presents a circuit, a method, and a system to drive a half-bridge switch using depletion (D) mode compound semiconductor (III-V) switching transistors for a DC-DC converter using at least one driver to drive the switches of the circuit. Also included is at least one charge pump electrically connected to a gate of the transistor, to maintain a voltage that holds the transistor in an off-state. The circuit includes AC coupling capacitors to level shift a voltage and realize fast transistor switching.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2019
    Assignee: Sarda Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Bogdan M. Duduman, Anthony G. P. Marini, William R. Richards, Jr., William E. Batchelor, Greg J. Miller, John K. Fogg
  • Patent number: 10476402
    Abstract: In a multilevel converter, three switches are connected between three arms and three reactors, and three resistive elements are connected to the respective three switches in parallel. The three switches are configured to be in a conductive state during a normal operation. The three switches are configured to come into a non-conductive state when a short circuit accident occurs between two DC power transmission lines, whereby an inter-arm direct current flowing in four arms and the like is quickly attenuated by the three resistive elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2019
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ryosuke Uda, Kenichi Kuroda, Masashi Kitayama
  • Patent number: 10434882
    Abstract: A track-bound vehicle converter comprises a block-wave generator (20) configured to be connected to a direct voltage source (21) and connected to a series resonance link (34), or to an inductive link, for providing the input of a direct converter (41) with semi sinusoidal current pulses. The direct converter has at least one phase leg (42-44) having on one hand one switch (45-47) connected to the link (34) and able to block voltages in both directions thereacross and conduct current in both directions therethrough and on the other a capacitor (48-50) connected in series therewith. The voltage across the capacitor (48-50) of the direct converter is used to provide a converter output with an alternating voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2019
    Assignee: Bombardier Transportation GmbH
    Inventors: Hans Bängtsson, Lennart Kruse, Luyu Wang
  • Patent number: 10439393
    Abstract: A switching system includes a switching assembly and a transformer. The switching assembly includes multiple sets of switch cells conductively coupled to different power conductors that extend between a power source and a load and conduct different phases of current. Each set of switch cells controls conduction of a different phase of current to the load. The transformer has a primary winding and multiple secondary windings that are conductively coupled to the sets of switch cells. Responsive to receiving an activation control signal from the transformer via the secondary windings, the sets of switch cells are configured to activate to conduct the multiple phases of current from the power source to the load along the power conductors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2019
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Antonio Caiafa, Ahmed Elasser, Dong Dong
  • Patent number: 10396678
    Abstract: In a multilevel converter, three first rectifying elements are respectively connected between three arms and a negative voltage terminal. Three second rectifying elements are respectively connected to the three first rectifying elements in antiparallel. During a normal operation, current flows in the three first rectifying elements and the three second rectifying elements. When a short circuit accident occurs between two DC power transmission lines, the three first rectifying elements are brought into the non-conductive state, thereby interrupting and quickly attenuating inter-arm direct current flowing in four arms and the like.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 27, 2019
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ryosuke Uda, Kenichi Kuroda, Masashi Kitayama
  • Patent number: 10243484
    Abstract: A current flow control assembly, for controlling current flow in an electrical network of interconnected electrical elements, having: current flow controllers, each current flow controller connectable to at least one of the interconnected electrical elements, and being configured to control current flow in at least one of the interconnected electrical elements within a current flow control range; a control unit in communication with each of the current flow controllers, wherein the control unit is configured to: select at least one of the current flow controllers with a flow control range that corresponds to one or more current flow control requirements of the electrical network; and operate the selected current flow controller to control current flow in at least one of the interconnected electrical elements to control current flow in the electrical network in accordance with the current flow control requirement of the electrical network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2019
    Assignee: GENERAL ELECTRIC TECHNOLOGY GMBH
    Inventors: Fainan Anmed Abdul Maguid Mohammed Hassan, Joan Saubassols, Eduardo Prieto Araujo, Oriol Gomis Bellmunt
  • Patent number: 10152069
    Abstract: A system for controlling voltage unbalance in a direct current distribution system includes a measurement processor configured to measure a positive load current, and a negative load current at a first load point, including a first load connected to a positive line and a neutral line and a second load connected to the neutral line and a negative line, and at a second load point in a power distribution system; and a control processor configured to determine whether to activate a first load point switching signal based on the positive and negative load currents at the first and second load points to control the first load point to switch the connections of the first load and the second load between the positive line and the negative line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 11, 2018
    Assignee: Research & Business Foundation Sungkyunkwan University
    Inventors: Chul Hwan Kim, Gi Hyeon Gwon, Tack Hyun Jung, Joon Han, Yun Sik Oh, Doo Ung Kim, Chul Ho Noh
  • Patent number: 10116228
    Abstract: A converter includes: a first transistor (Q1) connected between a first output terminal (T1) and an input terminal (T0); a second transistor (Q2) connected between the input terminal (T0) and a second output terminal (T2); first and second diodes (D1, D2) connected in anti-parallel to the first and second transistors (Q1, Q2), respectively; and a bidirectional switch that is connected between the input terminal (T0) and a third output terminal (T3) and that includes third and fourth transistors (Q3, Q4) and third and fourth diodes (D3, D4). The first and second diodes (D1, D2) and the third and fourth transistors (Q3, Q4) each are formed of a wide band gap semiconductor. The third and fourth diodes (D3, D4) and the first and second transistors (Q1, Q2) each are formed of a semiconductor other than the wide band gap semiconductor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2018
    Assignees: TOSHIBA MITSUBISHI-ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL SYSTEMS CORPORATION, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Keisuke Ohnishi, Masahiro Kinoshita, Kimiyuki Koyanagi
  • Patent number: 10116227
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a system and method for pulse driving. The system is configured to drive a multi-level converter, including: a main control module generating encoding information which contains driving information according to sampling information; a local control module electrically coupled to the multi-level converter to output control signals to the multi-level converter so as to control on and off of the at least M power switches in the multi-level converter; a first optical fiber coupled to the main control module and the local control module, wherein the local control module receives the encoding information output from the main control module via the first optical fiber and generates the control signals according to the encoding information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2018
    Assignee: Delta Electronics (Shanghai) CO., LTD
    Inventors: Boyu Pu, Yi Zhang, Zheng Wang, Zhao Wang, Hailong Wang, Ming Wang
  • Patent number: 10109422
    Abstract: A film capacitor includes: a capacitor element in which a metallikon electrode is formed at an end; a bus bar connected with the metallikon electrode; a case having a container for housing the capacitor element and the bus bar; a lid member which covers an opening of the container; and a heat conducting member disposed between the bus bar and the lid member. The lid member has a protrusion on a side facing the heat conducting member, the protrusion is in contact with the heat conducting member, and the heat conducting member is in contact with the bus bar.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2018
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yuki Koyama, Akihiro Ozaki
  • Patent number: 10084390
    Abstract: A power converter, short circuit protection circuit, and control method are disclosed herein. The power converter is configured to generate an output voltage and includes a semiconductor switch, a short circuit protection circuit, and a signal processing module. The semiconductor switch is configured to adjust the output voltage according to a driving signal. The short circuit protection circuit is configured to generate a short circuit protecting signal according to a control signal and a short circuit status of the semiconductor switch. The signal processing module is configured to generate the control signal and the driving signal according to a modulating signal, and to turn off the semiconductor switch according to the short circuit protecting signal. A delay duration is present between the modulating signal and the control signal, and the semiconductor switch is turned on during the delay duration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 25, 2018
    Assignee: Delta Electronics (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Qing-Long Zhong, Yan Li, Hong-Jian Gan
  • Patent number: 9977455
    Abstract: A configurable impedance circuit includes a controller that senses a rectified voltage and generates a first and second control signals based on a comparison of the rectified voltage to at least one threshold voltage. The configurable impedance circuit also includes a filter for filtering the rectified voltage that couples a plurality of capacitors in series to the rectified voltage in a first configuration based on the first control signal and couples the plurality of capacitors in parallel to the rectified voltage in a second configuration based on the second control signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2018
    Assignee: Futurewei Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Heping Dai, Liming Ye, Dianbo Fu
  • Patent number: 9937806
    Abstract: A charging system (2) for a battery (3) has a first electrical terminal (4) for an AC voltage, a second electrical terminal (5) for a DC voltage and a converter (8). The converter (8) is designed to convert the AC voltage of the first terminal (4) into a DC voltage for charging the battery (3), and to convert a magnitude of a DC voltage that is passed from the second terminal (5) to the converter (8) in terms of the magnitude and to forward it to the battery (3). The converter (8) also is designed to convert the DC voltage of the battery (3) into an AC voltage for driving an electric motor (9).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 10, 2018
    Assignee: Dr. Ing. h.c.F. Porsche Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Daniel Spesser, Juergen Mittnacht
  • Patent number: 9911731
    Abstract: A power circuit is described that includes a semiconductor body having a common substrate and a Gallium Nitride (GaN) based substrate. The GaN based substrate includes one or more GaN devices adjacent to a front side of the common substrate. The common substrate is electrically coupled to a node of the power circuit. The node of the power circuit is at a particular potential that is equal to, or more negative than, a potential at one or more load terminals of the one or more GaN devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 8, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 6, 2018
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies Austria AG
    Inventor: Gerald Deboy
  • Patent number: 9853558
    Abstract: A high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission system is provided. The high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission system includes: an integrated measurement panel; and an HVDC transmission device, wherein the HVDC transmission device is configured to: receive, from the integrated measurement panel, compensation values for compensating for the voltage values output through the first to Nth potential transformers, compensate for the voltage values output through the first to Nth potential transformers by using the received compensation values, and measure the actual voltage values by using the compensated voltage values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2017
    Assignee: LSIS CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Yong Kil Choi
  • Patent number: 9796258
    Abstract: Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles where a multiport power-packet-switching converter provides fully bidirectional power transfer among any of an engine motor, a drive motor, a vehicle battery and/or supercapacitor, and a connection to grid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2017
    Inventors: Paul Bundschuh, William C. Alexander
  • Patent number: 9800176
    Abstract: The present application discloses a TNPC inverter device, comprising: a TNPC inverter module and a short circuit detecting module. The TNPC module at least comprises an inverting bridge arm and a bi-directional switching bridge arm. The inverting bridge arm comprises at least two switches connected in series; the bi-directional switching bridge arm comprises at least two switches. The short circuit detecting module mainly consists of two switch detecting unit corresponding to the two switches in the inverting bridge arm respectively. Increasing the voltage drop of the switches in the inverting bridge when a short circuit occurs in the TNPC module by some way, then it could realize the short circuit detecting module is able to detect all the paths of the short circuit in the TNPC module to simplify the peripheral circuit of the TNPC module in the TNPC inverter device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2017
    Assignee: Delta Electronics (Shanghai) CO., LTD
    Inventors: Xibing Ding, Weiyi Feng, Weiqiang Zhang, Hongyang Wu
  • Patent number: 9788391
    Abstract: A solid state lighting panel sequentially energizes a plurality of LED lighting banks at the zero crossing points of the sinusoidal input line voltage. Each LED lighting bank is provided with a soft start circuit to ramp up the luminous intensity gradually. The energizing of one LED lighting bank at a time at zero cross, in combination with soft start ramp, keeps inrush spikes below the ultimate steady state operating current level. The lighting panel is further provided with line-in and line-out surge protection, along with a specific arrangement of terminals within a terminal block, the provision of surge protectors therein, the use of optically isolated solid state relays, and a plurality of well-placed circuit breakers to provide enhanced surge tolerance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2017
    Assignee: Heartland, Inc.
    Inventor: Blake D. Redfield
  • Patent number: 9774322
    Abstract: The present disclosure presents a circuit, a method, and a system to drive a half-bridge switch using depletion (D) mode compound semiconductor (III-V) switching transistors for a DC-DC converter using at least one driver to drive the switches of the circuit. Also included is at least one charge pump electrically connected to a gate of the transistor, to maintain a voltage that holds the transistor in an off-state. The circuit includes AC coupling capacitors to level shift a voltage and realize fast transistor switching.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 26, 2017
    Assignee: Sarda Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Bogdan M. Duduman, Anthony G. P. Marini, William R. Richards, Jr., William E. Batchelor, Greg J. Miller, John K. Fogg
  • Patent number: 9755540
    Abstract: A voltage conversion apparatus for providing power anywhere within, for example, a retail store environment is provided. The voltage conversion apparatus includes a mounting structure that can mount the apparatus near a ceiling of the retail store environment. Also, the voltage conversion apparatus includes a voltage converter for converting voltage from an existing high voltage power source. The voltage conversion apparatus is configured to connect to the existing high voltage power source, convert the voltage from the power source and deliver the converted voltage to any location within the retail store environment. The voltage conversion apparatus is also configured to be modular and can be quickly, easily and safely mounted to different locations of the retail store environment as needed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2017
    Assignee: Target Brands Inc.
    Inventors: Gary Nation, Doyle Trankel
  • Patent number: 9692315
    Abstract: An AC-AC converter device includes first and second AC input terminals and first and second AC output terminals. An input device is connected between an input node, a common node, a positive DC terminal and a negative DC terminal, wherein the input node is connected to the first AC input terminal via a first input inductor. An output device is connected between an output node, the positive DC terminal and the negative DC terminal, wherein the output node is connected to the first AC output terminal via an output inductor. A common device is connected between the common node, the positive DC terminal and the negative DC terminal, where the common node is connected to the second AC input terminal via a common inductor. A control device is provided for controlling the switches of the output device and the common device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2017
    Assignee: Eltek AS
    Inventors: Nils Bäckman, Roberto Rojas
  • Patent number: 9647568
    Abstract: Methods and systems for bi-directional multi-port power conversion systems and applications are disclosed. In some sample embodiments, current-modulating power converters can be used to provide conversion between synchronous and asynchronous power. In some sample embodiments, current-modulating power converters can perform power conversion can be performed to and from three-phase AC with an active neutral line. In some sample embodiments, current-modulating power converters can convert between synchronous and asynchronous power and also support three-phase AC with active neutral.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 17, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2017
    Assignee: IDEAL POWER, INC.
    Inventors: Paul Bundschuh, William C. Alexander, Guy Michael Barron, Christopher Cobb, Paul Roush
  • Patent number: 9449957
    Abstract: According to an exemplary implementation, a power quad flat no-lead (PQFN) leadframe includes U-phase and W-phase power switches situated on the PQFN leadframe and respectively connected to a U-phase output strip and a W-phase output pad of the PQFN leadframe. The PQFN leadframe further includes a common integrated circuit (IC) including a driver circuit and a control circuit where the common IC is connected to the U-phase output strip and to the W-phase output pad of the PQFN leadframe. The PQFN leadframe can also include a V-phase power switch situated on the PQFN leadframe where the V-phase power switch is connected to a V-phase output strip of the PQFN leadframe.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 8, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2016
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies Americas Corp.
    Inventors: Dean Fernando, Roel Barbosa, Toshio Takahashi
  • Patent number: 9294009
    Abstract: A control circuit reduces switching loss by periodically stopping switching elements, and reduces the difference between the time for which positive switching elements are in on state and the time for which negative switching elements are in on state. The control circuit includes a command value signal generator generating command value signals Xu1, Xv1, and Xw1 from line voltage command value signals Xuv, Xvw, and Xwu, and includes a PWM signal generator generating PWM signals by the command value signals Xu1, Xv1, and Xw1. The command value signals Xu1, Xv1, and Xw1 are continuously at “0” for a predetermined period, and are continuously at “2” for another period. This enables reducing the difference between the period for which the PWM signals are low and the period for which they are high.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 22, 2016
    Assignee: DAIHEN Corporation
    Inventors: Nobuyuki Hattori, Akihiro Ohori, Hiroki Munechika