Patents Examined by Elim Ortiz
  • Patent number: 12160106
    Abstract: A power supply system, a converter, and a circulating current suppression method of the converter. The power supply system includes at least two converters that are coupled between a direct current power supply and an alternating current grid. Each converter obtains target output reactive power when an output current of the converter starts to increase from an initial current, obtains a reactive power compensation parameter based on the three-phase output voltages. Further, each converter obtains compensated output reactive power of the converter based on the reactive power compensation parameter and adjusts actual output reactive power of the converter based on the target output reactive power and the compensated output reactive power, so that an absolute value of a difference between common-mode output voltages of any two of the at least two adjusted converters is less than a difference threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2024
    Assignee: Huawei Digital Power Technologies Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Xinyu Yu, Yuan Yao, Fuqiang Xu, Kai Xin
  • Patent number: 12151579
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and apparatus are described herein for a power-controlling device for use with EV chargers. One or more embodiments disclosed herein may include a stand-alone device which, when installed, may reduce the likelihood of the owner of the EV charger being hit with high utility demand charges. The device may include one or more supercapacitors (e.g., supercapacitor banks, which may be series/parallel combinations) which may aid in making stored energy available during periods of peak energy demand. The supercapacitors may charge during periods of normal (e.g., non-peak) energy demand, and may discharge stored energy during periods of peak energy demand, which may reduce the likelihood of peak charges being applied. This device may appeal to property owners concerned about installing EV chargers due to the possibility of being penalized by high energy costs, and may result in an increase in the number of charging stations available to the public.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2023
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2024
    Assignee: PwrPac LLC
    Inventor: Balu Jegganathan
  • Patent number: 12155264
    Abstract: In the present uninterruptible power supply apparatus, in a switching period in which a bypass power feed mode is switched to an inverter power feed mode, a semiconductor switch is turned on, a first electromagnetic contactor is turned off, a second electromagnetic contactor is turned on and, in this state, an inverter is activated to start a lap power feed mode, and the semiconductor switch is turned off to end the lap power feed mode. Accordingly, the lap power feed mode can be completed in a short time to reduce an increase of a terminal-to-terminal voltage of a capacitor and thereby prevent the terminal-to-terminal voltage of the capacitor from exceeding an upper limit voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2024
    Assignee: TMEIC Corporation
    Inventors: Masamichi Kano, Hidenobu Tajima, Yousuke Hayashi
  • Patent number: 12151573
    Abstract: A charging system of a vehicle includes a first conversion device of a first drive system of the vehicle, the first conversion device connected to a first electric motor. The system also includes a second conversion device of a second drive system of the vehicle, the second conversion device connected to a second electric motor. The first drive system and the second drive system are connected to a battery system of the vehicle. The system also includes a switching assembly including a plurality of switches configured to selectively connect the first electric motor and/or the second electric motor to a charge port of the vehicle, and a controller configured to control the switching assembly to define a conversion circuit that includes components of the first drive system and/or the second drive system, and control the conversion circuit to regulate an output voltage and supply power to an energy storage system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2024
    Assignee: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC
    Inventors: Chandra S. Namuduri, Rashmi Prasad
  • Patent number: 12149085
    Abstract: A bipole power transmission scheme includes at least a first converter station that is positioned in-use separate from at least a second converter station. The bipole power transmission scheme also includes at least first and second transmission conduits and a first return conduit to in-use interconnect the first converter station with the second converter station and thereby permit the transfer of power between the first and second converter stations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 14, 2023
    Date of Patent: November 19, 2024
    Assignee: GE INFRASTRUCTURE TECHNOLOGY LLC
    Inventors: Markus Andre Offergeld, Ajay Koliwad, Madhusudan Nandula, Neil Cuthbert
  • Patent number: 12142960
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for electrical energy transfer between a pair of series connected batteries coupled between positive and negative DC rails of a power inverter operatively connected to a plurality of stator phase windings of a stator winding of a motor may include coupling a midpoint of the pair of series connected batteries to the stator winding of the motor, and controlling the power inverter to operate the power inverter and the stator winding as a switched-mode power converter to charge at least one of the stator phase windings from one of the pair of series connected batteries and to discharge the at least one of the stator phase windings to the other of the pair of series connected batteries.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2024
    Assignee: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC
    Inventors: Mohamed Kamel, Muhammad Hussain Alvi, Alireza Fatemi, Chandra S. Namuduri, Rashmi Prasad
  • Patent number: 12139040
    Abstract: An electric drive system for an electric vehicle is provided. The electric drive system includes a first electric drive, a second electric drive, and a switchable battery including at least two battery packs that are selectively arranged in one of a series configuration and a parallel configuration. The electric drive system also includes a first half-bridge buck converter connecting the first electric drive to a first battery back of the at least two battery packs of the switchable battery and a second half-bridge buck converter connecting the second electric drive to a second battery back of the at least two battery packs of the switchable battery. The electric drive system further includes a controller configured to control the configuration of the switchable battery, an operation of the first half-bridge buck converter, and the second half-bridge buck converter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2024
    Assignee: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC
    Inventors: Muhammad Hussain Alvi, Suresh Gopalakrishnan, Chandra S. Namuduri
  • Patent number: 12136846
    Abstract: Electrical energy is transferred between an on-vehicle DC power source and an off-vehicle DC power source by controlling conduction of the phase legs of a power inverter to operatively configure the power inverter and the stator phase windings of a traction motor as a switched-mode power converter including the at least one phase winding and at least one switch of one of the phase legs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2024
    Assignee: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC
    Inventors: Rashmi Prasad, Chandra S. Namuduri, Avoki M. Omekanda
  • Patent number: 12136882
    Abstract: A switching power-supply unit includes a power conversion circuit, a control circuit, a common-mode choke coil, and half-bridge capacitors. The common-mode choke coil is connected to the control circuit on its side of a direct-current power supply. The half-bridge capacitor is connected to the power conversion circuit on its side of a direct-current power supply, and is connected to the control circuit on its side of the direct-current power supply. A midway point of the half-bridge capacitor is electrically connected to a midway point of the half-bridge capacitor. A noise balancing circuit is configured as a closed circuit including the power conversion circuit, the control circuit, the half-bridge capacitors, and the common-mode choke coil, and causes common-mode currents to be confined and canceled out each other. The common-mode currents are switching noise generated in multiple parts of the closed circuit due to a switching operation of power-conversion switching devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2023
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2024
    Assignee: Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Takatsuji, Tatsuya Hosotani
  • Patent number: 12132182
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a battery energy processing device and method and a vehicle. The battery energy processing device includes: a bridge arm converter, having a first bus terminal connected with a positive electrode of a battery and a second bus terminal connected with a negative electrode of the battery; a motor winding, having a first end connected with a midpoint of the bridge arm converter; an energy storage device, respectively connected with a second end of the motor winding and the second bus terminal; and a controller, configured to control, in a first preset state, the bridge arm converter to charge and discharge the battery, so as to realize heating of the battery. In this way, the charging and discharging of the battery can be controlled, and internal resistance of the battery causes the battery to generate a large amount of heat, which causes a temperature rise of the battery, thereby realizing the heating of the battery.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2024
    Assignee: BYD COMPANY LIMITED
    Inventors: Yubo Lian, Heping Ling, Hua Pan, Lei Yan, Feiyue Xie
  • Patent number: 12119650
    Abstract: Disclosed is an optimal power flow-based hierarchical control method for a distributed energy storage system (ESS), where the method divides control of an energy storage cluster into three layers, performs primary and secondary control to realize intra-cluster control, and performs tertiary control to realize inter-cluster control. In the primary control, droop coefficients are set to realize intra-cluster basic power distribution. In the secondary control, a frequency/voltage shift and uneven power distribution that are caused by a droop are compensated for based on a consistency algorithm. In the tertiary control, a central controller is set, a solution of an optimal power flow is calculated and delivered to each cluster as a control signal, and the control signal is tracked in real time through the secondary control and the primary control. The method adjusts a reference voltage of each energy storage cluster without requiring a common bus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2024
    Assignee: State Grid Hubei Electric Power Research Institute
    Inventors: Defu Cai, Kunpeng Zhou, Zuowei Wang, Xiaohui Li, Li Wan, Haiguang Liu, Rusi Chen, Wenna Wang, Tao Wang, Liangyi Zhang, Guanqun Sun, Erxi Wang
  • Patent number: 12103415
    Abstract: An apparatus for increasing an input voltage for an electric vehicle has an energy supply interface to a vehicle battery, a DC-DC converter and an inverter. The DC-DC converter has a first connection for connection to the energy supply interface and a second connection for connection to the inverter. The DC-DC converter is designed to supply an output voltage at the second connection in response to an amplifier signal, the output voltage being increased with respect to an input voltage applied to the first connection. The inverter has an inverter connection for connecting the inverter to the second connection and has at least one energization interface for energizing at least one unit coupled to the energization interface, the inverter converts a DC voltage applied to the inverter connection to an AC voltage and to supply same to the energization interface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2024
    Assignee: ZF FRIEDRICHSHAFEN AG
    Inventors: Zbynek Stepan, Frank Seemann, Andre Ehrsam, Martin Mach, Vladimir Dvorak, Gabriel Scherer, Tato Gervais Amani, Matthias Engicht
  • Patent number: 12101041
    Abstract: A self-powered sensor node includes a printed wiring board connected to a patch. The printed wiring board includes a microcontroller, a transceiver, an antenna, and a power management module connected to supply electric power to the microcontroller. The patch comprises a metamaterial substrate and a piezoelectric element adhered to the metamaterial substrate. The piezoelectric element is connected to the power management module and to the microcontroller. The power management module is configured to store electric power received from the piezoelectric element. The microcontroller is configured to selectively convert electrical signals received from the piezoelectric element into sensor data and then command the transceiver to transmit the sensor data via the antenna. The metamaterial substrate has an auxetic kirigami honeycomb structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 24, 2024
    Assignee: The Boeing Company
    Inventors: Saman Farhangdoust, Gary E. Georgeson, Jeong-Beom Ihn
  • Patent number: 12097783
    Abstract: A vehicle power supply system includes a first secondary battery, a second secondary battery whose output voltage is lower than that of the first secondary battery, a power conversion device configured to convert an input AC voltage into a DC voltage and output the DC voltage, a battery pack configured to receive the DC power output from the power conversion device and charge the first secondary battery, DC/DC converters configured to step down an input DC voltage to output the stepped-down DC voltage, and a power control unit configured to control the battery pack. The first secondary battery is connected to input ports of the DC/DC converters via the battery pack. An output port of the DC/DC converter is connected to a video media control unit, and the DC/DC converter is provided separately from the video media control unit. An output port of the DC/DC converter is connected to the second secondary battery.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2022
    Date of Patent: September 24, 2024
    Assignee: MAZDA MOTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Masato Ishibashi, Takeshi Matsukawa, Shinsuke Yoshitake, Daisuke Hamano, Shingo Hirose, Keita Yoshida
  • Patent number: 12100967
    Abstract: A system for transferring electric power is provided. A power supply conductor conducts a power supply current that generates a first resultant magnetic field. An electric motor has a power input terminal connected to the power supply conductor and a movable output component. A generator has a movable input component connected to the movable output component such that the movable output component causes movement of the movable input component. The generator converts the movement of the movable input component into a power output current to the power output terminal that generates a second resultant magnetic field. A plurality of field line guides are positioned for field lines of the second resultant magnetic field to couple to the plurality of field line guides and are formed to guide the field lines into a helical shape.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2022
    Date of Patent: September 24, 2024
    Inventor: Young B. Kim
  • Patent number: 12095307
    Abstract: Systems, apparatuses, and methods are described for a versatile UPS. The versatile UPS is operative to provide power to a load and to an interconnected network for delivering electricity from producers to consumers (i.e., an electricity grid, or simply, “a grid”). The versatile UPS has a plurality of switches providing for a multiplicity of switching states. The output to the load, the grid, or both is dependent, at least in part, on the switching states. Related systems, methods and apparatus is also described.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2023
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2024
    Assignee: Solaredge Technologies Ltd.
    Inventors: Natan Schecter, Yehuda D. Levy, Aryeh Zafranski, Alexander Savernin, Anatoly Granaturov, Tomer Kugman
  • Patent number: 12088213
    Abstract: There is described a power supply unit having at least one alternating current (AC) input and at least one direct current (DC) output for producing an output voltage. The power supply unit comprises at least one input transformer coupled to the at least one AC input and at least one rectification circuit defining an AC side and a DC side, and coupled to the at least one input transformer on the AC side. The at least one rectification circuit comprises a diode rectifier section on the AC side comprising at least one set of diode rectifiers, and a controlled rectifier section in series with the diode rectifier section and configured for producing a variable load voltage to modulate the output voltage between a base voltage and a maximum value of the output voltage using at least one set of three single-phase controlled rectifiers usable as one to three DC outputs to form a three-phase controlled rectifier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2022
    Date of Patent: September 10, 2024
    Assignee: HI-POWER SOLUTIONS INC.
    Inventors: Marco Tremblay, Sheila Tremblay
  • Patent number: 12081022
    Abstract: A plug-in power distribution unit is readily installable, removable, and replaceable by skilled or non-skilled persons. The units include one or more conventional electrical power plugs for engaging a conventional wall outlet or the like, and one or more proprietary electrical power connectors for engaging with a compatible connector of a modular electrical power system. Optionally, multiple circuits may be accommodated by the plug-in power distribution unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2024
    Inventor: Norman R. Byrne
  • Patent number: 12062920
    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: October 9, 2023
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2024
    Assignee: 8ME NOVA, LLC
    Inventor: Thomas Buttgenbach
  • Patent number: 12047015
    Abstract: A power conversion device is provided between a power supply and a load, and converts power from the power supply and supplies the converted power to the load. The power conversion device includes a plurality of switching elements composed of semiconductor elements, and a control device which generates drive signals for controlling the plurality of switching elements. Voltages are respectively applied to the plurality of semiconductor elements, on the basis of the drive signals generated by the control device. The plurality of semiconductor elements have equivalent failure probabilities due to neutron beams. Thus, a failure of the power conversion device due to neutron beams is prevented, and size increase thereof is suppressed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 23, 2024
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yusuke Shirouchi, Kenji Fujiwara, Takayoshi Nagai