Patents Examined by Fred E Finch, III
  • Patent number: 12068697
    Abstract: An electric conductive part for a power conversion circuit includes a connection conductive portion and a branch portion. The connection conductive portion is configured to connect a joint portion of a battery with a capacitor that is included in the power conversion circuit. The connection conductive portion includes a path portion, which is configured to connect the joint portion with the capacitor, and a branch portion that branches from the path portion. The branch portion extends toward a control circuit board and is connected with the control circuit board. The control circuit board is configured to control drive of a switch element of the power conversion circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 11, 2022
    Date of Patent: August 20, 2024
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yuuya Kiuchi, Kenshiro Hida
  • Patent number: 12062915
    Abstract: The present disclosure discloses a sub-module hybrid MMC with low full-bridge ratio and a DC fault processing method thereof. The hybrid MMC prevents the energy at the AC side from entering a DC system by artificially creating three-phase interphase short circuit at the AC side of a converter in the DC fault processing process, which greatly reduces the ratio of full-bridge sub-modules required for DC fault processing. Moreover, the hybrid MMC has the same DC fault processing speed as the sub-module hybrid MMC with high full-bridge. The duration of the artificially created three-phase interphase short circuit fault in the fault processing process does not exceed 30 ms, which will not have a great impact on the AC system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2024
    Assignee: ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Zheng Xu, Yuzhe Xu, Zheren Zhang
  • Patent number: 12057770
    Abstract: A control device for an MMC is disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2024
    Assignee: HYOSUNG HEAVY INDUSTRIES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Jun Chol Lee, Sung Min Oh, Joo Yeon Lee
  • Patent number: 12051966
    Abstract: A converter for avoiding a short-circuit fault of the converter while inhibiting a surge impact includes: a power factor correction (PFC) circuit, a surge protection circuit, and a switch circuit. The PFC circuit is configured to: convert a first component of a first alternating current received by an alternating current terminal of the PFC circuit into a first direct current, and output the first direct current through a direct current terminal of the PFC circuit; and convert a second direct current received by the direct current terminal of the PFC circuit into a second alternating current, and output the second alternating current through the alternating current terminal of the PFC circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2022
    Date of Patent: July 30, 2024
    Assignee: Huawei Digital Power Technologies Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Chen Chen, Bin Ma, Weiping Liu, Zhaoxue Cui
  • Patent number: 12040695
    Abstract: A power conversion device includes a power conversion module, a phase change material, a heat dissipation member, a cooling mechanism, and a controller. A semiconductor switching element and a freewheeling diode configure a power conversion circuit. The phase change material is provided on a principal plane of a casing. The heat dissipation member includes a heat dissipation surface. The heat dissipation surface is overlapped with the principal plane to sandwich the phase change material. The cooling mechanism cools the heat dissipation member. The controller generates a driving signal for driving the power conversion circuit and controls the cooling mechanism. The controller includes a predetermined heating operation. The heating operation may drive the power conversion circuit, in a state that the cooling mechanism is stopped or intermittently operated, such that heat generation occurs in both the semiconductor switching element and the freewheeling diode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 16, 2024
    Assignee: TMEIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Naoya Shibata, Masahiro Kinoshita, Issei Fukasawa
  • Patent number: 12034361
    Abstract: A controller for a DC-DC converter that includes an inductor. The DC-DC converter has three phases of operation: a first phase, in which an input voltage charges the inductor; a second phase, in which the inductor discharges to a load; and a third phase, in which the inductor is disconnected from the load and in which the input voltage does not charge the inductor. The controller is configured to set a control-factor based on the input voltage of the DC-DC converter, and set the duration of the third phase based on the control-factor and the sum of the duration of the first phase and the second phase.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 2022
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2024
    Assignee: NXP B.V.
    Inventors: Wouter van der Heijden, Edwin Schapendonk, Henricus Cornelis Johannes Buthker, Henri Verhoeven, Oswald Moonen, Ton van Deursen
  • Patent number: 12027909
    Abstract: The application discloses a power conversion system and a controlling method of the same. The power conversion system includes: n choppers, comprising n switching arms connected in parallel, each chopper including: the switching arm, an inductor having a first end connected to a midpoint of the switching arm, and a first capacitor connected in parallel to the switching arm; and n DC components corresponding to the n choppers with a one-to-one relation, wherein one of the DC components is a DC power supply or a DC load, first ends of the DC components are connected together, and a second end of each of the DC components is connected to a second ends of the inductor of the corresponding chopper, where n is a natural number of 2 or more.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 2, 2024
    Assignee: DELTA ELECTRONICS (SHANGHAI) CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Guoqiao Shen, Ning He, Changyong Wang
  • Patent number: 12003191
    Abstract: A control circuit for an inverter. The control circuit includes a first pulse width modulation (PWM) module configured to produce first and second complementary PWM signals, and a second PWM module configured to produce a third and fourth complementary PWM signals. PWM switching logic is coupled to the first and second PWM modules and is adapted to be coupled to a switch network. The switch network includes first, second, third, and fourth switches coupled in series between a first voltage terminal and a second voltage terminal. The PWM switching logic is configured to produce control signals for each of the first, second, third, and fourth switches in response to the first and second complementary PWM signals and to the third and fourth complementary PWM signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2024
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventors: Himanshu Chaudhary, Salil Chellappan
  • Patent number: 11977400
    Abstract: An analog circuit arrangement (1) to variably set a voltage Uout, within defined voltage limits, has a non-inverting adder (10) with a positive input (11). A voltage divider (20), with at least a first stage (21) and a second stage (22), is connected to the positive input (11) of the adder (10). At least one stage has a parallel circuit of n resistors (R1, R2, . . . , Rn) that are each connected in series in a conduction path (L1, L2, . . . , Ln) to an overcurrent protection device (F1, F2, . . . , Fn). At least one device (30) actively changes one or more of the overcurrent protection devices (F1, F2, . . . , Fn) into a state that interrupts the respective affected conduction path (L1, L2, . . . , Ln).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2024
    Assignee: ebm-papst Mulfingen GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Martin Bürkert, Thomas Kilian, Sebastian Schroth, Fabian Schneider, Georg Wiedmann
  • Patent number: 11962239
    Abstract: A control circuit of a power converter and a control method thereof are provided. The control circuit includes an error amplifier, a controller, a digital filter, and a digital pulse width signal modulator. The error amplifying circuit is coupled to an output terminal of the power converter and provides a digital error signal. The controller provides a first working parameter corresponding to the first external control command when receiving a first external control command. The digital filter generates a current digital compensation value. The digital pulse width signal modulator generates a pulse width modulation signal. The controller provides a second working parameter corresponding to the second external control command when receiving a second external control command. The controller calculates a transition value according to the second working parameter and the current digital compensation value. The controller provides the second working parameter and the transition value to the digital filter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2024
    Assignee: uPI Semiconductor Corp.
    Inventors: Yun-Kuo Lee, Wei-Hsiang Wang, Yen-Chih Lin, Wei-Hsiu Hung
  • Patent number: 11955877
    Abstract: A method to operate a DC-DC power converter in a low power burst mode, the method including sampling an output voltage of the DC-DC power converter with a sampling frequency to determine when to initiate a burst for the low power burst mode; and adapting the sampling frequency based on the output voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2024
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics S.r.l.
    Inventors: Alessandro Nicolosi, Giovanni Sicurella
  • Patent number: 11949337
    Abstract: A flyback power converter includes a controller, a high-end driving circuit, an active clamp switch, a main switch and a zero current detection circuit. The high-end driving circuit is coupled to the controller. The active clamp switch is coupled to the high-end driving circuit for driving the active clamp switch. The main switch is coupled to the controller. The zero current detection circuit is coupled to the controller. The main switch and the active clamp switch are arranged on the primary side of a transformer. The switching period of a gate of the active clamp switch and the switching period of a gate of the main switch are controlled in reverse phase to achieve zero voltage or zero current conversion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 9, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2024
    Assignee: PHIHONG TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Ta-Ching Hsu
  • Patent number: 11949331
    Abstract: The present document describes a power converter configured to convert electrical power at an input voltage at an input of the power converter to electrical power at an output voltage at an output of the power converter. The power converter comprises a first upper capacitor and a first lower capacitor, which are coupled with one another via a first mid node; a second upper capacitor and a second lower capacitor, which are coupled with one another via a second mid node; an inductor; and a set of power switches. In addition, the power converter comprises a control unit which is configured to control the set of power switches such that during an operation cycle the power converter is operated in a first main state and in a second main state in a mutually exclusive manner.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2024
    Assignee: Dialog Semiconductor (UK) Limited
    Inventors: Mark Mercer, Kevin Dowdy, Holger Petersen
  • Patent number: 11942857
    Abstract: A power supply is provided. The power supply includes a power supply circuit and a control circuit. The power supply circuit includes a voltage converter and multiple point-of-load circuits. The voltage converter generates a third voltage according to a first voltage. The load point-of-load circuits generate at least one second voltage and at least one state signal according to the third voltage. The at least one second voltage is suitable for supplying power to a load. The control circuit is coupled to the power supply circuit. The control circuit determines whether a single event latch-up occurs in the power supply circuit according to the at least one state signal. When the single event latch-up occurs in the power supply circuit, the control circuit switches off the power supply circuit to stop generating the at least one second voltage and the at least one state signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2024
    Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
    Inventors: Cheng-Wei Yang, Chueh-Hao Yu, Chien-Yu Chen
  • Patent number: 11942876
    Abstract: A power conversion device includes: a power conversion circuit connected to a direct-current power supply and a power system and configured to perform conversion between direct-current power and alternating-current power; a phase-locked loop circuit configured to output a phase instruction value based on a system alternating-current voltage phase of the power system; and a control circuit configured to control the power conversion circuit based on the phase instruction value from the phase-locked loop circuit. The phase-locked loop circuit includes: a phase difference calculation section configured to calculate a phase difference in a predetermined cycle, the phase difference representing a deviation of the phase instruction value from the system alternating-current voltage phase of the power system; a phase difference correction section; and a phase instruction value generation section configured to output the phase instruction value based on an output of the phase difference correction section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2024
    Assignee: TOSHIBA MITSUBISHI-ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL SYSTEMS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kazuki Aoyagi, Yoshihiro Tawada
  • Patent number: 11940826
    Abstract: A power control integrated circuit (IC) chip can include a direct current (DC)-DC converter that outputs a switching voltage in response to a switching output enable signal. The power control IC chip can also include an inductor detect circuit that detects whether an inductor is conductively coupled to the DC-DC converter and a powered circuit component in response to an inductor detect signal. The power control IC chip can further include control logic that (i) controls the inductor detect signal based on an enable DC-DC signal and (ii) controls the switching output enable signal provided to the DC-DC converter and a linear output disable signal provided to a linear regulator based on a signal from the inductor detect circuit indicating whether the inductor is conductively coupled to the DC-DC converter and the powered circuit component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 11, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2024
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventors: Sachin Sudhir Turkewadikar, Nitin Agarwal, Madhan Radhakrishnan
  • Patent number: 11936300
    Abstract: An apparatus for power conversion comprises a voltage transformation element, a regulating element, and a controller; wherein, a period of the voltage transformation element is equal to a product of a coefficient and a period of the regulating circuit, and wherein the coefficient is selected from a group consisting of a positive integer and a reciprocal of said integer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: pSemi Corporation, LLC
    Inventor: David Giuliano
  • Patent number: 11936287
    Abstract: A self-driven active clamp circuit applied to a flyback converter having a transformer and a switch has a clamp switch and a resistor. The clamp switch is connected between a first capacitor and a second capacitor in series. Another terminal of the first capacitor is connected to a first terminal of a primary-side winding of the transformer. Another terminal of the second capacitor is connected to a second terminal of the primary-side winding of the transformer and the switch of the flyback converter. A terminal of the resistor is connected to a control terminal of the clamp switch. Another terminal of the resistor is connected to the second terminal of the primary-side winding of the transformer and the switch of the flyback converter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: MINMAX TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Cheng-Chou Wu
  • Patent number: 11929671
    Abstract: Methods for operating an interleaved resonant power converter, and systems and apparatuses for power conversion. The method includes generating a first pair of complementary signals to drive a first stage of the interleaved resonant power converter. The method also includes generating a second pair of complementary signals to drive a second stage of the interleaved resonant power converter. The method further includes generating a current-mode control signal based on a current sense signal of the first stage. The method also includes adjusting a switching frequency of the first pair of complementary signals based on the current-mode control signal. The method further includes adjusting a switching frequency of the second pair of complementary signals to match the switching frequency of the first pair of complementary signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 4, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2024
    Assignee: SEMICONDUCTOR COMPONENTS INDUSTRIES, LLC
    Inventor: Roman Mazgut
  • Patent number: 11929682
    Abstract: A voltage converter comprising a voltage input, a transformer comprising a primary winding coupled with the voltage input, a main switch coupled at a node with the primary winding, a snubber circuit coupled with the voltage input and with the node, the snubber circuit comprising a controllable switch having a gate and a source. A control circuit is coupled with the main switch and configured to turn the main switch on and off to convert an input voltage supplied to the voltage input to an output voltage distinct from the input voltage. The gate is coupled with the source to prevent the controllable switch from turning on.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2024
    Assignee: AES Global Holdings PTE Ltd.
    Inventor: Todd Martin Schaible