Patents Examined by Gary A Nash
  • Patent number: 11831150
    Abstract: A temporary power delivery system includes a power source, a booth stringer, and a portable GFCI device. The GFCI device is receives current from the power source by a first terminal and delivers current to the booth stringer by a second terminal. An electronic processor of the GFCI device compares a combined magnitude of current flowing through first and second phase conductors of the GFCI device to a magnitude of current flowing through a neutral conductor of the GFCI. The electronic processor also compares a first voltage between the first phase conductor and neutral conductor to a second voltage between the second phase conductor and neutral conductor. A circuit breaker of the GFCI device is opened if a difference between the combined magnitude of phase conductor current and neutral conductor current exceeds a first threshold or a difference between the first voltage and second voltage exceeds a second threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2023
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2023
    Assignee: Hubbell Incorporated
    Inventors: Roy Itzler, Nicole Gay
  • Patent number: 11824456
    Abstract: A hybrid flyback circuit is provided and includes an upper switch, a lower switch, a transformer, a resonant circuit, a current sampling circuit and a control unit. The control unit includes an output voltage feedback unit, a peak current comparison unit controlling the upper switch to turn off when a sampling voltage corresponding to the current sampling signal is equal to the first voltage feedback signal, a first dead time delay unit controlling the lower switch to turn on after a first dead time starting from the turn-off time of the upper switch, a negative peak current feedback unit for generating a second voltage feedback signal, a conduction control unit controlling the lower switch to turn off, and a second dead time delay unit controlling the upper switch to turn on after a second dead time starting from the turn-off time of the lower switch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 11, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2023
    Assignee: DELTA ELECTRONICS (SHANGHAI) CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Haibin Song, Hairui Xu, Fengkai Jiang, Daofei Xu, Jinfa Zhang
  • Patent number: 11804788
    Abstract: A power converter includes an inverter circuit connected between the positive and negative terminals of a DC power supply, three single-phase bridge circuits each connected in series between an AC terminal of one of different phases of the inverter circuit and a motor, and a power conversion controller that generates gate signals to control operations of the inverter circuit and the three single-phase bridge circuits based on phase voltage commands. When a semiconductor switching element of the single-phase bridge circuits fails, the power conversion controller sets the output voltage of the single-phase bridge circuit of a phase to which the faulty semiconductor switching element belongs to zero to continue operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2023
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tetsuya Kojima, Hisatoshi Fukumoto, Kenji Fujiwara, Akihiko Iwata
  • Patent number: 11804779
    Abstract: Power converter with voltage-selective skip mode entry. At least one example is a method of operating a power converter, the method comprising: operating, by a controller, the power converter in discontinuous conduction mode; and then operating, by the controller, the power converter in frequency foldback operation; and entering, by the controller, skip mode when load current falls below a skip threshold implemented based on an output voltage of the converter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2023
    Assignee: SEMICONDUCTOR COMPONENTS INDUSTRIES, LLC
    Inventor: Alan David Finkel
  • Patent number: 11799378
    Abstract: Multiphase series capacitor DC-DC converters are provided, including: a power stage circuit configured to convert an input DC voltage into a stable DC voltage required by a load, where the power stage circuit includes inductors of two or more phases, and there is a phase difference with a preset interval between inductor currents of phases for alternately charging the load in sequence, and a bidirectional switch is provided between inductors of every two adjacent phases, where when the bidirectional switch is turned on, the inductors of the corresponding two phases charge the load simultaneously; and a load transient response circuit configured to, when a load transient positive step occurs, control one or more bidirectional switches to be turned on to make inductors of two or more corresponding phases charge the load simultaneously. Control methods of such converters are also provided, which can realize fast response to load transient changes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2023
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2023
    Assignee: HEFEI CLT MICROELECTRONICS CO. LTD
    Inventors: Lin Cheng, Feng Wu, Jingyi Yuan, Zeguo Liu
  • Patent number: 11799383
    Abstract: A hybrid DC-DC converter includes a converter circuit, a bridge circuit with a bridge path that includes a winding of a transformer, and another bridge circuit with a bridge path that includes another winding of the transformer. Current through the bridge path of the other bridge circuit flows through the converter circuit in one direction and bypasses the converter circuit in the other direction. The converter circuit can operate in buck, boost, or buck-boost mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2023
    Assignee: Monolithic Power Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Dianbo Fu, Jinghai Zhou, Daocheng Huang, Junjie Feng
  • Patent number: 11791718
    Abstract: A power converting device includes a totem pole type power factor improving circuit and a control circuit. The totem pole type power factor improving circuit includes a coil connected to a first terminal of an AC power supply, a first half-wave switch in which a source terminal is connected to the coil via a first current detector, a second half-wave switch in which a drain terminal is connected to the coil via a second current detector, a first diode in which a cathode is connected to a drain terminal of the first half-wave switch and an anode is connected to a second terminal of the AC power supply, a second diode in which an anode is connected to a source terminal of the second half-wave switch and a cathode is connected to the second terminal of the AC power supply, and a smoothing capacitor connected between the cathode of the first diode and the anode of the second diode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 5, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2023
    Assignee: TOSHIBA TEC KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Yutaka Usami
  • Patent number: 11791118
    Abstract: A switching regulator is disclosed comprising a high-voltage port, a low-voltage port, n number of switching poles, a magnetic element, and a controller. In turn, each switching pole connects across the high-voltage port and may consist of either one switch and one diode or two switches and two diodes. In turn, the magnetic element comprises a ferro-core having n number of magnetic branches, each of which includes a winding. Each winding start connects to the phase node of a respective switching pole, while each winding finish connects, in common, to one side of the low-voltage port. An n+1th magnetic branch establishes a defined common-mode inductance which, in combination with transformer action, limits current ripple. The transformer action serves to exchange ripple power between phases such that the need for inductance is greatly reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2023
    Assignee: Enure, Inc.
    Inventors: Wally E. Rippel, Eric E. Rippel
  • Patent number: 11791745
    Abstract: An adaptive control method for multiple inverters in parallel and a system with multiple inverters in parallel. The method average distribute the active power of each inverter unit by means of acquiring state information of inverter units, adjusting a reference voltage output by each of the inverter units based on a deviation between the output active power and the average active power, which is calculated by the state information, re-acquiring the state information and calculating a voltage component difference and a current component difference between the inverter units based on the adjusted reference voltage, and then adaptively adjusting the virtual impedance of the slave inverter unit according to the voltage component difference and the current component difference so that the output impedance of the slave inverter unit and master inverter unit is matched.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2023
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2023
    Assignee: SHENZHEN POWEROAK NEWENER CO., LTD
    Inventors: Hui Ma, Wentao Cang, Xiangzhu Yin, Zhihua Guo
  • Patent number: 11784581
    Abstract: A converter and a method of operating a converter. The converter comprising a DC link capacitor, an upper arm (S1) and a lower arm (S4) with switching cells in series, an upper switch (S2) and a lower switch (S3). The upper switch (S2) and the lower switch (S3) are connected together and the connection point forming an output voltage terminal (a). The converter comprising further an upper valve component and a lower valve component, which are arranged such that the upper valve component allows current from the center point of the DC link capacitor towards the upper arm and the lower valve component allows current from the lower arm towards center point of the DC link capacitor. A current path through the upper valve component or the lower valve component comprises inductance to form a resonance circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2023
    Assignee: ABB Schweiz AG
    Inventors: Federico Bertoldi, Kalle Ilves, Nan Chen
  • Patent number: 11784561
    Abstract: An apparatus for power conversion includes a switching network that controls interconnections between pump capacitors in a capacitor network that has a terminal coupled to a current source, and a charge-management subsystem. In operation, the switching network causes the capacitor network to execute charge-pump operating cycles during each of which the capacitor network adopts different configurations in response to different configurations of the switching network. At the start of a first charge-pump operating cycle, each pump capacitor assumes a corresponding initial state. The charge-management subsystem restores each pump capacitor to the initial state by the start of a second charge-pump operating cycle that follows the first charge-pump operating cycle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2023
    Assignee: pSemi Corporation
    Inventors: Aichen Low, Gregory Szczeszynski, David Guiliano
  • Patent number: 11777413
    Abstract: A DC/DC converter may be formed out of the combination of a first converter that is optimized to transfer energy from a voltage source to a load, and a second converter that receives a control signal derived from the load voltage to regulate the load voltage. The DC/DC converter may be configured as a sigma converter, a delta converter, or a sigma-delta converter. The mode of operation being selected according to the source voltage or the load voltage, either of which may vary over a wide range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2023
    Assignee: DELTA ELECTRONICS, INC.
    Inventors: Laszlo Huber, Tomas Sadilek, Misha Kumar, Zhiyu Shen, Jinfa Zhang, Chia-Hsiong Huang, Peter Mantovanelli Barbosa
  • Patent number: 11777418
    Abstract: An alternating-current (AC) voltage regulator including an isolated power supply, a control circuit, an amplifier, and an output. The isolated power supply is configured to receive an input voltage and output a direct-current (DC) signal isolated from the input voltage. The control circuit is configured to adjust a portion of the input voltage, and output an adjusted voltage. The amplifier is configured to output a differential signal. The differential signal is based on at least one selected from a group consisting of the isolated DC signal, the adjusted voltage, and a feedback loop. The output is configured to add the differential signal to the input voltage resulting in a regulated voltage, and output the regulated voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 2023
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2023
    Assignee: Hubbell Incorporated
    Inventor: Kenneth Edward Pagenkopf
  • Patent number: 11777420
    Abstract: A submodule for a modular multilevel converter has nine semiconductor switches that can be switched off, four capacitors, six network nodes, and two terminals. The components are mounted such that different voltages are generated between the terminals of the submodule by controlling the semiconductor switches. This arrangement of components substantially improves the behavior of the converter and of the submodule in the event of a fault.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2023
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Viktor Hofmann, Mark-Matthias Bakran, Sebastian Semmler
  • Patent number: 11770075
    Abstract: A method of setting a synchronous rectifier on-time value includes determining that a time interval has occurred, receiving a number of triangular current mode (TCM) pulses measured during the time interval, and determining a pulse comparison value equal to a number of switching period pulses during the time interval minus the number of TCM pulses during the time interval. The method also includes increasing the synchronous rectifier on-time if the pulse comparison value is greater than or equal to a threshold and decreasing the synchronous rectifier on-time if the pulse comparison value is less than the threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 11, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 26, 2023
    Assignee: Nexgen Power Systems, Inc.
    Inventor: Anders Lind
  • Patent number: 11764694
    Abstract: A configurable control loop arrangement for forming a control loop of a DC-DC converter that is configured to generate a control signal to control the DC-DC converter, the configurable control loop arrangement comprising: a digital-to-analog converter; a comparator; a timer configured to provide a timing-signal for controlling one or more of: the comparator in the determination of the comparison signal; the application of the comparison signal to a configurable-event-generation-logic-module; and the operation of the configurable-event-generation-logic-module; wherein the configurable-event-generation-logic-module comprises a flip-flop circuit, and wherein the configurable-event-generation-logic-module, when implemented in the control loop, is configured to provide for generation of the control signal based on the comparison signal, the timing-signal and a selected mode of the flip-flop circuit, and wherein the control signal is for application to one or more switches of the DC-DC converter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2023
    Assignee: NXP USA, Inc.
    Inventors: Lingling Wang, Kai-Wen Cheng, Chongli Wu, Xiaoxiang Geng, Xuwei Zhou
  • Patent number: 11764684
    Abstract: System controller and method for regulating a power converter. For example, the system controller includes a first controller terminal and a second controller terminal. The system controller is configured to receive an input signal at the first controller terminal and generate a drive signal at the second controller terminal based at least in part on the input signal to turn on or off a transistor in order to affect a current associated with a secondary winding of the power converter. Additionally, the system controller is further configured to determine whether the input signal remains larger than a first threshold for a first time period that is equal to or longer than a first predetermined duration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2023
    Assignee: On-Bright Electronics (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yaming Cao, Qiang Luo, Yuan Lin, Lieyi Fang
  • Patent number: 11764695
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a circuit arrangement and to an actuating method for a DC voltage converter, in particular a DC voltage converter with phase-shifted full-bridge topology, wherein power can also be transmitted from the primary side to the secondary side when the electrical voltage on the primary side undershoots the product of the electrical voltage on the secondary side and the transmission ratio of a transformer in the DC voltage converter. In this way, for example, a capacitor on the primary side of the DC voltage converter can be discharged to a safe, low voltage level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2023
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventors: Christoph Kienzler, Emiliano Gudino Carrizales, Jan Riedel
  • Patent number: 11757375
    Abstract: A DC-AC inverter system using a state observer and a control method thereof are provided. The control method of the DC-AC inverter system includes the following steps. The state observer outputs a filter-capacitor-current estimation value at a next sampling time according to a DC link voltage at a current sampling time and a filter-capacitor-voltage actual value at the current sampling time. The filter-inductor-current estimation value at the next sampling time is compared with the filter-capacitor-current estimation value at the next sampling time to obtain a load current estimation value at the next sampling time. An inductor voltage estimator outputs a filter-inductor-voltage estimation value at the next sampling time according to the load current estimation value at the next sampling time. A feed-forward control is performed according to the filter-inductor-voltage estimation value at the next sampling time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 2022
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2023
    Assignee: INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE
    Inventors: Wan-Pei Chen, Yoshihiro Konishi, Kuan-Wen Chen, Yeh-Hsiang Ho, Wan-Ju Ho
  • Patent number: 11750088
    Abstract: The application provides a method for controlling a PFC circuit including a diode bridge arm, DNPC bridge arm and capacitor group connected in parallel. The control method includes: switching working mode of the PFC circuit back and forth between first mode and third mode via second mode in each switching cycle when positive half cycle of a modulation wave is modulated, and switching working mode of the PFC circuit back and forth between sixth mode and fourth mode via fifth mode in each switching cycle when negative half cycle of the modulation wave is modulated. The durations of the second and fifth modes are as short as possible, thereby decreasing a current flowing into or out from midpoint of the capacitor group, and reducing voltage fluctuation at the midpoint. The application further provides a PFC circuit using the control method and a power conversion device having the PFC circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2022
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2023
    Assignee: Delta Electronics (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Cheng Lu, Hongyang Wu, Wenfei Hu