Patents Examined by Gary L. Laxton
  • Patent number: 10742114
    Abstract: System and method are provided for regulating a power converter. The system includes a signal processing component configured to receive a first input signal and a second input signal, process information associated with the first input signal and the second input signal, and output a drive signal to a switch based on at least information associated with the first input signal and the second input signal. The first input signal is associated with at least a feedback signal related to an output voltage of the power converter. The second input signal is associated with at least a primary current flowing through a primary winding of the power converter. The signal processing component is further configured to change a peak value of the primary current within a first predetermined range, and change the switching frequency of the power converter within a second predetermined range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2020
    Assignee: On-Bright Electronics (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yuan Lin, Lieyi Fang
  • Patent number: 10739801
    Abstract: A band-gap reference circuit including a low drop-out (LDO) regulator and a reference circuit is disclosed. The LDO regulator outputs a regulating voltage which is provided to the reference circuit, and wherein the regulating voltage is maintained constant and powers the reference circuit such that the reference circuit outputs a band-gap reference voltage. According to the reference circuitry, the LDO regulator can output a stable voltage such that the regulating voltage can be maintained constant, therefore, causing the band-gap reference voltage output from the reference circuit to be maintained constant, hence improving the reliability of the band-gap reference voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2020
    Assignee: WUHAN XINXIN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING CO., LD.
    Inventor: Yuan Tang
  • Patent number: 10742009
    Abstract: Provided is a power distribution box distributing commercial electric power supplied from lead-in electric power lines into branch electric power sources and supplying the branch electric power sources to respective loads connected thereto. More particularly, the present invention relates to a power distribution box equipped with a resistive leakage current detector extracting a resistive leakage current simply and accurately from a resultant leakage current and causing leakage current interruption and alarm to be actuated according to the extraction result.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2020
    Assignee: TOZZTECH CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hyeon Jin Ha, Hak Su Oh, Hyun Do Lee, Kook Wang Noh, Dong Woo Kim
  • Patent number: 10742137
    Abstract: A power conversion device includes a first inverter connected to first ends of windings of each phase of a motor, a second inverter connected to second ends of the windings of each phase, and a first switching circuit including at least one of a first switch to switch between whether the first inverter and a power supply are connected or disconnected and a second switch to switch between whether the first inverter and a ground are connected or disconnected. The power conversion device has a first operation mode when the motor is driven at a low speed, and a second operation mode when the motor is driven at a high speed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2020
    Assignee: NIDEC CORPORATION
    Inventor: Hiromitsu Ohashi
  • Patent number: 10742028
    Abstract: A phase shifting transformer for poly-phase alternating current includes source side terminals, load side terminals, an exciting unit, and a series unit. The exciting unit includes further coils that are magnetically coupled to primary coils and to the secondary coils of the exciting unit to provide further voltages. The further coils are connected in series between the source side terminals and the series unit, so that the voltages at the load terminals are combinations of the quadrature voltages and the further voltages with the source voltages, thus modifying the voltage phase displacement between the source side terminals and the load side terminals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2020
    Assignee: ABB Power Grids Switzerland AG
    Inventors: Marko Wichert, Kevin Juchem, Oliver Derigs
  • Patent number: 10734916
    Abstract: A power converter is electrically connected with an AC power supply via a switch, and is configured with a plurality of unit converters (5) connected in series. A drive circuit (40, 42) drives a plurality of switching elements (11 to 14) of a main circuit (30). An interface circuit (48) outputs a detection value of a voltage sensor (46) to a control device (4). If a bypass switch (7) is turned off when the power converter is activated, each of the plurality of unit converters (5) charges a capacitor (15) using power supplied from the AC power supply. When the power converter is activated, a power supply (50) supplies a power supply voltage to the voltage sensor (46) and the interface circuit (48), prior to the drive circuit (40, 42). The control device (4) turns off the switch when the detection value of the voltage sensor (46) of at least one of the plurality of unit converters (5) is more than or equal to a predetermined value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2020
    Assignee: TOSHIBA MITSUBISHI-ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL SYSTEMS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yasuhiro Shinomiya, Ryota Okuyama, Taichiro Tsuchiya
  • Patent number: 10728960
    Abstract: In accordance with an embodiment, a method of operating a transistor includes: switching the transistor on and off based on a control signal; monitoring a voltage of a collector node of the transistor; detecting whether the voltage of the collector node of the transistor is above a first threshold; and after detecting the voltage of the collector node of the transistor above the first threshold, regulating a voltage across a load path of the transistor to a first target voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2020
    Assignee: INFINEON TECHNOLOGIES AG
    Inventors: Peter Bredemeier, Jorge Cerezo, Thomas Kimmer
  • Patent number: 10727743
    Abstract: System and method for regulating a power conversion system. For example, a system controller for regulating a power conversion system includes an amplifier, a variable-resistance component, a capacitor, and a modulation and drive component. The amplifier is configured to receive a reference signal and a feedback signal associated with an output signal of the power conversion system, the amplifier including an amplifier terminal. The variable-resistance component is associated with a first variable resistance value, the variable-resistance component including a first component terminal and a second component terminal, the first component terminal being coupled with the amplifier terminal. The capacitor includes a first capacitor terminal and a second capacitor terminal, the first capacitor terminal being coupled with the second component terminal. The modulation and drive component includes a first terminal and a second terminal, the first terminal being coupled with the amplifier terminal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2020
    Assignee: On-Bright Electronics (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yaming Cao, Dongze Yang, Qiang Luo, Lieyi Fang
  • Patent number: 10720828
    Abstract: A power supply device includes a rectifying/smoothing circuit that receives an AC voltage input and converts the AC voltage into a DC voltage by rectification and smoothing, an AC voltage cut-off detection circuit that detects a cut-off of the AC voltage, and a voltage processing circuit that is connected to a post-stage of the rectifying/smoothing circuit wherein the post-stage means a downstream side from the rectifying/smoothing circuit and operates when the AC voltage cut-off detection circuit has detected a cut-off of the AC voltage. The AC voltage cut-off detection circuit is provided with a signal transmitting element that is connected to the post-stage of the rectifying/smoothing circuit, and receives power supplied from the rectifying/smoothing circuit and sends a signal to the voltage processing circuit when the AC voltage is cut off.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 21, 2020
    Assignee: Oki Data Corporation
    Inventors: Tomoyuki Kojima, Hideki Shinyama
  • Patent number: 10720837
    Abstract: A voltage regulator circuit included in a computer system may include multiple devices and a switch node coupled to a regulated power supply node via an inductor. The voltage regulator circuit may couple the switch node to a capacitor for different periods of time using respective different subsets of the multiple devices. A control circuit may modify active times of control signals coupled to the multiple devices based on voltage samples of the switch node in order to adjust the durations of the different periods of time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 21, 2020
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Jitendra K. Agrawal, Dingkun Du
  • Patent number: 10715045
    Abstract: Operating power converters. At least some of the example embodiments are methods including: storing energy in a field of a transformer arranged for flyback operation, the storing by making conductive a primary switch coupled to a primary winding of the transformer; ceasing the storing of energy when a primary current through the primary winding reaches a predetermined value; measuring on time of the primary switch, the measuring creates a value indicative of on time; transferring energy from the field of the transformer; measuring discharge time of the energy from the field of the transformer during the transferring, the measuring of the discharge time creates a value indicative of discharge time; calculating a value indicative of input voltage of the power converter using the value indicative of on time and the value indicative of discharge time; and then compensating the predetermined value used in a subsequent storing energy step.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 14, 2020
    Assignee: SEMICONDUCTOR COMPONENTS INDUSTRIES, LLC
    Inventor: Yann Vaquette
  • Patent number: 10707764
    Abstract: A power apparatus includes a power circuit configured to receive an input voltage and generate an output voltage, a memory, and a processor coupled to the memory and the processor configured to calculate an integral value of an error between the output voltage and a target voltage of the power circuit, calculate a duty ratio based on the integral value, the power circuit being controlled according to the calculated duty ratio so that the output voltage becomes the target voltage, calculate a slope of the integral value with respect to an output current of the power circuit, and generate a first warning signal when the calculated slope exceeds a first warning threshold in a case where the calculated slope is different from an initial value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2020
    Assignee: FUJITSU LIMITED
    Inventor: Fujio Kurokawa
  • Patent number: 10707766
    Abstract: An active clamp circuit includes an active clamp capacitor coupled in series with an active clamp switch and an active clamp controller circuit to receive an active clamp switch current that passes through the active clamp switch and to control the active clamp switch based on the received active clamp switch current. The active clamp controller circuit is configured to enable the active clamp switch based on a first amplitude comparison, the first amplitude comparison being based on the active clamp switch current. The active clamp controller circuit is configured to disable the active clamp switch based on a second amplitude comparison and a third amplitude comparison, the second amplitude comparison and the third amplitude comparison being based on the active clamp switch current.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2020
    Assignee: Silanna Asia Pte Ltd
    Inventor: Aleksandar Radic
  • Patent number: 10707769
    Abstract: A power conversion circuit board is a board on which a power conversion circuit which converts direct current to alternating current is mounted. A low voltage circuit to which a low voltage is applied and a high voltage circuit to which a high voltage is applied are separately disposed in different areas on the same board surface. Further, in the high voltage circuit, a part of a wiring is formed on the board surface, and another wiring includes a bus bar which is provided with a predetermined distance from the board surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2020
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES THERMAL SYSTEMS, LTD.
    Inventors: Makoto Hattori, Hiroyuki Kamitani, Hiroto Higuchi
  • Patent number: 10707753
    Abstract: The present disclosure describes aspects of power regulation with charge pumps. In some aspects, an integrated circuit (IC) includes multiple processor cores and a power input connected to an internal power rail of the IC. The IC may also comprise embedded charge pumps coupled between the internal power rail of the IC and respective input power rails of the multiple processor cores. Capacitors of the embedded charge pumps may be implemented with on-die capacitors suitable for integration with a die of the circuit to facilitate the embedding of the charge pumps. Alternately or additionally, separate input power rails of the processor cores and the embedded charge pumps may enable more-efficient power regulation or power management on a per-processor core basis, such as when a processor core is throttled or idled to reduce power consumption.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2020
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Marko Koski, Charles Tuten
  • Patent number: 10700625
    Abstract: A power conversion device includes a filter unit including an active noise canceler including an active element reducing low frequency components contained in common mode noise of noise and lower than a predetermined threshold frequency, and a passive filter including a passive element reducing normal mode noise of noise and high frequency components contained in the common mode noise of noise and equal to or higher than the threshold frequency. The active noise canceler includes a choke coil having a primary winding to which a first alternating current power is supplied and a secondary winding outputting a current, a filter circuit reducing a high frequency region of the current of the secondary winding, an amplifier circuit amplifying output of the filter circuit and securing a required amount of the current, and a current injection circuit injecting output of the amplifier circuit to each phase of the first alternating current power.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2020
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Takahiko Kobayashi, Shinsaku Kusube, Kazuyoshi Watabu
  • Patent number: 10700617
    Abstract: A converter converting between a dc voltage at a first voltage level and at least one waveshape at a second higher voltage level has a primary connection port for the dc voltage, one secondary connection port for each waveshape, and one stack of cells for each secondary port. Each stack includes n cells connected in cascade between the primary port and the corresponding secondary port. At least (n?1) of the cells in a stack have: first, second, third, and fourth terminals, a first energy storage, and first, second, and third switches, where the first energy storage is connected in parallel with the first and second switches, the first terminal is provided at a junction between the first energy storage and the first switch, and the second terminal is provided at a junction between the first energy storage element, the second switch and the third switch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 6, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2020
    Assignee: ABBSchweiz AG
    Inventors: Ahmed Abdelhakim Moustafa Abdelrazek, Cicero Postiglione, Frans Dijkhuizen
  • Patent number: 10700618
    Abstract: An apparatus includes a DC-to-AC converter comprising a first output terminal and a second output terminal. The apparatus also includes a DC-to-DC converter comprising a third output. The DC-to-AC converter is configured to receive a DC input voltage from a DC power source, and to produce a first alternating output voltage at the first output terminal, and a second alternating output voltage at the second output terminal. The DC-to-DC converter is configured receive a DC input voltage from the DC power source, and to step down the DC input voltage at the third output.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2020
    Assignee: Solaredge Technologies Ltd.
    Inventors: Tzachi Glovinsky, Ilan Yoscovich, Guy Sella, Milan Ilic, Jaya Deepti Dasika
  • Patent number: 10693372
    Abstract: A multi-level power converter and a method using first, second, third and fourth switching elements, an inductor, and a flying capacitor are presented. A first terminal of the inductor may be connected to a switching terminal connecting the second and third switching elements. A first terminal of the flying capacitor may be connected to a terminal connecting the first and second elements. A second terminal of the flying capacitor may be connected to a terminal connecting the third and fourth switching elements. The multi-level power converter may have a first feedback circuit to generate control signals for setting the switching elements in a plurality of switching states for regulating an output voltage or an output current. The converter may have a second feedback circuit to generate control signals to allow the flying capacitor to be charged or discharged using an inductor current flowing through the inductor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2020
    Assignee: Dialog Semiconductor (UK) Limited
    Inventors: Aravind Mangudi, Mark Mercer, James Steele, Taek Chang, Bill McKillop
  • Patent number: 10691151
    Abstract: A system includes a first transistor having a drain and source connected between a supply voltage and an output of a voltage regulator. A gate of the first transistor receives a first gate voltage. The system includes a second transistor having a drain and source connected between the supply voltage and the drain of the first transistor. The second transistor protects the first transistor from excessive voltage. The system includes a level shifter connected between a gate of the second transistor and a gate of the first transistor. The level shifter produces a level-shifted gate voltage for the second transistor that is based on the first gate voltage and that is proportional to an output load current output at the source of the first transistor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2020
    Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte. Limited
    Inventors: Robert A. Greene, Jacob K. Easter