Patents Examined by Harry Behm
  • Patent number: 10122282
    Abstract: An electronic system and method include a controller to actively control power transfer from a primary winding of a switching power converter to an auxiliary-winding of an auxiliary power supply. The switching power converter is controlled and configured such that during transfer of power to the auxiliary-winding, the switching power converter does not transfer charge to one or more secondary-windings of the switching power converter. Thus, the switching power converter isolates one or more secondary transformer winding currents from an auxiliary-winding current. By isolating the charge delivered to the one or more secondary-windings from charge delivered to the auxiliary-winding, the controller can accurately determine an amount of charge delivered to the secondary-windings and, thus, to a load.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2018
    Assignee: PHILIPS LIGHTING HOLDING B.V.
    Inventors: John L. Melanson, Prashanth Drakshapalli, Siddharth Maru
  • Patent number: 10116210
    Abstract: A servo block in a Buck, Boost, or switching converter allows a positive offset to be applied to the DAC voltage. In a typical switching converter application, the load will have a positive current, sourced from the switching converter to ground through the load. This will cause the output voltage of the switching converter to fall with the output impedance. The servo block corrects the output voltage by adjusting the DAC voltage upwards. In the case where current is forced back into the switching converter, causing the output voltage to rise, the servo block will have affect. The behavior of the servo block is desirable as it reduces the negative affect the servo block may have on load transients occurring when the switching converter is in over voltage. In particular, the idea of shifting the DAC voltage for several different loops with a single servo block is disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2018
    Assignee: Dialog Semiconductor (UK) Limited
    Inventors: Mark Childs, Pietro Gallina, Vincenzo Bisogno
  • Patent number: 10114393
    Abstract: The voltage regulator includes a reference voltage circuit configured to feed back the reference voltage as a feedback voltage and to output the reference voltage, a soft-start circuit configured to output a control signal for controlling the reference voltage to rise linearly at a start of power supply, a voltage divider circuit configured to output a divided voltage, an error amplifier circuit configured to amplify and output a difference between the reference voltage and the divided voltage, and an output transistor controlled by an output voltage of the error amplifier circuit. The reference voltage circuit includes an analog switch transistor having a gate controlled by the control signal, and the feedback voltage is an output voltage from the analog switch transistor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2018
    Assignee: ABLIC INC.
    Inventors: Yuji Kobayashi, Takao Nakashimo
  • Patent number: 10103689
    Abstract: The present invention relates to the photoelectric field, and provides a power supply system and a power supply method, so as to reduce costs of a lead between a positive electrode or a negative electrode of a photovoltaic panel and a direct current voltage source. The power supply system includes: a photovoltaic panel string, an inverter connected to the photovoltaic panel string, and a transformer connected to the inverter. The power supply system further includes a voltage controller. The voltage controller includes a first terminal, a second terminal, and a third terminal. The voltage controller further includes: a first sampling unit, a control unit connected to the first sampling unit, and an inverter unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2018
    Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yunyan Xu, Yongbing Gao
  • Patent number: 10103622
    Abstract: A switching module comprising at least one power switching device arranged to output from an output node thereof a load current for the switching module, and at least one current sense component arranged to generate at least one sense current representative of the load current. The at least one current sense component comprises at least one temperature coefficient compensation resistance within the path of the at least one sense current and arranged to cause the at least one sense current to be at least partly compensated for a temperature coefficient caused by at least one parasitic routing resistance of a load current path for the at least one power switching device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2018
    Assignee: NXP USA, Inc.
    Inventor: Vasily Alekseyevich Syngaevskiy
  • Patent number: 10103649
    Abstract: A triboelectric power generator system uses a power converter to provide a controllable impedance between a triboelectric power generator and a load, in dependence on the triboelectric generator output. This enables improved power transfer even though the output generated by a triboelectric power generator can be irregular and fluctuates over time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2018
    Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
    Inventors: Andrew Ulrich Rutgers, Mark Thomas Johnson, Alan James Davie
  • Patent number: 10103641
    Abstract: An electric power converter includes a positive and a negative electrode terminals being disposed parallel and adjacent to each other, a positive electrode side switching device connected to the positive electrode terminal, a negative electrode side switching device connected to the negative electrode terminal, an output terminal connected to a connection point between the positive and the negative electrode side switching devices, and a counter conductor facing at least a portion of the positive electrode terminal and at least a portion of the negative electrode terminal in a height direction, the height direction being a direction perpendicular to both an aligned direction and a protruding direction of the positive and the negative electrode terminals. The counter conductor is disposed along a current path of an alternating current flowing through the positive electrode terminal, the positive electrode side switching device, the negative electrode side switching device, and the negative electrode terminal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2018
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takashi Masuzawa, Hiroshi Taki
  • Patent number: 10097103
    Abstract: The disclosure relates to a power conversion module, including: a substrate including a routing layer and an insulating layer, the routing layer including a first routing area and a second routing area; an electronic device provided on the first routing area and electrically connected to the first routing area and the second routing area, respectively; a vertical type power device provided on the second routing area and electrically connected to the second routing area; and a capacitor provided on the substrate, disposed between the electronic device and the vertical type power device, and electrically connected to the electronic device and the vertical type power device, respectively. The power conversion module is provided with all devices on the same substrate, thus cost is reduced, yield rate and reliability are improved, and parasitic inductance inside the power conversion module can be reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 9, 2018
    Assignee: Delta Electronics (Shanghai) CO., LTD
    Inventors: Shouyu Hong, Juan Cheng, Tao Wang, Zhenqing Zhao
  • Patent number: 10094857
    Abstract: To provide a current detection circuit capable of detecting with low current consumption that a prescribed current flows into a current measuring resistor. A current detection circuit is equipped with a reference voltage circuit which has two NMOS transistors having different threshold voltages and a resistor, and generates a reference voltage at the resistor, and a comparison output circuit which is comprised of a PMOS transistor, an NMOS transistor, and a measuring resistor connected in series in a manner similar to a PMOS transistor, an NMOS transistor, and a resistor and outputs a comparison result.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 9, 2018
    Assignee: ABLIC INC.
    Inventor: Fumiyasu Utsunomiya
  • Patent number: 10090765
    Abstract: In one example, a circuit for controlling a multi-phase converter is configured to determine an operating condition at a multi-phase converter module. Each phase switching module of a plurality of phase switching modules is configured to electrically couple, based on a respective switching signal, a voltage source to a respective phase of the multi-phase converter module. The circuit is further configured to, for each switching signal, generate an operating value using the operating condition and determine a dynamic hysteresis value for a next switching period using a duration of a previous switching period and a phase shift. The circuit is further configured to, for each switching signal, compare the operating value to a reference value with a hysteretic comparator function using the dynamic hysteresis value and generate the respective switching signal based on the comparison of the operating value to the reference value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2018
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Marc Kanzian, Matteo Agostinelli
  • Patent number: 10090766
    Abstract: A biasing circuit for a flyback converter can include a rectifier electrically coupled to an inductor of the flyback converter for generating a direct current signal from an alternating current signal outputted by the inductor in response to the inductor transferring an amount of energy to another inductor. The biasing circuit can also include a storage device electronically coupled to the rectifier to receive the direct current signal and store a charge. The biasing circuit can further include a limiting device electronically coupled to the storage device to provide an amount of the charge that is stored in the storage device to an input lead of a switch of the flyback converter for biasing the switch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 11, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2018
    Assignee: Halliburton Energy Services, Inc.
    Inventor: Fernando Oliveira da Fonseca
  • Patent number: 10084405
    Abstract: A control device for power conversion device controls a power conversion device in a system driven by the power conversion device to which an electric motor outputs AC power, and includes: a control pulse generation unit configured to generate a control pulse of the power conversion device; and a negative phase creation unit configured to input a pulse signal output by the control pulse generation unit and rotational speed information of the electric motor, and to generate an inverted signal of an output signal of the control pulse generation unit, wherein the pulse signal of a half cycle during one cycle of voltage, the pulse signal being generated by the control pulse generation unit, and a pulse signal of a next half cycle during the one cycle of voltage, the pulse signal being generated by the negative phase creation unit, are symmetrical in positive and negative relationship of voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 25, 2018
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Masatoshi Yoshimura, Naohiro Kusumi, Noriaki Hino, Tomofumi Shiraishi, Aung Ko Thet
  • Patent number: 10084370
    Abstract: A power switch transistor for a switching power converter is maintained on during a re-startup period by a zener breakdown voltage following a fault condition for the switching power converter. A source voltage from the power switch transistor is used to charge a VCC capacitor that stores a power supply voltage for a controller for the switching power converter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 25, 2018
    Assignee: DIALOG SEMICONDUCTOR INC.
    Inventors: Guang Feng, Pengju Kong, Kai-Wen Chin, Mingsheng Peng
  • Patent number: 10075067
    Abstract: Various examples are provided for two-switch switched-capacitor (SC) converters. In one example, a SC converter includes first and second switches connected in series, a first gain-extension network coupled to the first switch and a second gain-extension network coupled to the second switch, which can be operated to boost a voltage applied across the first and second switches. The gain-extension networks can include a diode and a capacitor. In another example, the gain-extension networks can include a switch and a capacitor, which can be operated to buck a voltage applied across the gain-extension networks. In another example, a SC converter includes first and second diodes connected in series, a first gain-extension network coupled to the first diode and a second gain-extension network coupled to the second diode. The gain-extension networks can include a switch and a capacitor, which can be operated to buck a voltage applied across the gain-extension networks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2018
    Assignees: THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, RAMOT AT TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY LTD.
    Inventors: Bin Wu, Keyue Ma Smedley, Sigmond Singer
  • Patent number: 10075092
    Abstract: In a power converter a DC positive terminal of a DC power supply is connected to a switching element, the DC negative terminal of the DC power supply is connected to a switching element. A capacitor and a capacitor connected in series are connected in parallel with the DC power supply, and a DC neutral point divided by the capacitor and the capacitor is connected to a switching element and a switching element. The switching element is connected to the positive terminal of a chopper cell group circuit, and the switching element is connected to the negative terminal of a chopper cell group circuit. The negative terminal of the chopper cell group circuit is connected to the positive terminal of the chopper cell group circuit, and the connection node therebetween serves as an output AC terminal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2018
    Assignee: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
    Inventors: Ryuta Hasegawa, Yosuke Nakazawa, Daichi Suzuki
  • Patent number: 10069333
    Abstract: A highly efficient, utility scale energy storage system employs large masses transported uphill to store energy and downhill to release energy. An electric powered cable winch or chain drive shuttles the masses between two storage yards of different elevations separated by a steep incline on rail vehicles supported by track and operated by an automated control system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2018
    Assignee: ADVANCED RAIL ENERGY STORAGE, LLC
    Inventors: William R. Peitzke, Matthew B. Brown
  • Patent number: 10056845
    Abstract: A power conversion apparatus and a synchronous rectification (SR) controller thereof are provided. The SR controller includes a first control circuit, a second control circuit and a third control circuit. The first control circuit compares a drain voltage on a drain terminal of a SR transistor with a first voltage. When the drain voltage is lower than the first voltage, the first control circuit outputs a driving voltage to turn on the SR transistor. The second control circuit generates the driving voltage according to the drain voltage and a second voltage so as to control the SR transistor. The third control circuit compares the drain voltage with a third voltage. When the drain voltage is higher than the third voltage, the third control circuit outputs the driving voltage to turn off the SR transistor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2018
    Assignee: Power Forest Technology Corporation
    Inventor: Kwan-Jen Chu
  • Patent number: 10056842
    Abstract: A method of controlling a power supply includes detecting a transition of the power supply to discontinuous conduction mode (DCM), and locking an operating point of the power supply after detecting the transition. The operating point can be unlocked when a timer expires or when a feedback voltage slope exceeds a threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2018
    Assignee: SEMICONDUCTOR COMPONENTS INDUSTRIES, LLC
    Inventors: Stephanie Cannenterre, Christophe Basso
  • Patent number: 10050532
    Abstract: The DC-DC converter includes: a switching element connected between an inductor and a power supply terminal; a pseudo ripple generation circuit configured to generate a pseudo ripple voltage depending on a ripple component that is generated in the output voltage, and a smoothed voltage by smoothing the pseudo ripple voltage; a comparison circuit configured to combine a first comparison result obtained by comparing the pseudo ripple voltage and the smoothed voltage to each other, and a second comparison result obtained by comparing a reference voltage and a feedback voltage obtained by dividing the output voltage to each other, and output a comparison result signal; and an output control circuit configured to control the switching element to be turned on and off based on the comparison result signal. The comparison circuit is configured to output only the second comparison result, as the comparison result signal, when a load becomes lighter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 14, 2018
    Assignee: ABLIC INC.
    Inventors: Akihiro Kawano, Katsuya Goto
  • Patent number: 10050537
    Abstract: A resonant converter (100) includes at least two transistor switches (S1-S8), out of which at least two are connected in parallel, and out of which a number of available transistor switches (S1-S8) is available for performing a current switching of the resonant converter (100). A controlling module (101) is configured to determine whether an output power of the resonant converter (100) is below an output power threshold value. A switching module (102) is configured to employ a reduced number of transistor switches out of the number of available transistor switches (S1-S8), if the output power of the resonant converter (100) is below the output power threshold value. The reduced number is at least declined by one compared to the number of available transistor switches (S1-S8). The switching module (102) is configured to permute the employed reduced number of transistor switches over the available transistor switches (S1-S8).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 14, 2018
    Assignee: KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V.
    Inventors: Helmut Mrusek, Sebastian Jantke, Sven Schiller