Patents Examined by Henry Lee, III
  • Patent number: 10931196
    Abstract: A circuit includes an inductor that receives a switched input voltage to provide an output for driving a load. A driver circuit drives the switched input voltage to the inductor in response to input pulses. A ramp circuit coupled to the inductor generates a ramp signal emulating current of the inductor. A control circuit generates the input pulses to control the driver circuit based on the ramp signal and the output for driving the load. A transient monitoring circuit monitors the output with respect to a predetermined threshold and adjusts the ramp circuit based on the output relative to the predetermined threshold to control the emulated current of the inductor to facilitate jitter and load transient performance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 2, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2021
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventor: Song Guo
  • Patent number: 10644614
    Abstract: This conversion device includes: a DC bus with a smoothing capacitor; a first converter provided between a DC power supply and the DC bus to perform DC/DC conversion; a second converter provided between the DC bus and an AC electric path to perform DC/AC or AC/DC conversion by a full-bridge of switching elements; a voltage sensor for detecting voltage between both ends of the capacitor as DC bus voltage; and a control unit which causes a part of an absolute value of an AC waveform, and a DC waveform, to alternately arise as the DC bus voltage by selectively causing the first converter and the second converter to operate in one AC cycle of the AC electric path, the control unit detecting arm short-circuit in the second converter on the basis of a degree of reduction, in the DC bus voltage, that occurs during operation of the second converter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2020
    Assignee: Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yuji Okuda, Naoki Ayai
  • Patent number: 10348210
    Abstract: Circuits and devices are described that provide power to appliances and other devices via a power correction circuit and an LLC converter, which may for example include resonant series converters and flyback converters. The circuits and devices economize on board space, part size and power start up time by separately powering up the controller circuit portion prior to powering up the LLC converter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2019
    Assignee: SANKEN ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Toshihiro Nakano
  • Patent number: 10333423
    Abstract: An electronic device includes a rectifier bridge that includes an input configured to be coupled to power over Ethernet (PoE) power sourcing equipment (PSE), and an output. A transistor is configured to selectively couple the output with a load. The electronic device includes a maintain power signature (MPS) device, and a control circuit. The control circuit is to maintain the transistor on when a load current is above a threshold, source current from the rectifier bridge to the MPS device when the load current is below the threshold, and switch the transistor to a diode configuration when the load current is below the threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2019
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics S.r.l.
    Inventors: Andrea Agnes, Christian Beia
  • Patent number: 10270361
    Abstract: A control circuit and method for a synchronous rectifier having a plurality of switches and receiving an AC input signal. The control method includes switching between controlling a first switch of the plurality of switches in response to a control signal for a second switch of the plurality of switches, controlling the first switch in response to a comparison between the AC input signal and a second signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2019
    Assignee: MediaTek Inc.
    Inventors: Yun-Yoa Hung, Ming Chiang Ting
  • Patent number: 10263520
    Abstract: A DC/DC power converter connected to a DC power source having first and second DC terminals. The DC/DC power converter operates in voltage step-up and step-down modes. The converter includes first and second DC buses connected to the first and second DC terminals and third and fourth DC buses defining a DC link. Energy storage devices are connected between the third and fourth buses. A first converter leg includes a first branch with switches and a second branch. Each switch includes a controllable semiconductor switch and an anti-parallel connected freewheeling diode. A controller switches the controllable semiconductor switches between a conducting and non-conducting state, in the step-up and step-down modes, switching to supply power from the DC power source to the DC link in the step-up mode and to supply power from the DC link to the DC power source in the step-down mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2019
    Assignee: GE ENERGY POWER CONVERSATION TECHNOLOGY LTD
    Inventors: Teng Long, Allan David Crane, Martin Charles Southall, Mounir Louati
  • Patent number: 10243450
    Abstract: A flyback converter (21) for use in a power supply for an electric actuator system comprises a snubber circuit with a snubber capacitor (23) for accumulating energy stored in a leakage inductance of a flyback transformer (4) when a primary current (Iprim) is switched off. The snubber circuit further comprises a controllable switching element (24) in series with the snubber capacitor (23) with a control terminal connected to a voltage reference. The controllable switching element (24) can be in a conducting mode when the snubber capacitor voltage exceeds the reference voltage. In this way, the leakage inductance energy can be transferred to the secondary side instead of being dissipated in a resistor in the snubber circuit. This increases the power efficiency of the converter and reduces electromagnetic interference. At the same time, the solution is very simple and can thus be implemented at a low cost.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2019
    Assignee: Linak A/S
    Inventor: Jeppe Christian Bastholm
  • Patent number: 10241535
    Abstract: A voltage reference includes a flipped gate transistor and a first transistor, the first transistor having a first leakage current, wherein the first transistor is connected with the flipped gate transistor in a Vgs subtractive arrangement. The voltage reference further includes an output node configured to output a reference voltage, the output node connected to the first transistor. The voltage reference further includes a second transistor connected to the output node, the second transistor having a second leakage current. The voltage reference further includes a boxing region configured to provide a voltage level at a drain terminal of the first transistor to maintain the first leakage current substantially equal to the second leakage current.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 5, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2019
    Assignee: TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventors: Mohammad Al-Shyoukh, Alex Kalnitsky
  • Patent number: 10236763
    Abstract: A switching circuit with reverse current prevention for use in a Buck converter includes a power switch coupled to a coupling node, which is an interconnection point of a power switch, an inductor and a freewheeling diode of the Buck converter. The inductor is coupled between the coupling node and an output of the Buck converter, and the freewheeling diode is coupled between coupling node and an output return of the Buck converter. A controller is coupled to receive a feedback signal to control switching of the power switch to regulate a transfer of energy from the input to the output of the Buck converter. A reverse current prevention circuit is coupled to detect a reverse current condition of the power switch to generate an inhibit signal to inhibit the power switch from receiving a drive signal to prevent a reverse current through the power switch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2019
    Assignee: Power Integrations, Inc.
    Inventors: Zongqi Hu, Tiziano Pastore, Peter Vaughan, Yury Gaknoki, Jose Requinton Del Carmen, Jr., Sundaresan Sundararaj
  • Patent number: 10234881
    Abstract: A voltage regulator has a slow loop for providing a regulated DC current and a fast loop for providing a transient current. Feedback information is used to monitor the output voltage and control the current used to generate the output voltage. The voltage regulator does not need a capacitor to create transient current.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2019
    Assignee: NXP B.V.
    Inventors: Shishir Goyal, Arvind Sherigar
  • Patent number: 10236793
    Abstract: A grid connection power conversion device for connecting a distributed power supply to a three-phase commercial power system is provided. The power conversion device comprises an inverter, an instantaneous voltage detection circuitry to detect a maximum three-phase instantaneous voltage value of the commercial power system, a line voltage detection circuitry to detect a maximum value of each of three line voltages, an instantaneous voltage drop detection circuitry to detect an instantaneous voltage drop, and an output current control circuitry to control an output current value from the inverter. When the instantaneous voltage drop detection circuitry detects an instantaneous voltage drop, the output current control circuitry reduces the output current value from the inverter to an output current value corresponding to a minimum value among the four maximum voltage values which are the maximum three-phase instantaneous voltage value and the maximum values of the three line voltages.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2019
    Assignee: Tabuchi Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Chienru Lung, Hideki Hidaka
  • Patent number: 10234679
    Abstract: A capacitive-load driver circuit that is connected to terminals connected to capacitive loads and an output stage of an amplifier for feeding output voltages to the terminals to drive the capacitive loads. The capacitive-load driver circuit temporarily feeds a current during a transition period of the output voltages from one of the terminals transitioning from a high voltage state to a low voltage state to another terminal transitioning from a low voltage state to a high voltage state. The capacitive-load driver circuit includes a current-variation detector circuit and a charge transfer circuit. The current-variation detector circuit detects a variation in a current at the output stage. The charge transfer circuit feeds a predetermined current to one of the terminals to transfer charges from a capacitive load connected to a high voltage terminal to a capacitive load connected to a low voltage terminal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2019
    Assignee: MITSUMI ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Fumihiro Inoue
  • Patent number: 10236775
    Abstract: To provide a voltage regulator which is capable of testing a phase compensation capacitor without impairing stability as a regulator and prevents a chip area from being increased. A voltage regulator is configured to be equipped with a phase compensation capacitance test circuit for a phase compensation circuit and a negative voltage detection circuit for an external output voltage adjustment terminal and to apply a negative voltage to the external output voltage adjustment terminal to thereby start up the phase compensation capacitance test circuit, and measure the discharge time or current of a phase compensation capacitor to thereby test whether the phase compensation capacitor is good or not.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2019
    Assignee: ABLIC INC.
    Inventor: Yuji Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 10181798
    Abstract: A step-up DC-DC power converter comprises a primary side circuit and a secondary side circuit coupled through a galvanic isolation barrier. The primary side circuit comprises a positive and a negative input terminal for receipt of an input voltage and an input capacitor coupled between the positive and negative input terminals and the secondary side circuit comprises an output capacitor chargeable to a converter output voltage between a first positive electrode and a second negative electrode. The galvanic isolation barrier comprises a first capacitor coupled in series with the positive input terminal of the primary side circuit and the first positive electrode of the output capacitor; and a second capacitor coupled in series with the negative input terminal of the primary side circuit and the second negative electrode of the output capacitor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 15, 2019
    Assignee: Danmarks Tekniske Universitet
    Inventors: Milovan Kovacevic, Mickey P. Madsen
  • Patent number: 10122173
    Abstract: A reactive power compensator includes a plurality of phase clusters each including a plurality of cells, and a controller configured to control the plurality of phase clusters. When an energy error is generated in each of the plurality of phase clusters, the controller performs control to compensate for the energy error by generating an offset signal having a zero sequence component based on an error energy value of each of the plurality of phase clusters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2018
    Assignee: LSIS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yong Ho Chung, Gum Tae Son, Seung Ki Sul, Jae Jung Jung, Joon Hee Lee
  • Patent number: 10122288
    Abstract: A transformer includes a front stage circuit and a rear stage circuit. As a front stage circuit, a switch series unit, which is connected in parallel to a power supply, includes odd-numbered switches and even-numbered switches alternately turned ON. Mutual connection points of the respective switches and points at both ends of the switch series unit are regarded as m nodes in total. Capacitors are provided on at least one of a first electrical path combining odd nodes to lead them to a first output port, and a second electrical path combining even nodes to lead them to a second output port. The capacitors are present so as to correspond to at least (m?1) nodes. The rear stage circuit includes an element series unit, which is composed of a pair of semiconductor elements connected in series to each other for conducting operations of mutually opposite polarities, and necessary inductors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2018
    Assignees: Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd., National University Corporation Toyohashi University of Technology
    Inventors: Hideaki Nakahata, Kenichi Hirotsu, Takashi Ohira, Kyohei Yamada, Daiya Egashira
  • Patent number: 10116209
    Abstract: A method of operating a switched-mode power supply (SMPS) includes starting up the switched-mode power supply by determining a rate of increase of a duty cycle of a pulse width modulated (PWM) signal based on an input voltage and a switching frequency of the SMPS; and generating the PWM signal having the duty cycle in accordance with the determined rate of increase.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2018
    Assignee: INFINEON TECHNOLOGIES AG
    Inventors: Luca Bizjak, Emanuele Bodano, Stefano Marsili, Joachim Pichler
  • Patent number: 10116221
    Abstract: A series compensating electric power transmission system has an insulated type DC-DC converter that operates in the first through fourth quadrants, first and second DC voltage sources, and first and second power converters. In the converter, a first I/O positive terminal is connected to a first voltage source positive terminal. A first I/O negative terminal is connected to a first voltage source negative terminal. One of second I/O positive and negative terminals is connected to the first voltage source positive terminal. The other of the second I/O positive and negative terminals is connected to a second voltage source positive terminal. The first power converter converts power between the first I/O positive and negative terminals and first AC I/O terminals. The second power converter converts power between the second I/O positive and negative terminals and second AC I/O terminals. The second power converter is configured with a plurality of bidirectional switches.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2018
    Assignee: TDK Corporation
    Inventors: Kazuki Iwaya, Toshimasa Miyazaki, Kazu Shoji
  • Patent number: 10110115
    Abstract: A switching power supply device includes: a latch circuit to be set by a latch signal that is generated when an anomaly is detected, the latch circuit stopping the turning ON and OFF of the switching element when set by the latch signal; a pulse generator that receives said latch signal and generates a pulse signal at a prescribed cycle in response to said latch signal; a discharge circuit that is activated every time said pulse signal is provided so as to discharge electric charges stored in the capacitor; and a comparator for undervoltage protection that, when said control power supply voltage decreases to a prescribed operation stop voltage as said capacitor discharges, resets the latch circuit and the pulse generator, respectively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2018
    Assignee: FUJI ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Masanari Fujii
  • Patent number: 10110140
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a power converter circuit includes a resonant circuit coupled to an alternating current (AC) voltage source to convert a first AC voltage to a first AC current and an AC to direct current (AC/DC) converter coupled to the resonant circuit, where the AC/DC converter is to convert the AC current to a DC current. The power converter circuit further includes an inverter coupled to the AC/DC converter to convert the DC current to a second AC current, an AC filtering circuit coupled to an output of the inverter, and a load coupled to the output of the inverter to convert the second AC current to a second AC voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2018
    Inventor: James Nanut