Patents Examined by Jue Zhang
  • Patent number: 12294296
    Abstract: A Totem Pole PFC circuit includes at least one fast-switching leg, a slow-switching leg, and a control unit. Each fast-switching leg includes a fast-switching upper switch and a fast-switching lower switch. The slow-switching leg is coupled in parallel to the at least one fast-switching leg, and the slow-switching leg includes a slow-switching upper switch and a slow-switching lower switch. The control unit receives an AC voltage with a phase angle, and the control unit includes a current detection loop, a voltage detection loop, and a control loop. The control loop generates a second control signal assembly to respectively control the slow-switching upper switch and the slow-switching lower switch. The control loop controls the second control signal assembly to follow the phase angle, and dynamically adjusts a duty cycle of the second control signal assembly to turn on or turn off the slow-switching upper switch and the slow-switching lower switch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2023
    Date of Patent: May 6, 2025
    Assignee: DELTA ELECTRONICS, INC.
    Inventors: Chun-Hao Huang, Chun-Wei Lin, I-Hsiang Shih, Ching-Nan Wu, Jia-Wei Yeh
  • Patent number: 12294287
    Abstract: An object is to provide a technique capable of bringing a switching time point of a gate drive condition close to an appropriate switching time point. A semiconductor switching element drive circuit includes a logic circuit that inverts a level of an output signal based on a divided voltage of an output voltage of a semiconductor switching element, and a switching circuit. The switching circuit switches a gate drive condition of the semiconductor switching element during a turn-off operation from a first gate drive condition to a second gate drive condition in which a switching speed is lower than that of the first gate drive condition based on the output signal from the logic circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 6, 2025
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventor: Kazuaki Hiyama
  • Patent number: 12294297
    Abstract: An AC-DC power converter includes: an AC rectification circuit configured to convert an AC line voltage into a rectified line voltage; a charge-pump-based power factor correction sub-converter configured to provide a DC-bus supply voltage; a resonant sub-converter configured to convert the DC-bus supply voltage to a DC output voltage or DC output current, the resonant sub-converter including: a resonant tank configured to convert the DC-bus supply voltage to a resonant voltage or current; and an output rectification circuit configured to generate the DC output voltage or DC output current from the resonant voltage or current to supply a converter load, and a controllable switch network shared by the charge-pump-based power factor correction sub-converter and the resonant sub-converter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 6, 2025
    Assignee: DANMARKS TEKNISKE UNIVERSITET
    Inventors: Ahmed Morsi Ammar, Yasser A. A. Nour, Arnold Knott, Frederik Monrad Spliid
  • Patent number: 12294305
    Abstract: A multi-phase power converter and a control method thereof according to a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure can minimize a temperature deviation between switches by varying the magnitude of current to be handled by a power conversion module of the multi-phase power converter based on the temperature of the switch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2023
    Date of Patent: May 6, 2025
    Assignee: HL Mando Corporation
    Inventors: Jungmin Park, Sunghyun Lim
  • Patent number: 12294274
    Abstract: Disclosed is a motor. The motor includes a housing part including a housing body, and a housing cover that covers one side of the housing body, a stator provided in an interior of the housing body, a rotor assembly accommodated inside the stator to be rotatable, and having a fluid flow path for causing a cooling fluid introduced to a front side thereof to flow into a rear side that faces the housing cover, and a reflective plate coupled to the rotor assembly, disposed between the rotor assembly and the housing cover, and that defines a fluid spattering path, along which the cooling fluid that flows through the fluid flow path spatters in a radial direction thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 6, 2025
    Assignees: HYUNDAI MOTOR COMPANY, KIA CORPORATION
    Inventor: Yeong Woo Seo
  • Patent number: 12289019
    Abstract: A dynamo-electric machine in one embodiment of the present invention includes a tubular stator, a rotor disposed in an internal space of the stator, a bottomed tubular case that accommodates the stator, an end cover mounted on an open end of the case on one side, and a temperature sensor. The stator includes a stator core having a plurality of protruding portions that protrude toward a center of the stator, insulators mounted on the stator core, and a coil obtained by winding a winding wire around each of the plurality of protruding portions with the insulators therebetween. The temperature sensor is disposed on the end cover side of the stator between bent portions of the winding wires in the adjacent coils.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 29, 2025
    Assignee: HIRATA CORPORATION
    Inventor: Satoshi Nishimoto
  • Patent number: 12287660
    Abstract: Provided is a low-dropout regulator circuit with high loop stability based on a load-dependent zero mobile compensation and a method thereof. The LDO circuit with high loop stability comprises a LDO circuit body, the LDO circuit body includes a PMOS transistor; the LDO circuit with high loop stability comprises a dynamic-resistance-boosting-circuit adaptively connected with the PMOS transistor, a dynamically variable resistor in parallel with PMOS transistor is generated according to the state of the load by the dynamic-resistance-boosting-circuit; the dynamically variable resistor is connected in parallel with PMOS transistor following the load variations to form a load equivalent resistor, a value for the formed load equivalent resistor is less than an equivalent resistance maximum value for PMOS transistor in a stable loop state, so that a high frequency pole frequency of the LDO circuit body is greater than a unit gain frequency of the LDO circuit body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 24, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 29, 2025
    Assignee: BEIJING TONGXIN TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD
    Inventor: Bingjie Chen
  • Patent number: 12289062
    Abstract: A power conversion apparatus includes a converter circuit and a control unit. The converter circuit includes circuits for the number of phases being more than one, the circuits each including a reactor and a corresponding first or second switching element connected to the reactor. The converter circuit converts an AC voltage output from a commercial power supply into a DC voltage. In a case where a time difference between a timing of turning off the first switching element and a timing of turning on the second switching element is within a threshold, the control unit performs control for advancing or delaying the timing of turning off the first switching element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 29, 2025
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Takeshi Iida, Satoru Ichiki
  • Patent number: 12289041
    Abstract: A secondary side controller configured to determine a peak voltage and/or a frequency of a secondary side winding of a power supply converter over a predetermined period of time, wherein, when the converter is in the burst mode, the secondary side controller is configured to instruct a primary side controller to increase the set point, such that the primary side controller operates in the standard mode to increase the converted output voltage, the secondary side controller determining the peak voltage and/or the frequency of the secondary side winding while the primary side controller is operating the converter in the standard mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 29, 2025
    Assignee: SIGNIFY HOLDING, B.V.
    Inventors: Bernd Clauberg, Yuhong Fang, Ashwin Premraj
  • Patent number: 12283894
    Abstract: In described examples, a converter circuit includes a primary-side ground, a current sensor, a control signal generator, first and second control switches, and a transformer with a center-tapped primary-side coil. A first terminal of the first control switch is coupled to a first terminal of the coil and a first input of the current sensor. A first terminal of the second control switch is coupled to a second terminal of the coil and a second input of the current sensor. Second terminals of the first and second control switches are coupled to ground. The control signal generator closes the first control switch and opens the second control switch in a first phase; opens the first control switch and closes the second control switch in a second phase that alternates with the first phase; and adjusts first phase duration in response to current sensor output, without changing converter period duration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 11, 2023
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2025
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventors: Anant Kamath, Suvadip Banerjee
  • Patent number: 12266921
    Abstract: In an installation including a stored energy source and an electric motor which can be fed by an inverter, and a method for operating an installation, the stored energy source forms an electrical series circuit with a first fuse and further fuse(s). A controllable contact, e.g., a switch, a contactor, etc., is connected in parallel to the further fuse, or a respective controllable contact, e.g., a switch, a contactor, etc., is connected in parallel to each of the further fuses. The series circuit feeds the DC-voltage-side connection of the inverter, and a device for detecting the voltage applied to the series circuit is connected to control electronics which generate a control signal for the contact or control signals for the controllable contacts. For example, the respective contact is opened when the voltage falls below a respective voltage threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 3, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 1, 2025
    Assignee: SEW-EURODRIVE GMBH & CO. KG
    Inventors: Dominik Hecht, Hubert Heine
  • Patent number: 12267006
    Abstract: Bonding a full-bridge device and an LLC device in a stack, or forming the full-bridge device and the LLC device on a same substrate, rather than connecting the devices, reduces a chip area associated with a power converter including the full-bridge device and the LLC device. Additionally, the full-bridge device and the LLC device consume less power because parasitic inductance and capacitance are reduced. Additionally, raw materials and production time are conserved that would otherwise have been used to connect the full-bridge device and the LLC device (e.g., via wires).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 13, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 1, 2025
    Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yen-Ku Lin, Ru-Yi Su, Haw-Yun Wu, Chun-Lin Tsai
  • Patent number: 12261073
    Abstract: An electrostatic chuck including a workpiece support surface, clamping layer, heating layer, thermal control system, and sealing band is disclosed. The sealing band surrounds an outer perimeter of the electrostatic chuck including at least a portion of the workpiece surface. The sealing band has a width greater than about 3 millimeters (mm) up to about 10 mm. Plasma processing apparatuses and systems incorporating the electrostatic chuck are also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 3, 2024
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2025
    Assignees: Beijing E-Town Semiconductor Technology Co., Ltd., Mattson Technology, Inc.
    Inventor: Maolin Long
  • Patent number: 12261501
    Abstract: This disclosure pertains to a system for cooling an electric motor including a rotor which is connected to an output shaft, a stator disposed about the rotor, a casing in which the stator and rotor are disposed, and a cooling assembly. The cooling assembly includes an inlet configured to deliver coolant into the casing and directly onto the stator to cool the stator and an outlet configured to remove the coolant from the casing. The stator is a major source of heat within the electric motor and applying coolant directly to onto the stator is an effective method of cooling the motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2025
    Assignee: Blak LLC
    Inventor: Arthur Leon Kowitz
  • Patent number: 12259743
    Abstract: A bandgap reference circuit includes a first current generator having first and second bipolar transistors for generating a first current that varies proportionally as a function of temperature. A second current generator includes a field effect transistor for generating a second current that varies inversely as a function of temperature. A trimming circuit includes a third bipolar transistor sized to match the first bipolar transistor, a third current generator having a second field effect transistor coupled to a collector and base of the third bipolar transistor to generate a third current based on a base current of the third bipolar transistor, and a trim control circuit configured to modify the second current by adding the third current to or subtracting the third current from the second current based on a trim control signal. A bandgap reference current is generated by summing the first current and the modified second current.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2023
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2025
    Assignee: NXP USA, Inc.
    Inventors: Guillaume Mouret, Yann Cargouet, Thierry Michel Alain Sicard
  • Patent number: 12261520
    Abstract: A switch-mode power supply and a zero current detector for use therein. A zero current detector includes an input stage and an output stage. The output stage is coupled to the input stage. The output stage includes a detector output terminal, a first transistor, and a second transistor. The first transistor includes an input terminal and a control terminal. The input terminal is coupled to the detector output terminal. The control terminal is coupled to the input stage. The second transistor includes an input terminal, a control terminal, and an output terminal. The input terminal is coupled to the control terminal of the first transistor. The control terminal is coupled to the input terminal of the second transistor. The output terminal is coupled to ground.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2023
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2025
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Srinivas Venkata Veeramreddi, Subhash Sahni
  • Patent number: 12261518
    Abstract: Circuitry and methods for an improved gate driver circuit for power converters. The improved gate driver circuit substantially reduces propagation delay and transition losses in the floating-gate side of the gate driver circuit. One embodiment includes an inverter having an input configured to receive a state transition signal and an output configured to be coupled to a control input of a switching device. The inverter includes a first NFET having a control gate configured to be coupled to the state transition signal, a second NFET having a control gate coupled to the output of a reference circuit, and a PFET having a control gate configured to be coupled to the state transition signal, wherein the output of the inverter is a node between the conduction channels of the first NFET and the second NFET and the conduction channels of the first NFET, second NFET, and PFET are coupled in series.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2025
    Assignee: Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Gary Chunshien Wu
  • Patent number: 12261521
    Abstract: A load control device for controlling power delivered from an AC power source to an electrical load may have a closed-loop gate drive circuit for controlling a semiconductor switch of a controllably conductive device. The controllably conductive device may be coupled in series between the source and the load. The gate drive circuit may generate a target signal in response to a control circuit. The gate drive circuit may shape the target signal over a period of time and may increase the target signal to a predetermined level after the period of time. The gate drive circuit may receive a feedback signal that indicates a magnitude of a load current conducted through the semiconductor switch. The gate drive circuit may generate a gate control signal in response to the target signal and the feedback signal, and render the semiconductor switch conductive and non-conductive in response to the gate control signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2023
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2025
    Assignee: Lutron Technology Company LLC
    Inventors: Brian J. Bollinger, Venkatesh Chitta, Firozbabu Cholashari, Jonathan Waldron
  • Patent number: 12259742
    Abstract: An LDO regulator includes a voltage-to-time converter configured to convert a fluctuation in an output voltage sensed from an output node into a time domain signal having a pulse type, and output the time domain signal, based on a clock signal; a time-to-voltage converter configured to receive the time domain signal, convert the time domain signal into a first voltage control signal performing first compensation for the output voltage, and output the first voltage control signal; an analog amplifier configured to output a second voltage control signal continuously performing second compensation for the output voltage, regardless of the clock signal; and a first pass transistor configured to drive the output voltage based on the second voltage control signal. The LDO regulator is configured to reduce the fluctuation in the output voltage, based on the first compensation and the second compensation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2025
    Assignees: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD., IUCF-HYU (INDUSTRY-UNIVERSITY COOPERATION
    Inventors: Huidong Gwon, Byongdeok Choi, Taehwang Kong, Junhyeok Yang, Junhwan Jang
  • Patent number: 12255524
    Abstract: A system for driving four-quadrant (4Q) switches of a power converter is provided herein and comprises a transformer driver module, a first gate driver module and a second gate driver module coupled to the transformer driver module via a first isolation transformer and a second isolation transformer, respectively, for receiving both switch signal information and power, and a first bidirectional switch and a second bidirectional switch coupled to the first gate driver module and the second gate driver module and to one another for driving the first bidirectional switch and the second bidirectional switch based on the switch signal information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2025
    Assignee: Enphase Energy, Inc.
    Inventors: Tomasz Janusz Kotula, Patrick Lyle Chapman, Martin Fornage