Patents Examined by Jye-June Lee
  • Patent number: 11309789
    Abstract: The invention discloses an inverter and a soft-start method for the same. The inverter is electrically connected between a DC power supply and a grid and includes a main power circuit electrically coupled to the grid through a relay, a filter, the relay, and a controller electrically connected with the main power circuit and the relay, respectively. The soft-start method includes: sampling a grid voltage of the grid; calculating an output voltage of the controller, and calculating a virtual current based on the output voltage of the controller, the grid voltage and a virtual impedance; and performing current closed-loop control by taking the virtual current as a feedback signal and sending a relay control signal to turn on the relay when a steady state is reached. The invention enables the soft start of the inverter without increasing any hardware circuit, such as a starting resistor, or the like.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2022
    Assignee: Delta Electronics (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Qikang Wei, Feidong Xu, Xuancai Zhu
  • Patent number: 11290102
    Abstract: In a method for protecting a field-effect transistor, which is operated in a switching mode, against an overload current in a switched-on switching state, an electric drain-source voltage between a drain connection and a source connection of the field-effect transistor is detected. The drain-source voltage is compared with a predefined voltage comparison value, and the field-effect transistor is switched into a switched-off switching state in the event that the drain-source voltage is greater than the voltage comparison value. For the purpose of providing a temperature compensation of the protection, the temperature of the field-effect transistor is detected; and the voltage comparison value is adjusted depending on the temperature. The voltage comparison value is, in addition, also dependent on time during the switched-on switching state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2022
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Andreas März, Mark-Matthias Bakran
  • Patent number: 11277066
    Abstract: A control circuit is introduced for facilitating inrush current reduction for a voltage regulator providing an output voltage variable in response to an output voltage selection. The control circuit includes a soft-start circuit, a soft-start tracking circuit, and a controller. The soft-start circuit is utilized for providing a soft-start signal. The soft-start tracking circuit includes a first input terminal for receiving a feedback signal from the voltage regulator, a second input terminal coupled to the soft-start circuit, and an output terminal coupled to the soft-start circuit. The controller, coupled to the soft-start tracking circuit, is configured to output an enabling signal to the soft-start tracking circuit selectively in accordance with the output voltage selection. The soft-start tracking circuit is operable in response to the enabling signal so that the soft-start signal provided by the soft-start circuit substantially follows the feedback signal from the voltage regulator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2022
    Assignee: ELITE SEMICONDUCTOR MEMORY TECHNOLOGY INC.
    Inventor: Yao-Ren Chang
  • Patent number: 11277000
    Abstract: In a DC feed system configured by a plurality of DC electrical circuits being combined, when an arc fault occurs, it is difficult to identify a DC electrical circuit in which an arc has occurred. For this reason, a DC electrical circuit protection apparatus includes: a plurality of DC electrical circuits, each of which has a current sensor provided in at least one of a positive or a negative electrical path and has arc noise absorbing mechanism on the upstream side of the current sensor; and an arc detection device which compares respective arc noise signal strengths of the DC electrical circuits from current signals detected by the current sensors of the DC electrical circuits, and based on the signal strengths, identifies a circuit in which an arc has occurred, wherein a DC electrical circuit in which an arc has occurred is identified.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2022
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Makoto Kanemaru, Mitsugi Mori, Mitsuru Tsukima
  • Patent number: 11258345
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for simultaneous operation of a plurality of chopper circuits of a wind turbine power converter, the method comprising the steps of operating a controllable switching member of a first chopper circuit in accordance with a first switching pattern, and operating a controllable switching member of a second chopper circuit in accordance with a second switching pattern, wherein the first switching pattern is different from the second switching pattern during a first time period. In order to reduce switching losses the first switching pattern may involve that the controllable switching member of the first chopper circuit is clamped during the first time period. Additional chopper circuits may be provided in parallel to the first and second chopper circuits. The present invention further relates to a power dissipation chopper being operated in accordance with the before mentioned method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 22, 2022
    Assignee: VESTAS WIND SYSTEMS A/S
    Inventors: Lars Helle, Torsten Lund
  • Patent number: 11239755
    Abstract: A power management device is disclosed, including a first DC-DC converter coupled to a first output voltage line, a second DC-DC converter coupled to a second output voltage line, a first set of switches associated with the first DC-DC converter, and a second set of switches associated with the second DC-DC converter. The power management device may further include a controller configured to toggle one or more switches of the first set of switches and one or more switches of the second set of switches, and a multi-mode radio-frequency front-end block communicatively coupled to the controller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 1, 2022
    Assignee: Skyworks Solutions, Inc.
    Inventor: David Steven Ripley
  • Patent number: 11227986
    Abstract: A system on an integrated circuit (IC) chip includes an input terminal and a return terminal. A heater coupled between the input terminal and the return terminal. A thermopile is spaced apart from the heater by a galvanic isolation region. A switch device includes a control input coupled to an output of the thermopile. The switch device is coupled to at least one output terminal of the IC chip.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 18, 2022
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Barry Jon Male, Henry Litzmann Edwards
  • Patent number: 11223273
    Abstract: An electronic circuit includes a Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) circuit, a sub-harmonic reduction circuit, and a voltage feedback circuit. The PWM circuit produces a PWM signal according to a voltage control signal, a current of the electronic circuit, and a maximum duty cycle. When the electronic circuit is operating in a peak current limit mode, the sub-harmonic reduction circuit generates a feedback adjustment signal according to whether the current of the electronic circuit exceeds a peak current limit, whether a duty cycle of the PWM signal is greater than or equal to the maximum duty cycle, whether the voltage control signal is controlling the duty cycle of the PWM signal, or combinations thereof. The voltage feedback circuit generates the voltage control signal according to an output voltage produced using the PWM signal, a value of a reference voltage, and a value of the feedback adjustment signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2022
    Assignee: SEMICONDUCTOR COMPONENTS INDUSTRIES, LLC
    Inventors: Yung-I Chang, Gabriel Eirea, Shawn Laliberte
  • Patent number: 11217988
    Abstract: A determination circuit including a detection circuitry, a switch controller, and a determination circuitry. The detection circuitry is configured to detect that an overvoltage has occurred in an electric power supply path. The switch controller is configured to turn off a switch when the detection circuitry has detected that the overvoltage has occurred. The determination circuitry is configured to perform a determination operation including determining whether the overvoltage that has occurred is attributed to an electric power conversion circuit or a load, on a basis of one of or both a first voltage of a first path and a second voltage of a second path that are in a period in which the switch is off, the first path coupling the switch and the electric power conversion circuit in the electric power supply path, the second path coupling the switch and the load in the electric power supply path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 4, 2022
    Assignee: TDK CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yusuke Ishino, Kengo Tsujimoto
  • Patent number: 11218085
    Abstract: The power conversion device includes an inverter circuit in which one or a plurality of current limitation circuits that limit an electric current flowing in each of legs are provided and a control unit that controls, when a target voltage or a target current of the inverter circuit is outside a predetermined range, the current limitation circuits such that the electric current flowing in each of the legs is not limited and alternately performs the ON/OFF control of the two switching elements of each of the legs with a dead time in between and controls, when the target voltage or the target current is within the predetermined range, the current limitation circuits such that the electric current flowing in each of the legs is limited and alternately performs the ON/OFF control the two switching elements of each of the legs of the inverter circuit without the dead time in between.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 4, 2022
    Assignee: OMRON Corporation
    Inventors: Takeshi Kiribuchi, Satoshi Miyagawa, Hitoshi Fukuhara
  • Patent number: 11211880
    Abstract: A control device controls an inverter such that a detected value of an output current of an inverter follows a current command value. The control device is configured to calculate a current deviation between the current command value and the detected value of the output current of the inverter, and control switching of switching elements to allow the calculated current deviation to be equal to or less than a current deviation command value. The control device sets a current limiter for a load current, the current limiter being smaller than an over current level, a load current with a current limiter smaller than an overcurrent level. When the detected value of the load current is larger than the current limiter, the control device reduces the current deviation command value to be smaller than that applied when the load current is smaller than the current limiter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 28, 2021
    Assignee: TOSHIBA MITSUBISHI-ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL SYSTEMS CORPORATION
    Inventor: Hidenobu Tajima
  • Patent number: 11201560
    Abstract: The power conversion device in which a transformer, a first rectifier element, a second rectifier element, a smoothing coil, and a smoothing capacitor are placed on a base, the transformer including a secondary winding including a first secondary winding and a second secondary winding, and an intermediate terminal at which to connect the secondary winding and the base, the smoothing coil including a smoothing coil first terminal and a smoothing coil second terminal, the smoothing capacitor being connected to the smoothing coil second terminal and the intermediate terminal, another end side of the first secondary winding and another end side of the second secondary winding being connected to each other at a connection portion, the connection portion being located between the first terminal and the second terminal, and the first terminal or the second terminal being located between the intermediate terminal and the connection portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 14, 2021
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventor: Kazuki Sakata
  • Patent number: 11194279
    Abstract: A power supply includes a first control circuit configured to control an output voltage of the power supply, a second control circuit configured to control an output current of the power supply, a switching circuit configured to switch control of the power supply from the first control circuit to the second control circuit based on the output current of the power supply while the first control circuit controls the output voltage of the power supply, and a power supply control circuit configured to output status information indicating a failure of the power supply acquired based on the output voltage of the power supply while the second control circuit controls the output current of the power supply.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 7, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 7, 2021
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Tatsuya Ogino, Shuntaro Nakayama, Takuya Tanimura, Kentaroh Kajita
  • Patent number: 11196355
    Abstract: A power conversion apparatus includes power conversion circuitry including a plurality of sub-modules connected in series to each other, a control device to generate a control command for controlling operation of the plurality of sub-modules, and a relay apparatus to relay communication between the control device and the plurality of sub-modules. For each sub-module of the plurality of sub-modules, the relay apparatus generates path information indicating a communication path from the control device to the sub-module, and outputs the generated path information to the sub-module. Each sub-module of the plurality of sub-modules generates identification information of the sub-module based on the path information corresponding to the sub-module.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 7, 2021
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yasunori Ido, Hideaki Ohashi, Noriyuki Imada
  • Patent number: 11196340
    Abstract: Described herein are systems, architectures, circuits, devices, and methods for a DC-DC converter that dynamically adjusts a supply voltage to a power amplifier based on the number of resource blocks in a signal to be transmitted. The disclosed technologies estimate the number of resource blocks in a signal, generate a signal corresponding to the estimated number of resource blocks, and modify a supply voltage based on the generated signal. These technologies can be used to increase the efficiency of power amplifier systems for cellular signals being transmitted that have fewer resource blocks than is typically assumed (e.g., at least 100 resource blocks).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 7, 2021
    Assignee: SKYWORKS SOLUTIONS, INC.
    Inventors: Sabah Khesbak, Florinel G. Balteanu, Roman Zbigniew Arkiszewski
  • Patent number: 11195825
    Abstract: A semiconductor device arrangement and a method of operating a semiconductor device arrangement. The semiconductor device can be arranged for bidirectional operation. The semiconductor device arrangement can comprise: a field effect transistor comprising first and second input terminals; a control terminal; a first diode connected between the first terminal and the control terminal; and a second diode connected between the second terminal and the control terminal; wherein the first terminal and the second terminal are configured and arranged to be connected to respective signal lines.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 7, 2021
    Assignee: Nexperia B.V.
    Inventors: Hans-Martin Ritter, Andreas Zimmerman
  • Patent number: 11183817
    Abstract: An apparatus includes a housing (e.g., a housing having a form factor of a molded case circuit breaker) and at least two phase terminals supported by the housing and configured to be connected to respective ones of at least two phase buses in an electrical panelboard. The apparatus further includes at least one fault generation device supported by the housing and including an arc containment chamber and first and second spaced-apart electrodes in the arc containment chamber and electrically coupled to respective ones of the at least two phase terminals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 23, 2021
    Inventors: Xin Zhou, Joe W. Kirstein, William Michael Crooks
  • Patent number: 11183834
    Abstract: A semiconductor module includes a diode bridge circuit, a sensor configured to measure a current value of the diode bridge circuit, a current limiting circuit having an IGBT connected to the diode bridge circuit, and a protection circuit configured to switch ON and OFF the IGBT in accordance with the current value of the diode bridge circuit measured by the sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 23, 2021
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Nobuchika Aoki, Rei Yoneyama, Keisuke Eguchi, Hiroki Hidaka
  • Patent number: 11177734
    Abstract: An adaptive method to protect a DC to DC buck converter from destruction in the event of a short circuit to ground at the output is described. The short circuit protection method is small and inexpensive, and uses very low current, allowing the buck converter to remain active and protected, as it self regulates below an acceptable maximum peak current. Inductor current is sensed in the current-mode loop circuitry and an over-current comparator is used. A masking interval generator is required to mask false over-current triggers caused by converter switching-induced glitches. Simple logic is used to detect if the current-limit comparator indicates over-current at the end of the masking interval and to implement over-current pulse-skipping on genuine over-current detection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 16, 2021
    Assignee: Dialog Semiconductor (UK) Limited
    Inventors: Nicolas Borfigat, Guillaume deCremoux
  • Patent number: 11171556
    Abstract: A resonant power converter for converting a DC input voltage to AC or DC output voltage, includes a transistor, and a first inductor connected to an input port for a DC voltage to be converted, the drain being connected to the input port by way of the first inductor, the converter furthermore comprising a first resonant network, connected between the drain of the transistor and ground, the first resonant network being configured so as to extract the fundamental component of a drain-source voltage of the transistor and to phase-shift it by a phase shift angle such that the fundamental component and the drain-source voltage are in phase opposition and thus generate a sinusoidal drive signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 9, 2021
    Assignee: COMMISSARIAT A L'ENERGIE ATOMIQUE ET AUX ENERGIES ALTERNATIVES
    Inventors: Rawad Makhoul, Xavier Bourgeois, Xavier Maynard, Pierre Perichon