Patents Examined by Nusrat Quddus
  • Patent number: 10778087
    Abstract: A switching half-bridge has two field-effect transistors and a supplementary circuit arranged upstream of a gate terminal of a first field-effect transistor and formed of a first circuit branch having a damping resistor and an inductor connected in series with the damping resistor and a second circuit branch being connected in parallel with the first circuit branch and having a series resistor and an auxiliary switch connected in series with the series resistor. The half-bridge can be switched from a first switching state to a second switching state, wherein while the auxiliary switch is open, a change in the control voltage causes the first circuit branch to temporarily change the gate-source voltage of the first field-effect transistor from the switch-on level to a second switch-off level greater than a first switch-off level, with the gate-source voltage thereafter returning to the first switch-off level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2020
    Assignee: SIEMENS AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT
    Inventors: Andreas März, Mark-Matthias Bakran
  • Patent number: 10778110
    Abstract: A power converter is basically provided with at least three switching circuits, at least one power source, at least one load, and a resonant circuit. Input terminals of the switching circuits are connected to either the at least one power source or the at least one load, and output terminals of the switching circuits are electrically serially connected to the resonant circuit to form a closed circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 13, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2020
    Assignees: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties, Inc.
    Inventors: Shigeharu Yamagami, Khai Doan The Ngo
  • Patent number: 10778101
    Abstract: A controller for a multi-phase switching regulator includes an error amplifier configured to generate an error signal indicative of the difference between a feedback voltage and a reference voltage; a loop calculator configured to generate control signals in response to the error signal to drive the power stages; and a dynamic phase management control circuit configured to generate a power efficiency value in response to the input current, the input voltage, the output current, and the output voltage. The dynamic phase management control circuit generates a phase selection signal indicating a first number of power stages to be activated in response to the first current signal and the power efficiency value. The phase selection signal is provided to the loop calculator to activate the first number of power stages.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2020
    Assignee: ALPHA AND OMEGA SEMICONDUCTOR (CAYMAN) LTD.
    Inventor: Richard Schmitz
  • Patent number: 10770972
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides an asymmetric switching capacitor regulator that is capable of providing an output voltage, covering a wide voltage range, with a high efficiency. The disclosed switching capacitor regulator is configured to generate a wide range of an output voltage by differentiating a voltage across one or more switching capacitors from a voltage across the rest of the switching capacitors in the switching capacitor regulator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 8, 2020
    Assignee: Lion Semiconductor Inc.
    Inventors: John Crossley, Hanh-Phuc Le, Alberto Alessandro Angelo Puggelli
  • Patent number: 10763751
    Abstract: A device and method for controlling a power converter. The device includes an activation terminal configured to obtain a first voltage based on the input voltage; a controlling terminal configured to obtain a second voltage based on the output voltage; and a digital controller configured to obtain a driving power based on the first voltage and/or the second voltage; the digital controller is configured to obtain the driving power at least based on the first voltage when the power converter is stopped. Therefore, a sufficient driving power can be provided for the digital controller even when the power converter is stopped.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 1, 2020
    Assignee: Sanken Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Junichi Takada, Mitsutomo Yoshinaga, Toshihiro Nakano, Koichi Shiotsu, Satoshi Funakoshi
  • Patent number: 10756614
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for current sensing and error correction in a switched-mode power supply composed of a high-side transistor coupled to a low-side transistor are described. One example method generally includes capturing a current associated with the low-side transistor at a first time corresponding to the low-side transistor turning off; capturing a current associated with the high-side transistor at a second time corresponding to a first delay after the high-side transistor turns on; capturing the current associated with the high-side transistor at a third time corresponding to the high-side transistor turning off; and applying a first correction current to a current-summing node of the current-sensing circuit for a first interval based on the first delay, wherein the first correction current is based on the captured current associated with the low-side transistor at the first time and on the captured current associated with the high-side transistor at the second time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 25, 2020
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Stuart Pullen, Michael Bui, Steve Hawley, Chunping Song
  • Patent number: 10749446
    Abstract: A virtual synchronous generator device disclosed. The device includes an inverter and inverter controller having a power control portion, a power reserve portion, a power point tracking control portion, and a virtual inertia control portion. The power reserve portion determines an amount of power to be reserved and sends a signal, indicative of the determined amount of power to the power point tracking controller. The power point tracking controller determines a power point that is less than a MPP, and provides a signal to the power control portion indicative of the determined power point. The inertia control portion determines a virtual inertia and provides a signal indicative of the virtual inertia to the power control portion. The power control portion provides a power control signal to the inverter based on the power point tracking signal and the inertia command signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 2, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 18, 2020
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventor: Maozhong Gong
  • Patent number: 10742138
    Abstract: A device for protecting an inverter include a first power switch configured to be turned on when a first voltage signal from a first switch of a safety relay is applied thereto; a second power switch connected in series with the first power switch, wherein the second power switch is configured to be turned on when a second voltage signal from a second switch of a safety relay is applied thereto; and a power line for connecting the first power switch and the second power switch to each other in series and for connecting the series of the first power switch and the second power switch to a buffer of the inverter, wherein a third voltage signal is applied via the power line to the buffer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2020
    Assignee: LSIS CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Jin-Kyu Yang
  • Patent number: 10727664
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides a temperature protection circuit for a power converter, including a plurality of temperature protection branches, each of the temperature protection branches comprises a resistor, a voltage source, a temperature switch, and an isolation transformer, and each of the temperature protection branches corresponds to one of the power semiconductor switch blocks, and a first end of the resistor of each of the temperature protection branches is coupled to an output electrode of the power semiconductor switch block, and a second end of the resistor is coupled to a first end of the voltage source and coupled to a first end of the contact of the temperature switch via a primary winding of the isolation transformer, a second end of the voltage source and a second end of the contact of the temperature switch are respectively coupled to the potential midpoint of the power converter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2020
    Assignee: Delta Electronics, Inc.
    Inventors: Teng Liu, Yong Zeng, Jianping Ying, Ming Wang, Xiaobo Huang, Jun Liu
  • Patent number: 10727746
    Abstract: A multi-phase DC-DC power converter includes an error amplifier, a comparator, a phase selection circuit, a plurality of phase circuits and a width detecting circuit. The plurality of phase circuits are each associated with a phase of the multi-phase DC-DC power converter, each including a turn-on clock generation circuit, a first switching transistor, a second switching transistor, an output inductor, and a control logic. In a load transition state, when the width detecting circuit detects that a comparison output signal exceeds a predetermined width, the phase selection circuit adjusts one of the plurality of phase signals based on a force trigger signal, and outputs, corresponding to a force trigger signal, one of the plurality of on-signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2020
    Assignee: ANPEC ELECTRONICS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tzu-Yang Yen, Hsin-Tai Lin
  • Patent number: 10720851
    Abstract: A printed circuit board (PCB) power cell (100) for arranging in a multi-cell power supply (500) includes a housing assembly (102) with a multiple section housing (104, 106), and a PCB assembly (120) positioned within the housing assembly (102), wherein the housing assembly (102) and the PCB assembly (120) are configured to provide an integrated voltage isolation of the power cell (100) which supports an output voltage of the multi-cell power supply (500). Furthermore, a multi-cell power supply (500) including a PCB power cell (100) with isolation is described.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 21, 2020
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Abdelnassir Abdalla, John B. Balicki, Jr., Edward Alan Cheesman, Liviu Mihalache, Edward A. Novack, Mukul Rastogi
  • Patent number: 10707745
    Abstract: A power supply circuit is equipped with a converter circuit configured to convert an alternating current signal applied at an input of the power supply circuit into a direct current signal. A control circuit for the power supply circuit is configured to detect a phase of the alternating current signal and to control discharging of an internal capacitive element of the power supply circuit based on the detected phase of the alternating current signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2020
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies Austria AG
    Inventors: Martin Feldtkeller, Torsten Hinz, Jens Barrenscheen, Reinhard Mueller, Anthony Sanders
  • Patent number: 10700607
    Abstract: A control circuit of a multi-phase converter can include: an inductor current sampling circuit configured to generate a plurality of sampling signals corresponding to a plurality of channels of the multi-phase converter, where each of the sampling signals characterizes an inductor current of a corresponding channel; an error circuit configured to generate a plurality of error signals corresponding to the plurality of channels, where each of the error signals characterizes an error between the inductor current of the corresponding channel and a reference current; and a modified circuit configured to modify the sampling signals of the corresponding channels according to the plurality of error signals to generate a plurality of modified sampling signals, where the control circuit balances the inductor currents between the plurality of channels according to the plurality of modified sampling signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2020
    Assignee: Silergy Semiconductor Technology (Hangzhou) LTD
    Inventors: Chienchun Chen, Liwei Yen
  • Patent number: 10698465
    Abstract: A system and method for providing additional power to a connected load is disclosed. The system includes a power supply unit and an energy storage unit coupled to the power supply unit. A switch has an input coupled to the power supply unit. A power output provides power to the connected load. The power output is coupled to an output of the switch and the energy storage unit. A controller is operative to provide a charging period where the switch is turned on to provide power to the power output. The controller provides a boost period where the switch is controlled via a pulse width modulation signal to connect the power supply with the energy storage unit to supply power to the load when the switch is on, and with the energy storage unit to supply power to the load when the switch is off.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2020
    Assignee: QUANTA COMPUTER INC.
    Inventors: Kuang-Hua Ouyang, Kuo-Chan Hsu, Yun-Teng Shih
  • Patent number: 10686360
    Abstract: A power control circuit includes a detection device, a first control device, and a second control device. When the detection signal is changed from lower to higher than the first voltage, the first control device's output is changed to the second potential. When the detection signal is changed from higher to lower than the second voltage, the first control device's output is changed to the first potential. When the detection signal is changed from lower to higher than the third voltage, the second control device's output is changed to the fourth potential. When the detection signal is changed from higher to lower than the fourth voltage, the second control device's output is changed to the third potential. According to the first or second potentials, the circuit device turns on/off the first function. According to the third or fourth potentials, the circuit device turns on/off the second function.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 16, 2020
    Assignee: QUANTA COMPUTER INC.
    Inventor: Hsin-Chih Kuo
  • Patent number: 10686373
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for regulating a power converter. An example system controller includes: a driver configured to output a drive signal to a switch to affect a current flowing through an inductive winding of a power converter, the drive signal being associated with a switching period including an on-time period and an off-time period. The switch is closed in response to the drive signal during the on-time period. The switch is opened in response to the drive signal during the off-time period. A duty cycle is equal to a duration of the on-time period divided by a duration of the switching period. One minus the duty cycle is equal to a parameter. The system controller is configured to keep a multiplication product of the duty cycle, the parameter and the duration of the on-time period approximately constant.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 16, 2020
    Assignee: On-Bright Electronics (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Qian Fang, Cong Lan, Lieyi Fang
  • Patent number: 10680525
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for regulating power conversion systems. A system controller includes: a first controller terminal configured to receive a first signal related to an input signal for a primary winding of a power conversation system; and a second controller terminal configured to output a drive signal to a switch to affect a current flowing through the primary winding, the drive signal being associated with a switching period including an on-time period and an off-time period. The switch is closed (e.g., being turned on) in response to the drive signal during the on-time period. The switch is opened (e.g., being turned off) in response to the drive signal during the off-time period. A duty cycle is equal to a duration of the on-time period divided by a duration of the switching period. The system controller is configured to keep a multiplication product of the duty cycle and the duration of the on-time period approximately constant.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2020
    Assignee: On-Bright Electronics (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Qian Fang, Xiangkun Zhai, Lieyi Fang
  • Patent number: 10673352
    Abstract: A power conversion apparatus includes: a plurality of cell blocks connected in cascade; and a plurality of bypass circuits each electrically connected in parallel with a corresponding one of the plurality of cell blocks. Each cell block includes: a first connection node on a high-potential side and a second connection node on a low-potential side for connection to another cell block; and a plurality of cell converters connected in cascade between the first connection node and the second connection node, each of the cell converters including an energy storage device. When a DC fault current flows in the direction from the low-potential side to the high-potential side, the current path via the plurality of cell blocks is larger in impedance than the current path via the plurality of bypass circuits.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2020
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kimiyuki Koyanagi, Ryosuke Uda
  • Patent number: 10673325
    Abstract: A DC-DC converter can include: a switched capacitor converter; and a switching converter, where input ports of the switched capacitor converter and the switching converter are coupled to each other in one of series and parallel connections, and output ports of the switched capacitor converter and the switching converter are coupled to each other in the other of series and parallel connections.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2020
    Assignee: Silergy Semiconductor Technology (Hangzhou) LTD
    Inventors: Wang Zhang, Chen Zhao
  • Patent number: 10651733
    Abstract: Described is an apparatus which comprises: a low-side switch coupled to an output node for providing regulated voltage supply; and a first driver operable to cause the low-side switch to turn off when the output node rises above a first transistor threshold voltage. Described is also a voltage regulator which comprises: a signal generator to generate a pulse-width modulated (PWM) signal; a bridge having a low-side switch coupled to an output node for providing regulated voltage supply according to the PWM signal; a first driver operable to cause the low-side switch to turn off when the output node rises above a first transistor threshold voltage; and a bridge controller to provide control signals to the first driver. The voltage regulator may operate without diode clamps and its operation is self-timed. The voltage regulator also provides tolerance against process variation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2020
    Assignee: INTEL CORPORATION
    Inventors: Gerhard Schrom, Mark S. Milshtein, Alexander Lyakhov