Patents Examined by Peter M Novak
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Patent number: 11159092Abstract: A power conversion device according to one embodiment includes a plurality of submodules connected in series to each other. In each submodule, a first terminal, a second terminal and a third terminal are provided on or provided to protrude from a surface of a package. A first semiconductor switching element is built into the package and connected between the first terminal and the second terminal. A second semiconductor switching element is built into the package and connected between the second terminal and the third terminal. A DC capacitor is built into the package and connected between the first terminal and the third terminal.Type: GrantFiled: August 9, 2017Date of Patent: October 26, 2021Assignee: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATIONInventors: Tatsuya Takahashi, Shigeo Hayashi
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Patent number: 11152866Abstract: An active clamping flyback circuit and a control method are disclosed, comprising a flyback circuit, a clamping circuit and a clamping control circuit. The active clamping flyback circuit comprises a transformer, a main transistor, and a freewheeling diode or a synchronous rectifier, an output feedback circuit is coupling to an auxiliary winding of the transformer and outputs a feedback voltage through a divided voltage The clamping circuit comprises a first capacitor and a first transistor coupling in series, In a discontinuous conduction mode, the clamping control circuit starts timing from a turn-off time of the first transistor, and ends timing until the feedback voltage is reduced to zero voltage, to obtain a first time, The clamping control circuit adjusts a turn-off moment of next switching cycle of the first transistor so that the first time of the next switching cycle is close to a first threshold.Type: GrantFiled: December 13, 2019Date of Patent: October 19, 2021Assignee: JOULWATT TECHNOLOGY (HANGZHOU) CO., LTDInventors: Pitleong Wong, Xianghua Jiang, Xunwei Zhou
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Patent number: 11152859Abstract: In some examples, a system includes a battery, a first voltage regulator with an input, and a second voltage regulator with an input. The input of the second voltage regulator is shifted in phase relative to the input of the first voltage regulator.Type: GrantFiled: December 27, 2017Date of Patent: October 19, 2021Assignee: Intel CorporationInventor: Govindaraj G
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Patent number: 11146181Abstract: A control method and apparatus for a single-phase five-level converter are provided. The method includes: obtaining a first-phase initial modulated wave and a second-phase initial modulated wave of the single-phase five-level converter; obtaining a first-level modulated wave, a second-level modulated wave, a third-level modulated wave, a fourth-level modulated wave, and a fifth-level modulated wave that are output by the single-phase five-level converter; calculating the first-level modulated wave, the second-level modulated wave, the third-level modulated wave, the fourth-level modulated wave, the fifth-level modulated wave, the first-phase initial modulated wave, and the second-phase initial modulated wave, to obtain a common-mode modulated wave of the single-phase five-level converter; and calculating the first-phase initial modulated wave, the second-phase initial modulated wave, and the common-mode modulated wave, to obtain a pulse-width modulated wave of the single-phase five-level converter.Type: GrantFiled: June 25, 2020Date of Patent: October 12, 2021Assignee: HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.Inventors: Fangcheng Liu, Kai Xin, Yunfeng Liu
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Patent number: 11139102Abstract: A DC-DC converter includes an insulating substrate; a magnetic core embedded in the insulating substrate, the magnetic core having non-zero x, y and z dimensions of less than or equal to about 5.4 mm by about 5.4 mm by about 1.8 mm; separate primary and secondary transformer windings surrounding first and second regions of the magnetic core; and a control circuit including: an oscillator; a drive circuit coupled to the oscillator; and one or more switches coupled to the drive circuit; the drive circuit providing a switching signal to the one or more switches and energizing the one or more switches to provide a drive voltage to the primary transformer winding. The one or more switches are Field Effect Transistors implemented in a Silicon-on-Insulator configuration or as a Silicon-on-Sapphire configuration.Type: GrantFiled: September 13, 2017Date of Patent: October 5, 2021Assignee: MURATA MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.Inventors: Quinn Kneller, Scott Parish, Mark Moffat
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Patent number: 11139657Abstract: This power conversion system is composed of a DC power supply circuit and a power conditioner which are connected to each other. The power conditioner includes: a first DC/DC converter provided between the DC power supply circuit and a DC bus; and an inverter provided between the DC bus and an AC electric path and configured to perform switching operation in such a manner that the inverter and the first DC/DC converter alternately have stop periods in an AC half cycle. The DC power supply circuit includes: a storage battery; and a second DC/DC converter of a bidirectional type, provided between the storage battery and the first DC/DC converter and including a DC reactor. The power conversion system includes a control unit configured to control current flowing through the DC reactor of the second DC/DC converter to have a constant value.Type: GrantFiled: October 20, 2016Date of Patent: October 5, 2021Assignee: Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.Inventors: Yoshiharu Nakajima, Naoki Ayai, Yusuke Shimizu
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Patent number: 11139741Abstract: Power converters are provided. A capacitor is coupled to a primary winding of a transformer forming part of an LC resonator. The capacitor is coupled with a supply voltage input (Vcc) of a controller to supply at least part of the controller with power.Type: GrantFiled: November 14, 2019Date of Patent: October 5, 2021Assignee: Infineon Technologies Austria AGInventors: Alfredo Medina-Garcia, Pierrick Ausseresse
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Patent number: 11128232Abstract: A driving device is provided with an output unit, an input unit, a rectifier circuit, a switching circuit and a controller. The input unit inputs an AC in put. The rectifier circuit has a smoothing capacitor and converts the AC input into a rectified output. The switching circuit switches between an ON-state in which input impedance is low and an OFF-state in which input impedance is higher than that in the ON-state. The controller sets a start timing such that, when controlling the switching circuit to switch between the ON-state and the OFF-state, at least a portion of a period, in which the start timing of a power supply period becomes a second timing, is included in a period from a time when an input current inputted to the smoothing capacitor is generated to a time when the voltage of the smoothing capacitor reaches a maximum value.Type: GrantFiled: July 25, 2018Date of Patent: September 21, 2021Assignee: NIDEC CORPORATIONInventors: Kotaro Kataoka, Hiroshi Iwata, Takamitsu Suzuki, Masaru Nomura
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Patent number: 11128222Abstract: A reactor has one end connected to a neutral point of a transformer and the other end connected to a primary-side power supply. The transformer has almost no effective flux linkage for zero-phase current and has a phase difference between the primary side and the secondary side. A first bridge circuit and a second bridge circuit are connected to both ends of the transformer, and electric power of the primary-side power supply is controlled by the duty ratio of the first bridge circuit. The switching pattern of the second bridge circuit is phase-shifted in the leading direction and the lagging direction with reference to the switching pattern of the first bridge circuit, thereby achieving control such that soft switching operation can be performed even when the voltage ratio between the primary-side power supply and the secondary-side power supply fluctuates and the amount of transmission power is reduced.Type: GrantFiled: March 29, 2018Date of Patent: September 21, 2021Assignee: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATIONInventors: Yuki Itogawa, Takeshi Amimoto
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Patent number: 11127620Abstract: Implementations of the present disclosure include methods and apparatuses utilized to reduce cracking of the substrate support surface of a high temperature electrostatic chuck within a processing chamber. In one implementation, a high temperature electrostatic chuck has a ceramic body. The ceramic body has a workpiece mounting surface and a bottom surface. A plurality of backside gas channels are formed in the workpiece mounting surface. A chucking mesh disposed in the ceramic body has a main chucking portion spaced a first distance from the workpiece mounting surface and an electrode mounting portion spaced a second distance from the workpiece mounting surface, wherein the second distance is greater than the first distance. An electrode is coupled the electrode mounting portion and is accessible from the bottom surface.Type: GrantFiled: June 15, 2018Date of Patent: September 21, 2021Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.Inventor: Bernard Lloyd Hwang
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Patent number: 11121541Abstract: A Boost DC-DC switching converter, having a safety protection method for a short circuit to ground during normal Boost operations, is described. A short circuit protection mechanism, to be used at startup, is also described. A low current capability active clamp is activated, during a soft or hard short circuit condition, and an isolation switch is turned off. An input of the switching converter is isolated from an output of the switching converter, and the Boost switching converter is able to safely discharge high energy stored in its coil, with no external components and minimum extra silicon area.Type: GrantFiled: February 27, 2019Date of Patent: September 14, 2021Assignee: Dialog Semiconductor (UK) LimitedInventors: Louis de Marco, Nicusor Bortun, Giovanni Tarroboiro
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Patent number: 11121640Abstract: A method of controlling a voltage source converter including at least one converter limb, each converter limb including limb portions, at least one limb portion including a chain-link converter having modules, each module including at least one switching element and at least one energy storage device, which combine to selectively provide a voltage source, comprising the steps of: establishing during an operating cycle of the chain-link converter a utilization peak based on the actual peak number of modules providing a voltage source; establishing a target utilization based on a desired number of modules providing a voltage source during the operating cycle; and determining a control function based on a difference between the established utilization peak and the target utilization which alters the peak number of modules providing a voltage source during a subsequent operating cycle of the chain-link converter so as to drive the utilization peak towards the target utilization.Type: GrantFiled: March 20, 2018Date of Patent: September 14, 2021Assignee: GENERAL ELECTRIC TECHNOLOGY GMBHInventor: John Lewis Outram
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Patent number: 11121626Abstract: A switch frequency control apparatus comprises a timer configured to receive a ramp and a threshold voltage, and generate a control signal for setting gate drive signals of a power converter, a ramp generator configured to generate the ramp through charging a ramp capacitor using a current source having a current level equal to a bias voltage divided by a resistor, and a threshold generator configured to generate the threshold voltage proportional to the bias voltage.Type: GrantFiled: September 23, 2019Date of Patent: September 14, 2021Assignee: M3 Technology Inc.Inventors: Xiaoyu Xi, Bo Yang, Lou Nuo
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Patent number: 11121548Abstract: A multi-input voltage converter includes an output circuit, a first conversion circuit, and a second conversion circuit. The first conversion circuit includes a first voltage receiving module, a first transformer, a first switch. The second conversion circuit includes a second voltage receiving module, a second switch. When the second voltage receiving module receives the second input voltage, the second switch is turned on to operate, and the output circuit outputs the output voltage.Type: GrantFiled: July 15, 2019Date of Patent: September 14, 2021Assignee: PEGATRON CORPORATIONInventor: Hao-Ming Chen
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Patent number: 11121625Abstract: A voltage doubler circuit configuration includes a switching regulator having a variable input voltage and a regulated voltage, and a voltage doubler circuit that utilizes the regulated voltage of the switching regulator. The voltage doubler circuit includes an output capacitor that receives an elevated voltage from a voltage doubler capacitor and an electrical clamp that limits the voltage doubler capacitor from exceeding the regulated voltage. The output voltage is twice the regulated voltage minus circuit losses.Type: GrantFiled: August 13, 2018Date of Patent: September 14, 2021Assignee: INTERDIGITAL MADISON PATENT HOLDINGS, SASInventor: Joseph Clark
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Patent number: 11114944Abstract: A multi-phase buck switching converter having grouped pairs of phases, each phase using two magnetically coupled air-core inductors. For each group, a first driver circuit controlling switching of a first power transistor switching circuit coupled to a first air-core inductor output for driving an output load at the first phase. A second driver circuit controlling switching of a second power transistor switching circuit coupled to a second air-core inductor output for driving said output load at the second phase. The first and second phases are spaced 180° apart. The coupled air-core inductors per group of such orientation, separation distance and mutual inductance polarity relative to each other such that magnetic coupling between the two or more inductors at each phase results in a net increase in effective inductance per unit volume. Each air-core inductor is a metal slab of defined length, height and thickness formed using back-end-of-line semiconductor manufacturing process.Type: GrantFiled: December 9, 2019Date of Patent: September 7, 2021Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Xin Zhang, Todd E. Takken, Naigang Wang, Leland Chang
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Patent number: 11114233Abstract: An AC/DC converter comprising a set of two rectifying bridges, each rectifying bridge comprising a first output connected to an output terminal of the AC/DC converter by an interphase inductor. The interphase inductor may comprise a magnetic circuit comprising two branches that are substantially parallel and two windings, each winding being wound about one branch selected from the two branches. Each winding may be held away from the magnetic circuit, at every point of the winding, by means of a set of at least one holding block made of a material having an A-scale Shore hardness lower than or equal to 50 and being distant at every point from the branches.Type: GrantFiled: December 2, 2019Date of Patent: September 7, 2021Assignee: THALESInventors: Rémi Louviot, Rémy Biaujaud, Jean-Marc Bouffay, Philippe Dumont, Eric Touzet
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Patent number: 11101730Abstract: A power supply circuit having a rectifier circuit that rectifies an AC voltage, an inductor, a transistor that controls an inductor current flowing through the inductor, a drive signal generating circuit that generates a drive signal based on the inductor current and an output voltage generated from the AC voltage, and a drive signal output circuit outputting the drive signal. The drive signal generating circuit includes a command-value output unit that outputs a command value for increasing and decreasing the inductor current when the output voltage is lower or higher than a target level, respectively, an inductance calculation unit that calculates an inductance of the inductor based on first and second current values of the inductor at first and second timings after the inductor current increases from zero and decreases, respectively, and an ON-period calculation unit that calculates an ON period in a switching period of the transistor.Type: GrantFiled: December 26, 2019Date of Patent: August 24, 2021Assignee: FUJI ELECTRIC CO., LTD.Inventor: Ryuji Yamada
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Patent number: 11095217Abstract: A ripple injection circuit equipped with: a capacitor that passes a frequency component of an input voltage or a frequency component of an output voltage and that generates a first ripple voltage having a first ripple component; and an integration circuit that integrates a comparison result signal and that generates a second ripple voltage having a second ripple component. The first ripple component and the second ripple component are added to a feedback voltage.Type: GrantFiled: May 10, 2018Date of Patent: August 17, 2021Assignee: Rohm Co., Ltd.Inventors: Junichi Kashiwagi, Atsushi Yamaguchi, Yohei Moriyama, Yuta Okawauchi, Yusuke Nakakohara, Ken Nakahara
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Patent number: 11095231Abstract: A multilevel power converter has at least one phase module with a plurality of modules connected between positive and negative DC voltage connections. The phase module has a first phase module branch connected to the positive DC voltage connection, and a second phase module branch connected to the negative DC voltage connection. Each of the modules has at least two electronic switching elements and an electric energy storage unit. A third phase module branch connects the first phase module branch to the second phase module branch. A switching device connects an AC voltage connection of the multilevel power converter to a first connection node between the first phase module branch and the third phase module branch in a first switch position and connects the AC voltage connection to a second connection node between the third phase module branch and the second phase module branch in a second switch position.Type: GrantFiled: July 5, 2017Date of Patent: August 17, 2021Assignee: Siemens AktiengesellschaftInventors: Herbert Gambach, Volker Hussennether, Roland Schuster, Thomas Westerweller, Adnan Chaudhry