Patents Examined by Rajnikant B. Patel
  • Patent number: 7596009
    Abstract: In a double-ended isolated DC-DC converter, by using a main transformer and first and second pulse transformers, a first power switch of a primary side circuit and a first synchronous rectifier of a secondary side circuit are driven with complementary timing, and a second power switch of the primary side circuit and a second synchronous rectifier of the secondary side circuit are driven with complementary timing. A first turn-off edge signal and a first turn-on edge signal generated in a primary side control circuit are transmitted to the secondary side via the first pulse transformer so as to generate a driving signal of the first synchronous rectifier. In addition, a second turn-off edge signal and a second turn-on edge signal generated in a primary side circuit are transmitted to the secondary side via the second pulse transformer so as to generate a driving signal of the second synchronous rectifier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2009
    Date of Patent: September 29, 2009
    Assignee: Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Tadahiko Matsumoto
  • Patent number: 7596005
    Abstract: A power supply controller circuit in one embodiment comprises a power switch, a multifunction circuit, and a control circuit. The power switch comprises a source and a drain respectively coupled to first and second terminals of the power supply controller circuit. The multifunction circuit comprises a first input that is coupled to a third terminal of the controller circuit, wherein the third terminal is to receive a first current control signal, and wherein the multifunction circuit is to generate a second current control signal in response to the first current control signal. The control circuit generates a switching waveform to drive a control input of the power switch in response to: an oscillating signal, a signal that is representative of current flowing through the power switch, and the second current control signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 29, 2009
    Assignee: Power Integrations, Inc.
    Inventors: Balu Balakrishnan, Alex B. Djenguerian, Leif O. Lund
  • Patent number: 7592855
    Abstract: A trimming circuit is disclosed. The trimming circuit includes a first trimming circuit having resistors and fuses, and a second trimming circuit having a resistor, an NMOS transistor, and a control circuit. The control circuit includes an inverter circuit and a series circuit in which a resistor and fuses are connected in series. The first trimming circuit is connected with a reference resistor in series and the second trimming circuit is connected with the reference resistor in parallel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 22, 2009
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventor: Tomohiko Kamatani
  • Patent number: 7589704
    Abstract: A smart talk mechanism provides feedback information from a driver to a DC-to-DC converter, enabling the DC-to-DC converter to adjust an input voltage for at least one illumination source backlighting the display for increasing the power efficiency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 2006
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2009
    Assignee: Exar Corporation
    Inventors: Dimitry Goder, Gi Young Lee, Quoi Van Huynh, Chris Tzuchun Lee
  • Patent number: 7589985
    Abstract: A switching regulator is configured as a fixed-voltage regulator and contains a voltage divider. The voltage divider is supplied with a voltage signal available from a regulator output via a first connection. The voltage divider feds an output signal to the driver circuit functioning as a regulating variable that is compared to a reference voltage. The switching regulator further contains a monitoring device which impinges the driver circuit with a voltage signal exceeding the reference voltage as a new regulating variable depending on the voltage signal applied to the first connection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2009
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellshaft
    Inventors: Helmuth Orlogi, Reinhart Weber
  • Patent number: 7589987
    Abstract: A DC to DC converter includes a comparator, a driver, and a pair of switches. The comparator compares the output voltage with a reference voltage signal and generates a PWM signal. The driver drives the switches so as to force the output voltage to follow the reference signal. In a multiphase architecture, two or more such converter circuits are incorporated to minimize the output voltage ripple and further reduce the recovery time. In a two-phase architecture, two reference signals are phase-shifted by 180 degrees. In an N-phase architecture, the reference signals are phase-shifted by 360/N degrees.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2009
    Assignee: O2Micro International Limited
    Inventor: Laszlo Lipcsei
  • Patent number: 7586298
    Abstract: A chipset for an isolated power supply having an innovative oscillator includes a primary controller and a secondary controller. The primary controller can have the control and drive circuitry for the chipset. The secondary controller can provide rectification signals that can be synchronized with a power MOSFET.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 2008
    Date of Patent: September 8, 2009
    Assignee: Nupower Semiconductor, Inc.
    Inventors: Fereydun Tabaian, Hamed Sadati, Ali Hejazi
  • Patent number: 7586767
    Abstract: A limit-cycle oscillation (LCO) based switch-mode power supply (SMPS) response evaluation provides an effective mechanism for determining the characteristic response of an SMPS during normal operation of the SMPS. LCOs are induced in the SMPS loop by introducing a non-linearity in the loop, for example, decreasing the resolution of a pulse-width modulator that controls the SMPS switching circuit. The frequency and amplitude of the LCOs are determined and used to evaluate the characteristic response of the SMPS. In order to produce symmetric LCOs, which are more easily modeled, a zero-offset calibration circuit adjusts values provided to the pulse-width modulator, so that each value introduced during calibration is at the midpoint of a resolution cell. The frequency can be measured by counting between zero-crossings of the LCOs and the amplitude measured by capturing the LCO values immediately prior to each zero-crossing of a first difference of the LCO samples.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2008
    Date of Patent: September 8, 2009
    Inventors: Aleksandar Prodic, Zhenyu Zhao
  • Patent number: 7583047
    Abstract: There is described a method for controlling a quenching device for a converter bridge with line regeneration, whereby the converter bridge controlled by a network-timed control circuit by ignition pulses is connected with its three inputs to the phases of a three-phase network and the two outputs of the bridge are connected to a direct-current motor which feeds, when operated as a generator, current back to the three-phase network via the bridge. The quenching device is controlled by a trigger unit which emits trigger pulses depending on the monitoring of electrical and temporary variables. The quenching device comprises, for each bridge half, a quenching condenser that can be charged by a charging circuit quenching voltage. The quenching condensers, in the event of quenching, can be connected to the bridge halves by means of switches that are controlled by the trigger unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 1, 2009
    Assignee: Siemens AG Osterreich
    Inventors: Thomas Biribauer, Franz Hackl, Wilfried Hofmüller, Heinz Pichorner, Wilhelm Ritschel, Franz Wöhrer
  • Patent number: 7580271
    Abstract: An apparatus and method are provided for suppressing the input current inrush for a voltage converter in a pre-charge stage. The voltage converter comprises a power input for receiving an input current, a power output for supplying an output voltage for a load, and an output capacitor connected to the power output. In a pre-charge stage, a current limiting device is connected between the power input and the output capacitor to limit the input current to flow therethrough, and a variable current limiting control circuit provides a control signal to the current limiting device to determine a variable maximum value for the input current.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 25, 2009
    Assignee: Richtek Technology Corp.
    Inventors: Yun-Chi Chiang, Kwan-Jen Chu, Jien-Sheng Chen
  • Patent number: 7579822
    Abstract: A band gap voltage reference circuit comprises a first band gap (BG) circuit that generates a first BG voltage potential. A second BG circuit includes a variable resistance and outputs a second BG voltage potential that is related to a value of said variable resistance. A calibration circuit communicates with said first and second BG circuits, adjusts said variable resistance based on said first BG voltage potential and said second BG voltage potential, and selectively shuts down said first BG circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2006
    Date of Patent: August 25, 2009
    Assignee: Marvell International Ltd.
    Inventors: Sehat Sutardja, Jiancheng Zhang
  • Patent number: 7579789
    Abstract: A driving device for driving a lamp (L) includes a power stage circuit (21), a transformer circuit (22), a voltage dividing circuit (23), an inrush current sensing circuit (24), and a controller circuit (26). The power stage circuit converts a received direct current (DC) signal to an alternating current (AC) signal. The transformer circuit is connected to the power stage circuit, for converting the AC signal to an appropriate signal to drive the lamp. The voltage dividing circuit is connected to the transformer circuit, for dividing voltage of the signal output from the transformer circuit. The inrush current sensing circuit is connected to the voltage dividing circuit, for sensing inrush current output from the transformer circuit. The controller circuit is connected to the power stage circuit, for controlling output of the power stage circuit according to output of the inrush current sensing circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2006
    Date of Patent: August 25, 2009
    Assignee: Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Chih-Chan Ger, Yi-Cheng Liu, Chen-An Chiang
  • Patent number: 7577005
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method for recognizing the operational state of a load (10) connected to the output (6, 7) of an island inverter (1). A load recognition signal (SL) is applied at specific moments in time to the output (6, 7) of the island inverter (1), during which specific electric parameters are measured on the island inverter (1), enabling the operational state of the load (10) to be determined, wherein the island inverter (1), when the load (10) is activated, is switched from a possible standby mode into a permanent operation mode and, when the load is deactivated (10), the island inverter is switched from a possible permanent operation mode to a standby mode. The invention also relates to an island inverter (1). In order to ensure reliable recognition of all possible collected loads (10), a load recognition signal (SL) with parameters (T, d, A, H, f) that are modified at least according to the type of load (10) is applied to the output (6, 7) of the island inverter (1).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2005
    Date of Patent: August 18, 2009
    Assignee: Fronius International GmbH
    Inventors: Christian Angerer, Hannes Heigl, Harald Kreuzer, Christoph Wolf
  • Patent number: 7573245
    Abstract: A multi-phase converter comprising a plurality of switching circuits each controlled by a phase controller and each providing a switched output voltage to an output node of the converter and wherein each switching circuit under control of the phase controller sequentially provides a switched output voltage to the output node at which an output voltage of the converter is developed; and a main control circuit including a clock circuit for providing a first clock signal to each of the switching circuits and a second lower frequency clock signal to a first of the phase controllers, each phase controller having a delay circuit controlled by the first clock signal to provide a delayed second clock signal for coupling to a next one of the phase controllers and in the case of a last one of the phase controllers, back to the main control circuit, whereby a plurality of sequentially delayed second clock signals is provided, one to each of the remaining phase controllers after the first phase controller to determine wh
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2009
    Assignee: International Rectifier Corporation
    Inventor: George Schuellein
  • Patent number: 7569996
    Abstract: A battery operated LED lighting apparatus including: a battery outputting a battery voltage; a light emitting diode or array of light emitting diodes; and a power supply including a boost regulating circuit. The power supply being in communication with the battery and the light emitting diodes such that a constant voltage or constant current is supplied to the light emitting diodes as the battery discharges and the battery voltage falls below the output voltage. In a preferred embodiment the power supply further includes a buck regulator to maintain the proper output voltage when the battery voltage is greater than the output voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 2004
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2009
    Inventors: Fred H Holmes, Kevin C Baxter, Ken S Fisher
  • Patent number: 7570088
    Abstract: Embodiments for providing a plurality of bias voltages to input/output circuitry are disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2005
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2009
    Assignee: nVidia Corporation
    Inventors: Ting-Sheng Ku, Chang Hee Hong, Ashfaq R. Shaikh, Shifeng Yu
  • Patent number: 7570086
    Abstract: There are provided: a voltage division circuit (13) that performs voltage division of the voltage applied between the main electrodes of a non-latching switching element (11) having two main electrodes and a single control electrode at voltage division elements (14a) to (14c); a control current source (16) that injects current at the control electrode in accordance with the divided voltage of main voltage detection voltage division elements, of the voltage division elements (14a) to (14c) of the voltage division circuit (13) and a voltage division ratio control circuit (20) that adjusts the voltage division ratio of the main voltage detection voltage division elements (14b), (14c) of the voltage division circuit (13) in accordance with a control signal for controlling the switching element (11).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2009
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventor: Akihisa Matsushita
  • Patent number: 7564277
    Abstract: A control circuit for controlling a motor. The control circuit includes a control module, a current transformation module and a comparison module. The control module generates a control current and a comparison voltage according to a first current, a first voltage and an input voltage. The current transformation module, coupled to the control module, generates a first output voltage from a first output terminal and a second output voltage from a second output terminal. The comparison module, coupled to the control module and the current transformation module, compares a threshold voltage, the first output voltage, the second output voltage, and the comparison voltage and generates a plurality of control signals to control the motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 21, 2009
    Assignee: Princeton Technology Corporation
    Inventor: Peng-Feng Kao
  • Patent number: 7564700
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a switched mode power supply with programmable digital control and to a power supply system comprising a plurality of switched mode power supplies. The input terminals and the output terminals of the switched mode power supply system are separated by an insulation barrier, and the switched mode power supply comprises a conversion stage having at least one switching element. The switching element of the conversion stage, as well as any switching elements of a possible pre-regulator, is digitally controlled by a programmable digital circuit. In one embodiment of the switched mode power supply, the programmable digital circuit is located on the primary side of the insulation barrier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 21, 2009
    Assignee: Emerson Energy Systems, AB
    Inventors: Anders Hansson, Thomas Sahlstrom, Jun Ma, Mattias Andersson
  • Patent number: 7565559
    Abstract: A method and system is provided for programming the digital filter compensation coefficients of a digitally controlled switched mode power supply within a distributed power system. The distributed power system comprises a plurality of point-of-load (POL) regulators each comprising at least one power switch adapted to convey power to a load and a digital controller adapted to control operation of the power switch responsive to a feedback measurement. The digital controller further comprises a digital filter having a transfer function defined by plural filter coefficients. A serial data bus operatively connects each of the plurality of POL regulators. A system controller is connected to the serial data bus and is adapted to communicate digital data to the plurality of POL regulators via the serial data bus. The digital data includes programming data for programming the plural filter coefficients. The system controller further comprises a user interface adapted to receive the programming data therefrom.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 21, 2009
    Assignee: Power-One, Inc.
    Inventor: Alain Chapuis