Patents Examined by Shawn Riley
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Patent number: 8102163Abstract: Provided is a voltage regulator which can achieve high-speed response and is not susceptible to a ripple. An amplifier (19) and an amplifier (23) provide push-pull output to an output transistor (14). Therefore, even when an idling current is small, a sink current and a source current with respect to a gate of the output transistor (14) can be increased in a balanced manner. Thus, the voltage regulator can easily achieve high-speed response. In addition, even when the ripple is superimposed on an input voltage, an output voltage is not influenced by the ripple.Type: GrantFiled: May 28, 2009Date of Patent: January 24, 2012Assignee: Seiko Instruments Inc.Inventor: Takashi Imura
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Patent number: 8102681Abstract: Provided is a transformer, comprising a first winding and a second winding that interlink with a main magnetic flux; and a third winding that interlinks with a magnetic flux leakage interlinking with only one of the first winding and the second winding.Type: GrantFiled: February 27, 2009Date of Patent: January 24, 2012Inventor: Masakazu Ushijima
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Patent number: 8093757Abstract: The present invention is a system for providing power from solar cells whereby each cell or cell array is allowed to produce its maximum available power and converted by an operatively connected DC/DC converter. Each cell or cell array has its own DC/DC converter.Type: GrantFiled: November 23, 2010Date of Patent: January 10, 2012Assignee: Tigo Energy, Inc.Inventor: Peter Wolfs
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Patent number: 8089785Abstract: A photovoltaic power conditioning unit for delivering power from a dc photovoltaic power source to an ac mains power supply is disclosed. The photovoltaic power conditioning unit may include a non-electrolytic energy storage capacitor, a dc-to-dc converter having an input connection coupled to an input and an output connection coupled to the energy storage capacitor. The photovoltaic power conditioning unit also may include a dc-to-ac converter having an input connection coupled to the energy storage capacitor and an output connection coupled to an output and a power injection control block configured to control an amount of power transferred from the dc-to-ac converter to the ac mains power supply based, at least in part, on an amplitude of a fluctuating sinusoidal component of a dc voltage on the non-electrolytic energy storage capacitor.Type: GrantFiled: January 12, 2007Date of Patent: January 3, 2012Assignee: Enecsys LimitedInventor: Cuauhtemoc Rodriguez
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Patent number: 8089792Abstract: In a cycloconverter generator, there are provided, q number of power circuits that supply rectified DC power of a DC power supply unit as operating power to the p(p>q) number of thyristors, and r(p>r) number of thyristor drive circuits that are connected to the q number of the power circuits and drive the p number of the thyristors, wherein the r number of the thyristors drive circuits are individually used to drive in common ones among the p number of the thyristors whose operation is unaffected even if driven at the same timing such that the number r of the drive circuits is made smaller than the number p of the thyristors, thereby enabling to simplify circuit configuration.Type: GrantFiled: May 6, 2009Date of Patent: January 3, 2012Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd.Inventors: Toshinori Inagawa, Shinsaku Nakayama, Yoshinori Masubuchi
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Patent number: 8089740Abstract: A clamp unit is adapted for controlling a clamp switch of a power supply such that the power supply outputs an output voltage in an ON mode when the clamp switch is in an ON-state and that the power supply does not output the output voltage in an OFF mode when the clamp switch is in an OFF-state. The clamp unit includes: a coupling circuit for outputting a coupling voltage in response to first and second reference voltages, and a control signal outputted by a control signal generating circuit in response to an input voltage; and a detecting circuit for outputting a clamp signal to the clamp switch in response to a first signal indicating whether the power is in the ON mode or the OFF mode, and a second signal indicating whether the power supply is to output the output voltage.Type: GrantFiled: May 18, 2009Date of Patent: January 3, 2012Assignees: Silitek Electronic (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd., Lite-On Technology Corp.Inventors: Wei-Cheng Yu, Yun-Chieh Hsu
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Patent number: 8089780Abstract: A semiconductor switch is provided with a main element having reverse conductivity and serving as a voltage-driven switching element having a high withstand voltage, an auxiliary element serving as a voltage-driven switching element having a withstand voltage lower than that of the main element, and a high-speed freewheel diode having a withstand voltage equal to that of the main element, wherein a negative pole of the main element is connected to a negative pole of the auxiliary element to define the positive pole of the main element as a positive pole terminal and the positive pole of the auxiliary element as a negative pole terminal, and the high-speed freewheel diode is parallel-connected between the positive pole terminal and the negative pole terminal so that a direction from the negative pole terminal toward the positive pole terminal constitutes a forward direction.Type: GrantFiled: February 4, 2008Date of Patent: January 3, 2012Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha ToshibaInventors: Hiroshi Mochikawa, Tateo Koyama, Atsuhiko Kuzumaki, Junichi Tsuda
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Patent number: 8084893Abstract: A semiconductor device controls a switching power supply. The semiconductor device includes a current inflow terminal; a starter circuit to cause a starting current to flow from the current inflow terminal to a power supply terminal to charge a capacitor externally connected to the power supply terminal; a control unit which controls the starter circuit to turn on to charge the capacitor with the starting current and controls the starter circuit to turn off to perform brown-out detection; a comparator which detects a brown-out state while the starter circuit is turned off; and a brown-out detection unit which receives output signals from the comparator and the control unit as inputs. The brown-out detection is performed while the starter circuit is off, so that the current inflow terminal for the starter circuit is used in common as a voltage detection terminal for detection of the brown-out state.Type: GrantFiled: April 10, 2009Date of Patent: December 27, 2011Assignee: Fuji Electric Systems Co., Ltd.Inventor: Masanari Fujii
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Patent number: 8084991Abstract: A power reception device includes a first resistance element having one end electrically connected to one end of a secondary coil which is able to be electromagnetically coupled to a primary coil of a power transmission devices a second resistance element having one end electrically connected to the other end of the first resistance element and having the other end supplied with a reference voltage, a power reception control device that obtains a frequency of an alternating current (AC) voltage induced on the secondary coil based on a voltage division signal output from the other end of the first resistance element and varies a magnitude of a load of the power reception device in accordance with the frequency, and a variable resistance element that has resistance varied in accordance with temperature and is connected to the first resistance element or the second resistance element in parallel.Type: GrantFiled: May 1, 2009Date of Patent: December 27, 2011Assignee: Seiko Epson CorporationInventors: Kentaro Yoda, Hirofumi Okada, Takahiro Kamijo
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Patent number: 8081496Abstract: An example power converter includes an energy transfer element, a switch, a controller, and a current offset circuit. The controller is coupled to switch the switch between an ON state and an OFF state to regulate the output of the power converter. The controller is also adapted to terminate the ON state of the switch in response to a switch current flowing through the switch reaching a switch current threshold. An auxiliary winding of the energy transfer element is adapted to generate an auxiliary winding voltage that is representative of an input voltage of the power converter only during the ON state of the switch. The current offset circuit is coupled to the auxiliary winding to generate an offset current to flow through the switch in response to the auxiliary winding voltage, where an input current of the power converter is adjusted in response to the offset current.Type: GrantFiled: February 10, 2011Date of Patent: December 20, 2011Assignee: Power Integrations, Inc.Inventor: David Michael Hugh Matthews
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Patent number: 8080986Abstract: A driving control device and method for power converting system includes power converting circuit and driving control device. The driving control device has an analog/digital convertor, a measuring device, and a control module. The driving control method is the analog/digital convertor receives a inductor current and the parameters of the inductor current from the measuring device, measures the slope parameter of the inductor current according the parameters from Equation 1 and Equation 2, then calculates a duty cycle parameter from the slope parameter of the inductor current and use the duty cycle parameter to generate pulse control signal to perform driving control.Type: GrantFiled: August 26, 2009Date of Patent: December 20, 2011Assignee: National Taipei University TechnologyInventors: Yen-Shin Lai, Ye-Then Chang
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Patent number: 8076767Abstract: A non-insulated DC-DC converter has a power MOS-FET for a highside switch and a power MOS-FET for a lowside switch. In the non-insulated DC-DC converter, the power MOS-FET for the highside switch and the power MOS-FET for the lowside switch, driver circuits that control operations of these elements, respectively, and a Schottky barrier diode connected in parallel with the power MOS-FET for the lowside switch are respectively formed in four different semiconductor chips. These four semiconductor chips are housed in one package. The semiconductor chips are mounted over the same die pad. The semiconductor chips are disposed so as to approach each other.Type: GrantFiled: October 26, 2010Date of Patent: December 13, 2011Assignee: Renesas Electronics CorporationInventors: Tomoaki Uno, Masaki Shiraishi, Nobuyoshi Matsuura, Toshio Nagasawa
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Patent number: 8077067Abstract: A contactless sensor utilizes analog and digital circuitry to provide direct interchangeability with a simple potentiometric sensor, matching all of the electrical properties of a potentiometer, including supply voltage range, power supply current, output voltage range, and having three connection terminals. The contactless sensor operates with voltages from 2 to 30 volts direct current, which includes all of the common industrial sensor power supply voltages: 5V, 10V, 24V, and +/? 15V. The contactless sensor utilizes a total current of less than 0.005 amperes, and its output voltage range includes the power supply rails. These improvements combine to enable the contactless sensor to be a direct replacement when a potentiometric sensor is removed from service.Type: GrantFiled: March 13, 2009Date of Patent: December 13, 2011Inventor: David Scott Nyce
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Patent number: 8076922Abstract: An embodiment of an inductor assembly includes a core, a first conductor, and a second conductor. The core includes first and second members, a first group of one or more forms extending between the members, a second group of one or more forms extending between the members, and an isolating region that magnetically isolates the first group of forms from the second group of forms. The first conductor is wound about a first one of the forms in the first group, and the second conductor is wound about a second one of the forms in the second group. Such an inductor assembly may allow both coupled and uncoupled inductors to be disposed on a common core, thus potentially reducing the cost and size of the inductors as compared to the coupled inductors being disposed on one core and the uncoupled inductors being disposed on another core.Type: GrantFiled: June 9, 2008Date of Patent: December 13, 2011Assignee: Intersil Americas Inc.Inventors: Jia Wei, Michael Jason Houston
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Patent number: 8072195Abstract: A voltage converter connectable to a power source (PS) and a load (LD) provides a regulated output voltage (Vout) from a voltage (Vin) power source by switchable current paths including an inductive element (L). The voltage converter includes a plurality of switching elements for switching the current paths of the voltage converter as a forward-phase current path when the input voltage corresponds to the output voltage, as an up-phase current path when the input voltage is lower than the output voltage, and as a down-phase current path when the input voltage is higher than the output voltage. A central controller controls a switching state of the plurality of switching elements, a current sensing unit including a comparator for sensing a current flowing through at least one of the switching elements, and a plurality of processing units for processing the current sensing.Type: GrantFiled: July 7, 2009Date of Patent: December 6, 2011Assignee: ST-Ericsson SAInventors: Dennis Aan De Stegge, Hermanus Johannes Effing, Henricus Cornelis Johannes Buthker
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Patent number: 8067979Abstract: A semiconductor device capable of reducing an inductance is provided. In the semiconductor device in which a rectification MOSFET, a commutation MOSFET, and a driving IC that drives these MOSFETs are mounted on one package, the rectification MOSFET, a metal plate, and the commutation MOSFET are laminated. A current of a main circuit flows from a back surface of the package to a front surface thereof. The metal plate is connected to an output terminal via a wiring in the package. Wire bondings are used for wirings for connecting the driving IC, the rectification MOSFET, and the commutation MOSFET, all terminals being placed on the same plane. For this reason, the inductance becomes small and also a power source loss and a spike voltage are reduced.Type: GrantFiled: August 6, 2010Date of Patent: November 29, 2011Assignee: Renesas Electronics CorporationInventors: Takayuki Hashimoto, Nobuyoshi Matsuura, Masaki Shiraishi, Yukihiro Satou, Tetsuya Kawashima
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Patent number: 8063624Abstract: A method and apparatus are described for providing a current mirror type high voltage switching circuit (60) having a reference branch (M2, M3, R1) and a tracking branch (M1, M5), where the output peak current is limited by adding an additional branch (M4, M6) to the current mirror circuit which includes an additional mirror transistor (M4) and cascode transistor (M6), and where over voltage protection is provided by including a shut-off circuit (Q1, Q2) which turns “OFF” the cascode transistors (M5-M8) whenever the output voltage (Vout) exceeds the first reference voltage (Vbat) by a predetermined amount.Type: GrantFiled: March 12, 2009Date of Patent: November 22, 2011Assignee: Freescale Semiconductor, Inc.Inventors: Ivan Carlos Ribeiro do Nascimento, Walter Luis Tercariol
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Patent number: 8063617Abstract: A per-phase quick response generation circuit generates a quick response signal to determine a quick response pulse to be inserted into a pulse width modulation signal of the corresponding phase. The quick response pulse will force the upper power switch of the corresponding phase on to increase the current supply ability during load transition. A multi-phase voltage regulator with the quick response generation circuit can have different quick response pulse widths for the interleaved phases, so as to decrease the current imbalance period of the voltage regulator after load transition.Type: GrantFiled: March 6, 2009Date of Patent: November 22, 2011Assignee: Richtek Technology Corp.Inventors: Ting-Hung Wang, Chia-Jung Lee, Liang-Pin Tai
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Patent number: 8053924Abstract: An improved structure of serial synchronous chopper mainly includes an external synchronous rectifier power supply unit, an internal synchronous rectifier power supply unit, a synchronous voltage-stabilized control unit, an integrated driving circuit unit, a synchronous load feedback control unit, and a synchronous integrated chopping unit. While operating, the structure is serially connected to a live wire of a power supply to periodically perform synchronous chopping so as to provide a synchronous DC voltage-stabilized output as a fundamental power supply in connection with an external circuit.Type: GrantFiled: May 13, 2009Date of Patent: November 8, 2011Assignee: Loong Yee Industrial Corp., Ltd.Inventor: Chi-Jen Wang
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Patent number: 8054650Abstract: A switching power supply circuit includes a direct current (DC) power supply input, a first transistor, a capacitor, a first resistor, a second resistor, a switching circuit including a second transistor, and a first transformer including a first primary winding and a secondary winding. The DC power supply input is connected to a drain electrode of the first transistor via the capacitor. A gate electrode of the first transistor is connected to ground via the first resistor, and connected to the drain electrode of the first transistor via the second resistor. The DC power supply input is connected to a source electrode of the first transistor via the primary winding. The source electrode of the first transistor is grounded via the second transistor. The secondary winding is structured and arranged to drive a load circuit.Type: GrantFiled: April 20, 2009Date of Patent: November 8, 2011Assignees: Innocom Technology (ShenZhen) Co., Ltd., Chimei Innolux CorporationInventors: Jie-Jian Zheng, Tong Zhou
