Patents by Inventor Arnold Knott

Arnold Knott has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20240136921
    Abstract: The present invention relates to an AC-DC power converter which comprises a resonant DC-DC converter and a charge pump circuit. The charge pump circuit is configured to perform power factor correction of the AC-DC power converter by drawing current pulses at a switching frequency of the converter from an AC line voltage such that electrical charges of the current pulses vary substantially proportionally with instantaneous amplitude of the AC line voltage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 23, 2023
    Publication date: April 25, 2024
    Inventors: Ahmed Morsi Ammar, Yasser A.A. Nour, Arnold Knott
  • Patent number: 11901811
    Abstract: The present invention relates to an AC-DC power converter which includes a resonant DC-DC converter and a charge pump circuit. The charge pump circuit is configured to perform power factor correction of the AC-DC power converter by drawing current pulses at a switching frequency of the converter from an AC line voltage such that electrical charges of the current pulses vary substantially proportionally with instantaneous amplitude of the AC line voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2024
    Assignee: DANMARKS TEKNISKE UNIVERSITET
    Inventors: Ahmed Morsi Ammar, Yasser A. A. Nour, Arnold Knott
  • Publication number: 20230253876
    Abstract: An AC-DC power converter includes: an AC rectification circuit configured to convert an AC line voltage into a rectified line voltage; a charge-pump-based power factor correction sub-converter configured to provide a DC-bus supply voltage; a resonant sub-converter configured to convert the DC-bus supply voltage to a DC output voltage or DC output current, the resonant sub-converter including: a resonant tank configured to convert the DC-bus supply voltage to a resonant voltage or current; and an output rectification circuit configured to generate the DC output voltage or DC output current from the resonant voltage or current to supply a converter load, and a controllable switch network shared by the charge-pump-based power factor correction sub-converter and the resonant sub-converter.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 4, 2021
    Publication date: August 10, 2023
    Inventors: Ahmed Morsi Ammar, Yasser A.A. Nour, Arnold Knott, Frederik Monrad Spliid
  • Publication number: 20220014093
    Abstract: The present invention relates to an AC-DC power converter which comprises a resonant DC-DC converter and a charge pump circuit. The charge pump circuit is configured to perform power factor correction of the AC-DC power converter by drawing current pulses at a switching frequency of the converter from an AC line voltage such that electrical charges of the current pulses vary substantially proportionally with instantaneous amplitude of the AC line voltage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 11, 2019
    Publication date: January 13, 2022
    Inventors: Ahmed Morsi Ammar, Yasser A. A. Nour, Arnold Knott
  • Patent number: 9257892
    Abstract: Device comprising an electric power converter circuit for converting electric energy. The converter circuit comprises a switch arrangement with two or more controllable electric switches connected in a switching configuration and controlled so as to provide a current drive of electric energy from an associated electric source connected to a set of input terminals. This is obtained by the two or more electric switches being connected and controlled to short-circuit the input terminals during a part of a switching period. Further, a low pass filter with a capacitor and an inductor are provided to low pass the output from the switch arrangement and designed such that a high impedance at a frequency range below the switching frequency is obtained, seen from the output terminals. Switches implemented by normally-on-devices are preferred, e.g. in the form of a JFET. The converter circuit may be in different configurations such as half bridge buck, full bridge buck, half bridge boost, or full bridge boost.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 9, 2016
    Assignee: Danmarks Tekniske Universitet
    Inventors: Arnold Knott, Michael A. E. Andersen
  • Publication number: 20130249523
    Abstract: Device comprising an electric power converter circuit for converting electric energy. The converter circuit comprises a switch arrangement with two or more controllable electric switches connected in a switching configuration and controlled so as to provide a current drive of electric energy from an associated electric source connected to a set of input terminals. This is obtained by the two or more electric swiches being connected and controlled to short-circuit the input terminals during a part of a switching period. Further, a low pass filter with a capacitor and an inductor are provided to low pass the output from the switch arrangement and designed such that a high impedance at a frequency range below the switching frequency is obtained, seen from the output terminals. Switches implemented by normally-on-devices are preferred, e.g. in the form of a JFET. The converter circuit may be in different configurations such as half bridge buck, full bridge buck, half bridge boost, or full bridge boost.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 20, 2011
    Publication date: September 26, 2013
    Applicant: DANMARKS TEKNISKE UNIVERSITET
    Inventors: Arnold Knott, Michael A. E. Andersen
  • Patent number: 8538032
    Abstract: A load detection technique for a load comprising multiple frequency-dependant sub-loads comprises measuring a representation of the impedance characteristic of the load; providing stored representations of a multiplicity of impedance characteristics of the load; each one of the stored representations represents the impedance of the load when at least a particular one of the sub-loads is in a fault condition; and comparing the measured representation of the current impedance characteristic of the load with each one of the stored representations and in case that the measured representation matches a stored representation, identifying the sub-load or sub-loads being in a fault condition by the corresponding stored representation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2009
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2013
    Assignee: Harman Becker Automotive Systems GmbH
    Inventors: Genaro Woelfl, Arnold Knott, Michael Gueth
  • Patent number: 8525536
    Abstract: A load testing circuit a circuit tests the load impedance of a load connected to an amplifier. The load impedance includes a first terminal and a second terminal, the load testing circuit comprising a signal generator providing a test signal of a defined bandwidth to the first terminal of the load impedance, an energy-storing element being connected to the second terminal of the load impedance and providing an output signal, and a measuring unit that measures the output signal or compares the output signal with a reference.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 23, 2008
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2013
    Assignee: Harman Becker Automotive Systems GmbH
    Inventor: Arnold Knott
  • Patent number: 8466667
    Abstract: A switch-mode power circuit comprises a controllable element and a control unit. The controllable element is configured to control a current in response to a control signal supplied to the controllable element. The control unit is connected to the controllable element and provides the control signal. The control unit comprises a first signal processing unit, a second signal processing unit, and a combiner unit. The first signal processing unit has an output and is supplied with a first carrier signal and an input signal. The second signal processing unit has an output and is supplied with a second carrier signal and the input signal. The combiner unit is connected to the first and second signal processing units combining the outputs of the first and the second signal processing units to form a signal representative of the control signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 18, 2013
    Assignee: Harman Becker Automotive Systems GmbH
    Inventor: Arnold Knott
  • Patent number: 8432647
    Abstract: An arrangement and a method for distributing power supplied by a power source to two or more of loads (e.g., electrical vehicular systems) is disclosed, where a representation of the power taken by a particular one of the loads from the source is measured. The measured representation of the amount of power taken from the source by the particular one of the loads is compared to a threshold to provide an overload signal in the event the representation exceeds the threshold. Control signals dependant on the occurring of the overload signal are provided such that the control signal decreases the output power of the power circuit in case the overload signal occurs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2013
    Assignee: Harman Becker Automotive Systems GmbH
    Inventors: Arnold Knott, Daniel Schmidt, Stefan Zuckmantel
  • Patent number: 8350635
    Abstract: A method suppresses high-frequency perturbations in a pulse-width modulated signal. The pulse-width modulation may superpose a carrier signal onto an input signal having a predetermined modulation frequency. The carrier signals may be phase-shifted. The resulting modulated signals may then be filtered and combined.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Assignee: Harman Becker Automotive Systems GmbH
    Inventors: Gerhard Pfaffinger, Arnold Knott
  • Patent number: 7796409
    Abstract: A power converter for converting an input voltage (Vin) into an output voltage (Vout), comprising a first supply potential and a second supply potential established by the input voltage, and at least one primary winding having two terminals, a center tap arranged between the two terminals and connected to the first supply potential, and at least one secondary winding magnetically coupled to the primary winding for providing at least one output voltage (Vout) and a first controllable switch connected between the second supply potential and one terminal of the primary winding and a second controllable switch connected between the second supply potential and the other terminal of the primary winding and a third controllable switch connected between the second supply potential and the one terminal of the primary winding and a fourth controllable switch connected between the second supply potential and the other terminal of the primary winding, and a control unit for controlling the switches such that the first, s
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 14, 2010
    Assignee: Harman Becker Automotive Systems GmbH
    Inventor: Arnold Knott
  • Publication number: 20100039084
    Abstract: A switch-mode power circuit comprises a controllable element and a control unit. The controllable element is configured to control a current in response to a control signal supplied to the controllable element. The control unit is connected to the controllable element and provides the control signal. The control unit comprises a first signal processing unit, a second signal processing unit, and a combiner unit. The first signal processing unit has an output and is supplied with a first carrier signal and an input signal. The second signal processing unit has an output and is supplied with a second carrier signal and the input signal. The combiner unit is connected to the first and second signal processing units combining the outputs of the first and the second signal processing units to form a signal representative of the control signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 31, 2008
    Publication date: February 18, 2010
    Inventor: Arnold Knott
  • Publication number: 20100027169
    Abstract: An arrangement and a method for distributing power supplied by a power source to two or more of loads (e.g., electrical vehicular systems) is disclosed, where a representation of the power taken by a particular one of the loads from the source is measured. The measured representation of the amount of power taken from the source by the particular one of the loads is compared to a threshold to provide an overload signal in the event the representation exceeds the threshold. Control signals dependant on the occurring of the overload signal are provided such that the control signal decreases the output power of the power circuit in case the overload signal occurs.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 30, 2009
    Publication date: February 4, 2010
    Inventors: Arnold Knott, Daniel Schmidt, Stefan Zuckmantel
  • Publication number: 20100019781
    Abstract: A load detection technique for a load comprising multiple frequency-dependant sub-loads comprises measuring a representation of the impedance characteristic of the load; providing stored representations of a multiplicity of impedance characteristics of the load; each one of the stored representations represents the impedance of the load when at least a particular one of the sub-loads is in a fault condition; and comparing the measured representation of the current impedance characteristic of the load with each one of the stored representations and in case that the measured representation matches a stored representation, identifying the sub-load or sub-loads being in a fault condition by the corresponding stored representation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 28, 2009
    Publication date: January 28, 2010
    Inventors: Genaro Woelfl, Arnold Knott, Michael Gueth
  • Publication number: 20090051368
    Abstract: A load testing circuit a circuit tests the load impedance of a load connected to an amplifier. The load impedance includes a first terminal and a second terminal, the load testing circuit comprising a signal generator providing a test signal of a defined bandwidth to the first terminal of the load impedance, an energy-storing element being connected to the second terminal of the load impedance and providing an output signal, and a measuring unit that measures the output signal or compares the output signal with a reference.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 23, 2008
    Publication date: February 26, 2009
    Inventor: Arnold Knott
  • Publication number: 20080260018
    Abstract: A method suppresses high-frequency perturbations in a pulse-width modulated signal. The pulse-width modulation may superpose a carrier signal onto an input signal having a predetermined modulation frequency. The carrier signals may be phase-shifted. The resulting modulated signals may then be filtered and combined.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 13, 2008
    Publication date: October 23, 2008
    Inventors: Gerhard Pfaffinger, Arnold Knott
  • Publication number: 20070201249
    Abstract: A power converter for converting an input voltage (Vin) into an output voltage (Vout), comprising a first supply potential and a second supply potential established by the input voltage, and at least one primary winding having two terminals, a center tap arranged between the two terminals and connected to the first supply potential, and at least one secondary winding magnetically coupled to the primary winding for providing at least one output voltage (Vout) and a first controllable switch connected between the second supply potential and one terminal of the primary winding and a second controllable switch connected between the second supply potential and the other terminal of the primary winding and a third controllable switch connected between the second supply potential and the one terminal of the primary winding and a fourth controllable switch connected between the second supply potential and the other terminal of the primary winding, and a control unit for controlling the switches such that the first, s
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 18, 2007
    Publication date: August 30, 2007
    Inventor: Arnold Knott