Patents by Inventor Ethan B. Monroe

Ethan B. Monroe 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).

  • Patent number: 11404865
    Abstract: To avoid the catastrophic failure of a drive, protection circuitry is configured to limit current in the DC bus capacitors. The drive may include an isolation circuit and a protection circuit having a comparator. The protection circuit may be configured to compare the voltage measured across a DC bus capacitor with a threshold voltage and activate the isolation circuit when the DC capacitor voltage exceeds the threshold voltage. The drive may also include a low voltage circuit coupled to the isolation circuit, where the low voltage circuit is configured to interrupt the bypass signal to disengage the bypass circuit and activate the precharge circuit when the isolation circuit is activated. Accordingly, the current in the drive and to the DC bus capacitors is limited by the precharge circuit when the voltage of a capacitor in the DC bus exceeds a threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 5, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Brian P. Brown, Amrita Sharma, Michael P. Albert, Rangarajan M. Tallam, Ethan B. Monroe
  • Publication number: 20220216692
    Abstract: To avoid the catastrophic failure of a drive, protection circuitry is configured to limit current in the DC bus capacitors. The drive may include an isolation circuit and a protection circuit having a comparator. The protection circuit may be configured to compare the voltage measured across a DC bus capacitor with a threshold voltage and activate the isolation circuit when the DC capacitor voltage exceeds the threshold voltage. The drive may also include a low voltage circuit coupled to the isolation circuit, where the low voltage circuit is configured to interrupt the bypass signal to disengage the bypass circuit and activate the precharge circuit when the isolation circuit is activated. Accordingly, the current in the drive and to the DC bus capacitors is limited by the precharge circuit when the voltage of a capacitor in the DC bus exceeds a threshold.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 5, 2021
    Publication date: July 7, 2022
    Inventors: Brian P. Brown, Amrita Sharma, Michael P. Albert, Rangarajan M. Tallam, Ethan B. Monroe