Patents by Inventor Frank Greizer

Frank Greizer 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: 20100157639
    Abstract: An inverter comprises two input lines; an inverter bridge connected between the input lines and including at least one half-bridge comprising two normally conductive gate-controlled semiconductor switches; a controller which supplies control voltages to the gates of the semiconductor switches in an operative state of the inverter; and a DC voltage source for supplying an auxiliary control voltage to the gates of the semiconductor switches in an inoperative state of the inverter so as to hold the inverter bridge in a non-conductive state between the input lines. The DC voltage source has a charging unit connected between the input lines in series with a further normally conductive gate-controlled semiconductor switch, o and charging a storage unit for electric charge, which is connected to the gate of the further semiconductor switch such that this switch becomes non-conductive, when the storage unit has been sufficiently charged for providing the auxiliary control voltage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 21, 2009
    Publication date: June 24, 2010
    Inventors: Jens Friebe, Oliver Prior, Frank Greizer, Matthias Victor, Sven Bremicker
  • Publication number: 20090315404
    Abstract: A solar power plant with a plurality of photovoltaic modules for generating a power to be fed in a multi-phase grid, several photovoltaic strings, which are allocated to different phases, being connected to a primary side of a mains transformer and at least one inverter for converting the direct voltage generated by the photovoltaic modules into an alternating mains voltage conforming to the grid being provided and said mains transformer being provided with a neutral conductor and with a grounded terminal, is intended to be improved in such a manner that the life of the photovoltaic modules, in particular in case of thin-film modules, is increased, allowing for high conversion efficiency of the inverters at low wiring costs. This is achieved in that an additional direct voltage source is inserted between the neutral conductor and ground in such a manner that the potential of the photovoltaic strings is displaced and that a bias voltage is set, which is different from zero volt.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 15, 2009
    Publication date: December 24, 2009
    Applicant: SMA SOLAR TECHNOLOGY AG
    Inventors: Guenther Cramer, Bernd Engel, Frank Greizer, Joachim Laschinski
  • Publication number: 20090244936
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a three-phase inverter (1) with a circuit arrangement having a DC-voltage input (2) for at least one direct voltage source, and a three-phase alternating voltage output (15) for feeding into a three-phase alternating voltage mains (19), wherein said inverter comprises a three-phase bridge circuit (20) as well as at least one divided intermediate circuit, wherein said inverter (1) is configured to be transformerless, wherein said neutral conductor (N) of the mains (19) is separated from the central point (M) of the intermediate circuit and the inverter (1) is connected to the alternating voltage mains (19) via a three-conductor connection (15).
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 9, 2009
    Publication date: October 1, 2009
    Applicant: SMA Solar Technology AG
    Inventors: Andreas Falk, Karel De Brabandere, Frank Greizer, Matthias Victor, Torben Westpahl, Henrik Wolf, Thorsten Buelo
  • Patent number: 7576449
    Abstract: A method of converting a direct voltage generated by a decentralized power supply system into three-phase alternating voltage by means of a plurality of single-phase inverters (WR1-WR3), said alternating voltage being provided for supplying an electric mains, is intended to avoid inadmissible load unbalances using single-phase inverters. This is achieved in that, upon failure of one inverter (WR1-WR3), an asymmetrical power supply distribution is reduced by limiting the output of the other inverters. The method makes it possible to simplify three-phase voltage monitoring.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 8, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 18, 2009
    Assignee: SMA Solar Technology AG
    Inventors: Holger Becker, Günther Cramer, Sven Bremicker, Thorsten Dingel, Bernd Engel, Wilfried Groote, Frank Greizer, Ralf Joachim Laschinski, Matthias Victor, Torben Westphal
  • Publication number: 20090103340
    Abstract: On an inverter (1) for converting an electric direct voltage, in particular of a photovoltaic direct voltage source into an alternating voltage with a direct voltage input with two terminals (DC+, DC?) and one alternating voltage output with two terminals (AC1, AC2) and with one bridge circuit including semiconductor switching elements (S1-S6), said bridge circuit comprising one first bridge branch (Z1) including four switching elements (S1-S4) and one second bridge branch (Z2) including two additional switching elements (S5, S6) as well as a freewheeling circuit provided with additional diodes (D7, D8), the efficiency is further increased without high frequency interferences and capacitive leakage currents having the possibility to occur on the generator side.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 31, 2008
    Publication date: April 23, 2009
    Applicant: SMA Solar Technology AG
    Inventors: Sven Bremicker, Frank Greizer, Matthias Victor
  • Publication number: 20090097172
    Abstract: The subject matter of the present invention is a load breaker arrangement (1) for switching on and off a DC current of a DC current circuit in a photovoltaic plant with a semiconductor switching element (4) to avoid a switching arc, there being provided an electronic control unit (5) configured such that one or more signals are received by the control unit, and the load breaker arrangement (1) being configured such that in at least one current-carrying line of the DC current circuit there is galvanic separation by a switching contact that is automatically controllable by the control unit (5) in the switched-off condition and one or more control signals being transmitted to the load breaker arrangement (1) and a semiconductor switching element (4) interrupting the DC current so that the switching contact is de-energized, whereby the signals are flaw signals that are received in case of a flaw in the PV generator, inverter or on the AC side, the DC current circuit being automatically switched on or off by th
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 30, 2008
    Publication date: April 16, 2009
    Applicant: SMA Solar Technology AG
    Inventors: Sven Bremicker, Stefan Buchhold, Frank Greizer, Gunther Cramer
  • Patent number: 7411802
    Abstract: An inverter is devised to avoid high-frequency voltages at input terminals and to allow good efficiency thanks to its simple and cost-optimized circuit layout. This is achieved by a method of converting a direct current voltage, more specifically from a photovoltaic source of direct current voltage, into an alternating current voltage at a frequency through a bridge circuit comprising switching elements (V1-V 4) and free-wheeling elements (D1-D4), said switching elements (V1-V4) being on the one side gated at the frequency and on the other side clocked at a high clock rate, a direct current voltage circuit, an alternating current voltage circuit and a plurality of free-wheeling phases being provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2005
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2008
    Assignee: SMA Solar Technology AG.
    Inventors: Matthais Victor, Frank Greizer, Sven Bremicker, Uwe Hübler
  • Publication number: 20080094867
    Abstract: The subject matter of the invention is an inverter (3), more specifically for use in a photovoltaic plant (1) with a direct voltage input (connection terminals 4; 5) for connection to a generator (2) and an alternating voltage output (connection terminals 7; 8) for feeding into an energy supply network (6) as well as with a DC-AC converter (12) with semiconductor switch elements (15) and an intermediate circuit (11), at least one short-circuit switch element (18) being connected in parallel to the generator (2), so that the voltage will not exceed a maximum voltage value neither at the connection terminals (4; 5) of the generator (2) nor between the connection terminals (9; 10) of the inverter.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 27, 2007
    Publication date: April 24, 2008
    Applicant: SMA Technologie AG
    Inventors: Burkard Muller, Frank Greizer
  • Patent number: 7352549
    Abstract: The subject matter of the present invention is a method of automatically recognizing an electrical system by which both the voltage of an electrical system (2) and the phase angle between phases of the system are monitored so that human technical failure upon connecting a plant (1) to said electrical system (2) be reliably prevented.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2004
    Date of Patent: April 1, 2008
    Assignee: SMA Technologie AG
    Inventors: Frank Greizer, Sven Bremicker
  • Publication number: 20070179720
    Abstract: A method of converting a direct voltage generated by a decentralized power supply system into three-phase alternating voltage by means of a plurality of single-phase inverters (WR1-WR3), said alternating voltage being provided for supplying an electric mains, is intended to avoid inadmissible load unbalances using single-phase inverters. This is achieved in that, upon failure of one inverter (WR1-WR3), an asymmetrical power supply distribution is reduced by limiting the output of the other inverters. The method makes it possible to simplify three-phase voltage monitoring.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 8, 2007
    Publication date: August 2, 2007
    Applicant: SMA Technologie AG
    Inventors: Holger Becker, Gunther Cramer, Sven Bremicker, Thorsten Dingel, Bernd Engel, Wilfried Groote, Frank Greizer, Joachim Laschinski, Matthias Victor, Torben Westphal
  • Publication number: 20050286281
    Abstract: An inverter is devised to avoid high-frequency voltages at input terminals and to allow good efficiency thanks to its simple and cost-optimized circuit layout. This is achieved by a method of converting a direct current voltage, more specifically from a photovoltaic source of direct current voltage, into an alternating current voltage at a frequency through a bridge circuit comprising switching elements (V1-V4) and free-wheeling elements (D1-D4), said switching elements (V1-V4) being on the one side gated at the frequency and on the other side clocked at a high clock rate, a direct current voltage circuit, an alternating current voltage circuit and a plurality of free-wheeling phases being provided.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 16, 2005
    Publication date: December 29, 2005
    Inventors: Matthias Victor, Frank Greizer, Sven Bremicker, Uwe Hubler