Patents by Inventor Harry A. Nienhaus

Harry A. Nienhaus 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: 4347474
    Abstract: Apparatus for providing the voltage transformation functions of a conventional electrical power transformer. An AC input signal is chopped in a solid state switching converter at a frequency very much larger than the frequency of the input signal and then filtered to attenuate the high frequency component while passing the frequency of the AC input signal. The switching converter includes a pair of bidirectional solid state switches, an inductor and a capacitor connected in a buck converter, boost converter or buck-boost converter arrangement to provide a step up, step down, or step up/step down capability, respectively. A feedback signal modulates the duty cycle of the switching converter to provide automatic voltage regulation under varying loads and leading and lagging power factors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 1980
    Date of Patent: August 31, 1982
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
    Inventors: James L. Brooks, Roger I. Staab, James C. Bowers, Harry A. Nienhaus
  • Patent number: 4293904
    Abstract: A power converter which provides precise waveshape regulation. An input pr waveform (three-phase or single phase power) is rectified and modulated to form a chopped waveform within an envelope defined by the rectified input waveform. The modulation is removed by passing the chopped signal through a low-pass filter. The output of the low-pass filter, which is equal to the instantaneous value of the chopped waveform envelope times the instantaneous value of the duty cycle of the chopped waveform, is converted to a complete sine wave output voltage in a power inverter. The output of the power inverter is sampled and compared with a low-power reference waveform in a differential amplifier. The output of the differential amplifier is phase compensated for the effects of the low-pass filter and applied as an error signal to a pulse-width-modulated oscillator to adjust the duty cycle of the chopped waveform so that the sine wave output voltage follows the reference waveform.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 1979
    Date of Patent: October 6, 1981
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
    Inventors: James L. Brooks, James C. Bowers, Harry A. Nienhaus
  • Patent number: 4257007
    Abstract: An active power-line filter which provides bandpass filtering and transient uppression. The high-power signal to be filtered is modulated to form a chopped waveform within an envelope defined by the input waveform and the modulation is removed by passing the chopped signal through a low-pass filter. The output of the low-pass filter is then compared in a differential amplifier with a low-power reference signal which is phase-locked to the primary component of the high-power signal. The output of the differential amplifier is phase-compensated for the effects of the low-pass filter and is compared to the reference in a phase-detection multiplier to produce an error signal to adjust the duty cycle of the chopped waveform so that the waveform at the output of the low-pass filter is identical to the reference waveform.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 1979
    Date of Patent: March 17, 1981
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
    Inventors: James L. Brooks, James C. Bowers, Harry A. Nienhaus