Patents by Inventor Paolo Mattavelli

Paolo Mattavelli 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: 9048756
    Abstract: Leakage current through stray or parasitic capacitance (which is particularly large in devices such as photovoltaic cell arrays and which are damaged by such leakage currents) due to common mode switching noise in a full bridge single phase power converter is reduced at high frequencies by magnetically coupling the two phase legs on the AC side of the power converter and connecting mid points of the AC and DC sides of the power converter and is reduced at low frequencies by use of a feedback arrangement that modifies sinusoidal modulation of the switches of the full bridge converter to function as an active filter. The magnetic coupling for the two phase legs is designed in a simple manner to avoid saturation based on volt-second considerations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2015
    Assignee: Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties, Inc.
    Inventors: Dong Dong, Fang Luo, Dushan Boroyevich, Paolo Mattavelli
  • Patent number: 8957666
    Abstract: A small signal feedback loop or feed-forward loop having gain provides substantially unconditional instability in a phase locked loop when a reference phase signal is lost. The small signal feedback or feed-forward also modifies phase locked loop bandwidth when the reference phase signal is lost to increase rapidity of response to loss of reference phase signal while maintaining insensitivity to reference voltage amplitude change while the reference phase signal is present. The performance thus achieved is particularly suitable for rapid condition detection response and control of a grid connected power converter under islanding conditions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 17, 2015
    Assignee: Virgina Tech Intellectual Properties, Inc.
    Inventors: Dong Dong, Dushan Boroyevich, Paolo Mattavelli, Bo Wen
  • Publication number: 20140312882
    Abstract: A small signal feedback loop or feed-forward loop having gain provides substantially unconditional instability in a phase locked loop when a reference phase signal is lost. The small signal feedback or feed-forward also modifies phase locked loop bandwidth when the reference phase signal is lost to increase rapidity of response to loss of reference phase signal while maintaining insensitivity to reference voltage amplitude change while the reference phase signal is present. The performance thus achieved is particularly suitable for rapid condition detection response and control of a grid connected power converter under islanding conditions.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 5, 2013
    Publication date: October 23, 2014
    Inventors: Dong Dong, Dushan Boroyevich, Paolo Mattavelli, Bo Wen
  • Publication number: 20140306680
    Abstract: Peak current, valley current or average current mode controlled power converters in either digital or analog implementations obtain a stabilized feedback loop and allow high system bandwidth design by use of an external ramp generator using a slope computation equation or design parameters based on fixing the quality factor of a double pole at one-half of the switching frequency at a desired value The slope of the external ramp waveform is tuned automatically with knowledge of the slope change in the waveform of inductor current of a power converter derived by differentiating a waveform in the current feedback loop. This autotuning of the external ramp generator provides immunity of quality factor change under variations of duty cycle, component values of topological change of the power converter.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 10, 2013
    Publication date: October 16, 2014
    Applicant: Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties, Inc.
    Inventors: Pei-Hsin Liu, Fred C. Lee, Yingyi Yan, Paolo Mattavelli
  • Publication number: 20140292288
    Abstract: Providing a fast current sensor direct feedback path to a modulator for controlling switching of a switched power converter in addition to an integrating feedback path which monitors average current for control of a modulator provides fast dynamic response consistent with system stability and average current mode control. Feedback of output voltage for voltage regulation can be combined with current information in the integrating feedback path to limit bandwidth of the voltage feedback signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 14, 2014
    Publication date: October 2, 2014
    Applicant: Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties, Inc.
    Inventors: Yingyi Yan, Fred C. Lee, Paolo Mattavelli
  • Publication number: 20140210282
    Abstract: Wobbling the operating frequency of a phase-locked loop (PLL), preferably by adding a periodic variation is feedback gain or delay in reference signal phase allows the avoidance of any non-detection zone that might occur due to exact synchronization of the phase locked loop operating frequency with a reference signal. If the change in PLL operating frequency is periodic, it can be made of adequate speed variation to accommodate and time requirement for islanding detection or the like when a reference signal being tracked by the PLL is lost. Such wobbling of the PLL operating frequency is preferably achieved by addition a periodic variable gain in a feedback loop and/or adding a periodically varying phase delay in a reference signal and/or PLL output.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 16, 2013
    Publication date: July 31, 2014
    Applicant: Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties, Inc.
    Inventors: Dong Dong, Dushan Boroyevich, Paolo Mattavelli
  • Publication number: 20140032147
    Abstract: A method for impedance measurement using chirp signal injection is provided. The method includes injecting at least one chirp signal into the three-phase AC system, and collecting at least one response to the at least one chirp signal. The method further includes transferring the at least one response from abc coordinates to dq coordinates. At least one impedance is calculated based on the at least one response to the at least one chirp signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 30, 2013
    Publication date: January 30, 2014
    Inventors: Jacob Verhulst, Mohamed Belkhayat, Zhiyu Shen, Marko Jaksic, Paolo Mattavelli, Dushan Boroyevich
  • Publication number: 20140032148
    Abstract: A method for impedance measurement in a three-phase AC system is provided. The method includes injecting a shunt perturbation signal into the three-phase AC system and collecting a response to the shunt perturbation signal, and injecting a series perturbation signal into the three-phase AC system and collecting a response to the series perturbation signal. The response to the shunt perturbation signal and the response to the series perturbation signal are then transferred from abc coordinate to dq coordinates. At least one impedance of the three-phase AC system is calculated based on the response to the shunt perturbation signal and the response to the series perturbation signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 30, 2013
    Publication date: January 30, 2014
    Inventors: Jacob Verhulst, Mohamed Belkhayat, Zhiyu Shen, Marko Jaksic, Paolo Mattavelli, Dushan Boroyevich
  • Patent number: 8605467
    Abstract: A converter circuit includes a transformer having a first side and a second side. The converter circuit also includes a switch coupled to the first side of the transformer. The converter circuit further includes a rectifying diode coupled to the second side of the transformer and to a first output terminal of the converter circuit. In addition, the converter circuit includes a clamping diode coupled to the second side of the transformer, to the rectifying diode, and to a second output terminal of the converter circuit. The converter circuit may include a boost section and a flyback section. The converter circuit may also include an active clamp and an isolated flyback section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2013
    Assignee: National Semiconductor Corporation
    Inventors: Giovanni Frattini, Giorgio Spiazzi, Paolo Mattavelli
  • Patent number: 8575911
    Abstract: Stabilization of a switching voltage regulator employing V2 control against ripple oscillation instability when the equivalent series resistance (ESR) of an output capacitor is small is provided by providing both an external ramp and an internal ramp (only the latter of which requires an approximation of inductor current) in the control feedback path, preferably including both inner and outer feedback loops. Approximation of inductor current using such an arrangement is non-critical and may be estimated based on power input voltage. Drift of a circuit providing such an inductor current estimation is preferably avoided by adjusting control duty cycle or slew rate of the positive-going ramp portion of the estimated inductor current triangular waveform.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 12, 2010
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2013
    Assignee: Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties, Inc.
    Inventors: Kuang-Yao Cheng, Feng Yu, Paolo Mattavelli, Fred C. Lee
  • Publication number: 20130235628
    Abstract: Leakage current through stray or parasitic capacitance (which is particularly large in devices such as photovoltaic cell arrays and which are damaged by such leakage currents) due to common mode switching noise in a full bridge single phase power converter is reduced at high frequencies by magnetically coupling the two phase legs on the AC side of the power converter and connecting mid points of the AC and DC sides of the power converter and is reduced at low frequencies by use of a feedback arrangement that modifies sinusoidal modulation of the switches of the full bridge converter to function as an active filter. The magnetic coupling for the two phase legs is designed in a simple manner to avoid saturation based on volt-second considerations.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 8, 2012
    Publication date: September 12, 2013
    Inventors: Dong Dong, Fang Luo, Dushan Boroyevich, Paolo Mattavelli
  • Publication number: 20130099800
    Abstract: A controller and infrastructure for an impedance analyzer measures responses to perturbations to respective phases of a multi-phase system at an interface between stages thereof (which may be considered as a source and load in regard to each other), such as a multi-phase electrical power system, to determine a transfer function for each phase of the multi-phase system from which the impedance of each of the source and load can be calculated, particularly for assessing the stability of the multi-phase system.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 14, 2012
    Publication date: April 25, 2013
    Inventors: Gerald FRANCIS, Rolando BURGOS, Dushan BOROYEVICH, Fred WANG, Zhiyu SHEN, Paolo MATTAVELLI, Kamiar KARIMI, Sheau-Wei Johnny FU
  • Publication number: 20110316508
    Abstract: Stabilization of a switching voltage regulator employing V2 control against ripple oscillation instability when the equivalent series resistance (ESR) of an output capacitor is small is provided by providing both an external ramp and an internal ramp (only the latter of which requires an approximation of inductor current) in the control feedback path, preferably including both inner and outer feedback loops. Approximation of inductor current using such an arrangement is non-critical and may be estimated based on power input voltage. Drift of a circuit providing such an inductor current estimation is preferably avoided by adjusting control duty cycle or slew rate of the positive-going ramp portion of the estimated inductor current triangular waveform.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 12, 2010
    Publication date: December 29, 2011
    Inventors: Kuang-Yao Cheng, Feng Yu, Paolo Mattavelli, Fred C. Lee
  • Patent number: 7989982
    Abstract: A power converter having a noise component and a modulator configured to vary a frequency of the noise component of the power converter on the basis of a digital signal to be transmitted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2011
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics S.r.l.
    Inventors: Stefano Saggini, Roberto Cappelletti, Walter Stefanutti, Paolo Mattavelli
  • Publication number: 20110013425
    Abstract: A converter circuit includes a transformer having a first side and a second side. The converter circuit also includes a switch coupled to the first side of the transformer. The converter circuit further includes a rectifying diode coupled to the second side of the transformer and to a first output terminal of the converter circuit. In addition, the converter circuit includes a clamping diode coupled to the second side of the transformer, to the rectifying diode, and to a second output terminal of the converter circuit. The converter circuit may include a boost section and a flyback section. The converter circuit may also include an active clamp and an isolated flyback section.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 19, 2010
    Publication date: January 20, 2011
    Applicants: National Semiconductor Corporation, UNIVERSITA ' DEGLI STUDI DI PADOVA
    Inventors: Giovanni Frattini, Giorgio Spiazzi, Paolo Mattavelli
  • Publication number: 20100328968
    Abstract: A PWM controlled multi-phase resonant voltage converter may include a plurality of primary windings powered through respective half-bridges, and as many secondary windings connected to an output terminal of the converter and magnetically coupled to the respective primary windings. The primary or secondary windings may be connected such that a real or virtual neutral point is floating.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 22, 2010
    Publication date: December 30, 2010
    Applicant: STMicroelectronics S.r.I.
    Inventors: Claudio Adragna, Giuseppe Gattavari, Paolo Mattavelli, Enrico Orietti, Giorgio Spiazzi
  • Publication number: 20070286305
    Abstract: A power converter having a noise component and a modulator configured to vary a frequency of the noise component of the power converter on the basis of a digital signal to be transmitted.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 16, 2007
    Publication date: December 13, 2007
    Applicant: STMicroelectronics S.r.I.
    Inventors: Stefano Saggini, Roberto Cappelletti, Walter Stefanutti, Paolo Mattavelli
  • Patent number: 6940187
    Abstract: A controller (236) for an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) compensates for harmonic distortion in the output current (224,26,228). The controller also provides a control vector (230) also with input from the adaptation processor (234).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2005
    Assignee: Northeastern University
    Inventors: Gerardo Escobar, Alex M. Stankovic, Paolo Mattavelli
  • Patent number: 6862199
    Abstract: A controller (130) for compensating reactive power and selected current load harmonics in an unbalanced multi-phase power distribution system. Control current is injected from a multi-phase voltage source inverter (118) into the multi-phase power distribution system as a function of the voltage and current provided by the source inverter 118. The injected current is operative to balance the load seen by the power distribution system including non-linear/distorted and unbalanced loads in each phase. The controller includes an inner loop control processor (216), an outer loop control processor, and an adaptation processor. The adaptation processor (238) is operative to estimate a selected set of predetermined harmonic components in the periodic disturbance which is a function of the unknown system parameters, the source current, the source voltage, and their time derivatives in stationary coordinates.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2005
    Assignee: Northeastern University
    Inventors: Gerardo Escobar, Alex M. Stankovic, Paolo Mattavelli
  • Patent number: RE44975
    Abstract: A power converter having a noise component and a modulator configured to vary a frequency of the noise component of the power converter on the basis of a digital signal to be transmitted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 1, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 1, 2014
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics S.r.l.
    Inventors: Stefano Saggini, Roberto Cappelletti, Walter Stefanutti, Paolo Mattavelli