Abstract: The disclosure relates to capacitive heatsink devices and systems. In one embodiment, the heat sink capacitor includes a positive (P) bus plate; a negative (N) bus plate; a first dielectric material; a second dielectric material; and a heat sink comprising a first side and a second side, the first side of the heat sink attached to the first dielectric material and the second dielectric material, wherein the first dielectric material and the second dielectric material are separated by a portion of the heat sink, wherein the first dielectric material electrically insulates the P bus plate from the first side of the heat sink to form a first capacitor, and wherein the second dielectric material electrically insulates the N bus plate from the first side of the heat sink to form a second capacitor.

Abstract: A direct current (DC) hybrid circuit breaker (HCB) includes a current sensor and a variable inductor. In the event of a short circuit fault current reaches a preset threshold, the current sensor will send a tripping signal to a controller, and the controller will command the gate drivers to conduct all the switches in the semiconductor switch path. This action will allow the fault current to be commuted to the power stack. When the current in a fast mechanical switch branch drops to near zero, the variable inductor will be driven out of the saturation and the secondary winding will send out a “safe-to-open” signal to the controller.

Abstract: The systems and methods described herein involve a power converter control system that uses a physical or virtual memristor in place of a standard resistor at a filtering stage of the power converter. The memristive low pass filter adjusts a cutoff frequency based on the output voltage in a way such that adaptive response to transient features is achieved. The use of the physical or virtual memristor provides the benefit of producing a self-adaptive passband rather than requiring manual intervention from a user. The result is an improvement in the output power quality of the power converter, which may allow for usage of the power converter, even given significant component degradation.

Abstract: Systems, methods, and computer-readable media are disclosed for contactless power converter aging detection. An example method may include receiving, from a microphone, first acoustic data associated with a power converter. The example method may also include converting the first acoustic data into second acoustic data, wherein the first acoustic data is time domain data and the second acoustic data is frequency domain data. The example method may also include determining, by a machine learning model and based on the second acoustic data, a remaining useful life value associated with the power converter.

Abstract: In examples, provided are leadless power couplers that include (1) a thermal insulating system having an outer wall and an inner wall, (2) a first electrically conductive winding located outside the thermal insulating system, where the first electrically conductive winding is configured to create a varying magnetic field, (3) a plurality of second electrically conductive windings located inside the thermal insulating system and configured to couple to the varying magnetic field, the plurality of second electrically conductive windings being superconductors, (4) a plurality of cryogenic rectifiers, each cryogenic rectifier being coupled to a respective second electrically conductive winding in the plurality of second electrically conductive windings, and (5) a plurality of cryogenic cables coupled between respective outputs of the plurality of cryogenic rectifiers and respective loads.

Abstract: An active reflected wave canceller (ARWC, or RWC) can attached to each phase at the output of a motor drive (i.e., inverter). The reflected wave canceller is generally comprised of a pulse generator and a power inductor. The power inductor is used to by-pass the load current, so it doesn't flow through the pulse generator. The pulse generator injects an accurately controlled nanoseconds narrow-width pulse into the system. The injected narrow pulse breaks the rising and falling edge of the inverter output voltage into two steps, which generates two traveling waves along the cable that cancel each other at the motor terminals.

Abstract: The disclosure relates to capacitive heatsink devices and systems. In one embodiment, the heat sink capacitor includes a positive (P) bus plate; a negative (N) bus plate; a first dielectric material; a second dielectric material; and a heat sink comprising a first side and a second side, the first side of the heat sink attached to the first dielectric material and the second dielectric material, wherein the first dielectric material and the second dielectric material are separated by a portion of the heat sink, wherein the first dielectric material electrically insulates the P bus plate from the first side of the heat sink to form a first capacitor, and wherein the second dielectric material electrically insulates the N bus plate from the first side of the heat sink to form a second capacitor.

Abstract: An active reflected wave canceller (ARWC, or RWC) can attached to each phase at the output of a motor drive (i.e., inverter). The reflected wave canceller is generally comprised of a pulse generator and a power inductor. The power inductor is used to by-pass the load current, so it doesn't flow through the pulse generator. The pulse generator injects an accurately controlled nanoseconds narrow-width pulse into the system. The injected narrow pulse breaks the rising and falling edge of the inverter output voltage into two steps, which generates two traveling waves along the cable that cancel each other at the motor terminals.

Abstract: A gate driver for power semiconductors is disclosed. The gate driver includes modulation to modulate signals from a controller to a radio frequency (RF) range that is much higher than frequencies associated with conducted EMI. The gate driver also includes RF transformer and tank circuit to that couples the modulated signals, filters EMI, and provides galvanic isolation. The gate driver further includes a RF demodulator and unfolder circuit for converting the RF signal into a signal appropriate for controlling the gate of a power semiconductor for switching. Additionally, the disclosed gate driver provides active gate control using programmable waveforms with values that can range over a continuous range of voltages.

Abstract: A gate driver for power semiconductors is disclosed. The gate driver includes modulation to modulate signals from a controller to a radio frequency (RF) range that is much higher than frequencies associated with conducted EMI. The gate driver also includes RF transformer and tank circuit to that couples the modulated signals, filters EMI, and provides galvanic isolation. The gate driver further includes a RF demodulator and unfolder circuit for converting the RF signal into a signal appropriate for controlling the gate of a power semiconductor for switching. Additionally, the disclosed gate driver provides active gate control using programmable waveforms with values that can range over a continuous range of voltages.

Abstract: Disclosed is a phase-shifted square wave modulation technique for single-phase and three-phase IM2DC applications in HVDC/MVDC systems. A square wave based modulation waveform is applied to each cell of IM2DC and compared to the phase-shifted carrier waveforms to generate device gate signals. As a result, a higher equivalent switching frequency can be achieved, and square wave based arm and AC link waveforms will be generated. In addition, power flow of IM2DC can be controlled by a phase shift angle of the square modulation waveforms between HVS and LVS. The converter cell capacitors can be reduced in size because they are only required to smooth high switching frequency ripple components. In addition, lower TDR can be achieved due to the higher power transferring capability of square waves.

Abstract: Disclosed is a phase-shifted square wave modulation technique for single-phase and three-phase IM2DC applications in HVDC/MVDC systems. A square wave based modulation waveform is applied to each cell of IM2DC and compared to the phase-shifted carrier waveforms to generate device gate signals. As a result, a higher equivalent switching frequency can be achieved, and square wave based arm and AC link waveforms will be generated. In addition, power flow of IM2DC can be controlled by a phase shift angle of the square modulation waveforms between HVS and LVS. The converter cell capacitors can be reduced in size because they are only required to smooth high switching frequency ripple components. In addition, lower TDR can be achieved due to the higher power transferring capability of square waves.

Abstract: This invention presents a family of isolated BESS topologies with multiple functions, which are suitable for high voltage and high power DC grid application. A battery energy storage system (BESS) for direct current (DC) grid applications is provided, including an alternating current (AC) transformer having a primary side and a secondary side, at least one primary side arm coupled to the primary side of the AC transformer, the at least one primary side arm comprising a plurality of cascade connected voltage source converter sub-modules and a plurality of energy storage battery units and at least one secondary side arm coupled between the secondary side of the AC transformer and a DC grid voltage bus, the at least one secondary side arm comprising a plurality of cascade connected voltage source converter sub-modules. Modulation and control strategies for the various topologies are also provided.

Abstract: A self-balanced modulation method and a closed-loop magnetic flux rebalancing control method for parallel multilevel inverters. The combination of the two methods provides for balancing of the magnetic flux of the inter-cell transformers (ICTs) of the parallel multilevel inverters without deteriorating the quality of the output voltage. In various embodiments a parallel multi-level inverter modulator is provide including a multi-channel comparator to generate a multiplexed digitized ideal waveform for a parallel multi-level inverter and a finite state machine (FSM) module coupled to the parallel multi-channel comparator, the FSM module to receive the multiplexed digitized ideal waveform and to generate a pulse width modulated gate-drive signal for each switching device of the parallel multi-level inverter. The system and method provides for optimization of the output voltage spectrum without influence the magnetic balancing.

Abstract: A self-balanced modulation method and a closed-loop magnetic flux rebalancing control method for parallel multilevel inverters. The combination of the two methods provides for balancing of the magnetic flux of the inter-cell transformers (ICTs) of the parallel multilevel inverters without deteriorating the quality of the output voltage. In various embodiments a parallel multi-level inverter modulator is provide including a multi-channel comparator to generate a multiplexed digitized ideal waveform for a parallel multi-level inverter and a finite state machine (FSM) module coupled to the parallel multi-channel comparator, the FSM module to receive the multiplexed digitized ideal waveform and to generate a pulse width modulated gate-drive signal for each switching device of the parallel multi-level inverter. The system and method provides for optimization of the output voltage spectrum without influence the magnetic balancing.