Voltage Regulator Protective Circuits Patents (Class 361/18)
  • Patent number: 10659887
    Abstract: A system may include a charge pump configured to transfer electrical energy from a source of electrical energy coupled to an input of the charge pump to an energy storage device coupled to an output of the charge pump and configured to store the electrical energy transferred from the source of electrical energy, a power converter configured to transfer electrical energy from the energy storage device to an output of the power converter, wherein the power converter comprises a first plurality of switches and a power inductor arranged such that one switch of the first plurality of switches is coupled between the power inductor and the output of the charge pump, an output stage configured to transfer electrical energy between the output of the power converter to a load coupled to an output of the output stage, the output stage comprising a second plurality of switches, and a controller configured to generate an output voltage at the output of the output stage as an amplified version of an input signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2020
    Assignee: Cirrus Logic, Inc.
    Inventors: Eric J. King, Christian Larsen, Anthony S. Doy
  • Patent number: 10635123
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides a device for eliminating a slope in an output voltage of a switcher power converter of a PLC module, by which a power supply timing of an internal regulator circuit applied to a PLC power supply is secured and an initial start condition (specification) required by the circuit element is satisfied by eliminating a slope phenomenon occurring in an output voltage from the internal regulator circuit when an external input voltage to the PLC module increases or decreases gradually.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2020
    Assignee: LSIS CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Jung-Wook Kim
  • Patent number: 10630028
    Abstract: An electronic device includes a first electronic circuitry portion configured to connect a VCONN supply terminal of a Universal Serial Bus Type-C (USB-C) controller to a first configuration channel (CC) terminal of a plurality of CC terminals of the USB-C controller. The first CC terminal of the USB-C controller is to be directly connected to a first CC terminal of a plurality of CC terminals of a USB-C receptacle. The electronic device further includes a second electronic circuitry portion electrically coupled to the first electronic circuitry portion and configured to detect a voltage across the first CC terminal of the USB-C controller and the VCONN supply terminal. The second electronic circuitry portion is to decouple the VCONN supply terminal from the first CC terminal of the USB-C controller when the voltage is greater than a predetermined threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 21, 2020
    Assignee: Cypress Semiconductor Corporation
    Inventors: Hemant P. Vispute, Partha Mondal
  • Patent number: 10620649
    Abstract: A current regulating circuit is provided in the invention. The current regulating circuit includes a first inverter, a second inverter, a PMOS, an NMOS and a capacitor. The first inverter receives a control signal. The second inverter receives the control signal. A first gate of the PMOS is coupled to the first inverter. The NMOS is coupled to the PMOS and a second gate of the NMOS is coupled to the second inverter. The capacitor is coupled to the PMOS and the NMOS at a node, and is coupled to a low dropout regulator at a reference node.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2020
    Assignee: Winbond Electronics Corp.
    Inventor: Chi-Lin Cheng
  • Patent number: 10609877
    Abstract: Some embodiments provide irrigation valve control apparatuses comprising: multiple terminals coupled with a multi-wire path; a first charge storage circuitry electrically coupled with at least one of the multiple terminals, wherein the first charge storage circuitry is configured to be charged by a voltage on the multi-wire path; a control circuitry configured to determine the voltage on the multi-wire path; and a boost circuitry controlled by the control circuitry, wherein the control circuitry in response to determining that the voltage on the multi-wire path is below a threshold activates the boost circuitry to increase a voltage stored by the first charge storage circuitry.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 26, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2020
    Assignee: Rain Bird Corporation
    Inventors: Manuel J. Ferrer Herrera, Steven M. Lurcott, Todd K. Roper
  • Patent number: 10608626
    Abstract: A driving apparatus is provided, the driving apparatus including: a gate driving unit that drives a semiconductor element; a sampling unit that samples, in an on-period of the semiconductor element, an observation value that changes according to an on-current flowing through the semiconductor element; and a changing unit that changes a driving condition under which the gate driving unit drives a gate of the semiconductor element when the semiconductor element is turned off according to the observation value sampled in an on-period of the semiconductor element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 23, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2020
    Assignee: FUJI ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kunio Matsubara, Tsuyoshi Nagano
  • Patent number: 10601336
    Abstract: A load adaptive power supply including: a conducting resistance controllable bridge rectifying unit for generating a full-wave rectified output voltage according to an AC input voltage to drive a load, and controlling an on-resistance thereof during at least one half cycle of a positive half cycle and a negative half cycle of the AC input voltage according to at least one control signal; a driving circuit unit configured to generate the at least one control signal according to a pulse modulation signal; and a digital microcontroller unit coupled with the driving circuit unit to determine a duty ratio of the pulse modulation signal according to a power of the load to drive the driving circuit unit, so as to adjust the on-resistance of the conducting resistance controllable bridge rectifying unit according to different values of the power, thereby increasing a power conversion efficiency of the power supply.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2020
    Assignee: WENTAI TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION
    Inventor: Yuan-Liang Liao
  • Patent number: 10579118
    Abstract: Example implementations relate to detection circuits. In one example, a detection circuit includes a power supply, a transistor coupled to the power supply, a port coupled via the transistor to the power supply, where the port is to transmit power received via the transistor from the power supply to a corresponding port included in an external device when the corresponding port is coupled to the port, and a detection circuit to detect a voltage between the port and the corresponding port when the port is coupled to the corresponding port and interrupt, via the transistor, power supplied to the port when the detected voltage satisfies a threshold voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 6, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2020
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Po-Lan Wang, Jen-Chun Hsu, Yi-Feng Lin
  • Patent number: 10551860
    Abstract: There is provided a regulator including: a first transistor connected between an input terminal and an output terminal; a feedback circuit configured to control a control voltage of a control electrode of the first transistor so that a voltage of the output terminal reaches a target voltage according to a feedback voltage proportional to an output voltage; a second transistor having a control electrode to which the control voltage is applied in common with the first transistor; a first resistor connected with the second transistor in series between the input terminal and the output terminal; and a current limiting circuit configured to detect a voltage generated across the first resistor and to change the control voltage so as to limit a current flowing through the first transistor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2020
    Assignee: Rohm Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Makoto Yasusaka
  • Patent number: 10535992
    Abstract: One embodiment provides a switching regulator circuit having an overcurrent protection function that enables complete overcurrent protection though simple in configuration. The switching regulator circuit generates an output signal while boosting an input voltage by switching on/off a switching element using a PWM signal. The switching regulator circuit is equipped with a load switch which is connected to the switching element in series and is normally on. And, the switching regulator circuit is further equipped with an overcurrent protection circuit which keeps the load switch off if a current flowing through the switching element is an overcurrent.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2020
    Assignee: NEW JAPAN RADIO CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hitoshi Furuya, Masayoshi Sato
  • Patent number: 10528112
    Abstract: An MPS generation method, the method constituted of: at a predetermined frequency, alternately outputting a first MPS current pulse for a predetermined first time period and not outputting the first MPS current pulse for a predetermined first off time period; during the first time period, determining the magnitude of a current drawn by an input capacitor of a DC to DC converter; and responsive to the determined input capacitor current magnitude, outputting between the first terminal and the second terminal a second MPS current pulse for a predetermined second time period during the predetermined first off time period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 24, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2020
    Assignee: MICROSEMI P.O.E. LTD.
    Inventor: Yair Darshan
  • Patent number: 10523131
    Abstract: A reconfigurable MMC sub-module unit and a control unit thereof are provided, the reconfigurable MMC sub-module unit is mainly formed by an MMC sub-module unit and a reconfigurable mechanism, wherein the reconfigurable mechanism is formed by switches, and the conversion of MMC sub-module unit topology is achieved through switching on and off the switches in the reconfigurable mechanism. According to the reconfigurable MMC sub-module unit and the control unit thereof, the rapid change of a topology structure for a converter can be achieved, which is suitable for the demand of the line connection of the medium-voltage power distribution network and variable topologies, and meets requirements of dynamic simulation experiment for different converter topologies in the dynamic simulation experiment, thereby reducing construction costs and duration, improving experiment efficiency, and having high flexibility and strong versatility.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 2, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2019
    Assignees: NR ELECTRIC CO., LTD, NR ENGINEERING CO., LTD
    Inventors: Gang Li, Jianchun Li, Jie Tian, Haiying Li, Yu Lu, Yunlong Dong, Zhaoqing Hu, Minglian Zhu
  • Patent number: 10516262
    Abstract: An overvoltage protection device protects an electronic medical device in the event of a transient overvoltage on one or more patient lines of the device. A current limiting device is placed in series in a patient line between electronic components of the medical device and a patient interface. A biasing voltage generating device has at least one biasing element located in a line extending off the patient line and at least one additional circuit element connected in series with the biasing element. The biasing voltage generating device is configured to apply a predetermined biasing voltage to the current limiting device via the biasing element in response to a transient overvoltage on the patient line, whereby the current limiting device is switched off and limits current flow through the patient line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 24, 2019
    Assignee: OSYPKA MEDICAL GMBH
    Inventor: Paul Zmuda
  • Patent number: 10511065
    Abstract: A battery pack of a surgical instrument includes a battery, a high range monitoring circuit, and a low range monitoring circuit. The high range monitoring circuit is configured to be activated when an electrical current discharged from the battery exceeds a threshold; and to assess the electrical current discharged from the battery at a first rate. The low range monitoring circuit is configured to be activated when the electrical current discharged from the battery is below the threshold; and to assess the electrical current discharged from the battery at a second rate. The battery is configured to conserve power when the low range monitoring circuit is activated. The low range monitoring circuit is configured to increase the second acquisition rate when the low range monitoring circuit remains activated for a predetermined duration. The first rate is greater than the second rate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2019
    Assignee: Ethicon LLC
    Inventors: Frederick E. Shelton, IV, David C. Yates, Michael J. Vendely
  • Patent number: 10502770
    Abstract: Cable assemblies react to electrical power. A visual indicator in a cable assembly changes color in response to the electrical power. The visual indicator, for example, may respond to heat or electromagnetic field in the cable assembly. In smart cables, a controller may activate the visual indicator in response to the electrical power applied to the cable.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2019
    Assignee: AT&T INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY I, L.P.
    Inventors: Barrett M. Kreiner, Jonathan L. Reeves
  • Patent number: 10493857
    Abstract: A method and system of controlling a charging device for vehicles are provided. The method includes sensing overcurrent in a power factor correction circuit of the charging device and turning off the power factor correction circuit upon sensing overcurrent. An output voltage of the power factor correction circuit is then increased when the number of generations of sensed overcurrent is equal to or less than a predetermined first reference value and the power factor correction circuit is turned on.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2019
    Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company
    Inventors: Hui Sung Jang, Gi Bong Son, Hyun Wook Seong
  • Patent number: 10495694
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to inter-phase short-circuit detection, and particularly, to a method and apparatus for detecting inter-phase short-circuit of a three-phase motor, and an air conditioner including the same.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 11, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2019
    Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
    Inventors: Yongchan Jung, Wonwoo Lee
  • Patent number: 10481626
    Abstract: A fault-tolerant multiphase voltage regulator includes a plurality of power stages, each of which is configured to deliver a phase current to a processor, and a controller. The controller is configured to: control the plurality of power stages to regulate an output voltage provided to the processor; detect and disable a faulty power stage; generate a throttling signal to indicate if one or more of the power stages is faulty and disabled; and communicate the throttling signal to the processor over a physical line running between the processor and the controller. A corresponding method of operating a fault-tolerant power distribution system is also described.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 19, 2019
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies Austria AG
    Inventors: Benjamim Tang, Jinghong Guo, Harrison Hu, Tim Ng, Mattia Oddicini, Herbert Zojer
  • Patent number: 10476400
    Abstract: A dual-comparator rectifier circuit of a wireless power receiver includes a receive coil configured to generate a current in response to receiving power through electromagnetic waves from a wireless power transmitter and a bridge circuit. The bridge circuit includes four branches, and one node of each of the four branches is coupled to one of a first node or a second node of the receive coil. A first branch and a second branch of the four branches are coupled to the first node and the second node of the receive coil and include a first circuit and a second circuit, respectively. The first circuit includes a first comparator and a first switch circuit and the second circuit includes a second comparator and a second switch circuit. The first circuit and the second circuit can set a dynamic turn-on threshold for the first switch circuit and the second switch circuit, respectively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2019
    Assignee: AVAGO TECHNOLOGIES INTERNATIONAL SALES PTE. LIMITED
    Inventors: Jim Le, Mark Rutherford, Ashfaqur Rahman
  • Patent number: 10468981
    Abstract: A switching power supply device includes a switching element and a diode and generates an output voltage by supplying current to a coil by controlling the switching element to turn on and off. A current detection circuit detects a current flowing in the switching element. A voltage detection circuit monitors a voltage at an output terminal OUT. A control circuit controls the switching element to turn on and off by a current control mode based on a current detection signal and a feedback voltage. The control circuit drives a bleeder circuit to supply a load current to the output terminal when a level of the current detection signal is lower than a predetermined level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2019
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventor: Shinichiro Nakata
  • Patent number: 10454275
    Abstract: A system and method to collect energy from generation systems such as, for example, wind farms or solar farms with widely distributed energy-generation equipment. In some cases, static inverters are used to feed the energy directly into the power grid. In some other cases, back-to-back static inverters are used create a high-voltage DC transmission line to collect power from multiple generation sites into one feed-in site.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 9, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2019
    Assignee: TIGO ENERGY, INC.
    Inventors: Mordechay Avrutsky, Dan Kikinis
  • Patent number: 10452092
    Abstract: A supply circuit is provided including a supply generation circuit coupled to a supply terminal. A voltage deviation detection circuit is adapted to detect a voltage deviation in an internal supply voltage. A current limiter arrangement is adapted to limit a current through the supply generation circuit to a predefined value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2019
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventor: Kirk Herfurth
  • Patent number: 10411477
    Abstract: A photovoltaic array system includes multiple strings of series coupled photovoltaic modules to provide current at a voltage dependent on the number of modules in each string and their operating efficiency. Each string is coupled to a DC-to-DC converter to convert the current from each string for output to a DC bus. An inverter is coupled to DC bus to convert the current from the strings of series coupled photovoltaic modules to AC current at a grid-compatible voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 10, 2019
    Assignee: Pika Energy, Inc.
    Inventors: Joshua Daniel Kaufman, Benjamin Francis Polito, Keith Thomas Richtman
  • Patent number: 10411591
    Abstract: An embodiment holdup time circuit of a bridgeless power factor correction circuit comprises a charge device connected between an output terminal of a bridgeless power factor correction circuit and an energy storage apparatus, a discharge device connected between the energy storage apparatus and an input of the bridgeless power factor correction circuit, the energy storage apparatus and the bridgeless power factor correction circuit comprising a first boost converter, a second boost converter, a first switch and a second switch, wherein the first switch is connected between the first boost converter and ground and the second switch is connected between the second boost converter and ground.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 10, 2019
    Assignee: Futurewei Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Dianbo Fu, Hengchun Mao, Bing Cai
  • Patent number: 10412799
    Abstract: Powered devices for use in a power distribution system are provided. The power distribution system may comprise a power providing device for providing power at an output voltage to the powered device over an output interface, and an electrical conductor for transmitting the power between the power providing device and the powered device. The powered device may be assigned to a power class corresponding to a predetermined first power limit and a predetermined second power limit. The predetermined first power limit may relate to a maximum power that the powered device may consume, and the predetermined second power limit may relate to the maximum power that the power providing device may provide.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 10, 2019
    Assignee: SIGNIFY HOLDING B.V.
    Inventors: Leenart Yseboodt, Matthias Wendt
  • Patent number: 10400722
    Abstract: A method includes receiving a plurality of injection pulses; generating a plurality of drive signals in response to the plurality of injection pulses; generating an interrupt signal in response to the plurality injection pulses, the interrupt signal being one of a high interrupt signal and a low interrupt signal; and transitioning between a plurality of operating states in response to the interrupt signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2019
    Assignee: Cummins Inc.
    Inventors: Daniel R. Harshbarger, Meenal Rajiv Vaidya, Fei Gong
  • Patent number: 10401884
    Abstract: A power supply array system includes N first receiving devices and a power supply array device capable of generating N voltages. The power supply array device includes M adjustable power control boards, an adjustable input/output circuit board, and a controller. The M adjustable power control boards are used for outputting the N voltages. Each adjustable power control board has a plurality of output terminals. Each output terminal is used for outputting a voltage. The adjustable input/output circuit board is coupled to the plurality of output terminals of each adjustable power control board for detecting a voltage and a current of each output terminal. The controller is used for receiving data of the voltage and the current of the each output terminal of the each power control board accordingly. N and M are two integers greater than two and N>M.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2019
    Assignees: Inventec (Pudong) Technology Corp., Inventec Corporation
    Inventors: Wei-Liang Chen, Kai-Yang Tung, Mao-Ching Lin
  • Patent number: 10389227
    Abstract: A semiconductor device drive circuit drives a semiconductor switching device including a first electrode, a second electrode, and a control electrode. The semiconductor device drive circuit includes an input terminal that receives an input signal; a level shift unit that shifts a voltage level of the input signal and outputs a drive signal to be supplied to the control electrode; a first resistor that generates a first current from a first voltage applied to the first electrode; a second resistor that generates a second current from a second voltage applied to the second electrode; and a voltage difference determination unit that outputs a detection signal when a difference between the first current and the second current is equal to or greater than a predetermined desaturation determination value. The semiconductor device drive circuit is a single integrated circuit chip.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 20, 2019
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Kazuya Hokazono, Akihisa Yamamoto, Dong Wang
  • Patent number: 10389304
    Abstract: A system includes a number of frequency converters, wherein a respective frequency converter has a wired data interface and a frequency converter parameter memory. The system further includes a number of wireless local area network modules, wherein a respective WLAN module has a wired data interface. The data interface of the WLAN module can be coupled to the data interface of a frequency converter for the purpose of bidirectional data exchange, wherein the frequency converter parameter memory of a frequency converter is designed to store values of a number of frequency converter WLAN parameters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 20, 2019
    Assignee: Schmidhauser AG
    Inventors: Thomas Bisig, Thomas Lange, Siegfried Haas
  • Patent number: 10381822
    Abstract: A protection circuits for server racks may include an Oring circuit having a first MOSFET, a first diode, and first and second comparators. Each of the first and second comparators supports a maximum voltage difference that is less than an operational voltage of the power supply. The protection circuit also includes a clamping circuit having a second MOSFET and a second diode. Each of the first and second comparators is configured to compare voltage at the first MOSFET with voltage at the second MOSFET. The first comparator is configured to switch the first MOSFET to an off condition using the comparison, and the second comparator is configured to switch the first MOSFET to an on condition using the comparison. The second MOSFET is configured to clamp a node of each of the first and second comparators to below the maximum in the event of a short at the power supply.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2019
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Liang Jia, Xin Li
  • Patent number: 10361693
    Abstract: A power source supply circuit includes: a plurality of power sources (11-1, 11-2) that generate power source voltages different from each other; a switch circuit (14) that switches and outputs the power source voltages generated in the plurality of power sources (11-1, 11-2); a voltage output terminal (16) that outputs outside the power source voltages output from the switch circuit (14); an RF choke circuit (15) provided between the switch circuit (14) and the voltage output terminal (16), the RF choke circuit (15) including a first capacitor; and a second capacitor (12-1, 12-2) provided between the plurality of power sources (11-1, 11-2) and the switch circuit (14), the second capacitor (12-1, 12-2) having a larger capacitance than the first capacitor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 5, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 23, 2019
    Assignee: NEC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yoji Murao, Kazumi Shiikuma
  • Patent number: 10354568
    Abstract: A display device includes a display panel including a plurality of pixels, a power supply transmitting driving power to the pixels via a power line and stopping transmission of the driving power in response to a crack signal, a panel driver provides a driving signal to the pixels, the driving signal for displaying a black image during a non-emission period of each frame period and displaying a valid image during an emission period of each frame period, and a crack detector senses a current flowing through the power line and conditionally generate the crack signal according to values of the current sensed over M successive frame periods, where M is an integer greater than 1.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 20, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 16, 2019
    Assignee: Samsung Display Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Il-Hun Jeong, Woo-Seok Jang
  • Patent number: 10346072
    Abstract: Aspects of dislocated charge storage for power loss protection in non-volatile memory systems are described. A system includes a power supply having an output power stage with bulk capacitance to supply power for a period of time after a power supply failure. The system also includes a network storage interface device and a non-volatile memory media card both coupled to the power supply for power. The power supply is configured to generate a power loss alert in response to the power supply failure. In turn, the network storage interface device is configured to perform a power loss data protection procedure with the non-volatile memory media card based on the power loss alert and during the period of time that the bulk capacitance can supply power after the power supply failure. The additional capacitance typically needed for power loss protection features is located apart from the non-volatile memory media cards.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2019
    Assignee: AMAZON TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: Phillip Peterson, Max Jesse Wishman, Christopher Nathan Watson
  • Patent number: 10345362
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to the field of inverters, and to a method for detecting grid connection stability of an inverter and an inverter. The method includes: detecting a line voltage and a current of the alternating current port to obtain a first group of line voltage values and a first group of current values; detecting the line voltage and the current of the alternating current port to obtain a second group of line voltage values and a second group of current values; obtaining an equivalent impedance matrix of the power grid according to the first group of line voltage values, the first group of current values, the second group of line voltage values, and the second group of current values; and determining, by the inverter according to an equivalent admittance matrix and the equivalent impedance matrix, whether a stability requirement of the inverter is met.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2019
    Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Fangcheng Liu, Kai Xin
  • Patent number: 10332469
    Abstract: The present invention provides a GOA circuit over-current protection system and method thereof. The over-current protection system for a GOA circuit, which comprises a power management chip and a level-shift chip. The level-shift chip comprises an over-current protection module. The over-current protection module comprises a current comparator, an AND gate circuit, a rising edge pulse delay circuit, a power supply, a voltage comparator, a first switch and a second switch, and a capacitor. With the current comparator to detect a current on the wiring of the clock signal in the GOA circuit, when the current on the wiring of the clock signal in the GOA circuit is too high, the power supply is controlled for charging the capacitor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2019
    Assignee: SHENZHEN CHINA STAR OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Wenfang Li, Xianming Zhang
  • Patent number: 10333292
    Abstract: To provide a switching regulator equipped with an overheat protection circuit small in current consumption. A switching regulator of the present invention is configured to intermittently operate an overheat protection circuit only for a prescribed period based on a signal turning on a switching element, which is outputted from an output control circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2019
    Assignee: ABLIC INC.
    Inventors: Akihiro Kawano, Katsuya Goto
  • Patent number: 10326444
    Abstract: An H-bridge pre-driver is configured as two blocks so as to suit the width of an H-bridge driver Tr. The two blocks are line-symmetrically placed with a bias circuit interposed therebetween. One of the pre-driver blocks is laid out as a rectangle that is long in one direction and is short in a direction perpendicular to that direction. With this configuration, the pre-driver layout area can be reduced, and the cost of IC can be reduced. Furthermore, the symmetric placement enables matching of the impedance of interconnect from the pre-driver to the driver and stabilization of properties to be achieved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 11, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 18, 2019
    Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Isamu Moriya
  • Patent number: 10319671
    Abstract: A semiconductor package includes a leadframe, a first transistor chip connected to a first island of the leadframe in a drain-down configuration, and a second transistor chip connected to a second island of the leadframe in the same drain-down configuration as the first transistor chip. The first and the second islands of the leadframe are mutually electrically isolated from one another. The first island includes an extension which extends beyond a perimeter of the first transistor chip in a direction towards the second island and overlaps the second transistor chip. The first transistor chip and the second transistor chip are electrically interconnected with one another via the extension of the first island and a first electric connection element electrically connecting the extension to the second transistor chip to form a half bridge circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2019
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
    Inventors: Dirk Ahlers, Gilles Delarozee, Daniel Schleisser, Christopher Spielman, Thomas Stoek
  • Patent number: 10317986
    Abstract: A secondary side controller for a power converter configured to provide a control signal to an emitter element of an opto-coupler for control of a primary side controller of the power converter, the secondary side controller configured to operate with the primary side controller for controlling the voltage output of the power converter, the secondary side controller configured to, based on; a first control value configured to instruct the power converter to output its present voltage output; and a second control value configured to instruct the power converter to provide a requested target voltage output; provide said control signal in accordance with a transition profile over a predetermined transition time period to effect a change between the first control value and the second control value, the transition profile comprising at least a first rate of change in the control signal followed by an end time period leading to the end of the transition time period during which the rate of change in the control
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 31, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2019
    Assignee: NXP B.V.
    Inventors: Robert Henri de Nie, Wilhelmus Hinderikus Maria Langeslag, Peter Laro
  • Patent number: 10312818
    Abstract: A power converter determines a feedback signal according to a voltage signal related to an output voltage of the power converter and a reference voltage, thereby regulating the output voltage. A control circuit and method for programming the output voltage of the power converter utilize an offset current generator to inject a current or sink a current for changing the voltage signal or the reference signal, thereby adjusting the output voltage. As a result, it gets rid of complicated circuitry but provides more steps adjustment, which reduces related costs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2019
    Assignee: RICHTEK TECHNOLOGY CORP.
    Inventor: Isaac Y. Chen
  • Patent number: 10289091
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a parameterizable automation technology device. The parameterizable automation technology device includes a memory, a wireless communications interface, and a processor. The memory is configured to prestore a device parameter of the parameterizable automation technology device. The wireless communication interface is configured to receive update data to update the prestored device parameter via a communication network. The processor is configured to update the prestored device parameter based on the received update data and to adjust an operation of the parameterizable automation technology device based on the updated prestored device parameter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2019
    Assignee: Phoenix Contact GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Hartmut Henkel, Jochen Zeuch, Patrick Schweer
  • Patent number: 10284103
    Abstract: A power converter includes first and second DC terminals between which the power converter is operable to generate a voltage difference. The power converter also includes a control unit that is configured to operate in a normal mode during normal operation of the power converter and in a fault mode when a fault occurs in a respective DC power transmission medium that is operatively connected in use to one of the first or second DC terminals. The control unit in the normal mode generates a normal operating voltage difference between the first and second DC terminals. The control unit in the fault mode generates a modified operating voltage difference between the first and second DC terminals while maintaining the respective voltage potential with respect to earth of the other of the first and second DC terminals. The modified operating voltage difference is lower than the normal operating voltage difference.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2019
    Assignee: GENERAL ELECTRIC TECHNOLOGY GMBH
    Inventor: Carl David Barker
  • Patent number: 10277109
    Abstract: An inverter for a photovoltaic apparatus, said inverter comprising a DC electric bus having a plurality of electric lines forming corresponding DC input channels for said inverter. The inverter comprises a choke filter comprising a single magnetic circuit and a plurality of choke windings enchained with said magnetic circuit. Said choke windings are electrically connected in series with corresponding line conductors of said electric lines, which have a same voltage polarity. Said choke windings are arranged so that AC electric currents flowing along said choke windings generate magnetic fluxes having concordant directions. In a further aspect, the invention relates also to a choke filter for a DC electric bus of a photovoltaic apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2019
    Assignee: ABB Schweiz AG
    Inventors: Marco Borgogni, Sauro Macerini, Massimo Garufi
  • Patent number: 10259491
    Abstract: An electric power steering apparatus that drive-controls a motor by an inverter, and a motor release-switch is connected between the inverter and the motor, comprising: a control section to detect an assist state on a driving control system and to ON/OFF-switch a control of the inverter based on a detection result; a motor rotational number detecting section to detect a rotational number of the motor; an energy calculating section to calculate an energy of a motor back-EMF and a regenerative current based on the rotational number; and a judging section to compare the energy with an area of safety operation of the motor release-switch and to OFF-switch the d motor release-switch when the energy becomes within the area of safety operation. As occasion demands, the area of safety operation is calculated with the temperature.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 8, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2019
    Assignee: NSK LTD.
    Inventors: Naoto Shinkawa, Shigeru Fukinuki, Shin Kumagai, Shigeru Shimakawa, Teruyoshi Kogure
  • Patent number: 10255215
    Abstract: Enhanced data storage devices in various form factors are discussed herein. In one example, a storage drive includes a plurality of storage devices configured to store and retrieve data responsive to operations received over Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) interfaces, a PCIe switch circuit communicatively coupled to the PCIe interfaces of the storage devices and configured to receive over a host connector the operations issued by a host system and transfer the storage operations for ones of the storage devices over associated ones of the PCIe interfaces. The storage drive includes holdup circuitry configured to provide holdup power the storage devices. The storage drive includes a first circuit board assembly comprising three storage device connectors that couple to corresponding storage devices, and a second circuit board assembly comprising a further storage device connector that couples to a further storage device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2019
    Assignee: Liqid Inc.
    Inventors: Jason Breakstone, Brenden Michael Rust, Christopher R. Long, Andrew Rudolph Heyd, Sumit Puri, Bryan Schramm, Seth Walsh
  • Patent number: 10256803
    Abstract: An electrical device includes an electrical load, an electronic switch with an electronic switching element and a driver controlling the electronic switching element, and at least one pulsed power supply having a power unit coupled with the electronic switching element and configured to generate an electrical supply current for the electrical load from a voltage based on alternately turning on and off the electronic switching element. During operation of the power supply, an electrical current associated with the electronic switching element flows through a current path. A pulse transformer has a primary side coupled with the power unit such that the electrical current flows through a primary-side winding. A comparator compares a secondary-side electrical voltage or a filtered secondary-side electrical voltage of the transformer, and an evaluation device coupled with the comparator detects potential defects of the electronic switch based on the result of the comparison.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2019
    Assignee: KUKA Deutschland GmbH
    Inventor: Sebastian Zehetbauer
  • Patent number: 10243344
    Abstract: A semiconductor device includes an integration of a first external terminal to which a DC input voltage is input, a second external terminal to which a rectifying and smoothing circuit is externally connected, an output transistor connected between the first external terminal and the second external terminal, a control circuit arranged to turn on and off the output transistor so that a desired DC output voltage can be obtained from the rectifying and smoothing circuit, a current detection circuit arranged to generate a sense voltage corresponding to an on-current of the output transistor, and an overcurrent protection circuit arranged to monitor the sense voltage so as to perform an overcurrent protection operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2019
    Assignee: Rohm Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Satoru Nate
  • Patent number: 10218129
    Abstract: An electronic device includes a first switch configured to connect a first configuration channel (CC) terminal of a Universal Serial Bus Type-C (USB-C) controller to a VCONN supply of the USB-C controller. The first CC terminal of the USB-C controller being is to directly connect to the first CC terminal of a USB-C receptacle. The electronic device includes a second switch configured to connect a second CC terminal of the USB-C controller to a control channel physical layer logic (PHY) of the USB-C controller. The second CC terminal is to directly connect to the second CC terminal of the USB-C receptacle. The electronic device includes an overvoltage detection and protection circuit configured to deactivate the first switch or the second switch when a voltage exceeding a predetermined threshold is detected. The first switch and the second switch are each coupled to the overvoltage detection and protection circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2019
    Assignee: Cypress Semiconductor Corporation
    Inventors: Partha Mondal, Arun Khamesra, Hemant P. Vispute
  • Patent number: 10186952
    Abstract: A power conversion device in which a plurality of converter cells are connected in series with one another. The converter cells each include two or more semiconductor devices, an energy storage element and a bypass element including a constituent element for setting the bypass element to be close-circuited by detecting abnormality of a converter cell, and including a constituent element for controlling, among the semiconductor devices, a semiconductor device connected in parallel with the bypass element to set in a turn-on state, at the same time when the bypass element is set close-circuited or in advance of its close circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 22, 2019
    Assignees: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, TOSHIBA MITSUBISHI-ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL SYSTEMS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takushi Jimichi, Kimiyuki Koyanagi, Sadao Funahashi, Taichiro Tsuchiya, Yasuhiro Shinomiya
  • Patent number: 10177596
    Abstract: Examples disclosed herein involve backup power management. In an example, an amount of backup power to power a load bank is estimated, a set of power sources are selected from a plurality of power sources based on respective states of charge of the plurality of power sources and the estimated amount of backup power, and the selected set of power sources are placed in circuit to provide backup power to the load bank via the selected set of power sources.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2019
    Assignee: HEWLETT PACKARD ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT LP
    Inventors: Hai Ngoc Nguyen, Abhishek Banerjee