Bridge Type Patents (Class 363/132)
  • Patent number: 10601339
    Abstract: A bridge circuit converts input direct-current voltage and outputs alternating-current voltage. A filter circuit attenuates a high-frequency component of the alternating-current voltage output from the bridge circuit. A clamping circuit is disposed between the bridge circuit and the filter circuit, and is capable of short-circuiting the output side of the bridge circuit. A control circuit has a first mode in which a switching element causes the alternating-current voltage to be output to the filter circuit at three or more voltage levels, and a second mode in which the switching element causes the alternating-current voltage to be output to the filter circuit at two voltage levels. When power conversion devices have their alternating-current side output paths connected and operate in parallel, at least one of the power conversion devices operating in parallel operates in the second mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2020
    Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tomoki Ito, Yusuke Iwamatsu
  • Patent number: 10601332
    Abstract: In described examples, an isolated DC-DC converter includes: an input node for receiving an input voltage; a transformer including first and second terminals; first and second low-side switches; and first and second high-side switches. The first low-side switch is coupled between the first terminal and a primary side ground. The second low-side switch is coupled between the second terminal and the primary side ground. The first high-side switch is coupled between the first terminal and the input node and is configured to be activated by a voltage at the second terminal. The second high-side switch is coupled between the second terminal and the input node and is configured to be activated by a voltage at the first terminal. Further, the isolated DC-DC converter includes a switch controller to cause the first and second voltages to alternatingly be zero by opening and closing the first and second low-side switches.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2020
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Maurizio Granato, Giovanni Frattini, Shailendra Kumar Baranwal
  • Patent number: 10587204
    Abstract: Electric power devices and control methods are provided which automatically select a line voltage or phase voltage of an AC voltage supply. The electric power device includes a switchable circuit, a sensor and a switch control. The switchable circuit connects to the AC voltage supply, and includes multiple switchable elements. The sensor ascertains a voltage level of the AC voltage supply, and the switch control automatically establishes a configuration of the switchable circuit through control of the multiple switchable elements. The switch control couples the electric power device in a line-line (delta) configuration to the AC voltage supply when the voltage level is in a first voltage range, and a line-neutral (wye) configuration when the voltage level is in a second voltage range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 10, 2020
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Steven J. Ahladas, Kevin R. Covi, Luke L. Jenkins, Robert B. Schlak
  • Patent number: 10587258
    Abstract: A drive circuit of a power semiconductor switch includes: a pulse modulation circuit having a first terminal configured to receive a fault signal, an isolation transformer, and a pulse demodulation circuit; when there is no fault signal being received, the pulse modulation circuit outputs a first turn on pulse signal and a first turn off pulse signal via the isolation transformer and the pulse demodulation circuit to charge/discharge a gate capacitor of the power semiconductor switch, so as to drive the power semiconductor switch to be turned on and turned off at a first speed; when the fault signal is received, the pulse modulation circuit outputs a second turn off pulse signal via the isolation transformer and the pulse demodulation circuit to discharge the gate capacitor of the power semiconductor switch, so as to drive the power semiconductor switch to be turned off at a second speed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 10, 2020
    Assignee: Delta Electronics, Inc.
    Inventors: Jianping Ying, Ming Wang, Xiaobo Huang, Jun Liu, Zhiming Hu
  • Patent number: 10576828
    Abstract: A variable voltage converter for an electric drive system has upper and lower switching devices in series between positive and negative buses. An inductance couples a junction between the switching devices to a DC battery. A controller is configured to drive the switches according to PWM gate signals based on an expected boost ratio of the converter. The PWM gate signals have a nominal dead-time insertion for both the upper and lower switching devices when the expected boost ratio is greater than a predetermined boost ratio. In order to extend a range of achievable boost ratios during regeneration operation, the PWM gate signals are without dead-time insertion for the upper switching device and the lower switching device remains continuously off when the expected boost ratio is less than the predetermined boost ratio.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2020
    Assignee: FORD GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventors: Jogendra S. Thongam, Shuitao Yang, Mohammed Khorshed Alam, Lihua Chen, Fan Xu, Yan Zhou
  • Patent number: 10574151
    Abstract: The various implementations described herein include inverter devices and systems. In one aspect, an inverter includes: a case; a capacitor within the case having a first terminal and a second terminal; a first bus bar including a first portion within the case and a second portion extending from the case to contact a first transistor; a second bus bar including a first portion situated in the case and a second portion extending from the case to contact a second transistor; and a phase-out bus bar including a first portion situated in the case, a second portion extending from the case to contact the first transistor, and a third portion extending from the case to contact the second transistor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2020
    Assignee: GALATECH, INC.
    Inventors: Wenjun Liu, Robert James Ramm
  • Patent number: 10574129
    Abstract: A reconfigurable power converter is provided that includes a pulse-width modulation (PWM) controller. The PWM controller is configured to switch between a first modulation scheme and a second modulation scheme when a current-level property crosses a transition threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 4, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2020
    Assignee: Raytheon Company
    Inventor: Sriram Chandrasekaran
  • Patent number: 10566899
    Abstract: This disclosure is related to the technical field of magnets, and in particular to a method for applying a coupled inductor to a DC-DC converter providing a DC current output, and based on the number of phases of the DC-DC converter, the coupled inductor is designed to have a corresponding number of windings, the windings are reversely coupled to cancel out the magnetizing fields to avoid flux saturation of the magnet material under high current excitation, and the coupled inductor has air gaps, the leakage flux in the air gap induced by each winding is in the same direction, the leakage magnetic flux is used to achieve the filtering of the output current.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 4, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2020
    Assignee: LEN Technology Limited
    Inventors: Jingquan Chen, Chuan Ni
  • Patent number: 10562404
    Abstract: An onboard charger for both single-phase (level-1 and level-2, up to 19.2 kW) and three-phase (level-3, above 20 kW) charging of a battery in Plug-in Electric Vehicles (PEVs) is integrated with the Propulsion machine-Inverter Group residing in the PEV, and is controlled to operate in propulsion and battery charging modes. The subject integrated onboard charger provides battery charging at the rated power of the Propulsion machine, does not need motor/inverter rearrangement, does not require additional bulk add-on passive components, provides an effective input current ripple cancellation, and operates without rotation of the Propulsion machine during the steady state charging.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2020
    Assignee: University of Maryland
    Inventors: Alireza Khaligh, Yichao Tang, Chuan Shi
  • Patent number: 10554145
    Abstract: An electrical power conversion apparatus includes a high-voltage bus bar, a low-voltage bus bar, and a relay bus bar which are integrated together in the form of a bus bar assembly. The high-voltage bus bar includes semiconductor-side high-voltage terminals and capacitor-side high-voltage terminals. The low-voltage bus bar includes semiconductor-side low-voltage terminals and capacitor-side low-voltage terminals. The relay bus bar includes a reactor-side relay terminal and a capacitor-side relay terminal 532. The capacitor-side high-voltage terminals, the capacitor-side low-voltage terminals, and the capacitor-side relay terminal are arranged in the form of a terminal array. The capacitor-side high-voltage terminals and the capacitor-side low-voltage terminals are arranged adjacent each other. The capacitor-side relay terminal is located at an end of an array of the capacitor-side high-voltage terminals and the capacitor-side low-voltage terminals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2020
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Naoki Hirasawa, Ryota Tanabe, Taijiro Momose
  • Patent number: 10550818
    Abstract: An apparatus for controlling a start sequence of an engine for a vehicle may include an engine, a motor configured to start the engine, a main switch configured to connect power to the motor or interrupt the power to be supplied to the motor, a main battery configured to supply the power to the motor through the main switch, a converter configured to step up a voltage of the motor by boosting reverse power through a reverse control operation, an auxiliary battery configured to supply the reverse power, and a converter controller configured to perform a pre-charging operation for a predetermined time through the reverse control operation when an ignition-ON signal is inputted, and close the main switch when the pre-charging operation is completed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2020
    Assignees: Hyundai Motor Company, Kia Motors Corporation
    Inventors: Kwang-Seok Choi, Do-Sung Hwang, Jeong-Hye Choi, Ki-Hong Kang
  • Patent number: 10543749
    Abstract: A system for dissipating regenerated electric energy produced by an electric actuator of an aircraft, the dissipating system including: a resistor; two switching arms, each switching arm being connected in series with the resistor, the two switching arms being connected together in parallel, each switching arm including two switches connected to one another in series, each switch including two terminals and a control grid, each switch being capable of being controlled by controlling the potential applied to the control grid thereof; and a measurement system capable of measuring the voltage at the terminals of each switch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 28, 2020
    Assignee: SAFRAN ELECTRICAL & POWER
    Inventors: Laurent Cartailler, Benoit Michaud
  • Patent number: 10541624
    Abstract: A three-level I-type inverter includes first to fourth switching devices between first and second potentials, first to fourth diodes, and fifth and sixth diodes. The first to fourth diodes are respectively connected to the first to fourth switching devices in anti-parallel. Between a connection node of the first and second switching devices and a connection node of the third and fourth switching devices, the fifth and sixth diodes are connected in series and in anti-parallel with series connection of the second and third switching devices. A connection node of the fifth and sixth diodes is connected to an input node having intermediate potential. A connection node of the second and third switching devices is connected to an output node. The second switching device and diode are formed of a first reverse conducting IGBT. The third switching device and diode are formed of a second reverse conducting IGBT.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 21, 2020
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Masaaki Ishino, Nobuya Nishida
  • Patent number: 10536000
    Abstract: A grid independent operation control unit includes a load current estimator to estimate a load current supplied to stand-alone power system in accordance with an output current of the inverter and an output voltage, and a feedback controller configured to PWM control the inverter at a duty ratio feedback calculated to cause the inverter to output an output voltage command value in accordance with the output voltage and the load current. The feedback controller is configured to PWM control the inverter at a duty ratio feedback calculated for output of a normalized output voltage command value obtained by normalizing the output voltage command value with the DC bus voltage in accordance with normalized output voltage obtained by normalizing the output voltage with the DC bus voltage and normalized load current obtained by normalizing the load current with the DC bus voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2020
    Assignee: TABUCHI ELECTRIC CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Chienru Lung, Hideki Hidaka
  • Patent number: 10536094
    Abstract: An apparatus includes a first switch leg connected between a first input terminal and a first output terminal, the first switch leg comprising serially connected switches. The apparatus also includes a second switch leg connected between a second input terminal and the first output terminal, the second switch leg comprising serially connected switches. The apparatus further includes a third switch leg connected between an input voltage midpoint and the first output terminal. A controller controls the first switch leg, the second switch leg and the third switch leg, wherein the controller is configured to disable the second switch leg for a first time period and alternately enable the first switch leg and the third switch leg during the first time period, and to disable the first switch leg for a second time period and to alternately enable the second leg and the third leg during the second time period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2020
    Assignee: Solaredge Technologies Ltd.
    Inventors: Daniel Zmood, Tzachi Glovinsky, Yakir Loewenstern
  • Patent number: 10536088
    Abstract: In some embodiments, upon detecting a fault condition, switching in a switched mode power supply is disabled only after a current switching cycle of the switched mode power supply is completed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2020
    Assignee: Infineon Technologies Austria AG
    Inventors: Ming Ping Mao, Tong Bao, Yaw Hann Thian, Weifu Yu
  • Patent number: 10530261
    Abstract: In the present invention, a high-voltage DC/DC converter suitable for powering x-ray tubes and the like provides control of a voltage applied to a resonant circuit at least in part according to a timing of a monitored voltage on the resonator thereby compensating for variations in the parameter stability of the resonant circuit, nonlinearity in the resonant gain curve and frequency dependencies.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2020
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Aurelien Gadenne, Julien Bouhraoua, Jean-Francois Larroux
  • Patent number: 10523113
    Abstract: A power conversion apparatus comprises a bidirectional conversion circuit that enables first conversion converting DC to AC and second conversion converting AC to DC and a filter circuit that is provided on an AC side of the bidirectional conversion circuit and that includes a capacitor. A control unit is provided for performing control such that the bidirectional conversion circuit makes the first conversion during the former stage of each half cycle of AC voltage, and such that the bidirectional conversion circuit makes the second conversion during the latter stage of each half cycle of AC voltage. The control unit performs control such that AC current of an opposite polarity to that of the AC voltage flows to the AC side during the former stage and AC current of the same polarity as that of the AC voltage flows to the AC side during the latter stage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2019
    Assignee: Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Takaaki Sano, Takeshi Ariyoshi, Keiji Tashiro
  • Patent number: 10523130
    Abstract: A method of and system for controlling a DC midpoint of a multi-level inverter. The method includes receiving an input power signal from an AC power source at a multi-level motor control system that includes a DC bus and a multi-level inverter configured to supply a load, the DC bus having a DC midpoint, connecting a DC midpoint of a DC bus to a neutral point of the AC power source, while isolating a neutral point of a load supplied by the multi-level inverter from the DC midpoint, monitoring a voltage on the DC midpoint of the DC bus. In addition, the method may include controlling a voltage of the neutral point of the AC load based on imbalances in the load supplied by the multi-level inverter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2019
    Assignee: HAMILTON SUNDSTRAND CORPORATION
    Inventors: Randall Bax, Huazhen Chai, Frank Z. Feng, Ryan W. Schmid
  • Patent number: 10523118
    Abstract: A switching mode power converter circuit is disclosed, comprising a first high-side switch and a first low-side switch coupled in series between an input voltage level and a reference voltage level, a second high-side switch and a second low-side switch coupled in series between the input voltage level and the reference voltage level, and a control circuit for controlling switching operation of the first and second high-side switches and the first and second low-side switches. The first high-side switch has a larger on-state resistance than the second high-side switch and the first low-side switch has a larger on-state resistance than the second low-side switch. The control circuit is configured to, during an on-state of the first and second low-side switches, control the second low-side switch to switch to the off-state and control the first high-side switch to switch to the on-state, so that the first high-side switch and the first low-side switch are both in the on-state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2019
    Assignee: Dialog Semiconductor (UK) Limited
    Inventors: Francesco Dalena, Alexandre Morello
  • Patent number: 10511235
    Abstract: An inverter apparatus includes a first switch, a second switch, a third switch, a fourth switch, a load detection unit, and a control unit. The first switch and the fourth switch form a first switch assembly, and the second switch and the third switch form a second switch assembly. The control unit selects a control mode to be that two switches of the first switch assembly are not turned off and at least one switch of the second switch assembly is turned off, or two switches of the second switch assembly are not turned off and at least one switch of the first switch assembly is turned off, or two switches of the first switch assembly and two switches of the second switch assembly are not turned off.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2019
    Assignee: DELTA ELECTRONICS, INC.
    Inventors: Chiao-Chien Lin, Yung-Sheng Yan
  • Patent number: 10505465
    Abstract: An electronic brushless variable transformer. Variable autotransformers, use brushes, and as such, have moving parts requiring maintenance and periodic cleaning of the brushes. A variable transformer without brushes is advantageous in that it eliminates the cleaning and maintenance of brushes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2019
    Assignee: CMS, INC
    Inventor: Abbie Gougerchian
  • Patent number: 10505477
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a battery load drive system, and more particularly, to a battery load drive system for preparing for a surge current generated by a capacitor when a battery is coupled to a battery using a path for reducing current additionally provided in an existing path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2019
    Assignee: LG Chem, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yong Min Jo, Ju Young Sun
  • Patent number: 10499514
    Abstract: A vehicular control device includes: one housing to contain modules having electronic components; a main circuit wiring connecting a first pair of modules; a main circuit wiring connecting a second pair of modules; and a main circuit wiring connecting a third pair of modules. The main circuit wiring, in which a maximum value of current flowing therein is greater than or equal to a first threshold, extends to an exterior of the housing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2019
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Naoya Miyamoto, Yasuaki Mamoto
  • Patent number: 10498255
    Abstract: A multi-level inverter provides multi-level output voltage. The multi-level inverter includes at least one cascaded H-bridge multi-level module. Each H-bridge multi-level module comprises a first H-bridge multi-level leg and a second H-bridge multi-level leg connected in parallel. Each of the first and second H-bridge multi-level legs includes a first inverter leg and a second inverter leg coupled in parallel through a coupled inductor. The first and second inverter legs are coupled respectively to a primary winding and a second winding of the coupled inductor for providing first and second input voltages with multiple voltage levels. The primary and secondary windings of the coupled inductor are coupled in series and a junction node of the primary and secondary windings forms an output terminal of the H-bridge multi-level leg. The first input voltage has a predetermined phase shift relative to the second input voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2019
    Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
    Inventors: Yingfeng Lin, Martin Alexander Hollander
  • Patent number: 10492848
    Abstract: An electrosurgical generator includes a power supply configured to output a DC waveform, a current or voltage source coupled to the power supply and a power converter coupled to the current or voltage source, the power converter including at least one power switching element and a power inductor having an inductance value during switching of the at least one power switching element. The electrosurgical generator further includes a zero voltage switching (ZVS) inducing circuit coupled to the power converter at a switching node, the ZVS inducing circuit including an inductor having an inductance which is greater than the inductance value of the power inductor of the at least one power switching element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2019
    Assignee: Covidien LP
    Inventors: Steven C. Rupp, Robert B. Smith, Daniel A. Friedrichs
  • Patent number: 10494016
    Abstract: An electric power steering apparatus that ideally compensates dead time of the inverter without the tuning operation, improves distortion of the current waveform and the responsibility of the current control, and suppresses sound, vibration, the ripple that the low speed steering maneuver is effective.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2019
    Assignee: NSK LTD.
    Inventors: Hiroaki Takase, Ryo Minaki, Hideki Sawada, Takayoshi Sugawara
  • Patent number: 10498247
    Abstract: A direct current to direct current (DC-DC) converter includes a k-th order converter including a reactor, multiple semiconductor switching elements, and multiple capacitors respectively connected in parallel with the semiconductor switching elements (k is a natural number equal to or below N and N is a natural number equal to or above 3), a transformer having a primary winding through an N-th order winding, and a controller that controls switching of a primary converter through an N-th order converter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2019
    Assignee: SHARP KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Kohzaburoh Murakami
  • Patent number: 10491121
    Abstract: The present embodiments relate generally to power controllers, and more particularly to synthetic current hysteretic control of a buck-boost DC-DC controller. In one or more embodiments, a controller includes PFM-PWM and Buck-Boost transitions with minimal circuitry and power consumption. In these and other embodiments, a window comparator structure is provided that is capable of generating control signals for use in buck, boost and buck-boost modes of operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2019
    Assignee: RENESAS ELECTRONICS AMERICA INC.
    Inventor: Gwilym Francis Luff
  • Patent number: 10491129
    Abstract: Switching between a dual switch topology and a bridge forward topology in a power converter includes: receiving an input voltage; providing, via the dual switch topology, an output voltage; determining that the input voltage falls below a first threshold; switching a path of the input voltage from the dual switch topology to the bridge forward topology; and providing, via the bridge forward topology, the output voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2019
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Michael L. Miller, Patrick K. Egan
  • Patent number: 10491044
    Abstract: An induction charging device and a method for inductively transmitting energy to an induction rechargeable battery device, with at least one primary oscillating circuit that includes at least one charging coil, and with a control/regulation unit for controlling the primary oscillating circuit with an inverter circuit. An excitation frequency of an output signal of the inverter circuit made up of half-waves essentially corresponds to a resonant frequency of the primary oscillating circuit. The induction charging device provides that, for reducing a charging current, the control/regulation unit, after an end-of-charge voltage of the induction rechargeable battery device is reached, controls the inverter circuit so that the output signal periodically sets at least one first half-wave to a high value, and an odd plurality of successive half-waves is then immediately set to a value that is low compared to the high value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2019
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventors: Bernd Wirnitzer, Dragan Krupezevic, Guenter Lohr, Juergen Mack, Martin Gonda
  • Patent number: 10483873
    Abstract: A power conversion apparatus includes an inverter for drive controlling a plurality of switching elements, drive circuits, a control circuit, a current detection part, an overcurrent detection circuit, and a protection circuit. The protection circuit, which receives a detection signal that the overcurrent detection circuit outputs to indicate detection of overcurrent, outputs a signal to the drive circuits for turning off a switching element that has been turned on by a control signal from the control circuit for a predetermined time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 19, 2019
    Assignee: OMRON Corporation
    Inventors: Katsutaka Tanabe, Takao Mizokami, Takuji Kumagai
  • Patent number: 10476397
    Abstract: Provided are methods and circuits for a resonant converter comprising at least one switch-controlled capacitor, wherein the at least one switch-controlled capacitor controls a resonant frequency of the resonant tank circuit. Provided are constant and variable switching frequency embodiments, and fill-wave and half-wave switch-controlled capacitor embodiments. Also provided are interleaved resonant converters based on constant and variable switching frequency, and full-wave and half-wave switch-controlled capacitor resonant converter embodiments. Interleaved embodiments overcome load sharing problems associated with prior interleaved resonant converters and enable phase shedding to improve light load efficiency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2019
    Assignee: Ganpower International Inc.
    Inventors: Yan-Fei Liu, Zhiyuan Hu
  • Patent number: 10476371
    Abstract: A method for controlling at least two three-phase power converters with asynchronous pulse-width modulation. The method further comprises the following steps: for each phase of each converter, the characteristics of the signals used to generate the modulating signal and carrier signal of each control signal of each phase of each converter are determined, for each converter, a phase shift is inserted between the carrier signals used to generate the phase control signals of the converter, for each phase, a phase shift is inserted between the carrier signals used to generate the control signals of the converters, for each phase of each converter, a pulse-width modulation control signal by intersection is determined resulting from the intersection of a modulating signal and a carrier signal, and the control signals are transmitted to the converters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2019
    Assignee: GE ENERGY POWER CONVERSION TECHNOLOGY LTD
    Inventor: Benoit George
  • Patent number: 10476306
    Abstract: Claimed is a method for control in wireless power transfer systems and a wireless power transfer system implementing such method. The system comprises a transmitting inductor; a receiving inductor spaced apart from the transmitting inductor; a half bridge inverting circuit or a full bridge inverting circuit with constant switching frequency for driving the current in the transmitting inductor, wherein said half bridge inverting circuit comprises at least two switches, or said full bridge inverting circuit comprises at least two diagonal pairs of switches. The switches or diagonal pairs of switches are configured to be turned on complementarily, and the current amplitude in the transmitting inductor is controlled by varying the difference between the on-times of said switches. The claimed method and system provide efficient power transfer in conditions of variable load and/or variable input voltage and/or variable coupling between Tx and Rx parts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2019
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Nikolay Nikolayevich Olyunin, Alexander Gennadevich Chernokalov
  • Patent number: 10468988
    Abstract: In a described example, an apparatus includes a first switch coupled between a terminal for receiving an input voltage and a top plate node, and having a first control terminal; a second switch coupled between the top plate node and a switching node, and having a second control terminal; a third switch coupled between the switching node and a bottom plate node and having a third control terminal; a fourth switch coupled between the bottom plate node and a ground terminal, and having a fourth control terminal; a flying capacitor coupled between the top plate node and the bottom plate node; a fifth switch coupled between the top plate node and an auxiliary node; a sixth switch coupled between the auxiliary node and the bottom plate node; and an auxiliary capacitor coupled between the auxiliary control terminal and a ground terminal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 8, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2019
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventors: Kevin Scoones, Orlando Lazaro, Alvaro Aguilar, Jeffrey Anthony Morroni, Reza Sharifi, Saurav Bandyopadhyay
  • Patent number: 10464438
    Abstract: A power conditioning system that includes a fuel cell to be connected to a load, a fuel cell converter connected between the fuel cell and the load, the fuel cell converter converting an output voltage of the fuel cell at a predetermined required voltage ratio, a battery connected in parallel with the fuel cell with respect to the load, the battery serving as a power supply source different from the fuel cell, a battery converter connected between the battery and the load, the battery converter converting an output voltage of the battery at a predetermined required voltage ratio, a voltage adjusting unit configured to adjust an output voltage of the battery converter to a predetermined voltage to generate a DC link voltage for synchronizing an output voltage of the fuel cell converter and the output voltage of the battery converter, and a ripple suppressing unit configured to cause the battery converter to suppress a ripple component of the DC link voltage in a situation where the DC link voltage is higher th
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 11, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2019
    Assignee: NISSAN MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Michihiko Matsumoto
  • Patent number: 10460911
    Abstract: Some embodiments include a high voltage, high frequency switching circuit. The switching circuit may include a high voltage switching power supply that produces pulses having a voltage greater than 1 kV and with frequencies greater than 10 kHz and an output. The switching circuit may also include a resistive output stage electrically coupled in parallel with the output and between the output stage and the high voltage switching power supply, the resistive output stage comprising at least one resistor that discharges a load coupled with the output. In some embodiments, the resistive output stage may be configured to discharge over about 1 kilowatt of average power during each pulse cycle. In some embodiments, the output can produce a high voltage pulse having a voltage greater than 1 kV and with frequencies greater than 10 kHz with a pulse fall time less than about 400 ns.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2019
    Assignee: Eagle Harbor Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Timothy M. Ziemba, Kenneth E. Miller, James R. Prager, John G. Carscadden, Ilia Slobodov
  • Patent number: 10454384
    Abstract: A switching power supply is provided which includes an input for an input current at an input voltage, a controlled transistor bridge having two branches each with two transistors, the two branches being connected in parallel to the input terminals, a transformer having a primary connected between the midpoints of the two branches formed between the transistors of each branch, an output for an output current connected to the terminals of a secondary circuit of the transformer, and a control unit for the transistors to alternately switch each of the midpoints between high and low values with a time offset between the switching times of the midpoint values. The control unit is also capable of ensuring that the time order for switching of the midpoints between the high and low values thereof varies over the course of time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2019
    Assignee: DEVIALET
    Inventors: Mathieu Pernot, Alexandre Huffenus, Pierre-Emmanuel Calmel
  • Patent number: 10454364
    Abstract: This power conversion device includes: a rectification circuit; an inverter circuit having a full-bridge configuration, and having a DC capacitor, and first and second legs each of which has two switching elements connected in series to each other; a transformer; and a control circuit for controlling operation of the inverter circuit, wherein the control circuit controls an ON period for the first leg, thereby controlling increase/decrease in current flowing through a first rectification circuit from an AC input, and controls an ON period for the second leg and a phase shift amount between the ON period for the first leg and the ON period for the second leg, thereby controlling voltage of the DC capacitor to be constant. Thus, it becomes possible to achieve high-power-factor control and output power control at the same time by a single stage of full-bridge inverter circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2019
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Hiroto Mizutani, Ryota Kondo, Takaaki Takahara
  • Patent number: 10454389
    Abstract: A power conversion device according to an embodiment of the disclosure includes: first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth elements coupling, respectively, a first voltage line to a first node, a second voltage line to the first node, the first voltage line to a second node, the second voltage line to the second node, the first voltage line to a third node, and the second voltage line to the third node; a low-pass filter including two or more reactors provided in respective two or more paths of first, second, and third paths, respectively, coupling the first node and a first output terminal, coupling the second node and a second output terminal, and coupling the third node and a third output terminal, and first and second capacitors; and a control section calculating voltage differences across the respective two or more reactors to control operations of the fifth and sixth elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2019
    Assignee: TDK CORPORATION
    Inventor: Chienru Lung
  • Patent number: 10454377
    Abstract: A resonant power converter includes a resonance tank formed by a capacitance component and an inductance component, at least two switches connected to the resonance tank and a voltages source in a bridge configuration, a number of snubber capacitors connected in parallel to each of the switches, a controller configured to control ON and OFF timings of the at least two switches so as to excite the resonance tank, and a voltage sensor configured to sense a voltage drop across at least one of the switches. The controller is configured to switch the at least one of the switches to the ON state when the absolute value of the sensed voltage drop reaches a minimum.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2019
    Assignee: ABB B.V.
    Inventors: Menno Kardolus, Jos Schijffelen, Mark Gröninger, Dolf Van Casteren
  • Patent number: 10447346
    Abstract: An inverter includes a pulse generator configured to generate a reference pulse signal having a first frequency; and a gate signal generator configured to apply a pulse width modulation control having a variable duty rate, based on a second frequency, to the reference pulse signal to generate a gate signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2019
    Assignee: Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tae Seok Ko, Young Su Jang
  • Patent number: 10439541
    Abstract: A vehicle is provided with a multiphase electrical machine, a first onboard electrical sub-system having a first nominal DC voltage, and a second onboard electrical sub-system having a second nominal DC voltage. The electrical machine includes a rotor, a first stator system and a second stator system. The first onboard electrical sub-system includes a first inverter with a first link capacitor. The first stator system is associated with the first inverter. The second onboard electrical sub-system includes a second inverter with a second link capacitor. The second stator system is associated with the second inverter. The first stator system is configured in a star configuration. The second stator system is configured in a star configuration or in a delta configuration. A transfer circuit connects the star point of the first stator system to a higher potential of the second onboard electrical sub-system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 5, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2019
    Assignee: Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Daniel Findeisen, Dominik Hecker, Matthias Gorka
  • Patent number: 10404190
    Abstract: Technologies for communicating information from an inverter configured for the conversion of direct current (DC) power generated from an alternative source to alternating current (AC) power are disclosed. The technologies include determining information to be transmitted from the inverter over a power line cable connected to the inverter and controlling the operation of an output converter of the inverter as a function of the information to be transmitted to cause the output converter to generate an output waveform having the information modulated thereon.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2019
    Assignee: Enphase Energy, Inc.
    Inventor: Patrick L. Chapman
  • Patent number: 10404173
    Abstract: A buck-boost switching converter which receives an input voltage and provides an output voltage is presented. The converter contains a first set of switches having a first power switch and a first ground switch, a second set of switches having a second power switch and a second ground switch. A controller is arranged to send control signals to the first and second set of switches. The controller is arranged such that in a buck mode, the first set of switches operates to provide buck regulation while the second power switch is held in a closed state. In a boost mode, the second set of switches operates to provide boost regulation while the first power switch is held in a closed state, and the controller is arranged to selectively operate the buck-boost switching converter in the buck mode or the boost mode based on a length of a time period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2019
    Assignee: Dialog Semiconductor (UK) Limited
    Inventor: Guillaume de Cremoux
  • Patent number: 10396676
    Abstract: The invention relates to a bidirectional DC-DC converter with intermediate conversion into AC power, including: a DC-AC conversion circuit using a plurality of MOSFETs; an AC-DC conversion circuit using a plurality of power diodes; a transformer; a pair of switches, one of which being inserted in series between a DC terminal of the DC-AC conversion circuit and the AC-DC conversion circuit and the other of which being inserted in series between another DC terminal of the DC-AC conversion circuit and the AC-DC conversion circuit; and a controller being adapted for turning on the pair of switches such that the plurality of power diodes of the AC-DC conversion circuit are reverse-biased where the AC power is transferred in the forward direction and turning off the pair of switches where the AC power is transferred in the backward direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 27, 2019
    Assignee: ABB Schweiz AG
    Inventors: Xiaobo Yang, Kuenfaat Yuen, Guoxing Fan, Dawei Yao, Francisco Canales
  • Patent number: 10396662
    Abstract: A device for converting power from a floating source of DC power to a dual direct current (DC) output, the device includes: positive and negative input terminals connectable to the floating source of DC power; and positive and negative, and ground output terminals connectable to the dual DC output that may feed an inverter. The inverter may be either a two or three level inverter. A charge storage device may be connected in parallel to, and charged from, the positive and negative input terminals. A resonant circuit may be also connected between the charge storage device and the dual DC output. The resonant circuit may include an inductor connected in series with a capacitor. The charge storage device may discharge through the resonant circuit by switching through to either the negative output terminal or the positive output terminal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 27, 2019
    Assignee: Solaredge Technologies Ltd
    Inventor: Vadim Lubomirsky
  • Patent number: 10396571
    Abstract: A power adapter includes a protocol integrated circuit (IC) on a secondary side of a transformer and a controller IC on a primary side of the transformer. The power adapter has an output voltage that changes depending on the charging voltage requirement of an electronic device (e.g., mobile device) connected to receive power from the power adapter. The power adapter includes an adaptive overvoltage protection mode that sets an overvoltage protection threshold to a low level during startup and thereafter sets the overvoltage protection threshold to a higher level after detecting proper operation of the protocol IC.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 27, 2019
    Assignee: FAIRCHILD SEMICONDUCTOR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Dibyendu Rana, Chih-Hsien Hsieh, Demon Hsu, Hangseok Choi
  • Patent number: 10389258
    Abstract: The invention relates to an integrated magnetic component (802) for a power converter including N>=2 LLC converters configured for interleaved operation. The integrated magnetic component (802) includes a first yoke and a second yoke and for each LLC converter a winding carrying leg which comprises a primary winding (820c) and a secondary winding (821c), wherein the primary winding (820c) and the secondary winding (821c) are wound on the respective winding carrying leg. The integrated magnetic component (802) further includes one or more return legs. Herein the winding carrying legs and the one or more return legs are arranged side by side, each leg being magnetically connected to both yokes and the winding carrying legs include a transformer air gap (819) whereas the at least one return leg is air gap free and at least one return leg is arranged between two winding carrying legs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 7, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 20, 2019
    Assignee: DELTA ELECTRONICS (THAILAND) PUBLIC COMPANY LIMITED
    Inventors: Hugues Douglas Njiende, Osman Erinc, Daniel Ruff