Power Electronics Patents | Jan 2010

Jan 1, 2010 12:00 PM
SAM DAVIS, Editor in Chief

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING ASYNCHRONOUS MOTORS

Issued December 8, 2009
United States Patent 7,629,756

Methods and apparatus are provided for controlling first and second motors. A controller includes a processor supplying a control signal for driving the motors, and a logic circuit coupled to the processor. The processor produces a first trigger coordinated with the rate of the first motor and a second trigger coordinated with the rate of the second motor. The logic circuit produces a third trigger from a combination of the first and second triggers. The processor includes a converter for sampling the currents of the motors in response to the third trigger.

Inventors: Murrell; Terry (San Pedro, CA), Kowalewski; Daniel L. (Redondo Beach, CA)

Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations, Inc. (Detroit, MI)

Appl. No.: 11/769,817

Filed: June 28, 2007

MULTIMODE CHARGING SYSTEM FOR AN ELECTRIC VEHICLE

Issued December 8, 2009
United States Patent 7,629,773

A method and apparatus is provided that allows the end user to optimize the performance of an all-electric or hybrid vehicle — and its charging system — for a desired mode of operation. The system of the invention includes multiple charging/operational modes from which the user may select. Each charging/operational mode controls the cut-off voltage used during charging and the maintenance temperature of the battery pack.

Inventors: Eberhard; Martin Forest (Woodside, CA), Straubel; Jeffrey Brian (Menlo Park, CA), Kelty; Kurt Russell (Palo Alto, CA), Kohn; Scott Ira (Redwood City, CA), Hermann; Weston Arthur (Palo Alto, CA), Berdichevsky; Eugene Michael (Redwood City, CA), Simpson; Andrew Gregory (Chapel Hill, AU), Carlson; Craig Bruce (Los Altos, CA)

Assignee: Tesla Motors, Inc. (San Carlos, CA)

Appl. No.: 12/322,286

Filed: January 29, 2009

ACTIVE EMC FILTER FOR MACHINE TOOLS

Issued December 8, 2009
United States Patent 7,629,836

An active EMC filter for machine tools can reduce the leakage current normally induced by large phase-to-ground capacitances. The filter may comprise an active shunt module, an impedance converter, or a correction signal generator, and is suitable both for three-phase and single-phase applications.

Inventors: Kull; Peter (Ruttenen, CH), Kuepfer; Roland (Schonbuhi, CH)

Assignee: Schaffner Emv AG (Luterbach, CH)

Appl. No.: 11/779,507

Filed: July 18, 2007

POWER AND INFORMATION SIGNAL TRANSFER USING MICRO-TRANSFORMERS

Issued December 8, 2009
United States Patent 7,630,213

A power converter provides power across an isolation barrier, such as through the use of coils. A coil driver has transistors connected in a positive feedback configuration and is coupled to a supply voltage in a controlled manner by measuring the output power and opening or closing a switch as needed between the power supply and the coil driver.

Inventors: Chen; Baoxing (Westford, MA), Kliger; Ronn (Lexington, MA)

Assignee: Analog Devices, Inc. (Norwood, MA)

Appl. No.: 11/593,385

Filed: November 6, 2006

DC-DC CONVERTER DECREASES SWITCHING LOSS

Issued December 8, 2009
United States Patent 7,630,219

A dc-dc converter includes a transformer comprising a primary winding connected in series with an input voltage, and a secondary winding that generates induced current when the input voltage is applied to the primary winding; a switching part connected to the primary winding that performs a switching operation according to a predetermined control signal; a first delay part which delays an increasing rate of voltage between open nodes according to a turned-off state of the switching part, and supplies a discharge current when the switching part is turned-on; and a second delay part which delays current flow in the switching part when the first delay part discharges the current when the switching part is turned-on.

Inventors: Lee; Jin-hyung (Anyang-si, KR)

Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (Suwon-si, KR)

Appl. No.: 11/651,588

Filed: January 10, 2007

ELECTRICAL FAULT DETECTION

Issued December 1, 2009
United States Patent 7,626,791

A dc electrical current busbar — for electrical load circuits and devices as well as sources — requires protection. To provide such protection, Kirchoff's laws are used such that electrical current values are substantially taken simultaneously and summed to identify deviations from expected differential threshold values. Upon detection of such deviations — and generally as a result of a number of successive deviations — an electrical isolation device is used in order to isolate electrical current to the busbar.

Inventors: Newman; Richard D (Manningtree, GB), Booth; Campbell D (Clydebank, GB)

Assignee: Rolls-Royce plc (London, GB)

Appl. No.: 11/730,735

Filed: April 3, 2007

DIGITALLY CONTROLLED CURRENT-MODE POWER SUPPLY

Issued December 1, 2009
United States Patent 7,626,837

Disclosed is a current-mode switched power supply that includes a switching element and a power stage coupled to the switching element and configured to provide — in response to the switching of the switching element — an output voltage and a feedback voltage related to the output voltage. The power supply also includes a digital control circuit connected to the switching element to control the switching element.

Inventors: De La Torre; Luis (Daganzo de Arriba, ES), Saibi; Fadi (Hoboken, NJ)

Assignee: Agere Systems Inc. (Allentown, PA)

Appl. No.: 11/504,377

Filed: August 14, 2006

NONLINEAR MOTOR CONTROL TECHNIQUES

Issued December 8, 2009
United States Patent 7,629,764

The present invention provides a torque loop control method for servomotors, utilizing discontinuous pulse width modulation that incorporates measuring the power factor in real time. Also included is a sine wave generator for software-based spectrum analysis.

Inventors: Shoemaker; Jeffrey W. (Andover, MN), Lewis; Timothy M. (San Jose, CA)

Assignee: BAE Systems Land & Armaments L.P. (Arlington, VA)

Appl. No.: 11/702,426

Filed: February 5, 2007

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