Electric power conversion systems inventions 05/08

20080123372 - Control circuit with adaptive minimum on time for power converters: A control circuit includes a switch coupled to a transformer of a power converter for switching the transformer. A sampling circuit is coupled to the transformer to sample a reflected voltage of the transformer to generate a voltage signal. A switching circuit generates a switching signal to control the switch... Agent: Rosenberg, Klein & Lee

20080123374 - Adaptively configured and autoranging power converter arrays: Multi-cell DC-DC power converters are described. In an adaptive version the isolated regulating multi-cell converter adaptively configures the input cells in a series connection to share the input voltage and in a parallel configuration to share the input current. Double-clamped buck-boost ZVS switching DC-DC, active clamped flyback, and flyback converter... Agent: Fish & Richardson P.C.

20080123373 - Current fed power converter system including normally-on switch: A system includes an energy source configured for operating as a current limited source and a DC-to-DC converter or current switched inverter configured to receive current from the energy source and comprising a normally-on switch.... Agent: General Electric Company Global Research

20080123375 - Multi-mode power converter: A power converter including a DC input; an AC input; a conditioning module coupled to the DC input; a first inverter coupled to the conditioning module, the first inverter providing a first AC voltage to a first AC output; a second inverter coupled to the conditioning module, the second inverter... Agent: Cantor Colburn, LLP

20080123376 - Dc/ac adapter assembly: A DC/AC adapter assembly has a DC/AC adapter and a cable. The cable transmits a power-overloading signal to the DC/AC adapter indicating whether power-overloading is occurring in the cable. The DC/AC adapter includes a controller circuit for controlling and adjusting an output alternating current of the DC/AC adapter based on... Agent: Hershkovitz & Associates, LLC

20080123377 - Circuit and method for predicting a valley timing for a voltage across a switching device: Disclosed are circuits and methods for use in a control circuit of a switching mode power supply for turning on a switching device in the switching mode power supply when the voltage across the switching device is at a minimum. A voltage detector is provided for detecting the voltage across... Agent: Rosenberg, Klein & Lee

20080123378 - Power adapter for providing output power limiting and load-dependent voltage regulation: Disclosed is a power adapter having a voltage limiting circuit for limiting an output voltage of the power adapter at a predetermined voltage level when an output current of the power adapter is smaller than a threshold current, and a power limiting circuit for limiting an output power of the... Agent: Madson & Austin

20080123379 - Voltage regulating circuit: A voltage regulating circuit comprising a rectifier (2) for receiving an AC voltage (Vmains) and for generating a rectified AC voltage (vrec), and a capacitor (3) connected in parallel with said rectified AC voltage for providing a DC voltage (VDC) over a load (5), characterized by a unidirectional current switch... Agent: Philips Intellectual Property & Standards

20080123380 - Switching mode power supply and driving method thereof: The present invention relates to a Switching Mode Power Supply (SMPS) and a driving method thereof. To this end, the present invention provides a SMPS, which is driven in either a Continuous Conduction Mode (CCM) or Discontinuous Conduction Mode (DCM) in accordance with a determination of a time when a... Agent: Sidley Austin LLP

20080123381 - Inverter circuit and control circuit thereof: An inverter circuit and a control circuit thereof for converting DC power from the renewable energy or distributed energy into AC power so as to be fed into the AC utility power system according to related regulations. The inverter circuit comprises a buck-boost inverter, a DC-to-AC inverter comprising two half-bridge... Agent: Wpat, PC

20080123382 - Switching element drive circuit: There are provided: a voltage division circuit (13) that performs voltage division of the voltage applied between the main electrodes of a non-latching switching element (11) having two main electrodes and a single control electrode at voltage division elements (14a) to (14c); a control current source (16) that injects current... Agent: Oblon, Spivak, Mcclelland Maier & Neustadt, P.C.

20080123383 - Rectifier circuit, power supply circuit, and semiconductor device: It is an object of the present invention to provide a rectifier circuit that can suppress deterioration or dielectric breakdown of a semiconductor element due to excessive current. A rectifier circuit of the present invention includes at least a first capacitor, a second capacitor, and a diode which are sequentially... Agent: Eric Robinson

20080117653 - Semiconductor device, integrated circuit including the semiconductor device, control ic for switching power supply and the switching power supply: A semiconductor device incorporates a resistor on a structure that uses diffusion layers for sustaining the breakdown voltage thereof to realizes a very resistive element that exhibits a high breakdown voltage and high electrical resistance, includes a spiral very resistive element buried in an interlayer insulator film. A first end... Agent: Rossi, Kimms & Mcdowell LLP.

20080117654 - Multi-output switching power supply having voltage limiting circuit: An exemplary multi-output switching power supply (2) includes: a switching power supply controller (21) for generating a pulse signal; a transformer device (20) for providing a first AC voltage and a second AC voltage according to the pulse signal; a first regulation circuit (23, 25) for transforming the first AC... Agent: Wei Te Chung Foxconn International, Inc.

20080117655 - Spike converter: The present invention is a spike converter providing a special mode of operation of a low power fly-back converter in a very narrow duty cycle range in particular. This spike operation minimizes the size of the required reactive components such as that of the power transformer and output capacitance. The... Agent: Ivan Meszlenyi

20080117656 - Primary side sampled feedback control in power converters: A primary-side sampled feedback system includes a sample acquisition phase during which the voltage across the clamp capacitor is sensed as a measure of the primary-reflect output voltage. One end of the clamp capacitor is ground-referenced during the sample acquisition phase. The sample circuitry, which may include a transformer-coupled input... Agent: Fish & Richardson P.c.

20080117657 - Power conversion apparatus: A power conversion apparatus for converting direct current from a power source to polyphase alternating current includes a plurality of carrier signal generators, a plurality of gate signal generators, and a plurality of legs. The carrier signal generators are configured and arranged to independently generate and transmit a plurality of... Agent: Global Ip Counselors, LLP

20080117658 - Commutation method and apparatus for a dc to ac inverter driving a three-phase asynchronous ac motor: Present invention belongs to the field of inverters, motor controllers and pulse modulated waveform generation methods and circuits. More specifically it belongs to such methods and circuits utilizing fundamental vectors. This invention features better and more efficient fundamental vectors. The proposed method offers reduced losses, increased efficiency and longer life... Agent: Sergey Antonov

20080112192 - Switching power supply device: A switching power supply device has a drive circuit that can minimize a loss while being compact. The drive circuit turns on and off a high-side switching element (MOSFET) according to a positive or negative voltage developed at a tertiary winding of a transformer. The drive circuit includes a control... Agent: Rossi, Kimms & Mcdowell LLP.

20080112193 - On-time control for constant current mode in a flyback power supply: A primary side sensing power control system and method for constant current control that utilizes a relationship that involves the measured reset-time from the previous cycle to determine the primary side peak current and off-time for the next cycle. This control mechanism does not need the knowledge of input voltage... Agent: Fenwick & West LLP

20080112194 - Method and circuit for controlling a switched-mode power supply: The invention concerns control of a switched-mode power supply. A switched-mode power supply according to the invention comprises a secondary switch that enables a secondary side of the switched-mode power supply to charge magnetic energy into a transformer of the switched-mode power supply. The switched-mode power supply comprises also a... Agent: Ware Fressola Van Der Sluys & Adolphson, LLP

20080112195 - Transforming circuit for power supplier: A transforming circuit for power supplier includes a primary winding coil; a secondary winding coil and a secondary rectifier circuit, an AC power being transformed by the secondary winding coil in accordance with a winding turns ratio relative to the primary winding coil and converted by the secondary rectifier circuit... Agent: Birch Stewart Kolasch & Birch

20080112196 - Portable, variable power supply: A portable, variable power supply is provided according to the invention. The portable power supply will be a variable power supply comprised of at least one power unit which is further comprised of at least one power cell. Two or more power units will operably connect to configurable, control switches... Agent: Wayne Hum

20080112197 - Power system for producing low power dc voltage at a level above a peak value of an ac input to the system: DC power for low power loads is provided for vehicles such as snowmobiles where the electrical system includes primarily AC power. DC voltage is provided for gauges and similar loads even though the peak value of the AC is below a desired level. Rectification and regulation of some energy from... Agent: Carl M. Napolitano, Ph.d. Allen, Dyer, Doppelt, Milbrath & Gilchrist, P.a.

20080112198 - Phase control system for switching power supply pre-regulator allows increased power transformer leakage inductance: A switching pre-regulator for a bulk capacitor filter followed by a series pass regulator has a switching element controller that relies upon a large desirable leakage inductance in a main secondary winding of a power transformer acting as a swinging choke input to the bulk capacitive filter. This desirable leakage... Agent: Agilent Technologies Inc.

20080112199 - Power supply circuit for outputting steady voltage: An exemplary power supply circuit includes a transformer (21) having a primary coil (211) and a secondary coil (212); a rectification circuit and a transistor (26) respectively coupled to two terminals of the primary coil; a communicating and filter circuit (22) coupled to the secondary coil; a sampling circuit (13)... Agent: Wei Te Chung Foxconn International, Inc.

20080112200 - Three-level ac generating circuit and control method thereof: The present invention provides a three-level ac generating circuit and the control method thereof. The three-level ac generating circuit includes a three-level boosting circuit connected to an input source and including a positive boosting portion and a negative boosting portion; and a three-level inverting circuit connected to the three-level boosting... Agent: Volpe And Koenig, P.c.

20080112201 - Power converter unit: A power converter unit comprises: a metal casing; a power module mounted in the metal casing and equipped with two or more power semiconductor devices; a metal plate disposed on the power module and fixed to the metal casing; a heat dissipating sheet disposed on the metal plate; and a... Agent: Crowell & Moring LLP Intellectual Property Group

20080112202 - Adjustable compact high-frequency-high-voltage power supply: An adjustable compact high-frequency-high-voltage power supply utilizes an inverter to convert DC power to AC power so as to provide high frequency AC power at high voltages in a DC environment. Furthermore, the output voltage and frequency can be adjusted through adjustments of variable resistors during operation so as to... Agent: Wpat, Pc

20080106916 - Switching power supply unit and method for setting switching frequency: A switching power supply unit is provided which provides improved response for frequency switching with a smooth rise in voltage. The switching power supply unit includes: a rectifier circuit for rectifying an alternating current from an AC power source into a direct current; a switching circuit for switching the current... Agent: Mathews, Shepherd, Mckay, & Bruneau, P.A.

20080106917 - Variable edge modulation in a switching regulator: In one embodiment, in a power converter system having a load, a method is provided for varying the type of modulation employed for a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal. The method includes the following: monitoring the load of the power converter system; using leading edge modulation for the PWM signal... Agent: Sidley Austin LLP

20080106918 - Photocurrent sensing circuit converting an illumination of visible light into an electric signal as well as photosensor and electronic device with the photocurrent sensing circuit: A photocurrent sensing circuit includes a logarithmic compression circuit; a cancellation circuit logarithmically compressing a current substantially equal in temperature coefficient of the photocurrent to convert the same into a voltage, and performing an addition or a subtraction on the converted voltage and a voltage converted from a photocurrent by... Agent: Birch Stewart Kolasch & Birch

20080106920 - Inverter circuit with transformer having balanceable input currents: An exemplary inverter circuit (200) includes a direct current (DC) input terminal (210); a transformer (230) including a first primary winding (231) and a second primary winding (232); a first switch transistor (240); a second switch transistor (250); a pulse generator (260) providing pulse driving signals to the first switch... Agent: Wei Te Chung Foxconn International, Inc.

20080106919 - Power converter control: In a power converter a command value is compensated in accordance with a change in a carrier wave frequency so that output fluctuations caused by an error voltage between the command value and an output voltage can be suppressed.... Agent: Young & Basile, P.c.

20080106921 - Photovoltaic dc-to-ac power converter and control method: An apparatus and method of control for converting DC (direct current) power from a solar photovoltaic source to AC (alternating current) power. A novel DC-to-AC power converter topology and a novel control method are disclosed. This combination of topology and control are very well suited for photovoltaic microinverter applications. Also,... Agent: Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner LLP

20080101096 - Switching power supply unit: Provided is a switching power supply unit being able to perform voltage conversion between two DC power supplies, and perform appropriate charge operation based on an inputted AC voltage. When a main battery is preferentially charged, an SW control section performs control such that a duty ratio is fixed in... Agent: Oliff & Berridge, PLC

20080101099 - Ripple reduction for switch-mode power conversion: A power converter includes an isolated or a nonisolated current-doubler rectification circuit including two magnetic circuit elements, each magnetic circuit element formed with a primary winding and a voltage-sensing winding. The primary windings are coupled in series. The voltage-sensing windings are also coupled in series but with a coupling sense... Agent: Mark E. Jacobs

20080101100 - Kit of power tools: A kit comprising a plurality of power tools configured to operate on different operating voltages and a plurality of receivers configured to provide different output charging voltages for charging the power tools. Each receiver is configured to engage and charge only the one or more power tools having an operating... Agent: Barnes & Thornburg LLP

20080101102 - Circuits and methods for controlling a converter: Circuits and methods for controlling a converter are disclosed. A first switch within the converter can be turned off, and a second switch within the converter alternately can be turned on and off in response to a switch control signal while the first switch is turned off. By turning the... Agent: O2micro Inc C/o Murabito, Hao & Barnes LLP

20080101097 - Dc-dc converter with integrated transformer assembly composed of transformer pair: In an integrated transformer assembly, a common coil member has a first portion alternately wound, for each one electromagnetic turn, around the first core member and around the second core member. The first portion of the common primary coil member wound around the first core member is magnetically linked to... Agent: Nixon & Vanderhye, PC

20080101098 - Electronic circuit control element with tap element: A technique for controlling a power supply with power supply control element with a tap element. An example power supply control element includes a power transistor that has first and second main terminals, a control terminal and a tap terminal. A control circuit is coupled to the control terminal. The... Agent: Blakely Sokoloff Taylor & Zafman

20080101101 - Power conversion apparatus: A power conversion apparatus includes a first single-phase inverter that uses ask a DC power source a first DC voltage that is boosted from a solar light voltage by a boosting chopper circuit. The first single-phase inverter is arranged between two single-phase inverters that use second DC power sources that... Agent: Leydig Voit & Mayer, Ltd

20080101103 - Power conversion apparatus and method of controlling the same: A power conversion apparatus includes a series circuit having a first switching element and a second switching element, the series circuit being connected to a DC power source in parallel, a resonant circuit including a capacitor and a primary winding of a transformer, the resonant circuit being connected to one... Agent: Oblon, Spivak, Mcclelland Maier & Neustadt, P.C.