25565results about "Efficient power electronics conversion" patented technology

Various embodiments for improved power devices as well as their methods of manufacture, packaging and circuitry incorporating the same for use in a wide variety of power electronic applications are disclosed. One aspect of the invention combines a number of charge balancing techniques and other techniques for reducing parasitic capacitance to arrive at different embodiments for power devices with improved voltage performance, higher switching speed, and lower on-resistance. Another aspect of the invention provides improved termination structures for low, medium and high voltage devices. Improved methods of fabrication for power devices are provided according to other aspects of the invention. Improvements to specific processing steps, such as formation of trenches, formation of dielectric layers inside trenches, formation of mesa structures and processes for reducing substrate thickness, among others, are presented. According to another aspect of the invention, charge balanced power devices incorporate temperature and current sensing elements such as diodes on the same die. Other aspects of the invention improve equivalent series resistance (ESR) for power devices, incorporate additional circuitry on the same chip as the power device and provide improvements to the packaging of charge balanced power devices.

An adaptive current limiter including a conversion network and an amplifier network developing an adaptive current limit signal for use by a switching regulator to limit peak current through an inductor of the switching regulator. The switching regulator develops a pulse control signal for controlling switching of current through the inductor to convert an input voltage to an output voltage. The conversion network provides a limit value by applying a duty cycle of the pulse control signal to a reference value. The amplifier network is configured to develop the adaptive current limit signal based on the limit value. The conversion network may multiply the reference value by the duty cycle to develop the limit value. The amplifier network may include a current source providing a fixed reference current to an amplifier to establish a minimum level of the adaptive current limit signal.

An inverter device includes a plurality of switching circuits in which first switching elements including Si semiconductors and second switching element including WBG semiconductors having ON resistance smaller than that of the first switching elements and having switching speed higher than that of the first switching elements are connected in parallel. The inverter device includes a converting circuit that converts a direct-current voltage into a desired alternating-current voltage and a driving unit that generates a plurality of driving signals for respectively turning on and off the switching circuits. The inverter device includes, for each of the switching circuits, a gate circuit that, based on the driving signals, turns on the second switching element later than the first switching element and turns off the first switching element later than the second switching element.

A PFC circuit modulating a power line using pulse width modulation (PWM) to drive a power MOSFET and series inductor across the power line. Since many modern electronic systems include a power factor correction circuit (PFC) that already includes a series inductor and power MOSFET, a PLC is incorporated into a controller to inject a PLC transmit signal into a control loop for the PFC circuit. This can be done using either an analog PFC controller, such as the UCC28517, the UCC2819A, or a digital PFC controller such as based on a TMS320C24xx DSP.

The present invention focuses on the development of a high-performance solar photovoltaic (PV) energy conversion system. The power circuit of the invention is made of a two-stage circuit, connecting a step-up DC-DC converter and a full-bridge inverter in serial. The present invention uses an adaptive perturbation and observation method to increase tracking speed of maximum power position and at the same time reduces energy loss. In addition, the full-bridge inverter's output has to have the same phase with the utility power in order to achieve unit power factor and increase the system efficiency. The present invention uses voltage type current control full-bridge inverter to achieve the goal of merging into utility grid. The present invention provides an active Sun tracking system, by utilizing the character of changing in open circuit output voltage with Sun radiation strength to follow the Sun, and decreases the system cost and increases system effectiveness.

A controller for a power converter and method of operating the same employable with a bridge rectifier having first and second synchronous rectifier switches. In one embodiment, the controller includes an amplifier configured to enable a turn-on delay for the first synchronous rectifier switch. The controller also includes a discharge switch having first and second switched terminals coupled to gate and source terminals, respectively, of the first synchronous rectifier switch and configured to discharge a gate-to-source capacitance of the first synchronous rectifier switch to enable a turn off thereof.

The present invention provides a primary-side flyback power converter that supplies a constant voltage output and a constant current output. To generate a well-regulated output voltage under varying load conditions, a PWM controller is included in the power converter in order to generate a PWM signal controlling a switching transistor in response to a flyback voltage sampled from a first primary winding of the power supply transformer. Several improvements are included in this present invention to overcome the disadvantages of prior-art flyback power converters. Firstly, the flyback energy of the first primary winding is used as a DC power source for the PWM controller in order to reduce power consumption. A double sample amplifier samples the flyback voltage just before the transformer current drops to zero. Moreover, an offset current is pulled from a detection input of the double sample amplifier in order to generate a more accurate DC output voltage. The offset current is generated in response to the temperature in order to compensate for temperature-induced voltage fluctuations across the output rectifier. Ultimately, in order to maintain a constant output current, the PWM controller modulates the switching frequency in response to the output voltage.

A method of regulating voltage at an output of a switching power converter, the converter comprising a switch and pulse generation circuitry, the pulse generation circuitry producing one or more drive signals for cycling the switch ON and OFF, wherein if the switch is cycled ON and OFF according to a cycle of a drive signal, power is transferred from a source to a load. The method includes sensing an output voltage feedback signal, comparing the sensed feedback signal to a reference at a determined time during a cycling of the switch, and regulating an output voltage at the load by controlling whether a cycle of one of the drive signals cycles the switch in response to the comparison.

A maximum power point tracking method, applied to a tracking device, employs a DC / DC converter connecting with a solar cell array, and including a controller actuating the DC / DC converter to perform an active resistance characteristic; a maximum power point tracking circuit adjusting the active resistance of the DC / DC converter; monitoring a change of an output power of the solar cell array in determining a direction for adjusting the active resistance of the DC / DC converter; and the maximum power point tracking circuit repeatedly adjusting the active resistance of the DC / DC converter. If the change of the output power of the solar cell array is positive, the active resistance of the DC / DC converter is adjusted in the same direction; but, conversely, if the change of the output power of the solar cell array is negative, the active resistance of the DC / DC converter is adjusted in an opposite direction.