Flextronics Ap, LLC

Garrity Power Services LLC

Solarcity Corporation

Power Systems Technologies Gmbh

Tesla, Inc.

Enecsys Limited

Aaron Jungreis

Paul James Garrity

Antony Eugene Brinlee

Lesley Chisenga

Arturo Silva

James Robert Hamstra

Dan Gorcea

Kieran Miller

John MacAskill

Angus Lu

Michael Zhang

An animal tracking system comprising a first LoRa receiver configured as a gateway to receive transmissions on a first set of channels or a second set of channels and forward said transmissions to a first remote server, and a transmitting tag configured to be affixed to an animal. The transmitting tag includes a memory configured to store digital information, a passive RFID receiver configured to detect a close proximity to an RFID transmitter and store detection of the close proximity in comprising in the memory, a processor configured to determine an alarm status according to a frequency of detection of the close proximity, an internal energy source, and a LoRa transmitter configured to transmit signals for a distance greater than 100 meters via energy from the internal energy source.

Cattle tracking system

A hand carryable apparatus comprising a first power system, a second power system, a mechanical coupling, and an electrical coupling. The first power system comprises a first enclosure, a photovoltaic panel, a first power inverter, and a first alternating current interface coupled to the first output of the first power inverter. The second power system comprises a second enclosure, a battery, a second power inverter, and a second alternating current interface coupled to the second output of the second power inverter. The mechanical coupling and the electrical coupling removably couple the first power system to the second power system. The electrical coupling is capable of passing power between the first power system and the second power system. The second power system is capable of operating independently of the first power system.

Portable power system

Some embodiments of the invention provide a method for balancing the power output to each phase of a set of micro-inverters. The method of some embodiments is performed by a gateway, which receives output messages from a plurality of micro-inverters. The gateway identifies the phase of each micro-inverter and calculates the output of the plurality of micro-inverters to each power line of a multi-phase system. The gateway then sends control signals to the micro-inverters to control the output of each micro-inverter to maintain a balanced aggregate power output to each phase of the power grid.

Power balancing in a multi-phase system

We describe a modular adjustable power factor renewable energy inverter system. The system comprises a plurality of inverter modules having a switched capacitor across its ac power output, a power measurement system coupled to a communication interface, and a power factor controller to control switching of the capacitor. A system controller receives power data from each inverter module, sums the net level of ac power from each inverter, determines a number of said capacitors to switch based on the sum, and sends control data to an appropriate number of the inverter modules to switch the determined number of capacitors into/out of said parallel connection across their respective ac power outputs.

Renewable energy power generation systems

An apparatus, system and method to wirelessly charge and/or discharge a battery. In one embodiment, the apparatus includes a removable first magnetic core piecepart having a surrounding first metallic coil and configured to be coupled to and aligned with a second magnetic core piecepart having a surrounding second metallic coil to form a transformer. The apparatus also includes a battery metallically coupled to the first metallic coil and configured to be charged and discharged through an electrically isolating path of the transformer.

Apparatus, system and method to wirelessly charge/discharge a battery

A multi-phase power generation system for renewable energy, in which reactive elements (i.e., capacitors and/or inductors) can be selectively switched in and out in order to meet a particular power factor requirement, is provided. Each phase of the multi-phase power system receives generated powers from a set of inverters, and each phase has a set of switch reactive elements for making power factor adjustments to the power generated by the set of inverters. The power outputs of the set of inverters belonging to a particular phase are combined into a one combined ac power output, and the power factor adjustment for that particular phase is performed on the combined power output by the set of the switch reactive elements of that particular phase. In some embodiments, at least some of the inverters are micro-inverters that convert DC power from one or two solar panels to AC power.

Power factor adjustment in multi-phase power system

An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) and method for managing power flow in a grid-tied photovoltaic system, wherein the UPS provides grid-tie, backup power, voltage-frequency relay, power factor control, and load-leveling functions. The UPS includes a bi-directional power converter, a switch, and a controller. The converter converts between AC power and DC power, and includes ports which are connectable to a battery, a plurality of current-source inverters, a load, and an electric utility grid. The switch selectively connects and disconnects the converter from the grid. The controller monitors the voltage and current associated with the grid, and based thereon, controls the switch and the bi-directional power converter to manage power flow in the grid-tied photovoltaic system. The controller also manages the power factor of the current flowing into or out of the grid by introducing appropriate distortion or displacement current.

Uninterruptible power supply and method for managing power flow in a grid-tied photovoltaic system

An LED driver having an input to receive AC power from an AC power source, a semiconductor switch and an inductor controlled to produce a sinusoidal current drawn from the AC power source, and a large non-electrolytic (e.g. film) capacitor energy storage component. The semiconductor switch operates with a varying pulse-width-modulation frequency to regulate the voltage across the non-electrolytic capacitor energy storage component in such a way that a ripple current through the inductor is substantially smaller than a pulse-width-modulation cycle average current through the inductor. A DC-to-DC converter couples the energy from the non-electrolytic energy-storage capacitor to an LED string. A feedback loop allows the LED string to be regulated in either constant current mode or constant power mode and information for the feedback regulation is fed back across a high-voltage boundary using a low-cost signal transformer.

LED driver

A DC-to-AC power converter is disclosed. The power converter has a DC input to receive DC power from a photovoltaic device, an AC output configured for direct connection to an AC mains power supply line, six semiconductor switches, one isolated high-frequency power transformer, two high-frequency inductors, a small resonant capacitor, and a large non-electrolytic (e.g. film) capacitor energy storage component. One of the semiconductor switches located on the primary side of the transformer operates to regulate the voltage across the non-electrolytic capacitor energy storage component. A second semiconductor switch located on the primary side of the transformer provides a resonant reset for the energy stored in the transformer and allows the first semiconductor switch to operate with nearly zero-voltage-switching. The other four semiconductor switches and a high-frequency inductor coupled to the ac output operate with a variable switching frequency to produce a sinusoidal current into the ac output such that the sinusoidal current may be either in phase or out of phase with the ac output voltage.

Smart grid power converter

A resonant power converter draws current from a source that provides a supply current. Multiple quasi-resonant converters are interleaved and each quasi-resonant converter receives the supply current and forms a phase-shifted current according to drive signals supplied by a controller. Each phase-shifted current includes a dead-time delay and is phase-shifted relative to the other phase-shifted currents. The dead-time delay is determined as a time value within a calculated dead-time delay range having a dead-time delay minimum and a dead-time delay maximum. The outputs of each quasi-resonant converter are added together thereby reducing the AC components of current. Two, three, or four quasi-resonant power converters can be interleaved, each forming phase-shifted currents that are phase-shifted relative to the other phase-shifted currents.

Power converter using multiple phase-shifting quasi-resonant converters

A power converter employing a control system configured to make multiple functional use of a circuit node therein and method of operating the same. In one embodiment, the power converter includes a power train including at least one power switch. The power converter also includes a control system including an opto-isolator circuit, including a resistor, configured to receive an output signal from the power converter and provide a feedback signal to a feedback node for the control system to provide a switch control signal for the at least one power switch. The control system also includes a current source configured to produce multiple voltage levels at the feedback node in accordance with the resistor, thereby enabling multiple functional uses of the feedback node.

Growing community of inventors

Richardson, TX, United States of America

Aaron Jungreis