Smart Wires Inc.

Govind Chavan

Haroon Inam

Amrit Iyer

Antonio Ginart

Shreesha Adiga Manoor

Mahsa Ghapandar Kashani

Arthur Kelley

Hamed Khalilinia

Niloofar Torabi

Liyu Cao

Vinod Babu

Ali Farahani

Brock Petersen

Abdul Rahman

Volodymyr Strelchuk

Shaiq Aman-ul-haq

Faisal Masood

A power supply module harvests power at low and high line currents of a power transmission line. The power supply module uses a current transformer, which may power controllers. The current transformer has a single turn primary winding, which can be coupled to a power transmission line, and a single secondary winding connected to the power supply module.

Power supply module responsive to high and low line currents

A voltage source converter may be coupled to a transmission line. The voltage source converter has two or more inverter valve units. Each inverter valve unit has a full H bridge of switching devices and a capacitor. Paralleling conductor pairs connect the inverter valve units in parallel, in a self-balancing circuit arrangement.

High current Voltage-Source Converter

A multi-mode power supply is described for providing power to an impedance injection unit that is operable to inject reactive power into a power transmission line. The impedance injection unit is configured to operate safely in the presence of switching states of the impedance injection unit, and in the presence of disturbances such as surge currents in the power transmission line, by the multi-mode power supply clamping a potential overvoltage to a safe level. The power supply contains analog and digital circuits and can recover automatically from a surge current in the transmission line, or from a condition of zero line current. Power harvesting may be achieved via a line connected current transformer, via an internal current transformer, via a DC link capacitor, or from combinations of these.

Powering an impedance injection unit during startup operations

A series connectable power flow module is for connection to a power transmission line. The module has a full bridge inverter and a controller. The full bridge inverter has inputs for controlling charging and discharging a DC link capacitor. The controller is coupled to the inputs of the full bridge inverter. The controller is configured to separate a harmonic current from a line current flowing in the power transmission line. The controller operates the full bridge inverter in accordance with the separated harmonic current, to attenuate the harmonic current flowing in the power transmission line through injection of a DC link capacitor voltage.

Attenuating harmonic current in power transmission lines

A power supply system is operable to harvest power at low and high line currents. A current transformer is arranged to couple to a power transmission line. A current sensor which may be a Rogowski coil is arranged to couple to the power transmission line. Branches of power supply circuitry are connected to a plurality of secondary windings of the current transformer. A control circuit selects one of the branches of power supply circuitry, depending on sensed magnitude of line current, to provide electrical power to an output capacitor. Sufficient stored energy is also provided for performing a backup of operating parameters when the line current reduces to zero.

Power supply system responsive to high and low line currents

A driver circuit for driving a solenoid, and related method, are described. A power supply charges one or more capacitors to a high voltage level sufficient to over-drive the solenoid. A switch is connected to the one or more capacitors and the solenoid. When the switch is on, the switch connects the one or more capacitors to the solenoid. When the switch is off, the switch disconnects the one or more capacitors from the solenoid. Control circuitry turns the switch on, and turns the switch off in response to sensing current through the solenoid reaches a defined maximum current.

High speed solenoid driver circuit

A voltage source converter has a first inverter valve unit that has a first terminal and a second terminal, and a second inverter valve unit that has a first terminal and a second terminal. The first inverter valve unit and the second inverter valve unit are connectedly arranged in parallel. The first inverter valve unit and the second inverter valve unit are self-balancing through equal capacitance and parallel connection of the first inverter valve unit and the second valve unit.

High current voltage-source converter

The presence of injected DC has harmful consequences for a power grid system. A piecewise sinusoidal ripple voltage wave at the line-frequency that rides on the main capacitor bank of the power converter is observed. This observation leads to a new detection method and mitigation method. A two-stage control circuit is added to the operation of a power converter that controls power line impedance in order to mitigate the injected DC and to block DC circulation. This control computes a correction angle to adjust the timing of generated pulsed square waves to counter-balance the ripple. A functional solution and the results of experiments are presented. Furthermore, an extraction method and three elimination methods for this ripple component are presented to allow dissipation of DC energy through heat and/or electronic magnetic wave, or to allow transformation of this energy into usable power that is fed back into the power grid.

Detection and mitigation of DC injection on the power grid system

A system and method using thyristors to protect a series-connected Flexible AC Transmission Systems (FACTS) device from surge currents are disclosed. According to some embodiments, the system includes a thyristor connected in shunt with the FACTS device to be protected. The system further includes control circuitry coupled to the thyristor to drive a gate of the thyristor with a direct current (DC) signal and turn on the thyristor in a time span on order of microseconds. The system and method can be used to protect any series-connected FACTS device that is in danger of being exposed to surge current such as a reclose after a deadline.

System and methods for using thyristors to conduct surge currents away from critical infrastructure

The presence of injected DC has harmful consequences for a power grid system. A piecewise sinusoidal ripple voltage wave at the line-frequency that rides on the main capacitor bank of the power converter is observed. This observation leads to a new DC detection elimination method. Three DC elimination methods for this ripple component are disclosed to allow dissipation of DC energy through heat and/or electromagnetic wave, or to allow transformation of this energy into usable power that is fed back into the power grid.

Detection and elimination of DC injection on the power grid system

An enclosure includes a power flow control device to attach to a high voltage transmission line, a plurality of panels formed of metal, a shorting connection provided between each pair of panels, an electrical connection from at least one panel of the plurality of panels to the high voltage transmission line, a receiving region provided on each panel for each shorting connection, and an equipotential surface for reducing electromagnetic interference from the high voltage transmission line to internal components of the power flow control device, and from the internal components of the power flow control device to the high voltage transmission line.

Interference limiting enclosure for power flow devices

Methods for damping oscillations in a high voltage power grid, including power distribution and supply systems by distributing a plurality of voltage/impedance injection modules to inject voltages/impedances onto high voltage power transmission lines of the power grid, sensing power oscillations on the high voltage transmission lines, extracting the dominant oscillatory mode or modes of sensed power oscillations on the high voltage transmission lines, and injecting voltages/impedances responsive to at least the most dominant oscillatory mode onto the respective high voltage transmission lines to counteract the respective oscillations.

Growing community of inventors

Union City, CA, United States of America

Govind Chavan