Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute Company, Limited

Kin Lap Wong

Tin Ho Li

Bin Xie

Danting Xu

Xin Li

Qingchun Li

Xuechao Liu

Chung Yin Lau

A smart power hub has an AC port, a first DC port to a car battery, a second DC port to DC devices such as car instruments, and a third DC port to solar panels or another smart power hub. An AC bi-directional converter has six transistors in a B6 configuration to convert three-phase AC, acting as an interleaved totem-pole Power-Factor-Corrector for one-phase AC. A switch connects the DC bi-directional converter with either the AC bi-directional converter or the solar panels on the third DC port. A link capacitor has a DC link voltage that rises during battery charging. A DC bi-directional converter has a transformer, a primary bridge connected to the DC link voltage, and a secondary bridge of transistors connected to the first DC port. Auxiliary windings in the transformer drive a rectifier to the second DC port to power on-board DC devices. Solar DC charges the battery without AC conversion.

Smart power hub

Described is a power connector device for separating an electrical connection under direct current (DC) voltage or alternating current (AC) voltage between an electrical connector element and an electrical contact element. The power connector device includes the electrical contact element. The electrical contact element has a first conductive part and a second conductive part spaced apart one from the other so as not to be directly electrically conductively connected to one another. The power connector device includes a semiconductor switch for maintaining an electrical connection between the electrical connector element and the electrical contact element during separation of contact between said electrical connector element and said first conductive part to thereby prevent arcing during electrical disengagement of the electrical connector element from the electrical contact element. The first conductive part of the electrical contact element is only electrically connected to the second conductive part of the electrical contact element when the semiconductor switch is activated or when the electrical connector element is in contact with both the first and second conductive parts of the electrical contact element.

Digital arc-less connector

An Electrical Protective Device for Low-Voltage DC networks (EPDL) has a controller that on start-up first closes a mechanical relay in a ground line, waits a first delay, then closes a bipolar transistor to allow current to flow through a positive supply line, then turns on a Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor (MOSFET) connected in parallel with the bipolar transistor once an output voltage reaches a minimum target. The controller reverses the start-up order to open the MOSFET, bipolar transistor, and finally the relay when an over-voltage, input-power, or integrated-current fault is detected. The output current is integrated over time and compared to a threshold, allowing for capacitor charging or other temporary over-loads. When the output voltage dips below the minimum target, the MOSFET is turned off until the voltage recovers. If the voltage does not recover within a time period, the bipolar transistor and then the relay are turned off.

Electrical protective device for low-voltage direct current (LVDC) network

Growing community of inventors

Hong Kong, China

Kin Lap Wong