Trameto Limited

Entropic Communications, Inc.

Laurence Alan Strong

Mark A Ross

Robert Robertson

Abraham Krieger

Mats Lindstrom

David Huw Davies

Christopher Julian Travis

Sadashiv Vinayak Phadnis

Yoav P Goldenberg

A power management apparatuscomprises a first energy harvesting input channel; a first energy storage element connection; an inductor connection; and a switching circuit. A controlleris configured to operate the switching circuitto transfer energy between the first energy harvesting input channeland the first energy storage element connectionby a sequence of energy transfer cycles. Each of the energy transfer cycles comprises an energise phase in which energy is transferred from the first energy harvesting input channelto the inductor connectionfor an energise time (tE) and a de-energise phase. The first energy harvesting input channelis capable of receiving an AC electrical signal and a DC electrical signal. The controlleris configured to determine a type of an electrical signal received at the first energy harvesting input channel, where the type is one of an AC electrical signal and a DC electrical signal, and determine an energise time (tE) and a harvesting cycle period (tP) for the switching circuitbased on the determined type.

Power management apparatus for energy harvesting

A power management apparatuscomprises: a plurality of energy harvesting input channels-; a first energy storage element connection for connecting to an energy storage element; an inductor connection; and a switching circuit. A controlleroperates the switching circuit to transfer energy between the energy harvesting input channels-and the first energy storage element connectionby a sequence of energy transfer cycles. Each energy harvesting input channel-is allocated a plurality of the energy transfer cycles. The controllerdetermines operating parameters for operating the switching circuitwhich transfer a maximum power from the electrical energy harvesting source connected to the energy harvesting input channel and a maximum power inductor utilisation factor. The controllerdetermines a set of adjusted operating parameters for sharing use of the inductor between the plurality of energy harvesting input channels-. An energy harvesting input channel-is selected for adjustment based on an effect of a change in the inductor utilisation factor and a corresponding change in power of the energy harvesting input channel.

A switching circuit, electrical energy converter, power management unit and energy harvesting system are described. Such apparatus is applicable to energy harvesting applications which involve a variety of transducers, either singly or simultaneously. The transducers may, for example, be photovoltaic, thermoelectric, piezoelectric, or electrodynamic. The described converters operate to convert impedances, voltages and currents. They incorporate inductive energy transfer elements, which are magnetically coupled. Different combinations of these energy transfer elements are used to obtain different conversion ratios, which can be referred to as 'gears'. On the input side, having multiple gears enables easier and better matching to a wider variety of energy transducers. On the output side, it enables easier and better accommodation of a wider spread of energy storage voltages and of a wider variety of loads. Benefits include greater deployment flexibility, lower inventory cost, higher energy extraction, and higher conversion efficiency.

Electrical energy conversion

A media receiver hub receives wireless signals from multiple sources (e.g., satellite signals from multiple satellites) and provides the signals to end devices over a local network. According to an example embodiment, a satellite hub is responsive to channel input selections received from end devices by selecting channels from within received satellite signals, and by converting each channel into a format amenable for delivery to and use at an end device requesting the channel. The converted channels are communicated to the end devices over a network that also facilitates communications between the devices, by restricting the communications to using a portion of the available bandwidth of the network, reserving bandwidth for communications with and/or between the end devices (or other network devices).

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Bristol, United Kingdom

Laurence Alan Strong