Smart Wires Inc.

Liyu Cao

Amrit Iyer

Haroon Inam

Govind Chavan

Antonio Ginart

Arthur Kelley

Hamed Khalilinia

Zbigniew Wolanski

Brock Petersen

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 filter network is insertable into a power transmission line, to handle disturbances in the power transmission line. A first circuit has an RC network in parallel with a surge arrestor, to bypass high frequency disturbances of the power transmission line. A second circuit has inductors for carrying low-frequency power to and from impedance injection units.

Protection from and filtering of disturbances for serial connected facts

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

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Fremont, CA, United States of America

Liyu Cao