Renewable Power Conversion, Inc.

B2u Storage Solutions Inc.

Hearing Enhancement Group

Michael Joseph Stern

Freeman Stoflet Hall

Jack Goldberg

Randy L Houk

Luk Ching Chug

Greg Landreth

Edward Adolph Becker

An energy storage system and method employing second-life electric vehicle batteries. The system includes a plurality of electric vehicle battery packs; and a processor configured to: couple the plurality of electric vehicle battery packs in a series/parallel arrangement, the series/parallel arrangement including a plurality of series strings of electric vehicle battery packs, each of the plurality of series strings of electric vehicle battery packs includes at least two of the plurality of electric vehicle battery packs coupled in series, and the plurality of series strings are connected in parallel; and wherein the coupling of the plurality of electric vehicle battery packs includes one or more of connecting electric vehicle battery packs with lower voltages in series, connecting electric vehicle battery packs with higher voltages in series, connecting electric vehicle battery packs with majority voltages in series, and connecting electric vehicle battery packs within a programmed voltage connection window in parallel.

Energy storage system and method employing second-life electric vehicle batteries

A system and method for supplying power to a power grid. The system includes a battery storage system; and a power management system, the power management system including a storage management system with a processor configured to: direct generated energy to the battery storage system; discharge battery-stored energy from the battery storage system to the power grid; and control the discharge of the battery-stored energy from the battery storage system to the power grid based on a demand index.

Method and system for operation and usage of battery energy storage in a power grid

An integrated battery energy storage system and method for integrating electric vehicle battery packs into an integrated battery energy storage system are disclosed. The integrated battery energy system includes: a plurality of electric vehicle battery packs coupled in a series/parallel arrangement, the series/parallel arrangement including a plurality of series strings of electric vehicle battery packs, each of the plurality of series strings of electric vehicle battery packs includes at least two of the plurality of electric vehicle battery packs coupled in series; and wherein the plurality of series strings of electric vehicle battery packs are connected in parallel.

Energy storage system employing second-life electric vehicle batteries

A DC-to-AC power converter is disclosed which provides current regulated three-phase AC outputs and very high conversion efficiencies. The converter sinks power from an external DC current source and steers that current directly into two phases of a three-phase load by using complementary semiconductor switches in disparate half-bridges of a six-pole bridge. The steering switch selection rotates every 60&#xb0; to direct current into the two phases with the largest voltage differential at any given time. The remaining half-bridge acts as a high-frequency, bi-directional current source to balance the three-phase load currents. This topology and control method significantly reduces power conversion losses. Prior art converters first convert 'soft' DC sources to voltage sources and then to AC current sources. The invention eliminates the need for large filter inductors and DC bus capacitors used in prior art converters. The invention is optimized for photovoltaic, utility-grid-interactive applications.

Very high efficiency three phase power converter

A solar photovoltaic plant is disclosed where a number of distributed DC-to-DC converters are used in conjunction with a central DC-to-AC converter. Each DC-to-DC converter is dedicated to a portion of the photovoltaic array and tracks the maximum power point voltage thereof. The DC-to-DC converters also boost the photovoltaic voltage and regulate a DC output current for transmission to the central DC-to-AC converter. Five distinct advantages are had over the prior art. First, efficiencies in intra-field power collection are greatly improved by transferring power at higher DC voltages. Second, the number of independent photovoltaic maximum power point trackers in the power plant can be increased, in a cost effective manner, to optimize the overall photovoltaic array energy harvest. Third, each DC-to-DC converter output 'looks' like a current source at the input of the DC-to-AC converter and therefore can be easily paralleled. Fourth, the current source nature of the DC-to-DC converter outputs enables the DC-to-AC converter to operate with a minimum, fixed DC bus voltage to provide maximum DC-to-AC power conversion efficiencies. And fifth, each distributed DC-to-DC converter can isolate a faulted portion of the photovoltaic array while the remainder of the array continues producing power.

Photovoltaic power plant with distributed DC-to-DC power converters

A photovoltaic power plant design is disclosed where a two-tier DC power collection method is used in concert with specific array field geometries and equipment locations to minimize system wiring costs and/or resistive wiring losses.

Photovoltaic power plant with minimized power collection losses

An active headworn device that includes a position sensing device used to determine whether the headworn device is in an extended state upon a user's head or in a contracted state off of the user's head. The position sensing device may be coupled with a microcontroller adapted to power up or power down the active headworn device based on a signal from the position sensing device. The position sensing device may various devices such as a Hall-effect device used in combination with a magnet or a LED in combination with a detector. The movement of the headworn device between positions changes the distance between components of the position sensing device such that the device signals the microcontroller to power up or down the active headworn device. The microcontroller may mute a portion of circuitry prior to the powering up or down the active headworn device to prevent undesirable feedback.

Position sensing apparatus and method for active headworn device

A headworn listening device includes a right ear assembly and a left ear assembly interconnected by a headband. The headworn listening device is preferably comfortable to wear and provides high-quality audio and flexible signal processing features without requiring customized fitting. The listening device includes a signal processor with programmable signal processing characteristics and a memory storing a plurality of user-selectable signal processing settings. For example, there may be signal processing settings for different environments, such as a first setting for a quiet environment and a second setting for a noisy environment. In operation, a user actuates a user-operable control coupled to a microcontroller to select a desired signal processing setting.

Growing community of inventors

Westlake Village, CA, United States of America

Michael Joseph Stern