General Electric Company

Acceleware Ltd.

The Research Foundation of Suny

Menlo Microsystems, Inc.

Mohammed Agamy

Ahmed Elasser

Dong Dong

Luis Jose Garces

Maja Harfman Todorovic

Philip Michael Cioffi

Herman Wiegman

Antonio Caiafa

Juan Antonio Sabate

Ramanujam Ramabhadran

Kum-Kang Huh

Yan Pan

Anthony William Galbraith

Robert Louis Steigerwald

Ravisekhar Nadimpalli Raju

Jorgen Staal Nielsen

Rui Zhou

Fei Xu

Michal Mieczyslaw Okoniewski

Kum Kang Huh

Fengfeng Tao

Srinivas Bollapragada

Andrew William Berner

Kenneth McClellan Rush

Bex George Thomas

Zhiyu Shen

Xiaohu Liu

Luca Tonini

Patrick Kirlew

Maxim Valeryevich Garifullin

Herman Luca Norbert Wiegman

Kenneth Mcclellan Rush

A system for protecting a MEMS relay switch system that controls electric current to a load includes a parallel resonant circuit in series with the MEMS relay switch system. The parallel resonant circuit includes an auxiliary switch in series with a capacitor configured to be pre-charged by a voltage source, and an inductor in parallel with the auxiliary switch and the capacitor. The inductor is in series with the MEMS relay switch system. A method includes receiving a signal, activating an auxiliary switch, determining if the received signal is a turn OFF or a turn ON signal, and depending on the received signal, setting a time delay within a resonant half cycle of a parallel resonant pulse circuit, turning off the auxiliary switch, and pre-charging a capacitor of the parallel resonant pulse circuit.

Systems and methods to protect a MEMS relay switch system

Systems and methods are provided for generating signals. The signal generator system includes a transformer unit and a plurality of converters. The transformer unit includes a primary input side and a secondary output side connectable to a load. The primary input side includes a plurality of parallel input sections and the secondary output side includes a plurality of output sections connected in series with each output section corresponding to one of the input sections. Each converter has a converter input, a converter output, and a switch module positioned between the converter input and the converter output. The switch module is operable to control a direction of current flow through the converter output. The switch module is adjustable between a plurality of switch states, and each converter is adjustable between a plurality of operational modes. The plurality of operational modes include at least one active mode and at least one inactive mode.

Systems and methods for generating signals

Systems and methods are provided for a soft switching topology for a direct current (DC)-DC converter. The systems and methods determine an operational status of an electric motor, and activate at least one of an upper or lower first or second semiconductor switches based on an operation of the electric motor. The first and second switching circuits are conductively coupled to a power inverter circuit. The systems and methods include deliver an adjusted voltage to one of the power inverter circuit or a power circuit based on the operational status of the electric motor.

Systems and methods for a soft switching DC-DC converter

Controlling an energy storage system includes providing one or more constraints to an optimization problem algorithm, determining by the optimization problem algorithm a DC bus voltage value that results in an minimum total power dissipation for the plurality of power converters, calculating a respective control variable for each of the respective plurality of power converters based on the determined DC bus voltage value, and generating control processor executable instructions to implement control of each of the plurality of power converters to achieve the calculated respective control variable. A system for implementing the method and a non-transitory computer-readable medium are also disclosed.

Control system and method for an energy storage system

According to various embodiments, a DC/DC conversion system is disclosed. The DC/DC conversion system includes a boost converter coupled to a plurality of parallel buck converters. The boost converter and plurality of buck converters each include an inductor, where the inductors are magnetically coupled to each other. The DC/DC conversion system further includes a control system configured to control the boost converter and plurality of buck converters such that combined duty cycles of the plurality of buck converters are about equal to a duty cycle of the boost converter and the duty cycles of the plurality of buck converters are modulated out of phase.

System and method for a magnetically coupled inductor boost and multiphase buck converter with split duty cycle

A direct current (DC) to DC power converter includes a first bus converter for converting a first DC bus voltage into a first high frequency AC voltage and a second bus converter for converting a second high frequency alternating current (AC) voltage into a second DC bus voltage. The DC to DC converter also includes a resonant circuit for coupling the first bus converter and the second bus converter and a controller for providing switching signals to the first bus converter and the second bus converter to operate the power converter in a soft switching mode. The controller includes a switching frequency controller for determining a switching frequency signal for the power converter based on a reference output current and a phase shift controller for determining a phase shift signal for the power converter. When the reference output current is lower than the a first load current value the switching frequency signal is maintained at a first switching frequency and the phase shift is determined according to the reference output current. Further, when the reference output current is above a second load current value the switching frequency signal is maintained at a second switching frequency and the phase shift is determined according to the reference output current. When the reference output current is between the first load current value and the second load current value, the switching frequency signal is adjusted according to a value of the reference output current and the phase shift is determined based on the switching frequency, the reference output current and perturbations in the output current.

System and method for operating a DC to DC power converter

A system and method for a photovoltaic (PV) module is disclosed that includes a microinverter assembly having a housing disposed on an inactive surface of a PV panel and a microinverter disposed within the housing. The PV module also includes a mounting bracket having a central bracket portion coupled to a frame of the PV panel, a first extension portion extending from the central bracket portion and coupled to the housing, a second extension portion extending from the central bracket portion and positioned on the inactive side of the PV panel, and a third extension portion located above the second extension portion and extending from the central bracket portion. At least one of the second and third extension portions is in contact with an inner wall of the frame of the PV panel.

Universal microinverter mounting bracket for a photovoltaic panel and associated method

A switch assembly includes one or more solid state semiconductor switches configured to be disposed within a downhole pipe assembly. The one or more switches are configured to operate in a closed state to conduct electric current supplied by a power source disposed above a surface to pumps disposed beneath the surface to cause the pumps to extract a resource from beneath the surface via the pipe assembly. The one or more switches also are configured to operate in an open state to stop conducting the electric current from the power source to the pumps.

Downhole switch assemblies and methods

A system and method for a microinverter mounting assembly including a microinverter assembly and a panel direct current (DC) connector. The microinverter assembly having a housing, a microinverter disposed within the housing, and a microinverter DC connector disposed within the housing and electrically coupled to the microinverter, the microinverter DC connector with a bottom panel having a locking recess formed therein and at least one electrical contact disposed within an opening formed in the bottom panel. The panel DC connector having a mounting substrate, a locking tab extending from the mounting substrate, and at least one electrical contact positioned on the mounting substrate. Further, the locking tab of the panel DC connector interfits within the locking recess of the microinverter DC connector to form a locking mechanism that prevents rotation of the microinverter DC connector when in a locked position.

System for mounting a microinverter to a photovoltaic panel and method of making same

According to some embodiments, an electronic drive circuit is disclosed. The electronic drive circuit includes an energy storage device and a first bridge circuit coupled to the energy storage device. The first bridge circuit includes at least one leg having two switches. The electronic drive circuit also includes a transformer. The transformer includes a first winding coupled to the first bridge circuit and a second winding coupled to the energy storage device through a center tap. The electronic drive circuit further includes a second bridge circuit coupled to the second winding of the transformer. The second bridge circuit includes a pair of switches operable to conduct in both directions and block voltage in both directions. The electronic drive circuit additionally includes a DC bus coupled to the second bridge circuit and a controller, which is configured to buck or boost a DC voltage from the energy storage device to supply to the DC bus as well as buck or boost a DC voltage from the DC bus to supply to the energy storage device.

System and method for a DC/DC converter

Power systems and methods are disclosed herein. The systems and methods use a switching system coupled with a power source and subterranean pumps for pumping a resource from beneath a surface of earth. A first capacitor is between a first switching device and a first transformer, and stores electric energy received from the first transformer to activate the first switching device. A bias capacitor is between the first capacitor and the first switching device, and receives a bias voltage via a second transformer. The bias capacitor applies the bias voltage to the first switching device to prevent the first switching device from activating unless a combination of the voltage received by the first switching device via the first transformer and the bias voltage is at least as large as the activation voltage of the first switching device.

Methods and systems for controlling voltage switching

A power inversion system includes an input and output coupleable to a DC power and an AC load, respectively, and a power inverter including a plurality of phase legs each having two bridge legs coupled in parallel with at least two switch and antiparallel diode pairs coupled in series. The system also includes a plurality of inductors, with at least one inductor coupled between a midpoint of each bridge leg and an LCL filter, the inductors in each phase leg being magnetically coupled. The system further includes a control system to drive the power inverter in a soft switching configuration, the control system programmed to output a switching signal to the power inverter according to a duty cycle and a phase shift angle, determine a value of the duty cycle, and optimize the phase shift angle of the power inverter based on the value of the duty cycle.

System and method for soft switching power inversion

A power converter includes a first bus converter for converting a first direct current (DC) bus voltage into a first high frequency alternating current (AC) voltage and a second bus converter for converting a second high frequency AC voltage into a second DC bus voltage. A resonant circuit couples the first bus converter and the second bus converter. Further, a controller provides switching signals to the first bus converter and the second bus converter to operate the power converter in a soft switching mode. The controller includes a voltage detection circuit connected across at least one switching device of the power converter to detect a device voltage across the at least one switching device and a counter to count a number of hard switching detection pulses of the hard switching pulse signal detector. The controller also includes a calculation module to update the number of hard switching detection pulses of the hard switching instances and to generate a new number of hard switching detection pulses and a comparator to compare the new number of hard switching detection pulses with a threshold value and to provide a control signal if the new number exceeds the threshold value.

System and method for operating a power converter

A converter system includes a power converter including a first bridge circuit including at least one first switching device. The power converter also includes a second bridge circuit magnetically coupled to the first bridge circuit. The second bridge circuit includes at least one second switching device. The converter system also includes a plurality of first conductors of opposing polarities coupled to the first bridge circuit. The converter system further includes a plurality of second conductors of opposing polarities. At least one second conductor of the plurality of second conductors is coupled to the second bridge circuit. The converter system also includes a third conductor coupled to one first conductor of the plurality of first conductors and coupled to the second bridge circuit.

Direct current electric power systems and method of operating the same

A gate drive unit includes a charging device, a switch, and a timing module. The charging device is conductively coupled with an electrical energy source and a power switch between the electric energy source and the charging device. The switch closes to transfer electrical energy from the energy source to the charging device. The timing module is configured to close the switch to direct the electrical energy from the electrical energy source to the charging device for a designated charging time period in order to charge the charging device with the electrical energy while the power switch is in an OFF state. The timing module opens the switch to cause the electrical energy stored in the charging device to be transferred out of the charging device in the form of a trigger current that is conducted to a gate terminal of the power switch to activate the power switch to an ON state from the OFF state.

Growing community of inventors

Niskayuna, NY, United States of America

Mohammed Agamy