Eaton Corporation

Eaton Intelligent Power Limited

Eaton Industries Company

Yakov Lvovich Familiant

Huaqiang Li

Vijay Bhavaraju

Michael John Harrison

Paul Jason Rollmann

Michael P Nowak

Andrew A Rockhill

Bruno Patrice-Bernard Lequesne

George Arthur Navarro

Luis R Pereira

Tiefu Zhao

Xiaoling Li

Qiang Fu

Mengbin Yang

Zeljko Radomir Jankovic

Jiangbiao He

Kevin Lee

Christopher Scott Thompson

Leo Sun

Tomasz Kotula

Luis Rafael Pereira

Mengbin Ben Yang

Michael John c/o Eaton Ind Company Harrison

An apparatus includes a laminated bus bar assembly with first and second bus bars and an intervening insulator layer. A surge arrestor (e.g., a metal oxide varistor) has a body mounted on the bus bar assembly and first and second terminals on first and second opposite sides of the body. In some embodiments, the body may be at least partially disposed in an opening in the first bus bar and the second terminal may be conductively bonded to a surface of the second bus bar that faces the insulator layer. In some embodiments, the second terminal may include a conductive stud passing through an opening in the second bus bar. The apparatus may include a spring clamp attached to the first bus bar and contacting the first side of the body to retain the body.

Bus bar assembly with integrated surge arrestor

Power is provided from a power source and a status of the power source is signaled by controlling a waveform of an AC voltage generated from the power source. The status may include, for example, a capacity of the power source. In some embodiments, a frequency of the AC voltage may be controlled to signal the status. The power source may include, for example, an uninterruptible power supply (UPS), and signaling a status of the power source may include controlling an inverter of the UPS to signal the status. Related systems are also described.

Power systems and methods using voltage waveform signaling

An apparatus includes a plurality of semiconductor switches. A first bus interconnects first terminals of the semiconductor switches in a first chain and provides a first impedance between the first terminals of switches of the first chain. A second bus interconnects second terminals of the semiconductor switches in a second chain and provides a second impedance greater that the first impedance between the second terminals of the switches of the second chain. The apparatus may be implemented as a laminated bus assembly including respective overlapping conductor plates, wherein the second bus includes a plate having subregions defined by features, such as slots or grooves, that provide the second impedance.

Bus structure for parallel connected power switches

An integrated circuit is provided with an MCU, which is configured to generate a PWM control signal that is free of switching pattern information therein. A current-estimating gate driver is provided, which is responsive to the PWM signal. This gate driver is configured to drive first and second gate terminals of first and second parallel switching devices (within a hybrid switch) with gate signals that establish a second switching pattern within the hybrid switch. These gate driving operations are performed in response to measuring a first voltage associated with a terminal of the hybrid switch when being driven by gate signals that establish a first switching pattern within the hybrid switch that is different from the second switching pattern. The duty cycles of the gate signals associated with the second switching pattern are unequal and the duty cycles of the gate signals associated with the first switching pattern are unequal.

Methods and systems for operating hybrid power devices using driver circuits that perform indirect instantaneous load current sensing using stored I-V characteristics

An energy system includes renewable energy sources each including an inverter. The renewable source inverters are coupled to a distribution line in a manner wherein power combines additively. The system also includes an energy storage source including an energy storage inverter coupled to the distribution line between the point of interconnection and the renewable source inverters. Finally, a control system is structured to: (i) control a voltage at the point of interconnection by controlling a renewable source reactive power output by the renewable source inverters and an energy storage reactive power output by the energy storage inverter, and (ii) provide power ramp rate control for the renewable energy system by controlling at least one of a renewable source real power output by each of the renewable source inverters and a first energy storage real power output by the energy storage inverter.

Utility scale renewable energy system controls for ramp-rate, voltage, and frequency management

Methods and systems for operating hybrid power devices using driver circuits that perform indirect instantaneous load current sensing

A disturbance, for example, a frequency variation, is generated in at least a portion of the power distribution network. The disturbance may be generated, for example, by an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) or some other component of the power distribution network, such as a switch. At least one node of the network experiencing the disturbance is identified and a topology of the power distribution network is determined responsive to identifying the at least one node. The at least one node may be identified by detecting a voltage-related artifact corresponding to the disturbance. A phase-locked loop (PLL)&#x2014;based circuit may be used for fast artifact detection. Groups of devices in the network may be identified from the artifacts, and combinatorial optimization techniques may be used to determine connectivity within such groups.

Methods and apparatus for determining power distribution system topology using disturbance detection

A system and method for capturing current information for a power converter is disclosed. The current monitoring system includes a control system operably connected to a circuit having a plurality of semiconductor switches that are controllable to convert an input power to an output power having a desired voltage and current. The control system includes a PWM signal generator to generate switching signals that control switching of the switches, gate drivers to facilitate switching of the switches, and desaturation circuits to provide overcurrent protection to the switches. The control system further includes a processor that receives voltage data from the desaturation circuits regarding a measured voltage across each of the switches, determines a current through each of the switches based on the voltage across each respective switch, and calculates an input current to the circuit or an output current of the circuit based on the determined currents through the switches.

System and method for single-phase and three-phase current determination in power converters and inverters

A system and method for controlling switching in an AC-AC converter is disclosed. A controller for the AC-AC converter determines a direction of current flow on supply lines that provide AC power to the AC-AC converter and determines a switching pattern for each of a plurality of line-side switches and each of a plurality of floating-neutral side switches in the AC-AC converter based on the determined direction of current flow on each of the supply lines. The controller causes the line-side switches and the floating-neutral side switches to operate in an ON or OFF condition according to the determined switching pattern, such that a controlled current flow is output from the AC-AC converter. The controller also implements a safe-switching routine when transitioning from a first switching pattern to a second switching pattern that prevents a non-zero current from being interrupted during the transitioning between the first and second switching patterns.

System and method for safe switching in an AC-to-AC converter

A load control device includes an input and an output connectable to an AC source and an AC load, respectively, with one or more supply lines each corresponding to a phase in the load connecting the input and output. Line-side switches are connected between a line terminal and load terminal, and floating-neutral side switches are connected to the load terminal at one end and at a common neutral connection at another end. A controller determines a direction of current flow on each of the supply lines, determines a switching pattern for each of the line-side switches and each of the floating-neutral side switches based on the determined direction of current flow, and causes each of the line-side switches and floating-neutral side switches to operate in an On condition or an Off condition according to the determined switching pattern, such that a controlled uninterrupted current is provided to the AC load.

AC to AC converter and method of operation thereof for soft starting motors and other applications

A three-phase resonant cyclo-converter, the cyclo-converter comprising a feed forward control module arranged to develop a feed forward signal for controlling a switching frequency of the cyclo-converter dependent on conditions of a power supply arranged to provide power to the cyclo-converter.

Feed forward control for a cyclo-converter

A system for optimizing switching dead-time includes a power converter that includes a half-bridge circuit comprising a first switch coupled in series with a second switch, first and second state detection circuits respectively coupled to the first and second switches and configured to respectively detect an activation state of the first and second switches. First and second switch control circuits coupled respectively to the first and second switches are configured to respectively toggle the first and second switches between an activate state and a deactivated state. The first switch control circuit includes a first input configured to receive an activation signal from the second state detection circuit indicative of the activation state of the second switch, and the second switch control circuit includes a first input configured to receive an activation signal from the first state detection circuit indicative of the activation state of the first switch.

System for optimizing switching dead-time and method of making same

A system and method for detecting ground faults in an AC motor drive is disclosed. A fault detection and protection system for an AC motor drive includes current sensors to measure first and second phase output currents, a voltage sensor to measure a DC link voltage, and a desaturation control circuit to determine a voltage and associated current across PWM inverter switches for a third phase of the output. A controller compares the first and second phase currents, the measured DC link voltage, and the voltage across the PWM inverter switches on the third phase, to a plurality of thresholds. The controller detects a ground fault on one of the first, second, and third phases of the three phase output to the AC motor based on the comparisons of the first and the second phase currents, the DC link voltage, and the voltage across the switches to the thresholds.

Growing community of inventors

Brown Deer, WI, United States of America

Yakov Lvovich Familiant