The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 22, 1999
Filed:
Oct. 23, 1997
George Barbehenn, Vancouver, WA (US);
Huston W Rice, Vancouver, WA (US);
Hewlett-Packard Company, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
An AC-DC switching converter converts AC mains power into regulated DC power into a load. It is desired to electrically isolate the load from the mains, and this requires isolation in both the forward power transfer path and the reverse feedback path. The forward path is isolated by use of a transformer, and the feedback signal is transferred through an optocoupler. In a typical pulsewidth modulation control loop design, it is difficult to achieve good loop dynamics when using low cost optocouplers, because of the wide variation of their transfer function gain. However, in the disclosed invention, the loop is operated as a nonlinear limit cycle ('bang--bang') controller. In this mode, the optocoupler gain variation has an insignificant effect on loop operation. The converter switching signal is provided by an inexpensive 555 timer oscillator, and the optocoupler is connected to the reset pin of this timer to turn it ON and OFF in short bursts, as is characteristic of this type of controller. Since a converter must operate over a mains voltage range of about 3:1, the disclosure also includes a technique for protecting the transformer from possible saturation by narrowing the oscillator pulses as an inverse function of the mains voltage.