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:
Sep. 09, 2003
Filed:
Apr. 19, 2002
Philippe Alfred Perol, Den Haag, NL;
Agence Spatiale Europeenne, Paris, FR;
Abstract
The present invention relates to a converter comprising at least one converter module presenting at least one electricity feed terminal coupled to an electricity generator and to an electricity feed line such as a bus and including at least one series switch and at least one parallel switch, the series switch being connected in series between the electricity feed terminal and a first inductor, itself in series with an electricity source, the first series switch and the first inductor forming a series branch, and the parallel switch being connected in parallel between said series branch and ground, said switches of said module being controlled in phase opposition by a control circuit presenting a first control state in which said switches are operated in a first or “voltage-lowering” mode of operation in which an electrical current flows from the electricity generator to the electricity feed line, and a second control state in which said switches are operated in a second or “voltage-raising” mode of operation in which the current flows from the electricity source to the electricity generator. The parallel switch is placed in a parallel branch between said electricity feed terminal and ground, and the control circuit presents a third or “shunt” mode of operation in which the parallel second switch is closed and the series switch is open.