1596results about "Voltage-current phase angle" patented technology

Systems and methods can provide, in one aspect, a method for modulating the pulse width of control signals generated on a plurality of separate channels. In one practice, the methods described herein are suitable for execution on a microprocessor or micro controller platform that includes a timer interrupt mechanism which will generate an interrupt in response to a timer counting down a selected time interval or time period. In one practice, the timer is set to count down a period of time that is representative of a portion, or sub period, of the PWM cycle. Upon expiration of that time period, the timer executes an interrupt that causes the micro controller to enter an interrupt service routine (ISR) that can further modulate the PWM cycle of one or more signals.

Systems and methods for processing sensor data and self-calibration are provided. In some embodiments, systems and methods are provided which are capable of calibrating a continuous analyte sensor based on an initial sensitivity, and then continuously performing self-calibration without using, or with reduced use of, reference measurements. In certain embodiments, a sensitivity of the analyte sensor is determined by applying an estimative algorithm that is a function of certain parameters. Also described herein are systems and methods for determining a property of an analyte sensor using a stimulus signal. The sensor property can be used to compensate sensor data for sensitivity drift, or determine another property associated with the sensor, such as temperature, sensor membrane damage, moisture ingress in sensor electronics, and scaling factors.

A system and method that utilizes direct sequence spread spectrum signal (DSSS) encoding to enable testing of a live wire, wherein an original data signal is modified and then transmitted along the wire, and a reflected signal is collected and analyzed using correlation techniques to determine characteristics of the live wire, including the location of a fault.

Apparatus and methods are provided for analyzing surface characteristics of a test object using broadband scanning interferometry. Test objects amenable to these apparatus and methods include but are not limited to semiconductor wafers, semiconductor devices, metallic surfaces, and the like. An interferometry system is used to obtain an interferometry signal and related to data embodied in the signal representative of the test object surface. This signal and/or data is used to construct an n-dimensional function that includes an independent frequency variable and an independent time variable, and/or an n-dimensional function that includes an independent scale variable and an independent time variable, and/or a multi-domain function. These functions are compared with various models to obtain a best match that is then used to characterize the test object surface.

An electro-optical, automatic meter reader for enabling a consumer to view and manage power consumption through a browser. A sensor attached to a bracket is mounted to the outside cover of a utility meter without modification of the meter or removal of its housing. A data-collector stores data obtained from the sensor via a serial port which may also provide power for the sensor, thus avoiding use of a dedicated power supply. The data-collector connects to a computer which provides a centralized object through which to view and manage power consumption. The real-time and combined historic data can be used to forecast whether usage will fall above or below a predetermined usage level at the end of a given period of time. In response to a forecast exceeding the level, the computer displays the appropriate graph in a red colored bar within a quantity vs. time chart. The computer may control power consuming devices. A communication system may be established to the system for remote management by the consumer or by the utility company for its own billing and management purposes.

The invention disclosed herein provides methods and materials for observing the state of a sensor, for example those used by diabetic patients to monitor blood glucose levels. Typically a voltage such as a voltage pulse is applied to the sensor in order to solicit a current response from which for example, factors such as impedance values can be derived. Such values can then be used as indicators of a sensor's state, for example the state of sensor hydration, sensor noise, sensor offset, sensor drift or the like.

There is provided a method comprising: determining a phase difference between at least two antenna units of a distributed antenna system on the basis of at least one pilot signal received from at least one of a plurality of antenna units; and transmitting phase correction commands to a common base station of the plurality of antenna units on the basis of the determined phase difference in order to synchronize carrier phases between at least two antenna units of the distributed antenna system.

A voltage-waveform detector produces a voltage-feedback signal and a discharge-time signal by multi-sampling a voltage signal of a transformer. The discharge-time signal represents a discharge time of a secondary-side switching current. A voltage-loop error amplifier amplifies the voltage-feedback signal and generates a control signal. An off-time modulator correspondingly generates a discharge-current signal and a standby signal in response to the control signal and an under-voltage signal. The under-voltage signal indicates a low supply voltage of the controller. An oscillator produces a pulse signal in response to the discharge-current signal. The pulse signal determines the off-time of the switching signal. A PWM circuit generates the switching signal in response to the pulse signal and the standby signal. The standby signal further controls the off-time of the switching signal and maintains a minimum switching frequency. The switching signal is used for regulating the output of the power supply.

The remaining run-time (t_rem) of a battery is determined independently of the condition of the battery and the amount of load on the battery by obtaining the value of a present total zero-current capacity (Qmax) of the battery based on relaxed-battery OCV values measured just before and just after a charging or discharging cycle. A current through the battery is integrated to determine a transfer of charge (Q) from the battery, and a value of total run-time (t_total) that would be required to reduce the open circuit voltage of the battery to a predetermined lower limit (Vmin) is determined. The remaining run-time (t_rem) is determined by subtracting the duration of the integrating from the total run-time (t_total).

A battery monitoring system for simultaneously managing the batteries in 100 or more remote locations, each of said locations comprising a battery string with 100 or fewer cells, said system comprising:

• • a. an individual battery monitor operatively engaged with at least one of said cells;
  • b. a network access module in communication with said battery monitor, said network access module comprising a modem compatible with an M2M data communication protocol, said protocol comprising assigning a variable IP address to said network access module modem upon initiation of a connection to a battery manager; and
  • c. said battery manager comprising a fixed IP address that can be connected to via said M2M data protocol upon said initiation of said connection,

wherein said network access module is programmed to periodically transfer battery monitor data, including ohmic measurements, to said battery manager at a frequency of not less than once per week and with a total rate of data transfer of not more than 1 Mb per month.

A method and apparatus for anti-islanding of distributed power generation systems having an inverter comprising a phase locked loop (PLL), a phase shift generator for injecting a phase shift into the PLL during at least one sample period, and a phase error signature monitor for monitoring at least one phase error response of the PLL during the at least one sample period.

A method and an arrangement for detecting impedance mismatch between an output of a radio frequency amplifier (200, 901, 911, 921, 1101) which has an amplifying component (201, 301, Q46, 701, 801) and an input of a load (203, 302) coupled to the output of the radio frequency amplifier having: first monitoring means (401) to monitor a measurable electric effect (311) at a side of the amplifying component (201, 301, Q46, 701, 801) other than the load (203, 302) and to produce a first measurement signal (411). Second monitoring means (402) monitor a measurable electric effect (312) between the amplifying component (201, 301, Q46, 701, 801) and the load (203, 302) and produce a second measurement signal (412). Decision-making means (204, 902, 912, 923, 1102) receive said first (411) and second (412) measurement signals and decide, whether said first and second measurement signals together indicate impedance mismatch.

A system for determining a service outages and restorations that includes an outage management server (OMS) that generates reports outages and restoration information for metering endpoints. The outages may be caused by faults at various locations in the distribution network. The metering endpoint may include a transmitter having a battery backup that transmits the outage information upon a failure to detect a voltage at the endpoint. The transmission of the information may be filtered based on configurable criteria. The metering endpoints may also inform the OMS when power is restored. Thus, a utility may better service its customers by focusing manpower efforts using the outage and restoration information generated by the OMS.

A storage battery includes a battery housing and a plurality of electrochemical cells in the battery housing electrically connected to terminals of the battery. A battery test module is mounted to the battery housing and electrically coupled to the terminals through Kelvin connections. A display or other output is configured to output battery condition information from the battery test module. The battery test module is configured to automatically carry out a battery test when a voltage across the battery falls below a predetermined threshold.

A method and circuit for measuring a statistical value of jitter for a data signal having a data rate f_D, comprises digitally sampling the data signal at a sampling rate, f_S, to produce sampled logic values, where f_D/f_S is a predetermined non-integer ratio; and analyzing the sampled values to deduce a statistical value of the jitter.

Methods and apparatuses to calibrate read/write memory accesses through data buses of different lengths via advanced memory buffers. One embodiment includes an advanced memory buffer (AMB) having: a plurality of ports to interface respectively with a plurality of data buses; a port to interface with a common clock bus for the plurality of data buses; and an adjustable circuit coupled with the plurality of ports to level delays on the plurality of data buses. In one embodiment, the data buses have different wire lengths between the dynamic random access memory (DRAM) memory chips and the advanced memory buffer (AMB).

A switched current temperature sensing circuit (1) comprises a measuring transistor (Q1) which is located remotely of a measuring circuit (5) which applies three excitation currents (I₁,I₂,I₃) of different values to the measuring transistor (Q1) in a predetermined current sequence along lines (10,11). Resulting base/emitter voltages from the measuring transistor (Q1) are applied to the measuring circuit (5) along the same two lines (10,11) as the excitation currents are applied to the measuring transistor (Q1). Voltage differences ΔV_be of successive base/emitter voltages resulting from the excitation currents are integrated in an integrating circuit (36) of the measuring circuit (5) to provide an output voltage indicative of the temperature of the measuring transistor (Q1). By virtue of the fact that the measuring transistor (Q1) is excited by excitation currents of three different values, the effect of current path series resistance in the lines (10,11) on the output voltage indicative of temperature is eliminated. The predetermined current sequence in which the excitation currents are applied to the measuring transistor (Q1) is selected to minimize the voltages in the integrating circuit (36) during integration of the voltage differences ΔV_be.

The present invention concerns a battery monitoring system for monitoring a plurality of batteries serially connected to form a string. The battery monitoring system includes a number of probes connected to at least a portion of the string, a daisy chain bus having a select channel for serially interconnecting the probes, the bus having other, parallel channels for data communication and power, and a system server. The probes each have a sensing module and a communication module. The sensing module senses characteristics of at least a portion of the string, such as voltage or current. The communication module receives the sensed characteristics and converts them into digital form for broadcast to the system server over the bus. The communication module of the probes have a memory for storing an address assigned to the corresponding probe upon reception of an initialization signal sent by the system server via the bus.

An on-line sensing system and method for monitoring in real-time thermal-oxidative breakdown, water contamination, and/or fuel dilution conditions in operational engine lubricating oils. The method of the invention includes an electrochemical impedance analysis technique specific to the particular oil to be monitored. Sensing devices having of at least two electrodes are configured for direct installation in an existing access port, or drain port, of a lubricating oil reservoir. An AC voltage waveform is applied to the sensing device (preferably less than 100 Hz) to produce voltage and current responses between the appropriate electrodes contacting the oil. The magnitude impedance |Z| and phase angle components of the complex impedance are used to characterize the quality and/or condition of the engine oil under test. The system also provides an electrical indication indicative of the percentage remaining useful life of the oil.

Methods and systems for estimating present parameters of an electrochemical cell system comprising: making an internal parameter prediction of the cell; making an uncertainty prediction of the internal parameter prediction; correcting the internal parameter prediction and the uncertainty prediction; and applying an algorithm that iterates the internal parameter prediction, and the uncertainty prediction and the correction to yield an ongoing estimation to the parameters and an ongoing uncertainty to the parameters estimation.

A method for performing capacitance estimations on an integrated circuit design routed by a global routing tool is disclosed. Routing areas and pin locations of a net within an integrated circuit design are initially obtained from a global routing tool. Common boundaries among the routing areas are then defined. Before the performance of a detailed routing step, congestion information furnished by the global routing tool is utilized to perform probabilistic capacitance calculations for an interconnect that can be routed within the routing areas via the defined common boundaries to connect the pin locations.

A stabilized field sensor apparatus collects field data, in particular magnetic field data, with reduced motion noise. The apparatus includes a tear drop shaped housing, a tow frame in the housing, a plurality of vibration isolating dampers spaced around the frame, a base assembly mounted to the dampers, a support pedestal having a bottom end fixed to the base assembly and an upper free end, a single spherical air bearing connected to the upper free end of the pedestal, an instrument platform with a lower hollow funnel having an upper inside apex supported on the air bearing for a one point support, principal and secondary gyro stabilizers for maintaining pivotal and rotational stability, and at least one field sensor mounted to the instrument platform for collecting the field data while being stabilized against motion noise including vibration, pivoting and rotation from the base assembly, from the tow frame and from the housing. Stabilization of the instrument platform is enhanced by preserving accurate balance through a dynamic balancing system whereby small masses are moved under computer control to maintain the center of mass of the instrument platform at the center of rotation of the spherical air bearing. The dynamic stabilization process is made more precise by actively vibrating the instrument platform by a set of linear vibrators.

An arc fault circuit interrupter (AFCI) detects arc faults by identifying the various signature patterns of arc fault noise while rejecting arc mimicking noise from normal load phenomena.

System and method for maintenance and examination of timers for a computer system having connections in a networking system. Timer values in a connection table each indicate a timeout for a timer for a connection, where each connection has multiple timers, and one of the timer values is written to a global timer array for each connection such that the global timer array can be scanned to determine when timeouts occur for active connections. Sparse restart of a timer includes restarting the timer if data is communicated with a connected computer before the timeout occurs and after a predetermined time interval after timer start, and not restarting the timer if data is communicated before the timeout occurs and within the predetermined interval after timer start.

The present invention relates to an apparatus capable of diagnosing the aging state of a power conversion system at ordinary times and its diagnosing method to ensure the reliability of a power conversion system. The apparatus includes a current sensing means for detecting the output current of a inverter switching module or an electrolytic capacitor, and measurement and diagnosis means for extracting elements related to the aging status of the power conversion system by receiving the output current waveform of the inverter switching module and magnitude of each harmonic or an impedance voltage signal of the electrolytic capacitor. Furthermore, it is preferable that the apparatus further includes a measurement current generation means for generating measurement current to be supplied to the electrolytic capacitor. By analyzing an average value or the magnitude of harmonics by FFT analysis of the output current waveform of the inverter switching module and measuring an ESR value or a loss angle tan δ of a DC bus of the power conversion system, the present invention is able to monitor and diagnose the abnormal state attributable to the aging or degradation of the power conversion system in advance.

This invention deals with an advanced Real-time Grid Monitoring System (RTGMS) suitable for both single-phase and three-phase electric power systems. This invention provides an essential signal processing block to be used as a part of complex systems either focused on supervising and diagnosing power systems or devoted to control power processors interacting with the grid. This invention is based on a new algorithm very suitable for real-time characterization of the grid variables under distorted and unbalanced grid conditions. The main characteristic of this invention is the usage of a frequency-locked loop, based on detecting the grid frequency, for synchronizing to the grid variables. It results in a very robust system response in relation to existing technique based on the phase-angle detection since grid frequency is much more stable variable than the grid voltage/current phase-angle, mainly during grid faults. Moreover, the algorithm supporting this invention is very efficient and can be implemented in regular industrial microprocessors. These features make the RTGMS object of this invention ideal to be applied in the control of distributed generation systems (DGS), flexible AC transmission systems (FACTS), power quality conditioners (PQC) and uninterruptible power supplies (UPS). In all these systems, the fast and precise real time detection of the voltage and/or current sequence components under grid fault conditions is a crucial matter.

A method and system for intrinsic timescale decomposition, filtering, and automated analysis of signals of arbitrary origin or timescale including receiving an input signal, determining a baseline segment and a monotonic residual segment with strictly negative minimum and strictly positive maximum between two successive extrema of the input signal, and producing a baseline output signal and a residual output signal. The method and system also includes determining at least one instantaneous frequency estimate from a proper rotation signal, determining a zero-crossing and a local extremum of the proper rotation signal, and applying interpolation thereto to determine an instantaneous frequency estimate thereof. The method and system further includes determining at least one instantaneous frequency estimate from a proper rotation signal, extracting an amplitude-normalized half wave therefrom and applying an arc sine function to the amplitude-normalized half wave to determine an instantaneous frequency estimate of the proper rotation signal.

A semiconductor module comprises a mounting board. A plurality of power switching device chips are mounted on the mounting board by flip-chip bonding. The chip has an upper surface and a lower surface and is configured to face the upper surface toward the mounting board. A drive IC chip is mounted on the mounting board by flip-chip bonding. The drive IC chip is operative to drive gates of transistors formed in the plurality of power switching device chips. A plurality of heat sink members are located on the lower surfaces of the plurality of power switching device chips, respectively. A resinous member is provided to seal the plurality of power switching device chips and the drive IC chip in a single package.

An intelligent electronic device (IED) integrating a power metering unit (PMU) and a merging unit that combines signals from both analog transformers and digital transformers into a set of merged digital samples. Analog current/voltage signals from analog CTs/PTs are received at the IED's analog inputs and converted to digitized samples. Digital current/voltage samples from digital CTs/PTs are received via point-to-point connections at digital inputs of the IED. A tagging unit applies metadata tags to the digitized and digital samples. The metadata tags include the transformer providing the input signal, sampling rate, primary and/or secondary timestamps, scaling values, calibration values, and/or the location of the IED in the electrical system. The PMU performs metering and/or power quality calculations on the samples, and the calculation results are formatted and transmitted via a master-slave protocol to a requesting master. A grouping unit groups the merged samples into default or custom groupings, which are formatted and transmitted over a network via a publish-subscribe mechanism.

The invention provides a test system and a test method. The testing system comprises a test fixture, a test device and a differential tunable matching network, wherein the test fixture is provided with a bearing structure for loading a chip to be tested and a test port electrically connected to the chip to be tested; the test device comprises a radio frequency signal source, a receiving unit and a processing and display unit; the radio frequency signal source is provided with at least one radio frequency test port; the receiving unit is used for at least receiving a reflected signal and a transmitted signal which are generated after a radio frequency signal passes through the chip to be tested; the processing and display unit is used for processing the received radio frequency signal and displaying the processed signal; and the differential tunable matching network is provided with an input port and a differential output port and is used for tuning the impedance of a load end including the chip to be tested to make the impedance of the load end matched with the internal resistance of the test device and providing the test device to measure the characteristic of the chip to be detected in the test fixture. Compared with the prior art, the invention has the advantages that: the differential tunable matching network is provided for realizing impedance matching, the test system and the test method are easy and convenient to operate, and a more accurate test result can be acquired.