12181 results about "Voltage regulation" patented technology

Power is supplied to an information handling system chipset with a single voltage regulator having dual phases. A first phase of the voltage regulator provides power to a low power state power rail in an independent mode to support a low power state, such as a suspend or hibernate state. A second phase of the voltage regulator provides power to a run power state power rail in combination with the first phase by activation of a switch, such as a MOSFET load switch, that connects the low power state power rail and the run power state power rail. Voltage sensed from both power rails is applied to control voltage output so that the run power state power rail is maintained within more precise constraints than the low power state power rail.

An apparatus, method and system are disclosed for providing AC line power to lighting devices such as light emitting diodes (“LEDs”). An exemplary apparatus comprises: a plurality of LEDs coupled in series to form a plurality of segments of LEDs; first and second current regulators; a current sensor; and a controller to monitor a current level through a series LED current path, and to provide for first or second segments of LEDs to be in or out of the series LED current path at different current levels. A voltage regulator is also utilized to provide a voltage during a zero-crossing interval of the AC voltage. In an exemplary embodiment, first and second segments of LEDs are both in the series LED current path regulated at a lower current level compared to when only the first segment of LEDs is in the series LED current path.

An implantable medical device, such as a bi-directional infuser device for hydraulically controlling an artificial sphincter (e.g., adjustable gastric band) benefits from being remotely powered by transcutaneous energy transfer (TET), obviating the need for batteries. In order for active components in the medical device to operate, a sinusoidal power signal received by a secondary coil is rectified and filtered. An amount of power transferred is modulated. In one version, a voltage comparison is made of a resulting power supply voltage as referenced to a threshold to control pulse width modulation (PWM) of the received sinusoidal power signal, achieving voltage regulation. Versions incorporate detuning or uncoupling of the secondary coil to achieve PWM control without causing excessive heating of the medical device.

A mobile, hand-held fingerprint scanner is recharged by a data and power communication interface. The mobile, hand-held fingerprint scanner includes a rechargeable power supply and a data and power communication interface. The rechargeable power supply powers the fingerprint scanner during mobile use. In one example, the rechargeable power supply includes at least one rechargeable battery, a charging circuit, and a voltage regulator circuit. Data and recharging power is carried over the sane interface. A separate plug for power is not needed. The fingerprint scanner can then be inserted quickly and easily in a docking station as only a single data and power communication interface need be coupled. This is particularly advantageous in law enforcement applications where mobile use is important and safety can be compromised if a mobile scanner does not couple to a docking station quickly and easily.

A system and method of regulating the voltage of the power supplied to a plurality of power customers via a power distribution system that includes low voltage power lines and medium voltage power lines is provided. In one embodiment, the method includes measuring the voltage of a plurality of low voltage power lines at a plurality locations in the power distribution system with a plurality of voltage monitoring devices; with the plurality of voltage monitoring devices, transmitting voltage data in real time to a remote computer system; receiving, with the computer system, the real time voltage data of the voltage measured from the voltage monitoring devices; comparing, with the computer system, the real time voltage data with a first threshold value; and if the real time voltage data is beyond the first threshold value, transmitting with the computer system a first voltage adjustment instruction to a voltage control device configured to adjust the voltage supplied to a low voltage power line.

A power and control architecture employing circuitry that sequentially regulate power flows from independent solar-array sources or a mixture of power sources providing power to a common load. The device may be used on a satellite with solar-array sources; however it may also be used on ground based systems. Stiff bus voltage regulation is obtained by tightly controlling the most recently activated power-processing channel while keeping the previously activated power-processing channels in the Maximum Power Tracking mode to supply maximum power to a common load. The remaining power-processing channels are turned off or operated in stand-by mode. In an alternative system, with primary design goal of uniform power sharing among solar-array sources, all solar array sources are activated with uniform power sharing at light load and, as load demand increases, sequentially controlled to operate in the Maximum Power Tracking mode one solar array source at a time as necessary.

A charging apparatus includes an antenna, a receiver, and a battery. The battery is charged by a harvester, which converts wireless energy sent by antenna to direct current and charges the battery. The harvester includes a sensor coil, a rectifier and voltage regulating filter. The wireless energy is converted by the sensor coil to alternating current (AC). The rectifier is electrically connected to the sensor coil for converting AC to direct current (DC). The voltage regulating filter is electrically connected to the rectifier to regulate DC. The battery can be charged by the wireless charge apparatus.

A soft-switched single-phase quasi-single-stage (QSS) bi-directional inverter / charger converts AC-DC or DC-AC. The inverter / charger comprises a push-pull inverter / rectifier on the dc-side, an isolation transformer which provides ohmic isolation and voltage scaling, two full-bridges on the ac side in cascade, a voltage clamp branch comprising a capacitive energy storage element in series with an active switch with its anti-parallel diode, a passive filter at the ac side to smooth out the high frequency switching voltage ripple at the output, and a corresponding PWM scheme to seamlessly control the converter to operate in all four quadrant operation modes in the output voltage and output current plane, and is capable of converting power in both directions.

The present invention discloses a primary-side feedback switching power supply that uses a sample-and-hold circuit to obtain a corner voltage of a harmonic wave voltage while the primary-side auxiliary winding is operating at a discontinuous mode as a feedback control, and provides both voltage regulation and current limit functions. A stable voltage output is provided within the nominal input voltage and nominal output load, such that when the output reaches a current limit, the output voltage drops but the output current is controlled to remain unchanged, so as to provide an over-current protection.

An electrosurgical energy delivery apparatus includes an energy delivery circuit, a control circuit and an energy-harvesting system with a plurality of energy-harvesting circuits and a voltage regulator that provides a regulated DC voltage to the energy delivery circuit and / or the control circuit. The energy delivery circuit receives an electrosurgical energy signal having a primary frequency and selectively provides the electrosurgical energy signal to an energy delivery element. The control circuit connects to the energy delivery circuit and selectively enables the flow of electrosurgical energy to the energy delivery element. The plurality of energy-harvesting circuits each include an energy-harvesting antenna tuned to a particular frequency, a matched circuit configured to receive an RF signal from the energy-harvesting antenna, rectify the RF signal and generate a DC signal, and an energy storage device that connects to the voltage regulator to receive and store the DC signal.

A flash memory device includes a cell array and a read voltage adjuster. The cell array includes a first field having first memory cells and a second field having second memory cells. The read voltage adjuster determines a read voltage for reading first data from the first memory cells of the first field with reference to second data read from the memory cells of the second field.

An organic light-emitting diode display device includes a first switch element turned-on in response to a first scanning signal during a first period to supply a data to a first node, and then maintaining an off-state during a second period, a driving device adjusting a current through an organic light-emitting diode element in accordance with a voltage of the first node; a reference voltage source providing a reference voltage that is capable of turning-off the driving device, a second switch element maintaining an off-state during the first period, and turned-on during the second period to supply the reference voltage to the first node, and a storage capacitor maintaining the voltage at the first node.

A power module for a CNI avionics system includes a rechargeable back-up battery (17) and a battery charger (9) in a back-up battery channel, a power conversion unit (11, 25, 27 and 29) in a power conditioning channel, and a semiconductor switch (23) for selectively coupling either the output of the power conditioning channel unit or the back-up battery channel through to the module output (24) and the electronics of external LRM's of the cryptographic section of the CNI avionics system, and a microcontroller (14) for controlling voltages and spurious signal emanations. Sensors (51, 52, 54 &55) provide information to the microcontroller. The microcontroller senses the state of prime power, current draw on the cryptographic devices and adjusts power output between the battery and power supply in real time.

The method is for regulating the supply voltage of a load via a switching voltage regulator having an inductor driven by at least a power switch for delivering current to an output capacitor having a certain parasitic series resistance, connected between the output node of the regulator and ground and to an electric load eventually connected in parallel to the output capacitor. The method includes establishing a reference voltage, generating a comparison signal as the sum of a first voltage signal proportional to the current circulating in the inductor and of a second voltage signal depending on the difference between the output voltage and the reference voltage and on the first voltage signal. The comparison signal is compared with at least a threshold for generating a logic signal that switches between an active state and an inactive state and viceversa each time that the threshold is crossed, and the turn on or the turn off of the switch is controlled as a function of the state of the logic signal.

A display apparatus includes: a light-emitting device; a pixel circuit which is connected to the light-emitting device; a display driver having a voltage adjustment section which adjusts the potential of an adjustment voltage such that the potential thereof is approximated to a potential which is changed in accordance with the change amount of the characteristics inherent to the pixel circuit when a reference current having a predetermined current value is supplied to the pixel circuit; and a data line which connects the display driver and pixel circuit.

An object of the present invention is to provide a photovoltaic power generation system which is capable of achieving system linkage of a plurality of solar cell strings having different output voltages to a commercial electric power system with ease, and which enables efficient use of the maximum output electric power. It is a photovoltaic power generation system characterized by disposing voltage regulating means that regulates a DC voltage outputted from non-standard solar cell string between a standard solar cell string and electric power converting means, and regulating an output voltage of the non-standard solar cell string to the side of an output voltage of the standard solar cell string by the use of the voltage regulating means.

An N-phase switching voltage regulator includes N current sensing elements which carry respective phase currents. The voltages present at the switch node sides of the sensing elements are summed and presented to an amplifier which also receives the regulator's output voltage, to produce an output which is proportional to the regulator's total output current Iout. The invention also provides a means for direct insertion of total inductor output current information into a regulator's voltage-mode control loop, to provide active voltage positioning (AVP) for the output voltage. A voltage based on total inductor output current is summed with the regulator's reference voltage; this sum and Vout are applied to the voltage control error amplifier, the output of which is processed to operate the regulator's switches. This enables the regulator's output to have a desired droop impedance and to provide AVP of Vout as a function of total filtered inductor output current Iout(fltr).

Voltage regulation, transient response and efficiency of a voltage regulator module (VRM) is improved where short duty cycles are necessitated by large differentials of input and output voltage by including at least one clamping of a tap of an inductance in series with an output of each of a plurality of parallel branches or phases which are switched in a complementary fashion or providing coupling between inductors of respective phases. Such coupling between inductors is achieved in a small module with an integrated magnetic structure. Reduced component counts are achieved while deriving built-in input and output filters. Principals of the invention can be extended to isolation applications and push-pull forward converts, in particular. A lossless clamping circuit is also provided allowing spike currents to be suppressed while returning power to the output of the VRM.

A power control circuit is provided containing a switch array, which includes segmented switches, a flying capacitor, an output voltage terminal, a feedback loop, and a digital voltage regulator block. The digital voltage regulator block includes an A / D converter, an encoder, an add-subtractor, and a gate logic. These power control circuits do not include pass transistors. A method is also provided, where the charge pumps of the power control circuit are operated in two-phase cycles including a charging phase and a pumping phase. The power control circuit is controlled in both of these phases, thereby reducing the ripple of the output voltage.

A supply voltage controlled power amplifier that comprises a power amplifier, a closed power control feedback loop configured to generate a power control signal, and a dual voltage regulator coupled to the power control feedback loop, the dual voltage regulator comprising a first regulator stage and a second regulator stage, wherein the closed power control loop minimizes noise generated by the first regulator stage.

A switching voltage regulator is disclosed for regulating a voltage supplied to system circuitry. The switching voltage regulator comprises an oscillator operable to generate an oscillator signal representing a gate speed of a reference circuit in the system circuitry, and a frequency generator operable to generate a reference signal representing a target gate speed of the reference circuit. A cycle comparator compares at least one cycle of the oscillator signal to at least one cycle of the reference signal, and switching circuitry charges a charging element based at least on part on the comparison.

The present invention provides a power regulation system and method with high speed signal settling capabilities for providing rapid active transient response to a microelectronic device. An active transient response system includes a power supply configured to receive external and / or internal signals indicating the occurrence of transient load conditions and to respond to the transient load conditions based on one or more of these signals. The system may further include a transient suppressor configured for early detection of transients, assisting in transient suppression, and early signaling of transient activity to the power supply.The system provides rapid recovery to steady state operation from the active transient response mode by using a digital compensator to quickly modifying the duty cycle and provide a voltage offset proportional to the transient microprocessor load step. Recovery is further improved by current rephasing techniques.

The present invention provides for a system and method for providing a signal to a communication system comprising an interface between a communication link and the communication system, like an alarm system, wherein the interface receives a signal from the communication link and provides a signal indicative of the availability of the communication link for use by the communication system. Alarm systems operations may be facilitated so that Residential Gateway components (such as voice terminal adapters) may simulate traditional telephone network systems that run on 48 VDC powered telephone lines. The system also comprises an input port associated with the interface for receiving the signal from the communication link, a transformer or a voltage regulator and an output port associated with the interface for providing the conditioned signal to the communication system. A ring voltage received from the communication link may be passed through to the alarm system.

LED driver circuits containing voltage reducing devices, voltage regulating devices, and voltage converting devices are disclosed as the main components to provide power to LEDs. The LED driver circuits are designed to work with a ballast, mains alternating current voltage, direct current voltage, and electromagnetic induction power. The voltage regulating devices can be a resistor in series with at least one zener diode or a voltage regulator both in parallel with and providing power to the LEDs. The LEDs can also be anti-parallel diode pairs consisting of one diode and one LED or two LEDs, or the LEDs can be anti-parallel diode string pairs consisting of diodes and LEDs or all LEDs. The LED driver circuits will be incorporated into LED replacement lamps, and in particular to LED lamps to replace fluorescent lamps for use with existing ballasts and other power sources where the ballast may be removed or bypassed.

To prevent a voltage glitch in the regulated DC output voltage of a PWM / PFM DC-DC converter when switching between PFM and PMW modes, the error amplifier of the converter's PWM regulation path is provided with a DC voltage offset correction mechanism. This mechanism “zeros-out” DC voltage offsets that may be present in the voltage regulation path, thereby enabling the error amplifier to accurately regulate the converter's output voltage. When the converter transitions between PFM and PWM modes, the DC offset correction mechanism establishes initial conditions of the error amplifier that effectively ensure that the converter's regulated output voltage at the beginning of a new “switched-to” PWM mode cycle is DC offset-free.

The invention provides a method and system for operating a solar farm inverter as a Flexible AC Transmission System (FACTS) device—a STATCOM—for voltage control. The solar farm inverter can provide voltage regulation, damping enhancement, stability improvement and other benefits provided by FACTS devices. In one embodiment, the solar farm operating as a STATCOM at night is employed to increase the connectivity of neighbouring wind farms that produce peak power at night due to high winds, but are unable to connect due to voltage regulation issues. The present invention can also operate during the day because there remains inverter capacity after real power export by the solar farm. Additional auxiliary controllers are incorporated in the solar farm inverter to enhance damping and stability, and provide other benefits provided by FACTS devices.

Voltage regulators often have coupled output inductors because coupled output inductors provide improvements in cost and efficiency. Coupled inductors are often used in multi-phase voltage regulators. Feedback control of voltage regulators often requires accurate and responsive sensing of output current. Provided is a technique for accurately sensing the magnitude of output current in coupled inductors. An RC circuit (comprising a resistor and capacitor in series) is connected in parallel with the coupled inductor. The inductor has a leakage inductance Lk and a DC (ohmic) resistance of DCR. The resistor and capacitor are selected such that an RC time constant is equal to an L / R time constant of Lk / DCR. With the matching time constants, a sum of voltages on the capacitors is accurately proportional to a sum of currents flowing in the output inductors. Also provided is a technique for sensing current when an uncoupled center tap inductor is present.

In one embodiment, a network device having a plurality of hardware interfaces is disclosed. The network device includes a central processing unit and a main circuit board. The main circuit board has expansion slots that receivably connect corresponding secondary circuit boards to the main circuit board. The main circuit board also has sensors for detecting predetermined parameters. A voltage regulator is operative to regulate one or more particular expansion slots, in response to detection of a predetermined parameter associated with respective slots.

A switching power converter detects low load conditions based on the ratio of a first peak current value for peak current switching in constant voltage regulation mode to a second peak current value for peak current switching in constant current regulation mode. The power supply load is considered to have a low load if the ratio is lower than a predetermined threshold. Once a low load condition is detected, the switching frequency of the switching power converter is reduced to a level that minimizes switching loss in the power converter. In addition, the switching power converter also adjusts the switching frequency according to the sensed input line voltage. An offset is added to the switching period to reduce the switching frequency of the switching power converter, as the input line voltage is increased.

A vaporizer and method of vaporizing a botanical material is described. Embodiments of the apparatus include a self-contained, fully enclosed, battery operated vaporizer having an air inlet and a mouthpiece. The vaporizer includes a window for viewing a botanical material contained therein and a heating element that is also visible through the window and through an air inlet. The vaporizer also includes a push-button switch that rapidly provides power to heat air, which is then drawn through the botanical material by inhaling. Embodiments of the method include utilizing a push-button switch for heating vaporizer air and viewing the glow of the heating element as a signal that the vaporizer is ready for use. In certain embodiments, electric power for heating the air is varied according to the temperature of the vaporizer. Certain other embodiments measure the battery voltage and adjust a heater duty cycle according to the measured voltage.