Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080246492 | Processing tantalum capacitors on assembled PWAs to yield low failure rate - A method of conditioning tantalum capacitors on printed wire assemblies is disclosed. According to the method, each of the capacitors on an assembly is subjected to the same conditioning level during testing. To condition the tantalum capacitors, surge currents are induced in the capacitors in a controlled manner as a means of aging the capacitors so that they can be used without de-rating rating with low failure rates. The level of voltage, timing and current levels are set by circuitry used to perform the testing. The same circuits that are used with the capacitors in a system application are also used for the tantalum capacitor test circuit during the conditioning process. | 10-09-2008 |
20080304296 | DC-DC and DC-AC power conversion system - A galvanic isolated DC-DC and DC-AC power conversion system is coupled to a plurality of DC sources which are derived from a combination of a plurality of single-phase and three-phase AC-DC converters. The DC-DC and DC-AC power conversion system in one embodiment is configured to provide mixed type outputs (mixed frequency, e.g. DC with 50 or 60 Hz, with 400 Hz; mixed voltage levels). | 12-11-2008 |
20080304300 | Power conversion system with galvanically isolated high frequency link - A power conversion system has a three-phase AC input, where each AC input phase is linked to a string of cascaded single-phase AC-DC converters placed in series with a three-phase AC-DC converter. Each single-phase AC-DC converter in one embodiment includes a silicon carbide (SiC) pulse width modulated MOSFET H-bridge that placed in series with the three-phase AC-DC converter that includes a silicon (Si) SCR bridge. The single-phase AC-DC converters and the three-phase AC-DC converter together in one embodiment include a mixed silicon-carbide (SiC) and silicon (Si) device topology. | 12-11-2008 |
20090045782 | POWER CONVERSION SYSTEM - A power conversion system includes two three-level converters, and a phase shifted transformer coupled to the converters. | 02-19-2009 |
20100026226 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS INVOLVING PERMANENT MAGNET ELECTRIC MACHINE ROTOR POSITION DETERMINATION - A method for determining rotor position comprising sending a signal to a stator, receiving a first signal indicative of a first estimated stator inductance, and receiving a second signal indicative of a second estimated stator inductance. The method further includes, calculating a first rotor position angle using a function including the first estimated stator inductance and the second estimated stator inductance. | 02-04-2010 |
20100049486 | Systems and Methods for Simulating Plant Operations - Embodiments of methods and systems of a system for simulating a plant are provided. According to one exemplary embodiment of the invention, there is disclosed a system for simulating a plant. The system may include a controller including plant operation logic for executing control commands to the plant. The system may further include a simulator in communication with the controller, where the simulator may consist of high bandwidth hardware having at least one high bandwidth model of at least a first plant behavior. The simulator may also consist of at least one processor with at least one low bandwidth model of at least a second plant behavior. | 02-25-2010 |
20100142237 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONTROL OF A GRID CONNECTED POWER GENERATING SYSTEM - A system for controlling a grid connected power generating system is provided. The system includes a wind turbine, a converter, a first controller and a second controller. The wind turbine supplies electrical power to a power grid and the converter couples the wind turbine to the power grid. The first controller calculates voltage commands to emulate a phasor back electromotive force behind an inductance. The controller further generates converter switching commands from the voltage commands. The voltage commands include a voltage magnitude reference and an internal frequency reference calculated from a power imbalance between an active power reference and the electrical power. The second controller is used to limit a converter current. | 06-10-2010 |
20100156192 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM AND CONTROL METHOD - A power generation system comprises at least two electrical systems connected at an electrical connection point. Each electrical system comprises a power conversion system comprising a converter including a plurality of switches for converting direct current power into alternating current power. The power generation system comprises a control system including at least two pulse width modulation (PWM) modulators, each PWM modulator for obtaining a fundamental waveform and a carrier signal, using the fundamental and carrier signals to generate a PWM pattern, and for providing the PWM pattern to a respective converter for driving the switches of the respective converter. The control system is configured to interleave carrier signals, fundamental waveforms, or a combination of carrier signals and fundamental waveforms of the at least two electrical systems to generate interleaved PWM patterns respectively for the at least two converters. | 06-24-2010 |
20100194518 | CAST-COIL INDUCTOR - An inductor device is described. The inductor device includes a core comprising two core sections, at least one gap defined between the two core sections, and at least one cast coil and fringe shield assembly. The at least one cast coil and fringe shield assembly includes a conductor winding and a fringe shield sealed within an insulator. The at least one cast coil and fringe shield assembly is configured to at least partially surround portions of the two core sections. | 08-05-2010 |
20110140430 | Method and System for Providing Increased Turbine Output for Doubly Fed Induction Generator - A system and method for supplying increased frequency supporting current from a doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) to assist in maintaining grid stability is provided. The output capability of a line side converter associated with the DFIG is enhanced by significantly increasing the current handling capacity of electric switches forming the converter. A dynamic brake is also provided across a DC link bus coupling the line side converter to another converter coupled to the rotor of the DFIG. The dynamic brake is controlled based on the voltage across the DC link bus. | 06-16-2011 |
20110204637 | Apparatus For Coupling An Energy Storage System To A Variable Energy Supply System - A method for coupling an energy storage system to a variable energy supply system includes providing an energy storage system including at least one Vanadium redox battery and at least one battery charge controller. The method also includes electrically coupling the at least one battery charge controller to the variable energy supply system such that the at least one battery is configured to supply a substantially consistent energy output during fluctuating energy loads of the energy supply system. | 08-25-2011 |
20110260547 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM AND CONTROL METHOD - A method of controlling electrical power systems coupled to an electrical connection point includes obtaining carrier signals and fundamental waveforms from electrical power systems coupled to at least two renewable energy sources, generating pulse width modulation (PWM) signals using the carrier signals and the fundamental waveforms while interleaving carrier signals, fundamental waveforms, or a combination of carrier signals and fundamental waveforms of the electrical power systems, and driving grid side converters of the electrical power systems with the PWM signals. | 10-27-2011 |
20120062044 | Methods and Systems for Operating a Two-Stage Power Converter - A power conversion system for providing power to an electrical grid is described. The system includes a boost converter coupled to a photovoltaic (PV) array and configured to control a PV array voltage. The system also includes an inverter coupled to the boost converter by at least one conductor and configured to regulate a voltage drop across the at least one conductor. The system also includes a system controller configured to control operation of the boost converter and the inverter. | 03-15-2012 |
20120133152 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR COOLING ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS OF WIND TURBINES - A cooling system for use in cooling an electrical component of a wind turbine is described herein. The cooling system includes a first heat exchange assembly that is coupled to the electrical component. The first heat exchange assembly is configured to transfer heat from the electrical component to a cooling fluid. A fluid distribution assembly is coupled to the first heat exchange assembly for selectively channeling the cooling fluid to the first heat exchange assembly. The fluid distribution assembly is configured to adjust a flowrate of the cooling fluid being channeled to the first heat exchange assembly to adjust a temperature of the component. | 05-31-2012 |
20120169259 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR POWER CONVERSION - A method and system for a commutation control circuit are provided. The system includes an integrating voltage counter electrically coupled to an electrical power bus, wherein the integrating voltage counter is configured to integrate over time a voltage signal received from the power bus and to generate a trigger signal when the integrated voltage signal equals a predetermined count. The system also includes a plurality of transistor pairs configured to receive a trigger signal generated by the integrating voltage counter and electrically coupled to respective windings of a motor. | 07-05-2012 |
20130107601 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR OPERATING AN ELECTRIC POWER CONVERTER | 05-02-2013 |
20130234435 | METHOD AND SYSTEMS FOR OPERATING A WIND TURBINE - A method and system for reducing a disturbance of an electric grid signal in a wind turbine is provided. The method includes providing a generator for the wind turbine system, and, coupling a power converter to the generator, the power converter. The power converter is configured to monitor at least one of a negative sequence component and a positive sequence component of a signal transmitted from an electric grid, determine if a disturbance exists based on the monitored signal, determine at least a portion of a magnitude of the negative sequence component of the signal, and, orient a voltage of the signal based on the determined magnitude negative sequence component to modify the instantaneous power flow through the power converter. | 09-12-2013 |
20130271055 | PARALLELING OF LOAD COMMUTATED INVERTERS - A device includes a controller that receives current values generated by at least four parallel load commutated inverters (LCIs). The controller includes a source firing generator that generates independent source firing commands for each of the at least four parallel LCIs based on the received current values and transmits each of the independent source firing commands to a respective one of the at least four parallel LCIs, wherein the source firing commands are configured to set input phase angle values of the four parallel LCIs. | 10-17-2013 |
20130301177 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR OVERVOLTAGE PROTECTION - In one aspect, the present subject matter discloses a method for overvoltage protection of an electrical system. The method may generally include detecting an overvoltage condition on an electrical system; and switching on, in response to the detected overvoltage condition, an impedance connected to the electrical system, wherein the impedance clamps voltage on the electrical system. | 11-14-2013 |
20130342019 | POWER CONVERTER AND METHOD OF ASSEMBLING THE SAME - A power converter includes a plurality of power conversion modules. At least one power conversion module includes a plurality of power conversion devices defining a three-level bridge. A first power conversion module includes four terminals including one of a positive terminal and a negative terminal, an output terminal, a first neutral terminal, and a second neutral terminal The first neutral terminal is coupled to a direct current (DC) link and the second neutral terminal is coupled to a second power conversion module. | 12-26-2013 |
20140062210 | MECHANICAL LAYOUT FOR HALF-BRIDGE POWER MODULE THAT IS OPTIMIZED FOR LOW INDUCTANCE - Disclosed is a mechanical layout for a half-bride power module that is optimized for low inductance. In one embodiment, a first power module and a second power module are mounted on each side of a heat sink. An inductance cancelling bus bar is wrapped around the heat sink, the first power module and the second power module in a loop. | 03-06-2014 |
20140070535 | METHOD AND SYSTEMS FOR OPERATING A WIND TURBINE USING DYNAMIC BRAKING IN RESPONSE TO A GRID EVENT - A method and system for dissipating energy in a direct current (dc) bus of a doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG) converter during a grid event is described. In one aspect, the method comprises monitoring operating conditions of an electrical system, the electrical system comprising at least a DFIG generator and a line side converter and a rotor side converter connected by a dc bus having a dynamic brake connected thereto; detecting an overvoltage on the dc bus or a condition indicative of an overvoltage on the dc link is detected, the overvoltage on the dc bus or condition indicative of the overvoltage caused by a grid event; and causing energy in the dc link to be dissipated using the dynamic brake. | 03-13-2014 |
20140152331 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETECTING A GRID EVENT - A method for detecting a grid event is provided. The method includes sampling grid voltage and grid current over a fixed period of time; determining grid impedance at one or more frequencies using the sampled grid voltage and the sampled grid current; comparing the grid impedance at the one or more frequencies to a known expected grid impedance at the one or more frequencies; and detecting a grid event based on the comparison. | 06-05-2014 |
20140156583 | CONTROL SYSTEM FOR DETERMINING A DESIRED MISSION - A control system for determining a desired mission is provided. The control system includes an interface for receiving a mission input and a control module. The control module is in communication with the interface, and determines the desired mission. The desired mission represents a specific conclusion based on analyzing data located in at least one database. The control module includes a transform avatar for determining a proposed transform based on the mission input. The proposed transform is a defined set of rules to determine the desired mission based on the data located in at the least one database. The control module includes a calculation avatar receiving the proposed transform. The calculation avatar analyzes the data located in the at least one database based on the proposed transform to determine the desired mission. | 06-05-2014 |
20140265587 | POWER CONVERSION SYSTEM AND METHOD - A power conversion system includes a first converter effectively connected in series to a second converter. Each converter has a plurality of output levels. A phase-shifted transformer is coupled to the converters. The phase-shifted transformer has a delta-wound winding and an open star winding. The first converter is coupled to the open star winding and the second converter is coupled to the delta winding. The open star winding is configured for direct connection to either of a load or the open star winding of a second phase-shifted transformer, having a delta winding connected to a third converter. One or more DC voltage sources are each connected to the first and second converters by a respective DC link capacitor. Each DC voltage source is connected to a common power grid by an isolated multiphase transformer winding. | 09-18-2014 |
20140268960 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR POWER CONVERSION - A method and system for a control circuit are provided. The circuit includes an integrating counter coupled to a process wherein the integrating counter is configured to integrate over time a process parameter signal received from the process and to generate a trigger signal when the integrated signal equals a predetermined count. The control circuit also includes a transition controller electrically coupled to a respective control element and configured to receive the trigger signal generated by the integrating counter. | 09-18-2014 |
20150049524 | POWER CONVERTER WITH A MULTI-LEVEL BRIDGE TOPOLOGY AND CONTROL METHOD - The present subject matter is directed to apparatus and methods for producing a variable frequency output waveform from a power converter for use in a power generation system, such as a wind turbine power generation system. A voltage divider is employed to provide plural voltage levels to which a multi-level bridge circuit employing selectively activated switches in pairs of switches is coupled. The switches are operated in such a fashion as to produce a generally sinusoidal waveform that may be easily filtered by low cost filters due to the plural voltage levels to produce a generally smooth sine wave from the converter. Such converters may be used in various environments including in pairs in multi-phase power converters. | 02-19-2015 |