Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080203397 | Switching Device - A high voltage diamond based switching device capable of sustaining high currents in the on state with a relatively low impedance and a relatively low optical switching flux, and capable of being switched off in the presence of the high voltage being switched. The device includes a diamond body having a Schottky barrier contact, held in reverse bias by the applied voltage to be switched, to an essentially intrinsic diamond layer or portion in the diamond body, a second metal contact, and an optical source or other illuminating or irradiating device such that when the depletion region formed by the Schottky contact to the intrinsic diamond layer is exposed to its radiation charge carriers are generated. Cain in the total number of charge carriers then occurs as a result of these charge carriers accelerating under the field within the intrinsic diamond layer and generating further carriers by assisted avalanche breakdown. | 08-28-2008 |
20090058498 | HALF BRIDGE CIRCUIT AND METHOD OF OPERATING A HALF BRIDGE CIRCUIT - A half bridge circuit has a first switch having at least one control gate and a second switch having at least two control gates. A first driver has an output connected to a control gate of the first switch. A second driver has an output connected to a first control gate of the second switch. The output of the first driver is connected to a second control gate of the second switch by a circuit arrangement such that when the first driver is operated to apply a high, positive voltage to the control gate of the first switch, a positive voltage is applied to the second control gate of the second switch, and such that when the first driver is operated to apply a low, zero or small voltage to the control gate of the first switch, a negative voltage is applied to said second control gate of the second switch. | 03-05-2009 |
20090160015 | SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE AND METHOD OF FORMING A SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE - In a power semiconductor device and a method of forming a power semiconductor device, a thin layer of semiconductor substrate is left below the drift region of a semiconductor device. A power semiconductor device has an active region that includes the drift region and has top and bottom surfaces formed in a layer provided on a semiconductor substrate. A portion of the semiconductor substrate below the active region is removed to leave a thin layer of semiconductor substrate below the drift region. Electrical terminals are provided directly or indirectly to the top surface of the active region to allow a voltage to be applied laterally across the drift region. | 06-25-2009 |
20100264736 | POWER SUPPLY CIRCUITS - This invention is generally concerned with power supply circuits, and more particularly, with circuits to supply power to a mains supply, such as domestic grid mains, from a photovoltaic device. A photovoltaic power conditioning circuit for providing power from a photovoltaic device to an alternating current mains power supply line, the circuit comprising: a DC input to receive DC power from said photovoltaic device; an AC output configured for direct connection to said AC mains power supply line; a DC-to-AC converter coupled to said DC input and to said AC output to convert DC power from said photovoltaic device to AC power for output onto said power supply line; and an electronic controller directly coupled to said power supply line to measure a voltage of said power supply line and a current in said supply line and to control said DC-to-AC converter responsive to said measuring. | 10-21-2010 |
20100283514 | POWER SUPPLY DEVICE AND METHOD FOR DRIVING THE SAME - In a reverse conducting semiconductor device, which forms a composition circuit, a positive voltage that is higher than a positive voltage of a collector electrode may be applied to an emitter electrode. In this case, in a region of the reverse conducting semiconductor device in which a return diode is formed, a body contact region functions as an anode, a drift contact region functions as a cathode, and current flows from the anode to the cathode. When a voltage having a lower electric potential than the collector electrode is applied to the trench gate electrode at that time, p-type carriers are generated within the cathode and a quantity of carriers increases within the return diode. As a result, a forward voltage drop of the return diode lowers, and constant loss of electric power can be reduced. Electric power loss can be reduced in a power supply device that uses such a composition circuit in which a switching element and the return diode are connected in reverse parallel. | 11-11-2010 |
20100309692 | POWER CONDITIONING UNITS - We describe a power conditioning unit with maximum power point tracking (MPPT) for a dc power source, in particular a photovoltaic panel. A power injection control block has a sense input coupled to an energy storage capacitor on a dc link and controls a dc-to-ac converter to control the injected mains power. The power injection control block tracks the maximum power point by measuring a signal on the dc link which depends on the power drawn from the dc power source, and thus there is no need to measure the dc voltage and current from the dc source. In embodiments the signal is a ripple voltage level and the power injection control block controls an amplitude of an ac current output such that an amount of power transferred to the grid mains is dependent on an amplitude of a sinusoidal voltage component on the energy storage capacitor. | 12-09-2010 |
20110049990 | GRID SYNCHRONISATION - The invention relates to a grid synchroniser for connecting an AC output of a power converter to the AC grid mains. In one aspect the invention provides a grid synchroniser comprising an inverter controller to control an AC output of the inverter, the controller including a receiver to receive grid data from a grid sensor location remote from said inverter. In another aspect we describe techniques for rapid removal of charge from a control terminal of a power switching device such as a MOSFET, IGBT or Thyristor using a particular driver circuit. | 03-03-2011 |
20120161528 | Solar Photovoltaic Systems - Improved techniques for photovoltaic power generation are described. Inverter failure is can be a significant problem in solar photovoltaic systems as it can lead to loss of opportunity to harvest energy. A solar photovoltaic (PV) power generation system is described comprising solar PV panels and power conditioning units. A dc power distribution bus is coupled to the solar PV panels and the power conditioning units to switchably share dc power from the solar PV panels between the power conditioning units. Power distribution controllers detect a faulty power conditioning unit and reroute power from a solar PV panel coupled to the faulty power conditioning unit to other power conditioning units via the dc distribution bus. | 06-28-2012 |
20130134790 | Grid Synchronisation - The invention relates to a grid synchroniser for connecting an AC output of a power converter to the AC grid mains. In one aspect the invention provides a grid synchroniser comprising an inverter controller to control an AC output of the inverter, the controller including a receiver to receive grid data from a grid sensor location remote from said inverter. In another aspect we describe techniques for rapid removal of charge from a control terminal of a power switching device such as a MOSFET, IGBT or Thyristor using a particular driver circuit. | 05-30-2013 |
20130234518 | Power Supply Circuits - This invention is generally concerned with power supply circuits, and more particularly, with circuits to supply power to a mains supply, such as domestic grid mains, from a photovoltaic device. A photovoltaic power conditioning circuit for providing power from a photovoltaic device to an alternating current mains power supply line, the circuit comprising: a DC input to receive DC power from said photovoltaic device; an AC output configured for direct connection to said AC mains power supply line; a DC-to-AC converter coupled to said DC input and to said AC output to convert DC power from said photovoltaic device to AC power for output onto said power supply line; and an electronic controller directly coupled to said power supply line to measure a voltage of said power supply line and a current in said supply line and to control said DC-to-AC converter responsive to said measuring. | 09-12-2013 |
20130279210 | Power Conditioning Units - We describe a power conditioning unit with maximum power point tracking (MPPT) for a dc power source, in particular a photovoltaic panel. A power injection control block has a sense input coupled to an energy storage capacitor on a dc link and controls a dc-to-ac converter to control the injected mains power. The power injection control block tracks the maximum power point by measuring a signal on the dc link which depends on the power drawn from the dc power source, and thus there is no need to measure the dc voltage and current from the dc source. In embodiments the signal is a ripple voltage level and the power injection control block controls an amplitude of an ac current output such that an amount of power transferred to the grid mains is dependent on an amplitude of a sinusoidal voltage component on the energy storage capacitor. | 10-24-2013 |