Method and apparatus for power management
First Claim
1. A power management system comprising:
- a power converter for converting a thermally generated voltage, wherein the power converter comprises a low-voltage direct current to direct current voltage converter (DC-DC converter), and a high-efficiency DC-DC converter coupled with the low-voltage DC-DC converter;
a charge storage circuit coupled with the low-voltage DC-DC converter and the high-efficiency DC-DC converter for storing converted electrical energy; and
a programmable controller circuit coupled with the high-efficiency DC-DC converter, the low-voltage DC-DC converter, and the charge storage circuit, wherein the controller circuit substantially controls operation of the power management system when a voltage potential of the converted electrical energy stored by the charge storage circuit is greater than a first threshold value.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system in accordance with the invention includes a power converter for converting a thermally generated voltage where the power converter includes a low-voltage direct current to direct current voltage converter (DC-DC converter) and a high-efficiency DC-DC converter coupled with the low-voltage DC-DC converter. The system also includes a charge storage circuit coupled with the low-voltage DC-DC converter and the high-efficiency DC-DC converter for storing converted electrical energy and a programmable controller circuit. The programmable controller circuit is coupled with the high-efficiency DC-DC converter, the low-voltage DC-DC converter, and the charge storage circuit such that the controller circuit substantially controls operation of the system when the voltage potential of the converted electrical energy stored by the charge storage circuit is greater than a brown out voltage of the controller.
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Citations
42 Claims
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1. A power management system comprising:
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a power converter for converting a thermally generated voltage, wherein the power converter comprises a low-voltage direct current to direct current voltage converter (DC-DC converter), and a high-efficiency DC-DC converter coupled with the low-voltage DC-DC converter;
a charge storage circuit coupled with the low-voltage DC-DC converter and the high-efficiency DC-DC converter for storing converted electrical energy; and
a programmable controller circuit coupled with the high-efficiency DC-DC converter, the low-voltage DC-DC converter, and the charge storage circuit, wherein the controller circuit substantially controls operation of the power management system when a voltage potential of the converted electrical energy stored by the charge storage circuit is greater than a first threshold value. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A power management system comprising:
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a thermo-electric device;
a low-voltage direct current to direct current voltage converter (DC-DC converter) coupled with the thermoelectric device;
a high-efficiency DC-DC converter coupled with the thermoelectric device and the low-voltage DC-DC converter;
a charge storage circuit coupled with the low-voltage DC-DC converter and the high-efficiency DC-DC converter;
a voltage generation circuit coupled with the low-voltage DC-DC converter and the high-efficiency DC-DC converter, wherein the voltage generation circuit, in operation, disables the low-voltage DC-DC converter, and a programmable controller coupled with the charge storage circuit, the voltage generation circuit and the high-efficiency DC-DC converter, wherein the programmable controller substantially controls the operation of the charge storage circuit, the high-efficiency DC-DC converter and the voltage generation circuit. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A method comprising:
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generating a first voltage potential by converting thermal energy from a thermal energy source to electrical energy;
converting the first voltage potential to a second voltage potential using a low-voltage direct current to direct current voltage converter (DC-DC converter) and storing the second voltage potential using a first charge storage device of a charge storage circuit;
activating a controller circuit;
converting the first voltage potential to a third voltage potential using the low-voltage DC-DC converter and storing the third voltage potential using the first charge storage device;
setting an initial value for a variable time constant for charging a second charge storage device of the charge storage circuit;
disabling the first DC-DC converter; and
converting the first voltage potential to a fourth voltage potential using a high-efficiency DC-DC converter and storing the fourth voltage potential using the first and second charge storage devices, wherein storing the fourth voltage potential is based, at least in part, on the variable time constant. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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37. A method of managing a thermally powered circuit comprising:
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converting a thermal voltage potential from a thermal voltage source to a power supply operating target voltage potential of a controller circuit using a low-voltage DC-DC converter to perform a first part of the conversion and a high-efficiency DC-DC converter to perform a second part of the conversion;
opening a valve with a current supplied from the thermal voltage produced by the thermal voltage source;
waiting a predetermined period of time;
sensing an operating temperature of a gas valve coupled with the thermal voltage source;
determining a target input voltage for holding the valve open based on the operating temperature;
sensing an input voltage of the valve;
comparing the input voltage with the target input voltage; and
modifying a power conversion duty cycle of the high-efficiency DC-DC converter based on the comparison of the input voltage with the target input voltage. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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Specification