Power control methods and apparatus
First Claim
1. An apparatus, comprising:
- at least one energy transfer element to store input energy derived from a power source and to provide output energy to a load;
at least one switch coupled to the at least one energy transfer element to control at least the input energy stored to the at least one energy transfer element; and
at least one switch controller configured to receive at least one variable control signal representing a variable desired load power and control the at least one switch in response to the at least one control signal, wherein the at least one switch controller does not receive any feedback information relating to the load to control the at least one switch.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and apparatus for providing and controlling power to at least some types of loads. In one example, a controlled predetermined power is provided to a load without requiring any feedback information from the load (i.e., without monitoring a load voltage and/or load current). In another example, a “feed-forward” power driver for an LED-based light source combines the functionality of a DC-DC converter and a light source controller, and is configured to control the intensity of light generated by the light source based on modulating the average power delivered to the light source in a given time period, without monitoring and/or regulating the voltage or current provided to the light source. In various examples, significantly streamlined circuits having fewer components, higher overall power efficiencies, and smaller space requirements are realized. Based on various power driver configurations, lighting apparatus incorporating one or more power drivers for one or more LED-based loads may be implemented, and multiple such lighting apparatus may be coupled together to form a lighting network in which operating power is efficiently provided throughout the network.
293 Citations
93 Claims
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1. An apparatus, comprising:
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at least one energy transfer element to store input energy derived from a power source and to provide output energy to a load; at least one switch coupled to the at least one energy transfer element to control at least the input energy stored to the at least one energy transfer element; and at least one switch controller configured to receive at least one variable control signal representing a variable desired load power and control the at least one switch in response to the at least one control signal, wherein the at least one switch controller does not receive any feedback information relating to the load to control the at least one switch. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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7. An apparatus, comprising:
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at least one energy transfer element to store input energy derived from a power source and to provide output energy to a load; at least one switch coupled to the at least one energy transfer element to control at least the input energy stored to the at least one energy transfer element; and at least one switch controller configured to receive at least one control signal representing a desired load power and control the at least one switch in response to the at least one control signal, wherein the at least one switch controller does not receive any feedback information relating to the load to control the at least one switch, wherein the at least one switch controller is configured as an addressable device so as to facilitate control of the apparatus via a network. - View Dependent Claims (8)
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21. An apparatus, comprising:
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at least one energy transfer element to store input energy derived from a power source and to provide output energy to a load; at least one switch coupled to the at least one energy transfer element to control at least the input energy stored to the at least one energy transfer element; and at least one switch controller configured to receive at least one control signal representing a desired load power and control the at least one switch in response to the at least one control signal, wherein the at least one switch controller does not receive any feedback information relating to the load to control the at least one switch, wherein the at least one switch controller is configured to control the at least one switch based on at least one of a voltage output by the power source and a current drawn from the power source, and the at least one control signal representing the desired load power, and wherein the at least one switch controller comprises; an analog to digital converter, coupled to the voltage output by the power source, to generate the value representing the voltage output by the power source; an oscillator to generate a pulse stream having a frequency of multiple switching operations of the at least one switch; and a processor to make a comparison of the value representing the voltage output by the power source and the at least one control signal representing the desired power to the load, the processor further configured to generate a pulse width modulated signal, based on the comparison and the pulse stream, to control the at least one switch.
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47. A method, comprising acts of:
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A) storing input energy derived from a power source to at least one energy transfer element; B) providing output energy from the at least one energy transfer element to a load; C) controlling at least the input energy stored to the at least one energy transfer element via at least one switch coupled to the at least one energy transfer element; D) receiving at least one variable control signal representing a variable desired load power; and E) controlling the at least one switch in response to the at least one control signal without receiving any feedback information relating to the load. - View Dependent Claims (48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93)
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55. A method, comprising acts of:
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A) storing input energy derived from a power source to at least one energy transfer element; B) providing output energy from the at least one energy transfer element to a load; C) controlling at least the input energy stored to the at least one energy transfer element via at least one switch coupled to the at least one energy transfer element; D) receiving at least one control signal representing a desired load power; E) controlling the at least one switch in response to the at least one control signal without receiving any feedback information relating to the load; and F) transmitting the at least one control signal representing the desired power to the load as at least one addressed control signal. - View Dependent Claims (56)
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69. A method, comprising acts of:
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A) storing input energy derived from a power source to at least one energy transfer element; B) providing output energy from the at least one energy transfer element to a load; C) controlling at least the input energy stored to the at least one energy transfer element via at least one switch coupled to the at least one energy transfer element; D) receiving at least one control signal representing a desired load power; and E) controlling the at least one switch in response to the at least one control signal without receiving any feedback information relating to the load, wherein the act E) comprises an act of; E1) controlling the at least one switch based on at least one of a voltage output by the power source and a current drawn from the power source, and the at least one control signal representing the desired load power, and wherein the act E1) comprises acts of; generating a pulse stream having a frequency of multiple switching operations of the at least one switch; making a comparison of a value representing the voltage output by the power source and the at least one control signal representing the desired power to the load; and generating a pulse width modulated signal, based on the comparison and the pulse stream, to control the at least one switch.
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Specification