Method and apparatus for electronic power control
First Claim
1. A single stage AC to AC power controller for controlling an AC input voltage to a load, the input voltage having one or more phases, the controller comprising:
- a circuit comprising eight independently controllable switches, one such circuit for each input line to be regulated, the switches of the circuit arranged in a conventional power regulator topology, whereby a selected regulator topology may be implemented, depending upon the position of the switches and to the input voltage;
the controller further comprising logic control having a polarity detector in parallel with the input voltage, the polarity detector having two outputs; and
a duty cycle modulator having two outputs, wherein one output from the polarity detector is inverted with respect to the output of the polarity detector;
wherein one output from the duty cycle modulator is inverted with respect to the output of the duty cycle modulator; and
wherein there is always an electrically conducting path through the switches wherein there is at least one switch conducting.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The method of the invention in one aspect involves electronic power control by varying the amplitude of an electrical power supply voltage, independent of frequency, whereby the output frequency will always be the same as the input frequency. An electrical circuit apparatus for accomplishing this function in a specific embodiment is also disclosed herein. The specific circuitry of this aspect of the invention uses eight solid state switches, such as IGBT'"'"'s, eight diodes, an inductor, input and output filters and novel controlling circuitry. The controller apparatus and methods of the invention may be used to implement all otherwise conventional converter types, buck, boost, and inverting (and duals of these) versions to obtain different regulating characteristics, including galvanic isolation of the output from the input. Indeed, the eight-switch controller can act to either buck or boost the input voltage, and can switch between bucking and boosting during a cycle, thus providing more control of the regulated output voltage. The inventive methods and devices may be used in power factor correction, voltage and/or current harmonic filtering and neutralization, line and load conditioning, control of power transfer between two power grids, and programmable control of surges, sags, dropouts and most other voltage regulation problems.
57 Citations
10 Claims
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1. A single stage AC to AC power controller for controlling an AC input voltage to a load, the input voltage having one or more phases, the controller comprising:
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a circuit comprising eight independently controllable switches, one such circuit for each input line to be regulated, the switches of the circuit arranged in a conventional power regulator topology, whereby a selected regulator topology may be implemented, depending upon the position of the switches and to the input voltage;
the controller further comprising logic control having a polarity detector in parallel with the input voltage, the polarity detector having two outputs; and
a duty cycle modulator having two outputs, wherein one output from the polarity detector is inverted with respect to the output of the polarity detector;
wherein one output from the duty cycle modulator is inverted with respect to the output of the duty cycle modulator; and
wherein there is always an electrically conducting path through the switches wherein there is at least one switch conducting. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A logic controller for controlling the duty cycle of a single stage AC to AC power controller comprising:
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eight independently controlled separate switches;
a polarity detector in parallel with the input voltage having two outputs; and
a duty cycle modulator having two outputs, wherein one output from the polarity detector is inverted with respect to the output of the polarity detector;
wherein one output from the duty cycle modulator is inverted with respect to the output of the duty cycle modulator; and
wherein there is always an electrically conducting path through the switches wherein there is at least one switch conducting. - View Dependent Claims (10)
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Specification