Predictive control system and method
First Claim
1. A control system for controlling the operation of a power circuit, said power circuit having N binary switches for one of providing power to and receiving power from a load circuit, said N binary switches having various configurations being represented by a finite state machine having up to 2N switch states, a present configuration of said N binary switches being associated with a present switch state and having a plurality of next switch states according to state transition constraints of the finite state machine, said control system comprising:
- a) an acquisition module for acquiring a set of operational signals related to the load circuit associated with the present switch state;
b) an embedded simulator coupled to the acquisition module for estimating a set of estimated operational characteristics of the load circuit based on the set of operational signals and the present switch state;
c) a next state contemplator coupled to said embedded simulator for estimating a set of estimated operational characteristics of the load circuit for each of the plurality of next switch states, for comparing and selecting the next switch state having estimated operational characteristics that best meet a first set of criteria, and for actuating the power circuit to change the switch configuration of the N binary switches therein to the switch configuration associated with said selected next switch state of the plurality of next switch states.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A control system and method selects a switch configuration for a power circuit having N binary switches, based in part on a finite state machine. The control system includes an embedded simulator, and present and next state contemplators. The various switch states of the power circuit are modeled by the finite state machine such that at any time, the power circuit switches are in a Present State and there are a plurality of Next States which are one or more switch transitions away from the Present State. The embedded simulator estimates the operating conditions of the load based on measured operational characteristics and the Present State. The present state contemplator determines, based on the operating conditions, whether a switch state transition should be contemplated. If so, the next state contemplator determines the optimal next state based on performance criteria and sends a state switch command to the power circuit.
87 Citations
67 Claims
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1. A control system for controlling the operation of a power circuit, said power circuit having N binary switches for one of providing power to and receiving power from a load circuit, said N binary switches having various configurations being represented by a finite state machine having up to 2N switch states, a present configuration of said N binary switches being associated with a present switch state and having a plurality of next switch states according to state transition constraints of the finite state machine, said control system comprising:
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a) an acquisition module for acquiring a set of operational signals related to the load circuit associated with the present switch state; b) an embedded simulator coupled to the acquisition module for estimating a set of estimated operational characteristics of the load circuit based on the set of operational signals and the present switch state; c) a next state contemplator coupled to said embedded simulator for estimating a set of estimated operational characteristics of the load circuit for each of the plurality of next switch states, for comparing and selecting the next switch state having estimated operational characteristics that best meet a first set of criteria, and for actuating the power circuit to change the switch configuration of the N binary switches therein to the switch configuration associated with said selected next switch state of the plurality of next switch states. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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42. A method for controlling the operation of a power circuit, said power circuit having N binary switches for one of providing power to and receiving power from a load circuit, said N binary switches having various configurations being represented by a finite state machine having up to 2N switch states, a present configuration of said N binary switches being associated with a present switch state and having a plurality of next switch states according to state transition constraints of the finite state machine, said method comprising:
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a) acquiring a set of operational signals related to the load circuit associated with the resent switch state; b) performing a simulation to estimate a set of estimated operational characteristics of the load circuit based on the set of operational signals and on the present switch state; c) estimating a set of estimated operational characteristics of the load circuit for each of the plurality of next switch states; d) comparing and selecting the next switch state having estimated operational characteristics that best meet a first set of criteria; and
,e) changing the configuration of the N binary switches to the switch configuration associated with said selected next switch state of the plurality of next switch states. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67)
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Specification