A circuit and method for controlling a switching voltage regulator having (1) a switch including one or more switching transistors and (2) an output adapted to supply current at a regulated voltage to a load including an output capacitor. The circuit and method generates a control signal to turn said one or more switching transistors OFF under operating conditions when the voltage at the output is capable of being maintained substantially at the regulated voltage by the charge on the output capacitor. Such a circuit and method increases the efficiency of the regulator circuit particularly at low average current levels.

Control circuit and method for maintaining high efficiency over broad current ranges in a switching regulator circuit

A system and method for combining power from DC power sources. Each power source is coupled to a converter. Each converter converts input power to output power by monitoring and maintaining the input power at a maximum power point. Substantially all input power is converted to the output power, and the controlling is performed by allowing output voltage of the converter to vary. The converters are coupled in series. An inverter is connected in parallel with the series connection of the converters and inverts a DC input to the inverter from the converters into an AC output. The inverter maintains the voltage at the inverter input at a desirable voltage by varying the amount of the series current drawn from the converters. The series current and the output power of the converters, determine the output voltage at each converter.

Distributed Power Harvesting Systems Using DC Power Sources

The present invention, generally speaking, provides a reconfigurable computing solution that offers the flexibility of software development and the performance of dedicated hardware solutions. A reconfigurable processor chip includes a standard processor, blocks of reconfigurable logic (1101, 1103), and interfaces (319a, 319b, 311) between these elements. The chip allows application code to be recompiled into a combination of software and reloadable hardware blocks using corresponding software tools. A mixture of arithmetic cells and logic cells allows for higher effective utilization of silicon than a standard interconnect. More efficient use of configuration stack memory results, since different sections of converted code require different portions of ALU functions and bus interconnect. Many types of interfaces with the embedded processor are provided, allowing for fast interface between standard processor code and configurable "hard-wired" functions.

An integrated processor and programmable data path chip for reconfigurable computing

A monitoring system and method for monitoring performance of individual powers sources in a distributed power source system A monitoring module is coupled to each of the power sources, or to each string of serially connected power sources, to monitor and collect data regarding current, voltage, temperature and other environmental factors at the power source The collected data is transmitted over a power line to a central analysis station for analysis Data collected from each source indicates malfunction or degradation at the source Comparison of data collected from adjacent sources filters for environmental factors impacting neighboring sources such as cloudy days for a solar panel Comparison of data collected from the same source at different times indicates soiling or degradation of the source with time or periodic events such as a moving shade from an adjacent building

Monitoring of Distributed Power Harvesting Systems Using DC Power Sources

Method for distributed power harvesting using DC power sources

A DC-DC converter regulates the maximum current through an inductor. The DC-DC converter operates within a paging receiver and boosts a voltage from a single cell battery to substantially 3.1 VDC in order to operate circuits which require more voltage than that produced by the single cell battery. Such circuits include CMOS microcomputers and code plug. The DC-DC converter is current regulated thus providing for improved power conversion efficiency. The DC-DC converter is active when the voltage is below a minimum voltage and inactive when above a maximum voltage. The DC-DC converter provides for a wide range of load currents from the converted voltage without being controlled by a microcomputer and while delivering the power to the loads with an improved efficiency.

Strobed DC-DC converter with current regulation

A high current driver (100) for driving a high current load (110) in an electronic device powered by a battery (112) comprises a voltage reference (104) for generating a reference voltage, and a drive current controller (102, 302) responsive to a drive control signal for selectively switching the drive current controller (102, 302) from an active state for supplying current to the high current load (110), to an-inactive state for inhibiting the supply of current to the high current load (110). The drive current controller (102, 302) further controls the amount of current supplied to the high current load (110) when the battery (112) terminal voltage is substantially equal to the reference voltage. A load control element (108) is coupled to the drive current controller (102, 302) and drives the high current load (110) when the drive current controller (102, 302) is in the active state.

High current driver providing battery overload protection

An inductively loaded switching transistor circuit for use in the DC-DC converter includes an inductive load and a switching transistor coupled to the inductive load for conducting current flowing therethrough when the switching transistor is on. A drive circuit is provided which is coupled to the switching transistor for supplying a drive current thereto, and feedback means are provided for adjusting the amount of base drive supplied to the switching transistor from the drive circuit. The drive current is varied substantially linearly with respect to the current flowing through the inductive load.

Inductively loaded switching transistor circuit

A driving circuit including a single transformer drives a piezoelectric transducer and an electroluminescent lamp. The circuit is coupled to the driving circuit for limiting the peak current through the transformer.

Driver circuit for piezoelectric transducer and electroluminescent lamp

An improved amplifier with controlled hysteresis and an extremely low current drain capable of operating over a sufficiently large input voltage dynamic range is provided. Two circuits comprising a transistor and a diode are coupled between a differential amplifier and two cross-coupled current mirrors for preventing transistor saturation in the current mirrors.

David H. Overton

Papers

Strobed DC-DC converter with current regulation

High current driver providing battery overload protection

Inductively loaded switching transistor circuit

Driver circuit for piezoelectric transducer and electroluminescent lamp

Low current amplifier with controlled hysteresis