The present invention relates to an alternative power generation system, comprising a portable electricity harvesting device for generating electrical power, a power unit coupled to said portable electricity harvesting device including circuitry for processing electrical power generated by said portable electricity harvesting device and storing said electrical power in a battery within said power unit, and a plurality of distribution components in electrical communication with said power unit and a plurality of devices to be electrically powered.

The present invention relates to an alternative power generation system, comprising a portable electricity harvesting device for generating electrical power, a power unit coupled to said portable electricity harvesting device including circuitry for processing electrical power generated by said portable electricity harvesting device and storing said electrical power in a battery within said power unit, and a plurality of distribution components in electrical communication with said power unit and a plurality of devices to be electrically powered.

Technologies for safely lowering a DC link voltage potential include detecting shut down of a system that is powered by the DC link energy storage system and initiating an operating mode to dissipate energy as a form of loss without utilizing an additional resistor, that is, dissipating the DC link internally to the enclosed power module.

A fuel cell power system that includes multiple strings that each have multiple sub-stacks of fuel cells. Each sub-stack is electrically isolated from other sub-stacks and each sub-stack can be independently controlled by a DC control module on a printed circuit board. The DC control module of a sub-stack can regulate or shut off the output power of the sub-stack if the sub-stack becomes weak or fails. A sub-stack can be shut off while other sub-stacks in the system continue to operate. The output power of other sub-stacks can be increased to compensate for sub-stacks that are shut down.

A power supply control device controls a supply of power by switching a FET on or off. A current that rises when a current flowing through the FET rises flows through a resistor circuit. A drive circuit makes a notification when a voltage across both ends of the resistor circuit reaches a voltage greater than or equal to a reference voltage. A microcomputer instructs an application circuit to apply a voltage to the resistor circuit. As a result, the application circuit applies a voltage greater than or equal to the reference voltage to the resistor circuit. After instructing the application circuit to stop applying the voltage to the resistor circuit, the microcomputer determines whether or not the drive circuit is making the notification.

A power converter includes: an input unit configured to be electrically connected to a device; a voltage charge unit configured to change voltage; a voltage adjustment unit configured to adjust the voltage supplied to a transmission line; a target setting unit configured to set a first target value of the voltage change unit; a voltage monitoring unit configured to observe the voltage of the transmission line; and a threshold determination mechanism configured to calculate a second target value of the voltage adjustment unit in accordance with voltage of the transmission line. The target setting unit of the power converter is configured to generate the first target value as an output target of the voltage charge unit in accordance with the voltage observed by the voltage monitoring unit. The first target value has characteristics to change a threshold voltage for controlling output of the voltage adjustment unit depending on time.

Techniques are disclosed that use an alternating current bridge circuit to determine whether an impedance change occurs at an input to DC-DC voltage converter(s). Techniques are also disclosed for a DC power distribution system that utilizes isolation circuitry coupled to an input of DC-DC voltage converter(s).

Techniques are disclosed that use an alternating current bridge circuit to determine whether an impedance change occurs at an input to DC-DC voltage converter(s). Techniques are also disclosed for a DC power distribution system that utilizes isolation circuitry coupled to an input of DC-DC voltage converter(s).

A rechargeable battery jump starting device with a dual battery diode bridge system. The dual battery diode bridge, for example, is configured to protect against a back-charge to a first 12V battery and/or a second 12V battery after a vehicle has been jump charged to prevent damage thereto.

An apparatus monitoring system stability of a DC power system includes a switching power converter with a control loop. The converter is connected to a DC bus of the system. A monitoring loop injected into the control loop includes a sensor circuit monitoring voltage and current of the DC bus and a small signal injector producing a periodic signal with variable amplitude and frequency and injects the periodic signal on a reference signal of the control loop. The monitoring loop includes a stability measurement circuit that varies a frequency input to the small signal injector until the periodic signal has a frequency equal to a system minor loop gain crossover frequency of an impedance ratio of a converter closed loop output impedance and an impedance of the DC power system. The monitoring loop includes a measurement output circuit that outputs a DC power system stability margin at the crossover frequency.