The subject invention reveals new methods and structures for achieving single stage power conversion with both regulated input current and regulated output voltage processing a minimum of load power and thereby achieving higher efficiency than other singles stage power converters with both regulated input current and regulated output voltage and two stage power factor corrected power converters. The subject invention reveals power factor corrected converters that improve the efficiency of the single stage power factor corrected converters on which they are based by adding an auxiliary converter that processes a small fraction of the total load power.

Fault-protection is provided in electrical devices by redundancy in diodes on diode legs of the bridge rectifier and a fault-protection circuit. The fault-protection circuit is configured: (i) for electrical coupling between a return of input DC power to a step-down switching DC-DC converter and a return rail of rectified DC voltage of the output DC power generated by the bridge rectifier, and is configured to perform opening the switch based on sensing a current fault or voltage fault, or (ii) to sense current from a step-down switching DC-DC converter, a first voltage from the step-down switching DC-DC converter, and/or a second voltage at an output of the step-down switching DC-DC converter, and open the circuit on a fault.

A controller for a power converter, a corresponding power converter and a corresponding method are provided. After reaching a first maximum voltage, power flowing is gradually reduced, and later the current provided to an output capacitor is gradually ramped up.

A power interrupter device includes a solid-state bidirectional switch and control circuitry to control the solid-state bidirectional switch. The bidirectional switch is connected between input and output terminals of the power interrupter device. The control circuitry includes driver circuitry and fault detection circuitry. The driver circuitry generates a regulated direct current (DC) voltage using current drawn from an input power source applied to the input terminal and applies the regulated DC voltage to a control input of the bidirectional switch. The fault detection circuitry is configured to sense a level of load current flowing in an electrical path between the input and output terminals, to detect an occurrence of a fault condition based on the sensed load current level, and to short the control input of the bidirectional switch to place the bidirectional switch in a switched-off state, in response to detecting the occurrence of a fault condition.

A cooking device that includes a controller configured to, after being activated, control an operation of the cooking device; a communication unit configured to, after being activated, transmit data to a wireless power transmission device; a pickup coil configured to wirelessly receive power from a transmitting coil of the wireless power transmission device; a rectification unit configured to rectify the an alternating current (AC) of the pickup coil corresponding to the power received by the pickup coil, to produce a direct current (DC); a first capacitor configured to be charged in accordance with the DC current produced by the rectification unit to activate the communication unit; and a second capacitor, having a capacitance greater than a capacitance of the first capacitor, configured to be charged in accordance with the DC current produced by the rectification unit to activate the controller, so that the communication unit is activated before the controller.

A power conversion circuit includes multiple input-side capacitors connected in series between input terminals; series circuits composed of high-side switching elements and low-side switching elements connected in parallel to the multiple input-side capacitors; and output-side capacitors connected between nodes and a node. The circuit further includes an output-side inductor connected to the node and a controller that alternately turns on and off the high-side switching elements and the low-side switching elements. Each of the low-side switching elements and the high-side switching elements is a MOSFET and causes current to flow from the low side to the high side using a body diode. Accordingly, there is provided a power conversion circuit that has high conversion efficiency and that is capable of realizing reduction in size, a power transmission system, and a power conversion system.

A novel integrated rectifier and boost converter circuit architecture is disclosed. The rectifier architecture includes a plurality of identical half-bridge rectifiers connected to receiving antennas to convert wireless AC power into DC power. The integrated rectifier may be coupled in series with a charging inductor in a boost converter. The inductor may discharge upon operation of two micro-controller-driven switching transistors using predetermined threshold and timing scheme to turn on/off. The rectifier architecture may provide high power densities, improve efficiency at larger load currents, and may be enabled in an integrated circuit with eight RF signal inputs, eight half-bridge rectifiers, and eight DC outputs ganged together as single feed into the boost converter. The rectifier circuit topology may include a comparator driven by the boost controller with a proprietary algorithm which suits control for a maximum power point tracking functionality, and an external micro-controller for additional control of the boost converter.

A novel integrated rectifier and boost converter circuit architecture is disclosed. The rectifier architecture includes a plurality of identical half-bridge rectifiers connected to receiving antennas to convert wireless AC power into DC power. The integrated rectifier may be coupled in series with a charging inductor in a boost converter. The inductor may discharge upon operation of two micro-controller-driven switching transistors using predetermined threshold and timing scheme to turn on/off. The rectifier architecture may provide high power densities, improve efficiency at larger load currents, and may be enabled in an integrated circuit with eight RF signal inputs, eight half-bridge rectifiers, and eight DC outputs ganged together as single feed into the boost converter. The rectifier circuit topology may include a comparator driven by the boost controller with a proprietary algorithm which suits control for a maximum power point tracking functionality, and an external micro-controller for additional control of the boost converter.

An inductive charging circuit coupled to a winding of a power converter and a supply terminal of a controller of the power converter. The inductive charging circuit comprising an input coupled to the winding, the input coupled to receive a switching voltage generated by the power converter, an inductor coupled to the input to provide an inductor current in response to the switching voltage, a first diode coupled to the inductor to enable the inductor current to flow from the input of the inductive charging circuit to an output of the inductive charging circuit; and the output of the inductive charging circuit coupled to the supply terminal of the controller, the output of the inductive charging circuit configured to provide an operational current responsive to the inductor current to the controller, the controller is configured to control a power switch of the power converter to generate the switching voltage.

Disclosed herein is a device, system, and method for a trickle charging system of non-inductive voltage boost (NVB) converter with built-in auto-dummy-load (ADL) for wide-range of charge storage devices i.e. small button-cell type batteries and super-caps using micro power pyro-electricity at Si-MOS sub-threshold voltage. A VLSI configuration of the system is also disclosed in embodiments. The system converts the pyro-electric material at MOS sub-threshold 0.37V for optimizing to the battery charging level at 1.45V. This system was proven at hardware level and found to be 98.8% power efficient. The designed IC can charge independently without any external components for up to 1 uW max, but able to charge up to 20 uA with external components. Thus it is considered to be a very versatile design.