An energy harvesting circuit for harvesting energy from a medium voltage power line. The energy harvesting circuit includes an input capacitor electrically coupled to the power line and storing power therefrom, and a flyback converter including a primary coil and a secondary coil. The harvesting circuit further includes a switching circuit electrically coupled in series with the primary coil and being operable to electrically connect and disconnect the input capacitor to and from the primary coil, where the switching circuit includes an input voltage regulation feedback circuit for regulating an input voltage provided to the switching circuit from the input capacitor. The harvesting circuit also includes an output capacitor electrically coupled to the secondary coil and the actuator, where the output capacitor is charged by the secondary coil when the switching circuit is closed to provide power to an actuator to close a vacuum interrupter.

A power conversion device includes a power supply, a converter, a current detection circuit, and a control circuit. The power supply includes positive and negative terminals. The converter includes a primary side and a secondary side. The converter is configured to output a first current to a load. The primary side is electrically connected to the positive terminal and the negative terminal of the power supply in parallel. The secondary side is electrically connected to the positive terminal of the power supply and the load in series. The current detection circuit is coupled between the secondary side and the load, and is configured to detect the first current to output a current detection signal. The control circuit is coupled to the current detection circuit for outputting a control signal to the converter according to the current detection signal and a reference current signal.

An AC-DC power supply receives input AC power and outputs DC power. The converter includes a high power factor bridge rectifier, a barrier circuit with resistor(s) and capacitor(s), and a step-down switching DC-DC converter to step-down a first DC voltage to a second, lower, DC voltage for output. Additionally, fault-protection is provided by redundancy in diodes on diode legs of a bridge rectifier and capacitor(s) of a filter circuit thereof, and a fault-protection circuit 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 control device for controlling a switching converter includes a switch controller that generates a control signal with a switching period for controlling switching of a switch of the switching converter and setting a first interval in which a current flows in the switch, a second interval in which energy is transferred onto a storage element of the switching converter, and a third, wait, interval, at the end of the second interval. The duration of the first interval is determined based on a control voltage indicating the output voltage. A pre-distortion stage receives the control voltage and generates a pre-distorted control voltage as a function of the control voltage and a relationship between one of the first and third time intervals and the switching period, wherein the switch controller is configured to control a duration of the first interval based on the pre-distorted control voltage.

A micro-electro-mechanical device, wherein a platform is formed in a top substrate and is configured to turn through a rotation angle. The platform has a slit and faces a cavity. A plurality of integrated photodetectors is formed in a bottom substrate so as to detect the light through the slit and generate signals correlated to the light through the slit. The area of the slit varies with the rotation angle of the platform and causes diffraction, more or less marked as a function of the angle. The difference between the signals of two photodetectors arranged at different positions with respect to the slit yields the angle.

A primary-side controlled high power factor, low total harmonic distortion, quasi resonant converter converts an AC mains power line input to a DC output for powering a load, such as a string of LEDs. The AC mains power line input is supplied to a transformer that is controlled by a power switch. A device for controlling a power transistor of a power stage includes a shaper circuit including a first current generator configured to output a first current responsive to a bias voltage signal and to generate a reference voltage signal based on the first current. A bias circuit includes a second current generator configured to output a second current responsive to a compensation voltage signal and to generate the bias voltage based on the second current. An error detection circuit includes a third current generator configured to output a third current responsive to the reference voltage signal and to generate the compensation voltage signal based on the third current. A driver circuit has a first input configured to receive the reference voltage signal and having an output configured to drive the power transistor.

Methods, apparatuses, computer program products, and computer readable media are disclosed herein. In one aspect, an apparatus includes a first capacitor, a first inductor in resonance with the first capacitor, a first electronic switch and a second electronic switch. The first electronic switch may be configured to cause, when the first electronic switch is closed, the first capacitor to store a first energy, and to cause a second energy to be stored in magnetic fields of the inductor. The second energy may be transferred to a load during a resonant portion of an energy transfer cycle. The apparatus may further include a second electronic switch configured to cause the stored first energy in the first capacitor to be transferred at least in part to the magnetic fields of the inductor, and then transferred to the load during a buck portion of the energy transfer cycle.

A switched power converter (102) is arranged for supplying lighting means (108) as a load, having at least one (M40, M41) switch controlled by a control unit (106), wherein the control unit (106) comprises: a feedback controller, such as an ASIC or microcontroller, generating a switch control signal based on a feedback signal (Imeas), such as e.g. the load current (ILED), and
a separate sweep block, supplied with a signal representing a characteristic of the load (LED), such as e.g. the load voltage (VLED), and modulating the switch control signal (tout-ctrl) by a cyclic sweep, wherein the modulated switch control signal (tout-sweep) is provided directly or indirectly to the at least one switch (M40, M41).

System controller and method for regulating a power converter. For example, the system controller includes a first controller terminal and a second controller terminal. The system controller is configured to receive an input signal at the first controller terminal and generate a drive signal at the second controller terminal based at least in part on the input signal to turn on or off a transistor in order to affect a current associated with a secondary winding of the power converter. Additionally, the system controller is further configured to determine whether the input signal remains larger than a first threshold for a first time period that is equal to or longer than a first predetermined duration.

A power supply device includes a controller configured to output, to a power converter, a command value to control at least one of a voltage or a current of power output from the power converter, and acquire a measurement value measured by a measurement unit. The controller is configured to, while power conversion operation is being performed by the power converter, change the command value and determine a deterioration of the power converter based on a mode of a change in the measurement value measured by the measurement unit due to a change in the command value.