Apparatus and method for initial charging, self-starting, and operation of a power supply with an intermittent and/or variable energy source and a rechargeable energy storage device

Power supply apparatus for operating a controlled device with a sequence of energy pulses, comprising:

• an energy storage device comprising a rechargeable battery with a capability of receiving and providing electric energy at varying voltages, said rechargeable battery being connected to a first node;
• an energy recharge source connected to the first node;
• an energy converter connected to the first node, said energy converter being capable, when activated, of converting energy of varying voltages from the first node, to a constant voltage energy output on a second node with an energy conversion efficiency that varies with voltage on the first node, and said energy converter being responsive to a voltage sensor, which is connected to the first node, to convert energy from the first node to the constant voltage energy on the second node only when the voltage sensor senses voltage on the first node at which the energy converter can convert energy with at least a desired energy conversion efficiency to the constant voltage energy output on the second node;
• and
• an energy storage capacitor connectable by a switch controller to the controlled device, the switch controller being responsive to a logic controller to connect the energy storage capacitor to the controlled device in a manner that discharges pulses of energy from the energy storage capacitor to the controlled device, said logic controller being connected to the second node and to the energy storage capacitor and being gated and actuateable to deliver energy from the second load to charge and recharge the energy storage capacitor.

A charging apparatus, comprising:

• a solar power source connected to a node, said solar power source having a capacity to produce electric energy at varying voltage and current output levels depending on available sunlight;
• a rechargeable battery connected to said node, said rechargeable battery being capable of receiving and storing electric energy from said solar power source via said node at varying voltage levels and of delivering stored electric energy to said node at varying voltage levels;
• an energy converter that has an input terminal connected to said node and an output terminal that is connectable to a load, said energy converter being actuateable in response to a first control signal to convert electric energy of varying voltage from said node to electric energy of a constant voltage level at said output terminal for powering said load, and said energy converter having varying energy conversion efficiency levels that vary as a function of the varying voltage levels at said node, there being a minimum threshold voltage level at said node that corresponds with a minimum desired energy conversion efficiency level at which the solar power source can deliver energy to the load and supply energy to the rechargeable battery;
• a voltage detector connected to said node and having a capability of providing said first control signal to said energy converter in response to detection of voltage at said node that is equal to or greater than said minimum threshold voltage level;
• and
• a load connected to said output terminal of said energy converter, said load further comprising:
• a logic controller, said logic controller being programable to deliver electric current supplied by said energy converter, and further being capable of sending a second control signal;
• a switch controller, said switch controller being capable of accepting a short period, high electrical current pulse, and further being capable of delivering said short period, high electrical current pulse to a controlled device;
• and
• an energy storage capacitor, said energy storage capacitor being capable of storing electric current delivered by said logic controller, and further being capable of receiving said second control signal from said logic controller, and upon receiving said second control signal, being capable of delivering multiple iterations of said short period, high electrical current pulse to said switch controller without a need to recharge between deliveries.

A power supply system, comprising:

• an energy recharge source connected to a node, said energy recharge source having a capacity to produce electric energy, but at varying energy output levels that can decrease to be insufficient to power a load and then increase again;
• an energy device source connected to said node, said energy device source being capable of receiving and storing electric energy from said energy recharge source via said node at varying voltage levels and of delivering stored electric energy to said node at varying voltage levels;
• an energy converter that has an input terminal connected to said node and an output terminal that is connectable to the load, said energy converter being actuateable in response to a first control signal to convert electric energy of varying voltages from said node to electric energy of a constant voltage level at said outlet terminal for powering the load, and said energy converter having varying energy conversion efficiency levels that vary as a function of the varying voltage levels at said node, there being a minimum threshold voltage level at said node that corresponds with a minimum desired energy conversion efficiency level at which the energy recharge source can deliver energy to the load and supply energy to the energy storage source to recharge the energy storage source;
• a voltage detector connected to said node and having the capability of providing said control signal to said energy converter in response to detection of voltage that is equal to or greater than said minimum threshold voltage level;
• and
• a load connected to said output terminal of said energy converter, said load further comprising:
• a logic controller, said logic controller being programable to deliver electric current supplied by said energy converter, and further being capable of sending a second control signal;
• a switch controller, said switch controller being capable of accepting a short period, high electrical current pulse, and further being capable of delivering said short period, high electrical current pulse to a controlled device;
• and
• an energy storage capacitor, said energy storage capacitor being capable of storing electric current delivered by said logic controller, and further being capable of receiving said second control signal from said logic controller, and upon receiving said second control signal, being capable of delivering multiple iterations of said short period, high electrical current pulse to said switch controller without a need to recharge between deliveries.

A method of switching short period high electrical current pulses that comprises a solar power source, a rechargeable energy storage source, a DC-DC voltage converter with its input connected at a common node to both the solar power source and the rechargeable energy storage source, and its output connected to a load comprising a logic controller, a switch controller, and an energy storage capacitor, said method comprising:

• exposing the solar power source to light energy to produce electric energy to said node while keeping said DC-DC voltage converter deactuated so that all of the electric energy produced by the solar power source flows into said rechargeable energy storage source and none of the electric energy flows to the load in order to build up voltage of said rechargeable energy storage source at said common node;
• monitoring voltage of said rechargeable energy storage source at said common node and, when the voltage of the rechargeable energy storage source rises to a minimum voltage threshold that corresponds to a minimum desired energy conversion efficiency capability of said DC-DC voltage converter, then actuating said DC-DC voltage converter to convert and deliver at least some of the electric energy available at said common node to said logic controller with said DC-DC voltage converter operating at or above said minimum desired energy conversion efficiency;
• delivering at least some of the electric energy available from said logic controller according to a programmed set of instructions to said energy storage capacitor in order to build up voltage of said energy storage capacitor;
• sending a signal from said logic controller to said energy storage capacitor triggering the release and delivery of at least some of the electric energy available from said energy storage capacitor to said switch controller utilizing the delivered electric energy from the energy storage capacitor to actuate said switch controller, which in turn, switches a controlled device from either an off to an on position or from an on to an off position;
• and
• repeating the process, whereby said logic controller sends a signal to said energy storage capacitor, triggering the release and delivery of at least some additional amount of the electric energy available from said energy storage capacitor to said switch controller, whereby said switch controller is actuated to switch said controlled device from either an off to an on position or from an on to an off position.

A method of providing power pulses to a controlled device, comprising:

• providing energy from a rechargeable battery to a DC-DC voltage converter and converting such energy to a constant voltage energy output only when the energy from the rechargeable battery is high enough for the DC-DC voltage converter to operate at or above a minimum desired energy conversion efficiency;
• charging an energy storage capacitor with energy from the DC-DC voltage converter;
• discharging energy from the energy storage capacitor in a sequence of pulses to the controlled device;
• recharging the energy storage device with energy from the DC-DC voltage converter after discharging a pulse of energy from the energy storage capacitor to the controlled device;
• and
• recharging the rechargeable battery with energy from an energy recharge source.