# US 2020/0401168 A1 · Electric power converter

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- Number: US 2020/0401168 A1
- Document ID: US20200401168A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 16/901,246
- Filed: 2020-06-15
- Published: 2020-12-24
- Earliest claimed: 2019-06-19
- Assignees: Infineon Technologies Austria AG
- Applicants: Infineon Technologies Austria AG
- Inventors: Salman Nazir; Benjamin L. Schwabe
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20200401168A1

## CPC

- G06F 1/28: Supervision thereof, e.g. detecting power-supply failure by out of limits supervision
- G05F 1/46: wherein the variable actually regulated by the final control device is DC (G05F1/625 takes precedence)
- G06F 1/305: {in the event of power-supply fluctuations}
- H02M 3/00: Conversion of DC power input into DC power output
- H02M 3/156: with automatic control of output voltage or current, e.g. switching regulators
- G05B 13/0265: {the criterion being a learning criterion}
- G06F 1/26: Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof (for memories G11C)
- H02M 1/0003: {Details of control, feedback or regulation circuits}
- H02M 1/36: Means for starting or stopping converters
- H02M 3/1566: {with means for compensating against rapid load changes, e.g. with auxiliary current source, with dual mode control or with inductance variation}
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)
- G05F: SYSTEMS FOR REGULATING ELECTRIC OR MAGNETIC VARIABLES
- H02M: APPARATUS FOR CONVERSION BETWEEN AC AND AC, BETWEEN AC AND DC, OR BETWEEN DC AND DC, AND FOR USE WITH MAINS OR SIMILAR POWER SUPPLY SYSTEMS; CONVERSION OF DC OR AC INPUT POWER INTO SURGE OUTPUT POWER; CONTROL OR REGULATION THEREOF (transformers H01F; dynamo-electric converters H02K47/00; controlling transformers, reactors or choke coils, control or regulation of electric motors, generators or dynamo-electric converters H02P)
- G05B: CONTROL OR REGULATING SYSTEMS IN GENERAL; FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF SUCH SYSTEMS; MONITORING OR TESTING ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUCH SYSTEMS OR ELEMENTS (systems for controlling or regulating non-electric variables G05D; systems for regulating electric or magnetic variables G05F; control devices or systems insofar as characterised by mechanical features only G05G)

## Abstract

An electric switch-mode power converter comprises: a parameter predictor for predicting and updating at least one regulator parameter of a regulator controlling a switching device of the converter, a performance feedback signal generator for providing a performance feedback signal indicative of a performance of the conversion operation, wherein the parameter predictor is configured to predict an update of the regulator parameter based on the performance feedback signal and during update intervals, the intervals being during the power conversion operation and being separated by pauses without update.

## Claims

### Claim 1

An electric power converter for converting input quantities, namely an input voltage Vin and an input current Iin, into converted output quantities, namely a converted output voltage Vout and a converted output current Iout, the electric power converter comprising:
an input terminal for receiving the input quantities;
an output terminal for outputting the converted output quantities;
a switching device to be switched for a conversion operation of the electric power converter, the switching device having a control terminal;
a regulator connected to the control terminal, the regulator controlling the switching device based on at least one regulator parameter;
a parameter predictor operative to carry out a prediction of the at least one regulator parameter and updating the at least one regulator parameter of the regulator based on the prediction;
a performance feedback signal generator connected to the output terminal of the electric power converter, the performance feedback signal generator operable to produce a performance feedback signal indicative of a performance of the conversion operation; and
the parameter predictor operative to predict and update the at least one regulator parameter based on the performance feedback signal during update intervals, the update intervals taking place during the power conversion operation and being separated by pauses during which no update of the at least one regulator parameter is carried out.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The electric power converter of claim 1 further comprising:
a deviation detector connected to the output terminal of the electric power converter, the deviation detector operative to determine a deviation between a current signal of at least one of the output quantities and a desired output signal of the respective one of the output quantities;
wherein the parameter predictor is operative to, in at least one mode of operation of the electric power converter, trigger an update interval for updating the at least one regulator parameter in response to the determined deviation exceeding a predetermined threshold.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The electric power converter of claim 2, wherein the desired output signal corresponds to an optimal output signal defined for a load scenario selected from among a plurality of predefined load scenarios.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The electric power converter of claim 3, wherein the selection of the load scenario from the plurality of predefined load scenarios is performed using a comparison of current load conditions of the electric power converter with the plurality of predefined load scenarios.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The electric power converter of claim 1, wherein the performance feedback signal generator is operable to output the performance feedback signal as a function of a difference between a current signal of at least one of the output quantities and a desired signal of the respective one of the output quantities, wherein the desired signal corresponds to an optimal signal of the respective one of the output quantities defined for a load scenario selected from among a plurality of predefined load scenarios.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The electric power converter of claim 1, wherein the parameter predictor is operable to update the at least one regulator parameter to at least one regulator parameter value associated to a load scenario selected from among a plurality of predefined load scenarios.

### Claim 7 (depends on 3)

The electric power converter of claim 3 further comprising:
a signal analyzer operable to compare current load conditions of the electric power converter with the predefined load scenarios and to inhibit an update of the at least one regulator parameter in response to detecting that a load scenario within a predetermined threshold metric from the current load conditions cannot be found among the plurality of load scenarios.

### Claim 8 (depends on 4)

The electric power converter of claim 4 further comprising: a trained neural network NN operable to compare the current load conditions of the electric power converter with the predefined load scenarios.

### Claim 9 (depends on 5)

The electric power converter of claim 5 further comprising: a trained neural network NN operable to provide a quantification of the difference between the current signal and the desired signal of the respective one of the output quantities.

### Claim 10 (depends on 2)

The electric power converter of claim 2, wherein the deviation detector comprises a trained neural network NN operable to determine the deviations between the current signal and the desired signal of the respective one of the output quantities.

### Claim 11 (depends on 4)

The electric power converter of claim 4, wherein the current load conditions for the comparison with the predefined load scenarios comprise load condition data of at least one of the output quantities of the electric power converter within a current time period and wherein more recent data in said load condition data are weighed higher in the comparison than less recent data in said load condition data.

### Claim 12 (depends on 1)

The electric power converter of claim 1, wherein the parameter predictor has a temperature input terminal to receive a temperature input signal and is operable to update the at least one regulator parameter in response to the temperature input signal at the temperature input terminal.

### Claim 13 (depends on 1)

The electric power converter of claim 1, wherein the parameter predictor is operable to update the at least one regulator parameter by one of the following methods:
a Monte Carlo method, Q-learning, SARSA, Q-learning-lambda, SARSA-lambda, DQN, DDPG, A3C, NAF, TRPO, PPO.

### Claim 14

A method of operating an electric power converter for converting input quantities, namely an input voltage Vin and an input current Iin, into converted output quantities, namely a converted output voltage Vout and a converted output current Iout, the method comprising:
receiving the input quantities;
outputting the converted output quantities;
switching a switching device for a conversion operation of the electric power converter;
controlling the switching device by a regulator based on at least one regulator parameter;
via a parameter predictor, predicting the at least one regulator parameter and updating the at least one regulator parameter of the regulator based on the prediction, providing a performance feedback signal indicative of a performance of the conversion operation;
predicting and updating the at least one regulator parameter based on the performance feedback signal during update intervals; and
the update intervals taking place during the power conversion operation and being separated by pauses during which no update of the at least one regulator parameter is carried out.

### Claim 15 (depends on 14)

The method of claim 14, wherein the pauses separating the update intervals are at least one hour in duration.

### Claim 16 (depends on 14)

The method of claim 14 further comprising:
determining a deviation between a current signal of at least one of the output quantities and a desired output signal of the respective one of the output quantities; and
triggering an update interval for updating the at least one regulator parameter in response to the determined deviation exceeding a predetermined threshold.

### Claim 17 (depends on 16)

The method of claim 16, wherein the desired output signal corresponds to an optimal output signal defined for a load scenario selected from among a plurality of predefined load scenarios.

### Claim 18 (depends on 17)

The method of claim 17, wherein the selection from the plurality of predefined load scenarios is performed using a comparison of current load conditions of the power converter with the predefined load scenarios.

### Claim 19 (depends on 14)

The method of claim 14 further comprising:
generating the performance feedback signal as a function of a quantification of a difference between a current signal of at least one of the output quantities and a desired signal of the respective one of the output quantities, wherein the desired signal corresponds to an optimal signal of the respective one of the output quantities defined for a load scenario selected from among a plurality of predefined load scenarios.

### Claim 20 (depends on 14)

The method as in claim 14 further comprising:
updating the at least one regulator parameter to at least one regulator parameter value associated to a load scenario selected from among a plurality of predefined load scenarios.