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US 7,142,997 B1Granted
Automatic power factor corrector
AssigneeTripac Systems, Inc.
InventorEdward D. Widner
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A computer controlled solid-state switching power factor corrector, which senses the phase angle of each phase of the current as well as the voltage and automatically aligns the current phase angle to the voltage phase angle. This power factor correction is designed to update at the frequency of the power line and to provide a large number of discrete steps of correction.
Claims19
A system for power factor correction, comprising:
- (A) a first sensor receiving an AC power line and producing a sensor output;
- (B) a controller receiving said sensor output and producing a current component waveform representing the phase angle of a current component and a voltage component waveform representing the phase angle of a voltage component;
- (C) a computer receiving said current component waveform and said voltage component waveform, said computer comparing said current component waveform and said voltage component waveform and producing a first control signal corresponding to a selection of one or more sets of capacitors to be switched so as to receive said AC power line and to output an AC output power signal to a load wherein the phase angle of the voltage is generally aligned with the phase angle of the current;
- (D) a first switch receiving said control signal from said computer and producing a first set of one or more selection signals corresponding to said selection of said one or more sets of capacitors to be switched so as to receive said AC power line and to output said AC output power signal;
- and
- (E) a first bank of said one or more sets of capacitors, receiving said AC power line and said first set of one or more selection signals and producing said AC output power signal wherein the phase angle of the voltage is generally aligned with the phase angle of the current.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.