Supply voltage auto-sensing
AssigneeSolarBridge Technologies, Inc.
InventorPatrick L. Chapman
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Processes, machines, and articles of manufacture that may serve to enable the detection or determination of alternating line voltages from an alternating power source, such as the power grid, are provided. This automatic sensing may be useful when connections are made to the power grid, such that when connections are made, the connections may be configured to be compatible with the available power source. This automatic sensing may also be useful if power sources change characteristics over time or if devices may be connected to different power sources over time.
Claims22
A method of detecting single or multiphase voltage, the method comprising:
- in a circuit, determining an RMS value of an alternating voltage on a first line and designating this RMS value as a first line RMS value;
- in a circuit, determining an RMS value of an alternating voltage on a second line and designating this RMS value as a second line RMS value;
- in a circuit, determining the product of alternating voltage samples from the first line and the second line, determine the square root of an RMS value of this product, and designate this product as a product RMS value;
- in a circuit, comparing the product RMS value with the first line RMS value and the second line RMS value;
- and
- based on the comparison of values, designating the first line and the second line as carrying a split-phase voltage or a multiphase voltage.
A voltage supply auto-sensor comprising:
- a comparator circuit having three inputs,
- the first input receiving an RMS value of a measured alternating voltage for a first voltage signal, the first voltage signal representing voltage measured from a first line of a power grid,
- the second input receiving an RMS value of a measured alternating voltage for a second voltage signal, the second voltage signal representing voltage measured from a second line of the power grid,
- the third input receiving a a square root of a product of the RMS values of the measured alternating voltages received at the first input and the second input;
- and
- a voltage selection circuit in communication with the comparator circuit, the voltage selection circuit receiving an output from the comparator circuit, the output including an indicator as to whether measurement received at the third input is greater than or less than the average of the measurements received at the first input and the second input,
- the voltage selection circuit configured to output an indicator designating the alternating line voltage of the power grid.
A method of auto-sensing alternating power grid line voltage, the method comprising:
- in a circuit, determining the root mean square average of an alternating voltage on a first power line;
- in a circuit, determining the root mean square average of an alternating voltage on a second power line, the first line and the second line receiving power from the same power supply grid;
- in a circuit, calculating the square root of the product of the determined root mean square of the first power line and the second power line;
- and
- in a circuit, ascertaining whether the average of the determined root mean square of the first power line and the second power line is greater than or less than the calculated square root of the product, and subsequently assigning a grid classification to the power of the first power line and the second power line.
An inverter comprising:
- a root mean square measuring unit (RMSMU), the RMSMU including a first line voltage input and a second line voltage input,
- the RMSMU including at least one Root Mean Square (RMS) calculator circuit, and
- the RMSMU including at least one RMS multiplier circuit, the RMS multiplier circuit configured to output the square root of the multiplied product of the RMS of the voltage on the first line voltage input and RMS of the voltage on the second line voltage input;
- and
- a voltage supply auto-sensor (VSAS), the voltage supply auto sensor in communication with the root mean square measuring unit,
- the VSAS further comprising an RMS line-voltage comparator circuit and a voltage selection circuit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.