Digital power supply

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10537199-B2
Application number	US-201615200759-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 1, 2016
Priority date	Jul 1, 2016
Publication date	Jan 21, 2020
Grant date	Jan 21, 2020

Abstract

Provided is an apparatus and method for a digital power supply that can provide independent power control, and control variable power, for two or more electrical loads. Disclosed embodiments may reduce the magnitude of harmonic currents and/or flicker introduced into a power system. Embodiments include a microprocessor that delivers power to electric loads using phase-controlled AC current. The microprocessor may calculate a power array corresponding to a requested power for each electric load. Logic is provided for populating the power array in a pattern that reduces the magnitude of harmonic currents and flicker.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of delivering power, comprising the steps of:
using one or more user input devices to select a first and second power setting for a first and second heating element, respectively;
electronically communicating the power settings to a microprocessor and using the microprocessor to calculate a total amount of power requested;
using the microprocessor to populate, and store in a memory, a first and second power array corresponding to the first and second heating element, respectively;
using the microprocessor to calculate a first and second phase angle array corresponding to the first and second power array;
causing the microprocessor to receive a zero crossing signal from a zero crossing detection unit; and
for a first time period, activating a first triac to deliver a phase-controlled AC wave pattern comprising phase-controlled AC wave cycles corresponding to the first phase angle array to the first heating element and delivering a phase-controlled AC wave pattern comprising phase-controlled AC wave cycles corresponding to the second phase angle array to the second heating element.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of:
for a second time period, activating a second triac to deliver a phase-controlled AC wave pattern represented by the first phase angle array to the second heating element and delivering a phase controlled AC wave pattern represented by the second phase angle array to the first heating element.

3. The method of claim 2 ; wherein each power array contains four cells.

4. The method of claim 3 ; wherein the step of using the microprocessor to populate a first and second power array further comprises the steps of:
populating a first cell of the first power array with the same value as a third cell of the first power array;
populating a second cell of the first power array with the same value as a fourth cell of the first power array;
populating a first cell of the second power array with the same value as a third cell of the second power array; and
populating a second cell of the second power array with the same value as a fourth cell of the second power array.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein each cell of each power array represents a power percentage and ranges from 0≤x≤1.0.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein every alternate cell in the first power array is populated with a “0” or a “1”.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein every alternate cell in the second power array is populated with a “0” or a “1”.

8. The method of claim 5 , wherein the first and second phase angle arrays are calculated using the microprocessor to apply the equation angle=arccos(2x−1) to the first and second power array, respectively.

9. The method of claim 5 , where in the first time period is calculated as a ratio of the first power setting to the total amount of power requested and the second time period is calculated as a ratio of the second power setting to the total amount of power requested.

10. The method of claim 5 , wherein the step of delivering power further comprises the step of activating a triac connected to the heating element.

Assignees

• Knappenberger Eric
• Zuleta Julio C
• Lerch Matthew
• Emmerich Jeffery C
• Weber Stephen Products Llc

Inventors

• Knappenberger Eric
• Zuleta Julio C
• Lerch Matthew
• Emmerich Jeffery C

Classifications

• A47J27/62 Primary

  by devices for automatically controlling the heat supply by switching off heaters or for automatically lifting the cooking-vessels · CPC title

• A47J37/0629

  with electric heating elements · CPC title

• H05B1/0261 Primary

  of food · CPC title

• A47J37/0676

  electrically heated · CPC title

• A47J37/0709

  with electric heating elements · CPC title