Battery-powered high-voltage converter circuit with electrical isolation and mechanism for charging the battery

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9739479-B2
Application number	US-201414775887-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 27, 2014
Priority date	Mar 28, 2013
Publication date	Aug 22, 2017
Grant date	Aug 22, 2017

Abstract

A burner system includes a fuel nozzle, an electrode configured to apply electrical energy to a combustion reaction supported by the fuel nozzle, a high-voltage converter configured to receive electrical energy from a low-voltage power supply and to provide high-voltage power to the electrode, a battery charger, and a switch module coupled to the battery charger, the converter, and first and second batteries. The switch module is selectively switchable between first and second conditions. In the first condition, the first battery is coupled to the battery charger and decoupled from the high-voltage converter, while the second battery is coupled to the high-voltage converter and decoupled from the battery charger. In the second condition, the first battery is coupled to the high-voltage converter and decoupled from the battery charger, while the second battery is coupled to the battery charger and decoupled from the converter.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A burner system, comprising:
a fuel nozzle configured to emit a fuel jet in a combustion process;
an electrode positioned and configured to apply electrical energy to a combustion reaction supported by the fuel jet;
a high-voltage converter having an input terminal and an output terminal, the output terminal being coupled to the electrode, the high-voltage converter being configured to receive electrical energy from a low-voltage power supply at the input terminal and to supply a high-voltage potential at the output terminal;
a battery charger having a charging terminal; and
a switch module having a first terminal coupled to a first battery connector configured to be coupled to battery terminals of a first battery, a second terminal coupled to the charging terminal of the battery charger, and a third terminal coupled to the input terminal of the high-voltage converter, the switch module being selectively switchable between a first condition, in which the first terminal is coupled to the second terminal and decoupled from the third terminal, and a second condition, in which the first terminal is coupled to the third terminal and decoupled from the second terminal, the switch module being configured such that while switching between the first and second conditions, the first terminal is decoupled from the one of the second and third terminals before being connected to the other of the second and third terminals.

2. The burner system of claim 1 , wherein the switch module includes a fourth terminal coupled to a second battery connector configured to be coupled to battery terminals of a second battery, and wherein, when the switch module is in the first condition, the fourth terminal is coupled to the third terminal and decoupled from the second terminal, and when the switch module is in the second condition, the fourth terminal is coupled to the second terminal and decoupled from the third terminal, the switch module being configured such that while switching between the first and second conditions, the fourth terminal is decoupled from the one of the second and third terminals before being connected to the other of the second and third terminals.

3. The burner system of claim 2 , comprising a control module configured to control operation of the switch module according to relative amounts of available stored energy in first and second batteries coupled to the first and fourth battery connectors.

4. The burner system of claim 3 , wherein the control module is configured to control the switch module to switch from the first condition to the second condition while the amount of available stored energy in the first battery is at least equal to a first threshold and the amount of available stored energy in the second battery is at least equal to a second threshold, lower than the first threshold, and to control the switch module to switch from the second condition to the first condition while the amount of available stored energy in the second battery is at least equal to the first threshold and the amount of available stored energy in the first battery is at least equal to the second threshold.

5. The burner system of claim 4 , wherein the control module is configured to control the switch module to switch from the first condition to the second condition at a substantially randomly or pseudo-randomly selected moment after the amount of available stored energy in the first battery has increased to the first threshold and before the amount of available stored energy in the second battery has dropped below the second threshold.

6. The burner system of claim 4 , wherein the control module is configured to control the switch module to switch from the first condition to the second condition while the amount of available stored energy in the first battery is in a range between the first threshold and a maximum amount of available stored energy.

7. The burner system of claim 4 , wherein the control module is configured to control the switch module to switch from the first condition to the second condition while the amount of available stored energy in the second battery is in a range between the maximum amount of available stored energy and the second threshold.

8. The burner system of claim 4 , wherein the control module is configured to control the switch module to switch from the first condition to the second condition at a moment when the amount of available stored energy in the second battery is different from the amounts of available stored energy in the second battery at an immediately prior changing of the switch module from the first condition to the second condition.

9. The burner system of claim 3 , wherein the control module is configured to determine the amount of available stored energy in each of the first and second batteries based on a voltage potential across positive and negative battery terminals of the respective battery.

10. The burner system of claim 9 , wherein the control module is electrically isolated from the input terminal of the high-voltage converter.

11. The burner system of claim 3 , wherein the control module is configured to control operation of the high-voltage converter.

12. The burner system of claim 11 , wherein the control module is electrically isolated from the high-voltage converter.

13. The burner system of claim 2 wherein:
the first battery connector includes first and second conductors, the first conductor being configured to be coupled to a positive battery terminal of the first battery and the second conductor being configured to be coupled to a negative battery terminal of the first battery;
while the switch module is in the first condition, the first conductor of the first battery connector is electrically coupled to a first conductor of the second terminal and the second conductor of the first battery connector is electrically coupled to a second conductor of the second terminal; and
while the switch module is in the second condition, the first conductor of the first battery connector is electrically coupled to a first conductor of the third terminal and the second conductor of the first battery connector is electrically coupled to a second conductor of the third terminal.

14. The burner system of claim 2 wherein:
the switch module is configured such that while switching from the first condition to the second condition, the fourth terminal is coupled to the second terminal before the first terminal is decoupled from the second terminal, and while switching from the second condition to the first condition, the first terminal is coupled to the second terminal before the fourth terminal is decoupled from the second terminal.

Assignees

• Clearsign Comb Corp

Inventors

• Krichtafovitch Igor A
• Colannino Joseph
• Wiklof Christopher A

Classifications

• F23N2223/30

  Switches · CPC title

• F23N2227/36

  Spark ignition, e.g. by means of a high voltage · CPC title

• F23N2231/12

  for ignition failures · CPC title

• F23D2207/00

  Ignition devices associated with burner · CPC title

• F23Q3/00 Primary

  Igniters using electrically-produced sparks (sparking-plugs H01T13/00) · CPC title