System for mitigating voltage disturbances and interruptions for power distribution applications

Claim 1

A system for mitigating disturbances and interruptions in unregulated, disturbance-prone electrical input power for energizing a load coupled to an output terminal, comprising: (a) a plurality of back-up energy modules, each back-up energy module comprising a DC energy source operatively coupled to a charging circuit and a DC-AC inverter; (b) a first electronically controllable switch for conducting current from an input terminal to the load coupled to the output terminal; (c) a second electronically controllable switch operatively coupled to the back-up energy module for conducting current from the back-up energy module to the load; and (d) a system control module operatively coupled to the first and second switches and to the back-up energy module, wherein the system control module controls the operation of the first and second switches and the back-up energy module, whereby current is deliverable from the input terminal to the load during normal operations and from the back-up energy module to the load during an occurrence of an interruption or disturbance of a short duration in the unregulated input power; wherein the first electronically controllable switch comprises a normally open switching device and a normally closed switching device (S 2 A) coupled in parallel to the normally open switching device.

Claim 2

A system for mitigating disturbances and interruptions in unregulated, disturbance-prone electrical input power for energizing a load coupled to an output terminal, comprising: (a) a plurality of back-up energy modules, each back-up energy module comprising a DC energy source operatively coupled to a charging circuit and a DC-AC inverter; (b) a first electronically controllable switch for conducting current from an input terminal to the load coupled to the output terminal; (c) a second electronically controllable switch operatively coupled to the back-up energy module for conducting current from the back-up energy module to the load; and (d) a system control module operatively coupled to the first and second switches and to the back-up energy module, wherein the system control module controls the operation of the first and second switches and the back-up energy module, whereby current is deliverable from the input terminal to the load during normal operations and from the back-up energy module to the load during an occurrence of an interruption or disturbance of a short duration in the unregulated input power; wherein the first electronically controllable switch comprises a normally open switching device and a normally closed switching device (S 2 A) coupled in parallel to the normally open switching device.

Claim 12

A system for mitigating disturbances and interruptions in unregulated, disturbance-prone electrical input power for energizing a load coupled to an output terminal, comprising: (a) a back-up energy module comprising a DC energy source operatively coupled to a charging circuit and a DC-AC inverter; (b) a first electronically controllable switch for conducting current from an input terminal to the load coupled to the output terminal; (c) a second electronically controllable switch operatively coupled to the back-up energy modules for conducting current from the back-up energy module to the load; and (d) a system control module operatively coupled to the first and second switches and to the back-up energy modules, wherein the system control module controls the operation of the first and second switches and the back-up energy modules, whereby current is deliverable from the input terminal to the load during normal operations and from the back-up energy modules to the load during an occurrence of an interruption or disturbance of a short duration in the unregulated input power; wherein the first electronically controllable switch comprises a normally open switch device and a normally closed switching device coupled in parallel to the normally open switching device.

Claim 13

A system for mitigating disturbances and interruptions in unregulated, disturbance-prone electrical input power for energizing a load coupled to an output terminal, comprising: (a) a back-up energy module comprising a DC energy source operatively coupled to a charging circuit and a DC-AC inverter; (b) a first electronically controllable switch for conducting current from an input terminal to the load coupled to the output terminal; (c) a second electronically controllable switch operatively coupled to the back-up energy modules for conducting current from the back-up energy module to the load; and (d) a system control module operatively coupled to the first and second switches and to the back-up energy modules, wherein the system control module controls the operation of the first and second switches and the back-up energy modules, whereby current is deliverable from the input terminal to the load during normal operations and from the back-up energy modules to the load during an occurrence of an interruption or disturbance of a short duration in the unregulated input power; wherein the first electronically controllable switch comprises a normally open switch device and a normally closed switching device coupled in parallel to the normally open switching device.

Claim 14

A system for mitigating disturbances and interruptions in unregulated, disturbance-prone electrical input power for energizing a load coupled to an output terminal, comprising: (a) a back-up energy module comprising a DC energy source operatively coupled to a charging circuit and a DC-AC inverter; (b) a first electronically controllable switch for conducting current from an input terminal to the load coupled to the output terminal; (c) a second electronically controllable switch operatively coupled to the back-up energy module for conducting current from the back-up energy module to the load; (d) a system control module operatively coupled to the first and second switches and to the back-up energy module, wherein the system control module controls the operation of the first and second switches and the back-up energy module, whereby current is deliverable from the input terminal to the load during normal operations and from the back-up energy module to the load during an occurrence of an interruption or disturbance of a short duration in the unregulated input power; and a first transformer coupling the first switch to the input terminal.

Claim 15

A system for mitigating disturbances and interruptions in unregulated, disturbance-prone electrical input power for energizing a load coupled to an output terminal, comprising: (a) a back-up energy module comprising a DC energy source operatively coupled to a charging circuit and a DC-AC inverter; (b) a first electronically controllable switch for conducting current from an input terminal to the load coupled to the output terminal; (c) a second electronically controllable switch operatively coupled to the back-up energy module for conducting current from the back-up energy module to the load; (d) a system control module operatively coupled to the first and second switches and to the back-up energy module, wherein the system control module controls the operation of the first and second switches and the back-up energy module, whereby current is deliverable from the input terminal to the load during normal operations and from the back-up energy module to the load during an occurrence of an interruption or disturbance of a short duration in the unregulated input power; and a first transformer coupling the first switch to the input terminal.

Claim 17

A system for mitigating disturbances and interruptions in unregulated, disturbance-prone electrical input power for energizing a load coupled to an output terminal, comprising: (a) a back-up energy module comprising a DC energy source operatively coupled to a charging circuit and a DC-AC inverter; (b) a first electronically controllable switch for conducting current from an input terminal to the load coupled to the output terminal; (c) a second electronically controllable switch operatively coupled to the back-up energy module for conducting current from the back-up energy module to the load; and (d) a system control module operatively coupled to the first and second switches and to the back-up energy module, wherein the system control module controls the operation of the first and second switches and the back-up energy module, whereby current is deliverable from the input terminal to the load during normal operations and from the back-up energy module to the load during an occurrence of an interruption or disturbance of a short duration in the unregulated input power; wherein: the DC energy source comprises at least one DC bus capacitor; the charging circuit comprises a rectifier circuit; the DC-AC inverter comprises a pulse width modulation (PWM) inverter circuit; the first electronically controllable switch comprises a combination of gate commutable devices, including a normally open switching device and a normally closed switching device coupled in parallel to the normally open switching device; and further comprising a vacuum circuit breaker operatively coupled between the input and output terminals, a first transformer coupling the first switch to the input terminal and a second transformer coupling the first switch to the output terminal.

Claim 18

A system for mitigating disturbances and interruptions in unregulated, disturbance-prone electrical input power for energizing a load coupled to an output terminal, comprising: (a) a back-up energy module comprising a DC energy source operatively coupled to a charging circuit and a DC-AC inverter; (b) a first electronically controllable switch for conducting current from an input terminal to the load coupled to the output terminal; (c) a second electronically controllable switch operatively coupled to the back-up energy module for conducting current from the back-up energy module to the load; and (d) a system control module operatively coupled to the first and second switches and to the back-up energy module, wherein the system control module controls the operation of the first and second switches and the back-up energy module, whereby current is deliverable from the input terminal to the load during normal operations and from the back-up energy module to the load during an occurrence of an interruption or disturbance of a short duration in the unregulated input power; wherein: the DC energy source comprises at least one DC bus capacitor; the charging circuit comprises a rectifier circuit; the DC-AC inverter comprises a pulse width modulation (PWM) inverter circuit; the first electronically controllable switch comprises a combination of gate commutable devices, including a normally open switching device and a normally closed switching device coupled in parallel to the normally open switching device; and further comprising a vacuum circuit breaker operatively coupled between the input and output terminals, a first transformer coupling the first switch to the input terminal and a second transformer coupling the first switch to the output terminal.