Date: Dec 05, 2012 Source: (
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2012 DEC 5 (VerticalNews) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Journal of Engineering -- From Washington, D.C., VerticalNews journalists report that a patent application by the inventors Stanczak, Mark Stanley (Sterling Heights, MI); Smutek, Louis Stephen (Livonia, MI); Brown, Alan Wayne (Canton, MI); Backus, David Allen (Berkley, MI), filed on December 23, 2011, was cleared for further review on November 22, 2012.
The patent's assignee for patent serial number 374374 is Global Embedded Technologies, Inc.
News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: "Traditional techniques for providing power switching functionality to generate configurable power signals and to deliver power during fault conditions, while functional, do not readily facilitate the effective power distribution, especially in vehicles. Further, conventional power switching devices generally are not well suited to provide for safety mechanisms (e.g., resolving extreme short circuit conditions).
"It would be desirable to provide computer-readable media, methods, systems and power controlling apparatuses for reducing the drawbacks commonly associated with provisioning power, and to further provide techniques, for example, to do so during various fault conditions."
As a supplement to the background information on this patent application, VerticalNews correspondents also obtained the inventors' summary information for this patent: "A computer-readable medium, a method, a system and a power controlling apparatus are disclosed to, among other things, apply and distribute power in vehicles. According to the various embodiments, a power-controlling apparatus can be configured to control power to an entity consuming power or from an entity producing power as a function of time, sensed parameter, or type of fault. Thus, a power-controlling apparatus can operate as a 'power router' to distribute power among a network of power sources and loads, and to redistribute power depending on a mode of operation and/or a fault condition. In one embodiment, a Power Control Unit ('PCU') is configured to operate as a 'power router.' In some examples, a power control unit can deliver at least 250 Amps (e.g., continuously) in one channel operation, and in two channel operation, at least 125 Amps per channel. In some embodiments, the PCU can operate, for example, from 5 Volts to 55 Volts. In various embodiments, the PCU can implement one or more of the following: configurable (e.g., over network like CAN) short circuit detection, configurable subtle over current detection, configurable extreme over voltage/under voltage detection, configurable, subtle over voltage /under voltage detection, configurable extreme over temperature, configurable subtle over temperature detection, configurable Pulse Width Modulation (PWM)-based waveforms, configurable PWM ramp-up/ramp-down of signals, configurable PWM continuous (or nearly so) waveform generation, programmability over a network (such as CAN), reporting of Voltage, Current, Temperature, and the like over a communication network, a network status detection for both network dependent operating modes and robust stand-alone operation. For example, a PCU can distinguish an over current condition from allowed high current conditions through an advanced and configurable fault maturing algorithm, according to one embodiment. In another embodiment, the PCU can respond to over current, over voltage, and under voltage conditions within, for example, 4 milliseconds. In another embodiment, a PCU can be used to control the power contribution from various power sources and/or various energy storage devices that collectively or individually can supply power to a power bus."
For additional information on this patent application, see: Stanczak, Mark Stanley; Smutek, Louis Stephen; Brown, Alan Wayne; Backus, David Allen. Method, a System, a Computer-Readable Medium, and a Power Controlling Apparatus for Applying and Distributing Power. U.S. Patent Serial Number 374374, filed December 23, 2011, and posted November 22, 2012. Patent URL: http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-adv.html&r=1031&p=21&f=G&l=50&d=PG01&S1=20121115.PD.&OS=PD/20121115&RS=PD/20121115
