Patent Application

App. No. 11/552,068

Abstract

Claims (57)

1 . An electrode power supply for an electrochemical ion exchange cell having an ion exchange membrane between a pair of electrodes, the electrode power supply comprising:

a zero crossing detector to detect zero-crossing events in an AC voltage and produce an indication related to the zero-crossing events,

a voltage selector to receive the AC voltage and selectively couple the AC voltage to a voltage supply such that the selective coupling is enabled based on the indication of the zero-crossing events; and

the voltage supply to receive the selectively coupled AC voltage and generate an output voltage.

2 . The electrode power supply of claim 1 wherein the voltage supply rectifies the AC voltage to produce the output voltage.

3 . The electrode power supply of claim 2 wherein the output voltage comprises an AC component and a non-zero DC component.

4 . The electrode power supply of claim 1 further comprising a pair of output terminals, and wherein the output voltage is provided between the output terminals when the voltage selector couples the AC voltage to the voltage supply.

5 . The electrode power supply of claim 1 further comprising a pair of output terminals, and wherein one of the output terminals is electrically connected to ground and the other output terminal receives an output voltage from the voltage supply.

6 . The electrode power supply of claim 4 wherein when the voltage selector does not couple the AC voltage to the voltage supply, the voltage at each output terminal comprises at least one of:

(i) a substantially zero voltage with respect to ground; or

(ii) a non-zero floating voltage with respect to ground.

7 . The electrode power supply of claim 1 wherein the voltage selector couples the AC voltage to the voltage supply in response to a received control input.

8 . The electrode power supply of claim 1 wherein the selective coupling of the voltage selector is enabled based on a comparison of a voltage level of an indication signal, produced by the zero-crossing detector, with a predetermined voltage level.

9 . The electrode power supply of claim 8 wherein the indication signal comprises one of:

(a) a relatively high voltage level when there is no zero-crossing event in the AC voltage and a relatively low voltage level when there is a zero-crossing event in the AC voltage, or

(b) a relatively low voltage level when there is no zero-crossing event in the AC voltage and a relatively high voltage level when there is a zero-crossing event in the AC voltage.

10 . The electrode power supply of claim 1 wherein at least one of:

(a) the electrode power supply comprises an output terminal, and when the AC voltage is coupled to the voltage supply, the output voltage produced from the AC voltage is supplied between the output terminal and a ground; or

(b) the electrode power supply comprises a pair of output terminals, and when the AC voltage is coupled to the voltage supply, the output voltage produced from the AC voltage is supplied between the pair of output terminals.

11 . The electrode power supply of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of output terminals and a polarity selector to select the polarity of the output voltage.

12 . The electrode power supply of claim 11 wherein the polarity selector selects the polarity of the output voltage in response to a received polarity control input.

13 . The electrode power supply of claim 1 wherein the electrode power supply does not include;

(i) a capacitor; or

(ii) a transformer.

14 . An electrode power supply for an electrochemical ion exchange cell having an ion exchange membrane between a pair of electrodes, the electrode power supply comprising:

a relay to receive an AC voltage and selectively couple the AC voltage to a diode-bridge full-wave rectifier;

the diode-bridge full-wave rectifier to produce a full-wave rectified voltage from the AC voltage;

a zero crossing detector to detect zero-crossing events in the AC voltage and produce an indication related to the zero-crossing events; and

an output terminal,

wherein the relay receives a control input signal to control the selective coupling of the AC voltage to the diode-bridge full-wave rectifier, and wherein the relay is enabled to perform the selective coupling based at least in part on the indication.

15 . The electrode power supply of claim 14 wherein the diode-bridge full wave rectifier has an output that is electrically connected to an output terminal of the electrode power supply when the electrode power supply is in the on state.

16 . The electrode power supply of claim 14 wherein at least one of:

the relay is a single-pole single-throw relay, or

the relay is a double-pole single-throw relay.

17 . The electrode power supply of claim 14 wherein the zero-crossing detector comprises a transistor and a diode.

18 . The electrode power supply of claim 14 wherein the zero-crossing detector is integrated with the relay into a single discrete component.

19 . The electrode power supply of claim 14 wherein the zero-crossing detector and the relay are configured to be capable of being connected to a microcontroller, the zero-crossing detector being configured to provide an indication signal in a format usable by the microcontroller, and the relay being configured to receive the control input signal from the microcontroller.

20 . The electrode power supply of claim 19 comprising the microcontroller.

21 . The electrode power supply of claim 20 wherein the microcontroller generates the control input signal based on the indication signal received from the zero-crossing detector and at least one of: an input received from a user, or data stored in a memory accessible by the microcontroller.

22 . An ion exchange apparatus comprising:

(a) an electrochemical ion exchange cell comprising a fluid channel having an inlet and an outlet, a pair of electrodes, and a water-splitting ion exchange membrane about the fluid channel and between the electrodes; and

(b) an electrode power supply comprising:

(i) a relay to receive an AC voltage and selectively couple the AC voltage to a diode-bridge full-wave rectifier;

(ii) the diode-bridge full-wave rectifier to produce a full-wave rectified voltage from the AC voltage;

(iii) a zero crossing detector to detect zero-crossing events in the AC voltage and produce an indication related to the zero-crossing events; and

(iv) a pair of output terminals,

wherein the relay receives a control input signal to selectively couple the AC voltage to the diode-bridge full-wave rectifier, and the relay is enabled to perform the selective coupling at least in part based on the indication; and

(c) a polarity selector to select a polarity of the full-wave rectified voltage produced between the output terminals of the electrode power supply.

23 . The ion exchange apparatus of claim 22 wherein the polarity selector is capable of switching the polarity of the voltage provided between the output terminals of the power supply.

24 . The ion exchange apparatus of claim 22 comprising two of the electrochemical ion exchange cells wherein the electrode power supply is a deionization electrode power supply and the ion exchange apparatus further comprises a regeneration electrode power supply.

25 . The ion exchange apparatus of claim 24 wherein the polarity selector selectively couples:

the output voltage of the first electrode power supply to regenerate one of the two electrochemical ion exchange cells, and

the output voltage of the second electrode power supply to enable deionization within the second electrochemical ion exchange cell.

26 . The ion exchange apparatus of claim 24 wherein the regeneration power supply comprises:

a) a DC voltage supply capable of producing a DC voltage having selectable voltage levels from the AC voltage;

b) a current detector to detect the current level of the DC voltage at a second output terminal; and

c) a voltage selector to select the voltage level of the DC voltage in relation to the detected current level.

Assignments (13)