Granted Patent B1

US 12,640,662 · App. 19/292,678 · Granted May 26, 2026

Inventors: Samuel Redmond D'Amico (San Francisco, CA); Bradley James Tallon (Arcadia, CA); Samuel William Lenius (Palo Alto, CA); Jacob Russell Davis (Albany, CA)

Assignee: Impulse Labs, Inc.

H02M7/003H02M7/537

Abstract

Claims (55)

1 . An apparatus, comprising:

a housing having an interface portion configured to complementarily fit with an interface portion of an appliance, the appliance being of an appliance type;

a communication interface at least partially disposed in the housing and configured to be communicatively, removably coupled with the appliance;

a power interface at least partially disposed in the housing and configured to be electrically, removably coupled with the appliance;

a processor at least partially disposed in the housing and configured to (1) identify the appliance type from a plurality of appliance types in response to a communicative coupling between the communication interface and the appliance and (2) generate a control signal based on the appliance type;

an alternating-current (AC) interface at least partially disposed in the housing and configured to be electrically coupled with an AC grid;

a battery at least partially disposed in the housing; and

a multi-mode inverter at least partially disposed in the housing, the multi-mode inverter configured to receive at least one of first power output from the AC grid or second power output from the battery and send third power output to the appliance during operation of the appliance, via the power interface and based on the control signal.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of appliance types includes at least one of a stove, a refrigerator, an air conditioner, or a laundry machine.

3 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the appliance type is defined by at least one of a function of the appliance, an amount of power consumed by the appliance, an environment including the appliance, or a communicative ability of the appliance.

4 . The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:

a sensing circuit configured to detect a power outage event associated with the AC grid,

the battery configured to discharge in response to the power outage event and during operation of the appliance.

5 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:

the AC grid and the first power output each has a root mean square (RMS) voltage within a range of 110V to 240V and a frequency from any one of 50 Hz or 60 Hz.

6 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the second power output has a root mean square (RMS) voltage within a range of 110V to 130V.

7 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:

the battery is included in a plurality of batteries coupled in series and at least partially disposed within the housing,

the plurality of batteries have a 3 kilowatt hour rating.

8 . A method, comprising:

measuring, using a sensing circuit of a multi-mode inverter, a voltage of an appliance from a plurality of appliances, the multi-mode inverter being at least partially disposed in a housing, the housing with an interface portion configured to complementarily fit with an interface portion of the appliance from the plurality of appliances;

rectifying, using the multi-mode inverter and in response to the voltage being a direct-current (DC) voltage, an alternating-current (AC) input to produce a DC output;

sending, from the multi-mode inverter, the DC output to the appliance during operation of the appliance from the plurality of appliances; and

sending, from the multi-mode inverter and in response to the voltage being an AC voltage, an AC output to the appliance during operation of the appliance.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the DC output is a first DC output, the AC output is a first AC output, the AC input is from an AC grid, the method further comprising:

sending a signal, from the multi-mode inverter and via a communication bus, to a battery to cause the battery to discharge a second DC output, the battery and the communication bus each being at least partially disposed in the housing;

inverting, using the multi-mode inverter, the second DC output from the battery to produce a second AC output; and

sending, from the multi-mode inverter, the second AC output to the AC grid.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the sending the signal is in response to a measurement value satisfying a threshold value, the measurement value being a voltage of the AC grid.

11 . The method of claim 9 , wherein:

the appliance is idle during a time period; and

the sending the signal is in response to the time period surpassing a time period threshold value.

12 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the appliance is at least one of a stove, a refrigerator, an air conditioner, or a laundry machine.

13 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the DC output has a root mean square (RMS) voltage within a range of 110V to 130V.

14 . The method of claim 8 , wherein:

the AC input and the AC output each has a root mean square (RMS) voltage within a range of 110V to 240V.

15 . An apparatus, comprising:

a housing having an interface portion configured to complementarily fit with an interface portion of an appliance from a plurality of appliances, each appliance from the plurality of appliances being of an appliance type from a plurality of appliance types;

a power interface at least partially disposed in the housing and configured to be electrically, removably coupled with the appliance from the plurality of appliances;

an alternating-current (AC) interface at least partially disposed in the housing and configured to be electrically coupled with an AC grid;

a battery at least partially disposed in the housing; and

a multi-mode inverter at least partially disposed in the housing, the multi-mode inverter having at least a first mode, a second mode, and a third mode each defined at least in part by the appliance type,

the multi-mode inverter in the first mode configured to receive a first AC output from the AC grid, rectify the first AC output to produce a first DC output, and send the first DC output to the battery,

the multi-mode inverter in the second mode configured to receive a second DC output from the battery, invert the second DC output to produce a second AC output, and send the second AC output to the AC grid,

the multi-mode inverter in the third mode configured to send power output to the appliance from the plurality of appliances during operation of the appliance from the plurality of appliances, via the power interface.

16 . The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein:

the AC grid, the first AC output, and the second AC output each has a root mean square (RMS) voltage within a range of 110V to 240V and a frequency from any one of 50 Hz or 60 Hz.

17 . The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein:

the first DC output and the second DC output each has a root mean square (RMS) voltage within a range of 110V to 130V.

18 . The apparatus of claim 15 , further comprising:

a sensing circuit configured to detect a power outage event associated with the AC grid,

the battery configured to discharge power in response to the power outage event,

the multi-mode inverter being in the third mode.

19 . The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the multi-mode inverter is in at least one of the first mode or the second mode when the appliance from the plurality of appliances is idle.

20 . The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the multi-mode inverter is configured to not send power output to remaining appliances from the plurality of appliances.

Assignments (1)

References Cited (8)