Precharge device applied in flying capacitor type multi-level converter circuit and frequency converter having the precharge device

This application is based upon and claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 201611021065. X filed on Nov. 8, 2016, the entire contents thereof are incorporated herein by reference.

The present disclosure generally relates to field of electronic power technology, and more particularly, to a precharge device and a frequency converter applying the precharge device.

With the rapid development of modem power electronic technology and microelectronic technology, high-voltage and high-power frequency converter have gradually matured. Taking a high-voltage and high-power frequency converter as an example, in addition to inclusion of a rectifier circuit, an inverter circuit, a filter circuit and other parts, a DC (Direct Current) bus needs to be equipped with a precharge device. The precharge device is used to limit current charging a capacitor at the moment of the power source being powered on, such that elements of the converter can be protected from being damaged due to an instantaneous short-circuit current of the capacitor.

The voltage of the DC bus in the high-voltage and high-power frequency converter may be as high as tens of thousands volts, so insulation of the precharge device is a difficult problem. Moreover, in a multi-level circuit including a flying capacitor, the precharge voltages required by individual capacitors are different, resulting in problems of cost, volume and complexity.

The above problem is a challenge for frequency converters which require high efficiency, high power density, high reliability and low cost.

It should be noted that, the above information disclosed in this Background section is only for helping understanding of the background of the present disclosure, therefore, it may include information that does not constitute prior art known by those skilled in the art.

One objective of the present disclosure is to provide a precharge device and a frequency converter applying the precharge device, which may overcome, at least to some extent, one or more problems due to limitation and defects of the related art.

The other characteristics and advantages of the present disclosure may become apparent from the following detailed description, or partly learned from the practice of the present disclosure.

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a precharge device applied in a flying capacitor type multi-level converter circuit,

wherein the multi-level converter circuit includes:

a flying capacitor, a bus capacitor, a first semiconductor component and a second semiconductor component, herein the first semiconductor component is electrically connected between a first end of the flying capacitor and a first end of the bus capacitor, and the second semiconductor component is electrically connected between a second end of the flying capacitor and a second end of the bus capacitor; and

the precharge device includes:

an AC source; and

an auxiliary circuit electrically connected with the AC source,

wherein the auxiliary circuit reuses the first semiconductor component and the second semiconductor component, and the AC source charges the flying capacitor and the bus capacitor through the auxiliary circuit.

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a precharge device, applied in a flying capacitor type multi-level converter circuit,

wherein the multi-level converter circuit includes:

a bus capacitor containing a first bus capacitor and a second bus capacitor connected in series, the first bus capacitor and the second bus capacitor being electrically connected to a first center point;

N flying capacitors, N being an integer greater than 1;

N first semiconductor components, wherein the nth of the first semiconductor components is electrically connected between a first end of the nth flying capacitor and a first end of the bus capacitor; and

N second semiconductor components, wherein the nth of the second semiconductor components is electrically connected between a second end of the nth flying capacitor and a second end of the bus capacitor;

the precharge device includes:

an AC source electrically connected with an auxiliary circuit and charging the flying capacitor and the bus capacitor through the auxiliary circuit;

the auxiliary circuit reuses the first semiconductor component and the second semiconductor component and the auxiliary circuit further includes:

a first auxiliary capacitor;

a second auxiliary capacitor having a first end electrically connected to a second end of the first auxiliary capacitor;

a third semiconductor component electrically connected between the first center point and a first end of the first auxiliary capacitor;

a fourth semiconductor component electrically connected between the first center point and a second end of the second auxiliary capacitor;

N fifth semiconductor components, wherein the nth of the fifth semiconductor components is electrically connected between a first end of the nth flying capacitor and the first end of the first auxiliary capacitor; and

N sixth semiconductor components, wherein the nth of the sixth semiconductor components is electrically connected between a second end of the nth flying capacitor and the second end of the second auxiliary capacitor.

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a frequency converter, including a flying capacitor type multi-level converter circuit and any one of the above precharge devices.

Thus, the current charging the flying capacitor and the bus capacitor may be limited at the moment of the power source being powered on, and in turn, elements in the multi-level converter circuit may be protected from being damaged due to an instantaneous short circuit current of respective capacitors. In addition, since original devices in the multi-level converter circuit are reused, devices required by the precharge device may be reduced, which may in turn reduce the volume and cost of the precharge device.

In order to further understand the features and technical contents of the present disclosure, the following detailed description related to the present disclosure and the accompanying drawings may be referred to. However, the detailed description and accompanying drawings herein are merely illustrative of the present disclosure, but are not intended to limit the scope of the claims of the present disclosure.

The above and other features and advantages of the present disclosure will become more apparent by description of exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a circuit schematic diagram of a five-level rectifier circuit and a precharge device thereof.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a multi-level rectifier circuit and a precharge device thereof in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a circuit schematic diagram of a five-level rectifier circuit and a precharge device thereof in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a circuit schematic diagram of a three-level rectifier circuit and a precharge device thereof in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a circuit schematic diagram of another five-level rectifier circuit and a precharge device thereof in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a circuit schematic diagram of an AC source in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a power frequency input voltage waveform of an AC source in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 is waveforms of a driving voltage and an output voltage of an AC source in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 9 is precharge voltage waveforms of a flying capacitor and a bus capacitor of a five-level rectifier circuit in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

Example implementations will now be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The example implementation, however, may be embodied in various forms, and should not be construed as being limited to the implementations set forth herein. Rather, these implementations are provided so that the present disclosure will become thorough and complete, and will fully convey the concept of the inventive concept to those skilled in the art. Similar reference numerals denote the same or like structures throughout the accompanying drawings, and thus repeated description thereof will be omitted.

In addition, the described features, structures or characters may be combined in one or more embodiments in any suitable manner. In the following description, numerous specific details are provided so as to allow a full understanding of the embodiments of the present disclosure. However, those skilled in the art will recognize that the technical solutions of the present disclosure may be implemented without one or more of the specific details, or other structures, parts, steps, methods and so on may be used. In other cases, the well-known structures, parts or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring various aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 illustrates a precharge technical scheme of a five-level rectifier circuit. As shown in FIG. 1 , the precharge-of flying capacitors Cf 1 and Cf 2 and bus capacitors Cb 1 and Cb 2 are completed by providing high-voltage type vacuum contactors K 1 to K 3 and power resistors Rs 1 to Rs 3 at a power grid side and cooperating with switching states of transistors in the five-level rectifier circuit. The specific operation process is: when the five-level rectifier circuit is started, by controlling transistors S 1 and S 2 to be turned off, transistors S 3 and S 4 to be turned on and the vacuum contactors K 1 ˜K 3 to be cut off, the flying capacitors Cf 1 , Cf 2 and the bus capacitors Cb 1 , Cb 2 are precharged by the output of the power grid through current limiting resistors Rs 1 to Rs 3 and diodes in the circuit. When voltages of the flying capacitors Cf 1 , Cf 2 reach a predetermined value, transistors S 3 and S 4 are controlled to be turned off, the precharge of the bus capacitor Cb 1 , Cb 2 is continued. When voltages of the bus capacitors Cb 1 and Cb 2 also reach a predetermined value, the vacuum contactors K 1 to K 3 are controlled to be closed to bypass the power resistors Rs 1 to Rs 3 , thus completing the precharge process.

Deficiencies of the technical scheme in FIG. 1 mainly lie in that volumes of the high-voltage type vacuum contactors and power resistors are large, and the cost is high, which are not conducive to miniaturization of the frequency converter. In occasions where the frequency converter needs to be started frequently, the vacuum contactor also needs to be closed and cut off frequently. The long-term operation not only reduces lifespan of the vacuum contactor, but also affects a normal operation of the frequency converter due to poor contact of the vacuum contactor. Based on this, a new precharge device is provided in the present exemplary embodiment, thereby solving some or all of the above-mentioned problems to some extent.

The precharge device provided in the present exemplary embodiment may be applied to a flying capacitor type multi-level converter circuit, Referring to FIG. 2 , the multi-level converter circuit 10 at least includes: a flying capacitor Cf, a bus capacitor Cb, a first semiconductor component D 1 and a second semiconductor component D 2 , In the embodiment, the first semiconductor component D 1 is electrically connected between a first end of the flying capacitor Cf and a first end of the bus capacitor Cb. The second semiconductor component D 2 is electrically connected between a second end of the flying capacitor Cf and a second end of the bus capacitor Cb. Continuing to refer to FIG. 2 , the precharge, device provided by the present embodiment may include an AC source 21 and an auxiliary circuit 20 . In the embodiment, the AC source 21 may serve to provide an alternating voltage. The auxiliary circuit 20 may reuse the above first semiconductor component D 1 and the second semiconductor component D 2 . Besides, the auxiliary circuit 20 is electrically connected with the AC source 21 . The AC source 21 may charge the flying capacitor Cf and the bus capacitor eh through the auxiliary circuit 20 . Thus, the current charging the flying capacitor Cf and the bus capacitor Cb may be limited at the moment of power-on of the power source, and in turn, elements in the multi-level converter circuit may be protected from being damaged due to an instantaneous short-circuit current of respective capacitors. In addition, since original devices in the multi-level converter circuit are reused, devices required by the precharge device can be reduced, which can in turn reduce the volume and cost of the precharge device.

The precharging device in the present exemplary embodiment will be further described below in combination with a specific multi-level converter circuit.

Referring to FIG. 3 , taking a five-level rectifier circuit as an example, the bus capacitor Cb may contain a first bus capacitor Cb 1 and a second bus capacitor Cb 1 coupled in series, and the first bus capacitor Cb 1 and the second bus capacitor Cb 1 are electrically connected to a first center point O 1 . For example, a second end of the first bus capacitor Cb 1 and a first end of the second bus capacitor Cb 2 are electrically connected to the first center point O 1 . Similarly, the auxiliary circuit may further contain a first auxiliary capacitor Ca 1 and a second auxiliary capacitor Ca 2 electrically connected in series, and the first auxiliary capacitor Ca 1 and the second auxiliary capacitor Ca 2 are electrically connected to a second center Point O 2 . For example, a second end of the first auxiliary capacitor Ca 1 and a first end of the second auxiliary capacitor Ca 2 are electrically connected to the second center point O 2 In the embodiment, an output of the AC source is electrically connected between the first center point O 1 and the second center point O 2 , supplying an output voltage Ua to the auxiliary circuit. Furthermore, it will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art that, technical schemes that include other numbers of capacitors are also within the protection scope of the present disclosure.

Continuing to refer to FIG. 3 , in the present exemplary embodiment, the auxiliary circuit may further include a third semiconductor component D 31 , a fourth semiconductor component D 41 , a fifth semiconductor component D 51 and a sixth semiconductor component D 61 . In the embodiment, the third semiconductor element D 31 is electrically connected between the first center point O 1 and a first end of the first auxiliary capacitor Ca 1 . The fourth semiconductor element D 41 is electrically connected between the first center point O 1 and a second end of the second auxiliary capacitor Ca 2 . The fifth semiconductor element D 51 is electrically connected to a first end of a flying capacitor (the flying capacitor in FIG. 3 is constituted by the first flying capacitor Cf 1 and the second flying capacitor Cf 2 coupled in series)and the first end of the first auxiliary capacitor Ca 1 . The sixth semiconductor element D 61 is electrically connected to a second end of the flying capacitor (the flying capacitor in FIG. 3 is constituted by the first flying capacitor Cf 1 and the second flying capacitor Cf 2 coupled in series) and the second end of the second auxiliary capacitor Ca 2 .

In the present exemplary embodiment, by utilizing the first auxiliary capacitor Ca 1 , the second auxiliary capacitor Ca 2 , the third semiconductor component D 31 , the fourth semiconductor component D 41 , the fifth semiconductor component D 51 and the sixth semiconductor component D 61 in the auxiliary circuit, and then reusing the first semiconductor components D 11 and D 12 and the second semiconductor components D 21 and D 22 in the five-level rectifier circuit, a voltage multiplying rectifier circuit is constituted. Thus, an AC power output from the above AC source may be rectified and boosted to charge the bus capacitor and the flying capacitor in the five-level rectifier circuit. In other exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, the voltage multiplying rectifier circuit may also be constituted with other semiconductor components in the five-level rectifier circuit and a circuit including other components in the auxiliary circuit, which all belong to the protection scope of the present disclosure.

Continuing to refer to FIG. 3 , in the present exemplary embodiment, the auxiliary circuit may further include a first resistor R 11 and a second resistor R 21 . In the embodiment, the first resistor R 11 is electrically connected in series with the fifth semiconductor component D 51 , and the fifth semiconductor component D 51 is electrically connected to the first end of the flying capacitor through the first resistor R 11 . The second resistor R 21 is connected in series with the sixth semiconductor element D 61 , and the sixth semiconductor component D 61 is electrically connected to the second end of the flying capacitor through the second resistor R 21 . After the rectifier circuit is connected to the power grid and operates normally, voltages of the DC bus and the flying capacitor may fluctuate, and a potential of point P 1 may be higher than that of point O 1 , and by setting the first resistor R 11 , a current of the branch where the first resistor R 11 is provided may be limited. Similarly, a potential of point P 2 may be higher than that of point O 1 , and by setting the second resistor R 21 , a current of the branch where the second resistor R 21 is provided may be limited. Therefore, by providing the first resistor R 11 and the second resistor R 21 , the five-level rectifier circuit may be protected. It will be readily understood by those skilled in the art that, in other exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, the auxiliary circuit described above may further include other components, which is not particularly limited in this exemplary embodiment.

Continuing to refer to FIG. 3 , the transistors S 1 ˜S 4 in the multi-level converter circuit may be an IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor) switch. All of the first semiconductor component D 11 and D 12 , the second semiconductor component D 21 and D 22 , the third semiconductor component D 31 , the fourth semiconductor component D 41 , the fifth semiconductor component D 51 , and the sixth semiconductor component D 61 may be diodes, such that the control is simpler. However, it should be noted that, the present exemplary embodiment is not limited to this, and the transistors in the multi-level converter circuit may also be a MOSFET (Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor) switch or a BJT (Bipolar Junction Transistor) switch, and the like. The first to sixth semiconductor components may also be other semiconductor components or may include a plurality of diodes coupled in series. For example, in FIG. 3 , the first semiconductor components include two series-coupled diodes D 11 and D 12 , and the second semiconductor components also include two series-coupled diodes D 21 and D 22 . In FIG. 4 , the first semiconductor component and the second semiconductor element may be an anti-parallel diode in the IGBT switch S 1 and IGBT switch S 4 , respectively, and so on.

In the present exemplary embodiment, when the multi-level converter circuit is used for processing multiphase AC input, the multi-level converter circuit may further include additional more groups of the first semiconductor component, the second semiconductor component and the flying capacitor. Correspondingly, the auxiliary circuit further includes more groups of the fifth semiconductor component D 51 and the sixth semiconductor component D 61 , and the auxiliary circuit may further include more groups of the first resistors R 11 and the second resistor R 21 correspondingly. For example, the multi-level converter circuit may include N (N is an integer greater than 1) flying capacitors, N first semiconductor components and N second semiconductor components. In the embodiment, the n th of the first semiconductor components is electrically connected between a first end of the n th flying capacitor and a first end of the bus capacitor, and the n th of the second semiconductor components is electrically connected between a second end of the n th flying capacitor and a second end of the bus capacitor. The precharge device may include N fifth semiconductor components and N sixth semiconductor components. In the embodiment, the n th of the fifth semiconductor components is electrically connected between a first end of the n th flying capacitor and the first end of the first auxiliary capacitor, and the n th of the sixth semiconductor components is electrically connected between a second end of the n th flying capacitor and the second end of the second auxiliary capacitor. In another exemplary embodiment, the precharge device may further include N first resistors and N second resistors. In the embodiment, the n th of the fifth semiconductor components is electrically connected to the first end of the n th flying capacitor through the n th of the first resistors, and the n th of the sixth semiconductor components is electrically connected to the second end of the n th flying capacitor through the n th of the second resistors.

For example, continuing to refer to FIG. 3 , when the five-level rectifier circuit is used for processing the three-phase AC input, the five-level rectifier circuit may further include another two groups of the first semiconductor components D 11 and D 12 , another two groups of the second semiconductor components D 21 and D 22 and another two groups of the flying capacitor. Correspondingly, the auxiliary circuit further includes another two groups of the fifth semiconductor component D 51 and another two groups of the sixth semiconductor component D 61 (e.g., fifth semiconductor components D 52 , D 53 , and sixth semiconductor components D 62 , D 63 ), and the auxiliary circuit may further include another two groups of the first resistor R 11 and the second resistor R 21 (e.g., first resistors R 12 , R 13 , and second resistors R 22 , R 23 ) correspondingly.

In addition, in the present exemplary embodiment, the multi-level converter circuit is exemplified by a multi-level rectifier circuit. However, in other exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, the multi-level converter circuit may also be a multi-level inverter circuit. Meanwhile, the multi-level converter circuit is exemplified by a five-level converter circuit. However, in other exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, it may also be other multi level converter circuits, such as a three-level converter circuit or a seven-level converter circuit. For example, FIG. 4 shows a precharge device in the present exemplary embodiment is applied in a three-level converter circuit. At the same time, the same multi-level converter circuit may also be implemented by adopting different topologies and different components. For example, FIG. 5 shows a case where a precharge device in the present embodiment is applied in a five-level converter circuit with another topology. In addition, the multi-level converter circuit may include other parts such as a filter module, in addition to the rectifier module. For example, the multi-level converter circuit as shown in FIGS. 3 ˜ 5 may further include a filter module consisted of capacitors Cg 1 ˜Cg 3 , resistors Rg 1 ˜Rg 3 and inductors Lg 1 ˜Lg 2 . It can be seen from above that, a specific structure of the flying capacitor type multi-level converter circuit is not particularly limited in the present exemplary embodiment.

Further, the present exemplary embodiment further provides an implementation of the AC source in the above-described auxiliary circuit. For example, the AC source may include a rectifier circuit, an inverter circuit and a boosting transformer, and it may further include other parts such as a control circuit. In the embodiment, the rectifier circuit may be used to rectify a first AC voltage to generate a DC voltage. The inverter circuit may be used to invert the DC voltage to generate a primary side AC voltage. The boosting transformer may be used to boost the primary side AC voltage to generate an output voltage of the AC source, and the output voltage of the AC source may be symmetrical AC half waves. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a rectifier circuit, an inverter circuit and a boosting transformer in the AC source. In the embodiment, the first AC voltage may be a power grid voltage Ui. After the power grid voltage Ui is uncontrolled rectified through a rectifier circuit composed by diodes D 10 ˜D 40 and filtered by a capacitor C, the DC voltage is obtained. The DC voltage is inverted into a high-frequency AC square wave (the primary side AC voltage) through a full bridge inverter circuit composed by transistors S 10 ˜S 40 . The high-frequency AC square wave is boosted by a high-voltage and high-frequency boosting transformer Tr and then supplied to the above auxiliary circuit. In the present exemplary embodiment, a frequency of the output voltage Ua of the AC source output from the high-voltage and high-frequency boosting transformer Tr is not less than 10 kHz, for example, may he 15 kHz, 20 kHz, and the like. In addition, a positive half-wave and a negative half-wave of the output voltage Ua are symmetric with each other. In FIG. 6 , the full-bridge inverter circuit may adopt bipolar modulation, that is, the transistor S 10 and the transistor S 40 are turned on or turned off simultaneously, the transistor S 20 and the transistor S 30 are turned on or turned off simultaneously, and the duty cycle is about 50%. For example, FIG. 7 shows the waveform of the grid voltage Ui received by the rectifier circuit, and FIG. 8 shows waveforms of the drive signal output from the control circuit and the output voltage Ua of the high-voltage and high-frequency boosting transformer, where S 10 , S 20 , S 30 , S 40 represent the drive signals output from the control circuit, a high level denotes a turn-on signal, a low level denotes a turn-off signal. It will be readily understood by those skilled in the art that, the inverter circuit in the present exemplary embodiment is not limited to the full-bridge inverter circuit of bipolar modulation, but it may also be other manners, such as a half bridge circuit or a push-pull circuit, and the like. The control method of the rectifier circuit is not limited to the uncontrolled rectification either, and it may also be other manners, such as fully controlled rectification and the like. The present disclosure is not limited thereto.

In the following, an operation process of the precharge device in the present exemplary embodiment will be further described by taking the five-level rectifier circuit shown in FIG. 3 as an example. Assuming the output voltage Ua of the AC source is a high frequency AC square wave, when the output voltage Ua outputting to the first center point O 1 is positive, the first auxiliary capacitor Ca 1 is charged by the output voltage Ua through the third semiconductor component D 31 , the second bus capacitor Cb 2 and the second auxiliary capacitor Cat are charged by the output voltage Ua through the second semiconductor components D 21 and D 22 , the second resistor R 21 and the sixth semiconductor component D 61 , the first flying capacitor Cf 1 and the second flying capacitor Cf 2 are charged by the output voltage Ua through the fifth semiconductor component D 51 , the first resistor R 11 , the second resistor R 21 and the sixth semiconductor component D 61 , and the second auxiliary capacitor Ca 2 is discharged; when the output voltage Ua outputting to the first center point O 1 by the voltage source is negative, the second auxiliary capacitor Ca 2 is charged by the output voltage Ua through the fourth semiconductor component D 41 , the first bus capacitor Cb 1 and the first auxiliary capacitor Ca 1 are charged by the output voltage Ua through the fifth semiconductor component D 51 , the first resistor R 11 and the first semiconductor components D 11 and D 12 , the first flying capacitor Cf 1 and the second flying capacitor Cf 2 are charged by the output voltage Ua through the fifth semiconductor component D 51 , the first resistor R 11 , the second resistor R 21 and the sixth semiconductor component D 61 , and the first auxiliary capacitor Ca 1 is discharged. Assuming an amplitude of the output voltage Ua is A, at a final steady state, a voltage of the first flying capacitor Cf 1 is A, a voltage of the second flying capacitor Cf 2 is A, a voltage of the first bus capacitor Cb 1 is double A, a voltage of the second bus capacitor Cb 1 is double A, a voltage of the first auxiliary capacitor Ca 1 is A, and a voltage of the second auxiliary capacitor Ca 2 is A. For example, FIG. 9 shows voltage waveforms of the flying capacitor and the bus capacitor precharged by the precharge device in the present exemplary embodiment; and it can be seen that it meets the precharge voltage requirement of the flying capacitor and the bus capacitor in the five-level frequency converter.

Further, the present exemplary embodiment further provides a frequency converter. The frequency converter includes a flying capacitor type multi-level converter circuit and any one of the above precharge devices. Since the above precharge device is used, the frequency converter at least has all advantages brought by the above precharge device, which will not be repeated in the present exemplary embodiment.

To sum up, in the precharge device provided by the present exemplary embodiment, by providing an auxiliary circuit which reuses a first semiconductor component and a second semiconductor component in the multi-level converter circuit, an AC source may charge the flying capacitor and the bus capacitor in the multi-level converter circuit through the auxiliary circuit, such that the current charging the flying capacitor and the bus capacitor may be limited at the moment of the power source being powered on, and in turn, elements in the multi-level converter circuit may be protected from being damaged due to an instantaneous short-circuit current of respective capacitors. In addition, since original devices in the multi-level converter circuit are reused, devices required by the precharge device can be reduced, which can in turn reduce the volume and cost of the precharge device. Furthermore, upper and lower buses are precharged dividually in the present exemplary embodiment, so that the insulation stress of the high-voltage and high-frequency boosting transformer can be greatly reduced, which facilitates the insulation design of the transformer.

The present disclosure has been described by the above related embodiments. However, the above embodiments are only examples for implementing the present disclosure. It should be noted that, the scope of the present disclosure is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. On the contrary, any modification and amendment without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure will fall within the patent protection scope of the present disclosure.