Did You Know...
...that the x-ray was discovered purely by accident? When German physicist Wilhelm Konrad von Roentgen was experimenting with cathode rays in 1895, he put an activated Crookes tube in a book and went out to lunch. When he returned, he discovered that a key that had also been placed in the book showed up as an image on the developed film!
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8183791 | System and method for preventing low dimming current startup flash An electronic ballast is provided for powering a discharge lamp without visible flash at startup. The ballast includes an integrated circuit having at least one inverter drive output and a voltage controlled oscillator input. A first capacitor is coupled to the volt... | 05/22/2012 |
| 8154214 | Switching power supply for an illumination device with precision current control A system and method for powering a light-emitting element in an illumination device includes a DC power supply with the light-emitting element coupled across a positive output terminal and a negative output terminal of the DC power supply. A switching element is cou... | 04/10/2012 |
| 8143809 | LED illuminating device A LED illuminating device includes: a power source device, a controller, an LED lighting device, and an LED unit 4 incorporating LEDs of a plurality of emission colors. The device is configured to mix the lights of the LEDs at an arbitrary proportion and set ... | 03/27/2012 |
| 8143796 | Electronic ballast with controlled filament preheating using half-wave lamp current detection An electronic ballast is provided for controlled preheating of filaments in a discharge lamp. A power converter has a plurality of switching elements and converts DC power from a DC power source into AC power for the lamp. A starting circuit generates a high voltage... | 03/27/2012 |
| 8138679 | Organic electroluminescent light emitting device for restoring normal operation after low-voltage errors Provision of a light emitting device having functionality for restoring to normal even if a low-voltage error occurs, by temporarily applying a reverse current to a low-voltage error light emitting element using a direction inverting circuit, and repairing portions ... | 03/20/2012 |
| 8129920 | Discharge lamp ballast and fixture with controlled preheating Electrical characteristics associated with a filament resistance are detected to control a preheating amount so as to heat a filament into an optimum state for emission in accordance with determined preheating time. A ballast for a discharge lamp includes an inverte... | 03/06/2012 |
| 8116089 | Method and apparatus for securing a magnetic component to a printed circuit board for soldering A magnetic device surface mounting assembly includes a specially designed printed circuit board and magnetic device. The circuit board has first and second sets of channels, the first channels having a first end of a first size, a second end of a second size, and fi... | 02/14/2012 |
| 8084952 | Method and system to detect zero current conditions in an electronic ballast by monitoring voltage across a buck inductor The invention discloses a method and system to detect zero current conditions in a buck inductor by monitoring the voltage across the buck inductor. Once zero current and voltage conditions are present, an inverter circuit changes the operational state, i.e. conduct... | 12/27/2011 |
| 8044601 | High voltage discharge lamp lighting device A high-voltage discharge lamp lighting device provides a starting pulse voltage sufficient to turn on a high-voltage discharge lamp having terminal wire connections of variable length. A power conversion circuit is coupled to a commercial AC power source input and r... | 10/25/2011 |
| 8035308 | Software controlled electronic dimming ballast A software controlled electronic dimming ballast for preheating, striking, and varying the dimming level of a lamp. In one embodiment, the ballast includes an EMI filter circuit, an AC/DC converter circuit, a PFC circuit, an inverter circuit, and a software controll... | 10/11/2011 |
| 8031494 | Method and apparatus for providing an initial bias and enable signal for a power converter The invention relates to a switch-mode power converter including a bias circuit. A power converter power transformer includes a magnetic core. The switch-mode power converter power transformer also includes an initial bias primary winding and an initial bias seconda... | 10/04/2011 |
| 8031040 | Magnetic component having a bobbin structure with integrated winding A magnetic component has a bobbin structure for winding a conductive material. The bobbin structure includes a bobbin body having a first winding embedded in the bobbin body. The first winding is made of a conductive material. The first winding includes a winding bo... | 10/04/2011 |
| 8029288 | Computer implemented systems and methods for enhancing renewable energy educational activities Systems and methods are provided for collecting, aggregating, and analyzing data associated with the performance of systems. Energy systems, specifically renewable energy generation systems, are used as examples. The aggregated data serve as the basis for a variety ... | 10/04/2011 |
| 8027364 | Electricity distribution network with stray voltage monitoring and method of transmission of information on said network The electricity distribution network comprises a plurality of interconnection lines for the distribution of electricity among a plurality of interconnection boxes. At least some of said interconnection boxes are combined with a control unit for detection of stray vo... | 09/27/2011 |
| 8015316 | Method and system for detecting messages in the presence of noise Disclosed is a method for transmitting messages between a transmitter and a receiver on a channel on which noise may be present. The messages are constituted by a sequence of data and comprise an initial portion (header) containing data to allow recognition of the m... | 09/06/2011 |
| 8002445 | LED luminaire with automatic luminance compensation An LED luminaire for normal or emergency lighting has a lamp section comprising a least one LED lamp, the LED lamp having an LED chip and a reflector section. The reflector section is formed of silver and is positioned to reflect light from the LED chip. A power sec... | 08/23/2011 |
| 8001813 | Lever activated deadbolt lock with deadlock feature To prevent intruders from forcing a deadbolt out of a locking position, the deadbolt has a sleeve defining inside and outside slots. Each of these slots has a horizontal section and a locked position vertical section. Cross members extend through the slots and are p... | 08/23/2011 |
| 7990243 | Gull wing surface mount magnetic structure A magnetic device is provided for placement on the top surface of a printed circuit board with surface mount connection on the bottom surface. The circuit board includes first and second sets of slots bisecting each other. The device includes a bobbin with a plurali... | 08/02/2011 |
| 7987889 | Wheel servicing apparatus and methods A wheel servicing machine provides a rotatable shaft having a retractable rod slidably disposed in a center bore of the rotatable shaft, wherein the retractable rod is longitudinally moveable relative to the shaft. A rotatable locking member is disposed on the dista... | 08/02/2011 |
| 7977894 | Programmed start ballast for gas discharge lamps An electronic ballast has control circuitry to provide a pre-heating signal to the filaments of a gas discharge lamp for a predetermined length of time before the lamp is ignited and, further, cease providing the pre-heating signal after the lamp has been ignited. | 07/12/2011 |
| 7966100 | Performance metrics in renewals energy systems Systems and methods are provided for collecting (200), aggregating (201), and analyzing data (202, 203) associated with the installation and deployment of systems. Energy systems, specifically renewable energy generating systems, are used as exa... | 06/21/2011 |
| 7963378 | Corrugated tubular energy absorbing structure An energy absorbing tubular structure is formed of a molded or extruded polymer. The tube has a quadrangular cross-section with rounded corners. The walls of tube are corrugated with alternating convex and concave corrugations surfaces having a continuous constant r... | 06/21/2011 |
| 7962247 | Computer implemented systems and methods for start-up, calibration and troubleshooting of an installed renewable energy system Systems and methods are provided for collecting, aggregating, and analyzing data associated with the installation and deployment of systems. Energy systems, (500) specifically renewable energy generation systems, are used as examples. The aggregated data serv... | 06/14/2011 |
| 7952897 | System for producing electric power from renewable sources and a control method thereof Described herein is a system for generating electric power, comprising: an electric-power source (1) having a preferential point of operation; a double-stage inverter (3A, 3B), which transfers the energy from said source to an external a.c.-volt... | 05/31/2011 |
| 7952303 | Electronic ballast for a gas discharge lamp with controlled filament heating during dimming An electronic ballast has control circuitry to operate a gas discharge lamp in both full and dimmed illumination modes. The electronic ballast also includes a full power circuit having a power control coupled to the dimming controller output to receive the dimming c... | 05/31/2011 |
| 7952302 | Lighting unit, a system comprising it and a control method thereof A method for controlling the operation of a lighting unit comprising a plurality of lighting elements and a dimmable power supply unit with an output for adjusting the brightness of at least some of the lighting elements. The method provides that for at least one di... | 05/31/2011 |
| 7923942 | Constant current source mirror tank dimmable ballast for high impedance lamps A constant current source mirror tank dimmable ballast operates multiple high impedance lamps in a stable and balanced manner. The dimmable ballast has an inverter connected to two third-order resonant circuits. These third-order resonant circuits dominate the trans... | 04/12/2011 |
| 7889463 | Fused lead wire for ballast protection A ballast having fused leads protects against uncommon, but harmful, ballast failures. The fused leads prevent a current in the primary coil of the ballast from exceeding a potentially damaging value. A thermal protector shorts the primary ballast coil if the temper... | 02/15/2011 |
| 7848114 | Ballast housing with an integral circuit board grounding device An electronic ballast and ballast housing having an integral ground for a circuit board positioned within the housing. A ‘snap in’ capture means holds circuit board under flexion so as to press a circuit grounding means in electrical contact with an integral gro... | 12/07/2010 |
| 7866113 | System and method for adjustable repair and reinforcement of non-standard doors and jambs A door security system serves to substantially improve the reliability of the entire door assemblies with non-standard door jamb thicknesses. The system may comprise up to four or more components. An adjustable door jamb shield may be mounted around a door jamb on t... | 01/11/2011 |
| 7843145 | System and method for power line carrier communication using high frequency tone bursts A communication system and method is utilized to communicate data over an AC power line. Tone burst are superimposed on an AC power signal at predetermined voltage reference levels or at predetermined phase angles to represent bit values. These bit values are repres... | 11/30/2010 |
| 7843141 | Low cost step dimming interface for an electronic ballast A step dimming interface is utilized to operate a load such as a gas discharge lamp. The dimming interface has first and second switches for determining when the gas discharge lamp operates at either a normal power level or a dimming power level. A rectifier circuit... | 11/30/2010 |
| 7841583 | System and method for detecting a discontinuity in a mechanical drive train Two incremental shaft encoders are mounted on the two extreme ends of a mechanical drive train. The encoders generate data which is representative of the rotational speed of the drive train component proximate to where the encoder is mounted. The data from the encod... | 11/30/2010 |
| 7831488 | Systems, methods and computer readable medium providing automated third-party confirmations Systems and methods are defined for facilitating the audit process involving a business client, an auditor, and a third-party providing confirmations for the client upon the auditor's request. More specifically, an auditor receives an audit number from the audited c... | 11/09/2010 |
| 7800928 | Method of operating a resonant inverter using zero current switching and arbitrary frequency pulse width modulation A method of controlling a series-resonant, half-bridge inverter includes turning off the bottom switch and turning on the top switch the inverter when the current through the resonant inductor crosses the zero axis while the current is increasing, thereby insuring z... | 09/21/2010 |
| 7798878 | Personal windscreen apparatus A personal windscreen apparatus is mounted on a boater's body to protect a boater's face during boating. The apparatus has a windscreen secured to a flotation device. The flotation device is secured to a boater's body utilizing a series of straps. ... | 09/21/2010 |
| 7786391 | Ballast housing having rolled edge lead wire exit A ballast housing having a rolled edge lead wire exit for providing protection and strain relief to lead wires extending out from the housing. Grommets are not required in order to provide protection and strain relief to lead wires exiting the housing. The housing i... | 08/31/2010 |
| 7768755 | Over-voltage protection and automatic re-strike circuit for an electronic ballast The present invention is an overvoltage protection and automatic re-strike circuit for an electronic ballast. The electronic ballast has an inverter, a shut-down circuit, a safety circuit, a monitoring circuit, and an overvoltage protection circuit. The inverter pro... | 08/03/2010 |
| 7768215 | Method and system for controlling transient current signals in an electronic ballast An electronic ballast including a rectifying circuit to provide a signal representative of the current signal associated with a buck inductor, a monitoring circuit to provide a monitoring circuit signal when the signal representative of the buck inductor is within a... | 08/03/2010 |
| 7760526 | Method and device for the control of a three-phase inverter A method of controlling an inverter to includes determining the components of a phasor representing the output current from the inverter in a fixed reference system; determining the components of the current phasor in a reference system rotating at a velocity equal ... | 07/20/2010 |
