Magician Harry Houdini patented a "Diver's Suit" enabling the wearer to "quickly divest himself of the suit while being submerged and to safely escape and reach the surface of the water."
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8115406 | Fluorescent lamp driver circuit A fluorescent lamp driver circuit is provided. The fluorescent lamp driver circuit uses reversed current detecting signal to achieve feedback control and circuit protection so as to simplify the driver circuit and reduces the number of the required electronic compon... | 02/14/2012 |
| 7755299 | Transformer for balancing currents The invention relates to a transformer (10) for balancing the current in an AC circuit, comprising a primary winding (12), a secondary winding (14) and a main inductance (16). The transformer is characterized in that a capacitive componen... | 07/13/2010 |
| 7402957 | Inverter circuit, backlight assembly, and liquid crystal display with backlight assembly In an inverter circuit, inverter transformers supply AC voltage to discharge tubes. The inverter transformers are arranged such that the AC voltage at a respective first terminal of each secondary coil has an opposite polarity with respect to a corresponding second ... | 07/22/2008 |
| 7378802 | Discharge lamp lighting circuit A circuit includes a transformer 7 for transmitting power to a discharge lamp 10 and for supplying a starting signal to the discharge lamp. The circuit includes a direct current-alternating current converting circuit 3 for supplying an output of... | 05/27/2008 |
| 7372213 | Lamp current balancing topologies A method according to on embodiment may include generating AC voltage and current and a striking voltage. The method of this embodiment may also include generating striking voltage and steady-state voltage for at least two lamp loads. The method of this embodiment m... | 05/13/2008 |
| 7355354 | Method for starting a discharge lamp using high energy initial pulse The described DC to AC inverter efficiently controls the amount of electrical power used to drive a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL). Additionally, during striking of the CCFL, a higher energy initial energy pulse is used. During normal operation, a lower energy... | 04/08/2008 |
| 7352136 | DC-DC converter with reduced surge voltage and an electronic ballast including the converter for a discharge lamp A DC-DC converter reduces a surge voltage developed across a switching element (30) in making the voltage conversion with the use of a transformer (20) inherently having considerable leakage. A snubber circuit is included to absorb the surge energy and... | 04/01/2008 |
| 7312587 | Control device for high intensity discharge bulb and method of controlling high intensity discharge bulb Two types of rectangular waves having different numbers of driving pulses are applied to the HID bulb. By changing the combination of these two different types of rectangular waves to be supplied , the driving energy of the HID bulb is increased or decreased, thereb... | 12/25/2007 |
| 7307388 | Backlight modules and lamp modules in flat panel displays A lamp module for use in a backlight module of a flat panel display comprises a first transformer, a second transformer, a plurality of first lamps and a plurality of second lamps. The first transformer provides an AC power of a first phase, and the second transform... | 12/11/2007 |
| 7279851 | Systems and methods for fault protection in a balancing transformer An apparatus and methods for balancing current in multiple negative impedance gas discharge lamp loads. Embodiments advantageously include balancing transformer configurations that are relatively cost-effective, reliable, efficient, and good performing. Embodiments ... | 10/09/2007 |
| 7279852 | Apparatus and method for striking a fluorescent lamp A lamp inverter with continuous strike voltage facilitates faster striking of a fluorescent lamp, especially at cold temperatures. A frequency sweep generator sweeps the frequency of the lamp inverter to a striking frequency corresponding to a striking lamp voltage ... | 10/09/2007 |
| 7265499 | Current-mode direct-drive inverter An efficient and flexible current-mode driver delivers power to one or more light sources in a backlight system. In one application, the current-mode driver is configured as an inverter with an input current regulator, a non-resonant polarity-switching network, and ... | 09/04/2007 |
| 7250731 | Primary side current balancing scheme for multiple CCF lamp operation A backlight system drives multiple lamps using balanced groups of serially-connected lamp transformers. A plurality of lamp transformers is divided into multiple transformer groups. Primary windings of the lamp transformers are coupled in series in each transformer ... | 07/31/2007 |
| 7242155 | Discharge lamp driving circuit A discharge lamp driving circuit includes an inverter, a ballast capacitor, a discharge lamp, and a lamp current detecting circuit. The inverter converts a DC voltage into an AC voltage with high frequency to output the AC voltage to an output port based on a pulse ... | 07/10/2007 |
| 7235932 | High efficiency ballast for gas discharge lamps An electronic ballast for a gas discharge lamp includes an adjustable constant current source circuit adapted to convert a direct current input to provide an initial start current and a variably controlled constant current. A coupling transformer circuit is connecte... | 06/26/2007 |
| 7233113 | Power supply system for liquid crystal monitors A power supply system for liquid crystal monitors includes a first DC/AC converter (FBS, HBS) operating at predetermined frequency and duty-cycles and being fed by a second DC/DC converter (FC) which regulates the circuit voltage. The feeding system can feed all the... | 06/19/2007 |
| 7221103 | Circuit for operating high-pressure discharge lamps A circuit for operating high-pressure discharge lamps, wherein a voltage transformer for power supply to a loading circuit includes a connection for the high-pressure discharge lamp (La) and for the secondary winding (L1b) of an ignition transformer (T... | 05/22/2007 |
| 7218063 | Two light level ballast A ballast (100) for powering at least one gas discharge lamp (30) at two selectable light levels includes a sensing transformer (120) and a detector circuit (200). Detector circuit (200) provides an output voltage that is dependent... | 05/15/2007 |
| 7218065 | Discharge lamp lighting circuit A control section is used to control a DC-to-AC converter circuit to perform lighting control of a discharge lamp. A transformer, switching elements, and a capacitor for resonance are included. The switching elements are driven and serial resonance of the capacitor ... | 05/15/2007 |
| 7215087 | Discharge lamp lighting apparatus for lighting multiple discharge lamps In a discharge lamp lighting apparatus to light two discharge lamps, one terminal of the secondary side of a step-up transformer is connected, via each of two variable inductance elements, to one terminal of each of the two discharge lamps, the other terminal of eac... | 05/08/2007 |
| 7193372 | Electronic ballast with voltage converter having improved damping arrangement An electronic ballast for a lamp (16) having an input circuit (10) having a connection to a voltage supply, an output circuit (14) having a connection for the lamp (16), and a voltage converter apparatus (12), which is arranged bet... | 03/20/2007 |
| 7187139 | Split phase inverters for CCFL backlight system An apparatus and method for driving a lamp are provided. In one embodiment, an inverter having four switching elements is split into two inverter arms that are deployed at separate terminals of a floating lamp structure to achieve even light output. A controller dri... | 03/06/2007 |
| 7183724 | Inverter with two switching stages for driving lamp An efficient and flexible current-mode driver delivers power to one or more light sources in a backlight system. In one application, the current-mode driver is configured as an inverter with an input current regulator, a non-resonant polarity-switching network, and ... | 02/27/2007 |
| 7173382 | Nested balancing topology for balancing current among multiple lamps An apparatus and methods for balancing current in multiple negative impedance gas discharge lamp loads. Embodiments advantageously include balancing transformer configurations that are relatively cost-effective, reliable, and efficient. Embodiments include configura... | 02/06/2007 |
| 7154233 | Converter circuit with coupled inductances having asymmetrical air gap arrangement The invention relates to a converter circuit with coupled inductances L1 and L2 which have a core K having an air gap S which is asymmetrical with respect to the inductances. ... | 12/26/2006 |
| 7002304 | Multi-lamp drive device A multi-lamp drive device comprises a transformer, a drive circuit and at least a balanced inductor. The magnetic core of the transformer has a first side column, a second side column and at least a central column. A primary coil and a secondary coil are wound aroun... | 02/21/2006 |
| 6936974 | Half-bridge inverter for asymmetrical loads The invention pertains to a switchmode power inverter, and particularly to a half-bridge inverter for asymmetrical load. More particularly, the invention pertains to high frequency electronic ballast for gas discharge devices, especially for high intensity discharge... | 08/30/2005 |
| 6933684 | Electronic ballast using cut and save technology An ideal filament preheat technique in flourescence lamp is supplied by an adjusting circuit, an output circuit and a control circuit. At the filament preheating stage, an adequate preheating voltage is provided for the filament of the lamp tube, and the voltage cro... | 08/23/2005 |
| 6922022 | LED switching arrangement for enhancing electromagnetic interference The invention relates to a switching arrangement for operating at least one LED, which switching arrangement is provided with input terminals (1, 2) for connecting a supply source, —output terminals (3, 4) for connecting the LED to be operated, —a ... | 07/26/2005 |
| 6861812 | Discharge lamp ballast with DC-DC converter An improved ballast for a discharge lamp includes a DC—DC converter which receives an input DC voltage from a voltage source to provide a pre-starting voltage to make the lamp ready for being ignited or started. The DC—DC converter has a switching element which ... | 03/01/2005 |
| 6831425 | Xenon discharge lamp lighting device It is an object to provide a xenon discharge lamp lighting device with few or no lamp startup lighting failures, even when a xenon discharge lamp is near the end of its useful life. In the xenon discharge lamp, when a lamp voltage increases, from the ending point of... | 12/14/2004 |
| 6812652 | Constant current regulator for airport lighting A constant-current regulator for high-powered airport lighting loops combined a ferroresonant transformer and a digital programmable logic device to provide a versatile, software-modifiable current control for power transfer throughout a range of about 30 kW to 50 k... | 11/02/2004 |
| 6781324 | Ballast for at least one electric incandescent lamp A ballast for at least one electric incandescent lamp, having at least two switching elements (T1, T2) that are coupled to one another with the formation of a first tie point (VP1), a drive circuit (10) with at least one output for drivin... | 08/24/2004 |
| 6747421 | Self oscillation circuits A small size output transformer is capable of stablely producing sine wave oscillation at high efficiency. A drive circuit including a switching circuit is connected to DC power source input units and output transformer is connected to the drive circuit. At the driv... | 06/08/2004 |
| 6731075 | Method and apparatus for lighting a discharge lamp A reliable and efficient circuit for lighting a discharge lamp is described. An inverter accepts a direct current supply voltage and outputs an alternating current lamp voltage to drive the discharge lamp at a relatively high frequency. In one embodiment, the invert... | 05/04/2004 |
| 6570345 | Constant current regulator for airport lighting A constant-current regulator for high-powered airport lighting loops combined a ferroresonant transformer and a digital programmable logic device to provide a versatile, software-modifiable current control for power transfer throughout a range of about 30... | 05/27/2003 |
| 6565230 | Recessed light fixture converted to lower voltage halogen fixture A method for converting a higher voltage recessed light fixture such as a fixture having an Edison base to a second lower voltage halogen fixture, and a retrofitted recessed light fixture for providing a halogen bulb light source. The light fixture includ... | 05/20/2003 |
| 6472827 | Parallel-resonant inverter-type fluorescent lamp ballast A push-pull inverter is supplied from an inductively current-limited DC voltage source by way of a center-tap on a transformer having significant inductance. This transformer inductance is parallel-coupled with a capacitance means. The inverter is made to... | 10/29/2002 |
| 6242869 | Fluorescent lamp stabilizer harmonics reduction method A method for reducing the harmonics created by rapid-start fluorescent lamp stabilizer balance systems is accomplished by increasing the number of turns of the secondary winding of the transformer so as to decrease the secondary current to approximately 4... | 06/05/2001 |
| 6181075 | Power supply circuit for gas discharge tube A power supply for high voltage, low current gas discharge tubes such as neon, argon, and mercury vapor. A free running, flyback oscillator, converts D.C. voltage energy into radio frequency energy by means of a compact, ferrite transformer and associated... | 01/30/2001 |