Did You Know...
...that power steering was invented by independent inventor Francis W. Davis? As chief engineer in the 1920s of the truck division of the Pierce Arrow Motor Car Company, he saw how hard it was to steer heavy vehicles. So that he would be able to keep the profits from his future invention, Davis left his job, rented a small engineering shop in Waltham, Mass., and developed a hydraulic power steering system that led to power steering.
PatentStorm News
Make the Most of Our Site
See this month's Top Inventors and Most Cited Patents.
Stay on top of the latest innovations by subscribing to an RSS feed.
Registered users: Manage your profile.
| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8183834 | Current to frequency conversion, apparatus and methods Electronic apparatus, methods of forming the electronic apparatus, and methods of operating the electronic apparatus include features of current to frequency conversion that may be implemented in a variety of applications. Additional apparatus, systems, and methods ... | 05/22/2012 |
| 8183835 | Battery pack A battery pack including a protection circuit configured to detect over-charge, over-discharge and over-current of a rechargeable battery to turn off a switch element, the switch element provided at a wire provided between the rechargeable battery and a load circuit... | 05/22/2012 |
| 8183836 | Lithium battery pack In a battery pack which comprises: a battery set composed of two or more lithium battery cells connected in series; a first protection circuit including a first voltage detect part for detecting the voltage(s) of a part of the two or more battery cells, and a first ... | 05/22/2012 |
| 8179097 | Protection circuit for battery pack and battery pack having the same A protection circuit for a battery pack is provided in which a positive temperature coefficient device is electrically connected in a current path of the battery pack to control current flowing through the current path in response to an internal temperature of the b... | 05/15/2012 |
| 8179096 | Battery protection method and circuit therefor In one embodiment, a circuit is formed to couple a battery to a charging voltage at least a portion of a time when the charging voltage is greater than zero volts and is less than a first voltage value. The circuit is also formed to decouple the battery from the cha... | 05/15/2012 |
| 8179099 | Battery state monitoring circuit and battery device Provided is a battery state monitoring circuit including a control circuit that applies, to a gate of a signal output transistor provided at a terminal for transmitting an overcharge detection signal, a potential at which the signal output transistor is turned off a... | 05/15/2012 |
| 8179098 | Charge controlling semiconductor integrated circuit Disclosed is a charge controlling semiconductor integrated circuit including: an electric current controlling transistor connected between a voltage input terminal and an output terminal to control an electric current which flows from the voltage input terminal to t... | 05/15/2012 |
| 8174241 | Method of protecting electricity storage device in hybrid DC power supply system A method protects a battery in a fuel cell vehicle, in which an inverter-driven motor is supplied with electric power from the battery and a fuel cell. If a battery voltage of the battery falls outside of a prescribed range, a primary current and a secondary current... | 05/08/2012 |
| 8159187 | Charging circuit for secondary battery An operational amplifier connects to a midpoint between a plurality of serially connected battery cells constituting a secondary battery to provide a charging circuit for inhibiting a charge/discharge current from flowin to the midpoint and an input/output current f... | 04/17/2012 |
| 8159188 | Vehicle and method for managing power limits for a battery A method for managing power limits for a battery includes the step of increasing a minimum operating state of charge after an initial power capability has decreased to the point where a predefined full discharge power is not available at an initial minimum operating... | 04/17/2012 |
| 8154253 | Cell voltage abnormality detector and cell voltage monitoring device for a multi-cell series battery A circuit for detecting battery cell abnormalities in a multi-cell series battery for effectively and quickly detecting abnormalities with a simple, small circuit that provides improved reliability, safety and service life of the multi-cell series battery. In the vo... | 04/10/2012 |
| 8154254 | Power supply system providing electric power to a vehicle and vehicle including the same A converter ECU obtains a temperature increase start signal indicating start of temperature increase of a power storage unit from each sensor and ECU provided in a vehicle. In addition, the converter ECU obtains allowable electric power of the power storage unit fro... | 04/10/2012 |
| 8148946 | Battery pack having protection circuit for secondary battery A battery pack has first through third external terminals connected to positive and negative power supply terminals and a voltage detection terminal, respectively. A secondary battery is connected between the first external terminal and the third external terminal. ... | 04/03/2012 |
| 8143860 | Single chip microcontroller including battery management and protection A microcontroller is disclosed. The microcontroller comprises a processor system and a high voltage interface coupled to the processor system and adapted to be coupled to a battery. The microcontroller further includes a battery management system for monitoring the ... | 03/27/2012 |
| 8143858 | Electrical apparatus, electrical apparatus system, and power supply apparatus When a battery pack, comprising an overcurrent protection section for stopping, when a current greater than a first threshold value passes, a current supply, is connected to a power supply terminal of an information processing apparatus, the information processing a... | 03/27/2012 |
| 8143859 | Power supply apparatus for vehicle A power supply apparatus for a vehicle includes first and second batteries provided electrically in parallel to main loads, a boost converter provided between the first battery and the main loads, a boost converter provided between the second battery and the main lo... | 03/27/2012 |
| 8134339 | Integrated circuit and method for preserving vehicle's battery charge and protecting trailer load A method and integrated circuit for preserving a battery's charge and protecting electrical devices is disclosed. A maximum and a minimum battery voltage value at the output port are stored in a memory. A steady state battery voltage at the output port is measured a... | 03/13/2012 |
| 8134338 | Battery management system and driving method thereof A battery management system is provided for managing a battery that supplies power to a vehicle. The battery includes a plurality of cells. The battery management system includes a sensing unit for measuring a voltage of each of the plurality of cells. The battery m... | 03/13/2012 |
| 8134340 | Battery management system A battery management system capable of safely disconnecting a charge/discharge current line from a battery pack in an over-charge condition is provided. The battery management system includes a charge/discharge relay including a relay switch coupled to a charge/disc... | 03/13/2012 |
| 8129948 | Protective circuits for secondary battery packs This invention discloses a charging/discharging protective circuit for a secondary battery pack, having an over-charging/discharging voltage comparator, a reference voltage source and a battery status decision circuit. There is also a sampling circuit having a seque... | 03/06/2012 |
| 8129949 | Device and method for instantaneous load reduction configuration to prevent under voltage condition A device may include a battery and a plurality of components receiving power from the battery. A voltage of the battery is maintained above a threshold voltage by decreasing a current drawn by one of the components when the battery voltage approaches the threshold v... | 03/06/2012 |
| 8129950 | Battery module, pack of modules The application concerns a battery module, comprising cells, two external terminals, a message communication infrastructure, a module control unit comprising a message processing unit, connected to the infrastructure to send and receive messages. According to the ap... | 03/06/2012 |
| 8129951 | Power charging assembly and method that includes a low voltage electrical device operable with pulse width modulation (PWM) control A power charging assembly and methods are provided to provide a pre-charge low-current state, a steady-state, high-current charging state, and an unconnect state for an electrical load of an electrical propulsion system in a hybrid electrical vehicle (HEV). The powe... | 03/06/2012 |
| 8125192 | Power switching module for battery module assembly Disclosed herein is a power switching module for a battery module assembly constructed in a structure in which a plurality of rectangular battery modules, each having a plurality of battery cells or unit modules connected in series to each other, are stacked in the ... | 02/28/2012 |
| 8125188 | Power management system A power management system for supplying power to an output circuit comprising a plurality of rechargeable batteries, a conversion means for converting a supply voltage to a battery voltage to enable charging of one or more of the rechargeable batteries and switch me... | 02/28/2012 |
| 8125189 | Systems for charging a battery in a closed loop configuration A system is provided for charging a battery with an AC adapter. The system includes a first closed loop electrical path between the battery and the AC adapter. The first closed loop electrical path includes a first monitoring circuit for monitoring at least one firs... | 02/28/2012 |
| 8125190 | Battery charging system A battery charging system is disclosed. The battery charging system includes a battery cell, a voltage measurement circuit and an overvoltage protection circuit. The voltage measurement circuit measures a cell voltage of the battery cell. The overvoltage protection ... | 02/28/2012 |
| 8125191 | Early warning method for abnormal state of lithium battery and recording medium An early warning method for an abnormal state of a lithium battery and a recording medium applicable to a portable electronic device are provided. The method includes the following steps. A plurality of curves of voltage against electric quantity is obtained accordi... | 02/28/2012 |
| 8111046 | Technique for conveying overload conditions from an AC adapter to a load powered by the adapter A constant voltage/constant power AC adapter converts AC voltage to DC voltage to provide power to a plurality of loads. The adapter's output characteristic is approximately a constant voltage as long as the output current draw by the loads is less than a threshold ... | 02/07/2012 |
| 8102153 | Battery voltage adjusting device The battery voltage adjusting device includes: a voltage detecting means provided corresponding to a block including at least one unit cell of an on-vehicle high voltage battery consisting of a plurality of the unit cells connected in series and detecting a terminal... | 01/24/2012 |
| 8102152 | Deterioration detecting method and deterioration suppressing method for rechargeable lithium batteries, deterioration detector, deterioration suppressor, battery pack, and charger According to a deterioration detecting method for rechargeable lithium batteries, battery voltages of a rechargeable lithium battery before and after the completion of charging or discharging are measured. An evaluation value is calculated based on the measured batt... | 01/24/2012 |
| 8093864 | Battery with electronic compartment An electronic containment battery includes a battery section and an electronic section that together form a standard battery form factor that allows insertion into conventional electronic devices. The electronic section can include Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry tha... | 01/10/2012 |
| 8093865 | Charging device with backflow prevention A charging device which is capable of preventing charging current from flowing even if a battery pack remains mounted thereon after charging of the battery pack is completed, thereby preventing deterioration of batteries of the battery pack. A circuit including a se... | 01/10/2012 |
| 8084997 | Voltage sensor module and voltage monitoring apparatus Provided is a voltage sensor module monitoring a voltage of each of a plurality of battery cells, including: first and second terminals each receiving a voltage applied between both ends of the plurality of battery cells; third and fourth terminals each receiving a ... | 12/27/2011 |
| 8084998 | Method and device for controlling a storage voltage of a battery pack A storage voltage of a battery pack is controlled with control electronics. The storage voltage of a battery pack is sensed, and a discharge mechanism is triggered if the storage voltage is within a predetermined range of voltage, to thereby adjust the storage volta... | 12/27/2011 |
| 8080979 | Charging system and charger utilizing battery state information received from a battery unit to determine if the battery unit is in a normal state A charger that charges a battery unit including a secondary battery, includes a receiving unit, a detection unit, a determination unit, and a control unit. The receiving unit receives, from the battery unit, battery state information indicating a state of the batter... | 12/20/2011 |
| 8076905 | Battery charging method and device thereof A battery charging method and device thereof are disclosed. The method includes the following steps. First, a charging current is supplied into a plurality of cell blocks of a battery module for charging, and the terminal voltages of the cell blocks are detected, wh... | 12/13/2011 |
| 8063609 | Method and system for extending life of a vehicle energy storage device Methods and systems are provided for controlling a power transfer rate in to and/or out of a vehicle energy storage device to affect a current state of charge of the energy storage device. The vehicle may be on a mission comprising a plurality of future power transf... | 11/22/2011 |
| 8058845 | Battery state monitoring circuit and battery apparatus Provided is a battery state monitoring circuit which is capable of preventing a discharge leak current from a battery so as to eliminate a load conventionally imposed on a user, including: a battery state detector circuit that detects a state of the battery based on... | 11/15/2011 |
| 8058846 | Protection circuit for a battery pack to control the operation of the battery pack based on temperature A protection circuit controls charging/discharging of a battery pack in both a high temperature region and a low temperature region. The battery pack is protected from the risk of firing, burning or explosion which occurs in a high temperature region, to secure its ... | 11/15/2011 |
