Did You Know...
...that several people are credited with the invention of the flush toilet? Most people have heard of Thomas Crapper (1837-1910), the sanitary engineer who invented the valve-and-siphon arrangement that made the modern toilet possible. Another claimant to "the throne" was British inventor Alexander Cumming who patented a toilet in 1775. Then there's a nameless Minoan (a native of ancient Crete) who lived 4,000 years ago who supposedly was ahead of his time and created the first flush toilet!
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8148995 | Degradation determination device for heater of gas sensor and method for diagnosing the heater A sensor element detects exhaust gas emitted from an internal combustion engine. A heater is supplied with electricity from a power source so as to heat the sensor element. A detection unit detects heater voltage across the heater. A degradation determination unit d... | 04/03/2012 |
| 8134372 | Pressure tank fault detector and method A pressure tank fault detector and method provides a system for detecting a fault in a pressure tank, such as a well water tank. The system includes a current transformer positioned adjacent a pump power wire. A circuit includes a timer, a data recorder, and a syste... | 03/13/2012 |
| 7791352 | Generator regulator having a diagnostic function for semiconductor components A method for detecting a fault in semiconductor components in electrical machines, e.g., three-phase generators, used in the automotive field is described. The electrical machine is equipped with multiple windings, each having a phase terminal U, V, W. The electrica... | 09/07/2010 |
| 7511505 | Centralized connector module having component diagnostic capability, refrigeration unit incorporating the same and methods of assembling and troubleshooting a refrigeration unit A centralized connector module, a refrigeration unit and a method of assembling a refrigeration unit. In one embodiment, the centralized connector module includes (1) a dielectric body having interconnected terminal sets corresponding to components connectable there... | 03/31/2009 |
| 7466139 | Method to determine current detection circuit failure A method of determining current detection circuit failure determines failure of a current detection circuit that is connected to positive and negative sides of a power source and that issues a voltage corresponding to detected current at an output terminal. The meth... | 12/16/2008 |
| 7427865 | Method for detecting a discharge condition fault in an electrical system of a vehicle or piece of machinery A method for detecting a discharge condition fault in an electrical system of a vehicle or a piece of machinery includes supplying electrical energy to the electrical system from an auxiliary battery or batteries of a multiple battery system when a main battery of t... | 09/23/2008 |
| 7415312 | Process module tuning A process module tuning method characterizes a process module by gathering data using a process condition measuring device to measure process outputs while inputs are excited. The data is used to identify a dynamic process model. The dynamic process model is then be... | 08/19/2008 |
| 7394259 | Method and system for detecting and isolating stray voltage A stray voltage detection and isolation system. The stray voltage detection portion of the system includes a water delivery system electrically isolated from an electrical transmission system of an electric utility. Meters measure an electrical characteristic betwee... | 07/01/2008 |
| 7365928 | Write driver with improved boosting circuit and interconnect impedance matching A write driver driving a write current through a head connected to the write head by an interconnect. The write driver includes a circuit matching output resistance to the odd characteristic impedance of the interconnect and a voltage boosting circuit. The voltage b... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7352188 | Electrically operated vehicle abnormality judging device An electrically operated vehicle abnormality judging device. The invention has an electrically operated machine, a driving signal generation processing section for generating a driving signal by receiving a command value, an inverter for receiving the driving signal... | 04/01/2008 |
| 7330342 | Safety tester having a high-voltage switching relay protected by an in-line electronic circuit breaker A multiple function safety compliance test instrument includes a high voltage output switching relay protected by a solid state in-line circuit breaker. ... | 02/12/2008 |
| 7304470 | Fan operating status monitoring system A fan operating status monitoring system includes a detecting module to detect pulsation currents generated by the rotation of a fan, and further convert the detected pulsation currents to voltage signals, thereby allowing a differential magnifying module, a first p... | 12/04/2007 |
| 7304829 | Apparatus and method for filtering current sensor output signals An electronic filter for filtering the output signal of a current sensor of a circuit breaker is disclosed. The current sensor has an output signal characteristic similar to that of a Rogowski coil output signal characteristic that includes a third harmonic noise co... | 12/04/2007 |
| 7301737 | Motor power line break detection method in AC servo driver An object of the invention is to provide a break detection method capable of lessening a delay of motor power line break detection. According to the invention, in a motor power line break detection method of an AC servo driver including a current detector and... | 11/27/2007 |
| 7295413 | Control circuit of power supply with selectable current-limiting modes The present invention relates to a control circuit of power supply with selectable current-limiting modes. Via a select circuit in the control circuit of the power supply of the present invention, the user himself can select and switch the operating mode of the curr... | 11/13/2007 |
| 7292053 | High-voltage measuring device The present invention provides a high-voltage measuring device capable of providing sufficient electric isolation between resistors and between resistors and a voltage measurement circuit without necessity of enlarging a size of a substrate for carry thereon the cir... | 11/06/2007 |
| 7282869 | HID ballast and lamp tester The instant invention relates to an HID ballast and lamp tester, which provides visual indication of failure of either the ballast or lamp by continuously monitoring the status of the HID lighting system. The HID ballast and lamp tester detects and utilizes the volt... | 10/16/2007 |
| 7253635 | Method for checking the electrical safety of a household appliance and corresponding household appliance A nominal setpoint value of the admissible power consumption of a household appliance is respectively set for each electrical component. The actual value of the current consumption of the household appliance is measured according to the electrical components used an... | 08/07/2007 |
| 7242981 | System and method for controlling an implantable medical device subject to magnetic field or radio frequency exposure A system for controlling an implantable medical device (e.g., a drug delivery device) susceptible to malfunctioning during exposure to a magnetic field and/or Radio Frequency field (e.g., during a magnetic resonance imaging procedure) and a method for operating the ... | 07/10/2007 |
| 7218120 | Fault detection circuit for a driver circuit Various component parts of a driver circuit for drive sources such as electric motors and clutches, such as relays and FETs as well as the drive sources can be tested by selectively energizing the relays and evaluating the voltage levels of the selected points by us... | 05/15/2007 |
| 7212389 | Over-voltage protection system An electrical device includes a body, an electrical contact having a first end for electrically coupling to an electrical apparatus and a second end within the body, and a conductor electrically coupled to the second end of the electrical contact. The electrical dev... | 05/01/2007 |
| 7211985 | Training device On a training device, in particular for developing human muscles, having a torque-generating unit which comprises an electric motor and a reduction gearing, and whose output interacts with at least one training element offered to the exercising person, an electric m... | 05/01/2007 |
| 7199571 | Probe apparatus for use in a separable connector, and systems including same A probe apparatus disclosed for use in a separable connector includes an insulating body and spaced apart first and second electrical conductors in contact with the insulating body. The first and second electrical conductors have adjacent surfaces configured such th... | 04/03/2007 |
| 7180037 | Heater wire and control therefor An improved control device and method is usable with flexible heating wire having a conductive core with a Negative Temperature Coefficient (NTC) layer and a helically wound heater conductor within an insulative outer sheath. The conductive core is coupled to a cont... | 02/20/2007 |
| 7181379 | Variable altitude simulator system for testing engines and vehicles A method and system for controlling both the pressure and temperature at the engine air intake, engine crankcase, and at the engine exhaust so that pressure and temperature conditions are equilibrated. Engines are tested both at simulated high altitudes (operating a... | 02/20/2007 |
| 7176693 | Short circuit detecting circuit and abnormality monitoring signal generating circuit In order to drive an L load, FETs are disposed so as to be mirror-paired with FETs disposed at the power source side and the ground side respectively, and currents corresponding to mirrored currents of first and second currents flowing in FETs are made to flow in cu... | 02/13/2007 |
| 7177383 | Method and system for safety regulation in nuclear power regulating systems A system and method for monitoring rod moving coils in nuclear power system. The system ensures that these coils are each functioning properly, and thus prevent movement of the other coils when a dysfunctional coil is detected. The method for accomplishing this moni... | 02/13/2007 |
| 7160142 | Grounding clamp apparatus and method A grounding clamp provides a direct connection to ground between a power transmission or power distribution apparatus and a nearby ground plane. As a grounding clamp is being attached to the mating interface of a power transmission or power distribution apparatus, t... | 01/09/2007 |
| 7138794 | Detection of faults in linear and rotary voltage transducers Systems and methods for detecting faults in RVDTs and LVDTs are described. In an exemplary embodiment, a sum of secondary voltages V1 and V2 from a transducer is obtained by adding the secondary voltages together, i.e.; V1+V2. This sum of secondary voltages theoreti... | 11/21/2006 |
| 7113882 | Automatic testing system An automatic testing system. A sampling and converting device obtains a plurality of electronic parameters from a tested device and transforms them into a plurality of digital signals. A microprocessor receives the digital signals and performs various short-circuit ... | 09/26/2006 |
| 7110204 | Process-insensitive write current generation for a HDD preamplifier writer equipped with parallel output resistive damping The present invention achieves technical advantages as an improved Parallel Damping scheme suitable for very-low-supply preamp operation. The improved Parallel Damping Scheme accurately generates a programmable Iw flowing through the write head while compensating fo... | 09/19/2006 |
| 7102355 | Method, apparatus and computer-readable code for magnifying an incipient ground fault and enable quick detection of such fault Method, apparatus and computer-readable code are provided for detecting a location of an incipient ground fault in an electrical propulsion system of a relatively large land-based vehicle, such as a locomotive. A method embodying aspects of the present invention all... | 09/05/2006 |
| 7095240 | Method of an apparatus for testing wiring A test system employing a plurality of disconnect devices is provided. Each load, such as a lamp, has a local disconnect device which temporarily disconnects the load in order to protect it from high voltage during the test. ... | 08/22/2006 |
| 7095235 | Monitoring device, electrical machine tool, current supply device, and associated method of operation A monitoring device for an electrical machining tool, in particular for temperature monitoring with an accumulator-driven machine, includes a switch element (12) for separating an electrical consumer (14) from a current supply device (10). For d... | 08/22/2006 |
| 7091707 | Method and apparatus for controlling power drawn from an energy converter Methods, apparatus, media and signals for controlling power drawn from an energy converter to supply a load, where the energy converter is operable to convert energy from a physical source into electrical energy. Power drawn from the energy converter is changed when... | 08/15/2006 |
| 7092623 | Method and apparatus to achieve accurate fan tachometer with programmable look-up table A system and method for measuring the speed of a fan is presented. The duty cycle of a pulse width modulated (PWM) power signal may control speed of the fan. The fan may generate tachometer pulses used for monitoring RPM of the fan. Very low frequency test pulses ma... | 08/15/2006 |
| 7088601 | Power conversion apparatus and methods using DC bus shifting A power converter apparatus, such as a double-conversion or line-interactive UPS, includes first and second DC voltage busses and a polyphase DC to AC converter circuit coupled to the first and second DC voltage busses and operative to generate a polyphase AC output... | 08/08/2006 |
| 7061248 | Electrical utility service tester An electrical utility service tester that is used for troubleshooting 120/208 or 120/240, three phase or single phase alternating current electrical utility services where 120 volt hot leg leads of the electrical utility services are connected 120 volts to ground on... | 06/13/2006 |
| 7038461 | Bleed air valve test set A test set that includes a circuit breaker, at least two test points, a single pole switch, a double pole switch, and a set of test lights. The at least two test points are for reading amperage when testing a bleed air shutoff valve in aircraft. The at least two tes... | 05/02/2006 |
| 7026822 | High voltage switching matrix for electrical safety compliance test equipment A high voltage switching matrix for selectively connecting a plurality of different voltage/current sources or inputs with a plurality of different outputs includes a common or shared relay for each of the voltage/current sources at the voltage/current source inputs... | 04/11/2006 |
