Famous Patents
3M employee and church chorister Art Fry needed something to temporarily mark pages in his hymnal. He was in luck because his colleague, Spencer Silver, accidentally developed a glue that was too weak for other purposes. After initially discouraging consumer response, Post-it Notes became a hit in 1979.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8054605 | Power supply controller A gate driver 28 performs a normal charging operation for a power MOSFET 14 by driving a charge pump 90 solely, when a low-level control signal S1 (ON signal) is received during a normal state. On the other hand, if a low-level control si... | 11/08/2011 |
| 7889474 | Manually-controlled arc flash energy reduction system and method for circuit breaker trip units A circuit protection system includes a normal mode and a maintenance mode. A current sensor senses current in the circuit. An enclosure includes an access panel that is movable between a closed position and open position. A circuit breaker is mounted within the encl... | 02/15/2011 |
| 7646575 | Manually-controlled arc flash energy reduction system and method for circuit breaker trip units A circuit protection system includes a normal mode and a maintenance mode. A current sensor senses current in the circuit. An enclosure includes an access panel that is movable between a closed position and open position. A circuit breaker is mounted within the encl... | 01/12/2010 |
| 7373528 | Increased power for power over Ethernet applications According to one embodiment of the invention, a method for supplying power over Ethernet includes determining whether a first port of power sourcing equipment is supplying current to a power over Ethernet device in a predetermined current range. The method also incl... | 05/13/2008 |
| 7369389 | Electronic trip unit for circuit breakers An electronic trip unit for a circuit breaker is disclosed. The electronic trip unit has a processing circuit, a real time clock chip, and a power source for powering the real time clock chip in the absence of current in the circuit breaker. The processing circuit i... | 05/06/2008 |
| 7366297 | Method and system for converting alternating current to ethernet in-line power According to one embodiment, a method for converting alternating current voltage signals to Ethernet in-line power includes converting an alternating current voltage signal to an approximate direct current voltage signal, adding at least one odd harmonic of the appr... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7359221 | Power supply for use in an electronic energy meter A three-phase electronic electricity meter that includes a power supply circuit operable to create a constant voltage output when receiving a variable voltage input. The power supply circuit of the electricity meter receives a three-phase line voltage and converts t... | 04/15/2008 |
| 7355826 | Power supply apparatus capable of detecting abnormality of current flowing through drive circuit A current detection unit starts sampling of a motor current at the timing when the motor current has exceeded a threshold value, and holds a maximum motor current value for each prescribed operation cycle. An abnormality determination unit determines whether the max... | 04/08/2008 |
| 7352545 | Compressor terminal fault interruption method and apparatus A compressor terminal fault interruption method and interrupter for disconnecting power to a compressor terminal when terminal venting failure is imminent including a current sensing circuit for sensing current provided to the terminal by a power source and outputti... | 04/01/2008 |
| 7315169 | Microprocessor controlled fault indicator having inrush restraint circuit A fault indicator for indicating the occurrence of a fault in an electrical conductor has a housing, a high capacity battery, at least one light emitting diode (LED) visible from the exterior of the fault indicator upon the occurrence of a fault and which may be aut... | 01/01/2008 |
| 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 |
| 7301742 | Method and apparatus for accessing and activating accessory functions of electronic circuit breakers An electronic trip unit for a circuit breaker includes a programmed microprocessor and a module plug in removable signal communication with the microprocessor. The module plug includes a program identifier. The microprocessor recognizes the program identifier and ac... | 11/27/2007 |
| 7292422 | Occupancy-based circuit breaker control A method and occupancy-based control device in a trip unit of a main circuit breaker, with the circuit breaker coupled to an electrical distribution system including at least one feeder circuit breaker and a load circuit. The occupancy-based control device comprises... | 11/06/2007 |
| 7292418 | Leakage current interrupter with sustained overvoltage and/or overcurrent protection An appliance leakage current interrupter (ALCI) includes components for preventing sustained over-voltage and sustained over-current conditions. A current interruption threshold is inversely proportional to voltage supplied to the appliance. A microprocessor measure... | 11/06/2007 |
| 7274974 | Independent automatic shedding branch circuit breaker An independent automatic shedding system that automatically allows any combination of loads to powered under limited power availability (such as a standby power source) without overloading the generator or rewiring, while contributing to the stability of the power g... | 09/25/2007 |
| 7271566 | Method and system for managing the voltage on the DC bus of a speed controller for an AC motor A method and system for managing the voltage of a DC bus of a speed controller for an AC electric motor linked to a current distribution network. The method includes comparing a value of the voltage measured on the DC bus with a determined limit value, when the valu... | 09/18/2007 |
| 7256516 | Battery charging system and method A charging system for simultaneously charging the batteries of a plurality of battery powered vehicles. The charging includes one or more DC-DC power converters having one or more charging ports configured to plug into the batteries. The DC-DC power converters are e... | 08/14/2007 |
| 7253637 | Arc fault circuit interrupter system In order to determine whether arcing is present in an electrical circuit, a sensor signal corresponding to current in said electrical circuit is processed. The sensor signal is filtered to determine the presence of noise in a predetermined frequency range and produc... | 08/07/2007 |
| 7254001 | Circuit protection system A circuit protection system is provided that provides a dynamic delay time to an upstream circuit breaker if a fault is detected in a circuit where the dynamic delay time can be based upon the location of the fault, such as the nearest downstream circuit breaker. A ... | 08/07/2007 |
| 7248977 | Phasor transducer apparatus and system for protection, control, and management of electricity distribution systems A system for measuring the delivery of electrical energy from an energy supplier to a consumer through an electric circuit is disclosed. The system includes devices coupled with the network. Each device comprises a sensor, an analog to digital converter, a processor... | 07/24/2007 |
| 7239495 | Output circuit with transistor overcurrent protection When the overcurrent detection circuit detects that a voltage drop of the output transistor exceeds a threshold value, it turns on the switch by the first operational amplifier. In the shut-down signal generation circuit, the capacitor is charged with a charge curre... | 07/03/2007 |
| 7218496 | Overcurrent protection circuit The voltage generator circuit includes a regulator, a first sensor circuit, and a second sensor circuit. The first sensor circuit includes a first transistor, a first resistor, and an error amplifier. When V1>Vth, the error amplifier senses an overcurrent con... | 05/15/2007 |
| 7209940 | Temperature compensated square function generator Temperature compensation may be provided to a square function generator by adjusting a tail current of the square function generator. Temperature compensation of the square function generator may be provided, for example, by a second square function generator circui... | 04/24/2007 |
| 7203040 | Method and circuit breaker for reducing arc flash during maintenance in a low voltage power circuit Maintenance trip functions override the normal or specified trip functions of a low voltage circuit breaker to reduce pickup currents and/or time delays to effect faster trips, which reduces arc energy produced by faults during maintenance or testing on a live circu... | 04/10/2007 |
| 7174258 | Apparatus and system for protection, control, and management of electricity distribution systems using time synchronization A device for measuring electrical energy in an electric circuit is disclosed. The device includes at least one sensor coupled with the electric circuit and operative to sense at least one electrical parameter in the electric circuit and generate at least one analog ... | 02/06/2007 |
| 7164273 | Power source monitor A power source monitor and method to monitor various operating line conditions of an electrical power outlet comprising measuring line voltage and frequency, analyzing wiring conditions, displaying the line conditions and generating an alarm when any of the line con... | 01/16/2007 |
| 7161375 | Phase-loss detection for rotating field machine A method for detecting a loss of a phase in a multiphase rotating field machine, the method comprising providing a first electrical current into the machine windings to cause the current vector to assume a first current vector position, sensing a first current in at... | 01/09/2007 |
| 7161778 | Rotor thermal model for use in motor protection The protective relay for an induction motor includes a first program function which establishes a first thermal threshold value for a start condition of the motor, using a start condition thermal model. The thermal condition of the motor is determined by measuring t... | 01/09/2007 |
| 7161396 | CMOS power on reset circuit A power-on reset circuit for generating a reset signal for an associated IC device includes a pull-up resistor connected between a supply voltage and a tracking node, a pull-down transistor connected between the tracking node and ground potential, and a voltage divi... | 01/09/2007 |
| 7151656 | Arc fault circuit interrupter system A system for determining whether arcing is present in an electrical circuit in response to a sensor signal corresponding to current in the circuit includes a circuit for analyzing the sensor signal to determine the presence of broadband noise in a predetermined rang... | 12/19/2006 |
| 7136265 | Load recognition and series arc detection using bandpass filter signatures A method and system for determining whether arcing is present in an electrical circuit includes sensing a change in an alternating current in the circuit and developing a corresponding input signal, analyzing the input signal to determine the presence of broadband n... | 11/14/2006 |
| 7117105 | Method and apparatus for ground fault protection A method and apparatus for monitoring a centrally controlled power distribution system is provided. The method includes sampling an electrical current flow in the centrally controlled power distribution system, transmitting the sampled current signals to a central c... | 10/03/2006 |
| 7103486 | Device for monitoring a neutral and earth break and electrical switchgear apparatus comprising such a device The monitoring device of a neutral conductor and earth conductor comprises processing means, and first voltage detection means to supply a first signal representative of a voltage between neutral and earth to said processing means. The device also comprises second v... | 09/05/2006 |
| 7095598 | Fault detection apparatus and method There is provided an apparatus for producing a trip signal to activate a circuit breaker in an alternating current power line, said apparatus comprising: a sensing circuit operable to sense values representing: a phase difference between current and voltage in said ... | 08/22/2006 |
| 7095138 | Controller for plural supplies driving single load A controller is disclosed for determining that the currents from the two AC power sources are correctly phased. Required circuitry can be disposed within a housing from which extend power cables having single phase 240V AC, 50 A male connector plugs connected at rem... | 08/22/2006 |
| 7092228 | Low-voltage power breaker with a rating plug A rating plug may be provided with an electrical coding such that unsuitable identification of the rating plug is not transmitted to the trigger unit, but rather the attempt to make use of such a rating plug leads to a signal. The signaling unit is arranged on the h... | 08/15/2006 |
| 7068480 | Arc detection using load recognition, harmonic content and broadband noise A method of determining whether arcing is present in an electrical circuit includes sensing a change in current in the circuit and developing a corresponding input signal, analyzing the input signal to determine the presence of broadband noise in a predetermined ran... | 06/27/2006 |
| 7064946 | Electronic fuse An electronic fuse comprising an integrated circuit having a control output terminal coupled to a control electrode of a power semiconductor switching device, the power semiconductor switching device being coupled in series with a load between first and second poten... | 06/20/2006 |
| 7064944 | Circuit breaker for detecting overload A circuit breaker for detecting overload is disclosed. The circuit breaker detects an overload condition electrically without using bimetal. The circuit breaker for detecting overload includes an arc fault detector and a discharge controller. If arc fault occurs, th... | 06/20/2006 |
| 7061142 | Inline power device detection According to one embodiment of the invention, a method for providing power to a device coupled to a communications switch through a data line is provided. The method includes determining that the device includes a diode. The method also includes providing power to t... | 06/13/2006 |
