...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 |
| 7821801 | Power factor correction method for AC/DC converters and corresponding converter An indirect and passive method for AC/DC converter power factor correction is disclosed. The correction is achieved by stabilizing the input impedance of the converter with keeping the inversely proportional dependence between the current iconv(t) and vol... | 10/26/2010 |
| 7684221 | Method and circuit for galvanically isolated transmission of a signal A method for galvanically isolated transmission of a signal, especially a switching signal for controlling at least one switching means includes using a transformer. The primary side of a transformer is fed with a pulse-width modulated voltage in which different dut... | 03/23/2010 |
| 7342475 | Coil arrangement and method for its manufacture A coil arrangement that has a primary and a secondary C-shaped core, each C-shaped core having an elongated base and two shorter legs at the ends of the base, a winding being applied to each base and the ends of the windings being electrically connected at the legs ... | 03/11/2008 |
| 7339453 | Differential mode inductor with a center tap A differential mode inductor includes a first inductor lead that receives a current. A first arm receives the current from the first inductor lead. A center tap receives the current from the first arm. A second arm receives the current from the center tap. The secon... | 03/04/2008 |
| 7339485 | Rectifier for supplying double voltage and RFID tag thereof Disclosed is a rectifier for supplying double voltage and an RFID tag thereof. The rectifier includes a charging part for charging an input voltage induced to input ends by a received radio frequency (RF) signal; a power provider for charging a sum voltage correspon... | 03/04/2008 |
| 7331681 | Lighting apparatus with adjustable lenses or filters A lighting apparatus comprises a light panel having a panel frame, and a plurality of LEDs or other light elements secured to the panel frame. Lenses and/or filters are adjusted in distance from the light elements, by for example moving the lenses/filters into diffe... | 02/19/2008 |
| 7324772 | Point-of-load design for high voltage AC power supplies An electrophotographic document production device having a transformerless high voltage power supply located distal to its load and a transformer at the point of load. ... | 01/29/2008 |
| 7323851 | Digital power factor correction controller and AC-to-DC power supply including same A PFC AC-to-DC power supply is disclosed. According to various embodiments, the PFC AC-to-DC power supply comprises a switching converter comprising at least one main power switch and a PFC controller for controlling the at least one main power switch. The PFC contr... | 01/29/2008 |
| 7321483 | Power converter A power converter comprising: a rectifier arrangement (D1-D4) having inputs coupled to AC power supply terminals; a pair of series-connected capacitors (C1, C2) coupled across output terminals of the rectifier arrangement; a switch (S1... | 01/22/2008 |
| 7309883 | Semiconductor device capable of preventing current flow caused by latch-up and method of forming the same A semiconductor device includes first, second, and third wells. The first well is connected to a pad to which an external pin is connected and includes a first-type diffusion region that receives a well bias voltage. The second well is adjacent to the first well, an... | 12/18/2007 |
| 7307859 | Circuit for reduction of voltage stress between windings The present invention is a high voltage power converter having primary and secondary winding sets in a single planar layer stacked in increasing voltage and arranged without the use of a conductor. Substantially no AC stress exists between winding sets. ... | 12/11/2007 |
| 7304872 | Power supply A modular, low weight impedance dropping power supply with battery backup is disclosed that can be connected to a high voltage AC source and provide electrical power at a lower voltage. The design can be scaled over a wide range of input voltages and over a wide ran... | 12/04/2007 |
| 7275501 | System and method using capacitors to power an automatic feeder system A method and apparatus relates to systems powered by energy stored in capacitors. The capacitors may be charged using any desired power source. The system does not require batteries, which increases the reliability and life span of the system. In one example, an aut... | 10/02/2007 |
| 7277302 | 12-pulse converter including a filter choke incorporated in the rectifier The invention provides a 12-pulse converter comprising an autotransformer having a primary winding connected in a delta configuration and two secondary windings connected in star configurations, the two secondary windings being connected to two rectifier bridges tha... | 10/02/2007 |
| 7268517 | Method and system for energy reclamation and reuse The present invention relates to a system and method for harvesting ambient electromagnetic energy, and more particularly, to the integration of antennas and electronics for harvesting ubiquitous radio frequency (RF) energy, transforming such electromagnetic energy ... | 09/11/2007 |
| 7259479 | Transformerless power supply, dual positive or dual negative supplies The positive half-cycle for an ac input signal is applied to a wave rectifier (20, 22), a filter (41) and a voltage regulator (30, 31) for generating a dc output signal. The ac input signal is also applied to a transistor (50) in either t... | 08/21/2007 |
| 7257010 | Power supply circuit A power supply circuit comprises a bridge circuit that has four rectifier elements connected and produces a rectified voltage between a positive side output terminal and a negative side output terminal of the power supply circuit, two of the four rectifier elements ... | 08/14/2007 |
| 7245511 | Resistor dropper power supply with surge protection A power supply system and corresponding methodology is provided for providing a self-protected power supply for use with electronic electricity meters. The self-protecting features are provided, in part, through the use of surface mounted resistive components corres... | 07/17/2007 |
| 7245171 | Voltage clamping circuit for a bicycle dynamo A voltage clamping circuit comprises a first high current gain circuit adapted to receive current from the first line; and a first switching circuit that turns on the first high current gain circuit to flow current away from the first line when the first switching c... | 07/17/2007 |
| 7242597 | Rectifier circuit and vision regeneration assisting apparatus having the same A rectifier circuit for converting an AC voltage to a DC voltage has a first MOS transistor having a source connected to a first input terminal of an AC power supply, and also having a drain connected to an output terminal thereof, a first parasitic diode formed bet... | 07/10/2007 |
| 7236077 | Transformer having adjustable leakage inductance A transformer having adjustable leakage inductance includes a primary winding coil, a secondary winding coil, a bobbin and a magnetic core assembly. The bobbin includes a winding section for winding the primary winding coil and the secondary winding coil thereon, wh... | 06/26/2007 |
| 7236379 | Passive power filter circuit The present invention discloses an improved passive power filter circuit, wherein a rated compensating voltage is provided for the power factor compensating circuit in order to solve the problem of instable power output resulting from that the rated voltage is obtai... | 06/26/2007 |
| 7236380 | Rectifier system having different rectifier elements A rectifier system, in particular a rectifier bridge for a three-phase generator, includes a plurality of rectifier elements, specifiable rectifier elements being different from the other rectifier elements in at least one property. The rectifier elements are, for e... | 06/26/2007 |
| 7233506 | Low kVA/kW transformers for AC to DC multipulse converters A polygon connected autotransformer in conjunction with zero sequence blocking inductor(s) enables multipulse AC to DC converters to use lower kVA parts rating by using appropriate phase-shifted voltage sets in conjunction with inductors that extend the conduction p... | 06/19/2007 |
| 7218500 | High-voltage generator and accelerator using same In a high-voltage generator including a CW circuit (high-voltage circuit), where the CW circuit generates a high voltage through booster circuits that are provided for boosting an input voltage and connected to one another in multiple stages, a conductive shielding ... | 05/15/2007 |
| 7209024 | Filter circuit and power supply unit The present invention provides a filter circuit realizing reduction in the number of magnetic cores on a circuit board and a space occupied by the magnetic cores, and a power supply unit using the filter circuit. A filter circuit includes a first filter part and a s... | 04/24/2007 |
| 7209374 | Capacitor-input positive and negative power supply circuit There is provided a power supply circuit having a simple configuration which is capable of eliminating an adverse effect due to pumping operation. The capacitor-input positive and negative power supply circuit is comprised of diodes, switching circuits connected in ... | 04/24/2007 |
| 7200015 | Automatic capacitor discharge for power supplies In a DC power supply or a battery charger, plural output filter capacitors remain highly charged after the load is removed and the converter is turned off. A transistor connected across the capacitors is non-conductive during normal power supply operation and a blee... | 04/03/2007 |
| 7196918 | Capacitive drop power supply with low power consumption An improved capacitive drop power supply is provided for use in home appliances. The power supply circuit includes: a rectifier for converting an AC power source to a DC voltage; a current limiting capacitance interposed between the AC power source and the rectifier... | 03/27/2007 |
| 7196499 | DC/DC converter with inductor current sensing capability A DC/DC converter for converting an input voltage to an output voltage comprises a switch, an inductor, two voltage dividers, a capacitor, and a controller. The switch coupled to the input voltage. The inductor having a parasitic direct current resistance is used fo... | 03/27/2007 |
| 7193825 | Superconducting fault current limiter A superconducting current limiting device (30) comprising: an interconnected high magnetic permeability structure including a central core (50) interconnected to at least a first and second arm (31, 32) branching off therefrom; a superconductive... | 03/20/2007 |
| 7193496 | Magnetic element and power supply A magnetic element and a power supply which can output a plurality of different output pulse signal voltages or different output AC voltages while preventing an increase in the number of parts or an area occupied by parts are provided. The magnetic element includes ... | 03/20/2007 |
| 7187566 | Three-phase rectifier A capacitor-input type three-phase rectification circuit comprises a three-phase AC power supply (1), a diode rectifier circuit (4), and a low-frequency filter connected between the three-phase AC power supply (1) and the diode rectification cir... | 03/06/2007 |
| 7183747 | Method and circuit arrangement for determining the average current consumption of a battery-operated apparatus The average current consumption of an electronic apparatus is determined in that an energy store C is repeatedly charged and discharged across the apparatus 1 between a set upper threshold value Uso and a set lower threshold value Usu during a typical operati... | 02/27/2007 |
| 7184287 | Rectifier clamping circuit with reverse energy recovery An energy-feedback clamping circuit of a power converter is proposed. The converter includes a transformer coupled to a full-wave rectifier circuit. The clamping circuit includes: two clamping diodes having two anodes coupled to each other at a common-anode terminal... | 02/27/2007 |
| 7183753 | Power factor correction circuit A power factor correction circuit includes; a series circuit connected to a positive-electrode output terminal P1 and negative-electrode output terminal P2 of a full-wave rectifying circuit B1, which rectifies an having current power-supply volt... | 02/27/2007 |
| 7176774 | Differential mode inductor with a center tap A differential mode inductor includes a first inductor lead that receives a current. A first arm receives the current from the first inductor lead. A center tap receives the current from the first arm. A second arm receives the current from the center tap. The secon... | 02/13/2007 |
| 7177168 | Power converting apparatus and power generating apparatus AC module makers must prepare two types of AC modules for the 100-V and 200-V outputs only for domestic supply. For foreign countries, the makers must manufacture AC modules compatible with more system voltages. To solve these problems, the control circuit of an AC ... | 02/13/2007 |
| 7176775 | Transformer and discharge lamp lighting device A transformer and discharge lamp lighting device are disclosed. The transformer includes a closed-magnetic circuit type of core having a gap, a primary winding 7p, a secondary winding 7s and a detecting terminal located on the secondary w... | 02/13/2007 |
| 7170380 | Ignition coil An ignition coil for an internal combustion engine, including a magnetically active core, a first coil shell which is used as a support for a first coil winding made of an electrically conductive wire, and a second coil shell which is positioned so as to be concentr... | 01/30/2007 |