Bizarre Patents
A small umbrella which may be removably attached to a beverage container in order to shade the beverage container from the direct rays of the sun.
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 |
| 7969063 | Driver A driver, including: a piezoelectric element extending and contracting upon application of an electrical voltage; a driving member having one end secured to the piezoelectric element; a frictionally coupling member, frictionally coupling the driving member; and a dr... | 06/28/2011 |
| 7777394 | Ultrasonic transducer driving circuit and ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus With the aim of quickly returning the voltage of an output line to an ultrasonic transducer from a positive voltage or a negative voltage to the ground voltage and reducing the circuit size, immediately after turning on and turning off of a positive FET in accordanc... | 08/17/2010 |
| 7732976 | Piezoelectric actuator drive device In a piezoelectric actuator control device for controlling operation of one or more piezoelectric actuators, when receiving a drive signal of a low level, a discharging switch is repeatedly turned on and off in order to discharge electric charge accumulated in the p... | 06/08/2010 |
| 7709996 | Method and device for controlling a capacitive load A tendency of the controlled load to oscillate when controlling a capacitive load can be avoided according to a piezo actuator for an injection valve of an internal combustion engine, having charging and discharging processes for charging and discharging the capacit... | 05/04/2010 |
| 7705516 | Drive unit It is provided a drive unit 1 in which the displacement amount of the frictional engagement member 7 can be reduced without lowering the driving torque, having a drive circuit 4 comprised of a bridge circuit which includes charge switching eleme... | 04/27/2010 |
| 7626315 | Piezo-injector driving apparatus A piezo-injector driving apparatus overcomes disadvantages occurring at the start and the end of charging or discharging of a piezoelectric element while maintaining high responsiveness. At the start and the end of charging a piezoelectric element, the absolute valu... | 12/01/2009 |
| 7576473 | Method of operating a piezoelectric actuator A method of operating an injector having an injector valve needle and a piezoelectric actuator for controlling movement of the injector valve needle, the method comprising reducing the voltage across the actuator at a first rate (RT1) in order to initiate an ... | 08/18/2009 |
| 7528524 | Method and device for controlling a piezo actuator An apparatus and a method for controlling a piezoelectric actuator are described. The voltage applied to the piezoelectric actuator is detected at a specified time. If certain variables are present, the detection of the voltage and/or the relaying of a detected volt... | 05/05/2009 |
| 7474035 | Driving device for piezoelectric actuator In a driving device for a piezoelectric actuator, when a driving signal is input, a charging switch is repetitively turned on/off to charge and expand the piezoelectric actuator under the state that a discharging switch is turned off. Thereafter, when the input of t... | 01/06/2009 |
| 7456545 | Method for determining the activation voltage of a piezoelectric actuator of an injector A method for determining the activation voltage of a piezoelectric actuator of at least one injector which is used to inject a liquid volume under high pressure into a cavity, in particular into a combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine, the activation v... | 11/25/2008 |
| 7436100 | Device for monitoring a predetermined filling level of a measuring medium in a container A vibration detector for determining and/or monitoring a predetermined fill level in a container. The detector includes an oscillatable unit, a driver/receiver unit and an evaluation unit. The vibration detector can, additionally, be used as a viscosity sensor or as... | 10/14/2008 |
| 7426829 | Vane control An exemplary controller includes a control valve that includes an electric actuator operatively coupled to a valve stem, a piston operatively coupled to one or more hydraulic fluid paths controlled by the control valve and including a piston shaft, a rotatable shaft... | 09/23/2008 |
| 7408290 | Power driving circuit for controlling a variable load ultrasonic transducer The present invention is directed to a high-powered (e.g., >500 W) ultrasonic generator for use especially for delivering high-power ultrasonic energy to a varying load including compressible fluids. The generator includes a variable frequency triangular waveform ge... | 08/05/2008 |
| 7405507 | Method and device for operating an actuator with a capacitive element A positioner includes a capacitative element with which an ohmic resistance is connected in parallel. The value of the ohmic resistance is sensed at specific points in time. To enhance operating reliability during operation of the positioner, correct functioning of ... | 07/29/2008 |
| 7394639 | System and method for driving an industrial control device A process control apparatus including an actuator configured to effect changes in an industrial process, a power supply, a plurality of current switches coupled between the actuator and the power supply and a controller coupled to the plurality of current switches. ... | 07/01/2008 |
| 7372187 | Method and device for control of a capacitive actuator A piezoelectric actuator on an injection valve is controlled by application of a control curve, on which the maximum amplitudes for a current for controlling the actuator are given. A slowly rising or falling charge course at the beginning or end of a charging or di... | 05/13/2008 |
| 7358644 | Method for controlling an actuator and control device belonging thereto A method for the electric control of an actuator, especially a piezoelectric actuator of an injection system comprises the following steps: charging the actuator; waiting during a specific period of time (D1, D2) and discharging the actuator after the ... | 04/15/2008 |
| 7355320 | Reactive load resonant drive circuit Energy efficient circuitry is provided for rapid transfer of charge to and from a reactive load while avoiding excessive peak currents and significant resistive energy dissipation. For example, circuitry of the invention provides for rapid actuation of a piezoelectr... | 04/08/2008 |
| 7336018 | Circuit configuration for charging and discharging a plurality of capacitive actuators A circuit is provided for charging and discharging a plurality of capacitive actuators, which can be produced with little component outlay and minimizes power loss. The circuit has a charge capacitor, which is charged to a charge voltage predefined in relation to a ... | 02/26/2008 |
| 7301256 | Method and circuit configuration for operating a piezoelectric actuator A piezoelectric actuator, for instance a piezoelement for driving an injection valve of an internal combustion engine, is discharged from a charge state, in which a first control potential is present on a first piezo-terminal and a second control potential is presen... | 11/27/2007 |
| 7298100 | Driving apparatus for vibration type actuator and driving method for vibration type actuator A driving apparatus for a vibration type actuator is disclosed, which can boost the power source voltage and can reduce the cost and the size of the apparatus. The driving apparatus comprises an inductor being connected to a power source, a pulse generation circuit ... | 11/20/2007 |
| 7271521 | Circuit having at least one piezoelectric actuator When a drive command (S*) is input by a control circuit (3), a drive signal (S) can be emitted to a piezoelectric actuator (Pi) by a drive circuit (1), with the result that the piezoelectric actuator (Pi) is changed over from a zero position to a drive... | 09/18/2007 |
| 7271520 | Piezo actuator driving circuit The present invention relates to a piezo actuator driving circuit. The piezo actuator driving circuit includes a pulse generator that generates a first voltage pulse with a constant period; a first driver stage that receives the first voltage pulse of the pulse gene... | 09/18/2007 |
| 7258109 | Method for operating a fuel injection device, especially for a motor vehicle A method for operating a fuel injection device, particularly of a motor vehicle. The fuel injection device is provided with an injection valve which has a piezoelectric element. In using the method, the piezoelectric element is activated in such a way that the injec... | 08/21/2007 |
| 7218029 | Adjustable compensation of a piezo drive amplifier depending on mode and number of elements driven An integrated circuit (42) provides drive signals to a piezo element (48) of a milli-actuator device (20) in a mass data storage device (10). The integrated circuit (42) includes a circuit (61) for selectively operating the ... | 05/15/2007 |
| 7203552 | Method and apparatus for controlling a deformable mirror A method, or corresponding apparatus, for controlling deformation of a structure, in part, includes applying a command signal at a first signal level to at least one actuator mechanically coupled to a structure, the first signal level known to produce an energy leve... | 04/10/2007 |
| 7199503 | Energy saving driving circuit for piezoelectric motor In a method and a device according to the present invention, two piezo-elements are driven with two voltages having a phase difference. One of the piezo-elements is charged by an inductive step-up means to a voltage exceeding an available power supply voltage. Subse... | 04/03/2007 |
| 7190102 | Apparatus and method for charging and discharging a capacitor to a predetermined setpoint An apparatus using electrically-stimulated smart material requires a power source to stimulate the material. This power source has three main functions, (1) to apply a known voltage potential across the smart material, (2) to convert from the control voltage to a le... | 03/13/2007 |
| 7104394 | Conveying apparatus with piezoelectric driver A conveying apparatus comprises an elongated conveying bed which includes a proximal end and a distal end. A support structure for the conveying bed accommodates vibratory motion of a portion of the conveying bed extending from the proximal end a substantial distanc... | 09/12/2006 |
| 7084549 | Driver of piezoelectric actuator To make it possible to sustain a low power consumption for the entire driver in a driver of a piezoelectric actuator, by reducing the number of components and switching the piezoelectric actuator at a high speed. Common resistors Ra and Rb for current limitation are... | 08/01/2006 |
| 7075420 | Power conversion from piezoelectric source A system and corresponding method for generating electric power from a rotating tire's mechanical energy concerns a piezoelectric power generation device associated with a power harvesting and conditioning module. The piezoelectric structure is preferably mounted wi... | 07/11/2006 |
| 7075210 | Discharging circuit for a piezoelectric device In a piezoelectric actuator, a first driving signal amplified a predetermined sine wave is applied to a piezoelectric device in a direction parallel to a polarization direction thereof. A second driving signal having a negative phase with respect to the first drivin... | 07/11/2006 |
| 7061157 | Electronic circuit for highly efficient driving of piezoelectric loads The invention relates to a circuit for highly efficient driving of piezoelectric loads, comprising a linear driving circuit portion connected to the load through an inductive-resistive connection whereto a voltage waveform is applied. Advantageously, the circuit com... | 06/13/2006 |
| 7054737 | Power electronics circuit with voltage regulator for electromechanical valve actuator of an internal combustion engine A dual coil half bridge converter adapted to be coupled to a dual coil actuator of a cylinder valve in an internal combustion engine is described. In one example, the converter has a first and second capacitor and a voltage source, where the converter is actuated vi... | 05/30/2006 |
| 7049756 | Capacitive load driving circuit, capacitive load driving method, and apparatus using the same A capacitive load driving circuit (1) for charging and discharging a capacitive load (11) is provided with a voltage divider (5) for dividing a power supply voltage (VH) into a plurality of different voltages (V1–V9), a plurality... | 05/23/2006 |
| 7050193 | High accuracy swath advance paper positioning for printers Techniques for high accuracy media positioning in a swath printer. A high accuracy media positioning method includes mounting a computer-controlled printing element for movement along a swath axis for swath printing of an image on a print medium, moving the printing... | 05/23/2006 |
| 7040297 | Method for controlling a piezo-actuated fuel-injection valve The current guided to the piezo actuator and the voltage which is consequently established thereon is used for calculating with the help of a non-linear actuator model, the characteristics of the longitudinal variations (s) and the force (F) exerted by the actuator ... | 05/09/2006 |
| 7034436 | Device to control a piezoelectric actuator A device for controlling a piezoelectric actuator (Cp), in particular for a fuel-injection valve of an internal combustion engine, comprises an energy source (EQ), which supplies the actuator (Cp) with energy (E0), whereby the extension of the piezoelectric a... | 04/25/2006 |
| 7034437 | Piezo actuator drive circuit A piezo actuator drive circuit comprises a charging path for charging a piezo stack that can be driven by being charged and discharged, an arithmetic circuit for calculating the charging amount for the piezo stack, and a driving control circuit for comparing the cal... | 04/25/2006 |
| 7023163 | Fail-safe electric actuator using high voltage capacitors According to the present invention, a fail-safe circuit for controlling an actuator is provided with an input voltage which is rectified and converted to a DC voltage. The DC voltage is boosted to a high level, and high voltage storage capacitors are charged at this... | 04/04/2006 |
