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 |
| 8179103 | System and method for boosting battery output Electrical apparatuses, systems and methods involving battery boost circuitry configured to charge a supercapacitor to a regulated voltage different from the battery voltage and apply a series combination of the regulated voltage and the battery voltage to a load su... | 05/15/2012 |
| 8154258 | Backup energy storage module with voltage leveling An energy storage module for providing backup power to electronic systems includes one or more capacitor banks, each including one or more capacitors for storing energy. The energy storage module also includes a first voltage regulator that may, during a normal mode... | 04/10/2012 |
| 8148953 | Apparatus and method for recycling and reusing charge in an electronic circuit An apparatus and method for recycling and reusing charge in an electronic circuit. The apparatus includes at least one capacitor coupled to a circuit block in the electronic circuit, the capacitor being configured to collect current charge consumed by the circuit bl... | 04/03/2012 |
| 8148954 | Rapidly charging super cap based rechargeable device A super-capacitor-powered device is quickly recharged from an energy buffer incorporated in a USB cradle or USB dongle. That USB energy buffer itself is slowly refilled while it is connected to a USB port. The super-capacitor can be in parallel to a battery. In one ... | 04/03/2012 |
| 8148955 | Motor vehicle A motor vehicle includes an on-board vehicle electric system, an electric consumer, whose resistance decreases with the decreasing voltage dropping at the consumer, an electric energy accumulator, and a switching arrangement. The switching arrangement is designed an... | 04/03/2012 |
| 8134343 | Energy storage device for starting engines of motor vehicles and other transportation systems An energy storage device for storing energy for starting an internal combustion engine of a motor vehicle includes a DC-DC converter, a plurality of capacitors connected electrically to the DC-DC converter, and a housing for containing the DC-DC converter and the ca... | 03/13/2012 |
| 8120331 | Power supply device, scanner power supply device, and image forming apparatus A power supply device accumulates charges generated by a photovoltaic unit. The power supply device includes a first capacitor having a first capacitance, in which the charges generated by the photovoltaic unit are charged; a second capacitor having a second capacit... | 02/21/2012 |
| 8120332 | Method and system for shot tracking The present invention is a method for transmitting a RFID signal while conserving battery power of a circuit. The method comprises charging a capacitor using a battery. The battery is in electrical communication with a resistor and the resistor is in electrical comm... | 02/21/2012 |
| 8120330 | Amplitude lock loop for producing constant amplitude oscillator ramp signal An oscillator that includes an energy storage system configured to store energy, a ramp circuit configured to generate an oscillating ramp signal having a slope that is a function of the amount of energy stored in the energy storage system, a charge circuit configur... | 02/21/2012 |
| 8115456 | Circuit for a power supply unit for generating a DC voltage A circuit is disclosed for a power supply unit for generating a DC voltage, the power supply unit having a current transformer, a rectifier, a series circuit including a first blocking diode and a charging capacitor, an electronic switch which is in parallel with th... | 02/14/2012 |
| 8115457 | Method and apparatus for implementing a power converter input terminal voltage discharge circuit A circuit to discharge a capacitance between input terminals of a power system is disclosed. An example circuit includes a control circuit coupled to an input of a power system. The control circuit is coupled to detect whether an electrical energy source is coupled ... | 02/14/2012 |
| 8102158 | Phase synchronization circuit A phase synchronization circuit comprising: a charging/discharging-circuit to charge/discharge a capacitor in accordance with a drive-signal, charging and/or discharging current-values of the capacitor being settable; an oscillation-circuit to output an oscillation-... | 01/24/2012 |
| 8102157 | Multi-output power supply device having charge pump circuit A multi-output power supply device of low noise is disclosed that converts a first input voltage to plural different voltages. The multi-output power supply device includes a first power supply circuit for generating a constant voltage from the first input voltage, ... | 01/24/2012 |
| 8102159 | Power distributor and semiconductor device having the same A power distributor includes a large reservoir capacitor, a switch coupled between at least one power supply line and the large reservoir capacitor, and a controller configured to turn on or off the switch based on whether a circuit block connected to the power supp... | 01/24/2012 |
| 8035356 | Ultra-capacitor based uninterruptible power supply A backup power supply includes at least one ultra capacitor to store energy. The backup power supply includes a multiphase boost converter to provide a relatively constant voltage level from the energy stored on the at least one ultra capacitor. A charging and disch... | 10/11/2011 |
| 8030903 | Power generator and electronic apparatus A power generator capable of improving power generation efficiency is obtained. This power generator includes a movable portion moving by kinetic energy acting on a power generator body, a first conversion portion converting kinetic energy of the movable portion to ... | 10/04/2011 |
| 8030904 | Oscillator circuit An oscillator circuit including a charge/discharge unit, a capacitance amplifier, and a level detection circuit is provided. The charge/discharge unit is used to receive a control signal, and perform a charge or discharge operation on a charge/discharge terminal acc... | 10/04/2011 |
| 8008894 | Adjusting a top charge capacitor voltage according to an operating temperature of the capacitor An apparatus includes a capacitor and logic to adjust an operating temperature of the capacitor according to a charge on the capacitor, and/or to adjust a charge of the capacitor according to the operating temperature of the capacitor to improve the useful life of t... | 08/30/2011 |
| 8004249 | Battery management system and method A battery management system is provided. A voltage of a first battery cell is charged to a capacitor. Then, the voltage of the capacitor is measured, the measured voltage being the voltage of the first battery cell. Subsequently, a voltage of a second battery cell i... | 08/23/2011 |
| 7994756 | Power distribution circuit for use in a portable telecommunications device A power distribution circuit for use in a personal telecommunications device comprises a switched mode power supply configured to convert an input voltage and current from an energy source into an output voltage and current, a plurality of series-connected charge st... | 08/09/2011 |
| 7986131 | Booster power supply circuit and control method therefor and driver IC A booster power supply circuit includes a booster boosting an input voltage to output an boosted voltage for applying said boosted voltage to a first smoothing capacitor and a controller controlling a transfer destination and an amount of transfer of a charge in the... | 07/26/2011 |
| 7982438 | Method and circuit for controlling the refresh rate of sampled reference voltages The present invention relates to controlling the refresh rate of the reference voltage on a sampling capacitor (Csamp). A comparator (COMP) compares the voltage on a first capacitor (C1) with the voltage on a second capacitor (C2). These cap... | 07/19/2011 |
| 7982439 | System for energy harvesting and/or generation, storage, and delivery A device and method for harvesting, generating, storing, and delivering energy to a load, particularly for remote or inaccessible applications. The device preferably comprises one or more energy sources, at least one supercapacitor, at least one rechargeable battery... | 07/19/2011 |
| 7977923 | Circuits for electroactive polymer generators Described herein is a generator with an electroactive polymer transducer. The transducer has a capacitance that varies with deflection of a polymer included in the transducer. The generator also includes a generator circuit, coupled to the electroactive polymer tran... | 07/12/2011 |
| 7960947 | Adaptive frequency compensation for DC-to-DC converter One embodiment of the invention is a compensation circuit that includes a comparator that is coupled to receive a reference voltage. The compensation circuit can also include a capacitance coupled to receive a feedback voltage associated with an output voltage of a ... | 06/14/2011 |
| 7928700 | Method and device tolerant to direct current source fluctuation for pulse charging a battery A method for charging a battery (16) from a direct-current source liable to significant fluctuations, which includes the steps of: progressively charging a storage capacitor (14) at a voltage that is higher than the n... | 04/19/2011 |
| 7915865 | Method and system for shot tracking The present invention is a method for transmitting a RFID signal while conserving battery power of a circuit. The method comprises charging a capacitor using a battery. The battery is in electrical communication with a resistor and the resistor is in electrical comm... | 03/29/2011 |
| 7911186 | Method and system for shot tracking The present invention is a method for transmitting a RFID signal while conserving battery power of a circuit. The method comprises charging a capacitor using a battery. The battery is in electrical communication with a resistor and the resistor is in electrical comm... | 03/22/2011 |
| 7911185 | Battery voltage detection circuit A battery-voltage detection circuit comprising: a first-capacitor; an operational-amplifier; a second-capacitor; a voltage-application-circuit to sequentially apply one and the other-battery-terminal-voltages to the other-first-capacitor-end; a discharge circuit to ... | 03/22/2011 |
| 7902797 | Capacitor charging apparatus A capacitor charging apparatus includes a transformer and an output capacitor charged with current flowing through a secondary coil of the transformer, and charges the output capacitor by performing a switching control of a switching transistor provided on a path le... | 03/08/2011 |
| 7898223 | Electric power storage system using capacitors and control method thereof including serial-parallel switching means for each circuit block of batteries based on descending order of block voltages In an electric power storage system according to the present invention, in the case of charging, a plurality of capacitors of each circuit block of the electric power storage system are switched to a serial connection to initiate the charging. When the output voltag... | 03/01/2011 |
| 7893661 | Driver circuit arrangement The invention relates to a driver circuit arrangement (1′) for driving a plurality of individually switchable electrical subsystems (A′, B′, C′), such as (arrangements of) LEDs (9-A, 9-B, 9-C). Each subsystem has at least one ener... | 02/22/2011 |
| 7884579 | Energy capture circuit An energy capture circuit for capturing energy in response to an input pulse. The circuit is constructed and arranged to transfer input energy in time divided portions among subcircuits. This includes a storage means, a clock means, at least two subcircuits, and at ... | 02/08/2011 |
| 7880447 | Power converter controller IC having input voltage pin with multiple functions A controller integrated circuit (IC) for controlling a power converter uses its input voltage pin with a plurality of functions, including receiving an input voltage to the power converter, charging an external startup capacitor through charging circuitry coupled in... | 02/01/2011 |
| 7880446 | Adaptive frequency compensation for DC-to-DC converter One embodiment of the invention is a compensation circuit that includes a comparator that is coupled to receive a reference voltage. The compensation circuit can also include a capacitance coupled to receive a feedback voltage associated with an output voltage of a ... | 02/01/2011 |
| 7859229 | Discharge device A discharging device capable of realizing a proper PWM drive by accurately reflecting, as a strobe device, the secondary-side condition of a separately-excited strobe charging circuit being charged. A charging device which charges a main capacitor (2) via a s... | 12/28/2010 |
| 7855533 | Charging apparatus A charging apparatus suppresses rise in temperature of an internal chip of a charging element. The output signal obtained from a current detecting portion for detecting charging current to a capacitor and from a voltage detecting portion for detecting a difference b... | 12/21/2010 |
| 7834596 | Analog power-saving apparatus and method thereof for sharing electric charges An analog power-saving apparatus and a method thereof for sharing electric charges enable the application device to entirely achieve power-saving goal by using an analog judgment mechanism. According to the judgment mechanism, in a duration when the energy-storing u... | 11/16/2010 |
| 7825638 | Device and method for balancing charge between the individual cells of a double-layer capacitor A device and a method for balancing charge between individual cells of a double-layer capacitor, in particular in a multi-voltage motor vehicle electrical system. Each individual cell of the double-layer capacitor is associated with a capacitor, the first terminal o... | 11/02/2010 |
| 7825637 | Method and device for controlling a capacitive load A capacitive load is controlled by charging and respectively discharging by way of a load current, which is allowed to oscillate between a maximum default and a minimum default. The maximum default increases monotonously in a first step, remains essentially constant... | 11/02/2010 |
