Celebrity Inventors
Glam girl Heddy Lamar may have used her good looks to good effect on the silver screen, but she put her smarts to better use as an inventor. During World War II, she co-patented a frequency-switching system for torpedo guidance that was considered years ahead of its time.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8068321 | Input surge protection device using JFET An input surge suppression device and method that uses a simple JFET structure. The JFET has its gate clamped to a predetermined value, its the drain receives the input voltage from an input power source, its source is connected to the input of a down-stream device,... | 11/29/2011 |
| 7983012 | Communication circuit for a digital electronic dimming ballast A communication circuit for an electronic dimming ballast provides high-voltage miswire protection and improved rise and fall times of a transmitted digital signal. The electronic dimming ballast comprises a control circuit, which is coupled to a digital communicati... | 07/19/2011 |
| 7859810 | Photocoupler A photocoupler includes a light emitting device, a drive circuit; a clamp circuit and a light receiving section. For an input voltage to the input terminal being within a range between a first voltage and a second voltage, the photocoupler is allowed to enter an ope... | 12/28/2010 |
| 7764479 | Communication circuit for a digital electronic dimming ballast A communication circuit for an electronic dimming ballast provides high-voltage miswire protection and improved rise and fall times of a transmitted digital signal. The electronic dimming ballast comprises a control circuit, which is coupled to a digital communicati... | 07/27/2010 |
| 7554782 | Safety PLC A safety PLC having duplex power supply circuits, includes: a first output-stage transistor; a first DC power supply that drives the first output-stage transistor; a second output-stage transistor; a second DC power supply that drives the second output-stage transis... | 06/30/2009 |
| 7417839 | Zener-zap memory In an integrated circuit for electrically permanently program information in the integrated circuit a current is driven through an NPN-transistor. The integrated circuit has a first current feeding circuit having an output connected via a resistor to the NPN-transis... | 08/26/2008 |
| 7411770 | Circuit arrangement with at least two semiconductor switches and a central overvoltage protection A circuit arrangement includes a first semiconductor switch and at least one second semiconductor switch, each of them having a control terminal and a first and second load terminal, and with an overvoltage protection arrangement for the at least two semiconductor s... | 08/12/2008 |
| 7362555 | ESD protection circuit for a mixed-voltage semiconductor device An ESD protection circuit is implemented for a semiconductor device having a first circuit system operating with a first power supply voltage and a first complementary power supply voltage, and a second circuit system operating with a second power supply voltage and... | 04/22/2008 |
| 7349762 | Systems and methods for thermal management Systems and methods for sensing temperatures of multiple functional blocks within a digital device and controlling the operation of these functional blocks in a manner that selectively reduces temperatures associated with some of the functional blocks, but not other... | 03/25/2008 |
| 7339803 | Inverter bridge short-circuit protection scheme A fault handling system for short circuit recovery in three-phase multiple-level inverter bridges, used to drive inductive loads, to assure a proper sequence for turning-off switches in the inverter bridge. Switches are selected for use in the inverter bridge so tha... | 03/04/2008 |
| 7274543 | Over-voltage protection circuit An over-voltage protection circuit for protecting an integrated circuit includes an external power supply terminal to which a power supply voltage is supplied, a grounding terminal to which a ground voltage is supplied, and an internal power supply terminal for supp... | 09/25/2007 |
| 7268992 | Power supply with disconnect fuse A power supply in which a feed voltage (Us) is guided through at least one longitudinal branch to at least one output, the at least one branch having a disconnect fuse formed as a controlled semiconductor switch (SW1) and a monitoring unit (UWE) be... | 09/11/2007 |
| 7259478 | Backup power supply for telephone set A backup power supply for a telephone set that does not use batteries comprises a Electric Double Layer Capacitor (“EDLC”) having a charge capacity sufficient to power the control electronics of the set in the event of a power failure and for the brief period of... | 08/21/2007 |
| 7202647 | Power supply circuit A power supply circuit relating to the present invention comprises a differential amplifier for feeding out a voltage as a control voltage in accordance with a difference between a feedback voltage commensurate with an output voltage and a reference voltage, an outp... | 04/10/2007 |
| 7199990 | Device for short-circuiting two electric lines for reducing a voltage differential A device is for short-circuiting a first electric line with a second electric line in order to reduce a voltage differential. At least one first electronic switching device is provided between the first and second lines and at least one second electronic switching d... | 04/03/2007 |
| 7154725 | Hard disk drive (HDD) electrical over voltage stress (EOS) systems and methods The present invention relates to a hard disk drive system having overvoltage protection circuits for various types of overvoltage conditions. For example, the system comprises one or more hard disk drive integrated circuit chips residing on a board and a hard disk d... | 12/26/2006 |
| 7151359 | Variable reluctance generator A variable reluctance generator has phase windings and a bias winding. By controlling the excitation produced by the bias winding, the speed of the machine or the DC link, a power converter using only diodes can supply power to a DC bus. A method of operating a vari... | 12/19/2006 |
| 7148781 | Landscape lighting transformer having increased loading features A transformer for low-voltage applications such as landscape lighting, comprising a primary winding and a secondary winding inductively coupled to the primary winding, the primary winding adapted to be energized with a high voltage and the secondary winding adapted ... | 12/12/2006 |
| 7131436 | Engine ignition system having noise protection circuit An ignition system for an internal combustion engine is connected to an ignition coil and to a circuit for providing an ignition signal. The ignition system includes a switch circuit connected to the ignition coil that switches on or off current supplied to the igni... | 11/07/2006 |
| 7126801 | Polarity protection implemented with a MOSFET A polarity protection circuit contains a metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (FET) that pets its control voltage via an electrical connection from supply voltage lines and a transistor that pets its control voltage via another connection from the suppl... | 10/24/2006 |
| 7110226 | Regulator protection circuit and power supply apparatus incorporating it A power supply apparatus has a regulator and a regulator protection circuit. On detecting an abnormality, an abnormality detection circuit in the regulator protection circuit turns the regulator off. Based on the output of the abnormality detection circuit, an abnor... | 09/19/2006 |
| 7106567 | Hard disk drive (HDD) electrical over voltage stress (EOS) systems and methods The present invention relates to a hard disk drive system having overvoltage protection circuits for various types of overvoltage conditions. For example, the system includes one or more hard disk drive integrated circuit chips residing on a board and a hard disk dr... | 09/12/2006 |
| 7098723 | Semiconductor circuit regulator In a circuit designed to output a varying output voltage, the substrate of the semi-conductor component is connected to a regulator, in particular a switch, connected to a lower potential than the potential of the substrate of the circuit. The circuit can for exampl... | 08/29/2006 |
| 7061738 | Protective circuit A protective circuit for limiting the voltage for a device to be protected, particularly a load with an upstream-connected voltage and current limiting device. The device to be protected is provided in an output circuit of the protective circuit and is separable by ... | 06/13/2006 |
| 6975046 | Internal combustion engine control system for vehicle and control method thereof An internal combustion engine control system for vehicle prevents an electronic device from being damaged due to over-voltage failure of a generator, and enables the vehicle to continue to travel. Over-voltage failure of a vehicle generator (3) is detected fr... | 12/13/2005 |
| 6919587 | Low-capacitance bidirectional protection device A low-capacitance bidirectional device of protection against overvoltages, intended to be used at high frequencies, including first and second discrete one-way Shockley diodes, the cathode and the anode of the first diode being respectively connected to the anode an... | 07/19/2005 |
| 6728084 | System and method for overvoltage protection of an integrated circuit A protection system for an integrated circuit is disclosed. A detection system detects an overvoltage condition and provides an overvoltage condition signal to indicate a condition in which overvoltage protection may be desired. In response to the overvoltage condit... | 04/27/2004 |
| 6707656 | Over-voltage protection against periodic disturbances An over-voltage protection module protects communications equipment against voltage surges, including periodic voltage disturbances. The protection module provides a steady state activation voltage threshold and a reduced activation voltage threshold less than the s... | 03/16/2004 |
| 6657839 | Protective relay A protective relay is provided to protect circuitry against reverse battery polarity or load dump, wherein a relay coil is operatively connected to a contact switch and is fed by a reverse bias diode (which may be a Zener diode) such that the relay coil o... | 12/02/2003 |
| 6473284 | Low-power dc-to-dc converter having high overvoltage protection A dc-to-dc converter is provided with overvoltage protection circuitry while still providing normal output voltage. Such overvoltage protection circuitry does not require resetting. The overvoltage protection circuitry includes a first switching device co... | 10/29/2002 |
| 6307724 | Accessory apparatus There is provided a device in an accessory apparatus, which is connected with a main apparatus, for protecting a motor driver IC and a logic circuit in the accessory apparatus from the application of a voltage higher than the rated voltage for these circu... | 10/23/2001 |
| 6236549 | Circuit for preventing module damage in integrated circuits which require a plurality of supply voltages An electrical circuit, which accepts an integrated circuit, which is supplied with operating voltages of different levels, and in which, between the supply voltages at their regular level, there is a diode function which is poled in the block direction. S... | 05/22/2001 |
| 6160691 | Method of driving a load and semiconductor load driver circuit therefor A load driver circuit (10) includes an output driver (11) suitable for driving an inductive load (13). An output clamp circuit (15) clamps the output (12) to a high voltage during turn-off of the output driver (11). An open load detect circuit (26) clamps... | 12/12/2000 |
| 6111737 | Internal voltage protection circuit An internal circuitry protection scheme which protects on-IC circuitry when an external regulator voltage pin is shorted to a higher voltage. The circuit prevents damage to the on-die circuitry that is on the internal voltage rail, by clamping the receive... | 08/29/2000 |
| 6097582 | Short circuit protection of IGBTs and other power switching devices A short circuit protection circuit for IGBTs and similar power switch devices. Device collector voltage, e.g., desaturation voltage, is monitored to detect rapidly the occurrence of a short circuit fault. The voltage between the power device emitter and t... | 08/01/2000 |
| 6031352 | Active alternator load circuit A control apparatus controlling the operation of pulse width modulator for an electric clutch or electric motor in portable spray painting equipment having a pressure transducer for sensing the pressure, a manually adjustable pressure reference, a compara... | 02/29/2000 |
| 6031705 | Surge protection circuit, in particular for inputs of integrated circuits A surge protection circuit that can be used, in particular, for monitoring and protecting a diagnostic interface, such as, for example, the SAE J 1708 diagnostic interface. A shared surge detection device, which generates a switch-off threshold voltage, r... | 02/29/2000 |
| 6028755 | DC-to-DC converter capable of preventing overvoltages To avoid burning out a capacitor in a synchronous rectification type DC-to-DC converter due to overvoltages, the synchronous rectification type DC-to-DC converter includes a storage unit storing therein power derived from a power supply, switching element... | 02/22/2000 |
| 5818675 | Protection device for electronic circuits The protection device of an electronic circuit is an electronic AC circuit protection device. The protection device has the characteristic of over-voltage protection, over-current protection, electronic switch, and soft start. Devices of the protection ci... | 10/06/1998 |
| 5818669 | Zener diode power dissipation limiting circuit A circuit that utilizes a Zener diode to protect elements of a circuit from an over-voltage condition. When a fault occurs, causing an over-voltage condition, the voltage applied to the elements of the circuit is limited by the Zener diode. In addition, t... | 10/06/1998 |
