Patents Examined by Ed Tso
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Patent number: 6734652Abstract: A safety circuit monitors a charging signal supplied by a charging circuit for charging a battery. Damage to the battery may occur when the voltage at the input terminal of the battery rises above the safe level for the battery. A voltage drop across a coupling circuit is used to generate an activation signal. The activation signal causes a power amplifier to lower the voltage of the charging signal before the charging signal can drive the inductances associated with the battery input terminal and leads to the point where damage to the battery may occur.Type: GrantFiled: November 13, 2002Date of Patent: May 11, 2004Assignee: National Semiconductor CorporationInventor: Gregory J. Smith
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Patent number: 5475294Abstract: For charging a storage battery, e.g. a nickel-cadmium cell, recharging is conducted after the battery is forcibly discharged while the charge voltage stays in a specified range after a period of time from the start of the charging action. Accordingly, the generation of memory effect will be avoided. The charging will successfully be carried out without declining the storage capacity of the battery. In both charge and adaptor modes, output voltage and current are examined whether the battery is coupled correctly or not and if not, their delivery is canceled with producing an alarm display. As the result, the charging to the battery and the power supply to an external electric appliance will be implemented without error.Type: GrantFiled: December 15, 1992Date of Patent: December 12, 1995Assignee: Nippon Densan CorporationInventor: Takuya Isoda
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Patent number: 5469042Abstract: The invention relates to a circuit apparatus for the charge and discharge monitoring of electrical accumulators (20) or accumulator cells connected to one another in series to a charging current source (28). The apparatus includes one monitoring module (21) for each accumulator, or for each accumulator cell, with the monitoring module having a charging current limitation circuit and a first signal generator for displaying the operating state of the charging current limitation circuit. The charging current limitation circuit is acted on in dependence on a temperature signal corresponding to the temperature of the accumulator (20), or of the accumulator cell. A control signal circuit (29) is connected to the first signal generators, with the output signal of the control signal circuit (29) being applied to the charging current source (28) in order to control the charging current delivered by it.Type: GrantFiled: August 3, 1993Date of Patent: November 21, 1995Assignee: Gagen Batterie AGInventor: Klaus Ruhling
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Patent number: 5451857Abstract: A temperature compensated, regulated power supply and battery charger for supplying power to railroad warning lights and crossing gates utilizes a ferroresonant transformer having a primary winding, a secondary winding, and a resonant circuit in magnetic circuit therewith. Voltage regulation is accomplished at essentially no load conditions by the use of a temperature sensing element and a shunt regulator connected in circuit with the output terminals of the secondary winding. The shunt regulator varies the output voltage at the output terminals in response to temperature sensed by the temperature sensing element during essentially no load conditions.Type: GrantFiled: September 15, 1992Date of Patent: September 19, 1995Assignee: Safetran Systems CorporationInventor: James E. Moe
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Patent number: 5440221Abstract: A battery detect circuit (32) is connected to the battery with the current input to the battery and extracted from the battery measured with a sense resistor (50) and then converted to charge and discharge pulses with a V/F converter (52). A microcontroller (64) is operable to increment a Nominal Available Charge (NAC) register (180) during a charge operation, and to increment a Discharge Count Register (DCR) (184) during a discharge operation. The NAC register (180) indicates the available charge, which value is output to a display (34). The maximum value to which the NAC value can rise is limited by a value stored in the last measured discharge register (182). This value represents the value stored in the DCR (184) whenever the battery is discharged from an apparent full state to a fully discharged state. This results in a qualified transfer to the LMD register (182) such that no knowledge of the actual battery charge is necessary.Type: GrantFiled: July 8, 1992Date of Patent: August 8, 1995Assignee: Benchmarg Microelectronics, Inc.Inventors: John E. Landau, Wallace E. Matthews, David L. Freeman