Patents Examined by John W. Redman
  • Patent number: 4278922
    Abstract: An assembly which is to be used for generating adjustment movements on automobile ventilation devices driven by electric motors. The assembly is especially designed for use on roof openings or sunroofs closeable by a lid. The assembly is characterized in that a generator is coupled to a component of the automobile which revolves during traveling and the rotational speed of which is directly proportional to the speed of travel. A control signal directly proportional to the speed of travel is obtained from the generator by means of which the adjustment drive for the ventilation device can be switched on according to the speed of travel. The adjustment drive can be switched on in the direction of closing the ventilation device at a higher speed and in the direction of opening at a lower speed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 1979
    Date of Patent: July 14, 1981
    Assignee: Rockwell-Golde, G.m.b.H.
    Inventor: Karl Grebe
  • Patent number: 4278921
    Abstract: A constant speed brushless D.C.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 1979
    Date of Patent: July 14, 1981
    Assignee: Consolidated Electronic Industries Proprietary Limited
    Inventors: Reuben Medding, Peter D. Kay
  • Patent number: 4278923
    Abstract: An assembly comprising a drive motor connected to a member to be rotated by a transmission means which is liable to slip when the rotating member is subjected to a loading thereon, includes a compensation circuit connected to the motor control circuit and operable to apply to the latter a compensation signal proportional to the change in a parameter directly related to the motor torque, thereby to compensate for slipping of the transmission means.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 1978
    Date of Patent: July 14, 1981
    Inventors: Peter Nowak, Reinhard Rieger
  • Patent number: 4277738
    Abstract: A voltage regulator for the battery charging generator of a motor vehicle battery charging system. The regulator is capable of detecting various fault conditions and under certain conditions will latch a fault indicator to a latched energized state. The regulator utilizes a Zener diode as a voltage reference and is arranged to accommodate Zener diodes of varying break down voltages by trimming a resistor of the regulator voltage sensing circuit. The regulator includes an internal voltage regulating device having a regulated output voltage applied to fault detecting comparators. The output voltage of the internal regulating device is a function of the particular break down voltage of the Zener diode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 1979
    Date of Patent: July 7, 1981
    Assignee: General Motors Corporation
    Inventor: Richard J. Voss
  • Patent number: 4276499
    Abstract: A rotary actuator comprise a stator defining a cylindrical space and formed with a pair of diametrically opposite main magnetic poles adapted to be magnetized to the same polarity, a pair of drive coils disposed on the main poles, a drive circuit for energizing the drive coils, and a rotor having a plurality of pairs of magnetized zones separated by non-magnetized zones, all disposed around the circumference of the rotor, adjacent magnetized zones being of opposite polarities.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 1979
    Date of Patent: June 30, 1981
    Assignee: Denki Onkyo Company, Limited
    Inventors: Noboru Masuda, Masakazu Sugimoto
  • Patent number: 4275339
    Abstract: A brushless D. C. motor is disclosed having two bifilar winding wire pairs with each bifilar pair forming alternate windings. Each winding is switched by a transistor which has a back poled diode connected in parallel therewith. The control circuit sequences energization of single windings with each winding energized being in a different bifilar pair than the next preceding energized winding whereby when a transistor is switched off the other winding of the bifilar pair and the associated back poled diode protect the transistor and provide an energy conserving/heat eliminating path for the induced current. Each winding is further formed of a pair of subwindings having an angle of separation therebetween approximately half the angular separation between adjacent windings.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 1979
    Date of Patent: June 23, 1981
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Michael J. Burke, David W. Collins
  • Patent number: 4275344
    Abstract: In a voltage control apparatus for an electric generator (1) for vehicles including an armature winding (3), an exciting coil (4), a rectifier (2) for rectifying an a.c. output from the armature winding, and a voltage regulator (5), the voltage regulator comprises a differential amplifier circuit (26) producing a detected voltage corresponding to a difference between a battery charging voltage and a reference voltage, a comparator circuit (30) comparing the detected voltage with a triangular waveform voltage generated at constant periods and producing a pulsed output voltage, a first driver circuit (51) effecting duty-factor-control of an exciting current flowing through the exciting coil in response to the pulsed output voltage, and an initial excitation circuit (32) for causing a predetermined small initial exciting current to flow through the exciting coil intermittently during a time interval after the start of the electric generator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 6, 1979
    Date of Patent: June 23, 1981
    Assignee: Nippondenso Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kazumasa Mori, Taro Asahi, Keiichiro Banzai, Katsutaro Iwaki, Katsuya Muto, Akira Mase, Takayasu Nimura, Katsumi Itoh, Yoshio Akita
  • Patent number: 4274010
    Abstract: Electric power is generated from a non-uniformly operating energy source such as wind or water waves by driving hydraulic pump means by a wind wheel or a bobbing float. The pump feeds hydraulic medium into a cylinder to raise a piston loaded by a weight. When the weight rises above a predetermined level, the medium is fed under its constant pressure to drive an hydraulic motor connected to an induction generator. Because the generator is driven at constant power (though intermittently) it can be connected to the public mains supply, eliminating the need to store power, without sophisticated interface arrangements. A second generator connected to a resistive space or water heating load can be cut in at higher energy levels. The hydraulic pump can be arranged to extract power from the source in the most efficient way.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 1977
    Date of Patent: June 16, 1981
    Assignee: Sir Henry Lawson-Tancred, Sons & Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Henry Lawson-Tancred
  • Patent number: 4272708
    Abstract: This invention refers to a circuit arrangement for a motor for the purpose of driving a window in motor vehicles comprising a motor current supervising stage for switching the motor in case of blocking, wherein the motor current supervising stage responds to a change in time of the motor current. The dynamic supervising of the motor current offers a greater reliability than the known static supervising of the motor current. The circuit senses a rapid change in motor current to indicate that the window has met an undesired (e.g a human) obstacle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 1979
    Date of Patent: June 9, 1981
    Assignee: ITT Industries, Inc.
    Inventors: Hermann Carle, Heribert Klement, Uwe Knobloch
  • Patent number: 4272707
    Abstract: Improved logic circuitry combined with an efficient and economical motor controller which enables a DC motor to reverse the direction of a vehicle and to maintain the speed of the vehicle within narrow speed boundaries during acceleration, deceleration and constant speed conditions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 1978
    Date of Patent: June 9, 1981
    Assignee: Interlake, Inc.
    Inventors: Robert C. Burgener, Philip T. Martin
  • Patent number: 4272685
    Abstract: A generating means as a form of utilizing water to generate electricity. There is a water dam which backs up a sizeable depth and water pressure, and a water outlet pipe near the bottom of the dam. A plurality of electric generating stations are positioned below the dam and utilize water flow through the outlet pipe to drive an electric generator at each station.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 1976
    Date of Patent: June 9, 1981
    Inventor: James Toyama
  • Patent number: 4271381
    Abstract: A windshield wiper motor control circuit is described which is directed to controlling a reversible motor. A reversing switch is switched by a relay which is controlled via switches characterizing the end positions of the wiper blade traverse of the windshield. A delay interval may be provided prior to each time the motor direction is reversed to provide intermittent operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 1979
    Date of Patent: June 2, 1981
    Assignee: ITT Industries, Inc.
    Inventors: Joachim Munz, Hans Prohaska, Horst Rachner
  • Patent number: 4270074
    Abstract: The power switch driver circuit of a brushless DC motor control ensures synchronous operation by utilizing a ROM addressed by motor shaft position sensors. Excess current drawn by the motor windings is sensed by a detector which provides an additional bit of address input to correct the condition. The address input may also be modified by a bit signifying forward or reverse operation of the motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 1979
    Date of Patent: May 26, 1981
    Assignee: The Singer Company
    Inventors: James J. Duckworth, William J. Glennon
  • Patent number: 4270075
    Abstract: The invention relates to a motor of the type energizable by a DC voltage and having at least two parallel stator winding branches with each branch having a stator winding in series with a controllable switching element. A demagnetization branch in parallel with each stator winding branch has an oppositely poled demagnetization winding inductively coupled to the associated stator winding and a series connected diode poled oppositely of the associated switching element. When one stator winding is switched off the voltage induced in the inductively coupled demagnetization winding produces a current which flows through the associated diode and the next simultaneously switched on stator winding. In this way the magnetic energy of the switched off stator winding is rapidly reduced and is utilized to supplement the magnetic field of the simultaneously switched on stator winding.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 1979
    Date of Patent: May 26, 1981
    Assignee: Danfoss A/S
    Inventor: Nils H. Nygaard
  • Patent number: 4270055
    Abstract: A system and method of operating a turbine power plant utilizing a digital computer to transfer automatically between a single valve mode and sequential valve mode of operation and vice versa without disturbing the load or steam flow demand to the turbine, is disclosed. Selecting the other mode of valve operation when operating automatically in one valve mode results in the generation of physical representations corresponding to the desired flow through each of the valve means in such other mode at the operating load or flow level. The flow in the one mode and the desired flow in the other mode is used to generate a representation based on flow change for each valve means. A number of increments of valve flow change for each valve means is determined in accordance with the largest valve flow change and a predetermined limit. The size of each incremental change is determined in accordance with the respective valve flow change.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 1977
    Date of Patent: May 26, 1981
    Assignee: Westinghouse Electric Corp.
    Inventors: Uri G. Ronnen, Leaman B. Podolsky, Theodore C. Giras
  • Patent number: 4270076
    Abstract: The invention relates to a brushless type DC motor assembly of the type having a permanent magnet rotor and a pair of poles provided with two windings, the windings having a common junction which is connectable to the positive terminal of a DC voltage source. A pair of controlled rectifiers in respective series with the windings are followed by a series branch having a smoothing choke and an electronic chopper switch, the series branch being connectable to the negative terminal of the DC voltage source. The invention is directed to an improved circuit permitting operation of the motor at higher power by providing an extinguishing circuit for the controlled rectifiers which includes a series arranged extinguishing capacitor and a swingover choke that connects the upstream sides of the controlled rectifiers. The extinguishing circuit also includes extinguishing diodes connected in antiparallel respectively to the rectifiers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 1979
    Date of Patent: May 26, 1981
    Assignee: Danfoss A/S
    Inventor: Nils H. Nygaard
  • Patent number: 4268788
    Abstract: In an a.c. generating means exciting method, the exciting windings are wound on the stationary core on which the armature winding has been wound, in such a manner that the exciting windings are delta-connected to one another with the two ends open, and the zero phase current obtained from the two open ends of the delta-connected exciting windings and the phase current obtained from the exciting windings are combined and subjected to rectification to provide a direct current which is utilized to excite the field winding, whereby the field control is carried out in response to the increasing load current and the transient characteristic of the a.c. generating means is improved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 1979
    Date of Patent: May 19, 1981
    Assignee: Denyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masanobu Takeda, Shigeaki Anzai
  • Patent number: 4267458
    Abstract: Steam flow and pressure conditions needed in a turbine to satisfy the speed and load demand of an electric power generating system are controlled by a programmed digital computer system during start-up, synchronization and load operation. Manual backup control is provided for the computer control. Throttle valve tests are provided under digital control and transfers are made to manual backup control if predetermined task errors occur.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 23, 1973
    Date of Patent: May 12, 1981
    Assignee: Westinghouse Electric Corp.
    Inventors: Robert Uram, Theodore C. Giras
  • Patent number: 4267459
    Abstract: A method of operating a hydraulic turbine in which, when the hydraulic turbine is operated so as to shift the load from the watered condition at guide vanes closed to the generating operation area in a condition that the runner rotates in the turbine rotating direction, the hydraulic machine is temporarily disconnected from the electric power system thereby to decrease the revolution per minute and to allow the load to smoothly shift from the motoring operation to the power generation operation in the version of the hydraulic machine characteristic, and under this condition, the guide vane is gradually opened to set the revolution per minute to a given value, and then the hydraulic machine is recoupled with the electric power system for gaining the load.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 1979
    Date of Patent: May 12, 1981
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventor: Toshiaki Yokoyama
  • Patent number: 4266180
    Abstract: A method of converting inertial mechanical energy into a high energy direct current electrical pulse of short time duration is disclosed. Apparatus for practicing the method is described. According to the invention, a rotating mass is provided together with electrical conductor means for producing a localized magnetic field at the surface of the mass. A localized magnetic flux compression means is also provided at the surface of the mass and either the electrical conductor means or the flux compression means is rotated with the mass to produce periodic compression of the flux of the localized magnetic field in response to the rotation of the mass. A load is connected across the electrical conductor during such flux compression which converts a major portion of the inertial energy of the rotary mass into an exponentially rising pulse of direct current through the load with a very rapid decay.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 1979
    Date of Patent: May 5, 1981
    Assignee: ILC Technology, Inc.
    Inventor: Christian H. A. Juvan