Abstract: A battery switching circuit provides a mechanism by which a plurality of electrical storage batteries can be alternatively connected in parallel or series based on the position of a manually controlled joystick of a marine positioning and maneuvering system. When the joystick is in a neutral position in which no docking motion is demanded by the marine vessel operator, the storage batteries are connected in parallel so that they can benefit from charging by an alternator or generator associated with an internal combustion engine. If the joystick is moved out of its neutral position, the batteries are immediately connected in series to provide power to a plurality of electric motors that are used to drive a plurality of impellers of the docking system.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a color filter having a plurality of colored members as pixel portions which are formed by using dots of a plurality of color inks having different spectral characteristics. Light transmitting ink dots other than the color ink dots are respectively formed on the pixel portions.

Abstract: A current surge absorbing wire winding box comprises a housing, a rotary disk, a communication wire, and a spiral spring. The rotary disk is rotatably received in a receiving groove within the housing, and a first ring and a second ring are formed around the center through holes on two surfaces of the rotary disk so that the communication wire and the spiral spring can wind around the first ring and the second ring. Characterized in that a circuit board with a surge absorption element is installed on the first ring of the rotary disk, a surge absorption device with two clamping covers and a plurality of inserting terminals. By the two clamping covers to clamp the communication wire, and one end of the inserting terminal is inserted into the clamping cover to the respective conductive wire, while another end is welded to the circuit board so that each surge absorption element can be electrically connected to each loop coil in parallel.

Abstract: A lighted escutcheon plate for power distribution equipment includes an escutcheon plate in electrical communication with a power distribution circuit; and a plurality of LED bulbs, generally green or alternatively red, mounted on the escutcheon plate, so as to provide a visual indication of an open circuit status by lighting when the power distribution circuit is opened. The plate also includes a plurality of LED bulbs, generally red or alternatively green, mounted on the escutcheon plate, so as to provide a visual indication of a close circuit status by lighting when the power distribution circuit is closed. For tripped circuit conditions the plate includes a plurality of LED bulbs, generally yellow or amber, mounted on the escutcheon plate, so as to provide a visual indication of a trip circuit status by lighting when the power distribution circuit is tripped.

Abstract: A circuit arrangement couples an energy storage circuit to at least one leg of a full bridge transistor topology in a full bridge power converter to facilitate resonant switching within that leg. Typically, the energy storage circuit includes an inductor coupled between the common node between the transistors in a leg and a reference voltage that is intermediate the relative voltages at which the inputs of the full bridge transistor topology are biased. The voltage drop across the inductor from the reference voltage to the common node permits energy stored in the energy storage circuit to charge the parasitic capacitance of a transistor that has been shut off during a transition, and thereby decrease the voltage drop across the complementary transistor to be turned on during the same transition. As a result, switching losses are reduced in the transistor being turned on, and overall efficiency of the converter is improved.

Abstract: A charger includes a battery pack receiving therein a plurality of batteries and having a projection provided with a contacting terminal, and a charger section having a mounting hole provided with a charging terminal, the battery pack being set on the charger section with the projection mounted into the mounting hole of the charger section for charging the batteries. The battery pack has vent ports through a wall on the side having the projection, while the charger section has blast ports at positions opposing the vent ports and a blower disposed to be on a side of the mounting hole and below the blast ports, for blowing air from the blower, through the vent ports into the interior of the battery pack, for elevating blow rate to the battery pack, battery cooling and gas discharge out of the battery pack.

Abstract: A charge counter for monitoring the charge of the battery state of an electronic device includes a sensing circuit of the charge and discharge current of the battery. The sensing circuit includes a differential amplifier having inputs coupled to the terminals of a sensing resistor of the battery current, a resettable integrator of the output signal of the amplifier, a first comparator and a second comparator of the output signal of the integrator generating a logic charge interrupt signal and a logic discharge interrupt signal, respectively. The sensing circuit also includes a switch for discharging the capacitance of the integrator momentarily closed by a logic circuit at every transition of the output signal of one or the other of the first and second comparators.

Abstract: There is disclosed an apparatus and a method for forecasting output voltage of a battery of a digital camera. A dummy load is disconnected after the digital camera is powered on. An output voltage of the battery is obtained when he dummy load is off. The dummy load is then conducted. An output voltage of the battery is obtained when the dummy load is on. An internal resistance of the battery and the output voltage of the battery in operating the power consumptive elements are determined based on the output voltages, so as to obtain the voltage drop of the output voltage of the battery caused by power consumptive elements thereby being aware of the remaining power of the battery and obtaining the maximum power supplying efficiency for the digital camera.

Abstract: The invention concerns an electronic circuit for reducing the current consumption of a transformer (1). This circuit comprises a control circuit in the secondary circuit of the transformer (1) and a switch (2), controlled by the control circuit, in the primary circuit of the transformer (1) for separating the primary circuit of the transformer (1) from the power supply (3). The control circuit comprises a detector (6) for detecting the no-load state of the transformer (1). If the transformer (1) is in the no-load state, the switch (2) on the primary side is opened at least temporarily.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for measuring an electrochemical impedance at high speed. The method for measuring the electrochemical impedance of an electrolyte at high speed includes applying a direct current (DC) voltage having the reaction potential of the electrolyte to the electrolyte via a counter electrode and, after a delay, applying a signal voltage, including a DC voltage added to a differentiated or integrated Dirac-delta function voltage, to the electrolyte; computing a digital data value related only to the differentiated or integrated Dirac-delta function voltage, obtained by converting signal current flowing in a working electrode via the electrolyte into a voltage, integrating or differentiating the voltage, and Fourier transforming the result of the integration or differentiation; and obtaining changes in magnitude and phase as a function of frequency based on the Fourier transform, to compute the impedance.

Abstract: The invention relates to a charging device (10) for the batteries of a cellular telephone, whereby the same device can be used to charge batteries (15) with different external dimensions. The charging device (10) comprises width controllers (19a, 19b), the position of which controls the location and position of the actual battery guides (18a, 18b), which enable batteries of different sizes to get a reliable contact with the electrical connectors (17) of the charging device. Short batteries are locked to the charging device by means of a separate stopper (14).

Abstract: An external universal battery charging apparatus which can include external universal battery charger circuitry having at least one universal battery charger circuitry input and at least one universal battery charger circuitry output. The universal battery charger circuitry output can include at least one battery charger output, which itself can include at least one universal battery connector and at least one universal battery charger cable. The at least one universal battery charger circuitry output can include at least one adapter pass through output, which itself can include at least one connector adapted to operably connect to an electronic device. The external universal battery charger circuitry can include at least one battery recognition and parameter adjustment circuit, battery current parameter adjustment circuit, charged voltage parameter adjustment circuit, and maximum power draw parameter adjustment circuit.

Abstract: The present invention illustrates about the managing device for batteries which expands the durability of batteries and enhances the charging effect by maintaining the termination voltage of the rechargeable batteries used in all kinds of electrical devices and managing method for rechargeable battery thereof. The present invention provides a managing system for rechargeable batteries comprising a plurality of cells, a closed loop circuit method which connects the cells in parallel connection electrically, an electrical load means having regular voltage which is the sum of the maximum output voltage among the plurality of cells and being in parallel connection with the rechargeable cells which are connected in parallel with the closed loop circuit method, a switching means inserted between the plurality of cells and the electrical load means in order to cut off the current flowing in the electrical load means in case it reaches the discharge termination voltage of the plurality of rechargeable cells.

Abstract: An inverter apparatus which is capable of easily structuring a controlling program for controlling the inverter apparatus to cope with various specifications. The inverter apparatus is comprised of a control section including a CPU 1 serving as a computing means for controlling a converter unit 31 and an inverter unit 33, a memory 2, a memory 3 serving as a first storage unit for storing an inverter-controlling basic program, a parameter storage unit 4 for storing parameters, and an AP S/W storage unit 5 serving as a second storage unit for storing a plurality of inverter-controlling application programs, and a display device 6 for such as a parameter unit and having a display portion and an input portion. An inverter-controlling application program is transferred from outside the inverter apparatus to the AP S/W storage unit 5 through a telecommunication means.

Abstract: A power supply control unit of this invention has a stabilized power source by a DC/DC converter and a Zener diode for supplying selectively plural voltages and supplies a power to a current vibration type shut-off function provided switching circuit. When power supply from a power source to a low voltage load is controlled via switching by a temperature sensor incorporated FET, a reference voltage having a voltage characteristic equivalent to that of a voltage between terminals of the temperature sensor incorporated FET to which a predetermined load is connected is generated by a reference FET and a resistor. A difference between a voltage between the terminals of the temperature sensor incorporated FET and the reference voltage is detected by a comparator. Then, the ON/OFF of the temperature sensor incorporated FET is controlled depending on a difference between the voltage between the terminals and the reference voltage by a driving circuit.

Abstract: A current monitoring circuit for monitoring a charging/discharging current of a secondary battery that achieves high-precision monitoring and that restricts an increase in the circuit scale. An amplifier amplifies a voltage of a current sense resistor generated by a charging/discharging current under a various amplification degrees. A comparator compares an output voltage of the amplifier with a reference voltage. A controller controls a reference voltage to be supplied to each unit and controls the amplification degree of the amplifier, based on a result of the comparison. An A/D converter A/D converts an output voltage of the amplifier. A numerical-value converter converts a digital value obtained by the conversion of the A/D converter into a numerical value corresponding to a charging/discharging current, under the control of the controller. When an excess current has been detected, a switch is set to a non-conductive state, to thereby disconnect the battery from the external unit.

Abstract: A battery charger, a method of charging a battery and a battery plant incorporating the battery charger or the method. In one embodiment, the battery charger includes: (1) a battery voltage monitor that measures a voltage of a battery and (2) a charge current generator, coupled to the battery voltage monitor, that provides an incrementally adjustable charge current to the battery based on the voltage.

Abstract: A switching power supply (30) receives an AC voltage at a primary side of a transformer (36) and converts it to a regulated DC output voltage at the secondary side of the transformer (36). The switching power supply (30) includes a voltage regulation compensation circuit (52) to monitor the transformers primary side providing a reference signal VREF related to the transformers secondary side. Signal VCOMP is a current reference signal representative of the primary side inductor current flowing through the emitter of a power transistor (38). VCOMP is fed into a sample and hold circuit (70) and amplified to a DC level proportional to the peak level of the inductor current of the power transistor (38). The output of the sample and hold circuit (70) is fed to two inputs of a multiplier circuit (82) where the output thereof is a square of the two inputs fed to a k-factor circuit (83).

Abstract: A frequency sensing NMOS voltage regulator is disclosed. A NMOS source follower transistor has a gate connected to a predetermined gate voltage, a drain coupled to an external supply voltage through a PMOS switching transistor, and a source connected to a load. The gate of the PMOS transistor is controlled by a delay circuit through which a pulse derived from the system clock is passed. Through the use of the delay circuit and the PMOS transistor, the amount of current produced by the NMOS transistor is made a function of the cycle rate of the system clock and the current provided by the NMOS transistor tracks the frequency-dependent current requirements of the load, resulting in a reduced variance of the supply voltage Vcc over a wide current range.

Abstract: A power converter with a self synchronized synchronous rectifier includes one or two drive windings to provide positive drive to the control electrodes of the controlled switches (FETs) of a self synchronized synchronous rectifier. The polarities of these windings am selected so that the switched devices are driven appropriately to rectify the periodic signal output of the secondary winding of the power transformer of the converter. In some arrangements one or two drive windings are included as extra windings in the power transformer and connected to provide the proper polarity drive signals. The turn ratios of the drive windings to the other windings are selected to provide the proper gate drive signal levels. In an alternative arrangement a separate drive transformer may be provided to supply the gate drive signals.