45results about How to "Reduced size and cost" patented technology

An electromechanical lock includes a latching assembly secured to a first structure, a catch piece secured to a second structure, and an electromechanical device. The latching assembly includes at least one latch element movable between a capture and release states to mechanically engage and disengage the catch piece, an arming member movable between a first and second positions wherein the latch element is released and captured, and a biasing element to urge the arming member into the first position. When the electromagnetic device is switched “on”, it magnetically engages the arming member with sufficient force to overcome the biasing force whereby movement of the catch piece away from the received state results in the latch element moving into the capture state to prevent separation of the first and second structures; when the electromagnetic device is switched “off”, the first and second structures may be separated.

A dual orientation plug connector having a tab portion with first and second opposing exterior surfaces that are substantially identical, parallel and opposite each other. Each exterior surface may have a plurality of electrical contacts. A substantially u-shaped metallic band surrounds a portion of the periphery of the plug connector. A contact assembly having an upper contact carrier, intermediate conductive plate and lower contact carrier may be disposed within the tab portion of the plug connector. A circuit assembly may be disposed within a body portion of the plug connector and electrically coupled to the plurality of electrical contacts.

A mother / daughter card non-volatile memory system includes a daughter card containing the memory and a mother card containing the memory controller and host interface circuits. The daughter memory card contains as little more than the memory cell array as is practical, in order to minimize its cost, and has an interface for connecting with a variety of mother controller cards having physical attributes and host interfaces according to a number of different published or proprietary memory card standards. Different types of memory cards may be used when the operating parameters of the memory are stored within it in a protected location, the mother card controller then reading these parameters and adapting its operation accordingly. A radio frequency antenna may be included on a surface of the card along with its electrical contacts, in order to provide a radio frequency identification function.

A transfer apparatus and an image forming apparatus are disclosed, in which a plurality of photosensitive drums corresponding to the respective colors are arranged along the outer peripheral surface of a transfer belt and a plurality of intermediate transfer rollers for applying a transfer field to the photosensitive drums are arranged offset downstream side from each of the photosensitive drums, respectively. In addition to that, the process, the intermediate transfer rollers are arranged in such positions that each of the nip width are increased progressively downstream side, respectively and each of the nip pressure are decreased progressively downstream side, respectively.

A loop antenna may include first and second electrical conductors arranged to define a circular shape with first and second spaced apart gaps therein. Opposing portions of the first and second electrical conductors at the first gap may define a signal feedpoint, and opposing portions of the first and second electrical conductors at the second gap may define an impedance tuning feature. The second gap may be circumferentially spaced from the first gap less than ninety degrees, and the second gap may be greater than the first gap to provide a predetermined impedance. A coaxial transmission line may form a feed inset into the loop conductor. The loop antenna may be planar and have a reduced size for ease of manufacture and use, and it may provide an isotropic radiating pattern at a predetermined operating frequency, which may avoid the need for antenna aiming.

A digital signal processing circuit which performs average current control is disposed on a secondary side of a transformer of an isolated DC-DC converter, and a switching control signal output from the digital signal processing circuit is transmitted to a switching element included in a power factor correction converter through an isolated drive circuit. The digital signal processing circuit obtains an average value of currents supplied to an inductor in accordance with a voltage output from a bias winding of the inductor or an output from a secondary side of a current transformer which detects a drain current of the switching element. Furthermore, the average value of the currents corresponds to a waveform (full-wave rectification sine wave) of an input voltage Vi.

A digital signal processing circuit which performs average current control is disposed on a secondary side of a transformer of an isolated DC-DC converter, and a switching control signal output from the digital signal processing circuit is transmitted to a switching element included in a power factor correction converter through an isolated drive circuit. The digital signal processing circuit obtains an average value of currents supplied to an inductor in accordance with a voltage output from a bias winding of the inductor or an output from a secondary side of a current transformer which detects a drain current of the switching element. Furthermore, the average value of the currents corresponds to a waveform (full-wave rectification sine wave) of an input voltage Vi.

A crystal oscillation device includes a crystal oscillator including a package with first connecting electrodes provided on a flat bottom surface mounted on a flat, thin circuit board. Circuit components and second connecting electrodes provided in one-to-one correspondence with the first connecting electrodes are mounted on one principal surface of the circuit board. The crystal oscillator is supported by top surfaces of a transistor and a varicap diode that are the highest among the circuit components mounted on the circuit board. The crystal oscillator and the circuit board are electrically connected with solder provided between the first and second connecting electrodes. The solder also attracts the crystal oscillator toward the circuit board.

A transfer unit includes a belt member, a bending roller, a transfer section, and a bias application unit. The belt member is extended between rollers and has a movable surface on which a toner image is transferred from an image carrier. The bending roller externally contacts the surface of the belt member to bend the belt member and rotates in conjunction with the belt member. The transfer section includes one of the rollers and a surface moving member. The surface moving member rotates at least one full turn while cleaning is performed on the surface moving member and the bending roller. A surface moving speed of the bending roller is equal to or greater than a surface moving speed of the surface moving member. A circumferential length L1 of the surface moving member and a circumferential length L2 of the bending roller satisfy L1≧L2.

A sheet post-processing apparatus (1) includes a punching unit (P), an end-binding unit (S) which aligns end portions of a sheet bundle piled on a processing tray (2) and performs a stapling process, and a middle-binding and middle-folding unit (C) which performs a stapling process on the center of the sheet bundle and then folds centering around the stapling portion to be in a brochure form. The middle-binding and middle-folding unit (C) is independently provided on the lower side of the end-binding unit (S) and a middle-binding and middle-folding feeding path (27) feeds sheets to the middle-binding and middle-folding unit (C) without via the processing tray (2) of the end-binding unit (S).

The present subject matter is directed to a high-speed high resolution and accuracy time interpolator circuit. The interpolator uses basic dual ramp time-to-digital converter architecture, but provides circuits and methodologies to improve the accuracy, reduce the effective intrinsic jitter, and reduce the measurement time. Improved aspects of the present subject matter correspond to the introduction of a current mirror for improved settling time, a high frequency clock for improved resolution and ADC sample processing to improve resolution and accuracy.

In a power supply device, the bridge circuit including a plurality of switching arms which is an inverse-parallel circuit of a semiconductor switch and a diode. The power supply device includes a control unit. The control unit switches the semiconductor switch such that a voltage v between AC terminals becomes a positive-negative voltage whose peak value is the voltage Vo between the DC terminals only during prescribed time periods before and after a point that has deviated from each zero crossing point ZCP of a current i by a prescribed compensation period φ and such that the voltage v between the AC terminals becomes a zero voltage during the other time periods, and sets the compensation period φ such that a time period during which the voltage v between the AC terminals becomes a zero voltage is the shortest.

An image processing apparatus includes a first shading correction unit configured to perform shading correction for first image data by using a correction coefficient that is set for yielding an area corresponding to the luminance of a corrected trace, and a corrected trace detecting unit configured to perform first image processing for second image data resulting from correction of the first image data by the first shading correction unit to detect the corrected trace.

A loop antenna may include first and second electrical conductors arranged to define a circular shape with first and second spaced apart gaps therein. Opposing portions of the first and second electrical conductors at the first gap may define a signal feedpoint, and opposing portions of the first and second electrical conductors at the second gap may define an impedance tuning feature. The second gap may be circumferentially spaced from the first gap less than ninety degrees, and the second gap may be greater than the first gap to provide a predetermined impedance. A coaxial transmission line may form a feed inset into the loop conductor. The loop antenna may be planar and have a reduced size for ease of manufacture and use, and it may provide an isotropic radiating pattern at a predetermined operating frequency, which may avoid the need for antenna aiming.

A projector includes a screen; a reflection unit having at least one curved surface mirror disposed on the projection side of the screen; a bending mirror disposed before the reflection unit on the optical path and disposed on either the non-projection side of the screen or on an extension plane of the screen; a refraction unit disposed before the reflection unit on the optical path and having at least a part disposed on either the non-projection side of the screen or on the extension plane of the screen; and an image forming unit disposed before the refraction unit on the optical path and disposed on the non-projection side of the screen.

A sheet post-processing apparatus (1) includes a punching unit (P), an end-binding unit (S) which aligns end portions of a sheet bundle piled on a processing tray (2) and performs a stapling process, and a middle-binding and middle-folding unit (C) which performs a stapling process on the center of the sheet bundle and then folds centering around the stapling portion to be in a brochure form. The middle-binding and middle-folding unit (C) is independently provided on the lower side of the end-binding unit (S) and a middle-binding and middle-folding feeding path (27) feeds sheets to the middle-binding and middle-folding unit (C) without via the processing tray (2) of the end-binding unit (S).

Biomolecular and other interactions are analyzed with a simpler construction. A biotic sample is fixed to noble metal nanoparticles, and light is irradiated from a light source to the noble metal nanoparticles through an optical fiber. Light obtained after reflection of the irradiated light by the noble metal nanoparticles is introduced to one or more optical detecting units through another optical fiber. The optical detecting unit(s) separately measure the intensity of the input light in a second band including a maximum absorption wavelength, a first band covering a longer wavelength range than the range covered by the second band, and a third band covering a shorter wavelength range than the range covered by the second band.

The present invention relates to circuits configured for implementation in sensors, sensors employing such circuits, and methods of operating and manufacturing such sensors and / or circuits. In at least some embodiments, the circuit includes a capacitor having a first input terminal and a first output terminal, a first amplifier having second and third input terminals and a second output terminal, and a second amplifier having fourth and fifth input terminals and a third output terminal. The first output terminal of the capacitor is coupled at least indirectly to the second input terminal, the fourth input terminal, and the third output terminal. Additionally, the second amplifier provides feedback current with respect to the capacitor depending upon signals provided to the fourth and fifth input terminals. The capacitor and each of the amplifiers can be implemented on an integrated circuit without any need for external components.

An optical disk apparatus decides a reading time parameters to be set in a tracking error signal generation part at the reading time by applying a laser light of record power to an optical disk. A state where the laser light of record power is applied to the optical disk is artificially produced based on the reading time parameters decided herein. In the state, the recording time parameters to be set in the tracking error signal generation part at the recording time are decided.

A dual orientation plug connector having a tab portion with first and second opposing exterior surfaces that are substantially identical, parallel and opposite each other. Each exterior surface may have a plurality of electrical contacts. A substantially u-shaped metallic band surrounds a portion of the periphery of the plug connector. A contact assembly having an upper contact carrier, intermediate conductive plate and lower contact carrier may be disposed within the tab portion of the plug connector. A circuit assembly may be disposed within a body portion of the plug connector and electrically coupled to the plurality of electrical contacts.

The invention relates to the technical field of electronics, and in particular relates to an energy conversion device and a vehicle. The energy conversion device comprises a reversible PWM rectifier and a motor coil, and the motor coil at least comprises a first winding unit and a second winding unit which are connected with the reversible PWM rectifier; at least one neutral line is led out from each of the first winding unit and the second winding unit, at least one of the neutral lines of the first winding unit and the second winding unit is connected, and at least one neutral line in any one winding unit is connected with the first end of a first direct-current charging and discharging port; the reversible PWM rectifier is connected with the first end of a battery, the second end of thebattery and the second end of the first direct-current charging and discharging port, and when the energy conversion device is applied to an electric vehicle, a direct-current charging and discharging circuit and a driving circuit can reuse the reversible PWM rectifier and the motor coil. The problems that an existing overall control circuit comprising a battery charging circuit and a motor driving circuit is complex in structure, low in integration level, large in size and high in cost are solved.

The invention provides an energy conversion device and a vehicle. The energy conversion device comprises a first reversible PWM rectifier, a second reversible PWM rectifier, a first motor coil and a second motor coil, and an external charging and discharging port and an external battery form a DC charging circuit or a DC discharging circuit through the energy conversion device. An external battery, the first reversible PWM rectifier and the first motor coil in the energy conversion device form a first driving loop, and the external battery, the second reversible PWM rectifier and the second motor coil in the energy conversion device form a second driving loop; the reversible PWM rectifiers and the motor are adopted in the driving circuit, the DC charging circuit and the DC discharging circuit so that the circuit structure is simplified, the integration degree is improved, and the purposes of reducing the size and reducing the cost are achieved.

An overvoltage protection device protects a half bridge circuit that receives a supply voltage. The overvoltage protection device includes a high speed overvoltage detector that receives the supply voltage, detects whether an overvoltage situation is present, and outputs an overvoltage signal that disables the switches of the half bridge circuit before the switches can be damaged by the overvoltage situation. With both the switches of the half-bridge disabled, the entire supply voltage appears across the two switches in series, by which each switch only receives half the entire voltage. Thus, by quickly disabling both switches of the half-bridge each switch only needs a maximum voltage rating equal to half the maximum voltage rating of the half bridge circuit as a whole. This leads to reduced size and cost for the switches of the half-bridge circuit.