9308results about "Home appliance efficiency improvement" patented technology

Methods and apparatus are provided for controlling a wireless power receiver for wirelessly receiving power. A drive power for driving the wireless power receiver is received from a wireless power transmitter. A communication network is established with the wireless power transmitter. A wireless power network that is controlled by the wireless power transmitter is joined. A charge power is received from the wireless power transmitter.

In an exemplary embodiment, a battery conditioning system monitors battery conditioning and includes a memory for storing data based thereon; for example, data may be stored representative of available battery capacity as measured during a deep discharge cycle. With a microprocessor monitoring battery operation of a portable unit, a measure of remaining battery capacity can be calculated and displayed. Where the microprocessor and battery conditioning system memory are permanently secured to the battery so as to receive operating power therefrom during storage and handling, the performance of a given battery in actual use can be accurately judged since the battery system can itself maintain a count of accumulated hours of use and other relevant parameters. In the case of a nonportable conditioning system, two-way communication may be established with a memory associated with the portable unit so that the portable unit can transmit to the conditioning system information concerning battery parameters (e.g. rated battery capacity) and / or battery usage (e.g. numbers of shallow discharge and recharge cycles), and after a conditioning operation, the conditioning system can transmit to the portable unit a measured value of battery capacity, for example. A battery pack having memory stores battery history and identifying data to be retrieved by a portable battery powered device. Battery status information may be utilized in conjunction with characteristic battery history data in order to optimize charging and discharging functions and to maximize the useful life of a battery pack.

A method and apparatus for efficiently charging lead-acid batteries applies small voltage steps to probe the charging efficiency of a battery being charged. The application of a voltage step causes the current to change from a base current to a surge current immediately after the voltage step, and to decay asymptotically to a plateau current after the surge current. A current ratio, defined as the difference between the plateau current and the base current divided by the difference between the surge current and the base current, is used as an indicator of the charging efficiency. The output voltage of the power supply charging the battery is then adjusted according to the measured current ratio. A current-voltage slope, defined as the difference between the plateau current and the base current divided by the magnitude of the voltage step, may also be used as an indicator of the charging efficiency for controlling the charging process. Alternatively, in a current-controlled charging process, small current steps are used to probe the charging efficiency. For a current step, the induced voltage changes are measured, and a transient-plateau voltage ratio is calculated. The charging current is then adjusted according to the calculated voltage ratio.

A method and system for efficiency compliance in a wireless battery charging system includes a wireless power source that provides a wireless charging power signal to devices in proximity to the wireless power source. The devices have a receiving coil to receive electrical energy from the wireless charging power signal, and they communicate battery charging metrics to the wireless power source. The wireless power source uses the battery charging metrics to determine a predicted system efficiency to charge the devices over a period of time, and when the predicted efficiency is below an efficiency standard, the wireless power source undertakes an action to improve system efficiency.

A wireless power receiver for receiving charging power from a wireless power transmitter includes a power reception unit configured to receive the charging power, a rectification unit configured to rectify charging power provided by the power reception unit, and output charging power in a form of Direct Current (DC), a charging unit configured to store charging power, and a power processing Integrated Chip (IC) configured to convert a voltage of the output rectified charging power, into at least one voltage, that an operation of the wireless power receiver requires, and output power having the at least one voltage. Accordingly, charging efficiency is increased.

Even in a state in which the remaining capacity of a battery decreases, an apparatus operation is appropriately executed while charging efficiency of the battery is maintained.A processing unit 103 has a first operation mode in which an operation is enabled using only external power from a feeding device 120 and a second operation mode in which the operation is enabled by feeding from a battery 102 in addition to the external power from the feeding device 120. When the remaining capacity of the battery 102 is sufficient, the processing unit 103 executes an apparatus operation in the second operation mode. However, when the remaining capacity of the battery 102 decreases, the processing unit 103 changes an operation mode to the first operation mode and executes charging of the battery 102 while continuously executing the apparatus operation.

A method of providing power to an electronic device in an energy-efficient manner includes transitioning between power states corresponding to charging and discharging a battery. The state of charge of the battery is detected. Upon detecting a high threshold state of charge, an external power source such as an AC-to-DC adapter is disabled, and the battery to provides primary power to the electronic device. Upon a low threshold state of charge, the AC-to-DC adapter is controlled to provide a high current output to charge the battery and provide primary power to the electronic device. The power states, when cycled over time based on the state of the battery, provide for an energy-efficient method of powering the electronic device.

An appliance for conditioning air of a room comprises one or more power consuming features / functions including a temperature controlling element for one of heating and cooling air. A controller is operatively connected to the one or more power consuming features / functions. The controller is configured to receive and process a signal indicative of a utility state. The controller operates the appliance in one of a plurality of operating modes, including at least a normal operating mode and an energy savings mode in response to the received signal. The controller is configured to at least one of selectively adjust and deactivate at least one of the one or more power consuming features / functions to reduce power consumption of the appliance in the energy savings mode.

An object is to provide a power storage device provided with a battery that is a power storage means, for safe and accurate supply of electric power in a short period of time for drive power supply voltage without checking remaining capacity of the battery or changing batteries with deterioration over time of the battery for drive power supply voltage. The power storage device is provided with a battery that is a power storage means as a power supply for supplying electric power and a counter circuit for counting charging time of the power storage means. An electromagnetic wave with electric field intensity, magnetic field intensity, and power flux density per unit time which are transmitted from a power feeder are controlled, and the power storage means is efficiently charged using the electromagnetic wave in a short period of time.

A device includes an integrated power receive circuit, a battery charger, a battery, a processing module, one or more input / output modules, and one or more circuit modules. The integrated power receive circuit is operable to generate a DC voltage from a received magnetic field in accordance with a control signal. The battery charger is operable to convert the DC voltage into a battery charge voltage. The battery is coupled to the battery charger in a first mode and is coupled to supply power in a second mode. The processing module is operable to: generate the control signal based on desired electromagnetic properties of at least one of the received magnetic field and the integrated power receive circuit; process outbound data to produce processed outbound data; and process inbound data to produce processed inbound data.

Food stuffs are cooked at precise temperatures, which are optionally below 100° C., in a vessel that is evacuated to exclude air, in which low pressure steam replaces the air. When a sufficient quantity of air is excluded and replaced with water vapor, the temperature of vapor is accurately measured inside the vessel below the lid to control the temperatures within about 1° C. Air is preferably excluded via a controlled heated process for a relatively short period of time at high temperature to generate steam, the temperature is lowered to condense water vapor upon which the lid will sealingly engage the rim of the vessel, forming a partial vacuum in the cooking vessel.

A household appliance system and method include an appliance control system having a common appliance interface provided on an appliance and a demand side management module connected to the common appliance interface. The module corresponds to one select utility of a plurality of utilities and is adapted to communicate with the one select utility of the plurality of utilities. The appliance control system operates the appliance based on communications with the one select utility through the module.

A voltage converter including a capacitive voltage divider combined with a buck converter and battery charger. The converter includes four capacitors, a switch circuit, an inductor and a controller. The capacitors form a capacitor loop between an input node and a reference node and include a fly capacitor controlled by the switch circuit, which is controlled by a PWM signal to half the input voltage to provide a first output voltage on a first output node, and to convert the first output voltage to the second output voltage via the inductor. The controller controls the PWM signal to regulate the second output voltage, and provides a voltage control signal to control the input voltage to maintain the first output node between a predetermined minimum and maximum battery voltage levels. A battery charge path is coupled to the reference node and battery charge mode depends upon the battery voltage.

A highly efficient fast charger for high capacity batteries and methods for fast charging high capacity batteries. The fast charger preferably comprises a rectified AC input of single or preferably three phases, with an optional power factor corrected input, minimally filtered with high frequency, high ripple current capacitors, which is switched with a power switching circuit in the “buck” configuration into an inductor / capacitor output filter. Metallized film capacitors are employed, to minimize the rectified 360 Hertz AC component filtering while providing transient switch protection and ripple current requirements for the buck regulator, to provide a high current fast charger with substantially improved power factor. High power, high frequency switching with minimized output filter size provides a highly filtered DC output. The fast charger is adapted to be constructed in a modular design for simple maintenance.

The present invention relates to a multi-functional laundry device capable of treating the laundry efficiently and controlling method for the same, comprising a washing unit for washing the laundry, a drying unit integrated with the washing unit as one body for after-washing treatment including smoothing out wrinkles, and drying and keeping the laundry, and a control unit provided at either of the washing unit and the drying unit for controlling the washing unit and the dry unit. The present invention has the advantageous effect that the treatment of the laundry including washing, drying, smoothing out wrinkles, and keeping the laundry may be performed in one device.

A drum type laundry machine according to the invention is capable of efficiently supplying steam to laundry in a drum. When the steam is supplied into the drum 11, a blower 39 is rotated at a higher rotation speed than in a heat drying operation (e.g., 5200 rpm) to provide greater air blowing power. Further, a projection 36 provided in an air passage narrows the air passage, so that an air flow rate is increased in the vicinity of a cooling water supply port 34. Therefore, cooling water supplied into a first air passage 32 is finely disintegrated on air, and supplied to a heater 43 in a heater housing 42 through a second air passage 33 and a blower chamber 40. The cooling water is heated by the heater 43 to be evaporated into steam. The steam thus generated is borne on the air and supplied into the drum 11 from a blowing port 44 through an air inlet port 9f.

An electric appliance and a control method thereof are disclosed. The electric appliance includes a communication device connected with a smart grid net to recognize electric power information including power-rate information for each time period, a sensing device configured to sense a predetermined operation mode and an operation state according to the operation mode, and a control device configured to implement power-saving operation based on the received electric power information and the state information sensed by the sensing device.

The invention discloses a hole-free inner barrel washing machine and relates to the technical field of washing machines. Under the condition of saving water, the problems that the water is easy to splash when the water is discharged above an inner barrel and bacteria are easy to breed in an outer barrel are solved, and the cost of the washing machine is saved. The hole-free inner barrel washing machine comprises the inner barrel and the outer barrel, wherein a water collection ring is arranged at a barrel opening of the inner barrel; the water collection ring comprises a water collection cavity, and a water collection hole and a water discharging hole which are communicated with the water collection cavity; the water collection hole is arranged toward the inner part of the inner barrel; the water discharging hole is formed towards a gap between the inner barrel and the outer barrel; the water discharging hole is connected with a water discharging pipe; and the water discharging pipe extends downwards to the bottom of the outer barrel. The hole-free inner barrel washing machine is used for discharging the water of the washing machine.

Methods and device for battery charging and diagnosis provide a measuring batter energy state in which charging strategy alternate with the minimize balance between battery energy state and charging energy in which the balance is existed in battery energy barrier. Variance battery energy barrier derives adaptive charging cycle and charging protection in to approach the requirements of safety, full charge and high performance for lead-acid battery. The charging cycle derives protection mode to adapt the initial battery energy barrier state, and derives diagnosis mode to adapt electrolyte activities diffusion state, and derives the charging mode in optimum strategy to adapt polarization, storage and saturation cycle by using measure battery energy barrier, and derives the alert indication mode to result the charging cycles and diagnosis, in which the output charging energy is derived as continuous and minimum energy in inhibit of reduce efficiency due to the violent agitation and the fluctuation phenomenon in appearance in charging cycle. This invention comprise Primary power supply unit, measurement and control unit, secondary side control unit and alert / indication unit to feature the functions with stable, safety, full charging, high efficiency, diagnostic and longevity charger.

The present invention relates to a wireless power supply system including a remote device capable of both transmitting and receiving power wirelessly. The remote device includes a self-driven synchronous rectifier. The wireless power supply system may also include a wireless power supply configured to enter an OFF state in which no power, or substantially no power, is drawn, and to wake from the OFF state in response to receiving power from a remote device.

Disclosed is a method of charging a lithium-sulfur electrochemical cell wherein the lithium-sulfur cell comprises a cathode comprising an electroactive sulfur-containing material, an anode comprising lithium, and a nonaqueous electrolyte.

A washing machine having a drying function and a method for controlling the same. The washing machine includes a tub for containing wash water; a drum rotatably placed in the tub for containing laundry, and provided with through holes for circulating the wash water or air therethrough; a drying device provided with a circulation fan and a heater for drying the laundry in the drum; and a pumping device for pumping the wash water in the tub so that the wash water in the tub is circulated into the drum or heated by the air passing through the drying device, and is then circulated into the drum. The washing machine performs washing of laundry without any additional heater for heating the wash water, thereby having low production costs and a simple structure of the tub.

A wired / wireless charging apparatus capable of performing wired charging and wireless charging and a circuit are provided. The wired / wireless charging apparatus includes a body including a wired charging circuit for wired charging, a wireless charging circuit for wireless charging, and a battery mounting space a cover coupled with the body and including a transmission coil generating a magnetic field for the wireless charging, wherein the body and the cover including a contact unit for electrically connecting the transmission coil to the wireless charging circuit.

A multi-layer, multi-turn structure for an inductor having a plurality of conductor layers separated by layers of insulator is described. The inductor further comprises a connector electrically connected between the conductor layers. The structure of the inductor may comprise a cavity therewithin. The structure of the inductor constructed such that electrical resistance is reduced therewithin, thus increasing the efficiency of the inductor. The inductor is particularly useful at operating within the radio frequency range and greater.

A battery charger management system / method implementing indirect execution of battery charging profiles is disclosed. The system utilizes a power source control unit (PSCU) to selectively switch a power supply source to a battery charging power supply (BCPS) that charges a battery. A power monitor control unit (PMCU) monitors the current consumed by the BCPS and reports this to the PSCU. The BCPS current consumption provides the PSCU a profile of the charging characteristics of the battery attached to the BCPS, allowing identification of the battery type and a determination of the optimal charging profile for the battery in its current charge state. The power source to the BCPS is switched by the PCCU in accordance with the determined optimal charging profile to optimally charge the battery. The PSCU may operate independently or in conjunction with wireless commands received from a mobile communication device (MCD).

The present invention provides a clothing dryer which permits a stable operation of a heat pump generating drying air to be circulated between a drying chamber and the heat pump. An air circulation route is formed which delivers air heated by a heater 29 of a heat pump unit 20 to a water tank 3 to be a drying chamber, returns the air discharged from the water tank 3 to the heat pump unit 20 through a filter unit 60, dehumidifies in a heat absorber 28 and delivers again to the heater 29. The filter unit 60 is provided with a lint filter 61 and a duct communicating with an air outlet 46 and an air introduction opening 47 is formed. Since the air is discharged from the air outlet 46 and an external air is introduced from the air introduction opening 47 when the amount of heat accumulated in the air in the air circulation route increases, an excessive increase in the temperature and pressure of a refrigerant with an increase in the amount of accumulated heat can be suppressed, and overloading a compressor 27 can be restrained, whereby the heat pump is stably operated.

The invention discloses refrigeration equipment capable of achieving undercooling preservation and a control method of the equipment. The refrigeration equipment comprises an undercooling chamber, theundercooling chamber is provided with an air inlet and an air return port, and the air inlet of the undercooling chamber is provided with an air door; a temperature sensor for detecting real-time temperature in the undercooling chamber is arranged in the undercooling chamber, and a control device is further arranged on the refrigeration equipment. The rotation speed and of a compressor and opening and closing of the air door are controlled by the control device, the temperature of the undercooling chamber is controlled accordingly, after food is put into the undercooling chamber, the undercooling chamber is subjected to the three stages including primary cooling, secondary cooling and low-temperature maintenance in sequence, and the average cooling speed of the primary cooling stage is larger than that of the secondary cooling stage. The refrigeration equipment has the advantages that undercooling preservation of the food is achieved, and accordingly the food quality is guaranteed.

In a laundry washing / drying machine involving drying by a heat pump cycle, in an initial stage of the drying operation the heat within an air circulation path is deficient and therefore it is impossible to effect quick heating of air on a drum inlet side up to a sufficiently high temperature. According to the present invention there is provided a drying unit capable of raising the drum inlet air temperature quickly up to a sufficiently high temperature in an initial stage of the drying operation and thereby shortening the drying time. The drying unit includes a heat pump cycle device for performing a cycle of radiating, with use of a radiator, the heat of a refrigerant compressed by a compressor, passing the refrigerant through a pressure reducing / expansion valve, evaporating the refrigerant in an evaporator and compressing the refrigerant again by the compressor, an air circulation path for allowing air to be circulated by a blower in such a manner that air heated by the radiator is introduced into a drying chamber to dry the laundry, exhaust air discharged from the drying chamber is passed through the evaporator, then is heated again by the radiator and the air thus dehumidified is circulated by the blower, and an external heat source applying device for applying the heat of an external heat source to the evaporator to quicken the rise in temperature of the air in an initial stage of the drying operation.