Black Decker Inc.

Scott J Eshleman

Daniel Puzio

Craig Alan Schell

Daniele C Brotto

Andrew E Seman, Jr

Tal Gottesman

Michael Kenneth Forster

Robert S Gehret

Gabriel E Concari

Christopher J Murray

Jason F Busschaert

David J Smith

Joseph Patrick Kelleher

Sankarshan N Murthy

Rouse Roby Bailey, Jr

Joao Norona

James B Watson

Daniel N Lopano

John D Cox

Robert Alan Usselman

John Charles Vanko

Joerg Zellerhoff

Nathan J Cruise

Stuart E Garber

Andrew E Seman

Mehdi T Abolhassani

Christine H Potter

Stephen P Osborne

Brian E Friedman

Samuel G Woods

William D Spencer

Ren H Wang

Michael C Doyle

Mark T Cherry

Alexander Manasseh

Jeremy D Ashinghurst

Anatoliy Nosov

James R Parks

Thomas Jay Bodine

Erik A Ekstrom

Pradeep M Pant

Clark A Bixler

Oleksiy P Sergyeyenko

Steven J Phillips

Todd A Hagan

Bhanuprasad V Gorti

Robert B Schoch

Thomas W Murray

Shailesh P Waikar

Russell Hester

Christopher Wade Shook

Michael R Marjomaa

Curtis H Watenpaugh

Wing Lin

Dennis A Bush

Fugen Qin

Andrew M Palich

James Dunlap Hays

Kevin L Pulley

Timothy J Seeley

Jesse P Hill

Michael Haupt

Joseph G Stauffer

John Howson

Joseph B Narbut

Will Wang

Erik J Ekstrom

Daniel L Schwartz

Danielle C Brotto

Dale W Boswall

Ganapati K Pai

Andrew J Seman, Jr

Samuel George Woods

Rouse Roby Bailey

Jr Andrew Seman

Curtis Watenpaugh

Russell David Hester

Jr Andrew E Seman

Jr Rouse Roby Bailey

A power tool is provided including a brushless DC (BLDC) motor, a rectifier that receives an alternative current from a power supply and outputs a rectified signal supplied to a DC power bus, and an inverter circuit having motor switches connected electrically between the DC power bus and the motor. A control module controls a switching operation of the power switches to regulate supply power from the power supply to the motor. The control module controls the switching operation so as to, within a half cycle of the AC power supply voltage waveform, increase current draw from the power supply from a first threshold at or after a first zero-crossing of the half cycle up to a second threshold, and reduce current draw from the power supply from the second threshold up to a third threshold at or prior to a second zero-crossing of the half cycle.

Waveform shaping in power tool powered by alternating-current power supply

A power tool has a housing, a motor disposed within the housing, a power supply circuit for providing power to the motor, a controller circuit for controlling the power provided to the motor, and an electric static discharge (ESD) protection circuit connected to the power supply circuit and the housing. The ESD protection circuit includes a first resistor connected to the power supply circuit and the housing. The first resistor may be a high impedance resistor. The ESD protection circuit may also have a first capacitor connected in parallel to the first resistor, a second resistor connected in series to the first resistor, and a second capacitor connected in series to the first capacitor and in parallel to the second resistor.

Electric static discharge protection for power tools

A device includes a first interface configured to connect to a battery charger, a second interface configured to connect to a battery pack and one or more accessory components that define the device. For example, the device may be a fan, a radio, a power adapter, a speaker, a light or other type of device.

Accessories with battery charger interface and battery pack interface

A power tool includes a tool body including a motor having an output member that drives an accessory. A chuck is coupled for rotation with the output member relative to the tool body and configured to retain the accessory. The chuck has a chuck body that defines at least one light pipe formed therethrough. A light source disposed on a light ring coupled to the tool body and includes at least one light. Each at least one light source aligns with each of the at least one light pipe intermittently during rotation of the chuck.

Lighted power tool

A power adapter for use with a power tool having an electric motor, and configured to supply electric power from an alternating current power supply to the power tool, is provided. The adapter includes a housing and an auxiliary capacitor circuit housed within the housing. The auxiliary capacitor circuit includes an auxiliary capacitor, a switch in series with the auxiliary capacitor, and a switch control circuit. A state of the switch creates either a charging path for the auxiliary capacitor or both the charging path and a discharging path for the auxiliary capacitor, and the switch control circuit is configured to detect voltage associated with the power supply or the power tool and to control state of the switch in accordance with magnitude of the detected voltage.

Power tool with electric motor and auxiliary switch path

A power tool system includes a power tool, a power tool battery pack and a battery pack charger. The power tool battery pack is separable from and attachable to the power tool, and electrically connectable to the power tool electrical terminals when attached to the power tool. The power tool battery pack has at least one battery cell, a receiver coil, and a control circuit for controlling the amount of power that is provided to the at least one battery cell. The battery pack charger has at least one transmitter coil for generating a magnetic field which induces a voltage in the receiver coil, and a control circuit for controlling the amount of power that is provided to the transmitter coil.

Power tool battery pack wireless charger

A power tool is provided including a brushless direct-current (BLDC) electric motor having a stator and a rotor. The power tool includes power switches including high-side switches and low-side switches disposed on a direct-current (DC) bus line between a power supply and the electric motor, and a controller configured to electronically brake the motor by simultaneously closing the high-side switches or the low-side switches to electrically short the stator windings. In an embodiment, the controller is configured to monitor a voltage of the DC bus line, and if the voltage of the DC bus line is lower than a voltage threshold, execute electronic braking by toggling between closing the high-side switches and closing the low-side switches over braking cycles, and if the voltage of the DC bus line is greater than the voltage threshold, execute braking by closing only the high-side switches or the low-side switches over the braking cycles.

Electronic braking of brushless DC motor in a power tool

A power tool includes a housing, a motor, an output member driven by the motor, and a reaming attachment coupled to the output member. The reaming attachment has a front end portion selectively driven in rotation by the output member to drive a fastener into a workpiece, and a reaming portion selectively driven in rotation by the output member to remove material from an end surface of a conduit. A rotational motion sensor in the housing is operable to detect rotational motion of the housing about an axis. A controller receives a signal indicative of rotational motion from the sensor, determines a direction of the rotational motion of the housing, and drives the motor in a direction corresponding to the direction of rotational motion of the housing.

Power tool having rotary input control

A power tool is provided, including a housing; a brushless DC (BLDC) motor arranged within the housing, the motor including a stator and a rotor rotatably disposed within the stator; a power module electrically disposed between the motor and a power supply, the power module including power switches; an actuator engageable by a user; and a control module configured to control a switching operation of the power switches to begin supply power to the motor when the actuator is engaged. The control module monitors engagement and disengagement events of the actuator, and ignores a subsequent engagement of the actuator if at least one of number of actuator engagement events and/or number of actuator disengagement events exceeds a predetermined threshold value within a predetermined time.

Sensorless thermal protection for power tools

A power tool is configured to receive power from a power supply. The power tool may include a rectifier that may output a rectified signal to a DC power bus. A switching arrangement may operate to deliver electric power from the DC power bus to an electric motor. A switch path may be electrically coupled in parallel with the rectifier on the DC power bus. The switch path includes an auxiliary capacitor in series with a switch and a state of the switch controls a discharging path for the auxiliary capacitor. A switch control circuit may be configured to detect voltage associated with at least one of the AC power supply or the DC power bus and to control state of the switch in accordance with magnitude of the detected voltage.

A portable power supply apparatus is provided having reduced impedance losses. The portable power supply apparatus is comprised of: a portable housing; a battery system residing in the housing; and an inverter circuit residing in the housing. The battery system generates a direct current (DC) voltage having a magnitude greater than or equal to a peak value of a desired alternating current (AC) voltage. The inverter circuit receives the DC voltage directly from the battery system, converts the DC voltage to an AC output voltage and outputs the AC output voltage to one or more outlets exposed on an exterior surface of the portable housing.

Portable alternating current inverter having reduced imipedance losses

Growing community of inventors

Parkville, MD, United States of America

Scott J Eshleman