Sony Corporation

Sony Mobile Communications Inc.

Yoshiaki Inoue

Jusuke Shimura

Atsushi Sato

Mikio Takenaka

Kazuaki Fukushima

Yuto Takagi

Hiroshi Kato

Haruo Oba

Kunihito Sawai

Hiroshi Hasegawa

Yasuhide Hosoda

Kazuhiko Miyahara

Kimitaka Benise

Tomohiro Shiotani

Iwami Tsujimura

To provide a hybrid power source system in which either a solar cell or a fuel cell and a secondary cell are combined with each other, and the secondary cell is used as an electric power buffer and which can maintain a high energy efficiency even when there is a change in a charging state of the secondary cell, a change in an operating condition, or a secular change in a member, prevent overcharging of the secondary cell, and suppress thermal deterioration of the solar cell or the fuel cell due to generation of a surplus electric power unable to be taken out. A hybrid power source system is composed of a solar cell moduleor a fuel cell module, a DC/DC converter () which supplies a suitable voltage to a load () and a secondary cell () after converting an electric power generated by the module into the suitable voltage, the secondary cell (), and a shunt circuit (a constant voltage diode () or a shunt regulator IC) which is connected in parallel with the secondary cell (), and which, when the secondary cell () is substantially in a full charging state, transforms substantially all of a surplus electric power which is not consumed in the load (), of the generated electric power, into heat to abandon the resulting heat.

Hybrid power source system

Disclosed herein is a secondary battery protecting circuit connected in parallel with a nonaqueous secondary battery, the secondary battery protecting circuit including: a first voltage detecting circuit; a second voltage detecting circuit; a switch section; and a heat radiating section.

Secondary battery protecting circuit and hybrid power source equipment

A power supply system capable of inhibiting electricity loss and deterioration of each power supply device while realizing high stability in the case where electricity supply is performed by using a plurality of power supply devices is provided. A switching element corresponding to a power supply device having a higher inter-terminal voltage out of two power supply devices selectively becomes in ON state, and a switching element corresponding to a power supply device having a lower inter-terminal voltage selectively becomes in OFF state. Thereby, overload on a specific power supply device is prevented, and current flow between the different power supply devices is able to be prevented without generating needless electricity loss. Further, since electricity of the power supply device having a higher inter-terminal voltage is selectively outputted, variation between the respective power supply devices becomes allowable to some extent.

Power supply system and electronic device

Disclosed herein is solar power-generating equipment, including: a solar cell; a secondary battery; an electric power outputting portion; a display portion configured to display thereon information about an electric-generating capacity of the solar cell, and information about a state of charge of the secondary battery; and a control portion configured to cause the display portion to display thereon the information about the electric-generating capacity of the solar cell only for a predetermined time length, and cause the display portion to display thereon the information about the state of charge of the secondary battery only for a predetermined time length.

Solar power-generating equipment

A fuel cartridge with which liquid leakage through an air induction hole from a fuel tank is able to be prevented and safety is able to be improved is provided. Switching drive for opening and closing an air induction holeis performed by a valvecapable of controlling the switching drive according to a control signal. Thereby, air introduction to a fuel tankcontaining a fuel is able to be controlled. Thus, for example, at the time of high temperature or fuel disorder, by closing the air induction holeby the valve, fuel leakage from the fuel tank through the air induction hole of an existing check valve is able to be prevented, and safety is able to be improved.

Fuel cartridge, fuel cell, and power generation method

A mobile device including a solar battery having a light-receiving surface provided on a casing of the mobile device, an illuminance detector that detects an illuminance of light incident on the casing, an output section that outputs a state of light incident on the light-receiving surface of the solar battery, and a controller that controls the output section based on the illuminance detected by the illuminance detector.

Mobile device including a solar battery

Disclosed is a controller for controlling short-circuit across positive and negative terminals of a dye sensitized solar cell for converting a light energy into an electrical energy. The controller includes: a voltage detecting section detecting a voltage developed across the positive and negative terminals of the cell; a current detecting section detecting a current caused to flow through the positive terminal of the cell; a judging section judging how a power generation state of the cell is, and whether or not a release state is provided across the positive and negative terminals of the cell in accordance with a value of the voltage detected by the voltage detecting section and a value of the current detected by the current detecting section; and a short-circuiting/releasing section short-circuiting or releasing across the positive and negative terminals of the cell in accordance with a result of the judgment made by the judging section.

Controller, controlling method, and solar cell

A fuel cell system that is able to perform power generation more stably than in the past regardless of external environment is provided. Based on a temperature of a power generation section detected by a temperature detection section, a supply amount of a liquid fuel from a fuel pump is adjusted, and therefore control in which the temperature of the power generation section becomes constant is performed. In addition, a fuel cell system that is able to perform power generation in a vaporization supply type fuel cell more stably than in the past is provided. A level of a power generation voltage supplied from the power generation section is raised by a boost circuit. In a control section, operation of the boost circuit is controlled using a given control table, and therefore control is performed on an output voltage and an output current supplied from the boost circuit to a load.

Fuel cell system and electronic device

Disclosed herein is a solar cell system including: a plurality of power generation panels that differ in the range of wavelengths of light they absorb from each other and convert light into power; a voltage detection section adapted to detect the voltage of power generated by each of the plurality of power generation panels; a reproduction section adapted to compare the voltages of the plurality of power generation panels detected by the voltage detection section so as to reproduce an audio or music signal appropriate to the comparison result; and an output section adapted to output audio or music reproduced by the reproduction section.

Solar cell system for outputting an audio signal

Disclosed herein is an information processing device including a voltage measuring unit and a determining unit. The voltage measuring unit measures a voltage across the positive and negative terminals of a set of a plurality of dye-sensitized solar cells connected in series. The determining unit determines the number of the dye-sensitized solar cells not generating electricity according to the amount of voltage drop across the positive and negative terminals from the voltage across the positive and negative terminals in the initial state in which all the dye-sensitized solar cells of the set generate electricity at the voltage measured by the voltage measuring unit.

Information processing device and information processing method

A piezoelectric vibration device system includes a piezoelectric vibration device that performs predefined movements using the vibration of the piezoelectric element; and a control unit that controls the behavior of the piezoelectric vibration device by controlling the frequency of the piezoelectric element, where the control unit includes: a first signal generating unit that generates a fundamental frequency signal having a fundamental frequency adjacent to the mechanical resonance frequency of the piezoelectric element; a second signal generating unit that generates a variable frequency signal whose frequency periodically rises or falls; and a frequency modulator that generates a frequency modulated signal, whose frequency changes into one of three or more frequencies existing around the fundamental frequency periodically and in sequence, by executing frequency modulation using the fundamental frequency signal and the variable frequency signal, and that outputs the frequency modulated signal as a control signal for controlling the piezoelectric vibration device.

Piezoelectric vibration device system and electronics apparatus

A battery system capable of inhibiting a reverse voltage applied to a unit cell that has lost the electromotive force without active control is provided. The battery system include two or more unit cells electrically connected in series, and a rectification section that is composed of at least one of an electronic device having a rectification function and an interface having a rectification action, and is electrically connected to the respective two or more unit cells in parallel.

Battery system including two or more unit cells electrically connected in series

A fuel cartridge is provided. The fuel cartridge capable of reliably suppressing fuel leakage and realizing improved safety. The fuel cartridge includes a cartridge body having a fuel supply port, and a seal member for directly closing the fuel supply port. The cartridge body has an atmosphere communication port, and the seal member directly closes the fuel supply port and the atmosphere communication port.

Growing community of inventors

Aichi, Japan

Yoshiaki Inoue