The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 05, 1978
Filed:
Jun. 23, 1976
John P Scott, San Anselmo, CA (US);
Dudley C Peters, Stockton, CA (US);
Richard C Foster, Stockton, CA (US);
Other;
Abstract
A vehicular battery charging system particularly adapted for railroad cars such as cabooses, in which an axle drive/hydraulic pump unit is coupled to the end of an axle via a flexible coupling and right angle gear drive. The hydraulic pump provides hydraulic pressure to a hydraulic motor/alternator unit. The a.c. output from the alternator is rectified and the resulting d.c. is employed to charge the batteries at a voltage which is very accurately controlled by a voltage regulator. The regulator comprises a switching circuit controlling the excitation of the field or rotor winding of the alternator by the rectified alternator output, in response to a repetitive pulse signal from a free-running multi-vibrator. The duty cycle of the multi-vibrator pulse signal is controlled in response to the output voltage of the alternator, forming a closed loop feedback system whereby excitation to the alternator is controlled in response to the output thereof to maintain a very constant, predetermined output voltage suitable for battery charging. Overload protection circuitry is included to limit rotor excitation should the field windings be accidentally short circuited.