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:
Jul. 27, 2004
Filed:
Oct. 05, 2001
Hubertus Cornelis Miermans, Eindhoven, NL;
Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V., Eindhoven, NL;
Abstract
In a protection circuit for a plurality of fans, an element is associated with each fan. The impedance or the current value of the element indicates the operation condition of the fan. For example, the impedance or the current value may be low if the fan is operative or functioning normally, and high when the fan is inoperative or functioning abnormally. The elements are arranged in parallel between two conductive lines. A detection circuit determines the total impedance or current value between the two lines. If the total impedance or current is not within a predetermined range which indicates that all fans are operating normally, at least one of the fans functions abnormally. The number of lines required to convey the operation status of the fans to the detection circuit is only two and does not depend on the number of fans involved.