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:
Jan. 19, 2010
Filed:
Dec. 19, 2007
Tsukasa Fujita, Osaka, JP;
Tadashi Hashimoto, Osaka, JP;
Tsukasa Fujita, Osaka, JP;
Tadashi Hashimoto, Osaka, JP;
Keyence Corporation, Osaka, JP;
Abstract
The present invention relates to suppressing wear and contamination of the electrode needle as well as effectively removing the electricity from a charged body. An electricity removal mode in which the electrode needle is applied with a high voltage to produce ions and a halt mode in which the electrode needle is halted are provided, that are alternatively selected based on a selection of a user. The halt mode includes a halt period during which the high voltage is not basically applied on the electrode needle. When a self discharge occurs by approach of a charged body in this halt period and an absolute value of current that flows through the resistance exceeds the first threshold value, the electricity removal operation is initiated in which the high voltage is applied on the electrode needle to produce ions. Subsequently, after a predetermined time period passes, for example, the electricity removal operation is terminated and the halt period is resumed.