A battery management system (BMS) controls lithium battery access on a utility vehicle. The BMS includes a battery interface that couples with a lithium battery, a load interface that couples with a set of loads of the utility vehicle, and control circuitry coupled with the battery interface and the load interface. The control circuitry mechanically disconnects the battery interface from the load interface in response to a sleep event. Additionally, after the battery interface is mechanically disconnected from the load interface, the control circuitry mechanically reconnects the battery interface to the load interface in response to a wakeup event. Furthermore, after the battery interface is mechanically reconnected to the load interface, the control circuitry maintains connection between the battery interface and the load interface to convey power from the lithium battery to the set of loads of the utility vehicle through the battery interface and the load interface.

A switching apparatus includes an energy store and two measuring devices connected to the control apparatus, the energy store being connected in series between the supply connection and the power supply via the first measuring device, the control apparatus can ascertain if the supply voltage attached to the primary side of the power supply falls short of a first voltage threshold value and, via the second measuring device, if the supply voltage of the power supply attached to the secondary side of the power supply falls short of a second voltage threshold value, the control apparatus evaluates the time between falling short of the first voltage threshold value and falling short of the second voltage threshold value.

Provided are an inverter device, which is capable of preventing a malfunction of the inverter device while reducing the number of interface wirings, and a method of controlling the inverter device. A communication terminal of a communication circuit having a function of communicating to/from a vehicle, an input terminal for a start signal for starting a control circuit, and a signal for holding the control circuit active even when the start signal is changed after the start of the control circuit are used. A drive prohibition signal issued from the vehicle is received through the same terminal as that for the start signal to unify terminals for the start signal and the drive prohibition signal, to thereby reduce the number of interface wirings.

Provided are an input buffer, a semiconductor device and an engine control unit making it possible to execute fault diagnosis in real time. The input buffer includes a first comparator which compares a voltage of an input signal with a first reference voltage, a hysteresis circuit which generates a first high voltage side or low voltage side reference voltage on the basis of a comparison result from the first comparator, a second comparator which compares the voltage of the input signal with a second reference voltage, and a hysteresis circuit which outputs a second high voltage side reference voltage which is higher than the first high voltage side reference voltage or a second low voltage side reference voltage which is lower than the first low voltage side reference voltage.

A thyristor starting device includes: a converter which converts AC power supplied from an AC power source into DC power; a DC reactor which smooths a DC current; an inverter which converts the DC power provided from the converter into AC power, and supplies the AC power to a synchronous machine; a gate pulse generation circuit which generates a gate pulse to be provided to thyristors of the converter and the inverter; a control unit which sets a phase control angle of the gate pulse to be provided to the thyristors of the converter, by controlling a current of the converter such that the DC current flowing into the DC reactor matches a current command value; and an abnormality detection unit which compares a detection value of the DC current with the current command value, and determines an abnormality in the gate pulse based on a comparison result.

A power tool system includes a battery pack, a charger connectable to the battery pack, and a power tool body connectable to the battery pack. The battery pack includes a battery pack memory that stores identification information in a smallest unit allowing for communication with the charger and the power tool body. Each of the charger and the power tool body includes a device memory that stores at least one piece of identification information of a usable battery pack. Each of the charger and the power tool body or the battery pack includes a determination unit that determines whether or not the at least one piece of identification information stored in the device memory includes the identification information stored in the battery pack memory.

An electric working machine according to one aspect of the present disclosure comprises a motor, a rectifier circuit, a capacitor, a series switching element, a resistive element, a drive circuit, a peak voltage value acquirer, and a controller. The capacitor smooths power rectified by the rectifier circuit. The series switching element is coupled in series with the capacitor. The resistive element is coupled in parallel with the series switching element. The controller brings the series switching element into conduction in a case where AC power is inputted to the rectifier circuit and where a specified conducting condition based on a peak voltage value acquired by the peak voltage value acquirer is satisfied.

The present application relates to a motor control technology, and in particular to a start-up device for a DC motor, a motor system comprising the start-up device, a method for reducing DC motor start-up current and a computer-readable storage medium with a computer program stored thereon for implementing the above method. The start-up device for a DC motor according to one aspect of the present application includes: a switching element connected in series within a circuit comprising the DC motor and a DC power supply; and a control unit configured to cause the switching element to periodically switch between an ON state and an OFF state in a predetermined time interval to reduce the peak value of a start-up current flowing through the DC motor, and to cause the switching element to maintain the ON state after the predetermined time interval ends.

A motor starter apparatus includes at least one semiconductor switch configured to selectively couple a power source to a motor, at least one current sensor configured to generate a current sense signal indicative of a current provided via the at least one semiconductor switch, and a control circuit coupled to the at least one current sensor and configured to cause the at least one semiconductor switch to momentarily couple the power source to the motor and identify a fault based on a behavior of the current sense signal in response to the momentary coupling. The control circuit may be configured to identify the fault responsive to detecting that a rate of change of the current in response to the momentary coupling meets a predetermined criterion.

A motor starter apparatus includes at least one semiconductor switch configured to selectively couple a power source to a motor, at least one current sensor configured to generate a current sense signal indicative of a current provided via the at least one semiconductor switch, and a control circuit coupled to the at least one current sensor and configured to cause the at least one semiconductor switch to momentarily couple the power source to the motor and identify a fault based on a behavior of the current sense signal in response to the momentary coupling. The control circuit may be configured to identify the fault responsive to detecting that a rate of change of the current in response to the momentary coupling meets a predetermined criterion.