A touch panel includes a touch sensor layer including a first transparent electrode and a second transparent electrode, wherein an arrangement direction of the first transparent electrode can be perpendicular to that of the second transparent electrode, and both of the first and second transparent electrodes include two transparent metallic patterns which are stacked and electrically connected to each other.

A resistive device includes a resistive layer, a flexible substrate arranged on the resistive layer, and an electrode layer. The electrode layer includes two electrode sections arranged below the resistive layer and separate to each other. Moreover, a method for manufacturing the resistive device with flexible substrate is also disclosed.

An elastomeric particle (1, 1, 1″) comprises a non-conducting elastomeric body (2) having an electrically conducting surface (4a, 4b, 6). Pressure sensor elements (20, 20', 20″; 30, 30', 30″, 30'″) comprising such elastomeric particles are disclosed, as well as sensor clusters (50″, 50'″, 50IV, 50V, 50VI, 50VII, 70) comprising such sensor elements. There is also disclosed a pressure sensor element (40, 40', 40″, 40'″, 40IV, 40V, 40VI, 40VII), comprising a resistive element (44, 44', 44″) providing a conduction path, a first electrode (42a, 42a-1, 42a-2, 42a-3, 42a-4, 42a-5, 42a-6), connected to the resistive element, a second electrode (42b, 42b'), which in a quiescent state is spaced from said first electrode, wherein the second electrode, when the pressure sensor element is subjected to a pressure, is arranged to contact said first electrode or said resistive element. Systems comprising such sensor elements and sensor clusters are disclosed, as well as methods of their fabrication.

A system and method of painting parts of large dimensions that present a certain amount of flexibility that makes their shape geometrically unstable in the event of being moved. The surface of a part is moved in front of a paint spray device by an arm of a robot, while the spray device remains stationary relative to the robot and while the part is being deformed. Other elements include a gripper for gripping parts of large dimensions, the gripper being adapted to implement the method; an installation; and a booth for performing surface treatment of parts.

A support disk fixing apparatus which includes an upper surface to which a wafer is bonded, a lower surface, a cylindrical side surface between the upper surface and the lower surface, and a chamfered portion between the upper surface and the side surface, includes a base upon which the support disk is placed; and a fixture that is provided on the base, and that has a first surface that abuts against the side surface of the support disk and covers the side surface of the support disk, and a second surface that abuts against the chamfered portion of the support disk and covers the chamfered portion of the support disk.

The bonding apparatus is capable of effectively increasing temperature of a substrate and reducing occurrence of position gaps and poor connection in a process of flip-chip-bonding semiconductor devices to the substrate. The bonding apparatus comprises: a supporting unit for supporting the substrate, on which the semiconductor devices have been adhered by a non-conductive; and a heating/pressing unit for heating and pressing the substrate, the heating/pressing unit having a built-in heat source and a clamping face, onto which the substrate supported by the supporting unit is pressed. The substrate supported by the supporting unit is moved toward the clamping face of the heating/pressing unit so as to preheat the substrate and the semiconductor devices by radiation heat. Then, the semiconductor devices are pressed onto the clamping face of the heating/pressing unit so as to cure the non-conductive adhesive and bond bumps of the semiconductor devices to terminal sections of the substrate.

An apparatus for supporting a workpiece during processing of the workpiece is disclosed. The apparatus comprises: a chassis having a vacuum chamber that is connectable to a vacuum source; a supporting device rotatable relative to the chassis, the supporting device having a hollow compartment and a supporting surface for holding the workpiece; and at least one sealing device arranged between the chassis and the supporting device, to provide an air-tight seal between the chassis and the supporting device while allowing for rotation of the supporting device with respect to the chassis, so as to form a vacuum passage extending from the supporting surface of the supporting device through the hollow compartment of the supporting device and the vacuum chamber of the chassis to the vacuum source, to thereby hold the workpiece to the supporting surface of the supporting device during processing of the workpiece.

A turbine component repair apparatus includes: a first die having male and female halves for clamping a first section of a turbine blade with a platform and a root portion of an airfoil, the first die having a recess shaped to receive the root portion and retain a faying surface thereof in predetermined alignment; and a second die having male and female halves for clamping a repair section which defines a tip portion of the airfoil, the second die having a second recess shaped to receive the tip portion and retain a faying surface of the tip portion in predetermined alignment. The first and second dies have mating front faces configured to align their bottom surfaces in a common plane. A alignment device is removably attached to the second die to temporarily align the repair section in the absence of the male half of the second die.

An image forming apparatus is provided. The image forming apparatus includes a conveyer configured to convey a recording medium along a conveying path in a conveying direction, an image forming unit configured to form an image on the recording medium being conveyed, a supporting member arranged in a position to face the image forming unit and configured to support the recording medium, and an aspirator configured to aspirate dust through an aspiration inlet, which is formed in a downstream position along the conveying direction with respect to the image forming unit and in proximity to a downstream end of the supporting member.

The present invention aims to provide a technique that prints characters and patterns clearly onto a tire surface without complicated operations. A tire printing device of the present invention includes a printer head that ejects and applies a coating material onto a tire surface, a widthwise moving unit that moves the printer head along the width direction of the tire, a radial moving unit that moves the printer head along the radical direction of the tire, and a swinging unit that swings the printer head around the axis along the circumferential direction of the tire.

The present invention addresses the problem of improving the quality of recorded images in ink jet recording technologies in which a plurality of nozzle lines that discharge ink of the same color are used. As a solution, nozzle lines (10) of n columns (where n is a natural number of three or more) each record a recording pixel column (2) on a recording medium by discharging ink of the same color while scanning over the recording medium (1); and when the nozzle lines (10) of n columns each extract a recording pixel column (2), which is recorded in a single scan, for each n columns in the scanning direction, ink is discharged in such a manner that there are at least two permutation patterns for the nozzle columns (10) that record each column of the extracted recording pixel columns (3).

An ink jet recording head includes a substrate having a plurality of discharge energy generation elements and having an ink supply port, a protective film provided on the substrate and configured to protect wiring connected to the discharge energy generation elements, and an ink discharge port forming member, wherein the protective film has a protruding portion, wherein the ink discharge port forming member has a beam-like protrusion, wherein the beam-like protrusion has a reinforcing rib, and wherein a separation film containing gold is formed at a portion where the protruding portion and the reinforcing rib are held in close contact with each other.

A material deposition system includes a frame, a support coupled to the frame to support an electronic substrate during a deposit operation, a gantry coupled to the frame, and a deposition head coupled to the gantry. The deposition head is movable over the support by movement of the gantry. The deposition head includes a chamber to hold material, an actuator to push a volume of material out of the chamber, a needle extending from the chamber and terminating in a needle orifice, and at least two air jets located on opposite sides of the needle orifice. A desired volume of material is formed at the needle orifice in response to the actuator, and each of the at least two air jets produce a timed pulse of air to create a micro-droplet from the desired volume and to accelerate the micro-droplet to high velocity.

Ink in an ink tank is fed through a dissolved gas control filter to a printer head. A gas pressure changing mechanism reduces pressure in a gas pressure control tank. In response, the dissolved gas control filter removes gas dissolved in the ink. The gas pressure control tank is placed under pressure corresponding to a sum of the pressure reduced by the gas pressure changing mechanism and the pressure of the gas having been removed from the liquid. A gas pressure measuring part measures the sum of these pressures as pressure in the gas pressure control tank. Then, a controller determines when time of exchange of the dissolved gas control filter has come based on the magnitude of a gradient of gas pressure variation in the gas pressure control tank.

There are provided an image processing apparatus and an image processing method which can shorten a drying time of inks in an edge region of an image, and can form a sharp image without bleeding of the ink applied onto the edge region into a blank paper. The image processing method generates applying data for forming an image on a print medium by a relative scan between print heads for ejecting a first ink and a second ink having the same color with the first ink and lower in surface tension than the first ink, and the print medium. The image processing method generates first data for applying the first ink to a predetermined region that is adjacent to an edge region of the image and that is included in an inside region inward of the edge region, and generates second data for applying the second ink to the edge region.

An image recording method includes applying an ink containing a pigment in a dispersion to a region of a recording medium, and applying a liquid composition capable of destabilizing the dispersion of the pigment in the ink to the recording medium so as to cover at least part of the region of the recording medium. The ink further contains polymer particles, and at least one surfactant selected from the group consisting of the compounds expressed by General Formula (1) and the compounds expressed by General Formula (2). In the ink, the content of the polymer particles is 3% by mass or more and 20% by mass or less relative to the total mass of the ink, and the mass ratio of the polymer particles to the surfactant is 1 or more and 10 or less.

A liquid ejection apparatus includes: (a) a storage device for storing an image data set representing a plurality of images; (b) a liquid ejection head for performing an image formation on each recording medium; (c) a curl reduction device for reducing curl caused in each recording medium having the corresponding image formed thereon by the liquid ejection head; (d) an output tray for receiving each recording medium whose curl has been reduced by the curl reduction device, such that the received recording media are stacked on the output tray; and (e) a control device configured to control the curl reduction device, such that the curl caused in an earlier one of the recording media is reduced by a smaller degree than the curl caused in a later one of the recording media that has been subjected to the image formation later than the earlier one of the recording media.

A printing apparatus includes a housing, a carriage in which a print head is mounted, the carriage moving inside the housing, and an openable cover provided for the housing. A restricting member configured to restrict movement of the carriage during transport of the printing apparatus is attachable to the printing apparatus. While the restricting member is attached to the apparatus, the restricting member engages with the carriage, the cover in a closed position, and the housing and part of the restricting member is exposed outside of the cover in the closed position. When the part is pulled, the restricting member disengages from the carriage, the cover, and the housing and is detached from the apparatus.

An optical writing controller that controls a light source to expose a photoconductor and forms an electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor calculates a correction value for correcting a superimposing position where the developed images for different colors developing each of the electrostatic latent images formed on each of the multiple photoconductors are superimposed based on the detection signal output by a pattern detection sensor that detects a pattern for correcting the superimposing position, controls the multiple light sources to draw a predetermined pattern repeatedly in the sub-scanning direction so that stepwise patterns whose width in the main scanning direction varies with repetition are formed, and determines the width in the main scanning direction of the patterns for correcting based on the strength of the detection signal output by the pattern detection sensor.

An optical scanning device includes: a driving unit that drives a light source that outputs multiple light beams; a deflecting unit that scans a scanning surface in a main-scanning direction by deflecting the light beams, the scanning surface moving at a predetermined line speed in a sub-scanning direction; and a control unit that changes number of the light beams according to the line speed by controlling the driving unit, changes a scanning speed of the deflecting unit in the main-scanning direction according to a difference between an exposure amount per unit length in the main-scanning direction after a change in the number of the light beams and a predetermined exposure amount, and changes light intensity of each of the light beams output by the light source according to an amount of a change in the scanning speed.

A liquid dispensing device (10), including a drop ejection device (12) including an orifice (18) adapted for ejecting drops therefrom, a single detection device (28) positioned to receive drop information from the ejected drops of the drop ejection device, and a controller (40) that receives the drop information and uses the drop information to determine a number of drops ejected from the drop ejection device.

A method and system for determining a location of a first device that emits a signal: provide at least three sensors separated and spaced apart from each other; at each of the sensors, receive the signal emitted by the first device; determine the received signals for each of the sensors; determine cross-correlations of the received signals for pairs of the sensors; and determine the location of the first device from the magnitudes of the cross-correlations of the received signals.

Provided is a technique capable of suppressing the deterioration in azimuth resolution and distance resolution in even a modulated and transmitted or received signal or a signal reflected by an object and varied in intensity when acquiring waveform information. A measurement device comprise: a plurality of sensors which receive waves propagating through a space; and a sampling timing calculation means which obtains, on the basis of the relative positions of the sensors and the velocities of the waves, the difference between the arrival times of the waves received by the respective sensors and calculates, for each sensor, sampling timing for acquiring the waveform information relating to the waves, on the basis of the difference between the arrival times.

A method for monitoring the state of a fill level measuring device (1) operating according to the radar principle and such a fill level measuring device, wherein the fill level measuring device (1) has at least one transceiver unit (2) for transmitting and receiving electromagnetic signals, and at least one antenna (3) for guiding, radiating and receiving electromagnetic signals. The antenna (3) has at least one interior space (4), and wherein the antenna (3) has a transmission characteristic with regard to the transmission of electromagnetic signals. Electromagnetic signals are emitted or directed at least partially in the direction of a wall section (5) of the interior space (4) of the antenna (3), the received electromagnetic signals are evaluated with respect to the transmission characteristic of the antenna (3), and the result of the evaluation is compared to at least one stored reference value.

A system and method of radar location comprises radar signal emission means, an emitted pulse of duration T1 and index i starting at instant T2(i); means receiving reflected radar signals; means determining correlation between reconstruction of an emitted pulse and signal received during the time interval between T2(i)+2*T1 and T2(i+1). The means determining a correlation can reconstruct a set, of at least one truncated pulse j of duration T3(j), less than T1, corresponding to the final part of said emitted pulse, said truncated pulses having increasing respective durations, determining at least one first correlated signal j by correlation of said truncated pulse j and signal received during time interval between T2(i)+T1 and T2(i)+T1+T3(j) and determining a second signal, based on first correlated signals j, by copying the time interval, of said correlated signal j, between T2(i)+T1+T3(j) and T2(i)+T1+T3(j+1), onto the time interval, of said second signal, between T2(i)+T1+T3(j) and T2(i)+T1+T3(j+1).

A method for calibrating (700) an antenna array comprises a plurality of antenna elements coupled to a plurality of respective receive paths in a wireless communication system. The method comprises, in receive mode, applying a test signal to an individual single receive path (715) of the plurality of receive paths; and feeding back the test signal via a switched coupler network. The method further comprises running a receive calibration measurement routine to determine at least one measurement value used to calibrate the individual signal receive path and waiting for at least one converged measurement value; and extracting (720) the converged measurement value for at least one individual receive path. The steps of applying, running, extracting for a next individual single receive path are repeated until the calibration routine has completed (725). The method further comprises selecting a converged measurement value of at least one individual receive path from a plurality of receive paths (730) to form a reference receiver calibration result (730); normalizing a plurality of at least one measurement values of the plurality of receive paths using the reference receiver calibration result (730); and applying a normalized value to at least one of the plurality of receive paths.

Devices, systems, and methods for sending positional information from transmitters/beacons are disclosed. In one implementation a transmitter generates a range block including a ranging signal and a hybrid block including positioning data, and sends the range block and hybrid block in predefined slots in a transmit frame. A receiver in a user device receives signals from a plurality of transmitters and generates position/location information using trilateration and measured altitude information in comparison with transmitter altitude information.

A system and method to display, when within an envelope of an ownship's flight path, a symbol representing wake turbulence from another aircraft based on aircraft type and flight parameters received from the other aircraft, the symbol being formatted to indicate the severity of portions of the wake turbulence. The format is modified periodically in accordance with the aircraft's flight path and a decay rate of the wake turbulence.

A driver performance mapping system for a vehicle system is disclosed. The system may include a GPS receiver generating GPS data indicative of a current location of the vehicle. In addition, the system may also have a radar device generating current gap data indicative of a current gap distance from the vehicle to a lead vehicle. Further, the system may include an electronic controller configured to generate learned gap data based on the current gap data and stored gap data, and then assign the learned gap data with the GPS data.

A system and method of identifying changes utilizing radio frequency polarization includes receiving a reflected and/or transmitted polarized radio frequency signal at a receiver, filtering, amplifying and conditioning the received signal, converting the received signal from an analog format to a digital format, processing the digital signal to elicit a polarization mode dispersion feature of the received signal, and comparing the polarization mode dispersion features to a known calibration to detect a change in a characteristic of the target object.

In embodiments, a device is illustrated for determining a sample rate difference between a first information signal and a second information signal including an offset determiner for determining for each of a plurality of segments of the first information signal, associated offset values which temporally align the plurality of segments with respect to the second information signal and a calculator for calculating the sample rate difference on the basis of the offset values.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a radar system is provided which accurately measures the surface profile in a wide sector beneath and forward of a helicopter, to aid low level transit and landing in poor visibility. This uses an electronic beam synthesis technique to form multiple beams directed at the area of interest, each measuring the distance to the first reflected signal received by each beam. These distances represent the profile of the ground and any objects on the ground. A processor then compares the measured profile with the ideal ground profile for safe landing. If the deviations from straight and level exceed the specified requirement for safe landing, or if sufficient rotor clearance is not detected, then a warning is given to the operator. A display will show the measured ground profile highlighting the unsafe regions, allowing the operator to seek a safe region to land. The novelty lies in the way the beams are formed to measure and display the ground profile and provide a warning system. This beam-forming technique is simpler and more cost effective than with a conventional phased array radar.

Disclosed is an object detection device capable of improving object detection accuracy by preventing erroneous combination detection. In this device, a detection object region correction unit (103) corrects a detection object region set by a detection object region set unit (102) on the basis of moving speed map information associated with a coordinate group in a reference image plane and the detected moving speed on each coordinate, which is detected by a radar. Thus, the detection object region can be amended by the use of the moving speed map information even when the detection object region is obtained as a result of erroneous combination. As a result, the object detection accuracy can be improved.

A system for determining a coverage region of a radar device is disclosed. The system may have one or more processors and a memory. The memory may store instructions that, when executed, enable the one or more processors to receive radar data generated by a radar device and lidar data generated by a lidar device. The radar data may include radar data points representing objects detected by the radar device and the lidar data may include lidar data points representing objects detected by the lidar device. The one or more processors may be further enabled to determine a radar coverage region for the radar device by comparing one or more radar data points to one or more lidar data points, and to generate data used to display a graphical representation of the radar coverage region.

This disclosure provides a tracking information control device. The device includes a receiver for receiving, from two radar devices, data relating to a target echo received by a radar antenna of one of the radar devices, and data relating to a target echo received by a radar antenna of the other radar device, the data being obtained from tracking the target echoes, respectively, a determiner for determining whether the target echoes indicate the same target object, an ID applier for applying the same ID to the target echoes when the determiner determines that the target echoes indicate the same target object, and a transmitter for transmitting the same IDs to the radar devices in order to inform whether the target echoes displayed by the radar devices, respectively, indicate the same target object.

A signal processing device, which includes an echo signal input module for inputting echo signals from an antenna discharging electromagnetic waves to a predetermined area and receiving the echo signals reflected on a target object, an echo signal level detection module for detecting a level of each of the echo signals from each location within the predetermined area, a target object detection module for detecting the target object based on the levels of the echo signals, a correlation processing module for performing scan-to-scan correlation processing of a plurality of scans, and a level adjustment module for adjusting the levels of the echo signals after the scan-to-scan correlation processing. The level adjustment module adjusts the levels of the echo signals corresponding to the locations where the target object detection module detects the target object.

A radar sensor and a method of detecting an object by using the same are provided. The method includes: receiving at least one radar signal reflected from the object; converting the received at least one radar signal to at least one signal in a frequency domain; accumulating the converted at least one signal for a predetermined time and extracting at least one feature from the accumulated at least one signal; and identifying the object by comparing the extracted at least one feature with at least one reference value stored in a database.

According to one embodiment, a target tracking apparatus acquires a first determination result by determining which combination of N-dimensional tracks is for the real target, acquires a second determination result by determining which combination of N-dimensional angular observation values is for the real target, selects the first determination result when an observation environment is an environment other than a dense environment, selects the second determination result when the observation environment is a dense environment, and calculates distance information to thereby generate an (N+1)-dimensional track for each target.

An on-board multibeam radar apparatus includes a plurality of beam elements that constitute an antenna transmitting a transmission wave and receiving an incoming wave reflected by and arriving from a target in response to the transmission wave, and a processing unit configured to apply a Fourier transformation to beam element data which are data of a received wave received through the plurality of beam elements based on the number of elements and the element interval of a desired virtual array antenna so as to create virtual array data, and to perform a predetermined process based on the created virtual array data.

The present disclosure concerns a method for post-processing of radar data that uses information of Doppler speed as obtained by coherent processing of the input data, to reduce clutter due to waterbodies, in particular the sea clutter. The present disclosure further concerns a coherent radar provided with means suitable to implement the invention method.

A phased array transmitter includes a plurality of vector modulators, an in-phase/quadrature (I/Q) signal generator, and a multiphase generator. The output phases of the plurality of vector modulators, and hence the direction of transmission of the phased array transmitter, are set and controlled by adjusting both the magnitude ratios of I/Q signal pairs generated by the I/Q signal generator and applied to I and Q inputs of the plurality of vector modulators and phases of a plurality of local oscillator (LO) signal phases generated by the multiphase generator and applied to LO inputs of the plurality of vector modulators. Setting and controlling the output phases of the vector modulators by varying both the magnitude ratios of the I/Q signal pairs and the phases of the LO signal phases allows the output phases of the plurality of vector modulators to be more precisely set and controlled than if the output phases were to be set and controlled only through the LO paths or only through the I/Q signal paths of the plurality of vector modulators.

A lens-based switched beam antenna system including a beam-forming lens, and a beam port router coupled to the beam-forming lens, including a plurality of beam ports, and configured to transmit beams via corresponding ones of the beam ports, wherein a first group of the beam ports corresponds to a first signal, and wherein a second group of the beam ports corresponds to a second signal.

Multi-pattern transmission of frames. The method of operations comprises transmitting a first portion of a frame using a first radiation pattern. The frame comprises one or more preambles and a single data portion associated with the one or more preambles. Thereafter, an operation is conducted to switch the radiation pattern from the first radiation pattern, used to produce the first portion of the frame, to a second radiation pattern. A second portion of the same frame is produced using the second radiation pattern.

A method of determining the orientation of a robotic machine at a worksite contemplates providing a target on the machine, moving the target to a first position on said machine, determining the location of the first position in the worksite, moving the target to a second position on said machine, and determining location of the second position in the worksite. The first and second positions are known with respect to the machine. Finally, a vector between the first and second locations defines the orientation of the machine with respect to the worksite. The target may be moved to additional positions on the machine.

A positive response notification to provide information regarding locate and/or marking operations for underground facilities may include time-stamp information to provide proof of a time at which the locate and/or marking operation was completed by a locate technician, and/or place-stamp information to provide proof of a presence of the locate technician at or near a work site. An electronic manifest image and/or a virtual white line image similarly may be included in a positive response notification. In one example, such images may be bundled together based on respective descriptor files (or descriptor metadata) that associates the corresponding images with a locate request ticket for the operation. In another example, a positive response notification may include environmental information regarding one or more environmental conditions present at or near the work site during the locate and/or marking operation.

An ECU is mounted on a vehicle equipped with a converter that can boost a voltage of a power storage device storing electric power for obtaining driving force to output the boosted voltage to a drive load device. The ECU starts boosting at the converter upon satisfaction of at least any of a first condition that a boost request signal Req is received (that is, an output voltage request value of the converter exceeds a voltage Vb of the power storage device) and a second condition that output electric power P of the power storage device is higher than a value obtained by subtracting charge electric power ΔP transiently occurring at the start of boosting from rated electric power Wout (that is, it is predicted that output electric power P will exceed rated electric power Wout in response to the start of boosting).

Electrical power is dynamically managed among one or more power sources and one or more loads. A plurality of monitor nodes is connected to an input terminal connected to each source, and to an output terminal connected to each load. A plurality of electrical power storage cells is connected among the input and output terminals, each cell being capable of storing power from at least one of the sources and being capable of discharging stored power to at least one of the loads. A plurality of controllable switches is connected to the cells. A programmed controller dynamically monitors operating conditions at the monitor nodes during operation of each source and each load, and selectively dynamically controls the switches to interconnect the cells in different circuit topologies in response to the monitored operating conditions.

An output converter includes a DCDC conversion section, a secondary side voltage/current monitoring section detecting a power from the DCDC conversion section, a maximum operation point control section determining what voltage is to be set by the DCDC conversion section so that the power detected by the secondary side voltage/current monitoring section is maximum, a DCDC short-circuit switch via which a current from a module bypasses the DCDC conversion section to outside, a primary side voltage/current monitoring section measuring the current from the module, a module short-circuit switch switching between a state where a secondary side cathode and a secondary side anode are short-circuited and a state where they are not short-circuited, the maximum operation point control section causing the DCDC short-circuit switch and the module short-circuit switch to switch.

Systems and methods are described herein for managing the operations of a microgrid module. The microgrid module includes transformers and/or power converters necessary for modifying the input AC or DC power sources to meet the required characteristics of the output power. The microgrid module further comprises a power management software module and a control software module installed on a microgrid computer. The power management software module uses received business parameters to create rules for applying to the operation of the microgrid module. The rules are stored locally at the microgrid computer so that they can be quickly accessed by a control software module. The control software module uses the rules in combination with data collected from sensors installed in the physical circuitry layer of the microgrid module to control the operations of the microgrid module.

A power control system includes a rechargeable battery, the rechargeable battery including a first battery unit and including a second battery unit connected to a first terminal of the first battery unit at a first node, a switching unit, the switching unit including a first switch connected to a second terminal of the first battery unit and including a second switch connected to the first node, and a control unit, the control unit being configured to generate and transmit switch control signals respectively corresponding to the first switch and the second switch, and being configured to control a voltage of the rechargeable battery such that the voltage is maintained in a threshold range of a predetermined rated voltage.