Capacitor charging device utilizing current detection to determine malfunction, and strobe and camera using same

A strobe device comprising:

• a light-emitting tube;
• a main capacitor which accumulates energy and supplies the energy to the light-emitting tube;
• a transformer circuit which includes primary and secondary coils in order to accumulate the energy of a power supply in the main capacitor, wherein the primary coil is connected to the power supply and the secondary coil is connected to the main capacitor;
• a control circuit which controls a current flowing from the power supply to the primary coil, wherein a current starts to flow through the secondary coil after the control circuit stops a current flowing through the primary coil;
• a current detection circuit which detects a current flowing through the secondary coil;
• a time measuring circuit which measures the time from when the control circuit stops a current flowing through the primary coil until the current detection circuit detects that the current flowing through the secondary coil reaches a predetermined level or until the current flowing through the secondary coil stops;
• and
• a determination circuit which determines if the device is malfunctioning based on the measurement result generated by the time measuring circuit.

A strobe device comprising:

• a light-emitting tube;
• a main capacitor which accumulates energy and supplies the energy to the light-emitting tube;
• a transformer circuit which includes primary and secondary coils in order to accumulate the energy of a power supply in the main capacitor, wherein the primary coil is connected to the power supply and the secondary coil is connected to the main capacitor;
• a control circuit which controls a current flowing from the power supply to the primary coil, wherein a current starts to flow through the secondary coil after the control circuit stops a current flowing through the primary coil;
• a current detection circuit which detects a current flowing through the secondary coil;
• a time measuring circuit which measures the time from when the control circuit stops a current flowing through the primary coil until the current detection circuit detects that the current flowing through the secondary coil reaches a predetermined level or until the current flowing through the secondary coil stops;
• a voltage detecting circuit which detects the voltage of the main capacitor;
• and
• a determination circuit which determines the operation state of the device based on the measurement result generated by the time measuring circuit and on a voltage detected by the voltage detecting circuit.

A camera comprising:

• a light-emitting tube;
• a main capacitor which accumulates energy and supplies the energy to the light-emitting tube;
• a transformer circuit which includes primary and secondary coils in order to accumulate the energy of a power supply in the main capacitor, wherein the primary coil is connected to the power supply and the secondary coil is connected to the main capacitor;
• a control circuit which controls a current flowing from the power supply to the primary coil, wherein a current starts to flow through the secondary coil after the control circuit stops a current flowing through the primary coil;
• a current detection circuit which detects a current flowing through the secondary coil;
• and
• a determination circuit which determines that a malfunction is caused when the current detection circuit detects that a current does not flow through the secondary coil.

A camera comprising:

• a light-emitting tube;
• a main capacitor which accumulates energy and supplies the energy to the light-emitting tube;
• a transformer circuit which includes primary and secondary coils in order to accumulate the energy of a power supply in the main capacitor, wherein the primary coil is connected to the power supply and the secondary coil is connected to the main capacitor;
• a control circuit which controls a current flowing from the power supply to the primary coil, wherein a current starts to flow through the secondary coil after the control circuit stops a current flowing through the primary coil;
• a current detection circuit which detects a current flowing through the secondary coil;
• a time measuring circuit which measures the time from when the control circuit stops a current flowing through the primary coil until the current detection circuit detects that the current flowing through the secondary coil reaches a predetermined level or until the current flowing through the secondary coil stops;
• and
• a determination circuit which determines if the device is malfunctioning based on the measurement result generated by the time measuring circuit.

A camera comprising:

• a light-emitting tube;
• a main capacitor which accumulates energy and supplies the energy to the light-emitting tube;
• a transformer circuit which includes primary and secondary coils in order to accumulate the energy of a power supply in the main capacitor, wherein the primary coil is connected to the power supply and the secondary coil is connected to the main capacitor;
• a control circuit which controls a current flowing from the power supply to the primary coil, wherein a current starts to flow through the secondary coil after the control circuit stops a current flowing through the primary coil;
• a current detection circuit which detects a current flowing through the secondary coil;
• a time measuring circuit which detects the time from when the control circuit stops a current flowing through the primary coil until the current detection circuit detects that the current flowing through the secondary coil reaches a predetermined level or until the current flowing through the secondary coil stops;
• a voltage detecting circuit which detects the voltage of the main capacitor;
• and
• a determination circuit which detects the operation state of the device based on the measurement result generated by the time measuring circuit and on a voltage detected by the voltage detecting circuit.

A capacitor charging device comprising:

• a main capacitor which accumulates energy;
• a transformer circuit which includes primary and secondary coils in order to accumulate the energy of a power supply in the main capacitor, wherein the primary coil is connected to the power supply and the secondary coil is connected to the main capacitor;
• a control circuit which controls a current flowing from the power supply to the primary coil, wherein a current starts to flow through the secondary coil after the control circuit stops a current flowing through the primary coil;
• a current detection circuit which detects a current flowing through the secondary coil;
• and
• a determination circuit which determines that a malfunction is caused when the current detection circuit detects that a current does not flow through the secondary coil.

A capacitor charging device comprising:

• a main capacitor which accumulates energy;
• a transformer circuit which includes primary and secondary coils in order to accumulate the energy of a power supply in the main capacitor, wherein the primary coil is connected to the power supply and the secondary coil is connected to the main capacitor;
• a control circuit which controls a current flowing from the power supply to the primary coil, wherein a current starts to flow through the secondary coil after the control circuit stops a current flowing through the primary coil;
• a current detection circuit which detects a current flowing through the secondary coil;
• a time measuring circuit which measures the time from when the control circuit stops a current flowing through the primary coil until the current detection circuit detects that the current flowing through the secondary coil reaches a predetermined level or until the current flowing through the secondary coil stops;
• and
• a determination circuit which determines if the device is malfunctioning based on the measurement result generated by the time measuring circuit.

A capacitor charging device comprising:

• a main capacitor which accumulates energy;
• a transformer circuit which includes primary and secondary coils in order to accumulate the energy of a power supply in the main capacitor, wherein the primary coil is connected to the power supply and the secondary coil is connected to the main capacitor;
• a control circuit which controls a current flowing from the power supply to the primary coil, wherein a current starts to flow through the secondary coil after the control circuit stops a current flowing through the primary coil;
• a current detection circuit which detects a current flowing through the secondary coil;
• a time measuring circuit which measures the time from when the control circuit stops a current flowing through the primary coil until the current detection circuit detects that the current flowing through the secondary coil reaches a predetermined level or until the current flowing through the secondary coil stops;
• and
• a determination circuit which determines if the device is malfunctioning based on the measurement result generated by the time measuring circuit.