Patents Examined by Alex T Devito
  • Patent number: 11137379
    Abstract: A nebulizer for a charged aerosol detection (CAD) system is disclosed. The nebulizer is provided with a spray emitter for generating a spray of droplets within a central region of a spray chamber. The central region is separated from an upper region by a horizontally projecting rib, which defines a passageway between the central and upper regions. The major direction of droplet travel within the upper region is substantially reversed with respect to the major direction of droplet travel within the central region. Larger droplets are unable to negotiate the turn from the central to upper regions and impinge on a rear surface of the spray chamber. Removal of larger droplets has the advantageous effect of enabling the detector to sense a smaller range of particle sizes, which establishes a relatively steady electrical current at the detector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2021
    Assignee: DIONEX CORPORATION
    Inventors: Alan Daniel Yim, Paul H. Gamache, Ryan S. McCarthy
  • Patent number: 11131262
    Abstract: The invention discloses a device for simulating an evolution process of an internal combustion engine exhaust particle flow for reducing automotive emissions, and the device comprises an exhaust source; an exhaust channel, comprising a plurality of sections of cylindrical tubes with specified length that are fixedly connected; a soluble organic compound generator, used to produce soluble organic compounds; a carbon particle generator, used to produce carbon particles. The device for simulating the evolution process of an internal combustion engine exhaust particle flow for reducing automotive emissions has the advantages of simple structure and low cost; controls the mixing concentration of soot particles and soluble organic compounds through various adjustment methods to obtain a suitable mixed aerosol, so as to better simulate the exhaust particle flow of an internal combustion engine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 11, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 28, 2021
    Assignee: TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Xiao Ma, Yifei Gong, Jingyu Zhang, Hongming Xu, Shijin Shuai, Yitao Shen
  • Patent number: 11123666
    Abstract: A filter device including a probe where a filter element probe first end selectively engages with a sensing unit located in a filter head and a filter element probe second end is located in a contaminant portion of a filter canister. The probe fixedly engages through the filter element utilizing a sealing component. The filter element is disposed in the filter canister that engages with the filter head.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 21, 2021
    Inventor: Michael Richardson
  • Patent number: 11119015
    Abstract: An actuator control system, mechanical testing system, and method for adaptive control of an actuator of a mechanical testing device is provided. The method may include applying a mechanical load to the specimen with the actuator, resulting in receiving a load sensor signal from a load sensor and a displacement sensor signal from a displacement sensor, determining a plurality of dynamic characteristics of the mechanical testing device throughout a length of the test from data received from the load sensor signal and the displacement sensor signal, and controlling the actuator based on the plurality of dynamic characteristics to adapt the actuator to track a desired performance of the actuator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 14, 2021
    Assignee: WATERS TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION
    Inventor: Kevin Alstrin
  • Patent number: 11119082
    Abstract: A multi-core sensor system in taxi roof light is provided. The multi-core sensor system can intelligently determine whether the change is caused by the sub-sensor failure or sudden pollution, when the data detected by the sub-sensor suddenly changes dramatically, so as to increase the reliability of detection data of the sub-sensor. The multi-core sensor system can automatically determine whether the repair is needed when a device fault occurs, thereby ensuring the continuity of the sub-sensor detection data; which has significant value for continuous monitoring required for a haze treatment operation. In addition, human and material resources for device maintenance may be saved, thereby reducing waste.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 14, 2021
    Assignee: NOVA FITNESS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Shanwen Liu, Michael Jun Xu, Jiangshan Song, Shuaishuai Jia, Jian Gao, Shuchun Si
  • Patent number: 11099166
    Abstract: Quantity analysis is disclosed. A quantity identification of an amount of content included in a container is received from a container cover of the container. The quantity identification is analyzed along with a history of past quantity identifications received from the container cover over time to determine an analysis result. An action associated with the content of the container is performed based on the analysis result.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 24, 2021
    Assignee: NECTAR, INC.
    Inventors: Prabhanjan C. Gurumohan, Aayush Phumbhra
  • Patent number: 11092578
    Abstract: An opening sealing structure is provided with a housing, a step portion, a seal cap, an elastic sealing member, and a cap fixture. The housing has a cap mounting portion having a a cylindrical shape. The step portion is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the cap mounting portion and has a side surface facing the base end side of the cap mounting portion. The side surface of the step portion is inclined along the circumferential direction of the cap mounting portion from the tip end side of the cap mounting portion to the base end side and its inclination angle is smaller on the base end side of the cap mounting portion than on the tip end side. The cap fixture has a cap holding portion movably engaged with the seal cap in a circumferential direction of its outer peripheral surface and an elastic portion connected to the cap holding portion. The elastic portion is provided with a protrusion which engages the side surface of the step portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 17, 2021
    Assignee: Shimadzu Corporation
    Inventor: Yuki Komori
  • Patent number: 11054400
    Abstract: A method of inspecting a wing box of an aircraft. The wing box includes at least one rib partitioning the wing box in to two bays and at least one stringer attached along an inner surface of the wing box, generally perpendicular to the rib, and extending through an aperture of the rib. The method includes: providing an inspection device on the stringer such that it is movable along the stringer and controlling the inspection device to pass along the stringer, including through the aperture between bays, to perform an inspection of the wing box.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 6, 2021
    Assignee: Airbus Operations Limited
    Inventors: Timothy Sanderson, David Brawley
  • Patent number: 11016005
    Abstract: The present invention is related to a cutting system. It is further related to a system for obtaining a sample of plant material and method. Such a system can for instance be used for DNA analysis as part of a plant breeding program. According to the invention, the cutting system comprises a cutting device having a hollow cutting element having a cutting edge facing a leaf of a plant to be sampled, a drive unit for rotating said cutting element about a longitudinal axis of said cutting element to cut through the leaf, and a gas flow direction unit for applying a suction force through the hollow cutting element. The cutting system further comprises a control unit for controlling the drive unit and the gas flow direction unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 25, 2021
    Inventor: Adrianus Johannes Cornelis Bovée
  • Patent number: 10983101
    Abstract: Provided is an oxide semiconductor gas sensor with improved performance that senses selectively methylbenzene gases with high sensitivity. The gas sensor includes a gas sensing layer composed of palladium (Pd)-loaded cobalt oxide (Co3O4) nanostructures. The response of the gas sensor according to the present invention to xylene gas at a concentration as low as 5 ppm is at least 150 times higher than that to ethanol gas. The response of the gas sensor to toluene gas at a concentration as low as 5 ppm is at least 100 times higher than that to ethanol gas. In addition, the oxide semiconductor gas sensor has the ability to selectively detect methylbenzene gases, including xylene and toluene (with at least 30-fold higher response to xylene and at least 15 times higher response to toluene than that to ethanol gas).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2021
    Assignee: Korea University Research and Business Foundation
    Inventors: Jong-Heun Lee, Yunchan Kang, Ji-Wook Yoon, Su-Jin Hwang
  • Patent number: 10976229
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for predicting the break-up possibility of a synthetic resin filament in a melt blowing process from the rheological properties of the synthetic resin. According to the present invention, a method that is capable of predicting the break-up possibility of the synthetic resin filament in the melt blowing process for preparing a filament using the synthetic resin in advance, through the measurement of the rheological properties of the synthetic resin, is provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 13, 2021
    Inventors: Hyun Sup Lee, Ki Soo Lee, Sang Jin Jeon, Sang Eun An, Myung Han Lee, Hee Kwang Park, Sang Eun Kim, Sang Hoon Lee
  • Patent number: 10969316
    Abstract: A measurement apparatus and method for in-situ quantitative texture measurement of a food snack. The apparatus includes an acoustic capturing device and a data processing unit. The physical interaction in the mouth with saliva, when a human being eats/drinks a food snack, sends pressure waves that propagate through the ear bone and produce an acoustic signal. The acoustic capturing device records and forwards the signal to a data processing unit. The data processing unit further comprises a digital signal processing module that smoothens, transforms and filters the received acoustic signal. A statistical processing module further filters the acoustic signal from the data processing unit and generates a quantitative acoustic model for texture attributes such as hardness and fracturability. The quantitative model is correlated with a qualitative texture measurement from a descriptive expert panel. Another method includes a food snack fingerprinting using an in-situ quantitative food property measurement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2021
    Assignee: Frito-Lay North America, Inc.
    Inventors: Ou Bai, Wilfred Marcellien Bourg, Jr., Enrique Michel-Sanchez, Shahmeer Ali Mirza
  • Patent number: 10942153
    Abstract: A photo acoustic non-destructive measurement apparatus and method for quantitatively measuring texture of a food snack is disclosed. The apparatus includes a laser generating tool, an acoustic capturing device, and a data processing unit. The laser generating tool directs a laser towards a food snack placed on a surface and creates pressure waves that propagate through the air and produce an acoustic signal. The acoustic capturing device records and forwards the signal to a data processing unit. The data processing unit further comprises a digital signal processing module that processes the received acoustic signal. A statistical processing module further filters the acoustic signal from the data processing unit and generates a quantitative acoustic model for texture attributes such as hardness and fracturability. The quantitative model is correlated with a qualitative texture measurement from a descriptive expert panel. Texture of food snacks are quantitatively measured with the quantitative acoustic model.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 9, 2021
    Assignee: Frito-Lay North America, Inc.
    Inventors: Ou Bai, Wilfred Marcellien Bourg, Jr., Scott Fagan, Enrique Michel-Sanchez, Shahmeer Ali Mirza, Scott G. Richardson, Chen C. Shao
  • Patent number: 10935534
    Abstract: A whole plant gas exchange apparatus employs a chamber having a first region for accommodating a growth medium and a root system of a whole plant, and a second region accommodating a canopy of the plant. The regions are separated by a barrier, except for an opening through which the stem of the plant is accommodated. An air source supplies incoming air to the second region through an intake. An air outlet conveys outgoing air from the second region to a gas sensor for analysis of the outgoing air after photosynthetic interaction with the plant canopy. A vent communicates the first region of the chamber to an ambient environment outside the chamber. A resulting pressurized state of the second region is used to exhaust air from the first region through the vent in order to isolate this exhausted air from the analyzed canopy air.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 3, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 2, 2021
    Assignee: BioChambers Incorporated
    Inventors: Robert Barry Pauls, Marc Albert Joseph Theroux, Patrick Calvin Friesen, Ronald Rowland Sugden, Bruce Kettner
  • Patent number: 10935447
    Abstract: An impact sensing laminate 2 has a first surface 211 on which an impact force acts; a second surface 222 brought in contact with a protection object OBJ; an impact absorption layer 21 and a first pressure-sensitive layer 22. When a direction heading for the second surface from the first surface is defined as a first direction, the first pressure-sensitive layer is in the first direction from the impact absorption layer. The first pressure-sensitive layer is a layer of sensing a first impact force as the impact force to have been attenuated by the impact absorption layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 2, 2021
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Takemoto, Yoshiharu Kuze, Mitsuyoshi Uematsu, Seiji Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 10908131
    Abstract: Apparatus and methods for the measurement of gas volume fraction of produced oil are described. A first method measures the response of a pipe containing the produced oil excited by a source of vibration in the form of an acoustic frequency chirp containing a linearly varying range of frequencies in the tens of kilohertz range encompassing at least one resonant mode of the pipe. As the gas volume fraction increases, the location of the peak maximum of the measured frequency spectrum responsive to the excitation increases in frequency, and the height of the peak maximum increases, thereby permitting a linear calibration curve to be obtained. A second method measures the response of a pipe containing the produced oil to excitation by a continuous source of vibration having a chosen frequency above those which excite flexural vibrations in the pipe and simultaneously excite acoustic waves in the fluid contained in the pipe, known as the coincidence frequency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2021
    Assignee: TRIAD NATIONAL SECURITY, LLC
    Inventors: Dipen N. Sinha, Anirban Chaudhuri, Cristian Pantea
  • Patent number: 10859423
    Abstract: A liquid sensor is configured to detect presence or absence of a liquid in a tube having a light-transmitting property. The liquid sensor includes a main body case including an elastic piece configured to hold the tube such that the tube is allowed to be inserted therein and extracted therefrom in a direction perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the tube, a light projecting unit configured to irradiate the tube with detection light, and a light receiving unit configured to receive the detection light that has passed through the tube. A holding member configured to cover the tube in an insertion and extraction direction of the tube is attachable to and detachable from the main body case only in a direction that is not identical with the insertion and extraction direction of the tube.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2020
    Assignee: PANASONIC INDUSTRIAL DEVICES SUNX CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kazuhiko Hayashi, Takumi Terazawa, Hironao Kitanaka
  • Patent number: 10837948
    Abstract: In order to provide a device for detection of a partial pressure of a measurement gas contained in a surrounding gas, comprising a measurement space with at least one inlet opening to admit surrounding gas into the measurement space and at least one outlet opening to discharge surrounding gas from the measurement space, a quantity that characterizes the partial pressure of the measurement gas in the measurement gas sensor sensitive to the measurement gas to measure a quantity that characterizes the partial pressure of the measurement gas in the measurement space, as well as readout device to read out the measurement gas sensor as well as a method for its operation, which permit metrological detection of the partial pressure of a measurement gas contained in a surrounding gas with improved chronological and spatial resolution, it is proposed that means to determine a response characteristic of device be provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 17, 2020
    Assignee: Kongsberg Maritime Contros GmbH
    Inventor: Peer Fietzek
  • Patent number: 10816383
    Abstract: The present disclosure generally pertains to devices and methods for determining propellant mass based on average measurements irrespective of the fluid orientation in a fuel tank. The device is useful in detecting fuel levels in tanks where the fuel is in motion, for instance in aircraft (i.e., undergoing varying acceleration maneuvers) or spacecraft (i.e., a microgravity environment). The devices and methods can also be used for determining the liquid in a surface tension screen liquid acquisition device (LAD), and particularly, the incipient breakdown as gas bubbles enter or are formed inside the LAD as the screen dries or heat transfer induces vaporization. The same basic electrode configuration can be used to stir the liquid to reduce thermal stratification and condense vapor bubbles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 27, 2020
    Assignee: Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama
    Inventor: James B. Blackmon
  • Patent number: 10808216
    Abstract: Improved biopharmaceutical processing equipment such as reactor vessels and stainless steel surfaces, and methods of determining the same are disclosed herein. In some embodiments, a biopharmaceutical processing equipment can include a vessel having a surface that is configured to contact proteinaceous processing material, wherein the surface has a pre-commissioning surface roughness of greater than about 20 Ra Max (?in).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2020
    Assignee: Lonza Ltd
    Inventors: Michael Mietzner, Jim Heimbach, Andrew Harris