Patents Examined by Anshu Bhatia
  • Bearing housing assembly for a blender jar
    Patent number: 11629752
    Abstract: A blender assembly includes a blender jar having a bottom wall. The bottom wall includes first and second surfaces opposing one another and an interior edge defining an opening. A bearing housing is positioned at least partially within the opening and is spaced apart from the first surface of the bottom wall and the interior edge of the bottom wall. A nut is operably coupled with the bearing housing and is spaced apart from a second surface of the bottom wall. A gasket assembly is positioned to maintain a spacing of the bearing housing and the nut relative to the bottom wall. The gasket assembly is positioned over the interior edge of the bottom wall.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2023
    Assignee: Whirlpool Corporation
    Inventors: Robert T. Carr, Timothy E. Heater, Arren J. McCormick, Paul S. Paget, Jeremy T. Wolters, Ping Zhang
  • Continuous acoustic mixer
    Patent number: 11623189
    Abstract: A system for continuously processing a combination of materials includes a continuous process vessel having an outlet and one or more inlets. The continuous process vessel is configured to oscillate along an oscillation axis. An acoustic agitator is coupled to the continuous process vessel. The acoustic agitator is configured to oscillate the continuous process vessel along the oscillation axis. An outlet passage is in fluid communication with the outlet. At least a portion of the outlet passage or at least a portion of the continuous process vessel is disposed within a portion of the acoustic agitator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2023
    Assignee: RESODYN CORPORATION
    Inventors: Peter Andrew Lucon, Zachary Ruprecht Martineau
  • Stirring element device
    Patent number: 11623185
    Abstract: A stirrer device, especially for the mixing of a fluid with at least one other fluid, includes at least one fluid dispersing unit able to turn about an axis of rotation, having at least one exit opening for at least one fluid discharge, and the stirrer device has at least one optimization unit, which in at least one operating state increases at least a differential pressure at the exit opening.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2023
    Assignee: EKATO Rühr-und Mischtechnik GmbH
    Inventors: Wolfgang Last, Dennis Bird
  • Agitator rod for agricultural agitator
    Patent number: 11617995
    Abstract: An agitator for an agricultural system includes a shaft configured to rotate about a rotational axis during operation of the agricultural system, and an extension coupled to the shaft. The extension includes a hoop and a tine extending from the hoop, and the tine extends acutely relative to the rotational axis of the shaft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2023
    Assignee: CNH INDUSTRIAL CANADA, LTD.
    Inventors: Jared Steven Wright, Jesse Blair Pidwerbesky, Paul David Minto, Nicholas George Alfred Ryder, Hans Luther Deason
  • Methods, systems and apparatus for promoting the pourability of semi-frozen and semi-fluidic beverages from beverage containers
    Patent number: 11607080
    Abstract: A beverage container for a blender includes one or more vibrating mechanisms coupled to a bottom portion of the beverage container or integrated within one or more walls of the beverage container. After a beverage has been blended, the one or more vibrating mechanisms are activated as the beverage is being poured. Vibrations from the one or more vibrating mechanisms are mechanically transmitted to the beverage container, thereby promoting the pourability of the beverage from the beverage container, including dislodging ingredients in the beverage that became lodged or trapped in crevices of the beverage container during the prior blending process, and freeing up beverage ingredients that accumulated at the bottom of the beverage container during the prior blending process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2023
    Inventor: Peter Martin
  • Slide gate assembly and mixer including a slide gate assembly
    Patent number: 11607655
    Abstract: A slide gate assembly includes a mounting plate with a through opening and an upper surface, and a top plate with a through opening and lower surface, wherein the through opening of the top plate aligns with the through opening of the mounting plate. A slide plate is mounted between the lower surface of the top plate and the upper surface of the mounting plate, wherein the slide plate is slidable between a closed position and an open position, wherein, in the closed position the slide plate blocks material passage from the opening of the top plate to the opening of the bottom plate, wherein, in the open position, the slide plate permits material passage from the opening of the top plate to the opening of the bottom plate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 20, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2023
    Assignee: ILLINOIS TOOL WORKS INC.
    Inventors: Randy L. Jacoby, Jason D. Switzer, Joel L. Everhart, John A. Cremeens
  • Apparatus for treating fluids having improved aeration efficiency and operational durability
    Patent number: 11596907
    Abstract: An apparatus for treating fluids having improved aeration efficiency and operational durability has an aerator, an impeller, and a liquid reservoir containing liquid to be treated. The aerator has: a motor rotating the impeller at a blade tip speed less than 1,100 inches/second; an air line having an outlet submerged in the liquid and an inlet adjacent to the motor; and a blower. The blower forces air through the air line to the air line outlet. The impeller two blades extending radially from the hub. Each blade has: a low drag, pressure equalized foil shape absent of rake; a leading edge extending from the hub tangentially; a 0.47-0.55 impeller EAR; 0.59-0.87 Pmean/D; progressive pitch distribution based on radius where from 50% R and out is constant and from 50% R to the hub is reduced; and 60-75 degree skew with a linear distribution from 50% radius to blade tip.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2023
    Inventor: Jing Huang
  • Hydraulic fracturing blender system
    Patent number: 11591888
    Abstract: A multi-blender system for blending liquid and solid particulates together to prepare a fracturing fluid, the blender system can include a plurality of independently operable blender units each having components that can operate with either blender unit. Each component may be a modular blender component mounted to respective independent frames. The independent frames are configured to be independently removable, replaceable and movable to multiple positions in the blender system. In some aspects the multi-blender system can operate at different sand concentrations, instantaneously adjust flow rate to one or more of the components in either blender unit, provide control redundancy, and may continue to operate despite a failure of one of the major components.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 17, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2023
    Assignee: BJ ENERGY SOLUTIONS, LLC
    Inventors: Tony Yeung, Nicholas Tew, William Nieuwenburg
  • Modular appliance apparatus configured for multiple attachments
    Patent number: 11590467
    Abstract: A modular appliance apparatus is disclosed for use in the preparation of food products. The modular appliance apparatus may have a housing to contain internal components. The housing may contain a motor, a controller, and electronic circuitry. On a bottom portion of the housing, at least one base contact may be present. An attachment may secure to the bottom portion of the housing and contain at least one attachment contact. An electronic connection between the at least one base contact and at least one attachment contact may be interpreted by the controller to determine a speed of operation by the motor. Depending on the type of attachment secured to the housing, various different combinations of electronic connections may be made to operate the motor at different speeds to meet the requirements for food preparation by the specific attachment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2023
    Assignee: Columbia Insurance Company
    Inventor: Brian Atinaja
  • System and method for cell culture scaling
    Patent number: 11584910
    Abstract: The present set of embodiments relate to a bioproduction system, method, and apparatus for creating a scalable bioreactor system. Specifically, the present set of embodiments enable the determination of bioreaction performance characteristics of a commercial scale by matching operational parameters between a small test scale bioreaction to that of a commercial scale bioreaction. The system and methods do not rely on simply making bioreactor apparatuses across scales the same dimensionally which would not account for differences in fluid dynamic properties between very small to very large volumes, but requires tuning of a variety of systems (mixing assembly, sparger system, and headspace airflow system) in conjunction with one another to achieve predictive outcomes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 3, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2023
    Assignee: LIFE TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Christopher Brau, Nephi Jones, Mark Smith
  • Acoustofluidic systems including acoustic wave generators for manipulating fluids, droplets, and micro/nano objects within a fluid suspension and related methods
    Patent number: 11577241
    Abstract: Acoustofluidic systems including acoustic wave generators for manipulating fluids, droplets, and micro/nano objects within a fluid suspension and related methods are disclosed herein. According to an aspect, an acoustofluidic system includes a substrate including a substrate surface. The system also includes an acoustic wave generator configured to generate acoustic streaming within an acoustic wave region of the substrate surface. Further, the acoustic wave generator is controllable to change the acoustic streaming for movement of a droplet or other micro/nano object on a fluid suspension about the acoustic wave region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2023
    Assignee: Duke University
    Inventors: Tony Jun Huang, Peiran Zhang
  • Container and cooking appliance including the same
    Patent number: 11576529
    Abstract: Disclosed is a cooking appliance including: a main body; a container detachably installed to an upper portion of the main body, and comprising a reservoir for accommodating an object to be processed and a handle portion protruding laterally from the reservoir; and an enclosure detachably installed to the upper portion of the main body to surround the reservoir, wherein the enclosure is formed in a dome shape having an opened lower end and has a handle through hole extending from the opened lower end and formed in a part of a side surface of the enclosure, so that at least a part of the handle penetrates the handle through hole and is exposed to an outside in a state where the enclosure is installed to the main body with the container.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2023
    Assignee: NUC ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Jong Boo Kim
  • Device for treating a product
    Patent number: 11577206
    Abstract: At a device for treating a product in a receiving trough (1) which has at least one opening (5) for receiving the product, the treatment of the product is to take place by inner and outer blades (9, 8) which are arranged in the receiving trough (1) and can be driven separately by drives (14; 16). The drive (14) for the at least one inner blade (9) should be located on the same side of the receiving trough (1) as the drive (16) for the at least one outer blade (8).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2023
    Assignee: Inotec GmbH Maschinenentwicklung Und Vertrieb
    Inventor: Miroslav Domlatil
  • Apparatus and method for manufacturing instantly emulsified cosmetics
    Patent number: 11571668
    Abstract: An apparatus and a method for manufacturing instantly emulsified cosmetics is disclosed. The apparatus comprises: a housing; a pump in the housing for discharging an instantly emulsified emulsion outside of the housing; a first container in the housing for storing an internal fluid; a second container in the housing for storing a functional fluid including a functional raw material; a third container in the housing for storing an external fluid; a channel part in the housing for receiving the external fluid, the internal fluid and the functional fluid generate an emulsion; and a tube provides the pump with the emulsion generated in the channel part, wherein the channel part includes: a first channel for mixing the internal fluid and the functional fluid to generate a mixed fluid; and a second channel for mixing the mixed fluid provided from the first channel and the external fluid to generate an emulsion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2023
    Assignee: AMOREPACIFIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kyung Sup Han, Jin Nam
  • Weighted well material distribution systems and methods
    Patent number: 11565225
    Abstract: Well material distribution methods may include gravity feeding bulk well materials including at least one well material component into a mixing vessel which may include a mixing vessel interior and at least one mixing device disposed in the mixing vessel interior; forming a well material mixture by mixing the bulk well materials including at least one well material component in the mixing vessel interior of the mixing vessel via operation of the at least one mixing device; distributing the well material mixture from the mixing vessel interior of the mixing vessel to at least one mud pit; and distributing a substantially homogenous well material mixture from the at least one mud pit to a hydrocarbon well.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2023
    Inventor: Blake Whitlatch
  • Method and apparatus for supplying water of specified concentration
    Patent number: 11565224
    Abstract: Provided are a method for supplying water of specified concentration, including: a step of adding at least two liquids, a conductive first liquid and a non-conductive second liquid, to ultrapure water to produce water of specified concentration containing a first liquid-component and a second liquid-component at specified concentrations, in which a mixed solution in which the first liquid and the second liquid are mixed at a specified mixing ratio in advance is prepared; and the mixed solution is added to the ultrapure water so that a conductivity or specific resistance of the ultrapure water after the addition satisfies a specified value, and an apparatus therefor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2023
    Assignee: KURITA WATER INDUSTRIES LTD.
    Inventor: Hideaki Iino
  • Systems and methods for controlling the process of compounding admixtures
    Patent number: 11559469
    Abstract: A compounding apparatus for mixing at least two materials into an admixture can include a processor and software configured to select a non-universal ingredient for substitution as a temporary universal ingredient to be used as a buffer when an original universal ingredient buffer is not available. The processor and software can also include an auto adjust feature to correct for tube wear and other factors creating non-compliant final bag fills. The processor and software can also include a disable station designation feature that allows for disabling a problem station and diverting operation from the designated disabled station to a substitute station. Such operation can ensure continued production of the compounding apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2023
    Assignee: BBraun Medical Inc.
    Inventors: Derek Raines, Drew Dolan, Robert Cutler, Evan Bruck, Mary Jansen, Nicholas Heshelman, Mark Steenbarger
  • Foam producing method, fire extinguishing method, and appliance for foam extinguishing
    Patent number: 11559711
    Abstract: A foam production method includes mixing liquid nitrogen with a foaming material to produce foam. A gas is produced in situ from liquid nitrogen. As the ratio of the volume of the gas produced by gasification of liquid nitrogen to the volume of the liquid nitrogen is relatively high, when a large gas supply flow is needed to generate a large foam flow, a liquid nitrogen storage device of a small volume can be used instead of bulky air supply devices such as high-pressure gas cylinders, air compressors, air compressor sets and the like, reducing the volume of the air supply device. In addition, the liquid nitrogen used in foaming will release nitrogen gas after the foam blast, such that the nitrogen is also able to inhibit combustion on the surface of burning materials, accelerating the extinguishing of the fire.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2023
    Assignees: CHINA PETROLEUM & CHEMICAL CORPORATION, CHINA PETROLEUM & CHEMICAL CORPORATION QINGDAO RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF SAFETY ENGINEERING
    Inventors: Shanjun Mu, Chunming Jiang, Weihua Zhang, Quanzhen Liu, Xuqing Lang, Xiaodong Mu, Lin Wang, Jingfeng Wu, Longmei Tan, Zuzheng Shang, Rifeng Zhou, Jianxiang Li, Hui Yu
  • Autolayering blending system
    Patent number: 11553819
    Abstract: A blender system includes a blender base housing a motor. A container assembly may be selectively and operatively attached to the blender base. The container assembly may include two or more compartments. The motor drives an input spindle of a blade assembly. The blade assembly may blend foodstuff within the two or more compartments.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2023
    Assignee: Vita-Mix Management Corporation
    Inventors: David Kolar, Brian Harvanec, Rebecca Hammond, Fred Mehlman
  • Food and beverage product
    Patent number: 11547134
    Abstract: A method for forming a grain-based cereal paste that includes preparing a mixture of the paste and water at a target first cereal-to-water weight ratio, boiling the mixture for a target boiling duration of time, cooling the mixture to a prescribed temperature for a target cooling duration of time, adding enzymes to the mixture, the amount of enzymes calculated based on a dry weight of the paste in the mixture, maintaining the mixture with added enzymes for a specified duration of time at a specified temperature, preparing a dehydrated mixture by removing water from the mixture to result in a prescribed moisture content for the dehydrated mixture, admixing a plant based oil to the dehydrated mixture at a prescribed oil-to-mixture weight ratio, and milling the dehydrated mixture containing the admixed plant based oil to prepare a paste with a particle size in a range of 1 to 120 microns.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2023
    Assignee: Plant Tap, Inc.
    Inventor: Joseph Camillo Savino