Patents Examined by Brent J Andrews
-
Patent number: 11946740Abstract: A coating thickness measuring instrument comprising: a magnetic induction probe comprising at least one drive coil and at least one pick-up coil; a driver for driving an alternating current in the or each drive coil; and a detector for detecting the output of the or each pick-up coil; and a processor configured to: apply a transfer function to the detector output to produce an output which corresponds to a measured coating thickness; and, scale both the drive current and detector output simultaneously in response to the output. The scaling may be changed in a step-wise manner. The scaling applied to the drive current may be inversely proportional to the scaling applied to the detector output. The scaling may be defined by a first and second scaling factor, stored as a pair. The instrument may store two or more pairs of scaling factors and select a pair in response to the measured coating thickness.Type: GrantFiled: November 17, 2021Date of Patent: April 2, 2024Assignee: Elcometer LimitedInventors: Philip Anthony May, Simon Trevena Coulton, Alan James Dodd, Maria Isabel Jimenez-Lopez
-
Patent number: 11946961Abstract: The invention relates to an apparatus and method for tracking energy consumption. An energy tracking system comprises at least one switching element, at least one inductor and a control block to keep the output voltage at a pre-selected level. The switching elements are configured to apply the source of energy to the inductors. The control block compares the output voltage of the energy tracking system to a reference value and controls the switching of the switched elements in order to transfer energy for the primary voltage into a secondary voltage at the output of the energy tracking system. The electronic device further comprises an ON-time and OFF-time generator and an accumulator wherein the control block is coupled to receive a signal from the ON-time and OFF-time generator and generates switching signals for the at least one switching element in the form of ON-time pulses with a constant width ON-time.Type: GrantFiled: February 22, 2021Date of Patent: April 2, 2024Assignee: Texas Instruments IncorporatedInventors: Horst Diewald, Johann Zipperer, Peter Weber, Anton Brauchle
-
Patent number: 11933925Abstract: The invention relates to a particle energy measuring device (14) for determining the energy of a particle beam (26) with (a) at least twenty capacitors (30.n) that (i) each comprise a first capacitor plate (32.n) and (ii) a second capacitor plate (34.n), and (iii) are arranged one behind the other with respect to a beam incidence direction (S), (b) a multiplexer (46) that has (i) a multiplexer outlet (48) and (ii) a plurality of multiplexer inputs (50.n), each multiplexer input (50.n) being designed to connect to precisely one capacitor (30.n) and (iii) that is configured to connect one of the capacitor plates (32.n, 34.n) of the respective capacitor to the multiplexer outlet (48), (c) a total charge measuring device (52) that (i) comprises a total charge measuring device input (54), which is connected to the second capacitor plates (34.n) in order to detect a total charge (Q?) of the charges on all the capacitors (30.Type: GrantFiled: June 11, 2019Date of Patent: March 19, 2024Assignee: BUNDESREPUBLIK DEUTSCHLAND, VERTRETEN DURCH DAS BUNDESMINISTERIUM FUR WIRTSCHAFT UND ENERGIE, DIESES VERTRETEN DURCH DEN PRASIDENTEN DER PHYSIKALISCH-TECHNISCHEN BUNDESANSTALTInventor: Christoph Makowski
-
Patent number: 11927604Abstract: A wafer probe test system having a probe card with a probe head, a rotary magnet, a magnetic sensor positioned to sense the magnetic field of the rotary magnet and a controller coupled to the probe card, where the probe head has probe needles to engage features of test sites of a wafer in a wafer plane of orthogonal first and second directions, and the rotary magnet is rotatable around an axis of a third direction to provide a magnetic field to the wafer, in which the controller includes a model of magnetic flux density in the first, second and third directions at the respective test sites of the wafer as a function of a rotational angle of the rotary magnet, a probe needle height along the third direction and a measured magnetic flux density of the magnetic sensor.Type: GrantFiled: May 6, 2021Date of Patent: March 12, 2024Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATEDInventors: Xinkun Huang, Dok Won Lee, Christopher Michael Ledbetter, Bret Alan Dahl, Roy Deidrick Solomon
-
Patent number: 11906329Abstract: A testing apparatus and method for detecting faults in encoders are disclosed. The testing apparatus includes a signal conditioning circuit board that receives an encoder signal and a central processing unit in communication with the circuit board and configured to: check for faulty amplitude, check for signal symmetry, check for signal offset, and/or check for signal transmission rate. The testing apparatus includes a real-time controller for real-time signal processing and fault detection.Type: GrantFiled: January 14, 2022Date of Patent: February 20, 2024Assignee: Octava Engineering, LLCInventors: Clint Switzer, Nishant Pathak
-
Patent number: 11899045Abstract: A system and method for calibrating a capacitor voltage sensor that measures voltage on a power line coupled through a switch to a primary coil of a transformer. The method includes measuring a control voltage on a secondary coil of the transformer and measuring voltage on the capacitor sensor when the switch is known to be closed. The method identifies a calibration factor that when multiplied by the measured voltage on the capacitor sensor when the switch is closed makes the measured voltage on the capacitor sensor substantially equal to the control voltage. The method subsequently measures voltage on the capacitor sensor when the switch is open or closed during operation of the transformer, and multiplies the subsequently measured voltage on the capacitor sensor when the switch is open or closed by the calibration factor to obtain a measured voltage.Type: GrantFiled: April 7, 2022Date of Patent: February 13, 2024Assignee: S&C Electric CompanyInventor: David G. Porter
-
Patent number: 11892285Abstract: A method of non-contact measurement of a thickness (d) of an object of an electrically conductive material by means of a Pulsed Eddy Current, PEC, system including a transmitter coil and a receiver coil. The method includes, after having turned off a current in the transmitter coil, at the receiver coil, measuring a voltage induced by the decaying magnetic field at a first time point, a second time point, and a third time point. The method also includes calculating a total magnetic flux which is generated by the eddy currents in the object at the first time point and picked up by the receiver coil, by comparing the measured flux at the first time point with a predetermined total flux picked up by the receiver coil when no object is present.Type: GrantFiled: February 24, 2022Date of Patent: February 6, 2024Assignee: ABB Schweiz AGInventors: Sten Linder, Jarl Sobel, Anders Eidenvall, Martin Haldin, Aleksander Dzieciol
-
Patent number: 11892534Abstract: A frequency characteristic measurement apparatus includes a calibration circuit configured to perform a SOLT calibration on cable end surfaces, a first measurement circuit measuring S-parameters of a first substrate provided with a DUT, after the SOLT calibration by the calibration circuit, a second measurement circuit measuring S-parameters of a second substrate after the SOLT calibration by the calibration circuit, and an extraction circuit performing a vector operation of a measurement result of the first measurement circuit and a measurement result of the second measurement circuit to extract S-parameters of the DUT. The extraction circuit assumes that a reflection of each of first second fixtures obtained by virtually dividing the second substrate into two parts at the center, on an end surface of the second substrate is equal to or smaller than a reflection on an end surface of the second substrate without the virtual division at the center.Type: GrantFiled: March 22, 2022Date of Patent: February 6, 2024Assignee: ROHM Co., LTD.Inventor: Kenji Hamachi
-
Patent number: 11867773Abstract: A dual integrator system comprises two integrators, an output stage, and a switching network. The first and second integrators receive a differential Hall sensor signal and a reference voltage. The first integrator outputs a first integrator signal based on the differential Hall sensor and the reference voltage. The second integrator outputs a second integrator signal based on the differential Hall sensor signal and the reference voltage. The first integrator comprises a first offset cancellation feedback loop, and the second integrator comprises a second offset cancellation feedback loop. The switching network is coupled to the first and second integrators and to the output stage, and alternates which of the first and second integrators is coupled to the output stage. In some embodiments, the first and second integrators each perform a reset operation, a sampling operation, an integration operation, a differential to single-ended conversion operation, and a holding operation.Type: GrantFiled: June 1, 2020Date of Patent: January 9, 2024Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATEDInventors: Partha Sarathi Basu, Dimitar Trifonov Trifonov, Tony Ray Larson, Chao-Hsiuan Tsay
-
Patent number: 11815568Abstract: An electronic device includes a magnetometer that outputs magnetometer sensor signals and a gyroscope that outputs gyroscope sensor signals. The electronic device includes a magnetometer calibration module that calibrates the magnetometer utilizing the gyroscope sensor signals. The electronic device generates a first magnetometer calibration parameter based on a Kalman filter process. The electronic device generates a second magnetometer calibration parameter based on a least squares estimation process.Type: GrantFiled: December 28, 2020Date of Patent: November 14, 2023Assignee: STMicroelectronics, Inc.Inventors: Mahaveer Jain, Mahesh Chowdhary
-
Patent number: 11802885Abstract: A sensor processing system includes a plurality of reduction circuits. The plurality of reduction circuits correspond to a plurality of sensors on a one-to-one basis. Each of the plurality of reduction circuits is electrically connected to an output terminal of a corresponding one of the plurality of sensors to reduce a low-frequency component of a sensor output of the corresponding one of the plurality of sensors.Type: GrantFiled: April 29, 2020Date of Patent: October 31, 2023Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.Inventor: Kouhei Yamada
-
Patent number: 11774520Abstract: Ferrimagnetic oscillator magnetometers do not use lasers to stimulate fluorescence emission from defect centers in solid-state hosts (e.g., nitrogen vacancies in diamonds). Instead, in a ferrimagnetic oscillator magnetometer, the applied magnetic field shifts the resonance of entangled electronic spins in a ferrimagnetic crystal. These spins are entangled and can have an ensemble resonance linewidth of approximately 370 kHz to 10 MHz. The resonance shift produces microwave sidebands with amplitudes proportional to the magnetic field strength at frequencies proportional to the magnetic field oscillation frequency. These sidebands can be coherently averaged, digitized, and coherently processed, yielding magnetic field measurements with sensitivities possibly approaching the spin projection limit of 1 attotesla/?{square root over (Hz)}. The encoding of magnetic signals in frequency rather than amplitude relaxes or removes otherwise stringent requires on the digitizer.Type: GrantFiled: May 12, 2021Date of Patent: October 3, 2023Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyInventors: John F. Barry, Reed Anderson Irion, Jessica Kedziora, Matthew Steinecker, Daniel K. Freeman, Danielle A. Braje
-
Patent number: 11774232Abstract: A method may include positioning an eddy current probe proximate to a coated portion of an article. The coated portion of the article includes a conductive substrate and a ceramic coating overlying the conductive substrate. The method includes generating, using the eddy current probe, a first primary magnetic field to induce eddy currents in the coated portion of the article and measuring, using the eddy current probe, a strength of a first secondary magnetic field created by the eddy currents in the coated portion of the article to obtain a first secondary magnetic field measurement. The method includes determining, by a computing device, one or more properties or one or more changes in properties of the article based on the first secondary magnetic field measurement.Type: GrantFiled: June 17, 2021Date of Patent: October 3, 2023Assignee: Rolls-Royce CorporationInventors: Jun Shi, Eric Carreras
-
Patent number: 11773629Abstract: An operation detection device includes an electrostatic sensor accommodated inside a casing and including a first conductor and a second conductor, and a controller electrically connected to the first conductor and the second conductor, and applies a voltage to each of the first conductor and the second conductor, to measure an electrostatic capacitance of each of the first conductor and the second conductor. The first conductor is arranged in and the second conductor is not arranged in a detection region in which an operating body is detected by the electrostatic sensor. The first conductor and the second conductor are arranged in a non-detection region in which the operating body is not detected.Type: GrantFiled: August 20, 2020Date of Patent: October 3, 2023Assignee: ALPS ALPINE CO., LTD.Inventors: Toshiki Nakamura, Daisuke Takai, Takashi Sasaki, Yuzuru Kawana, Yoshiyuki Kikuchi, Heishiro Fudo
-
Patent number: 11754602Abstract: Systems and methods may be used to measure a frequency of a power delivery system and/or of a supply signal transmitted to a load. A system may record an input waveform, determine a frequency of the input waveform at a present time based at least in part on the input waveform and a derivative of the input waveform, and control an operation of a power delivery system based at least in part on the determined frequency.Type: GrantFiled: December 8, 2021Date of Patent: September 12, 2023Assignee: Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc.Inventors: Marcos A. Donolo, Jay Hartshorn
-
Patent number: 11747412Abstract: The present disclosure relates to integrated circuits, and, more particularly, to a magnetic field sensor using magnetic tunneling junction (MTJ) structures and passive resistors, and methods of manufacture and operation. The structure includes: a first portion of a circuit including a first MTJ structure and a first resistor coupled in series between a first voltage source and a second voltage source; and a second portion of the circuit including a second MTJ structure and a second resistor coupled in series between the first voltage source and the second voltage source. The first portion and the second portion are coupled in parallel between the first voltage source and the second voltage source.Type: GrantFiled: September 8, 2021Date of Patent: September 5, 2023Assignee: GLOBALFOUNDRIES SINGAPORE PTE. LTD.Inventors: Vinayak Bharat Naik, Eng Huat Toh, Kazutaka Yamane, Hemant M. Dixit
-
Patent number: 11732576Abstract: The present disclosure provides a system, an apparatus and a method for detecting line-attached tools in an above-surface portion of a well for use during well-work overs and/or interventions. The system includes the apparatus which comprises: a body for housing at least one magnetic-field generator and at least one magnetic-field sensor; and a tubular portion that is configured to be housed within the body. The tubular portion has a bore for receiving the line-attached tools and the at least one magnetic-field sensor is configured for detecting changes in the magnetic field caused by the line-attached tool approaching, moving through and/or moving away from the body. The system may further include a processor unit for receiving one or more signals from the at least one magnetic-field sensor and for determining the location and/or one or more dimensions of the line-attached tool while approaching, moving through or moving away from the body.Type: GrantFiled: April 18, 2018Date of Patent: August 22, 2023Assignee: Intelligent Wellhead Systems Inc.Inventors: Bradley Robert Martin, Aaron Mitchell Carlson
-
Patent number: 11624744Abstract: A method of recording intracellular action potentials in electrogenic cells through pores in membranes of cells formed by optoporation includes positioning a sample that includes the cells on a multi-electrode array; incubating or perfusing the sample; focusing a laser on the surface of the array electrodes, the surface contacting the sample; applying one or more laser pulses to one or more array electrodes to perform a localized breakdown of the membrane of the cells of the sample; and recording the intracellular action potentials. The surface of the electrodes is porous and has cavities and protrusions at the nanoscale level, and the electric field produced by the laser is localized and amplified to perform the localized breakdown of the membrane of the cells of the sample.Type: GrantFiled: December 12, 2018Date of Patent: April 11, 2023Inventors: Francesco De Angelis, Michele Dipalo
-
Patent number: 11624778Abstract: An integrated circuit testing assembly, comprising a slab having a slab axis, and a first electrode and second electrode affixed relative to the slab. The first electrode has a first major axis parallel to the slab axis, is coupled to receive a first voltage for coupling to a first set of pins on an integrated circuit, and includes a first surface area facing the slab axis, wherein the first surface area does not include a surface discontinuity. The second electrode has a second major axis parallel to the slab axis, is coupled to receive a second voltage for coupling to second first set of pins on an integrated circuit, and includes a second surface area facing the slab axis, wherein the second surface area does not include a surface discontinuity.Type: GrantFiled: March 16, 2020Date of Patent: April 11, 2023Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATEDInventors: Andrew Patrick Couch, Phillip Marcus Blitz, David Anthony Graham
-
Patent number: 11624760Abstract: A measurement device that performs a predetermined measurement task together with a plurality of other measurement devices is provided. This measurement device is provided with a sampling phase generator for generating a sampling phase for instructing a timing of sampling, and a communication unit for communicating with at least one of the plurality of other measurement devices. The communication unit transmits the sampling phase generated by the sampling phase generator to at least one of the plurality of other measurement devices. The sampling phase generator is configured to generate a third sampling phase, using an operation that is based on a generated first sampling phase and a second sampling phase received by the communication unit from at least one of the plurality of other measurement devices.Type: GrantFiled: May 14, 2021Date of Patent: April 11, 2023Assignee: DAIHEN CorporationInventors: Akihiro Ohori, Nobuyuki Hattori