Patents Examined by Cynthia L. Davis
  • Patent number: 11630121
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a sensor includes a first detection element, and a processing part. The first detection element includes a base body, a first supporter fixed to the base body, a first movable part, first and second counter conductive parts. The first movable part is supported by the first supporter and separated from the base body. The first movable part includes a first movable base part supported by the first supporter, a second movable base part connected with the first movable base part, a first movable beam including a first beam, and a second movable beam including a second beam. The first beam includes a first end portion and a first other end portion. The second beam includes a second end portion and a second other end portion. The first counter conductive part faces the first movable beam. The second counter conductive part faces the second movable beam.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2023
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Kei Masunishi, Yasushi Tomizawa, Etsuji Ogawa, Ryunosuke Gando, Shiori Kaji, Hiroki Hiraga, Fumito Miyazaki
  • Patent number: 11624730
    Abstract: A system for determining a trigger amplitude indicating a precursor to a material fracture in a specimen under test includes a microphone converting acoustic emission emitted by the specimen under test into electrical signals. A load is exerted upon the specimen under test and the acoustic emission are emitted when the load causes the specimen under test to undergo deformation prior to the material fracture. A control module is in electrical communication with the microphone and executes instructions to monitor the electrical signals generated by the microphone and filter the electrical signals generated by the microphone. The control module converts the electrical signals generated by the microphone into individual frequency components based on a fast Fourier Transform (FFT). The individual frequency components each include a peak intensity. The control module determines the trigger amplitude based on the peak intensity of the individual frequency components of the FFT.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2023
    Assignee: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC
    Inventors: Bradley Allen Newcomb, Nathan Thompson
  • Patent number: 11592356
    Abstract: A method for detecting wear before failure of a free-wheel, the free-wheel comprising a driving part integrated into an upstream mechanical power transmission system and a driven part integrated into a downstream mechanical power transmission system. The method comprises determining an oscillation measurement of a monitoring parameter within the upstream or downstream mechanical power transmission system, determining a value of at least one dynamic parameter characteristic of the oscillation measurement or of a transform of the oscillation measurement in a frequency reference frame, and generating an alarm when the value of the dynamic parameter reaches at least one wear threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2023
    Assignee: AIRBUS HELICOPTERS
    Inventor: Gilles Belhabib
  • Patent number: 11592327
    Abstract: A method includes receiving data characterizing time-dependent lateral vibration of a shaft of a machine, the lateral vibration indicative of motion of at least a portion of the shaft perpendicular to a first direction. The lateral vibration is detected by a first sensor located at a first predetermined location on the shaft. The method further includes, receiving data characterizing time-dependent torsional vibration of the shaft, the torsional vibration indicative of rotation of the shaft around the first direction. The torsional vibration is detected by a second sensor located at a second predetermined location on the shaft. The method also includes calculating a coherence of the data characterizing time-dependent lateral vibration and the data characterizing time-dependent torsional vibration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2023
    Assignee: Baker Hughes Oilfield Operations LLC
    Inventors: Brian F. Howard, David R. O'Connor, John W. Grant
  • Patent number: 11588440
    Abstract: Disclosed are a test apparatus of a solar cell and a photovoltaic system including the same. A test apparatus of a solar cell according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes an interface to receive cell information including cell efficiency, cell voltage, and cell current and a processor to perform learning based on the cell information of the solar cell and line information of a string line including the solar cell, predict an output of a solar cell module including the solar cell based on the learning, and output an output prediction value of the solar cell module. As a result, an output deviation of the solar cell module including a plurality of solar cells can be reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2023
    Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
    Inventors: Jaehoon Lee, Kyongpil Tae, Bohyun Jung
  • Patent number: 11579123
    Abstract: A rotating machine abnormality detection device of an embodiment includes a non-contact acoustic emission sensor, an analyzer, and a diagnoser. The non-contact acoustic emission sensor, arranged at a position spaced away by a predetermined distance from a measurement target acting as a rotating member or a measurement target rotatably supporting the rotating member, is configured to detect acoustic emission that occurs during rotation of the measurement target or the rotating member supported by the measurement target and propagates in an atmosphere. The analyzer is configured to perform time-frequency analysis on a detection signal of the non-contact acoustic emission sensor. The diagnoser is configured to detect occurrence of a rotation abnormality when a frequency component equal to or larger than a predetermined threshold value is present in a predetermined frequency band, based on an analysis result of the analyzer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2023
    Assignee: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
    Inventor: Masahiro Uekita
  • Patent number: 11572664
    Abstract: An asphalt density estimation system includes a measurement device configured to output a measurement signal; a time synchronization unit configured to sample the measurement signal to obtain a sampled measurement signal and identify periodic sampling points of the sampled measurement signal across a plurality of periods. The system also includes a time synchronous averaging unit configured to construct a modified measurement signal in the time domain by: for at least one sampling point within the period, averaging a plurality of the periodic sampling points across periods to obtain an average periodic data point for the at least one sampling point, and constructing the modified measurement signal using the average periodic data point for the at least one sampling point. The system further includes a density calculation unit configured to determine asphalt density values based on the modified measurement signal; and a display unit configured to display the determined asphalt density values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2023
    Assignee: VOLVO CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT AB
    Inventor: Yaang Zhao
  • Patent number: 11566967
    Abstract: Provided is an abnormality detection device which detects an abnormality in a target machine, comprising: a first acquisition unit which acquires a drive side temperature of the target machine; a second acquisition unit which acquires a non-drive side temperature of the target machine; a correlation storage unit which stores a correlation between the drive side temperature and the non-drive side temperature based on the drive side temperature and the non-drive side temperature during normal operation of the target machine; a detection unit which detects a deviation from the correlation stored in the correlation storage unit on the basis of the drive side temperature acquired by the first acquisition unit and the non-drive side temperature acquired by the second acquisition unit; and, an output unit which outputs the deviation from the correlation which was detected by the detection unit as an abnormality in the target machine or as an abnormality indication.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2023
    Assignee: NIPPON PAPER INDUSTRIES CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Susumu Nozoe
  • Patent number: 11536616
    Abstract: A sensor device includes at least one sensor, a digital signal processor and an amplifier. The at least one sensor is configured to measure a variable physical quantity and provide a raw sensor signal at an output of the at least one sensor. The digital signal processor is configured to preprocess the raw sensor signal output by the at least one sensor into a sensor signal and to further process the sensor signal into a pulse-width-modulated output signal having a duty cycle that is dependent on the measured quantity using a plurality of device-specific correction parameters stored in a memory to convert the sensor signal into the pulse-width modulated output signal. The amplifier is configured to convert the pulse-width modulated output signal into an analog voltage or current signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2022
    Assignee: E+E ELEKTRONIK GES.M.B.H.
    Inventor: Albin Haider
  • Patent number: 11519731
    Abstract: A pedestrian adaptive zero-velocity update point selection method based on a neural network, including the following steps: S1, collecting inertial navigation data of different pedestrians in different motion modes; S2, preprocessing the inertial navigation data collected in the step S1, labeling the preprocessed data, and obtaining a training data set, a validation data set, and a test data set according to the preprocessed data and a label corresponding to the preprocessed data; S3, inputting the training data set to a convolutional neural network for training, obtaining a pedestrian adaptive zero-velocity update point selection model based on the convolutional neural network, and using the validation data set to validate the pedestrian adaptive zero-velocity update point selection model; and S4, inputting the test data set into the pedestrian adaptive zero-velocity update point selection model based on the convolutional neural network, and obtaining a selection result of pedestrian zero-velocity update poi
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2022
    Assignee: UNIVERSITY OF ELECTRONIC SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY OF CHINA
    Inventors: Zhuoling Xiao, Xinguo Yu, Yi He, Bo Yan
  • Patent number: 11512976
    Abstract: The disclosure discloses a latitude-free initial alignment method under a swaying base based on gradient descent optimization. Firstly, swaying base latitude-free alignment is regarded as a Wahba attitude determination problem to inhibit device noise interference, and an objective function is established based on a gravitational acceleration vector under an earth system; then an exact solution of the objective function is obtained through a gradient descent optimization method, and inertial system conversion quaternion estimation is achieved under the latitude-free condition; and finally, an attitude quaternion is determined by only using information of an accelerometer and a gyroscope of a strapdown attitude heading reference system, and therefore latitude-free initial alignment under the swaying base is achieved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2022
    Assignee: HARBIN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
    Inventors: Ya Zhang, Qian Sun, Wei Gao, Fei Yu, Yanyan Wang, Xiuwei Xia, Jianxiong Wei, Weiqi Miao
  • Patent number: 11493404
    Abstract: A method including measuring vibrations of a rotating machine during its operation, using a vibration sensor. Next, from the signal measured by the sensor, automatically extracting, using an electronic detection device, a first signal representative of components of a first frequency range of the measured vibration signal, and a second signal representative of a second frequency range of the measured vibration signal. Then, from the first signal, calculating a first data set belonging to a time domain of the first signal, and extracting first calculation elements therefrom. Next, from the second signal, calculating a second data set belonging to a frequency domain of the second signal, and extracting second calculation elements therefrom. Lastly, determining a health index of the bearing from each of the extracted calculation elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2022
    Assignee: ALSTOM TRANSPORT TECHNOLOGIES
    Inventor: Diego Alejandro Tobon-Mejia
  • Patent number: 11472238
    Abstract: Starting from an acceleration signal, representative of a radial acceleration undergone by a portion of a crown region of said tyre due to the rolling of said tyre on a rolling surface, the trend of the first derivative of the radial acceleration is determined at a portion representative of the interaction of the tyre with a water layer. From the trend of the first derivative of the radial acceleration, it is determined at least one first parameter representative of an aquaplane condition of the tyre on the basis of a comparison between a first maximum and a second maximum of the first derivative at the portion representative of the interaction between tyre and water layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2022
    Assignee: PIRELLI TYRE S.P.A.
    Inventors: Marco Rocca, Paolo Giulio Aldo Artesani
  • Patent number: 11454646
    Abstract: A method including receiving, in a computing device, periodic measurements of accelerations from a plurality of sensor modules. The computing device determines whether each respective sensor module of the sensor modules is attached to a respective part of a user from the periodic measurements of accelerations from the plurality of sensor modules as received. In response to the determination that each respective sensor module of the sensor modules is attached to the respective part of the user, the method includes initiating, by the computing device, a calibration operation to calibrate orientation measurements of the sensor modules relative to a common reference system defined based on an orientation of the user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2022
    Assignee: FINCHXR LTD.
    Inventors: Alexey Ivanovich Kartashov, Viktor Vladimirovich Erivantcev, Alexander Sergeevich Lobanov, Roman Tagirovich Karimov, Alisa Vadimovna Semenova
  • Patent number: 11454516
    Abstract: In a method of calibrating a gyro sensor mounted on a vehicle for measuring an angular velocity in a rotating direction generated about an axis of a vertical direction, a lateral shift amount detection process of detecting lateral shift amounts of the vehicle with respect to magnetic markers laid in a road, an azimuth estimation process of estimating, when the vehicle passes over a laying location where two magnetic markers are laid, an azimuth of the vehicle by a calculation process with the lateral shift amounts with respect to the two magnetic markers taken as input values, and a calibration process of calibrating the gyro sensor by using the azimuth of the vehicle estimated by the azimuth estimation process, are performed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2022
    Assignee: AICHI STEEL CORPORATION
    Inventors: Michiharu Yamamoto, Tomohiko Nagao, Hitoshi Aoyama
  • Patent number: 11442041
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a sensor includes first and second structure bodies, and a detector. The first structure body includes a supporter, and first and second deformable parts supported by the supporter. The second deformable part has at least one of a second length less than a first length of the first deformable part, a second width greater than a first width of the first deformable part, a second thickness greater than a first thickness of the first deformable part, a second Young's modulus greater than a first Young's modulus of the first deformable part, or a second spring constant greater than a first spring constant of the first deformable part. The second structure body is connected to the first structure body. A liquid is provided between the first and second structure bodies. The detector outputs a signal corresponding to a deformation of the first or second deformable part.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2022
    Assignees: THE UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO, KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
    Inventors: Isao Shimoyama, Minh Dung Nguyen, Thanh-Vinh Nguyen, Takanori Usami, Kazuo Watabe, Takahiro Omori, Kiyoshi Matsumoto
  • Patent number: 11441960
    Abstract: A microfluidic pressure sensor may include a reference chamber, a sensed volume, a microfluidic channel connecting an interior of the reference chamber to an interior of the sensed volume, a volume of liquid contained and movable within the microfluidic channel while occluding the microfluidic channel and a sensor to output signals indicating positioning of the volume of liquid along the microfluidic channel. Positioning of the volume of liquid along microfluidic channel indicates a pressure of the sensed volume.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2022
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Ning Ge, Alexander Govyadinov, Anita Rogacs, Viktor Shkolnikov
  • Patent number: 11422004
    Abstract: A method for initializing an inertial measurement unit (IMU). The IMU is associated with an accelerometer frame. The accelerometer frame corresponds to an inertial frame. The method includes generating variations in rows of a gravity disturbance matrix of the IMU by rotating the IMU about a rotation axis and estimating an optimal transformation matrix from the accelerometer frame to the inertial frame by minimizing the variations of the rows of the gravity disturbance matrix. The rotation axis passes through a center of the accelerometer frame. A column of the gravity disturbance matrix includes a gravity disturbance vector at an initialization moment of an initialization time. The gravity disturbance vector is associated with a gravity vector of Earth.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2022
    Inventor: Mohammad Shakibay Senobari
  • Patent number: 11408842
    Abstract: The objective of the present invention is to provide a versatile method that makes highly sensitive detection of nucleic acid, and the like, possible even if a solution has a high salt concentration. This objective has been achieved through a method for detecting a target substance in a solution through EIS impedance measurement, wherein the solution includes at least the target substance, an impedance observation substance A, and a substance B for causing the charge mobility of the impedance observation substance to vary, and the substance B for causing the charge mobility to vary has a property of being taken into the target substance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 5, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2022
    Assignee: Osaka University
    Inventors: Kazuyuki Nobusawa, Ichiro Yamashita
  • Patent number: 11385136
    Abstract: When tires of a vehicle equipped with two front tires and four rear tires are to be replaced, a life amount L, which serves as an indicator for tire replacement, is grasped for the front and rear tires of a plurality of vehicles that are to be tire replacement targets. After extracting, from among the plurality of vehicles, a vehicle ? equipped with the rear tires having a life amount of (?) L and a vehicle ß equipped with the rear tires having a life amount of 0, the rear tires of the vehicle ß are replaced with the front tires of the vehicle ? and the front tires of the vehicle ß, and new tires are fitted to the vehicle ? and the vehicle ß as the front tires of the vehicle ? and the front tires of the vehicle ß.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2022
    Assignee: BRIDGESTONE CORPORATION
    Inventors: Eiichi Suzuki, Takanao Shoji, Yuuki Hara