Patents by Inventor Bradley E. De Pottey

Bradley E. De Pottey has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Glow plug learn and control system
    Patent number: 7631625
    Abstract: A system and method for controlling a temperature of a combustion chamber heater of an engine includes a calculation module that determines a temperature of the combustion chamber heater based on an effective resistance of the combustion chamber heater, and a control module that controls the temperature of the combustion chamber heater by commanding a duty cycle of the combustion chamber heater based on an operating temperature signal of the combustion chamber heater and a desired temperature of the combustion chamber heater.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 15, 2009
    Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations, Inc.
    Inventor: Bradley E. De Pottey
  • Glow plug learn and control system
    Publication number: 20080140295
    Abstract: A system and method for controlling a temperature of a combustion chamber heater of an engine includes a calculation module that determines a temperature of the combustion chamber heater based on an effective resistance of the combustion chamber heater, and a control module that controls the temperature of the combustion chamber heater by commanding a duty cycle of the combustion chamber heater based on an operating temperature signal of the combustion chamber heater and a desired temperature of the combustion chamber heater.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 11, 2006
    Publication date: June 12, 2008
    Inventor: Bradley E. De Pottey
  • Current control method for an oxygen sensor heater
    Patent number: 6586711
    Abstract: An improved control for the heater element of a motor vehicle engine exhaust gas oxygen sensor determines the temperature of the heater element and adjusts the heater element current by closed-loop control to minimize deviation of the heater element temperature from a desired heater temperature determined in relation to the desired oxygen sensor temperature. The heater temperature is calculated based on the heater element resistance, and the heater resistance is adaptively adjusted to account for sensor-to-sensor variation. The adaptive adjustment is updated based on a deviation of the measured heater element resistance from an expected value under predetermined calibration conditions at engine start-up.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2001
    Date of Patent: July 1, 2003
    Assignee: General Motors Corporation
    Inventors: Christopher E. Whitney, Yonas Nebiyeloul-Kifle, Jeffry A. Helmick, Bradley E. De Pottey
  • Current control method for an oxygen sensor heater
    Publication number: 20030019865
    Abstract: An improved control for the heater element of a motor vehicle engine exhaust gas oxygen sensor determines the temperature of the heater element and adjusts the heater element current by closed-loop control to minimize deviation of the heater element temperature from a desired heater temperature determined in relation to the desired oxygen sensor temperature. The heater temperature is calculated based on the heater element resistance, and the heater resistance is adaptively adjusted to account for sensor-to-sensor variation. The adaptive adjustment is updated based on a deviation of the measured heater element resistance from an expected value under predetermined calibration conditions at engine start-up.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 27, 2001
    Publication date: January 30, 2003
    Inventors: Christopher E. Whitney, Yonas Nebiyeloul-Kifle, Jeffry A. Helmick, Bradley E. De Pottey