Patents by Inventor Michael W. Vandiver

Michael W. Vandiver 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).

  • Publication number: 20220251498
    Abstract: The concepts described herein are directed to implementations of production facilities that can produce molecules used to treat biological conditions, such as biotherapeutics. The biotherapeutics can include various molecules, such as proteins, enzymes, and antibodies. The production facilities can include a number of separate modular cleanrooms that comprise particular pieces of equipment to perform one or more aspects of the processes used to manufacture biotherapeutics. The modular cleanrooms are arranged such that material that is produced by the equipment of one modular cleanroom can be transferred to another modular cleanroom for additional processing. Additionally, systems and processes are described to generate models using machine learning techniques, where the models can be used to predict productivity and/or efficiency metrics for production lines of biotherapeutics. Further, models can be generated to control the operation of pieces of equipment included in the production lines.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 14, 2020
    Publication date: August 11, 2022
    Inventors: Jeremy Martin Shaver, Tileli Amimeur, Randal Robert Ketchem, Michael W. Vandiver, Brian W. Horman, Fernando Garcia
  • Patent number: 6084199
    Abstract: A flow of ionizable gas is provided to a shielded plasma arc torch which includes an electrode, a translatable nozzle, a nozzle retainer, and a shield. After passing through a heat exchanger to cool the electrode, the gas flow enters an annular chamber where the flow is divided into three subflows. A first subflow enters a plasma chamber formed by the electrode, the nozzle, and a swirl ring to pressurize the plasma chamber and support a plasma arc. The second subflow passes serially through apertures in the nozzle retainer and the shield to shield the plasma arc. The remaining flow is vented to ambient. Accordingly, a single gas flow may be employed to independently support multiple torch operating requirements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 1, 1997
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2000
    Assignee: Hypertherm, Inc.
    Inventors: Jon Lindsay, Stephen T. Eickhoff, Michael W. Vandiver