Patents by Inventor Reiner Heilmann
Reiner Heilmann 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).
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Patent number: 11660755Abstract: A method for monitoring a working environment of a movable device utilizing a monitoring apparatus, wherein the working environment includes a working area and at least one protected area and the movable device is located within the working area during normal operation of said movable device, where the method includes a user inputting a plurality of convex polytopes into the monitoring apparatus, the convex polytopes corresponding to areas in which the movable device is located during normal operation, determining a convex polytope hull using the monitoring apparatus, the convex polytope hull completely enclosing the multiplicity of convex polytopes, and determining the at least one protected area by calculating a difference from the convex polytope hull and the input using the monitoring apparatus, such that monitoring of the position of the movable device is simplified because the working area can be modeled autonomously.Type: GrantFiled: October 14, 2020Date of Patent: May 30, 2023Assignee: SIEMENS AKTIENGESELLSCHAFTInventors: Frank Matthias, Reiner Heilmann, Minh Le, Alexander Stein, Maximilian Walter
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Patent number: 11567823Abstract: Provided is a method and system for identifying and evaluating common cause failures of system components, wherein at least one analytical artifact and machine readable system related to at least one of spatial, topological data and machine readable system related lifecycle data are processed to analyze automatically a susceptibility of system components to common cause failure based on common cause failure influencing factors.Type: GrantFiled: April 10, 2019Date of Patent: January 31, 2023Inventors: Reiner Heilmann, Christof Kaukewitsch, Marc Zeller
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Publication number: 20220358612Abstract: A computer-implemented method is provided for safety analysis of a technical system including a human object. The method includes: determining a system model of the technical system including the human object; determining for at least one use case of the technical system in accordance with a human interaction of the human object with the technical system; and simulating the technical system in accordance with the system model and the at least one use case. The simulating of the technical system includes tracking of safety hazard events in relation to the human interaction.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 2, 2020Publication date: November 10, 2022Inventors: Reiner Heilmann, Christof Kaukewitsch, Marc Zeller
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Patent number: 11347919Abstract: A method for generating a fault tree of a multi-component system is provided. The multicomponent system includes a logical-functional system layer and a physical system layer as different layers of abstraction. The physical system layer may correspond, for example, to software and/or hardware implementing the functional aspects of the logical-functional system layer. The method first provides a logical-functional fault tree for the logical-functional system layer and a physical fault tree for the physical system layer, the latter having elements corresponding to elements in the logical-functional fault tree. Next, a mixed-layer fault tree is generated by combining aspects of both fault trees in a systematic way. The disclosed is particularly relevant for analyzing safety-critical systems. However, the present concepts are not limited to these applications and may be applied to general use cases where fault tree analysis is applicable.Type: GrantFiled: December 17, 2019Date of Patent: May 31, 2022Inventors: Reiner Heilmann, Lennart Kilian, Marc Zeller
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Publication number: 20220058323Abstract: A method for generating a fault tree of a multi-component system is provided. The multicomponent system includes a logical-functional system layer and a physical system layer as different layers of abstraction The physical system layer may correspond, for example, to software and/or hardware implementing the functional aspects of the logical-functional system layer. The method first provides a logical-functional fault tree for the logical-functional system layer and a physical fault tree for the physical system layer, the latter having elements corresponding to elements in the logical-functional fault tree. Next, a mixed-layer fault tree is generated by combining aspects of both fault trees in a systematic way. The disclosed is particularly relevant for analyzing safety-critical systems. However, the present concepts are not limited to these applications and may be applied to general use cases where fault tree analysis is applicable.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 17, 2019Publication date: February 24, 2022Inventors: Reiner Heilmann, Lennart Kilian, Marc Zeller
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Publication number: 20210107158Abstract: A method for monitoring a working environment of a movable device utilizing a monitoring apparatus, wherein the working environment includes a working area and at least one protected area and the movable device is located within the working area during normal operation of said movable device, where the method includes a user inputting a plurality of convex polytopes into the monitoring apparatus, the convex polytopes corresponding to areas in which the movable device is located during normal operation, determining a convex polytope hull using the monitoring apparatus, the convex polytope hull completely enclosing the multiplicity of convex polytopes, and determining the at least one protected area by calculating a difference from the convex polytope hull and the input using the monitoring apparatus, such that monitoring of the position of the movable device is simplified because the working area can be modeled autonomously.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 14, 2020Publication date: April 15, 2021Inventors: Frank MATTHIAS, Reiner HEILMANN, Minh LE, Alexander STEIN, Maximilian WALTER
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Publication number: 20210049060Abstract: Provided is a method and system for identifying and evaluating common cause failures of system components, wherein at least one analytical artifact and machine readable system related to at least one of spatial, topological data and machine readable system related lifecycle data are processed to analyze automatically a susceptibility of system components to common cause failure based on common cause failure influencing factors.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 10, 2019Publication date: February 18, 2021Inventors: Reiner Heilmann, Christof Kaukewitsch, Marc Zeller
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Patent number: 10877471Abstract: A method and apparatus for generating a fault tree for a failure mode of a complex system including a plurality of components, the method includes the steps of providing component fault tree, CFT, elements of the components; linking the components according to their failure dependencies within the complex system; and generating the fault tree by incorporating for each dependency link from a first component to a second component the output failure modes of the component fault tree element of the second component into the component fault tree element of the first component to trigger the output failure modes of the first component.Type: GrantFiled: April 28, 2015Date of Patent: December 29, 2020Inventors: Reiner Heilmann, Kai Höfig
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Publication number: 20180074484Abstract: A method and apparatus for generating a fault tree for a failure mode of a complex system including a plurality of components, the method includes the steps of providing component fault tree, CFT, elements of the components; linking the components according to their failure dependencies within the complex system; and generating the fault tree by incorporating for each dependency link from a first component to a second component the output failure modes of the component fault tree element of the second component into the component fault tree element of the first component to trigger the output failure modes of the first component.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 28, 2015Publication date: March 15, 2018Inventors: Reiner Heilmann, Kai Höfig
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Patent number: 9889866Abstract: The invention relates to a 1st power supply arrangement for a rail vehicle. The rail vehicle includes at least one driven car with an intermediate circuit, a brake system and an energy supply system for supplying the brake system with operating energy. In order to improve the framework conditions to ensure reliable electrodynamic braking, the energy supply system contains at least two energy supply units, for the driven car, arranged at the intermediate circuit, for the redundant energy supply to the brake system.Type: GrantFiled: December 18, 2013Date of Patent: February 13, 2018Assignee: Siemens AktiengesellschaftInventors: Till Foerster, Stefan Hassler, Reiner Heilmann, Lars Loewenstein, Jens Konstantin Schwarzer, Jean-Pascal Schwinn, Thorsten Stuetzle
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Patent number: 9707951Abstract: A rail vehicle braking device has at least one electrodynamic brake, which comprises a drive unit, which has at least one drive motor and a power supply unit for supplying the drive motor when the drive unit is in a traction mode. The rail vehicle braking device has at least two brake control units in order to increase the safety of the electrodynamic brake. In a first braking mode, a first brake control unit in an active state controls the power supply unit for providing a braking effect, a first brake effect monitoring unit and a switching unit, which serves to switch, depending on a brake effect parameter in the first braking mode, into a second braking mode, in which the second brake control unit in an active state controls the power supply unit for providing a brake effect.Type: GrantFiled: February 28, 2013Date of Patent: July 18, 2017Assignee: Siemens AktiengesellschaftInventors: Till Foerster, Stefan Hassler, Reiner Heilmann, Jean-Pascal Schwinn, Thorsten Stuetzle, Manfred Wiesand
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Patent number: 9533668Abstract: A rail vehicle braking device has at least one first electrodynamic brake with a drive unit that includes at least one drive motor and a power supply unit for supplying the drive motor in a traction mode of the drive unit. A brake control unit controls, in a first brake mode, the respective power supply unit for providing a braking effect. In order to optimize the system with a fall-back measure in case of a braking effect loss in respect of the cause thereof, there is provided at least one sensor unit, which detects a braking effect parameter for the first braking mode of the brake. A monitoring device is assigned to the first brake. It is independent of the brake control unit and considers, in a first monitoring mode, the braking effect parameter for the introduction of a fall-back measure concerning the brake.Type: GrantFiled: February 28, 2013Date of Patent: January 3, 2017Assignee: SIEMENS AKTIENGESELLSCHAFTInventors: Till Foerster, Stefan Hassler, Reiner Heilmann, Jean-Pascal Schwinn, Thorsten Stützle, Manfred Wiesand
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Publication number: 20150353109Abstract: The invention relates to a 1st power supply arrangement for a rail vehicle. The rail vehicle includes at least one driven car with an intermediate circuit, a brake system and an energy supply system for supplying the brake system with operating energy. In order to improve the framework conditions to ensure reliable electrodynamic braking, the energy supply system contains at least two energy supply units, for the driven car, arranged at the intermediate circuit, for the redundant energy supply to the brake system.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 18, 2013Publication date: December 10, 2015Inventors: TILL FOERSTER, STEFAN HASSLER, REINER HEILMANN, LARS LOEWENSTEIN, JENS KONSTANTIN SCHWARZER, JEAN-PASCAL SCHWINN, THORSTEN STUETZLE
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Publication number: 20150081145Abstract: A rail vehicle braking device has at least one first electrodynamic brake with a drive unit that includes at least one drive motor and a power supply unit for supplying the drive motor in a traction mode of the drive unit. A brake control unit controls, in a first brake mode, the respective power supply unit for providing a braking effect. In order to optimize the system with a fall-back measure in case of a braking effect loss in respect of the cause thereof, there is provided at least one sensor unit, which detects a braking effect parameter for the first braking mode of the brake. A monitoring device is assigned to the first brake. It is independent of the brake control unit and considers, in a first monitoring mode, the braking effect parameter for the introduction of a fall-back measure concerning the brake.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 28, 2013Publication date: March 19, 2015Applicant: SIEMENS AKTIENGESELLSCHAFTInventors: Till Förster, Stefan Hassler, Reiner Heilmann, Jean-Pascal Schwinn, Thorsten Stützle, Manfred Wiesand
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Publication number: 20150032302Abstract: A rail vehicle braking device has at least one electrodynamic brake, which comprises a drive unit, which has at least one drive motor and a power supply unit for supplying the drive motor when the drive unit is in a traction mode. The rail vehicle braking device has at least two brake control units in order to increase the safety of the electrodynamic brake. In a first braking mode, a first brake control unit in an active state controls the power supply unit for providing a braking effect, a first brake effect monitoring unit and a switching unit, which serves to switch, depending on a brake effect parameter in the first braking mode, into a second braking mode, in which the second brake control unit in an active state controls the power supply unit for providing a brake effect.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 28, 2013Publication date: January 29, 2015Inventors: Till Foerster, Stefan Hassler, Reiner Heilmann, Jean-Pascal Schwinn, Thorsten Stuetzle, Manfred Wiesand
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Patent number: 8364626Abstract: IN a method and a device for determining a probability of occurrence that an overall system fulfills a predefined system performance, the overall system is composed of instances of different classes of partial systems, and each class of partial systems has an associated class fault tree. The method has the following steps: (a) calculating (S1) an overall performance for each failure combination of the number of non-failed instances within a class; (b) automatic selection (S2) of failure combinations, the calculated overall performance of which fulfills the predefined system performance; (c) automatic generation (S3) of an overall fault tree based on the class fault trees of partial systems as a function of the selected failure combinations; and (d) evaluating (S4) of the generated overall fault tree for calculating the probability of occurrence of a fulfillment of the predefined system performance by the overall system.Type: GrantFiled: July 29, 2008Date of Patent: January 29, 2013Assignee: Siemens AktiengesellschaftInventors: Reiner Heilmann, Manfred Lohner, Stefan Rothbauer, Ariane Sutor
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Publication number: 20100223500Abstract: IN a method and a device for determining a probability of occurrence that an overall system fulfills a predefined system performance, the overall system is composed of instances of different classes of partial systems, and each class of partial systems has an associated class fault tree. The method has the following steps: (a) calculating (S1) an overall performance for each failure combination of the number of non-failed instances within a class; (b) automatic selection (S2) of failure combinations, the calculated overall performance of which fulfills the predefined system performance; (c) automatic generation (S3) of an overall fault tree based on the class fault trees of partial systems as a function of the selected failure combinations; and (d) evaluating (S4) of the generated overall fault tree for calculating the probability of occurrence of a fulfillment of the predefined system performance by the overall system.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 29, 2008Publication date: September 2, 2010Inventors: Reiner Heilmann, Manfred Lohner, Stefan Rothbauer, Ariane Sutor