Patents Assigned to Banner Engineering Corporation
  • Patent number: 11881366
    Abstract: A switch is disclosed. In some examples, a switch includes a generally cylindrical housing; one or more sets of contact points enclosed by the housing; an indicator module, such as a multi-color LED illuminator, also enclosed by the housing; and a pushbutton actuator disposed to operate the contact points. The housing includes a display section spanning substantially the entire circumference of the housing such that the indication made by the indicator module is visible from all radial directions. When the pushbutton actuator is pressed, some of the contact points open to cut off power from hazards, while others are reconfigured to change the state of the indicator module to indicate the changed status of the switch. Multiple switches can be interfaced with each other, such as by serial connection, to facilitate multi-switch safety environment. Modular cables can be used to conveniently establish the interface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2024
    Assignee: BANNER ENGINEERING CORPORATION
    Inventors: Michael Scott Carlson, Darrell Raymond Pikkaraine
  • Patent number: 11580828
    Abstract: An indicator module includes first electrodes disposed on a first support surface, each of the first electrodes having a flexible portion having a sloped section forming an oblique angle with the first support surface, a second electrodes disposed on a second support surface spaced apart from the first support surface along a longitudinal direction, a set of conductors elongated substantially in the longitudinal direction, each of the first electrodes being electrically connected to the a respective one of the second electrodes via a respective one of the conductors, and an indicator circuit, such as a set of LEDs, electrically connected to one or more of the conductors and adapted to generate a human perceptible signal when the indicator circuit receives electrical power from the one or more of the conductors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2023
    Assignee: BANNER ENGINEERING CORPORATION
    Inventors: Charles Dolezalek, Darrell Raymond Pikkaraine, Maximilian John Aponte, Neal A. Schumacher
  • Patent number: 11139124
    Abstract: A switch is disclosed. In some examples, a switch includes a generally cylindrical housing; one or more sets of contact points enclosed by the housing; an indicator module, such as a multi-color LED illuminator, also enclosed by the housing; and a pushbutton actuator disposed to operate the contact points. The housing includes a display section spanning substantially the entire circumference of the housing such that the indication made by the indicator module is visible from all radial directions. When the pushbutton actuator is pressed, some of the contact points open to cut off power from hazards, while others are reconfigured to change the state of the indicator module to indicate the changed status of the switch. Multiple switches can be interfaced with each other, such as by serial connection, to facilitate multi-switch safety environment. Modular cables can be used to conveniently establish the interface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2021
    Assignee: BANNER ENGINEERING CORPORATION
    Inventors: Michael Scott Carlson, Darrell Raymond Pikkaraine
  • Patent number: 10984636
    Abstract: An indicator module includes first electrodes disposed on a first support surface, each of the first electrodes having a flexible portion having a sloped section forming an oblique angle with the first support surface, a second electrodes disposed on a second support surface spaced apart from the first support surface along a longitudinal direction, a set of conductors elongated substantially in the longitudinal direction, each of the first electrodes being electrically connected to the a respective one of the second electrodes via a respective one of the conductors, and an indicator circuit, such as a set of LEDs, electrically connected to one or more of the conductors and adapted to generate a human perceptible signal when the indicator circuit receives electrical power from the one or more of the conductors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2021
    Assignee: Banner Engineering Corporation
    Inventors: Charles Dolezalek, Darrell Raymond Pikkaraine, Maximilian John Aponte, Neal A. Schumacher
  • Patent number: 10566148
    Abstract: A switch is disclosed. In some examples, a switch includes a generally cylindrical housing; one or more sets of contact points enclosed by the housing; an indicator module, such as a multi-color LED illuminator, also enclosed by the housing; and a pushbutton actuator disposed to operate the contact points. The housing includes a display section spanning substantially the entire circumference of the housing such that the indication made by the indicator module is visible from all radial directions. When the pushbutton actuator is pressed, some of the contact points open to cut off power from hazards, while others are reconfigured to change the state of the indicator module to indicate the changed status of the switch. Multiple switches can be interfaced with each other, such as by serial connection, to facilitate multi-switch safety environment. Modular cables can be used to conveniently establish the interface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2020
    Assignee: BANNER ENGINEERING CORPORATION
    Inventors: Michael Scott Carlson, Darrell Raymond Pikkaraine
  • Patent number: 10475299
    Abstract: An indicator module in one example has a mounting portion to removably attach the module to another module or base. The indicator module also has a first set of electrodes disposed to be in contact with respective electrodes in the attached module or base. The indicator module further includes an indicator circuit, and a switch module configurable to selectively connect the indicator circuit to one of the electrodes in the indicator module. The indicator module can further include a second set of electrodes connected respectively to the first set of electrodes by conductors. The two sets of electrodes are located at respective ends of the module attach to another module at each end. In visual indicator modules, the conductors can be disposed in a more interior region of the module as compared to the visual indicator elements such as LEDs, which can be distributed near the periphery of the module.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2019
    Assignee: BANNER ENGINEERING CORPORATION
    Inventors: Charles Dolezalek, Darrell Raymond Pikkaraine, Maximilian John Aponte, Neal A. Schumacher
  • Patent number: 10234547
    Abstract: A sensor comprises a detector defining a zone axis and adapted to receive a signal from within a zone around the zone axis and to generate an electrical signal, and a display module defining a display plane and adapted to display a pattern in the display plane based on the electrical signal, the display being oriented along an axis forming an angle with the zone axis such that the pattern is visible both from a direction parallel to the zone axis and from a direction perpendicular to the zone axis. In certain examples, the angle is about 45°, 40°-50°, 35°-55° or 25°-65°.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2019
    Assignee: BANNER ENGINEERING CORPORATION
    Inventors: John Alyn Stecker, Matthew Alexander Payne
  • Patent number: 9997031
    Abstract: An indicator module in one example has a mounting portion to removably attach the module to another module or base. The indicator module also has a first set of electrodes disposed to be in contact with respective electrodes in the attached module or base. The indicator module further includes an indicator circuit, and a switch module configurable to selectively connect the indicator circuit to one of the electrodes in the indicator module. The indicator module can further include a second set of electrodes connected respectively to the first set of electrodes by conductors. The two sets of electrodes are located at respective ends of the module attach to another module at each end. In visual indicator modules, the conductors can be disposed in a more interior region of the module as compared to the visual indicator elements such as LEDs, which can be distributed near the periphery of the module.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 12, 2018
    Assignee: BANNER ENGINEERING CORPORATION
    Inventors: Charles Dolezalek, Darrell Raymond Pikkaraine, Maximilian John Aponte, Neal A. Schumacher
  • Patent number: 9880279
    Abstract: A method and device for object detection are disclosed. In one aspect, a method comprises transmitting a plurality of signals into a region; measuring a noise level during a noise measurement time interval corresponding to each respective one of the plurality of transmitted signals; generating a threshold signal dependent on the noise level; and comparing a first plurality of signals received by a sensor, each of the received signals corresponding to a respective one of the plurality of the transmitted signals, with the respective threshold signal. In another aspect, a device comprising components adapted to carry out the steps of object detection is disclosed. In one example, a thresholding circuit is adapted to generate a threshold signal have a level corresponding to substantially a peak-to-peak level of the measured noise level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 9, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2018
    Assignee: BANNER ENGINEERING CORPORATION
    Inventor: John Alyn Stecker
  • Patent number: 9831047
    Abstract: A switch is disclosed. In some examples, a switch includes a generally cylindrical housing; one or more sets of contact points enclosed by the housing; an indicator module, such as a multi-color LED illuminator, also enclosed by the housing; and a pushbutton actuator disposed to operate the contact points. The housing includes a display section spanning substantially the entire circumference of the housing such that the indication made by the indicator module is visible from all radial directions. When the pushbutton actuator is pressed, some of the contact points open to cut off power from hazards, while others are reconfigured to change the state of the indicator module to indicate the changed status of the switch. Multiple switches can be interfaced with each other, such as by serial connection, to facilitate multi-switch safety environment. Modular cables can be used to conveniently establish the interface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2017
    Assignee: BANNER ENGINEERING CORPORATION
    Inventors: Michael Scott Carlson, Darrell Raymond Pikkaraine
  • Patent number: 9753178
    Abstract: An example method for stabilizing a sensor component includes: positioning the sensor component relative to a support with retaining members in contact with the sensor component, a first of the retaining members being a resilient biasing member and a second one of the retaining members being an adjustable retaining member; adjusting the adjustable retaining member to reposition the sensor component and deform the resilient retaining member; immobilizing the sensor component with an additional, rigid retaining member in contact with the sensor component; and filling a space between the sensor component and the support with a glue. An example holder of a sensor component includes support members; retaining members adapted to cooperatively adjustably retain the sensor component support members; and an additional, rigid retaining member adapted to cooperate with other retaining members to fixedly retain the sensor component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2017
    Assignee: BANNER ENGINEERING CORPORATION
    Inventors: Thomas Beckey, Neal Andrew Schumacher, Wade David Oberpriller
  • Patent number: 9606228
    Abstract: A method of determining a timing of an occurrence of a signal includes: propagating the signal (such as an electrical signal) along a series of digital delay elements, or a delay line. Each delay element can have at least two states, each indicative of presence or absence of a signal. The distribution of states of at least a portion of the delay elements along the delay line are recorded multiple times during the time it takes a point (such as an edge) in the signal to propagate through the portion of the delay elements. The multiple recorded distributions are combined to determine the timing of occurrence of the signal to a greater resolution than the minimum system clock period and the minimum delay of each delay element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 20, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2017
    Assignee: BANNER ENGINEERING CORPORATION
    Inventor: Ashley Karl Wise
  • Patent number: 7612707
    Abstract: Multiple signal characteristics representing an entire field of view of an FMCW (FM-CW) sensor are evaluated to determine whether the field of view has changed. Signal characteristics representing the field can be compared to representative signal characteristics obtained from previous scans. At least one signal characteristic representing at least a portion of the scene can be evaluated by comparing the signal characteristic to a dynamic threshold. The dynamic threshold can be redefined after each scan from the statistics of the signal characteristic. The dead zone of a sensor can be reduced by filtering out noise that would otherwise overshadow a signal representing the near-field region of a scene. The noise can be filtered by subtracting a polynomial curve from a time-domain signal representing the scene after fitting the polynomial curve to a representative signal generated based on previous scene scans.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2007
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2009
    Assignee: Banner Engineering Corporation
    Inventors: Ashley Wise, Michael Dean, Haozhe Dong, Wade D. Oberpriller
  • Patent number: 7492276
    Abstract: An indicator device includes an indicator module, a control module, and a communications module. The indicator module is configured to emit a plurality of light signals. The control module is operationally coupled to the indicator module and is configured to operate the indicator module based on one of a plurality of logic functions stored in the control section. The communications module is operationally coupled to the control section and is configured to receive an input signal corresponding to one of the logic functions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 17, 2009
    Assignee: Banner Engineering Corporation
    Inventor: Robert W. Fayfield
  • Patent number: D616481
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 25, 2010
    Assignee: Banner Engineering Corporation
    Inventor: Darin Wampler
  • Patent number: D700149
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 3, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2014
    Assignee: Banner Engineering Corporation
    Inventors: Michael Scott Carlson, Maximilian John Aponte
  • Patent number: D748506
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2016
    Assignee: Banner Engineering Corporation
    Inventors: John Alyn Stecker, Matthew Alexander Payne
  • Patent number: D768013
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2016
    Assignee: BANNER ENGINEERING CORPORATION
    Inventors: John Alyn Stecker, Matthew Alexander Payne
  • Patent number: D953184
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2022
    Assignee: BANNER ENGINEERING CORPORATION
    Inventor: Maximilian John Aponte
  • Patent number: D1018347
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: BANNER ENGINEERING CORPORATION
    Inventor: Maximilian John Aponte