Patents Assigned to Siemens Electric Limited
  • Patent number: 5734219
    Abstract: A brush system for providing an electric connection to a rotating commutator wheel of an electric machine is disclosed. The brush system has a switched brush selectively switchable between an engaged position and a disengaged position and a switch connected to the switched brush and formed of a shape-memory-alloy. The switch attains an extended state at a first temperature and attaining a retracted state at a second temperature, for switching the switched brush alternately to the respective engaged position and the respective disengaged position. The switch includes a temperature conditioner for varying a temperature at the switch between the first temperature and the second temperature. The temperature condition may be an electric network wherein the internal resistance of the switch allows for heating of the switch to the second temperature.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 17, 1996
    Date of Patent: March 31, 1998
    Assignee: Siemens Electric Limited
    Inventors: Marek Horski, Andrew Lakerdas
  • Patent number: 5727532
    Abstract: The purge valve embodies a solenoid that has a linear force vs. current characteristic acting on the armature. Effects of hysteresis are minimized by certain constructional features and the manner of operating the valve by an associated control circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 1996
    Date of Patent: March 17, 1998
    Assignee: Siemens Electric Limited
    Inventors: Gary Everingham, John E. Cook, Paul D. Perry, Murray F. Busato
  • Patent number: 5722634
    Abstract: Improvements in a head (44) of a pintle (38) and associated valve seat (34) of an EGR valve (10) for providing a desired geometric relationship between respective tapered surfaces (36c, 104) that close against each other and for reducing tendency for carbon build-up. A blind hole (108) extends centrally axially inward from the lower end face (107) of the pintle head, reducing the mass, and hence thermal inertia, but without affecting the desired geometric relationship of the seat to the pintle head.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 1997
    Date of Patent: March 3, 1998
    Assignees: Siemens Electric Limited, Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Bernard J. Hrytzak, Takeshi Gomi, Hirotomi Nemoto, Yoshio Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 5704585
    Abstract: An improved electrical connection is provided between terminals (T) mounted in a sensor cap (26) that closes an otherwise open end of a cylindrical EEGR valve body shell (24), and terminals (98, 99) mounted in sockets (100, 102) on a solenoid coil assembly (70) that operates the EEGR valve from an engine electrical control that is connected via a wiring harness connector plug mating with an external plug of sensor cap (26) containing terminals (T). The end portions of terminals (T) that mate with terminals (98, 99) are forked blades having reduced thickness from an adjoining portion, thereby providing greater resilient flexibility for a better and more reliable electrical connection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 1995
    Date of Patent: January 6, 1998
    Assignees: Siemens Electric Limited, Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Bernard J. Hrytzak, Takeshi Gomi, Hirotomi Nemoto, Yoshio Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 5689148
    Abstract: A multi-pole, multi-speed brush holder assembly is created by joining a first speed brush holder assembly and a second speed brush holder assembly together, back-to-back, with an apertured spacer sandwiched between them. A plurality of brush holders are disposed on the cards' front faces and spaced circumferentially around a central aperture of the respective card. Brushes are guided by the brush holders and spring-biased toward the respective aperture for engaging a respective commutator of a motor armature. On each card, a respective first electric conductor segment is disposed flat against the card's back face and electrically connects the brush of a first of the card's brush holders with the brush of a second of the card's brush holders. On each card, a respective second electric conductor segment is disposed flat against the card's back face to electrically connect the brush of a respective third of the card's brush holders with the brush of a respective fourth of the card's brush holders.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 1996
    Date of Patent: November 18, 1997
    Assignee: Siemens Electric Limited
    Inventor: Ilya Rubinchik
  • Patent number: 5675464
    Abstract: A protection system for an electric motor is disclosed. The system is adapted for providing protection to the motor in the event of a stall or reduced-speed condition. The system includes a sensor providing a first signal representative of the speed of the motor, a detection circuit receiving the first signal and providing a second signal indicative of whether the motor is in a stall or reduced-speed condition, and a switching circuit receiving the second signal and interrupting power supply to the motor when the second signal indicates that the motor is in the stall or reduced-speed condition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 1996
    Date of Patent: October 7, 1997
    Assignee: Siemens Electric Limited
    Inventors: John E. Makaran, Jerzy Muszynski
  • Patent number: 5675206
    Abstract: A slim-line direct current (DC) brushless motor for automotive and HVAC applications utilizes a sleeve bearing assembly to rotatably couple an exterior rotor to an interior stator. The rotor includes a flat permanent magnetic and the stator assembly includes a flat coil. The flat coil is made from a stamped copper member. The rotor is staked to the bearing assembly by a hub-shaft. A cooling fan is disposed on the top of the rotor to cool internal control circuitry within the motor. The motor is easily assembled and has a minimal number of moving parts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 1995
    Date of Patent: October 7, 1997
    Assignee: Siemens Electric Limited
    Inventor: Marek Horski
  • Patent number: 5669364
    Abstract: An installation for an exhaust gas recirculation valve in which the valve is mounted directly in the intake manifold, a tubular base piece receiving exhaust gas mounted in an opening in the manifold by a double-walled thin metal heat gradient element. An attached solenoid housing is mounted in an opening in an opposite manifold wall. An operating rod having an attached valve element is actuated by a pushing force generated by energization of the solenoid, the valve element controlling the flow of exhaust gas out of a valve seat in a partition in the tubular base piece and out of the tubular base piece into the air flow in the air induction ducting. The solenoid is designed by allow controlled proportionate opening movement of the valve element to correspondingly control the volume of exhaust gas diverted into the manifold air flow. The valve is cooled by air flow within the air induction duct to prevent heat damage to the manifold and the solenoid components are isolated from direct exposure to exhaust gas.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 1996
    Date of Patent: September 23, 1997
    Assignee: Siemens Electric Limited
    Inventor: Gary Everingham
  • Patent number: 5666988
    Abstract: A throttle plate-throttle shaft construction is formed by molding both components from composite plastic, the shaft having integral bosses which are received in holes formed in the throttle plate. The bosses are ultrasonically staked to lock the throttle plate onto the throttle shaft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 1996
    Date of Patent: September 16, 1997
    Assignee: Siemens Electric Limited
    Inventor: Christine Cynthia Becker
  • Patent number: 5660149
    Abstract: A heat exchanger module, a cooling fan module, a pump/fan module, and an electronics system control module are joined together in assembly to form a total cooling assembly for an automotive vehicle that is powered by an internal combustion engine. The cooling fan module is disposed directly behind the rear face of the radiator, and contains an electric motor-driven fan that draws ambient air across the radiator. At time of installation in a vehicle, the assembly is "dropped into" the vehicle engine compartment and secured in place. An electric motor-driven coolant pump module that pumps engine coolant through the engine and radiator, and an electronics system control module that controls the operation of the fan and pump motors also mount on the cooling fan module. When the vehicle has an air conditioning system, and/or turbo-charged engine, one and/or two additional heat exchangers form part of the heat exchanger module. The cooling fan module may comprise an axial flow fan or a ducted radial flow fan.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 1995
    Date of Patent: August 26, 1997
    Assignee: Siemens Electric Limited
    Inventors: Andrew Lakerdas, Peter A. Kershaw, Alexander Joseph
  • Patent number: 5654598
    Abstract: A direct current (DC) brushless motor for automotive and HVAC applications utilizes a single angular contact bearing assembly to rotatably couple an exterior rotor to an interior stator. The single angular contact bearing assembly can be a double horizontal row ball bearing, a four point contact bearing, and a crossed cylindrical roller bearing. The rotor is staked to the bearing assembly by a hub-shaft. A cooling fan is disposed on the top of the rotor to cool internal control circuitry within the motor. The stator includes a winding set connector which is slideably engaged within a cavity of a deep draw support member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 1995
    Date of Patent: August 5, 1997
    Assignee: Siemens Electric Limited
    Inventor: Marek Horski
  • Patent number: 5651264
    Abstract: A flexible process controller for coordinating the operations of various equipment is disclosed. Briefly stated, in the preferred embodiment of the present invention, various parameters of the sub-systems in a HVAC system are monitored and made alterable or changeable. These parameters are transmitted to and controlled by a flexible process controller which thereafter cooperates with a motor drive controller. Logic incident to and resident in the flexible process controller consider the various parameters monitored and allow the user or the system to minimize power consumption amongst one or more of the sub-systems while maximizing efficiency and operability.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 13, 1995
    Date of Patent: July 29, 1997
    Assignee: Siemens Electric Limited
    Inventors: Lai Lo, Dominic Leung, Piotr Grudzinski
  • Patent number: 5630403
    Abstract: The solenoid-operated valve's outlet port (26) is a tube having a thread (60) threaded into a threaded socket (66, 68) in a valve housing member (34). The valve seat (62) is at an end of the tube, and the extent to which the tube is threaded into the socket sets the position of the seat within the housing's interior (42). Once the position has been set, an adhesive sealant is applied and upon setting, forms a plug (164) which locks the tube in place and seals between the tube and the socket. The valve element (33) is spring-biased (160) closed on the seat, but when the solenoid is energized, it is unseated by the solenoid's armature (122) to which it is attached. The solenoid's stator (86, 88, 90) includes an annular shunt (90) which forms an air gap to the armature for the magnetic circuit that acts on the armature to unseat the valve element and which also holds the outer margin (154) of a diaphragm (124) sealed against the solenoid. The inner margin of the diaphragm is sealed to the armature.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 13, 1996
    Date of Patent: May 20, 1997
    Assignee: Siemens Electric Limited
    Inventors: Leo Van Kampen, John E. Cook
  • Patent number: 5628287
    Abstract: A noise attenuating device is disclosed combined with the air induction system of a multicylinder internal combustion piston engine, which includes an expansion chamber connected into the air induction system with an inlet and outlet. A first and a second tuning tube is concentric with the inlet and outlet, respectively, and are axially movable relative each other to assume either an underlapped or an overlapped configuration. The tubes are relatively driven axially to be shifted between the overlapped configuration at low engine speeds (under 2500 rpm) and an underlapped configuration at higher engine speeds to more effectively attenuate the characteristic harmonic orders of induction noise at these respective engine speed ranges.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 1994
    Date of Patent: May 13, 1997
    Assignee: Siemens Electric Limited
    Inventors: Stephen E. Brackett, David C. Doddy
  • Patent number: 5614775
    Abstract: A two-speed direct-current electric motor with a high-speed rotation switch activated by a vehicular sensed parameter signal. The motor includes a motor shaft supported by at least one bearing for rotation, at least two sets of windings supported by the shaft, a contactor arrangement supported by the shaft to electrically couple the windings in first and second configurations based upon a sensed parameter signal having at least a first and a second state, and a commutator arrangement coupled to the contactor arrangement to apply electrical energy to the windings. The motor rotates at a first speed when the windings are coupled in the first configuration and rotates at a second speed when the windings are coupled in the second configuration. The high-speed rotation switch is coupled directly to a sensed parameter signal and is integral to the electric motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 1995
    Date of Patent: March 25, 1997
    Assignee: Siemens Electric Limited
    Inventors: Marek Horski, Jerzy Muszynski
  • Patent number: 5605554
    Abstract: An air filter housing including top and bottom housing portions joined by a catch. The housing portions each include a plurality of walls joined together to define an enclosure with and opening circumscribed by an edge. The edge of each portion includes a surface for contacting a seal disposed between the surfaces when the housing portions are joined to form the filter housing. The portions are joined by a hinge assembly and a catch which extends along a side of the filter housing to compress the seal between the portions to form a generally air tight seal therebetween. Typically the seal is integral with a filter element which is in an air flow path between openings in the housing portions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 1995
    Date of Patent: February 25, 1997
    Assignee: Siemens Electric Limited
    Inventor: Gary I. Kennedy
  • Patent number: 5595151
    Abstract: A releasable connection for attaching a cover to a molded intake manifold including a series of projections on the cover received into recesses in a flange molded into the manifold. Tapered recesses in the projections and adjacent sloping surfaces in the flange define opposing spaced surfaces, with a key pin inserted between the opposing surfaces to lock the cover to the flange.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 1995
    Date of Patent: January 21, 1997
    Assignee: Siemens Electric Limited
    Inventors: Jeffrey J. Powell, Tony A. Price, Lisa Whaley
  • Patent number: 5593132
    Abstract: Improvements in an armature-pintle assembly (36) and related stator structure (56, 58) of a solenoid actuator used in an EGR valve (10) for controlling the EGR valve opening in accordance with an electric control current from an engine control system. The stator structure defines an air gap (80) disposed in proximate surrounding relationship to a cylindrical tubular walled portion (126) of the armature (40). The air gap is defined by two confronting, but axially spaced apart, axially extending wall portions (66, 82) of the stator structure. A non-magnetic sleeve member (110) has a tubular cylindrical side wall disposed radially between these stator wall portions and the cylindrical tubular walled portion of the armature. The sleeve has an end wall disposed for abutment with the armature to define a limit of axial travel for the armature-pintle assembly and to provide a spring seat for a helical coiled spring that biases the armature-pintle assembly normally closed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 1995
    Date of Patent: January 14, 1997
    Assignee: Siemens Electric Limited
    Inventor: Bernard J. Hrytzak
  • Patent number: 5588414
    Abstract: A circular metal clinch ring (36) secures a cap (26) to a shell (24) of an EEGR valve (20). The clinch ring has a plurality of integral sharp pointed barbs (210) that partially embed in polymeric material of the cap. The ring constrains the shell and cap against relative axial and circumferential movement, with some barbs being pointed in one sense and others in the opposite sense to resist relative circumferential movement between the cap and the shell in both circumferential senses. A wave spring washer (186) is disposed to maintain the axial position of the bobbin-mounted solenoid coil (70) within the valve.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 1995
    Date of Patent: December 31, 1996
    Assignees: Siemens Electric Limited, Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Bernard J. Hrytzak, Takeshi Gomi, Hirotomi Nemoto, Yoshio Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 5582520
    Abstract: A removable electrical receptacle adapted to be operatively connected to a continuous outlet cable having an insulating housing comprised of a case and a cover and having contacts for three electrical plugs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 1995
    Date of Patent: December 10, 1996
    Assignee: Siemens Electric Limited
    Inventor: Robert Doudon