Patents Examined by Alexander Comley
  • Patent number: 9960025
    Abstract: A cold-atom cell is formed by machining a block of silicon to define sites for an atom source chamber, an atom manipulation chamber, and an ion-pump chamber. A polished silicon panel is frit-bonded to an unpolished (due to machining) chamber wall (which would be difficult and costly to polish). The polished panel can then serve as a reflector or a sight for anodic bonding. A solid-phase atom source provides for vapor phase atoms in the source chamber. The source chamber also includes carbon and gold to regulate the atom pressure by sorbing and desorbing thermal atoms. The atom manipulation chamber includes components for magneto-optical trap and an atom chip, e.g., for forming a Bose-Einstein condensate. The ion-pump chamber serves as the site for an ion pump. By integrating the ion pump into the body of the cold-atom cell, a more compact, reliable, and robust cold-atom cell is achieved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 11, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2018
    Assignee: ColdQuanta Inc.
    Inventor: Steven Michael Hughes
  • Patent number: 9951792
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides for a serviceable fan shroud motor support structure which allows for repair or replacement of individual components of the vehicle cooling module such as the fan motor or fan blades, without removing and dismantling the entire vehicle cooling module. The fan shroud motor support structure includes at least one removable spoke, which once removed, would provide access to the portion of the fan assembly requiring service or replacement. Once the repair or replacement is complete, they simply snap the previously removed spokes back into place in order to complete the repair.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 24, 2018
    Assignees: DENSO INTERNATIONAL AMERICA, INC., DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Stephen Sinadinos, Timothy West, Prakash Thawani
  • Patent number: 9945382
    Abstract: A pump drive for an extracorporeal blood pumping system including an adjustable drive magnet. The pump drive may be coupled to a blood pump which includes a pump impeller. The pump drive may include a stepper motor for dynamically adjusting the position of the drive magnet. The position of the drive magnet may be varied to vary the distance between the drive magnet and an impeller magnet of the pump impeller. Adjusting the position of the drive magnet may include dynamically adjusting the drive magnet and may include axially moving the drive magnet to thereby vary a magnetic attraction force between the drive magnet and the impeller magnet which may thereby minimize forces acting on one or more bearings of a pump impeller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2018
    Assignee: Medtronic, Inc.
    Inventors: Roger A. Naidyhorski, Brian J. Steffens, Craig D. Petersen
  • Patent number: 9920751
    Abstract: A hydraulic axial piston machine includes a drive shaft, a swashplate pivotable about a pivot axis to change inclination relative to a drive shaft axis, and an actuating piston approximately parallel to the drive shaft axis. The actuating piston has a first end which engages and adjusts the swashplate and a second end which bounds an actuating chamber. Fluid flows to the actuating chamber to pivot the swashplate one direction and is forced out of the actuating chamber when the swashplate pivots the other direction. A return element on the actuating piston incorporates a position of the actuating piston and thus the inclination of the swashplate into a control valve. The return element is positioned such that its longitudinal axis and an actuating piston longitudinal axis span a plane that differs from a plane perpendicular to the pivot axis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2018
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventor: Herbert Dreher
  • Patent number: 9915256
    Abstract: A well pump has a standing valve seat with a standing valve mounted in a lower end of a barrel. A plunger is carried within the barrel for axial stoking movement. A travelling seat with a travelling valve are mounted in a lower end of the plunger. The travelling valve has a head that lands on the travelling valve seat while the travelling valve is in a closed position. The travelling valve has a stem extending downward from the head through a hole in the travelling seat. The stem is a permanent magnet. Another permanent magnet is carried by the barrel below the travelling magnet. The polarities of the magnets are configured to interact and cause the travelling valve to lift relative to the travelling seat to an open position as the plunger nears a bottom of a stroke.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2018
    Assignee: Baker Hughes, a GE Company, LLC
    Inventors: Kenneth T. Bebak, Carroll Scott DeArman, Shawn N. Gunter
  • Patent number: 9903356
    Abstract: A discharge muffler may include a discharge space in the cylinder block and a pulsation and/or noise reducing member (e.g., a pulsation reducing member) engaged in the discharge space having a passage (e.g., a pulsation and/or noise reducing passage) on a circumferential surface configured to guide the working fluid to an inner space of the discharge space.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2018
    Assignee: DONGBU DAEWOO ELECTRONICS CORPORATION
    Inventor: Yong Seok Lee
  • Patent number: 9903352
    Abstract: A swash plate type variable displacement compressor includes a housing in which a suction chamber, a discharge chamber, a swash plate chamber, and a cylinder bore are formed, a drive shaft, a swash plate, an actuator, and a control mechanism that controls the actuator. A pressure regulation chamber is formed in the housing. The actuator includes a control pressure chamber. The control mechanism includes a control passage that connects together the discharge chamber, the pressure regulation chamber, and the control pressure chamber, and a control valve that, by adjusting the degree of opening of the control passage, changes the pressure in the control pressure chamber to allow the movable body to move. Refrigerant in the discharge chamber flows into the control pressure chamber via the pressure regulation chamber. The pressure regulation chamber functions as a muffler that reduces the pulsation of the refrigerant.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2018
    Assignee: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOYOTA JIDOSHOKKI
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Nakaima, Shinya Yamamoto, Takahiro Suzuki, Masaki Ota, Kazunari Honda, Kei Nishii, Yusuke Yamazaki
  • Patent number: 9856880
    Abstract: A motor includes a metal base plate and a resin holder extending upward from the base plate. The base plate includes a flat plate portion, a through hole passing through the flat plate portion, and a plurality of claw portions extending upward from an edge of the flat plate portion which includes the through hole. A portion of the holder is in the through hole. The holder covers a portion of each claw portion. The holder is thus engaged with each claw portion to prevent the holder from turning around a rotation axis and from coming off in an upward direction. The holder includes a gate mark near a lower surface of the flat plate portion and at a circumferential position between adjacent ones of the claw portions to make it easier for the resin to fill a cavity inside molds during a molding process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2018
    Assignee: Nidec Corporation
    Inventors: Takeshi Honda, Tadaaki Fujinaga, Haruki Yoshimatsu
  • Patent number: 9851131
    Abstract: A compressor and an air conditioner having the compressor, and a protective cover of a connecting terminal of the compressor is installed while spaced apart from a barrier of the connecting terminal. The protective cover is additionally provided with a noise preventing member. Vibration generated from the compressor is delivered to the protective cover via the barrier, but as the protective cover is provided to be spaced apart from the barrier, the vibration is delivered to the barrier through the noise preventing member. Thus, regardless of the state of vibration of the compressor, noise being generated by the protective cover is minimized.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2017
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Nozomu Inoue
  • Patent number: 9850909
    Abstract: Thermal management systems for vehicle engines which include hybrid fan drives with viscous clutches and electronic motors, particularly brushless DC motors (BLDC). One embodiment incorporates a pulley driven, electronically controlled viscous clutch mechanism and an internal rotor BLDC motor. Another embodiment includes an engine crank mounted electronically controlled viscous clutch mechanism with a tethered electric motor, particularly a BLDC motor. A further embodiment is an engine block mounted electronically controlled viscous clutch mechanism with an integrated external rotor BLDC motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2017
    Assignee: BorgWarner Inc.
    Inventors: Joshua L. Roby, Thomas Buchholz
  • Patent number: 9845797
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to reciprocating compressor. The present invention can prevent friction loss or abrasion between a cylinder and a piston, which is caused when a hydraulic bearing is blocked with a foreign substance, by preventing the foreign substance mixed in refrigerant gas from flowing into the hydraulic bearing, and can improve compressor performance by preventing a specific volume in a compression space from increasing when high-temperature refrigerant gas discharged in the compression space is cooled, such that vibration noise of the compressor can be reduced since a gas guiding part offsets vibration and the noise generated when a refrigerant is discharged in the compression space.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2017
    Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
    Inventors: Sunghyun Ki, Kiwon Noh, Kwangwoon Ahn, Kyeongbae Park, Simoon Jeon, Joonsung Park
  • Patent number: 9835035
    Abstract: A method is provided for making a mold for casting advanced turbine airfoils (e.g. gas turbine blade and vane castings) which can include complex internal and external air cooling features to improve efficiency of airfoil cooling during operation in the gas turbine hot gas stream. The method steps involve incorporating at least one fugitive insert in a ceramic material in a manner to form a core and at least a portion of an integral, cooperating mold wall wherein the core defines an internal cooling feature to be imparted to the cast airfoil and the at least portion of the mold wall has an inner surface that defines an external cooling feature to be imparted to the cast airfoil, selectively removing the fugitive insert, and incorporating the core and the at least portion of the integral, cooperating mold wall in a mold for receiving molten metal or alloy cast in the mold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2017
    Assignee: Howmet Corporation
    Inventors: Boyd A. Mueller, Michael A. Pepper, Darren K. Rogers, Gail R. Cole
  • Patent number: 9816742
    Abstract: Detection of reverse rotation or operation of a refrigerant compressor is provided. In one aspect, a detection technique includes starting the compressor and determining the compressor is rotating in a reverse direction if a dome temperature of the compressor fails to exceed a first predetermined threshold at or before expiration of a first predetermined period of time following starting, the refrigerant pressure at a refrigerant inlet of the compressor remains constant for a second predetermined period of time following starting, and/or the frequency of pressure oscillations of the refrigerant at the refrigerant inlet exceeds a second predetermined threshold. Another technique for determining the compressor is rotating in the reverse direction involves analyzing a waveform associated with motor current, motor torque, or refrigerant pressure. Further embodiments, forms, features, and aspects shall become apparent from the description and drawings.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2017
    Inventors: Raymond Walter Rite, Chuan Yan, Bill Brandt
  • Patent number: 9790934
    Abstract: A pulsation control device coupling a reciprocating pump with either suction or discharge piping and having a generally spherical or cylindrical interior chamber includes a curved baffle with a pressure drop device (e.g., a choke) separating the interior chamber into two volumes and forcing fluid flow through the pressure drop device. The effective fluid passage provided by the pressure drop device is smaller than the fluid passage for one or both of the inlet to and/or the outlet from the interior chamber. Fluid entering the pulsation control device reacts with fluid contained within the volume thereof on both sides of the baffle. The baffle attenuates pressure pulses within fluid passing through the interior chamber in response to operation of the reciprocating pump. The pressure drop device dampens high frequency pulsation magnitudes of pressure pulses within fluid passing through the interior chamber in response to operation of the reciprocating pump.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2017
    Assignee: Performance Pulsation Control, Inc.
    Inventors: Gregg M. Mathiak, Ray D. Kelm, John Thomas Rogers
  • Patent number: 9784259
    Abstract: In a compressor of the present invention, a first acting portion and a second acting portion are formed at a rear end of a first cylinder portion of a movable body. The first and the second acting portions are formed by stepping across a top dead center surface, and are plane-symmetrical with respect to the top dead center surface. Further, an affected portion is formed on a front surface of a swash plate. The first and the second acting portions and the affected portion are located eccentrically to a top dead center position corresponding portion side from a drive shaft axis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2017
    Assignee: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOYOTA JIDOSHOKKI
    Inventors: Shinya Yamamoto, Hiroyuki Nakaima, Kengo Sakakibara, Yusuke Yamazaki
  • Patent number: 9759180
    Abstract: A rotary pump that utilizes falling water to produce useful energy. The pump is a conduit in a spiral form mounted on an axis that is set at an angle whereby when rotated, water flows into the inlet end of the conduit and is transported to an elevation. The conduit is powered by an impeller wheel that rotates by falling water.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2017
    Inventor: Richard Charles Russo
  • Patent number: 9752568
    Abstract: An apparatus for use as an output device of a user interface to an information processing system includes at least one device for generating a synthetic jet. The device is capable of producing outputs with different modalities. Examples of different modalities that are possible include airflows, vibration and sound.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2009
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2017
    Assignee: KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V.
    Inventors: Ronaldus Maria Aarts, Joris Adelbert Maria Nieuwendijk, Okke Ouweltjes, Gerben Kooijman
  • Patent number: 9752566
    Abstract: Diaphragm pumps, and pre-charging systems for use with such pumps, are disclosed. The diaphragm pump includes a first diaphragm that separates a cavity into a motive fluid chamber and a pumped media chamber, a charge chamber having a controlled volume, wherein the controlled volume is adjustable to vary a controlled mass of compressed fluid capable of being stored in the charge chamber, and one or more valves configured to (i) fluidly couple the motive fluid chamber to an exhaust chamber during a first stroke period, (ii) fluidly couple the charge chamber to a compressed fluid inlet during at least a portion of the first stroke period, and (iii) fluidly couple the charge chamber to the motive fluid chamber during a second stroke period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2017
    Assignee: Ingersoll-Rand Company
    Inventors: Jevawn Sebastian Roberts, Michael Brace Orndorff
  • Patent number: 9726104
    Abstract: In an electromagnetically controlled inlet valve actuator provided to a high pressure fuel pump, an impinging sound which is generated at the time of operating the mechanism is reduced. In a high pressure fuel pump provided with an electromagnetically controlled inlet valve (operated by way of a plunger rod), a current supply period includes a 1st current supply period for performing an operation of attracting the plunger rod in a valve closing direction, a 2nd current supply period for alleviating a speed at which the plunger rod moves in a valve opening direction, and a limited current supply period disposed between the 1st current supply period and the 2nd current supply period in the form of spanning a pump top dead center.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2017
    Assignee: HITACHI AUTOMOTIVE SYSTEMS, LTD.
    Inventors: Kenichiro Tokuo, Satoshi Usui, Masayuki Suganami, Shunsuke Aritomi
  • Patent number: 9726041
    Abstract: A cooling option for a steam turbine is provided, wherein the steam turbine includes a high-pressure zone and a medium-pressure zone, wherein the saturated steam streaming out of the high-pressure zone is discharged via a saturated steam conduit to a first pressure chamber in a second flow channel of the medium-pressure zone and thus the possibility of the saturated steam causing damage by corrosion and erosion in the high-pressure zone is prevented.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2017
    Assignee: SIEMENS AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT
    Inventors: Henning Almstedt, Peter Dumstorff, Martin Kuhn, Thomas Müller, Rudolf Pötter, Norbert Thamm, Uwe Zander