Patents Examined by Brandi Hopkins
  • Patent number: 10197376
    Abstract: In a runout detection device for detecting runout of a rotating member, a displacement unit abuts on the rotating member, and is displaced in accordance with displacement of the rotating member while the rotor abuts on the displacement unit. An elastic member elastically deforms in accordance with displacement of the displacement unit. A heat flux sensor detects a heat flux generated by elastic deformation of the elastic member. The runout detection device is configured to detect runout of the rotating member based on the heat flux detected by the heat flux sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2019
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Norio Gouko, Toshihisa Taniguchi, Atusi Sakaida, Keiji Okamoto, Yoshihiko Shiraishi, Masahiro Asano
  • Patent number: 10168235
    Abstract: A stretchable piezoelectric sensor applied to logistics for real-time monitoring includes a stretchable flexible substrate and a conductive layer formed on the flexible substrate. A plurality of sensing members corresponding in number to end faces of a packaging box is adhered to the conductive layer. When the piezoelectric sensor is placed at the bottom of the packaging box containing goods, two ends of the piezoelectric sensor can be stretched to fit on the diagonal corners of the packaging box, and the sensing members are located on the respective end faces of the packaging box to achieve an all-round monitoring.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2019
    Assignee: Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology
    Inventors: Cheng Hsin Chuang, Wan Jung Chang, Chung Lin Huang, Jian Ping Su, Cheng An Wang
  • Patent number: 10132706
    Abstract: An electronic device having a pressure detection system is disclosed. The electronic device may include one or more elements designed to detect pressure exerted on the electronic device. In some embodiments, the electronic device includes a membrane and a detection mechanism, both of which bend in response to a pressure change at the membrane. The membrane may be electrically coupled with a circuit that detects the bending of the membrane and correlates the bending with a pressure change at the membrane. A can may be hermetically sealed with the membrane and surround the circuit to shield the circuit from liquid ingress. In some embodiments, a light transmitter and light receiver are used to detect the bending of the membrane. The light may reflect from the membrane at different angles, based upon a shape of the membrane, and contact the receiving element at different locations, corresponding to pressure change.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 24, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 20, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Ryan C. Perkins, Tyler S. Bushnell, David M. Pelletier, William C. Lukens, Steven P. Cardinali, Rex T. Ehman
  • Patent number: 10126192
    Abstract: A pressure sensor device having a chamber filled with a pressure transfer medium, the chamber having at least one window that at least partly transfers pressure waves in a fluid; an optical fiber extending longitudinally through the chamber, the optical fiber including a Fiber Bragg Grating and two mounting spots at opposite sides of the Fiber Bragg Grating; a frame having a first frame end and a longitudinally opposite second frame end; a pressure response assembly connected in parallel to a fiber portion between the two mounting spots, the pressure response assembly including a series arrangement of a pressure response element and a movement damper; and a resilient member connected in series to the frame and to a parallel arrangement of the fiber portion and the pressure response assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2018
    Assignee: FUGRO TECHNOLOGY B.V.
    Inventors: Willem De Jong, German Enrique Knoppers, Devrez Mehmet Karabacak, Bastiaan Meulblok
  • Patent number: 10126196
    Abstract: A multi-condition sensor, comprising a housing defining a component cavity, a pressure input tube disposed through the housing, a fault actuator disposed within the component cavity of the housing and in pressure communication with the pressure input tube through the housing, wherein the fault actuator is configured to extend and contract as a function of pressure from the pressure input tube, an alarm actuator disposed within the component cavity of the housing opposite the fault actuator and configured to be actuated by the fault actuator and to extend to a maximum fault position, and an adjustable alarm contact disposed on an opposite side of the alarm actuator within the component cavity and configured to be adjusted to a predetermined extension length from the housing to provide a predetermined alarm contact position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2018
    Assignee: Kidde Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Steven Wallace, Benjamin Codispoti, Lawrence A. Coreth, David W. Frasure
  • Patent number: 10113926
    Abstract: A physical quantity measuring sensor includes: a joint having a projection; a ceramic sensor module including a diaphragm and a cylindrical portion integrated with the diaphragm and provided to the projection; and an O-ring interposed between a sensor-module flat portion extending in a direction orthogonal to an axial direction of the cylindrical portion and a joint flat portion extending in a direction orthogonal to an axial direction of the projection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 5, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2018
    Assignee: NAGANO KEIKI CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hironori Kobayashi, Shuji Tohyama, Yusuke Abe, Haruhiko Sekiya
  • Patent number: 10113996
    Abstract: A chromatography lab system comprising a cooling compartment arranged to hold both fraction collector devices and sample containers, whereby the cooling compartment comprises an identifying device which is arranged to identify the fraction collector devices such that fractions from the chromatography are collected only in the fraction collector devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 5, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2018
    Assignee: GE Healthcare Bio-Sciences AB
    Inventors: Bjorn Markus Olovsson, Karol Maciej Lacki, Mikael Johan Helmer Eugene Berg
  • Patent number: 10107702
    Abstract: Pressure sensor having a support element extending in a longitudinal direction and bearing a pressure-sensitive element, the sensor having a threaded portion for mounting the sensor in a threaded housing in a pressurized fluid apparatus, the support element having a shoulder forming an abutment surface that is not parallel to the longitudinal axis, to allow the sensor to be positioned in a predetermined position in a direction parallel to the longitudinal direction, wherein the threaded portion is formed on a tightening nut which is separate and movable with respect to the support element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2018
    Assignee: L'Air Liquide, Société Anonyme pour l'Etude et l'Exploitation des Procédés Georges Claude
    Inventor: Antoine Frenal
  • Patent number: 10101251
    Abstract: A load testing system comprising a load frame device adapted to load test one or more test specimens and to generate load test measurements; one or more environment controlling chambers adapted to be positioned within the load testing frame for subjecting the one or more test specimens to desired environmental conditions; one or more environment condition regulators adapted to be connected to the one or more environment controlling chambers for regulating the desired environmental conditions; a data acquisition device for receiving sustain load measurements of the one or more test specimens and environmental condition measurements to which the one or more test specimens are subjected during the load test; and a load monitoring device adapted to be connected to the data acquisition device for receiving and monitoring the sustain load measurements and the corresponding environmental condition measurements as a function of time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2018
    Assignee: United Arab Emirates University
    Inventors: Abdel-Hamid Ismail Mourad, Ali Hilal Alnaqbi
  • Patent number: 10103084
    Abstract: Systems and methods for setting, assembling, and/or monitoring deflection (and thus load) in a load beam of a clamping system for a press pack high power semiconductor. The clamping system includes an assembly of a heat sink, a clamp component, and a semiconductor package. The clamp component includes two or more bolts securely connecting a load beam to the heat sink, with the semiconductor package sandwiched between the load beam and the heat sink. A detector and a calibration gage can be assembled onto the clamping system to detect and/or measure the depth of curvature of the load beam.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2018
    Assignee: LWE, INC.
    Inventor: Al Powers
  • Patent number: 10088937
    Abstract: A method is provided for fabricating a bending beam sensor coupled to a touch input device. The method includes providing a bending beam. The method also includes placing a first strain gauge and a second strain gauge on a surface of the beam near a first end of the beam, and aligning the first strain gauge and the second strain gauge with the beam along an axis. The first end is attached to a base. The method further includes coupling the first strain gauge and the second strain gauge to a plate of the touch input device and electrically connecting the first strain gauge and the second strain gauge such that a differential signal is obtained from the first strain gauge and the second strain gauge when a load is applied on the plate of the touch input device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Storrs T. Hoen, Peteris K. Augenbergs, John M. Brock, Jonah A. Harley, Sam Rhea Sarcia
  • Patent number: 10078000
    Abstract: A method for determining a filling mass in a thermally insulated container for a cryogenically stored gas includes determining the filling mass using a known container volume and a calculated density of the gas content of the container. A temperature sensor is used for measuring a mixing temperature of liquid and gaseous phases, where the liquid phase is extracted via a first extraction supply line at the geodetically lowest point, and the gaseous phase is extracted via a second extraction supply line at the geodetically highest point. Downstream of the extraction points, after a convergence of the first and the second extraction supply line, the temperature sensor is placed where a complete and thorough mixing of the liquid and the gaseous phase of the gas from the first and second extraction supply line has already taken place.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 18, 2018
    Assignee: Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Markus Kampitsch, Stefan Schott
  • Patent number: 10078152
    Abstract: An airborne gravity-based transducer is disclosed as two embodiments with similar physical structures but different operating principles. The first design includes a particle acting as an active interface characterized by internal vibrations relating to its de Broglie wave, a resonant cavity for trapping the particle, and a phonon-wave source wherein the de Broglie and phonon waves interact over a junction area. In the second design, mechanical displacements between the transducer elements can be monitored through electromechanical transduction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 6, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 18, 2018
    Assignee: NXT ENERGY SOLUTIONS, INC.
    Inventors: George Liszicasz, Xiang Gui
  • Patent number: 10073522
    Abstract: An article of handwear for grasping a medical device in a medical environment includes a base adapted to be worn by a hand of a wearer. A sensor assembly is carried by the base. The sensor assembly is adapted to sense a force applied by the hand of the wearer, via the article of handwear, to the medical device. The sensor assembly is adapted to provide information regarding at least one shear component of the forces sensed by the sensor assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2018
    Assignee: REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
    Inventors: Timothy M. Kowalewski, Sachin Bijadi, Darrin D. Beekman
  • Patent number: 10073013
    Abstract: A modular sample conditioning system formed for in-situ sampling installation, referenced herein as “source mounted”. The present invention relates to a docking platform or substrate configured to receive multiple, diverse sampling components in various flow configurations, coupled with a unique housing/enclosure formed to engage the docking platform so as to further strengthen and stabilize the mount, the enclosure also formed to engage one or more of the mounted sampling components, so as to provide access outside of the enclosure for visibility and/or manual access of same, providing an easily installed and maintained, user-accessible, on-site modular sampling conditioning/monitoring system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2018
    Assignee: Mayeaux Holding, LLC
    Inventor: Valmond Joseph St Amant, III
  • Patent number: 10067020
    Abstract: A system to measure the installation torque of a screw pile comprises machinery suitable to drive the screw pile into the ground, said machinery further comprising a rotary drive suspended by means of a universal joint-type coupler. A load pin, having at least one sensor, is mounted through the universal joint-type coupler as a pivot pin and is oriented within the universal joint-type coupler so that at least some of the installation torque is transmitted through said load pin and is measurable by said at least one sensor. Preferably, a differential bridge network is used to obtain a measurable signal from the plurality of sensors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2018
    Assignee: Concept Torque Solutions Inc.
    Inventor: Wayne McILravey
  • Patent number: 10054437
    Abstract: An abnormality estimation apparatus for estimating an abnormality in a belt of a belt conveyor includes a displacement part that is displaced in accordance with tension or a change of the tension of the belt when the displacement part is caused to abut against the belt to receive the tension of the belt, an elastic body that is elastically deformed in accordance with displacement of the displacement part, a heat flow sensor that detects a heat flow occurring due to elastic deformation of the elastic body, and an abnormality estimation part that estimates whether there is an abnormality in the belt based on a detection result by the heat flow sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2018
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Norio Gouko, Toshihisa Taniguchi, Atusi Sakaida, Keiji Okamoto, Yoshihiko Shiraishi, Masahiro Asano
  • Patent number: 10054526
    Abstract: The load-bearing capacity of cylindrical shells of a composite fiber material that are at risk of buckling is determined by deriving improved reduction factors for analytical calculation of the design load. A load distribution head applies an axially acting force to a cylinder shell. A dent actuator dents the surface of the cylinder shell in a predetermined dent direction with a predetermined dent depth. A dent force is determined when a steadily increasing, axially acting force is applied to the cylinder shell by the load distribution head until a complete failure of the cylinder shell is detected. An analysis unit determines a dent depth from a data memory at which a dent force at a complete failure of the cylinder shell is at a maximum compared to dent forces of other dent depths.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2018
    Assignee: Deutsches Zentrum fuer Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V.
    Inventors: Christian Huehne, Ronald Wagner, Steffen Niemann
  • Patent number: 10054506
    Abstract: A tension measuring apparatus includes a displacement part that is displaced in accordance with tension or a change of the tension of a wire rod to be measured when the displacement part is caused to abut against the wire rod to receive the tension of the wire rod, an elastic body that is elastically deformed in accordance with displacement of the displacement part, and a heat flow sensor that detects a heat flow caused by elastic deformation of the elastic body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2018
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Norio Gouko, Toshihisa Taniguchi, Atusi Sakaida, Keiji Okamoto, Yoshihiko Shiraishi, Masahiro Asano
  • Patent number: 10048103
    Abstract: The present invention includes an adjustable Pitot tube and method for using the same for operating or flight testing an aircraft comprising: a Pitot probe; a streamline tube connected to the Pitot probe; a mount on the aircraft connected to the streamline tube, wherein the streamline tube can at least one of rotate about an axis of the mount, or the streamline tube can move the Pitot probe closer to, or away from, a skin of the aircraft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 14, 2018
    Assignee: BELL HELICOPTER TEXTRON INC.
    Inventors: Troy Thomas Bushmire, David Bryan Roberts, Brad John Roberts