Patents Examined by Christopher E Everett
  • Patent number: 10962251
    Abstract: An air conditioner controller for an air conditioner is configured to obtain a first value of a performance value from a predetermined component of the air conditioner, and estimate a total cost. The controller is configured to estimate the total cost including an operation cost and a renewal cost of the air conditioner based on the first value of the performance variable obtained from the predetermined component of the air conditioner and a second value of the performance variable estimated by an operational model of the air conditioner. The total cost is a total cost of operating and renewing the air conditioner for a time period after a time at which the first value of the performance variable is obtained. The controller is configured to output the total cost via a user interface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 30, 2021
    Assignee: Hitachi-Johnson Controls Air Conditioning, Inc.
    Inventors: Yasutaka Yoshida, Koji Naito, Hayato Mori, Robert D. Turney, Mohammad N. ElBsat, Michael J. Wenzel
  • Patent number: 10954824
    Abstract: A method includes determining, via a processor, a commanded fluid flow rate of a fluid entering or exiting the drum of an industrial system, wherein the commanded fluid flow rate comprises a rate of fluid entering the drum of the industrial system, exiting the drum of the industrial system, or a combination thereof. The method additionally includes determining, via the processor, a measured flow rate of the fluid. The method further includes determining, via the processor, a variable multiplier based at least in part on the commanded fluid flow rate and the measured flow rate; and deriving, via the processor, a multiplied flow rate command for the industrial system by applying the variable multiplier to the commanded fluid flow rate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 23, 2021
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Benjamin David Laskowski, William Forrester Seely
  • Patent number: 10931109
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a computationally efficient technique for determining loads to shed based on both active and reactive power. For example, a monitoring and control system may receive electrical measurements of a power system. The monitoring and control system may determine an active power and a reactive power of each bus in the power system based on the received electrical measurements. The monitoring and control system may send a command to trip at least one breaker to cause the at least one breaker to shed a load based at least in part on both the active power and the reactive power consumed by each bus in the power system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2021
    Assignee: Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Niannian Cai, Abdel Rahman Khatib, Niraj Kiritkumar Shah
  • Patent number: 10928801
    Abstract: Techniques for qualifying for use in an overall manufacturing process items produced by a bulk manufacturing process that has a plurality of batch effects are presented. The techniques can include obtaining a collection of items produced by a bulk manufacturing process that has a plurality of batch effects; measuring a quantifiable property of a sample of items from the collection of items; developing a linear mixed model for the quantifiable property based on the measuring; determining a statistical process control standard deviation for the collection of items based on the linear mixed model; computing a statistical process control parameter from the statistical process control standard deviation; determining that at least a portion of the collection of items conform to the statistical process control parameter; accepting at least a portion of the collection of items; and using at least a portion of the collection of items in the overall manufacturing process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2021
    Assignee: THE BOEING COMPANY
    Inventors: Lindsay L. W. Jones, Kelsea Cox, Robert M. Lawton
  • Patent number: 10921978
    Abstract: To provide a shaft feeder with which an operation for setting a shaft movement amount can be performed on a touch panel and numerical values for the shaft movement amount can be accurately set. A shaft feeder is used for moving a shaft in an industrial device and includes a display device including a touch panel, an operation detector that detects a left/right swipe operation on the touch panel, a display control unit that displays coordinate values relating to the shaft on the display device and changes the displayed coordinate values on the basis of the swipe operation detected by the operation detector, and a shaft movement unit that moves the shaft to a position indicated by the coordinate values on the basis of the displayed coordinate values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2021
    Assignee: FANUC CORPORATION
    Inventor: Kouta Tagami
  • Patent number: 10921759
    Abstract: Embodiments are directed to computer methods and systems that build and deploy a pattern model to detect an operating event in an online plant process. To build the pattern model, the methods and systems define a signature of the operating event, such that the defined signature contains a time series pattern for a KPI associated with the operating event. The methods and systems deploy the pattern model to automatically monitor, during online execution of the plant process, trends in movement of the KPI as a time series. The methods and systems determine, in real-time, a distance score between a range of the monitored time series and the time series pattern contained in the defined signature. The methods and systems automatically detect the operating event in the online industrial process based on the determined distance score, and alter parameters of the process (e.g., valves, actuators, etc.) to prevent the operating event.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2021
    Assignee: Aspen Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Jian Ma, Hong Zhao, Ashok Rao, Andrew L. Lui, Willie K. C. Chan
  • Patent number: 10911256
    Abstract: Methods and systems for providing consumer directed energy management are described. Consumer defined triggers provide consumers and utilities with the ability to control residential energy usage, by managing manage multiple residential load control elements. A user interface is provided separately from the load control elements to allow the consumer to define his or her schedule and preferences for the purposes of controlling the multiple load control elements. In addition, settings on load control elements can be automatically adjusted based on information about consumer schedules and preferences obtained from other sources. In some embodiments, a utility interface allows utilities to implement improved energy load control. When a utility expects to implement a load control event, the utility can monitor consumer schedules and/or preferences, in order to achieve the desired energy reduction while reducing the impact on participating consumers' comfort.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2021
    Assignee: Tendril EA, LLC
    Inventors: Charles Reid Benes, Rebecca Fay Premus, Michael Kent Ruth, Carol L. Stimmel, Adrian Christopher Tuck, Andrew James Wheeler
  • Patent number: 10908595
    Abstract: A device includes a catalog storage unit that stores a catalog having versatility; a catalog control unit that specifies the catalog corresponding to a target machine tool to be subjected to state determination based on machine tool information including an item of facility type and acquires the catalog from the catalog storage unit; a feature quantity extraction unit that extracts a feature quantity from sensor data detected from the target machine tool; a sensor data processing unit that performs state determination of the target machine tool based on the feature quantity distribution included in the acquired catalog and the feature quantity extracted from the sensor data; a feature quantity tuning unit that performs tuning of the feature quantity distribution by mapping the extracted feature quantity to the feature quantity distribution; and a catalog updating unit that updates the catalog based on the feature quantity distribution after tuning.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2021
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yuichi Sakurai, Masaaki Maeda, Masayoshi Takahashi, Hideo Sakai
  • Patent number: 10894361
    Abstract: A three-dimensional forming apparatus includes: an ejecting portion that ejects a forming material from an opening portion to a forming table; a moving portion that changes a relative position between the forming table and the ejecting portion; and a controller that controls the ejecting portion and the moving portion. The ejecting portion includes a tip surface having the opening portion. An external shape of the opening portion is polygonal. When the three-dimensional object is formed, the controller controls the moving portion such that a distance (Gp) between the tip surface and an estimated position to which the forming material is to be ejected from the ejecting portion satisfies the following Expression (1). (Sq1×Gp)/Vt<1.0??(1) where Sq1 represents an area of the opening portion, and Vt represents a volume of the forming material that is ejected per unit moving amount by the ejecting portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 19, 2021
    Inventors: Kenta Anegawa, Daizo Aoyagi
  • Patent number: 10895382
    Abstract: The invention discloses a system for effecting a control strategy in a reactive flow field of a turbulent flow system. The system is configured to analyze flow field properties such as velocity, heat release rate, or mixture fraction of a device during the onset of the oscillatory instability using measures from complex network theory such as betweenness centrality, degree, or closeness. The system identifies critical regions in the flow field responsible for the oscillatory instability. Further, the system also identifies optimal control strategies to avoid the onset of oscillatory instabilities by analyzing the relative strength of various network parameters and thereby controlling oscillatory instabilities which are detrimental to the fluid dynamic system. The disclosed method and system provide for optimization of control of oscillatory instabilities in fluid dynamic systems.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 19, 2021
    Assignee: INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY MADRAS (IIT MADRAS)
    Inventors: Vishnu R. Unni, Sujith Ramanpillai Indusekharan Nair, Abin Krishnan, Norbert Marwan, Jürgen Kurths
  • Patent number: 10890889
    Abstract: A method of monitoring and assessing program variables of an industrial installation driven by a controller (C) by instructions programmed in a user program. Specific monitoring modules (MS1 to MSt) are implanted, as close as possible in time to the variable(s) (V1 to Vt) to be monitored to monitor evolution in real-time. During execution, each specific monitoring module (MSy) reads, in real-time, the logic state of each of variables which it monitors in an instantaneous cycle turn (TCi) of the controller (C), compares this logic state with the previously recorded logic state, and, only in the case of a state change, records the new logic state read as well as the real-time time-stamp of this event in a global memory unit (UM_G). The recorded metadata is analyzed in order to check behavior of the installation, use this production data and identify a possible malfunction of program and/or the installation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2021
    Assignee: TLOGIC AUTOMATION
    Inventor: Frédéric Thabuis
  • Patent number: 10877450
    Abstract: A system includes a first database configured to store one or more workflow templates associated with one or more workflows, where each workflow is used to implement at least one change in at least one control system of an industrial plant. The system also includes a second database configured to document each of the one or more workflows. In addition, the system includes at least one processor configured to communicate with at least one user equipment and to provide at least one user interface to the at least one user equipment. The at least one user interface is configured to provide the one or more workflow templates and to receive definitions of the one or more workflows. The at least one user interface is also configured to provide the one or more workflows for implementation of the at least one change in the at least one control system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 2, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2020
    Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
    Inventors: Abhishek Nikhra, Manas Dutta, Ramakrishnan Ganapathi, Sreedhara Reddy Mallavarpu, Malathi Naidu
  • Patent number: 10849287
    Abstract: Some embodiments provide an interface unit interfacing with an irrigation controller, comprising: a housing; a controller configured to instruct an interruption of a watering schedule executed by the irrigation controller, the interruption based on one or both of sensed temperature and sensed rainfall amount, and based on one or both of user entered temperature and rainfall threshold parameters; a switching device coupled with the controller, and configured to cause the interruption in response to signaling from the controller; and a user interface comprising: a plurality of user input devices configured to provide signaling to the controller based upon user's engagement, and configured to allow the user to define the temperature and rainfall threshold parameters; and a user display comprising a display screen; wherein the controller is configured to cause the display screen to display a plurality of pictorial representations that in combination convey whether irrigation is being interrupted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2020
    Assignee: Rain Bird Corporation
    Inventors: David M. Redmond, Michael J. Tennyson, Randall A. Hern, Gerald E. Peterson, David G. Fern
  • Patent number: 10838397
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides an ID number complement method for a engraving machine, including the steps of: sequentially acquiring a first distance a and a second distance g of a character located in a first digit of an identification number to an edge of an identification area in each identification area; respectively subtracting the first distance a and the second distance g from a first preset value a? and a second preset value g?, and acquiring an offset information in X-axis direction and Y-axis direction of the identification number in each identification area. The disclosure also provides an ID number complement system for an engraving machine, including: a measuring device, a statistical process control system and an engraving machine. Compared with the prior art, the automatic filling of the engraving machine is realized, and the working efficiency is improved by the above method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 17, 2020
    Assignee: WUHAN CHINA STAR OPTOELECTRONICS SEMICONDUCTOR DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Chengbo Gong
  • Patent number: 10838381
    Abstract: A setting system 1 includes a device configuration database DB1 that stores setting data in a first format in which a device parameter to be set to a field device 11 and identification information that logically identifies the device parameter are associated, and for which authority prescribed in advance is required in order to change the stored data, and in which, using device configuration information specifying the physical structure of the field device 11 and the setting data in the first format obtained by reference to the database DB1, setting data is generated in a second format in which physical information specifying the physical address at which the device parameter is to be set is associated with the device parameter, and is set to the field device. According to this setting system, it is possible to perform exchange of a field device without any requirement for engineering by a system engineer, thereby avoiding a device in production efficiency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 17, 2020
    Assignee: YOKOGAWA ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hiroshi Mori, Fuyuki Mizushima, Tomohiro Urata
  • Patent number: 10836109
    Abstract: Apparatus (1) for additively manufacturing three-dimensional objects (2) by successive layerwise selective irradiation and consolidation of layers of a build material (3) which can be consolidated by means of an energy beam (4), the apparatus comprising: a first detection device (15) adapted to detect at least one first process parameter (P1), particularly during operation of the apparatus (1), and to generate a first data set (DS1) comprising information relating to the detected first process parameter (P1); at least one second detection device (16) adapted to detect at least one second process parameter (P2), particularly during operation of the apparatus (1), and to generate at least one second data set (DS2) comprising information relating to the detected second process parameter (P2); a data processing device (18) adapted to link the first data set (DS1) with the at least one second data set (DS1).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 17, 2020
    Assignee: Concept Laser GmbH
    Inventors: Florian Bechmann, Tobias Bokkes, Philipp Schumann, Alexandra Popp, Marie-Christin Ebert
  • Patent number: 10809673
    Abstract: Embodiments determine historical geographic travel data of a vehicle over a contaminant exposure time period that is inclusive of a present time; identify a contaminant that is likely located on an external surface of the vehicle as a function of historic meteorological and terrain data of the historical geographic travel data of a vehicle over a contaminant exposure time period; select a cleaning solution that is appropriate for use in cleaning the identified contaminant from the external surface of the vehicle; and drive a vehicle wash system nozzle to use the selected cleaning solution to wash the identified contaminant from the external surface of the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2020
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Shubhadip Ray, Norbert Herman, Gregory J. Boss, Siddique M. Adoni, Dhandapani Shanmugam
  • Patent number: 10802470
    Abstract: A control system is mounted with a function of transmitting/receiving a plurality of types of data together. If a plurality of data acquisition requests are made, the system creates a single grouping request by grouping the individual data acquisition requests. The grouping request is transmitted by a single communication session, and a device having received the grouping request acquires a plurality of pieces of data in response to the plurality of data acquisition requests included in the received request, creates the result of grouping of the acquired data, and transmits the result as a response to the grouping request.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 13, 2020
    Assignee: Fanuc Corporation
    Inventor: Masatoshi Nakajima
  • Patent number: 10802512
    Abstract: A building management system network interface device is provided. The network interface device includes a processing circuit with a device interface module and a network interface module. The device interface module is communicably coupled to a refrigeration equipment controller and includes an equipment object configured to receive data values and to populate attributes of the equipment object with the data values. The network interface module is communicably coupled to the device interface module and an external network, and is configured to map the attributes of the equipment object to individual data objects and to write the attributes of the equipment object to the mapped individual data objects. The processing circuit is also configured to execute control logic to control the operation of the refrigeration equipment controller based on the data values received from the refrigeration equipment controller and commands received from the external network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 13, 2020
    Assignee: Johnson Controls Technology Company
    Inventors: Kenneth E. Moore, Dinesh Trikha, Abu Bakr Khan
  • Patent number: 10795335
    Abstract: Manufacturing of a shoe or a portion of a shoe is enhanced by executing various shoe-manufacturing processes in an automated fashion. For example, information describing a shoe part may be determined, such as an identification, an orientation, a color, a surface topography, an alignment, a size, etc. Based on the information describing the shoe part, automated shoe-manufacturing apparatuses may be instructed to apply various shoe-manufacturing processes to the shoe part, such as a pickup and placement of the shoe part with a pickup tool.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 6, 2020
    Assignee: NIKE, Inc.
    Inventors: Dragan Jurkovic, Patrick Conall Regan, Chih-Chi Chang, Chang-Chu Liao, Ming-Feng Jean, Kuo-Hung Lee, Yen-Hsi Liu, Hung-Yu Wu