Patents Examined by Christopher E Everett
  • Patent number: 10562090
    Abstract: A method for controlling a superplastic forming machine for imprinting a shape on a sheet, the machine comprising: a cover; a vat; a press and a peripheral seal for gripping the sheet at its periphery and sealing a pressurized forming chamber delimited by the sheet; members for heating the sheet directly by radiation, these being arranged facing the sheet; a programmable controller. The method involves: determining an initial heating configuration; a finite-element simulation relating to the temperature of the sheet and performed in such a way as to have a temperature that is substantially consistent across the sheet and substantially constant during the course of the forming, in order to obtain a forming specification comprising at least a cycle of powering the heating members and a cycle of pressure in the forming chamber; programming the programmable controller according to the forming specification yielded by the previous simulation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2020
    Assignees: ASSOCIATION POUR LA RECHERCHE ET LE DEVELOPPEMENT DES METHODES ET PROCESSUS INDUSTRIELS (A.R.M.I.N.E.S.), AUROCK S.A.R.L.
    Inventors: Fabien Nazaret, Etienne Lebard, Yannick Le Maoult, Luc Penazzi, Vanessa Vidal, Vincent Velay
  • Patent number: 10564632
    Abstract: In an embodiment an automated material handling system (AMHS) for a semiconductor fabrication facility (FAB) includes: a sensor supported by a rail, wherein the sensor is configured to collect sensor data characterizing a vehicle that moves along the rail, wherein the vehicle is configured to carry at least one wafer; and a monitoring module configured to: detect a trigger event based on the sensor data, and initiate a remediation action in response to the trigger event.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2020
    Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yung-Lin Hsu, Richard Lin, Chiung-Min Lin, Alan Yang
  • Patent number: 10558197
    Abstract: Techniques for comparing two or more sessions of a manufacturing process are described. In one example, a particular metric associated with execution of a manufacturing process is identified, the particular metric evaluated in a plurality of manufacturing process sessions for at least one manufacturing process. A particular session particular session from the plurality of manufacturing process sessions is selected as a baseline session, wherein at least a portion of the remaining plurality of manufacturing process sessions are to be compared to the baseline session. In a primary portion of a presentation area, a visualization of the values of the identified metric associated with the particular session are presented. In a secondary portion of the presentation area, visualizations of the values of the identified metric associated with at least a portion of the other manufacturing process sessions from the plurality of sessions is presented.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2020
    Assignee: SAP SE
    Inventors: Stephan Meier, Robert Noce, Navdeep Raj Ganesh, Ge Cao, Matthias Weigold, Philipp Raub
  • Patent number: 10550837
    Abstract: A pneumatic system operation control device for variable control of the rotation speed of an electric motor for driving an air-compressor such that constantly supplied pressure to a terminal device is achieved in accordance with a discharge pressure measurement value of the air-compressor and a supply pressure measurement value to the terminal device. The control device: stores the discharge pressure measurement value and the supply pressure measurement value; and, upon receiving input of an air pipe network model composed of data for calculating a flow of air in an air pipe network, calculates a flow rate of air supplied to the terminal device and an update value of a control setting value, and updates the control setting value to be used for variable control on the basis of the update value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2020
    Assignee: Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tatsurou Yashiki, Yaping Liu, Yukinori Katagiri
  • Patent number: 10551813
    Abstract: A facility providing systems and methods for demand control ventilation for a building, or a portion/portions thereof, using a combination of scheduling and environment sensors for fallback is disclosed. The facility for demand control ventilation modulates the volume exchange of outside air into an enclosed space (i.e., air that is external to the enclosed space) by mechanical air conditioning equipment or ventilation system, such as a fan, a Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system, and so on. Demand control ventilation is used not only to ensure that people within buildings have an allotted amount of fresh air but also to provide a cost savings to users, as a lower amount of airflow can reduce energy use and, therefore, energy costs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2020
    Assignee: CooperTree Analytics Ltd.
    Inventors: Jason Burt, Brice Kosnik
  • Patent number: 10551084
    Abstract: An air conditioner is provided that may include a plurality of units including an outdoor unit and an indoor unit, the plurality of units being distributed at a plurality of layers or levels or stories in a building; and a controller configured to monitor and control the plurality of units. The controller and the plurality of units may include a communication unit configured to transmit/receive data in a wireless communication unit, respectively, and the communication unit may transmit/receive the data using a sub-giga band frequency. The plurality of units may transmit/receive data in a wireless communication scheme so that an indoor unit and an indoor unit, and an indoor unit and an outdoor unit may directly communicate with each other in a wireless scheme, and the indoor unit may directly communicate with the controller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2020
    Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
    Inventor: Kwonhyung Lee
  • Patent number: 10544778
    Abstract: A method is provided of protecting a wind turbine with a doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG) against a sub-synchronous resonance (SSR) event acting on the wind turbine. A plurality of power-output values or current-output values is measured over a given period of time that corresponds to a measurement cycle. It is determined whether power-output values or current-output-values measured in the at-least-one measurement cycle are indicative of an SSR-event critical for further operation of the wind turbine. The wind turbine is shut down if the measured power-output values or current-output values are indeed indicative of an SSR-event critical for operation of the wind turbine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 28, 2020
    Assignee: VESTAS WIND SYSTEMS A/S
    Inventors: Yi Zhou, Gert Karmisholt Andersen, Manoj Gupta, Vajira Suminda Ganepola, Ciprian Biris, Miguel Angel Cova Acosta
  • Patent number: 10541556
    Abstract: A demand response system incorporating an enterprise demand manager (EDM), and a universal demand response gateway (UDG). The EDM may provide a single unified web interface. It may provide a cloud application that allows an operator of an enterprise to create and send load/energy reduction requests to buildings of one or more groups of buildings in the enterprise. The cloud application may provide controls to the buildings based on market conditions, dispatch demand response (DR) events to the buildings, and provide feedback to confirm that requested reductions are occurring in the buildings. The DR events may include the buildings in an energy market, a load/energy reduction intensity level, and a target load/energy reduction amount for each building. The UDG may perform as a gateway between various DR automation servers (DRAS's) and multiple supervisor controllers at the buildings.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 21, 2020
    Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
    Inventors: Ripunjeet Dutta, Prabhat Ranjan, Rob Warner, Barnali Chetia
  • Patent number: 10527309
    Abstract: A building air conditioning control system for controlling the comfort degree of air in at least one floor area of the building, and includes: a first head counting module to acquire first head count change data of a floor area according to a weight change of a cabin of an elevator when passing the corresponding floor area; a second head counting module to acquire second head count change data of the floor area according to data acquired by an image sensor mounted in the corresponding floor area; and an air conditioning control module to correct head count change data based on the first head count change data and the second head count change data, and control the comfort degree of air in the floor area based on the corrected head count change data. The building air conditioning control system and control method provide accurate control and good user experiences.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2020
    Assignee: CARRIER CORPORATION
    Inventors: Jianwei Zhao, Qiang Li, Lijia Zhao, Sanming Wen, Jiahuan Zhou
  • Patent number: 10530156
    Abstract: A method and system of power factor optimization and total harmonic distortion are provided under the premise of efficient power management and distribution on an electrical grid. The method and system include a novel optimization technique based on a novel current profiling methodology enabling real-time power management with power factor correction as a function of the optimization. The optimization can be performed under dynamic current constraints. When deployed on an electrical grid, the method and system can provide a new technique for power management targeting an efficiency of the electrical grid. The method and system can thus provide for reduced costs of energy production and reduced carbon emissions into the atmosphere.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2020
    Assignee: Volta Energy, Inc.
    Inventors: Denis Kouroussis, Emre Kulali
  • Patent number: 10528036
    Abstract: A guide system and method of projecting visual indicators onto a physical object to guide actions of an individual comprises providing a guide system having a guide system controller and a projector, with the guide system controller including a plurality of addressed display features. An input signal is provided to the guide system controller whereby an addressed display feature is selected based on the input signal and the projector projects a visual indicator corresponding to the selected addressed display feature onto a physical object. The guide system controller may also include a plurality of positional identifiers, with the method including the selecting of a positional identifier based on the input signal and the projecting of the visual indicator onto a physical object at a location corresponding to the selected positional identifier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2020
    Assignee: OPS Solutions LLC
    Inventors: Paul Ryznar, James Ryznar
  • Patent number: 10520919
    Abstract: Method, and corresponding system, for receiving and processing sensor data for an additive manufacturing machine. The method includes determining values of the sensor data relative to time; and determining tool positions relative to time based on process data which controls operation of the additive manufacturing machine. The method further includes determining the sensor data values at the working tool positions based on a correlation of the values of the sensor data relative to time and the working tool positions relative to time. A representation of the sensor data values at the working tool positions is displayed by a user interface device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2019
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Li Zhang, Jacob Berlier, Adam McCann, Brandon Good
  • Patent number: 10523050
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and apparatus embodiments for electric power grid and network registration and management of active grid elements. Grid elements are transformed into active grid elements following initial registration of each grid element with the system, preferably through network-based communication between the grid elements and a coordinator, either in coordination with or outside of an IP-based communications network router. A multiplicity of active grid elements function in the grid for supply capacity, supply and/or load curtailment as supply or capacity. Also preferably, messaging is managed through a network by a Coordinator using IP messaging for communication with the grid elements, with the energy management system (EMS), and with the utilities, market participants, and/or grid operators.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2019
    Assignee: CAUSAM ENERGY, INC.
    Inventor: Joseph W. Forbes, Jr.
  • Patent number: 10517193
    Abstract: The invention relates to a regulation method for an electrical enclosure cooling device, which has a refrigerating machine and a heat pipe arrangement, wherein the method comprises measuring a current internal electrical enclosure temperature and determining a target temperature for the internal electrical enclosure temperature, wherein said internal electrical enclosure temperature and target temperature form input signals of a regulator for actuating the electrical enclosure cooling device, and wherein said regulator outputs a control signal for determining manipulated variables of the refrigerating machine; determining the regulator control signal as a measured variable which is proportional to the respective current required cooling power; measuring the ambient electrical enclosure temperature and determining a respective energy efficiency for the refrigerating machine and the heat pipe arrangement either in the event that the required cooling power is to be provided by the refrigerating machine or in the
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 24, 2019
    Assignee: Rittal GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventor: Daniel Rosenthal
  • Patent number: 10509374
    Abstract: An operating configuration for a power system during a particular time period may be derived from a net load forecast for the power system during the particular time period. The operating configuration may be based on inter-temporal and/or continuous-time characteristics of the net load forecast. A power system manager may schedule power generation and/or energy storage units to satisfy the net load forecast at minimal cost. The power generation and/or energy storage units may be scheduled in accordance with inter-temporal and/or continuous-time characteristics of the net load. The schedule may comply with generation trajectory and/or ramping constraints of the power generating units, power trajectory and/or ramping constraints of the energy storage units, and so on.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2019
    Assignee: University of Utah Research Foundation
    Inventors: Masood Parvania, Roohallah Khatami
  • Patent number: 10500791
    Abstract: A system of this invention is a three-dimensional laminating and fabricating system that suppresses, in advance, a squeezing blade from getting caught on a surface of a laminated and fabricated object. The three-dimensional laminating and fabricating system includes a laminating and fabricating unit that includes a squeezing blade configured to spread a laminating material on an upper layer of a laminated and fabricated object, and an irradiator configured to irradiate the laminating material, and fabricates each layer of the laminated and fabricated object as an aggregate of cell regions, and a laminating and fabricating controller that controls the laminating and fabricating unit such that a scanning direction in which the irradiator irradiates the laminating material in the cell region changes with respect to a moving direction of the squeezing blade during laminating and fabricating.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2019
    Assignee: TECHNOLOGY RESEACH ASSOCIATION FOR FUTURE ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING
    Inventors: Koichi Amaya, Tetsushi Midorikawa, Takeshi Yamada
  • Patent number: 10495335
    Abstract: A generic user interface for rapid application development on a stand-alone control platform. A user interface may be designed using generic menu methodology consisting of predefined tables, fonts, and templates, such that table entries and menu selections are made based on the platform. An example platform may be designed from function blocks from a function block engine. An application may be developed to run on the control platform (within the constraints of the hardware and function block engine), and a corresponding user interface may be automatically generated by populating the generic tables of the user interface methodology based on simple user input during placement of the function blocks, as an example.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2019
    Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
    Inventor: Paul C. Wacker
  • Patent number: 10488126
    Abstract: A method of controlling opening of a valve in an HVAC system is provided. The method includes controlling the opening of a six-way-valve according to a default control mode in dependence of a default sensor signal, the six-way-valve fluidicly coupling an inlet side and an outlet side of the heat exchanger alternatively with a first fluidic circuit in a first default control mode or a second fluidic circuit in a second default control mode; selecting a selected default control mode from the first default control mode and the alternative second default control mode; determining, while controlling the valve in the selected default control mode, whether the sensor signal is faulty; and switching, in case the signal is faulty, to controlling the opening according to a first fallback control mode or an alternative second fallback control mode, where the opening is controlled independently of the faulty sensor signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2019
    Assignee: BELIMO HOLDING AG
    Inventors: Ronald Aeberhard, Marc Thuillard, Philipp Mazenauer
  • Patent number: 10488871
    Abstract: Provided is a process, including: receiving, via the network interface, from a remote user device, a command to change a state of the fluid-handling device to a target state; translating the received command into a translated command operative to cause a local controller of the fluid-handling device to drive the fluid-handling equipment to the target state, the local controller being responsive to the command and feedback from the fluid-handling device indicative of whether the fluid-handling device is in the target state; and sending the translated command to the local controller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2019
    Assignee: SitePro, Inc.
    Inventor: Aaron Phillips
  • Patent number: 10481623
    Abstract: A method for controlling battery temperature during a charge cycle includes representing a battery cell as a plurality of individual battery cells such that each representation of the individual battery cells can be simulated individually; for each of the individual battery cells, calculating one or more simulated responses during a charge cycle based at least in part on one or more values indicative of a charge rate; determining an optimal input temperature profile for the charge rate that minimizes differences between simulated responses for each of the plurality of individual battery cells; and providing the optimal input temperature profile for control of a temperature management system that monitors and controls a temperature of the battery cell.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 19, 2019
    Assignees: CHONGQING JINKANG NEW ENERGY AUTOMOBILE CO., LTD., SF MOTORS INC.
    Inventors: Mehdi Forouzan, Saeed Khaleghi Rahimian, Sangwoo Han, Ying Liu, Yifan Tang