Patents Examined by Christopher W Carter
  • Patent number: 11340637
    Abstract: The present invention is a fluid distribution system comprising connected conduits (e.g., lines) wherein fluid flows, such as pipes within a building. The lines may be configured to: (i) include multiple lines that connect at intersections (some of the intersections will be identified as nodes); and (ii) incorporate node units associated with line pressure loss simulation assemblies (“LLSAs”). Activities of a node unit incorporating a LLSA can result in alterations in fluid pressure, such as by a loop control process to reposition balancing valves or other valves of one or more LLSAs, and/or by alteration of the speed of the system pump. These activities adjust fluid pressure to cause the system to produce a balanced and high efficiency energy transfer (e.g., heating or cooling), and do not involve or require any identification or use of any specific, fixed or absolute pressure value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2022
    Inventor: John Faiczak
  • Patent number: 11326796
    Abstract: Techniques are described for generating power from airflow powered smart vents associated with security and automation systems. One method includes monitoring a rate of airflow through an air vent in a centralized heating and cooling system, generating, at a sensor at the air vent, power based at least in part on the rate of airflow through the air vent, storing the generated power in the sensor at the air vent, providing the stored power to one or more motors associated with the sensor at the air vent, and utilizing the stored power to perform communication between the sensor at the air vent and a control panel of the home automation system, wherein the control panel is located at a location different from a location of the sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2022
    Assignee: VIVINT, INC.
    Inventors: Rongbin Lanny Lin, Brandon Bunker, Shiwei Liu
  • Patent number: 11307549
    Abstract: A system includes a plurality of control devices that respectively control the states of a plurality of apparatuses and are connected to each other via communication lines. When each of the control devices determines a state target value of its own apparatus using the current state indicator value of the own apparatus, and the distributed controller input which is a function of the state indicator value of an apparatus adjacent to the own apparatus and the state indicator value of the own apparatus, the control gain which adjusts contribution of the distributed controller input to the state target value is determined based on a communication delay time between the control devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2022
    Assignees: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA, Toyota School Foundation
    Inventors: Satoshi Kikuchi, Michihiro Kawanishi, Tatsuo Narikiyo, Ngoc Huynh Tran
  • Patent number: 11300407
    Abstract: A method of evaluating flatness of a two-dimensional area of a surface of an unfinished workpiece prior to performance of a process step in which a prescribed operation is performed on the surface by a tool. A flatness value for the surface is calculated and used either to allow or to disallow the prescribed operation to proceed, and when allowed, uses the flatness value for parameter adjustment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2022
    Inventors: Boris Novakovic, Christian Peter Holtkamp
  • Patent number: 11287793
    Abstract: To read respective values as updated of a plurality of variables synchronization of which respective values is ensured while tasks are being carried out in a multi-tasking manner, a PLC 10 reads respective values as updated of variables A to C in such a manner as to complete reading the respective values as updated of the variables A to C during a time period from (i) a time point of a start of a single instance of a cycle of a task which cycle is shortest to (ii) a time point of an end of the single instance of the cycle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2022
    Assignee: OMRON Corporation
    Inventors: Tatsuya Kojima, Takahiro Toku
  • Patent number: 11286175
    Abstract: Fluid stream management systems and methods relating thereto are described. The fluid management system includes a neural network, which comprises: (i) an input layer that is communicatively coupled to one or more fluid facility sensors and/or one or more pre-processing flow sensors such that one or more of the flow condition attribute values are received the neural network; (ii) one or more intermediate layers, which are configured to constrain one or more of the flow condition attribute values to arrive at modified flow condition attribute values; (iii) an output layer, which transmits, one or more modified flow condition attribute values to a downstream control device. This control device and other computation devices perform certain calculations that ultimately inform a flow controller, which in turn, instructs a flow-directing device regarding management of fluid streams.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2022
    Assignee: EMNET, LLC
    Inventors: Luis Montestruque, Timothy P. Ruggaber, Ruben Kertesz, Alireza Partovi, Timothy P. Braun, Bryant McDonnell
  • Patent number: 11240951
    Abstract: Provided is a method for allocating assemblies to placement lines for placing components on the assemblies, wherein an expected production time is determined for each assembly type of the assemblies to be provided with components and for each placement line, taking into consideration each cycle time for the assembly type on the placement line and the expected number of pieces to be produced for each assembly type. The actual number of pieces to be produced arises according to a predeterminable probability distribution, wherein the possible allocations of assemblies to the placement lines are restricted by the existing infrastructure and/or by user defined specifications, and the allocation of the assemblies to the placement lines is calculated by means of an optimization method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 1, 2022
    Assignee: SIEMENS AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT
    Inventors: Alexander Pfaffinger, Christian Royer
  • Patent number: 11208920
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present disclosure include a method for controlling a power generation system, the method including: calculating, during operation of the power generation system, a target water level within a pressure vessel of the power generation system, the pressure vessel receiving a feedwater input and generating a steam output; calculating a flow rate change of the steam output from the pressure vessel; calibrating the target water level within the pressure vessel based on the output from mass flux through the pressure vessel, the mass flux through the pressure vessel being derived from the at least the feedwater input and the steam output; and adjusting an operating parameter of the power generation system based on the calibrated target water level within the pressure vessel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 28, 2021
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: John Lawrence Meyer, Cody Joe Bushey
  • Patent number: 11179854
    Abstract: Methods and systems are provided for disassembling products. In one example, a system may comprise a cutting room having a positioning device configured to position products at a cutting system, where cut products may fall to a transport system to be conveyed to a storage system. In some examples, the cutting room is fully automated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 23, 2021
    Assignee: SSI Shredding Systems, Inc.
    Inventor: Lee Sage
  • Patent number: 11160201
    Abstract: A component mounting system includes a component mounting apparatus, a data creating apparatus and a component arranging operation supporting apparatus. The component mounting apparatus mounts components on a substrate. The data creating apparatus creates component data for each component. The component arranging operation supporting apparatus includes an identification information acquiring unit that acquires component identification information given to the component supplying member, and a control unit which checks a component to be disposed in a position based on the component identification information. The control unit of the component arranging operation supporting apparatus performs a request for a creation of component data regarding an alternative component, and the data creating apparatus receives the request and creates the component data regarding the alternative component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2021
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Hideo Matsuoka
  • Patent number: 11136962
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a wind turbine and a method of operating a wind turbine for reducing edgewise vibrations, wherein the wind turbine comprises a wind turbine control system having at least one vibration sensor for measuring the edgewise vibrations and a controller for receiving the vibration signal from the vibration sensor. The sensor unit is preferably an accelerometer arranged in a stationary frame of reference. The controller determines at least one whirling mode frequency and the vibration level thereof. The controller initiates a corrective action if the measured vibration level exceeds a threshold value. The corrective action is preferably an adjustment of the pitch angle of the wind turbine blades which in turn dampens the edgewise vibrations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2021
    Assignee: Envision Energy (Denmark) ApS
    Inventor: Keld Stefan Pedersen
  • Patent number: 11119451
    Abstract: Provided is an apparatus including a plurality of agents that each set some devices among a plurality of devices provided in a facility to be target devices, wherein each of the plurality of agents includes a state acquiring section that acquires state data indicating a state of the facility; a control condition acquiring section that acquires control condition data indicating a control condition of each target device; and a learning processing section that uses learning data including the state data and the control condition data to perform learning processing of a model that outputs recommended control condition data indicating a control condition recommended for each target device in response to input of the state data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 14, 2021
    Assignees: Yokogawa Electric Corporation, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY CORPORATION NARA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
    Inventors: Takamitsu Matsubara, Yunduan Cui, Lingwei Zhu, Hiroaki Kanokogi, Morihiro Fujisaki, Go Takami, Yota Furukawa
  • Patent number: 11118802
    Abstract: A method and system for indoor environmental weighted preference management are provided. The method includes determining, by a processor of a weighted preference processing system, a plurality of occupant indoor environmental setting preferences for a plurality of users at a location and a complaint history of the users. The processor of the weighted preference processing system determines one or more weighted set points for at least one building system operable to adjust an indoor environment at the location based on the occupant indoor environmental setting preferences for the users as weighted with respect to the complaint history of the users. One or more control devices of the at least one building system are operated based on the one or more weighted set points.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 14, 2021
    Assignee: CARRIER CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ke Xu, Dang Nguyen
  • Patent number: 11111901
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a system and a method for optimal yaw control of a wind turbine, comprising a tower carrying a rotatable nacelle rotated by a yaw motor, which nacelle comprises at least one generator connected by a shaft to a rotor, comprising one or more wings, which nacelle further comprises means for detecting wind direction and wind velocity, which system performs measurement and storing data related to power production, wind velocity and wind direction. The object of this invention is to optimize the yaw position of a nacelle to the wind direction. The object can be fulfilled by power production measured in a positive direction to actual yaw position is accumulated in a first storages related to measured wind direction and that power production measured in a negative direction to actual yaw position is accumulated in a second storages related to measured wind direction. By this system the power production of the wind turbine is optimized by self-calibrating yaw control.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 7, 2021
    Assignee: Mita-Teknik A/S
    Inventors: Martin Brorsen, Lars Risager, Morten Bro
  • Patent number: 11112775
    Abstract: A system for determining a processing procedure including a plurality of processes for controlling an object, the system includes a learning unit for performing a learning process for determining a processing condition of each of a plurality of processes, and the learning unit acquires a physical quantity correlating with a state of the object on which a process has been performed under a predetermined processing condition, from a device for controlling the object on the basis of the processing procedure, calculates a pseudo state corresponding to the state of the object on the basis of the physical quantity, performs a learning process using a value function, and determines a processing condition of each of the plurality of processes to achieve a target state of the object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 7, 2021
    Assignee: HITACHI, LTD.
    Inventors: Hyakka Nakada, Takeshi Ohmori, Tatehito Usui, Masaru Kurihara
  • Patent number: 11073812
    Abstract: A system and method of configuring monitor blocks and effect blocks associated with a process control system for a process plant includes causing a display device to display a graphical user interface, the graphical user interface indicating a first monitor block, a second monitor block, and an effect block. The system and method further includes enabling a user to input configuration data via the input device, including: (i) configuring one of the outputs of the first monitor block to serve as one of the inputs of the second monitor block, (ii) configuring an additional one of the outputs of the first monitor block and one of the outputs of the second monitor block to serve as inputs to the effect block, and (iii) designating at least one of the plurality of cells of each of the first monitor block, the second monitor block, and the effect block as a trigger associated with the respective input/output pair for the respective cell and corresponding to a condition in the process plant.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 7, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 27, 2021
    Assignee: FISHER-ROSEMOUNT SYSTEMS, INC.
    Inventors: Gary K. Law, Godfrey R. Sherriff
  • Patent number: 11042148
    Abstract: In the disclosure, a scheduled route of a lot may be rescheduled to another fabrication tool performing the same fabrication processes as to expand the production line and throughput. The controlling method includes at least the following steps. The lot is scheduled with a predetermined route having a plurality of fabrication tools configured to process the lot with a plurality of fabrication processes in a sequence. The lot is monitored as the lot is being processed by the fabrication tools in each of the fabrication processes, and inspection data is generated for each fabrication process. The lot is rescheduled to another fabrication tool outside of the predetermined route for one of the fabrication processes according to a release rule and the inspection data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 22, 2021
    Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Lin-Kai Huang, Wei-Chi Su, Yi-Ching Liu, Cheng-Hsuan Liu
  • Patent number: 11029673
    Abstract: Robust machine learning predictions. Temporal dependencies of process targets for different machine learning models can be captured and evaluated for the impact on process performance for target. The most robust of these different models is selected for deployment based on minimizing variance for the desired performance characteristic.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 8, 2021
    Assignee: PDF Solutions, Inc.
    Inventors: Tomonori Honda, Rohan D. Kekatpure, Jeffrey Drue David
  • Patent number: 11010504
    Abstract: Design of lattice structures for additive manufacturing The present embodiments relate to additive manufacturing, such as three-dimensional printing. By way of introduction, the present embodiments described below include methods and systems for designing, modeling and manufacturing lattice structures. Lattice cells are modeled as parametrized representative unit cell (RUC) models providing a virtual material characterization for a lattice structure. The parametrized RUC models include phase functions for the virtual material characterization and identification of corresponding normalized material curves fit with polynomial functions for each lattice cell structure. Parametrized lattice models with underlying normalized lattice material curves provide design and simulation of true lattice material behavior for use in topology optimization.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 18, 2021
    Assignee: SIEMENS INDUSTRY SOFTWARE NV
    Inventors: Dirk Frederik De Lange, Hunor Erdelyi, Wim Van Paepegem, Alain Remouchamps
  • Patent number: 11009841
    Abstract: A method for initialising control data for a device comprises determining whether an identification value stored in a control storage location of the device has a first value or second value. When the identification value has the first value, space is allocated in the memory for storing the control data and an address of the allocated space in memory is written to a control data pointer storage location of the device. When the identification value has the second value, the allocation of space in memory is omitted and the control data pointer storage location comprises a preset address indicative of a location for storing the control data in local storage provided within the device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 18, 2021
    Assignee: ARM Limited
    Inventors: Håkan Persson, Matthew Lucien Evans