Patents Examined by Erwin J Wunderlich
  • Patent number: 12649200
    Abstract: A laser processing device comprising: an optical arrangement; wherein the optical arrangement comprises an input for receiving a laser beam; wherein the optical arrangement comprises a beam splitter that splits the laser beam into at least two partial beams; wherein the optical arrangement recombines the partial beams into a laser spot for generating an interference pattern in the laser spot; wherein a first state of the laser beam at the input generates a first interference pattern and a second state of the laser beam generates a second interference pattern; wherein the first state and the second state differ in at least one of (i) a position of the laser beam at the input and (ii) an angle of incidence of the laser beam with respect to the input; and wherein the optical arrangement is configured such that the second interference pattern continues the first interference pattern in phase.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2026
    Assignee: 4JETMICROTECHGMBH
    Inventor: Tobias Dyck
  • Patent number: 12643180
    Abstract: A method for preparing a precoated sheet is provided. The method includes providing a precoated sheet having a metallic substrate with a precoating on at least one of its faces and removing through laser ablation at least a portion of the precoating on the at least one face of the precoated sheet in a removal zone. The ablation step is carried out in an installation. The installation includes at least one protective element having a protective surface. During the ablation step, the protective surface contacts the precoated sheet in a contact area in register with the laser beam as the laser beam removes the portion of the precoating. A plane tangent to the protective surface at the contact area forms a dihedral angle with the plane of the face of the precoated sheet. This angle is strictly smaller than 90°.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 23, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2026
    Assignee: ArcelorMittal
    Inventor: René Vierstraete
  • Patent number: 12594627
    Abstract: An information processing apparatus includes: an image analysis unit that acquires an image of a molten pool formed on a workpiece and information on a progress direction of a machining point on the workpiece, and obtains an end point of the molten pool; and a molten pool information calculation unit that calculates a center position and a width of the molten pool using position information on the end point. An additive manufacturing apparatus includes: a control unit that adjusts a machining parameter of the additive manufacturing apparatus using a calculation result of the width of the molten pool; and a machining point correction unit that corrects a position of the machining point using a calculation result of the center position of the molten pool such that the molten pool having a center position matching a program command position that is based on a machining program is formed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2026
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shun Kayashima, Nobuyuki Sumi, Seiji Uozumi
  • Patent number: 12560188
    Abstract: A method for joining a first component to a second component includes providing a first component with a first joining part receiving section and creating a joining part on and/or in the first joining part receiving section via a generative method. The method also includes providing a second component with a second joining part receiving section, and joining the joining part to the second joining part receiving section of the second component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 24, 2026
    Assignee: Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Bernhard Glueck, Robert Kirschner, Ulrich Schmid
  • Patent number: 12557204
    Abstract: An apparatus for treating a substrate includes a support unit that supports the substrate and a nozzle that dispenses liquid plasma to etch a film formed on the substrate supported on the support unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 17, 2026
    Assignee: SEMES CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Sunmi Kim, Kyu Hwan Chang
  • Patent number: 12544854
    Abstract: A processing apparatus has: a light irradiation apparatus that irradiates a surface of an object with a processing light; and a measurement apparatus that measures a position of an irradiation area, which is formed on the surface of the object by the light irradiation apparatus, relative to the object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 10, 2026
    Assignee: NIKON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Masayuki Shiraishi, Shigeki Egami, Yoshio Kawabe, Yosuke Tatsuzaki, Baku Ogasawara
  • Patent number: 12515280
    Abstract: The invention provides a surface treatment method for a magnesium alloy hub. The process includes: cleaning a to-be-treated surface of the magnesium alloy hub; blackening the cleaned to-be-treated surface; and laser cladding the blackened to-be-treated surface, wherein a laser cladding mode is a synchronous powder feeding mode, and a coating material is chromium. According to the surface treatment method for the magnesium alloy hub, air holes can be avoided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 6, 2026
    Assignee: CITIC Dicastal Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Lin Tong
  • Patent number: 12508673
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method for determining a focal position of a machining beam, in particular a laser beam, relative to a workpiece when machining the workpiece using the machining beam, having the following steps: receiving at least one spatially resolved image of a workpiece region to be monitored, said region comprising the cut edges of a cut gap formed during the machining process on the upper face of the workpiece, ascertaining a gap width of the cut gap on the upper face of the workpiece using the cut edges in the at least one spatially resolved image, and determining the focal position of the machining beam relative to the workpiece using the ascertained gap width. The invention also relates to a corresponding device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 30, 2025
    Assignee: TRUMPF Werkzeugmaschinen SE + Co. KG
    Inventors: Winfried Magg, David Schindhelm, Boris Regaard
  • Patent number: 12440923
    Abstract: The present invention generally relates to a method of joining and sealing a vanadium based membrane to a metallic connection section. The invention is particularly applicable to joining a tubular vanadium or vanadium alloy membrane to a stainless steel body and it will be convenient to hereinafter disclose the invention in relation to that exemplary application. The present disclosure also includes methods of joining and sealing a vanadium based membrane to a metallic connection section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 14, 2025
    Assignee: COMMONWEALTH SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH ORGANISATION
    Inventors: David Michael Viano, Michael David Dolan
  • Patent number: 12409504
    Abstract: A welding rod assembly has a seat, a chuck, and a welding rod. The chuck has a socket for the welding rod. The seat has a passageway having an inlet and an outlet, and a fluid conduit through the seat. The apparatus that has a power supply having a main control unit, and a welding electrode. It has synthetic discharge signal generator programmed to produce DC discharges as output electrical signals from the power supply. Each discharge has a voltage, charge, starting time and polarity. The discharges define a synthetic AC output. It has an output polarity reversing switch. The apparatus includes three output terminals, a first of the output terminals being connected to the welding electrode, a second of said output terminals and a third of said output terminals having respective workpiece connections.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 9, 2025
    Assignee: HUYS INDUSTRIES LIMITED
    Inventors: Nigel Scotchmer, Franklin Rementer, Dominic Cheuk Hung Leung
  • Patent number: 12311468
    Abstract: An automated laser shock peening (LSP) process equipment system for an aero-engine blade, including: a base, where a loading and unloading manipulator, working manipulator, reverse engineering mechanism, coating apparatus, and LSP apparatus are disposed; the loading and unloading manipulator is configured to grab a blade and place it on the reverse engineering mechanism, which includes a reverse engineering instrument and controller that are connected, the instrument can generate three-dimensional digital data of the blade, and the controller generates a working path for coating and LSP according to the data, and transmits the path to the working manipulator; the loading and unloading manipulator places the blade into the pallet, and the working manipulator drives the blade to a corresponding position according to the path. Independent locating and clamping systems of the pallet and the blade and the pallet and the manipulator fix a position of the blade relative to the manipulator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 27, 2025
    Assignees: QINGDAO UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, SICHUAN FUTURE AEROSPACE INDUSTRY LLC
    Inventors: Changhe Li, Zechen Zhang, Bo Liu, Shun Zhang, Binwei Wang, Jiazhi Yao, Ang Li, Wei Gao, Yu Zhang, Bingheng Lu, Yanbin Zhang, Mingzheng Liu
  • Patent number: 12296406
    Abstract: Provided is a manufacturing method for a joint body having a blank material plated with a metal material and a hoop material plated with a metal material joined together by placing the hoop material on the blank material and causing a laser oscillation system to irradiate a surface of the hoop material with laser light to form a joint portion including a line-shaped welded portion where the blank material and the hoop material are joined together. In this manufacturing method, the hoop material is supplied to be placed on the blank material and form a predetermined gap d between the blank material and the hoop material, and the hoop material is irradiated with a laser at a position where the predetermined gap d is located between the blank material and the hoop material to join the blank material and the hoop material together by laser welding.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 1, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 13, 2025
    Assignee: Kobe Steel, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kenichi Watanabe, Takayuki Kimura, Liang Chen, Masao Hadano, Reiichi Suzuki
  • Patent number: 12194569
    Abstract: A system includes a robotic arm, a rotisserie control linkage, and a computer system. The robotic arm includes a touch probe and laser head. The rotisserie control linkage is configured to couple to a transport cart. The computer system is communicatively coupled to the robotic arm and the rotisserie control linkage and is configured to control the system to probe, using the touch probe of the robotic arm, a transparent outer layer of an aircraft canopy located on the transport cart in order to determine surface measurements of the aircraft canopy. The computer system also controls the system to ablate, using a plurality of predetermined parameters and the laser head of the robotic arm, an interface layer located between the transparent outer layer and the aircraft canopy, wherein movements of the robotic arm during the ablation are based on the surface measurements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2025
    Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation
    Inventors: Jeffrey P. Langevin, Jeffrey T. Drewett, David Haynes Coleman, Daniel John Flanagan, Steven E. Twaddle
  • Patent number: 12157183
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to methods and systems for monitoring a welding process for welding at least one glass workpiece to another workpiece, e.g., also made of glass, wherein a weld seam is formed in the workpieces in a process zone that is exposed to a pulsed processing beam, e.g., to a pulsed laser beam, such as an ultra-short-pulse laser beam, wherein the radiation emitted by the process zone is detected in a time-resolved manner.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2024
    Assignee: TRUMPF Laser- und Systemtechnik GmbH
    Inventors: Sebastian Hecker, Tim Hesse, Michael Scharun, Manuel Schindler, Kristian Alber
  • Patent number: 12128499
    Abstract: A workpiece positioning system for holding and manipulating a workpiece. The system includes a rail, a headstock assembly, and a tailstock assembly. The tailstock assembly is mountable to the rail in spaced relation to the headstock assembly to enable the workpiece to be supported between the headstock assembly and the tailstock assembly. The tailstock assembly includes a locking mechanism operable between a locking position in which the tailstock assembly is lockable against the rail in a desired position relative to the headstock, and an unlocked position in which the tailstock assembly is adapted to traverse the rail. The invention also provides a powder injection nozzle having a body and aa tube releasably connected to the body. The tube defines a through passage having at least one inlet for receiving a cladding material and an outlet for delivering the cladding material from the tube.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2024
    Assignee: LaserBond Limited
    Inventors: Gregory Hooper, Wayne Hooper
  • Patent number: 12089320
    Abstract: An induction heating device includes a case, a working coil, a base plate that is disposed vertically below the working coil, an indicator substrate support that is coupled to the case and that is disposed vertically below the base plate, an indicator substrate that is disposed on an upper surface of the indicator substrate support, that is disposed vertically below the base plate, and that is spaced apart from the base plate, an inverter substrate that is disposed at a lower surface of the indicator substrate support and that includes an inverter configured to apply a resonance current to the working coil through a switching operation, and a resonance substrate that is disposed at the lower surface of the indicator substrate support, that is connected to the working coil, and that includes a resonance capacitor configured to generate the resonance current based on the switching operation of the inverter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 10, 2024
    Assignee: LG Electronics Inc.
    Inventors: Seongjun Kim, Yongsoo Lee
  • Patent number: 12070153
    Abstract: A beverage maker includes a heating device for heating water, a cold water inflow, a first hot water outlet, at least one second hot water outlet, a cold water path connecting the cold water inflow to the heating device, a first hot water path connecting the heating device to the first hot water outlet, at least one second hot water path connecting the heating device to the at least one second hot water outlet, a conveying device for conveying water, a first flow meter that is arranged in the cold water path or in the first hot water path, and at least one second flow meter that is arranged in the at least one second hot water path. A method of determining hot water amounts dispensed by a beverage maker and/or hot water amounts used for beverage preparation is also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 27, 2024
    Assignee: WMF GmbH
    Inventors: Johannes Bais, Philipp Schirrmacher, Armin Startz
  • Patent number: 11991789
    Abstract: Provided is a heater that is excellent in heat equalizing property even when being narrow in a sweep direction. Also provided are a fixing device, an image-forming device, and a heating device each including such a heater. A heater is configured to heat an object to be heated in such a manner that at least one of the object to be heated and the heater is swept with the heater disposed opposite the object to be heated. The heater includes a base having a rectangular shape and a plurality of heating cells each independently receiving power supply, the heating cells being disposed on the base and arranged in a longitudinal direction of the base. Each of the heating cells includes a plurality of lateral wires extending in substantially parallel with the longitudinal direction of the base and a plurality of oblique wires tilted relative to the lateral wires.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2024
    Assignee: Misuzu Industry Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yuji Umemura, Tomoyoshi Aoyama, Shohei Kato, Miho Matsuda
  • Patent number: 11964340
    Abstract: A device for fabricating a quartz microfluidic chip by a femtosecond pulse cluster. The device includes: a femtosecond pulse cluster laser source configured to output a femtosecond pulse cluster; a beam splitting and interference system, configured to split the femtosecond pulse cluster into a plurality of parts, and to converge split parts to form a femtosecond pulse cluster plasma or a femtosecond pulse cluster plasma grating; a sample system configured to move the electronic displacement platform where a quartz glass is placed to control a position where the parts of the femtosecond pulse cluster are converged on the quartz glass; and a hydrofluoric acid immersion system configured to immerse the quartz glass in a diluent hydrofluoric acid solution to remove an ablated part of the quartz glass to form the quartz microfluidic chip.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Assignees: CHONGQING INSTITUTE OF EAST CHINA NORMAL UNIVERSITY, ROI OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO, LTD., EAST CHINA NORMAL UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Heping Zeng, Junyi Nan, Mengyun Hu
  • Patent number: 11951525
    Abstract: For producing a welded ring, a band of a length corresponding to the circumference of the ring is bent into a ring and its two ends are welded together. The band ends to be welded together have an offset in the circumferential direction of the ring, the offset lying in the plane of the band. The welding is performed from both lateral edges of the ring, from the outside to the inside up to the offset. Welding having an overall improved welding quality and a higher tensile strength is thus obtained.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2024
    Assignee: OETIKER SCHWEIZ AG
    Inventors: Stefan Miessmer, Andreas Vetter