Patents Examined by Harshad R Patel
  • Patent number: 11761858
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method enables vehicle tire wear prediction based on minimal input data points. Information is aggregated in a hierarchical data structure regarding historical tread values for multiple tires, and respective values associated with the historical tread values for each of multiple parameters that are hierarchically defined from highest to lowest levels. A current tire tread value is provided from a sensor associated with a first tire, and respective values associated with the current tire tread value are provided for each of the multiple hierarchically defined parameters. The current tire tread value is matched with information from the hierarchical data structure corresponding to matching values for one or more of the hierarchically defined parameters having at least a predetermined threshold number of available tread values, and a tire wear rate is predicted for the first tire based at least in part on the matched information from the hierarchical data structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2023
    Assignee: Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations, LLC
    Inventor: Maxfield H. Thompson
  • Patent number: 11754476
    Abstract: Microscale and/or mesoscale condenser arrays that can facilitate microfluidic separation and/or purification of mesoscale and/or nanoscale particles and methods of operation are described herein. An apparatus comprises a condenser array comprising pillars arranged in a plurality of columns, wherein a pillar gap greater than or equal to about 0.5 micrometers is located between a first pillar of the pillars in a first column of the columns and a second pillar of the plurality of pillars in the first column, and wherein the first pillar is adjacent to the second pillar. The first ratio can be characterized by Dx/Dy is less than or equal to a first defined value, wherein Dx represents a first distance across the lattice in a first direction, wherein Dy represents a second distance across the lattice in a second direction, and wherein the first direction is orthogonal to the second direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 2022
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2023
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Benjamin H. Wunsch, Joshua T. Smith, Sung-Cheol Kim, Stacey M. Gifford
  • Patent number: 11754479
    Abstract: A method and a system for analyzing a physical characteristic of a film sample are described herein. The system includes a material holder system configured to hold the film sample; and a tear analysis device configured to tear the film sample and measure a characteristic of the tear. The movable system is configured to move the film sample in the material holder system to the tear analysis device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2023
    Assignee: Dow Global Technologies LLC
    Inventors: Sanjay C. Solanki, Donald L. McCarty, II, Robert A. Gunther, Jin Wang, Kyle A. Myers, Scott J. Collick
  • Patent number: 11754428
    Abstract: A flow sensor sub-assembly for sensing flow of a fluidic medicament including a flow tube assembly through which said medicament flows, the flow tube assembly having: a flow tube having a lumen; an inlet fitting; and an outlet fitting; a first transducer arranged at the inlet fitting; and a second transducer arranged at the outlet fitting, wherein a transducer adhesive bonds said first transducer to the inlet fitting and said second transducer to the outlet fitting, and wherein the transducer adhesive dampens at least one of out of phase vibrations and rogue vibrations induced in the inlet and outlet fittings by transmission of sound energy between the first and second transducers and the inlet and outlet fittings.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2022
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2023
    Assignee: CRISI Medical Systems, Inc.
    Inventor: Shawn Wayne DeKalb
  • Patent number: 11747179
    Abstract: A magnetically inductive flow meter having a measuring tube with a wall, which includes an electrically insulating surface of a first material, and an electrode having an electrode axis, wherein the electrode has at least one electrode end surface for tapping off a measuring signal, in particular a measuring voltage, in a measuring medium, and has an electrode shank extending through the measuring tube wall, wherein the electrode has a stop projecting from the electrode shank with a stop surface to limit the displaceability of the electrode relative to the wall along the electrode axis, wherein the electrode has an electrically insulating coating in a region of the electrode shank and in a region of the stop surface, wherein the material of the electrically insulating coating has a Shore hardness which is equal to or lower than that of the first material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2023
    Assignee: Endress+Hauser Flowtec AG
    Inventors: Thomas Sulzer, Florent Tschambser
  • Patent number: 11740117
    Abstract: Methods for operating a flowmeter diagnostic tool are provided that comprise interfacing the diagnostic tool with a flowmeter (5) sensor assembly (10). A base prover volume (BPV), a desired number of passes per run, and/or a maximum number of allowed runs may be input into the diagnostic tool. Flowmeter data is received. An estimated total prove time (TPT) necessary to pass a predetermined repeatability requirement, an estimated minimum number of runs needed to achieve the calculated TPT, and/or an estimated minimum BPV may be calculated. A standard deviation of the flowmeter sensor assembly flow rate (?) is calculated, and the number of samples used to calculate a is determined. A meter-specific factor (MSF) is calculated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2023
    Assignee: Micro Motion, Inc.
    Inventors: Marc Allan Buttler, Andrew Timothy Patten, James S. Deacy
  • Patent number: 11738610
    Abstract: A detection system for extracting information from a sensor module in a rolling wheel comprises: a sensor module which comprises a sensor adapted for sensing a physical property of the tire when mounted in a tire of the wheel or on an inner surface of a tire of the wheel; an acquisition module adapted for sampling a signal from the sensor module, thus obtaining a sequence of data samples; a correlation module adapted for cross-correlating a signed reference sequence with the sequence of data samples thus obtaining a correlation sequence; an extraction module adapted for identifying at least one perturbation in the correlation sequence, wherein the perturbation is induced when a part of the tire where the sensor is mounted hits the ground thereby forming the tire patch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2023
    Assignee: MELEXIS TECHNOLOGIES SA
    Inventor: Jeremie Chabloz
  • Patent number: 11740257
    Abstract: A self-disengaging pitot tube cover which is a longitudinally segmented substantially cylindrical structure constituted by at least two separable segments where separation of at least two segments is controlled by temperature sensing and effected by a fusible link holding two adjacent segments together; so that the separated segments lose hold on the pitot tube, when a particular temperature of the pitot tube is reached.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2023
    Assignee: DEGROFF AVIATION TECHNOLOGIES
    Inventors: Steven A. DeGroff, Phillip R. Russell, David J. Hockemeyer
  • Patent number: 11738604
    Abstract: A sensor retaining system for a vehicle tire is provided. The tire includes a pair of sidewalls extending from a respective bead area to a tread, which is formed with a plurality of tread elements. A sensor unit is mounted to the tire and includes a pair of electrical contacts. A tread wear sensor extends into one of the tread elements and includes a wire. The wire includes proximal ends, each one of which contacts a sensor unit electrical contact to create an electrical circuit. A flexible container is mounted to an innerliner of the tire. A cup includes a base and a sidewall that cooperate to form a cavity, and a bottom of the tread wear sensor and the sensor unit are received in the cavity. The cup maintains a connection between the electrical contacts and the wire proximal ends, and is disposed in the flexible container.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2023
    Assignee: The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
    Inventors: Junling Zhao, Peter Jung-min Suh, Jeffrey McKay West, Arun Kumar Byatarayanapura Gopala, Michael William Kestner, Andrew Peter Killmeyer
  • Patent number: 11733078
    Abstract: A piezoelectric cell support for an ultrasonic transducer, the support including a front face having formed thereon: a first shoulder that defines a bearing surface and a bottom of a central cavity surrounded by the bearing surface, the bearing surface being suitable for having a piezoelectric cell placed thereon; retention device(s) for holding the piezoelectric cell on the bearing surface and for positioning it angularly; and a rear face having a sloping surface that gives a top portion of the support a first thickness that is less than a second thickness of a bottom portion of the support.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2023
    Assignee: SAGEMCOM ENERGY & TELECOM SAS
    Inventor: Abbas Sabraoui
  • Patent number: 11733080
    Abstract: A system for measuring a rising velocity and a deformation of a bubble in a viscous fluid includes a sample cell configured to hold a viscous fluid, a variable-diameter syringe provided at a bottom of the sample cell and configured to generate a bubble in the viscous fluid, two ultrasonic transmitting and receiving transducers arranged at different heights of the sample cell and configured to transmit first ultrasonic signals to the viscous fluid and receive second ultrasonic signals reflected by the bubble, and a host computer configured to analyze time-domain information of the second ultrasonic signals received by the two ultrasonic transmitting and receiving transducers, calculate the rising velocity of the bubble, build a mathematical model about a bubble size and a reflected sound pressure, analyze frequency-domain information of the second ultrasonic signals received by the two ultrasonic transmitting and receiving transducers, and calculate the deformation of the bubble.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2022
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2023
    Assignee: ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Fei Wang, Jinhui Fan
  • Patent number: 11733115
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatuses are provided for detecting conditions associated with a fluid conduit. An apparatus includes an insert having an internal conduit to connect with the fluid conduit and a plenum volume, and a detection device including a housing connected to the insert within the plenum volume, an acoustic sensor to receive acoustic signals, an acoustic exciter to apply acoustic signals to the housing, and a controller. The controller is electrically connected to the acoustic sensor and the acoustic exciter. The controller is configured to cause the acoustic exciter to apply an input acoustic signal to the housing, receive the acoustic signals from the housing using the acoustic sensor, analyze the received acoustic signals to determine a pipe condition of a pipe defining the fluid conduit or fluidically connected to the fluid conduit, and cause data representative of the pipe condition to be transmitted to an external device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2023
    Assignee: Orbis Intelligent Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Daniel Milne Krywyj, Jeffrey A. Prsha
  • Patent number: 11733428
    Abstract: There is disclosed a self-powered apparatus for measuring precipitation, comprising: a housing; a display unit including one or more display lights capable of displaying an amount of precipitation, wherein the display lights are formed on at least one of outer surfaces of the housing; a water collecting vessel, having a funnel-shaped space to which the precipitation is introduced and gathered at a vertex part of the funnel-shaped space; a cup module, having an accommodating space for accommodating the precipitation dropped from the vertex part of the funnel-shaped space of the water collecting vessel; an electric signaling unit; a guiding module; a self-powered generator; and a final drainage opening, formed at a lower part of the housing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2022
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2023
    Assignee: National Institute of Meteorological Sciences
    Inventors: Geon Tae Kim, Seon Jeong Kim, Jin Hwa Lee, Ji Seon Bak, Baek Jo Kim
  • Patent number: 11733018
    Abstract: A measuring device is adapted for measuring a change of linear dimension of a shaft body of a bearing device along an axis due to thermal expansion. The measuring device includes a stationary seat and a strain unit. The strain unit includes an actuator and a strain member. The actuator is adapted to be mounted to the shaft body, and is movable relative to the stationary seat along the axis as a result of the change of linear dimension of the shaft body. The strain member is deformable, is secured to the stationary seat and is connected to the actuator such that movement of the actuator along the axis results in a force applied to the strain member which deforms the strain member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2023
    Inventor: Kuo-Hsuan Huang
  • Patent number: 11725968
    Abstract: A method and system for measuring a time of flight can involve correlating a signal comprising a reflected signal from a first transducer to a second transducer, or a subsequent reflected signal at the first transducer or the second transducer, with a previously received signal to produce a correlation for a measurement of a time of flight. The signal(s) can include one or more of a pulse train, acoustic sound; ultrasonic sound; or light, and the previously received signal can be a signal that has been reflected one or more times.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2023
    Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
    Inventors: Ralf Heinrich Schröder genannt Berghegger, Andreas Wuchrer, Tobias Meimberg, Christian Lampe-Jürgens, Norbert Flerage
  • Patent number: 11719611
    Abstract: A method produces a void fraction (VF) error curve which correlates an apparent VF with the actual VF of a multi-phase flow, the method comprising (a) using a device to measure a property of the multi-phase flow from which an apparent VF may be calculated; (b) calculating the apparent VF using the measured property from the device; (c) determining the actual VF of the multiphase flow using a radiometric densitometer; (d) using the values from steps (b) and (c) to calculate the VF error; (e) repeating steps (b) through (d) for all expected flow conditions to generate a VF error curve.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2023
    Assignee: M-Flow Technologies Limited
    Inventors: Alan David Parker, Giles Edward
  • Patent number: 11719673
    Abstract: A structure of a flow cell assembly for a chromatography detector is used to generate a chromatograph of a sample, and includes a capillary extending in one direction, a housing that houses at least part of the capillary and a ferrule that holds the capillary in the housing. The capillary includes an inner tube formed of a material having a refractive index lower than that of water, and an outer tube formed of a material having strength higher than that of the material of the inner tube and has an outer diameter that is equal to or smaller than 5 mm. An outer peripheral surface of the inner tube and an inner peripheral surface of the outer tube adhere to each other, and a flow path through which a mobile phase including a sample flows is formed in the inner tube.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2023
    Assignee: Shimadzu Corporation
    Inventor: Yohei Toji
  • Patent number: 11719228
    Abstract: A motorized rolling maintenance cart that utilizes the angled trailing edge geometry of an airfoil-shaped body (such as a wind turbine blade or rotor blade) to traverse the length of the airfoil-shaped body. The trailing edge-following maintenance cart may be used to carry personnel doing maintenance activities on the blades, such as local repairs or re-painting. In accordance with one aspect, the maintenance cart carries non-destructive inspection sensor units or other maintenance hardware over the surface of the airfoil-shaped body (e.g., in a spanwise direction). In accordance with another aspect, the trailing edge-following maintenance cart is configured to also provide fall protection to one or more independently movable crawler vehicles by means of cables. Alternative embodiments may include only one of the two aspects.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2023
    Assignee: The Boeing Company
    Inventors: Gary E. Georgeson, Joseph L. Hafenrichter
  • Patent number: 11713989
    Abstract: A method for noninvasive determination of the flow or the flow rate in an electrically conductive object, through which a gaseous medium flows, by an acoustic flow meter, wherein an emitting transducer is arranged on the object wall—and a receiving transducer is arranged spaced apart in the longitudinal direction of the object on the object wall, an ultrasonic wave is generated in the object by the emitting transducer, which is partially coupled as a longitudinal wave into the medium, and a useful signal, which at least partially results due to the longitudinal wave, is detected by the receiving transducer, the flow rate is determined from the useful signal via an evaluation device, the emitting transducer is arranged in a first position in the circumferential direction around a longitudinal axis of the object and the receiving transducer is arranged in a second position, varied in relation to the first position around the longitudinal axis, outside the main beam of the ultrasonic wave, and the width of the m
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2023
    Assignee: Rosen Swiss AG
    Inventors: Martin Brücher, Rüdiger Bauernschmitt, Natalia Rodriguez
  • Patent number: 11709083
    Abstract: A flow-rate measuring apparatus transmits and receives a measurement signal between first and second transducers through a fluid inside a pipe, the measurement signal having a plurality of frequencies and a time length. The flow-rate measuring apparatus calculates a correlation coefficient between a reference signal corresponding to the transmitted measurement signal, and the received measurement signal. The flow-rate measuring apparatus calculates a flow rate of the fluid inside the pipe based on the measurement signal, when a peak value of the correlation coefficient is higher than a threshold. The flow-rate measuring apparatus retransmits the measurement signal with changing at least one of the frequency and the time length of the measurement signal, when the peak value of the correlation coefficient is equal to or lower than the threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 25, 2023
    Assignee: OMRON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Naoki Yoshitake, Yui Ishida, Yoshitaka Tsurukame