Patents Examined by Pedro J. Cuevas
  • Patent number: 11261782
    Abstract: A portable power pack is carried on a back frame and harness. The power pack is battery-operated or gasoline-operated capable of generating up to two thousand two hundred Watts (2200 W) of 110-VAC power. A removable shroud can also be selectively attachable to the frame if so desired.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2022
    Inventor: Donald W. Alvis
  • Patent number: 11255216
    Abstract: An electric machine (212) comprises a turbomachine rotor (203) having a hub (302) and an axis of rotation (A-A) about which the turbomachine rotor is arranged to rotate. The turbomachine rotor includes a plurality of blades (301). Each blade has a root (303) attached to the hub, a tip (304) remote from the hub, a leading edge (305) and a trailing edge (306), a pressure side and a suction side (307). A stator (502) is located circumferentially around the turbomachine rotor. Each blade further comprises a rotor element at the tip comprising a permanent magnet having a first pole (401) and a second pole (402), the first pole being located adjacent the suction side of the blade and the second pole being located adjacent the pressure side such that a magnetic flux path extends perpendicularly through the blade tip.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 22, 2022
    Assignee: ROLLS-ROYCE PLC
    Inventor: Ellis F H Chong
  • Patent number: 11258324
    Abstract: Fault-tolerant four-phase electric drive systems are provided. One such system comprises: a rotary electric machine having a permanent magnet rotor and an alternate-wound stator having eight evenly-spaced coils arranged in pairs, each coil in each pair being separated by 180 degrees; a first phase (?A) comprising a first one of the coil pairs and a first phase drive circuit connected therewith; a second phase (?B) separated by +45 degrees from the first phase and comprising a second one of the coil pairs and a second phase drive circuit connected therewith; a third phase (?C) separated by +90 degrees from the first phase and comprising a third one of the coil pairs and a third phase drive circuit connected therewith; a fourth phase (?D) separated by +135 degrees from the first phase and comprising a fourth one of the coil pairs and a fourth phase drive circuit connected therewith; and a controller connected with the first, second, third and fourth phase drive circuits to control operation thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 22, 2022
    Assignee: ROLLS-ROYCE plc
    Inventors: Stephen M. Husband, Jeffrey Hobday
  • Patent number: 11258379
    Abstract: Described herein are devices in which quantum noise is reduced, such as by incorporating the devices as part of or adjacent to a Casimir cavity. The devices with reduced quantum noise can be paired with a free-space electric device to allow for a difference in noise power between the two to be captured.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 22, 2022
    Assignee: THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, A BODY CORPORATE
    Inventor: Garret Moddel
  • Patent number: 11248586
    Abstract: The application relates to a battery storage and a wind turbine including a generator for generation of an electric current. An electric flow path configured for conducting the electric current to an electric grid via a power converter, the power converter. A battery storage electrically connected to the electric flow path, the battery storage including a plurality of battery cells, each battery cell including at least one battery element and at least two semiconductor switches. Wherein a controller is configured for selectively controlling the voltage over the battery storage by controlling the status of the at least two semiconductor switches of a plurality of the battery cells and thereby if a current path through the battery storage is bypassing the at least one battery element or passing through the at least one battery element of one or more of the plurality of battery cells.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 15, 2022
    Assignee: KK Wind Solutions A/S
    Inventors: Chris Damgaard, Lóránd Bede, Anders Eggert Maarbjerg
  • Patent number: 11251723
    Abstract: Described herein are systems incorporating a Casimir cavity, such as an optical Casimir cavity or a plasmon Casimir cavity. The Casimir cavity modifies the zero-point energy density therein as compared to outside of the Casimir cavity. The Casimir cavities are paired in the disclosed systems with product generating devices and the difference in zero-point energy densities is used to directly drive the generation of products, such as chemical reaction products or emitted light.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 8, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 15, 2022
    Assignee: THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, A BODY CORPORATE
    Inventor: Garret Moddel
  • Patent number: 11242838
    Abstract: The disclosed invention is a description of the means to create increased mechanical advantage by taking advantage of the rotation of confined liquid matter. The process described uses liquid both as a mass to store rotational energy, and at the same time the rotating liquid is used as a motive force to drive a rotating shell. A description of the process and one possible embodiment are presented.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 8, 2022
    Assignee: Werlpower, LLC
    Inventor: John B. Mcclurkin, Jr.
  • Patent number: 11231012
    Abstract: A system and method are provided for controlling a wind turbine of a wind farm. Accordingly, a controller determines a performance differential for the wind turbine at multiple sampling intervals of a yaw event. The controller determines a trendline for the wind turbine correlating the performance differential to a deviation of a wind direction at each of the multiple sampling intervals from an first yaw angle. A difference between an angle associated with the vertex of the trendline and the first yaw angle are utilized by the controller to determine a yaw angle offset. The yaw angle offset is used to adjust a second yaw angle of the wind turbine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 25, 2022
    Assignee: General Electric Renovables Espana, S.L.
    Inventors: Samuel Bryan Shartzer, Scott Charles Evans, Dhiraj Arora, Bernard P. Landa, Joerg Wanink
  • Patent number: 11220999
    Abstract: One embodiment provides a system for facilitating fault diagnosis. During operation, the system collects current signals associated with a physical object which comprises a rotating machine. The system demodulates the collected signals to obtain current envelope signals, which eliminates fundamental frequencies and retains fault-related frequencies. The system resamples the current envelope signals, which converts the fault-related frequencies to constant frequency components. The system enlarges, by a fault-amplifying convolution layer, the resampled envelope signals to obtain fault information. The system provides the fault information as input to a deep convolutional neural network (CNN). The system generates, by the deep CNN, an output which comprises the fault diagnosis for the physical object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2022
    Assignee: Palo Alto Research Center Incorporated
    Inventor: Fangzhou Cheng
  • Patent number: 11223255
    Abstract: An electric motor includes a front end cover, a rotary output shaft extending through the front end cover from an inner cavity of the electric motor, and a gear transmission mechanism provided inside the inner cavity of the electric motor. The rotary output shaft includes an inner rotary shaft and an outer rotary shaft that are arranged concentrically. The gear transmission is in a transmission connection with the inner rotary shaft and the outer rotary shaft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2022
    Assignee: GUANGDONG MIDEA CONSUMER ELECTRICS MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Xiantang Liang, Liancheng Chen, Congshan Pang, Zhenfeng Yang, Guangren Yang
  • Patent number: 11215165
    Abstract: An energy-harvesting building structure has multiple levels, a vertical shaft (central vortex tower] to direct wind upward toward an outlet at the top, and multiple wind powered turbines in the shaft. Wind collection areas on multiple levels are exposed to multiple directions. Wind vanes pivot into a backstopped position for redirecting wind to spiral inward toward the shaft. Wind twisters receive and further redirect wind inward and upward into the shaft to feed an air vortex driving the turbines at different levels. Two concentric stages of wind vanes may be included within wind collection areas, with the inner stage vanes having a surface which deforms in one direction but not the other. The building can include occupancy zones between wind collection levels. Heated air can be released into the bottom of the shaft to feed the vortex. At a top level, another wind turbine can draw wind up the shaft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 4, 2022
    Inventor: Branko Mizerit
  • Patent number: 11215126
    Abstract: A control circuit for a dual fuel generator includes a primary fuel valve to control the supply of a primary fuel, a secondary fuel valve to control the supply of a secondary fuel, a primary fuel pressure switch to detect the primary fuel, a secondary fuel pressure switch to detect the secondary fuel, and a controller. The controller is configured to receive a primary signal for availability of the primary fuel from the primary fuel pressure switch and a secondary signal for availability of the secondary fuel from the secondary and operate the primary fuel valve and the secondary fuel valve in response to the primary signal and the secondary signal. When the secondary fuel valve is open so that the secondary fuel is provided to the dual fuel generator, the control circuit is configured to ground the primary signal by connecting the primary fuel pressure switch to ground.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 4, 2022
    Assignee: Kohler Co.
    Inventors: Harrison Chiu, Peter Thompson, Seth Gudmundson, Zachary Meulemans
  • Patent number: 11205994
    Abstract: The present invention provides a solar photovoltaic installation capable of storing power while supplying power during daytime when solar radiation conditions are excellent. The solar photovoltaic installation of the invention includes at least a first solar module string 11 and a second solar module string 12 as solar module strings 10, the solar photovoltaic installation further includes at least a first storage battery array 21 and a second storage battery array 22 as storage battery arrays 20, and while power storage capacity detection means 60 detects that the second storage battery array 22 is less than a predetermined capacity and voltage detection means 50 detects voltage of more than predetermined voltage, the control means 40 connects the first solar module string 11 to a power conditioner 30, and connects the second solar module string 12 to the second storage battery array 22.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 21, 2021
    Assignee: CHURAECONET LLC
    Inventor: Kazuhiro Takahashi
  • Patent number: 11199173
    Abstract: A system for generating electrical energy from the wave motion of the sea is provided with electrical-energy generating means for exploiting the wave motion of the sea in order to generate electrical energy. A floating body is provided with equipment designed to regulate the frequency of the resonance peak of the system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 14, 2021
    Assignees: POLITECNICO DI TORINO, MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, WAVE FOR ENERGY S.R.L.
    Inventors: Giuliana Mattiazzo, Giacomo Vissio, Biagio Passione, Sergej Antonello Sirigu, Nicola Pozzi, Giovanni Bracco, Stefano Brizzolara, Andrea Gulisano
  • Patent number: 11193471
    Abstract: A pitch energy module comprising one or more ultracapacitors storing electrical energy for a wind turbine emergency pitch energy event. The pitch energy module replaces at least one battery within a battery housing of a wind turbine and interfaces with the existing battery wiring harness to communicate with a control system of the wind turbine. The pitch energy module is installed without further modification to the battery housing or the battery wiring harness.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 7, 2021
    Assignee: Richardson Electronics, Ltd.
    Inventors: Jeremy Winston Wilks, John Raymond Curran, Brian Christopher Gumino
  • Patent number: 11193470
    Abstract: A method for operating a wind turbine, in particular at a location characterized by a cold climate is provided. The method includes, specifying an air density at a location of the wind turbine, setting a blade angle of an adjustable rotor blade based on an output power, torque and/or rotor speed. The method includes setting the blade angle as a function of a at pitch characteristic curve which specifies the blade angle as a function of the output power, the torque and/or the rotor speed and as a function of the air density. According to the pitch characteristic curve, the blade angle has a minimum as a function of the air density in a region of a reference density of an atmosphere at the location which is characterized by a cold climate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 7, 2021
    Assignee: Wobben Properties GmbH
    Inventors: Ralf Messing, Stefanie Bott, Hendrik Schnell
  • Patent number: 11190114
    Abstract: A nano manipulator comprises a base and a clamping structure. The clamping structure comprises two nanofiber actuators located on the base and spaced from each other. Each of the two nanofiber actuators comprises a composite structure and a vanadium dioxide layer. The composite structure comprises a carbon nanotube wire and an aluminum oxide layer. The aluminum oxide layer is coated on a surface of the carbon nanotube wire, and the aluminum oxide layer and the carbon nanotube wire are located coaxially with each other. The vanadium dioxide layer is coated on a surface of the composite structure, and the vanadium dioxide layer and the composite structure are located non-coaxially with each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 30, 2021
    Assignees: Tsinghua University, HON HAI PRECISION INDUSTRY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Guang Wang, He Ma, Xiang Jin, Hua Yuan, Yang Wei, Qun-Qing Li, Kai-Li Jiang, Shou-Shan Fan
  • Patent number: 11186378
    Abstract: An aircraft power plant has: a hybrid propulsion system having an electric motor, an output shaft drivingly connectable to a thrust generator, a combustion engine, a compressor, and a transmission having a first transmission drive path and a second transmission drive path selectively engageable to the first transmission drive path, the electric motor and the compressor in driving engagement with the first transmission drive path, the combustion engine and the output shaft in driving engagement with the second transmission drive path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 30, 2021
    Assignee: PRATT & WHITNEY CANADA CORP.
    Inventors: Jean Dubreuil, Richard Ullyott
  • Patent number: 11187208
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method for monitoring performance of a multi-rotor wind turbine. According to the method parameter for each of the wind turbine modules of the multi-rotor wind turbine is obtained. The parameters of each of the wind turbine modules are compared, e.g. by means of a comparison parameter determined from the individual parameters. Dependent on the result of the comparison, a performance action is initiated, e.g. for the purpose of further characterization or verification of a deviating parameter determined via the comparison.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 30, 2021
    Assignee: VESTAS WIND SYSTEMS A/S
    Inventor: Erik Carl Lehnskov Miranda
  • Patent number: 11150066
    Abstract: Disclosed is a hybrid electric torpedo that includes an igniter having a resistance, a current source, and a contactor. The torpedo includes a controller having input channels operable to receive a battery state of charge and the resistance and output channels configured to operate the contactor to control the current source of the igniter. The controller includes stored memory instructions operable upon execution to operate the contactor to conduct current through the igniter such that a temperature of the igniter increases. The contactor is operated responsive to the battery state of charge being less than a predetermined state of charge threshold and the resistance being less than a predetermined open circuit threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2021
    Assignee: HAMILTON SUNDSTRAND CORPORATION
    Inventor: Richard A. Himmelmann