Patents Examined by Peter Macchiarolo
  • Patent number: 9885621
    Abstract: A stitched sensor including a plurality of threads stitched to a textile in a stitch geometry is described. The plurality of threads includes a conductive thread, and the stitch geometry is configured such that an electrical property of the stitched sensor changes based on at least one of stretching, relaxation, or bending of the textile. Methods for forming a stitched sensor are also described.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2018
    Assignee: Regents of the University of Minnesota
    Inventors: Lucy E. Dunne, Guido Gioberto
  • Patent number: 9885650
    Abstract: An accelerated life testing device and method including an accelerated life testing method for a test piece within a test chamber, the method including: establishing a first atmosphere within the test chamber; changing the first atmosphere to a second atmosphere to form a deposition layer on the test piece; changing the second atmosphere to the first atmosphere to remove the deposition layer from the test piece; and repeating the changing the first atmosphere to the second atmosphere and the changing the second atmosphere to the first atmosphere to form an oxidation layer on the test piece.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2018
    Assignee: Medtronic MiniMed, Inc.
    Inventors: Darren Y. K. Yap, Alexander E. Holmes
  • Patent number: 9879586
    Abstract: An object of the present invention is to distinguish and detect an abnormality of SCRF and an abnormality of a diffusing device in a system in which a diffusing device is provided for an exhaust gas passage between a filter (SCRF) including an SCR catalyst carried thereon and a reducing agent addition valve.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2018
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Yuriko Hagimoto
  • Patent number: 9880044
    Abstract: A level sensor includes a substrate having at least one reflective side surface, at least one wave generator on one end of the substrate configured to transmit a wave down the surface of the substrate and a plurality of reflective echelons mounted on the substrate such that each echelon is at an angle relative to reflective side surface. The reflective echelons are configured to convert a wave of a first mode in to a wave of a second mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2018
    Assignee: STREET SMART SENSORS LLC
    Inventors: Terence J. Knowles, Charles F. Bremigan, III
  • Patent number: 9873189
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method for operating a hand-held working device (1), which comprises a data acquisition unit (24) in which actuations of the trigger switch and accelerations of the working device (1) are captured. In order to further simplify and/or improve the operation of the hand-held working device, it is monitored within a limited period of time after actuation of the trigger switch whether an acceleration of the working device (1) exceeds an acceleration threshold in order to detect trouble-free ignitions and/or ignition problems during the operation of the working device (1).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2018
    Assignee: Hilti Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Uwe Gerold, Norbert Welte, Thorsten Sauer
  • Patent number: 9874510
    Abstract: A magnetic chip device such as a chip detector or chip collector, comprising a horseshoe magnet held within a housing and having two adjacent tips protruding from the housing, and having a plurality of portions extending sequentially from one of the tips to the other, the plurality of portions including two end portions, each one of the two end portions extending to a corresponding one of the tips, and a rare-earth magnet portion made of a rare earth magnet material and positioned between the two end portions in the sequence.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2018
    Assignee: PRATT & WHITNEY CANADA CORP.
    Inventor: Richard Kudrna
  • Patent number: 9873921
    Abstract: An ultrasonic sample evaluation process in which a vial containing a liquid medium is placed on a receptacle and a ultrasonic source signal is propagated upwards in the vertical direction through the liquid medium. A number of reflected ultrasonic signals is received at the bottom of the sample vial and evaluated to identify a pattern characteristic of a reflection off the meniscus, and the presence of a pattern characteristic of a collection implement located in the liquid medium. An estimate of the amount of liquid medium contained in the sample vial is generated based on a time characteristic of the pattern characteristic of a reflection off the meniscus, and a signal indicating the presence of a collection implement in the liquid medium is generated upon identifying such a pattern.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2018
    Assignee: Qiagen Gaithersburg, Inc.
    Inventor: Bradley Scott Thomas
  • Patent number: 9874496
    Abstract: A system and method estimating a vehicle tire load includes a tire static load estimator estimating a static tire load using a tire attached TPMS sensor; a Kalman filter based tire deflection estimator estimating tire vertical deflection; a load variation estimator estimating the instantaneous load variation by using the tire vertical deflection information; and an output tire load estimator calculating an output load estimation mathematically by fusing the static tire load with the instantaneous load variation information. The tire deflection estimator includes a chassis accelerometer measuring a chassis vertical acceleration; and a hub accelerometer measuring a wheel hub vertical acceleration of the tire. A linear filter model receives as inputs the chassis vertical acceleration and the wheel hub vertical acceleration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2018
    Assignee: The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
    Inventor: Kanwar Bharat Singh
  • Patent number: 9869608
    Abstract: To show an image with minimal sense of discomfort felt by an occupant without quickening an updating cycle of an on-screen image, a virtual data generator making up a vehicle meter indicator device generates virtual data based on an arbitrary engine rotation speed between an engine rotation speed proportional to an image currently shown on a liquid crystal display device and a latest engine rotation speed rather than display data based on the latest engine rotation speed immediately before updating if the engine rotation speed declines. This allows the liquid crystal display device to show the generated virtual data on a liquid crystal panel as a virtual image for updating.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2018
    Assignee: HONDA MOTOR CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Takashi Tetsuka, Takeshi Kitajima
  • Patent number: 9869688
    Abstract: Device for solid-phase microextraction and analysis of substances to be analyzed, in particular in a gas chromatograph, with at least one collector, which is made of sorbent and/or adsorbent material and is placed on a rod-like support, and with at least one sample container, which is sealed with a pierceable partition wall and into which the collector is introduced piercing the partition wall for a sampling time, wherein the sealing of the sample container is assembled from the pierceable partition wall and a clamping ring, which can be mounted on the sample container and presses the partition wall together with a sealing element onto an upper rim of the sample container, and which comprises a socket in which a fitting of a transport adapter which is attached to a handling end of the rod-like support can be anchored detachably and with sealing surface pressure after the collector is inserted into the sample container following piercing the partition wall.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2018
    Assignee: GERSTEL SYSTEMTECHNIK GMBH & CO. KG
    Inventors: Ralf Bremer, Bernhard Rose
  • Patent number: 9869233
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is a fault diagnosis method of a thermostat including: confirming, by a controller, whether a flow stop valve is equipped in a vehicle; if it is determined that the flow stop valve is equipped in the vehicle, diagnosing the flow stop valve; and if it is determined that the diagnosis on the flow stop valve ends, diagnosing the thermostat to determine whether the thermostat is faulty.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2018
    Assignee: HYUNDAI MOTOR COMPANY
    Inventors: Jung Sup Byun, Seong Kyu Park
  • Patent number: 9869406
    Abstract: A securing tool and methods for its use are described herein. In various embodiments, the securing tool may include a handle and a prying member positioned at a first end of the securing tool opposite the handle. The prying member may be shaped to engage a release of a self-tensioned hose clamp to cause the handle to be manipulable to spring the self-tensioned hose clamp. The securing tool may include first and second sensors configured to provide first and second signals, respectively, that are indicative of sensed occurrence of first and second events after the handle is manipulated to spring the self-tensioned hose clamp. In various embodiments, if the first and second signals satisfy a criterion, the hose clamp may be deemed to have been properly installed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2018
    Inventor: Robert Carl Shields
  • Patent number: 9869664
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for determining trace amounts of water in oil, including the steps of obtaining a blended sample of a low water content fluid including an amount of water and an amount of oil, transferring a portion of the blended sample to a cuvette to create a measurement sample, covering a viewing surface of the cuvette with an opaque sheet with a slit, providing a barrier with a fixed opening between a laser source and a laser-receptive surface of the cuvette, transmitting a pulsed laser beam from the laser source into the cuvette; inducing fluorescence in the measurement sample, focusing the fluorescence through a collecting lens and transmitting the fluorescence to a spectrometer, and measuring the fluorescence with the spectrometer by dispersing the fluorescence with a spectrograph and intensifying the fluorescence with an intensified charge coupled device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2018
    Assignee: SAUDI ARABIAN OIL COMPANY
    Inventors: Ezzat M. Hegazi, Abdul Rahman Zafer Akhras
  • Patent number: 9863832
    Abstract: A method and system for identifying a work piece center of mass includes coupling a work piece to a manipulator assembly. The manipulator assembly includes a force and torque sensor. The work piece is positioned in at least two different orientations relative to a gravity vector with the manipulator assembly. The at least two different orientations include at least first and second orientations. In the first orientation the force and torque sensor measures a first torque and at least a first force associated with the work piece in the first orientation. In the second orientation the force and torque sensor measures a second torque associated with the work piece in the second orientation. The work piece center of mass is identified according to at least the measured first and second torques and at least the first force.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2018
    Assignee: Raytheon Company
    Inventor: Anthony R. Vulcano
  • Patent number: 9863827
    Abstract: Collecting data includes generating a sensor signal from each of a plurality of sensors located on a sensing roll, wherein each signal is generated when each sensor enters a region of a nip between the sensing roll and mating roll during each rotation of the sensing roll; wherein a web of material travels through the nip and a continuous band, which also travels through the nip, contacts a region of the web of material upstream from or in the nip. A periodically occurring time reference is generated associated with each rotation of the continuous band and the signal generated by each sensor is received so that the one of the plurality of sensors which generated this signal is determined and one of a plurality of tracking segments associated with the continuous band is identified. The signal is stored to associate the respective sensor signal with the identified one tracking segment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2018
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL PAPER COMPANY
    Inventor: Kerry D. Figiel
  • Patent number: 9863838
    Abstract: The present invention provides an air tightness detection device for an aluminum alloy wheel hub, which is characterized by precision air pressure sensors, a lower clamp, a cone cylinder pressure plate, air pipes, a pressure plate, guide posts, an air inlet pipe, and a compressed gas control and detection system. A technical solution of the present invention has the following advantages that the cone cylinder pressure plate of the detection device reduces the space of an inner cavity of the wheel hub to further reduce inflating volume, thereby increasing detection efficiency; the characteristics of readily availability for preparation, no pollution and low cost are achieved by taking compressed air as a leakage indication gas.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 20, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2018
    Assignee: CITIC Dicastal CO., LTD
    Inventors: Chunhai Liu, Zhigao Yin, Debin Tang, Jinqi Lv, Zhipeng Li, Aiguo Zhang, Zhihua Zhu, Yongning Wang, Changhai Li
  • Patent number: 9863847
    Abstract: A standard engine cold test method includes instructing, by a control device, a tester to perform an engine test. The tester drives a motor with a standard mode or a general mode according to a control of the control device to operate an engine which is a test object. The tester measures engine information depending on an operation of the engine using a sensor. A gathering device gathers the measured engine information. The gathered engine information is analyzed to determine abnormality of the engine.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2018
    Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company
    Inventors: Ho Jae Shin, Joong Cheol Nam, Jong Gu Do
  • Patent number: 9865891
    Abstract: A system for diagnosing a cooling water state applied to a cooling water pump control system is provided. The cooling water pump control system includes a speed controller that generates an output current instruction value of an inverter to provide power to a cooling water pump based on a difference between a speed instruction value of the cooling water pump and an actual speed measurement value of the cooling water pump. The system for diagnosing a cooling water state includes a pump speed prediction model unit that generates a speed estimation value to predict a speed of the cooling water pump based on the output current instruction value, and a pump state diagnosing unit that compares the speed estimation value and the actual speed measurement value to diagnose a circulation state of the cooling water.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 4, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2018
    Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company
    Inventor: Dong Hun Lee
  • Patent number: 9857174
    Abstract: A gyro sensor capable of suppressing influence of the same phase mode on a vibration mode includes a vibrating body, a first spring structure portion that extends in a direction along a first axis and is connected to the vibrating body, first and second vibrating portions that are disposed in parallel to each other in the direction along the first axis and are excited and vibrated in an opposite phase to each other, and a second spring structure portion that extends in the direction along the first axis and is connected to the first and second vibrating portions, in which a first spring constant K1 of the first spring structure portion is smaller than a second spring constant K2 from a middle point at which a length between both ends of the second spring structure portion is equally divided into two to one end of the second spring structure portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2018
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Makoto Furuhata
  • Patent number: 9857264
    Abstract: In leak testing by an accumulation method, it is possible to reliably detect accumulated inspection gas, and the reliability of leak testing is enhanced by reduction in background or impurity gas. At least an openable/closeable part 29 of a capsule 20 is housed inside a chamber 10 of a leak testing apparatus 1. A test workpiece 9 is housed in the capsule 20. Gas inside the chamber 10 is evacuated by a vacuum pump 31. A detector 2 detects inspection gas contained in this gas. The capsule 20 is continuously sealed for an accumulation time Ta, the capsule 20 is thereafter opened, and a leak is evaluated on the basis of detection information after the opening by the detector 2.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2018
    Assignee: Fukuda Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Takaaki Watanabe, Tsutomu Hara, Naohiko Maruno