Patents Examined by Raul Rios Russo
  • Patent number: 9099167
    Abstract: The disclosure relates to a method for detecting a current comprising: generating a bias current, transmitting the bias current to a feedback stage and a measurement stage connected to the measurement node receiving a current to be measured, slaving a voltage to the measurement node at a constant value by the measurement and feedback stages, transmitting to an output stage, a current circulating in the measurement stage, which depends on the bias current and the current to be measured, and converting a current circulating in the output stage into a voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2015
    Assignee: STMicroelectronics (Rousset) SAS
    Inventor: Jimmy Fort
  • Patent number: 9093838
    Abstract: The fault current detecting circuit includes: a current detection unit that outputs a current detection signal; a first comparing circuit unit that compares the current detection signal with a predetermined reference current value and outputs a first output signal; a differentiator that differentiates the current detection signal to output a change slope of the current detection signal; a second comparing circuit unit that compares the change slope with a predetermined reference change slope value and outputs a second output signal; a third comparing circuit unit that compares the current detection signal with a predetermined current detection limit reference value and output a third output signal; and a trip determining unit that outputs a trip control signal only when the first output signal and the second output signal are maintained to be received and the third output signal is not received.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2015
    Assignee: LSIS Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Seung Hyun Bang, Hae Yong Park, Gyeong Ho Lee, Jung Wook Sim, Won Joon Choe, Min Jee Kim
  • Patent number: 9081033
    Abstract: A testing arrangement is provided for testing the electrical circuits of an assembly of terminal blocks arranged in side-to-side relation, each of the terminal blocks including two mutually-insulated collinearly-arranged horizontal bus bar sections that are normally electrically connected by first and second pairs of leaf spring contacts arranged above and below the bus bar sections, respectively. During the testing operation, the testing device may be arranged either above or below the assembly, and an insulating test plug on the testing device is inserted either vertically downwardly from above, or upwardly from below, the terminal block, thereby to disengage one pair of contacts. A dummy plug is vertically inserted in the opposite direction to disengage the other pair of contacts. The remote ends of the bus bar sections are provided with clamping devices for connection with the bare ends of insulated conductors, respectively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 14, 2015
    Assignee: WEIDMUELLER INTERFACE GMBH & CO. KG
    Inventors: Frank Hackemack, Joerg Richts, Bernhard Jaschke
  • Patent number: 9075084
    Abstract: A testing arrangement for testing the electrical circuits of a terminal block assembly, comprising a generally rectangular testing unit housing formed of insulating material and containing a chamber, at least one connection device mounted in chamber and having an elongated connector body formed of insulating material and including center and end portions. An integral measuring tab portion extends downwardly from the body center portion for insertion into a testing opening contained in the terminal block assembly, and a pair of coplanar measurement portions extend upwardly from the connector body ends and terminating at different elevations, thereby to afford a compact testing arrangement. Two electrical circuit connecting portions are mounted on the connector body, each including an input conductive contact plate mounted on one side of said measuring tab portion, and an output contact mounted within one of said measurement portions for connection with one end of a testing component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2015
    Assignee: WEIDMUELLER INTERFACE GMBH & CO. KG
    Inventors: Frank Hackemack, Joerg Richts, Bernhard Jaschke
  • Patent number: 9069033
    Abstract: A 3-axis magnetic field sensor on a substrate and including, a first tunneling magneto-resistor (TMR) having a first easy-axis for sensing a X-axis magnetic field, a second TMR having a second easy-axis for sensing a Y-axis magnetic field, an out-of-plane magnetic sensor for sensing a Z-axis magnetic field, and a reference unit is provided. The first easy-axis and the second easy-axis are orthogonal and include an angle of 45±5 degrees with a bisection direction, respectively. The out-of-plane magnetic sensor includes a groove or bulge structure having a first incline and a second incline; a third TMR on the first incline having a third easy-axis; a fourth TMR on the second incline having a fourth easy-axis; and a central axis orthogonal to the bisection direction and parallel to the third easy-axis and the fourth easy-axis. The reference unit has a fifth TMR and a fifth easy-axis parallel to the bisection direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2015
    Assignee: Industrial Technology Research Institute
    Inventors: Young-Shying Chen, Keng-Ming Kuo, Ding-Yeong Wang, Cheng-Wei Chien
  • Patent number: 9063184
    Abstract: A clamping current and voltage sensor provides an isolated and convenient technique for measuring current passing through a conductor such as an AC branch circuit wire, as well as providing an indication of an electrostatic potential on the wire, which can be used to indicate the phase of the voltage on the wire, and optionally a magnitude of the voltage. The device includes a body formed from two handle portions that contain the current and voltage sensors within an aperture at the distal end, which may be a ferrite cylinder with a hall effect sensor disposed in a gap along the circumference to measure current, or alternatively a winding provided through the cylinder along its axis and a capacitive plate or wire disposed adjacent to, or within, the ferrite cylinder to provide the indication of the voltage. When the handles are compressed the aperture is opened to permit insertion of a wire for measurement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2015
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Gary D. Carpenter, Wael El-Essawy, Alexandre Peixoto Ferreira, Thomas Walter Keller, Karthick Rajamani, Juan C. Rubio, Michael A. Schappert
  • Patent number: 9057753
    Abstract: There is provided a sensing device including a circuit including at least a coil electromagnetically coupled to an outside; a temperature detection unit for detecting a temperature of the coil; a sensing unit for measuring a Q value of the circuit; and a correction unit for correcting the Q value measured by the sensing unit based on temperature information detected by the temperature detection unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 16, 2015
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hiroaki Nakano, Tomomichi Murakami, Osamu Kozakai, Kenichi Fujimaki
  • Patent number: 9052184
    Abstract: The position of a moveable component which is coupled to an electric machine is ascertained, where the electric machine serves, in the event of manual movement of the component, as a generator for generating electric energy for a position ascertainment arrangement. The coupling of the electric machine with the component is configured such that a magnetic attraction reaction and/or repelling reaction between magnetic and/or magnetized parts of a rotor and of a stator of the electric machine results in a short-term acceleration of the rotor, which is unhindered by the coupling, and in a resulting short-term increase of the electric energy generated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 24, 2011
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2015
    Assignee: SIEMENS AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT
    Inventors: Marcus Gutzmer, Uwe Nolte, Guido Sonntag
  • Patent number: 9052355
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for testing unsingulated integrated circuits on a wafer include adapting a wafer prober for use with full-wafer-contacter disposed on the wafer. Some embodiments include placing wafer on a chuck of the prober, aligning the wafer to a full-wafer contacter incorporated in the wafer prober, removably attaching the wafer to the full wafer contacter, separating the wafer from the chuck, and making electrical contact to one or more integrated circuits of the wafer by making physical contact with a surface of the full-wafer contacter that faces away from the wafer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2011
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2015
    Assignee: TRANSLARITY, INC.
    Inventor: Morgan T. Johnson
  • Patent number: 9041406
    Abstract: An apparatus capable of detecting reduction in insulation resistance between a vehicle body and a high-voltage circuit. In the apparatus, a filter for removing noise included in a potential to ground at a terminal of a coupling capacitor includes a digital filter and an aliasing suppression circuit for suppressing aliasing in the digital filter. In addition, a protection circuit, which protects the digital filter and a determiner operable to detect the reduction in insulation resistance from high-voltage noise generated in the high-voltage circuit, is electrically disposed between a resistor of the aliasing suppression circuit and a signal input of the digital filter, where a potential at a junction between the resistor of the aliasing suppression circuit and the signal input of the digital filter is lower than a potential at the terminal of the coupling capacitor upon application of the high-voltage noise to the apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 26, 2015
    Assignee: DENSO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hayato Mizoguchi, Tsuneo Maebara
  • Patent number: 9041389
    Abstract: One or more embodiments are directed to a motor configured to rotate at least one magnet at a first frequency, a sensor configured to generate a reference signal of the at least one magnet's rotation, and a lock-in detection system configured to receive the reference signal, supply an excitation current at a second frequency to a device under test, measure a voltage from the device under test and demodulate the second frequency, and demodulate the first frequency from the measured voltage using the reference signal to obtain a Hall voltage associated with the device under test.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 26, 2015
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Tayfun Gokmen, Oki Gunawan
  • Patent number: 9030210
    Abstract: The invention is related to an insulation deterioration diagnostic apparatus for an electric path connected between an inverter device and an inverter-driven load device, including: a zero-phase current transformer having an annular magnetic core, a magnetizing coil wound around the magnetic core, and a detecting coil wound around the magnetic core, the transformer being for detecting a zero-phase current of an electric path; a magnetization control circuit for supplying an alternating current having a frequency at least twice as high as a drive frequency of the load device to the magnetizing coil to magnetize the magnetic core; and a frequency extracting circuit for extracting a frequency component identical to the drive frequency fd, from the output signal of the detecting coil, whereby precisely measuring a current leaking from an inverter-driven load device over a wide range of frequencies.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2015
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshimasa Watanabe, Yoshiharu Kaneda, Hiroshi Nishizawa, Toru Oka
  • Patent number: 9030204
    Abstract: A sensor device includes a first electrode, a second electrode, a gap forming member and a functional element. The first electrode is composed of a first metallic material. The second electrode is spaced apart from the first electrode, and composed of a second metallic material. The gap forming member is arranged with a gap being formed between the gap forming member and a portion of a surface of the first electrode. The functional element is configured and arranged to measure a difference in electric potential between the first electrode and the second electrode so that a state of a measurement site to be measured is measured based on the difference in electric potential as measured by the functional element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2015
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Takao Miyazawa, Juri Kato
  • Patent number: 9024640
    Abstract: A PV system includes a plurality of PV strings configured to generate a string output power responsive to received solar irradiation, with a source conductor and a return conductor being provided from the PV strings. One or more DC voltage regulators are electrically connected to the PV strings on at least one of the source or return conductors, with the DC voltage regulator being configured to regulate the voltage of a respective PV string or group of strings. A controller selectively controls a voltage output by the DC voltage regulator and is programmed to periodically cause the DC voltage regulator to alter the voltage of a PV string or group of strings, detect a change in current in the respective PV string(s) responsive to the altering of the voltage, and perform at least one of a PV string degradation detection and causal diagnosis and a grounded conductor fault detection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2015
    Assignee: Eaton Corporation
    Inventors: Yu Liu, Charles John Luebke, Christopher Scott Thompson
  • Patent number: 9018963
    Abstract: A humidity sensor according to the present examples include a sensor portion for detecting humidity in the ambient environment, and a power supply portion for applying an AC voltage to the sensor portion, wherein the sensor portion is structured so as to have an impedance that is higher than a sensor portion of a conventional humidity sensor. As a result, it is possible to reduce the amount of power consumed in the sensor portion when compared to that of a conventional humidity sensor. Doing so makes it possible to reduce the amount of electrical power consumed in the humidity sensor as a whole in the present invention, including the sensor portion, when compared to that of a conventional humidity sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2015
    Assignee: Azbil Corporation
    Inventors: Dongyoun Sim, Masaru Soeda
  • Patent number: 8994360
    Abstract: A microorganism number-measuring apparatus includes: a container holder for holding container having an opening in the upper surface of the container, with the opening being positioned upward; and a rotary driver for rotating a liquid accommodated in container held by the holder, about the rotary axis in the up-and-down direction. Moreover, the apparatus includes: an electrode inserting part for inserting measurement chip to a position from above container held by the holder, via the opening, with the position being closer to the container's inner surface than to the container's center axis and being away from the container's inner surface with a predetermined distance; and a measurement unit for measuring microorganisms using measurement electrode of measurement chip inserted into container by the electrode inserting part. The electrode inserting part holds measurement chip, in a state of measurement electrode facing the container's inner-surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 9, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2015
    Assignee: Panasonic Healthcare Holdings Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Toshiaki Takeshita
  • Patent number: 8975909
    Abstract: A test structure operable to receive an integrated circuit is described. The test structure includes a substrate, a test contact member, a base structure, an aperture, and a conductive contact member. The test contact member extends from a surface of the substrate and has a tip at one end. The base structure is suspended above the surface of the substrate and has an aperture in which the test contact member is positioned. Furthermore, the conductive member is disposed in the aperture. The conductive member is positioned further away from the surface of the substrate compared to the tip of the test contact member. A method to test an integrated circuit (IC) utilizing the test contactor is also described.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 10, 2015
    Assignee: Altera Corporation
    Inventor: Adrian Cortez
  • Patent number: 8970228
    Abstract: A radial clearance measurement system is provided. The radial clearance measurement system comprises a radial clearance sensor that is relatively insensitive to axial movement of an object rotating relative to the radial clearance sensor. In one embodiment, the radial clearance sensor includes an electrode having a relatively constant overlap area over the range of axial movement of the object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2015
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Emad Andarawis Andarawis, Wayne Charles Hasz, Mahadevan Balasubramaniam, David Richard Esler
  • Patent number: 8963559
    Abstract: A variable impedance device includes a passive tuner that includes at least one variable component, which is controllable to apply a variable impedance value to an input signal of the passive tuner. A low noise amplifier is configured to supply the input signal to the passive tuner by amplifying an input RF (radio frequency) signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 24, 2015
    Assignees: STMicroelectronics (Crolles 2) SAS, STMicorelectronics SA
    Inventors: Thomas Quemerais, Daniel Gloria, Romain Debroucke
  • Patent number: 8963534
    Abstract: A triaxial piezoelectric sensor includes a PVDF layer, a first line layer, and a second line layer. The PVDF layer has multiple first electrodes and multiple second electrodes. Each first electrodes corresponds to each second electrodes for forming directions of polarization along the X-Y-Z axes. The first line layer has multiple first electrical connection portions and multiple first signal lines. Each first electrical connection portions corresponds to each first electrodes. The second line layer has multiple second electrical connection portions and multiple second signal lines. Each second electrical connection portions corresponds to each second electrodes. The PVDF layer is sandwiched between the first line layer and the second line layer. When an external force is applied to the PVDF layer, the first signal lines and the second signal lines transmit electrical signals according to the deformation of the PVDF layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 24, 2015
    Assignee: Chung-Yuan Christian University
    Inventors: Yung Ting, Sheuan-Perng Lin, Hariyanto Gunawan