Patents Examined by Renata McCloud
  • Patent number: 6992459
    Abstract: Stepping drive control of a motor is effected by synchronizing interruption to a CPU with N (in number) line triggers set to N times of one-line of an image. Further, in a synchronous mode in which phase control is effected in synchronous with N line triggers, acceleration/deceleration table can be switched not only by the N line triggers (external triggers) but also by internal triggers. With this arrangement, acceleration and deceleration of the motor is permitted within the N line triggers (external triggers) while being synchronized with the N line triggers (external triggers), thereby reducing a burden of software processing and realizing motor control corresponding to interruption of one line during high speed reading.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2001
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2006
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Akitoshi Kikuchi
  • Patent number: 6989650
    Abstract: A control system for a polyphase AC motor having a predetermined horsepower rating is provided comprising a plurality of integrated control systems each rated at less than the hoursepower rating for the motor and having a rectifier section, an inverter section, and a controller section, and a parallel controller interfaced to each integrated control system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 2003
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2006
    Assignee: Oilfield-Electric-Marine, Inc.
    Inventor: Kevin R. Williams
  • Patent number: 6983820
    Abstract: In order to form a noise suppressor in a hose of e.g. a motor vehicle, modular portions are connected in series to define suppression chambers with particular noise suppression characteristics. Those characteristics are due to the volume of each chamber, to the size of the apertures from the chambers to the central duct of the suppressor, and optionally due to spacers which are inserted into at least one aperture of the chambers to alter the effective open area of that aperture. Such spacers may also be used in which the noise suppressor is not modular. Where modular portions are used, it is preferable that each chamber is bounded by parts of two modular portions. A wall of one modular portion may then close the chamber in another modular portion, making the manufacture of the modular portions easier. Also disclosed is the use of a mass acting as a damper, which may be a noise suppressor as previously discussed, within a hose. The mass is connected to the hose by resilient means, e.g. electrometric material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 6, 2002
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2006
    Assignee: Avon Polymer Products Limited
    Inventors: David Boast, Donald Milne Turner
  • Patent number: 6973994
    Abstract: An apparatus for increasing the quality of sound from an acoustic source comprises in one embodiment a hollow enclosure, an acoustic source, an acoustic guide, a pair of acoustic inlet openings, a pair of acoustic exit openings, and pair of acoustic paths, wherein the acoustic inlet openings separate acoustic waves from the acoustic source and direct the acoustic waves the length of the acoustic paths to the acoustic exit openings in such a manner as to increase the quality of sound, and especially bass sound, from the acoustic source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2002
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2005
    Inventors: Ian J. Mackin, William L. Weir
  • Patent number: 6968922
    Abstract: An exhaust apparatus for a vehicle includes a spark arrester having a tubular spark arrester body assembled on a rear portion of a muffler connected to an exhaust pipe. A tail pipe is inserted in the spark arrester body and is mounted on the spark arrester such that exhaust gas flowing through the muffler is discharged into the atmospheric air from the tail pipe through the spark arrester, to carry out, expansion and contraction of exhaust gas in the spark arrester occurs to augment the sound reduction performance. An annular partition plate cooperates with an inner face of a spark arrester body to form a throttle path therebetween that is securely mounted on a tail pipe wherein a plurality of expansion chambers that communicate with each other through the throttle path are formed between the tail pipe and the spark arrester body with the annular partition plate disposed therebetween.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2002
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2005
    Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Noriyuki Kawamata, Hiroaki Koishi, Kou Kurata
  • Patent number: 6967458
    Abstract: A disk drive is disclosed comprising a spindle motor for rotating a disk, wherein the current applied to the spindle motor is controlled by adjusting a duty cycle of a pulse width modulated (PWM) signal. A current sensor generates a current sense signal representing a current flowing from a supply voltage. The current sense signal is integrated to generate an integration signal. The integration signal is compared to a threshold, and the result of the comparison is used to adjust the duty cycle of the PWM signal. In this manner the disk drive draws essentially constant average input current from the supply voltage which decreases the spin up time of the disk.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2002
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2005
    Assignee: Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: George J. Bennett, Robert P. Ryan
  • Patent number: 6967457
    Abstract: In order to produce a monitoring device for checking for a predefined position of a body or checking for the presence of a body, comprising a pivotal check element, a motor for driving the checking element and a housing for accommodating the motor, which will be universally employable especially in difficult working surroundings, it is proposed that a seal be arrangement between the checking element and the housing around a shaft by means of which the checking element is driven.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 11, 2001
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2005
    Assignee: Middex-Electronic GmbH
    Inventor: Rainer Ludwig
  • Patent number: 6951262
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for suppression of wave energy within a fluid-filled borehole using a low pressure acoustic barrier. In one embodiment, a flexible diaphragm type device is configured as an open bottomed tubular structure for disposition in a borehole to be filled with a gas to create a barrier to wave energy, including tube waves. In another embodiment, an expandable umbrella type device is used to define a chamber in which a gas is disposed. In yet another embodiment, a reverse acting bladder type device is suspended in the borehole. Due to its reverse acting properties, the bladder expands when internal pressure is reduced, and the reverse acting bladder device extends across the borehole to provide a low pressure wave energy barrier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2005
    Assignee: Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC
    Inventor: Phillip B. West
  • Patent number: 6949903
    Abstract: When digitizing a voltage, a capacitor is charged, through an impedance, to a voltage value (Um) dependent on the voltage to be digitized. The limits of that one of a plurality of voltage ranges in which said voltage value (Um) lies, are ascertained, and the two limits of that voltage range are defined as a first limit and second limit; the voltage at the capacitor is modified to the first limit by a charge modification circuit containing an impedance, and a first time interval needed therefor is identified; the voltage at the capacitor is modified to the second limit; the voltage at the capacitor is modified from the second to the first limit via the charge modification circuit. A seond time interval needed therefor is identified. Based on values of the first time interval and second time interval, a digital value is calculated, which serves as an indication of how much the voltage value (Um) at the capacitor differs from one of said two limits.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2005
    Assignee: ebm-papst St. Georgen GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Hansjorg Berroth, Arnold Kuner, Hans-Dieter Schondelmaier
  • Patent number: 6946810
    Abstract: The invention relates to a windshield wiper system with two wipers (1, 2) that travel in opposite directions and can each be driven by a separate motor (MFS, MBS), wherein a regulating unit (7) is provided for triggering the motors (MFS, MBS) separately from each other by means of control signals, wherein the regulating unit (7) triggers the motors (MFS, MBS) of the wipers (1, 2) in order to preset a time-dependent angular position of the wipers according to a trigonometric function ?(t).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2005
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventor: Philipp Kohlrausch
  • Patent number: 6943515
    Abstract: An electric drive motor drives a door to move in an open/close direction. A pulse encoder outputs a series of pulses. Each pulse has a pulse duration sized to correspond to a rotation speed of the motor. The number of the pulses corresponds to the number of revolution of the motor. A door jamming detecting device for detecting a jamming of the door is configured to carry out calculating a total duration time (Tn) of a given number (n) of the series pulses outputted from the pulse encoder; detecting a given condition wherein the total duration time (Tn) is greater than a threshold value (Ts); and making a judgment of the door jamming when the given condition is kept for a given time (Tm).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2005
    Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Hitoshi Kidokoro
  • Patent number: 6940252
    Abstract: A DC motor control method and apparatus for reducing time required for deceleration without degrading positioning accuracy. In a device which drives a mechanism by using a DC motor as a power source, in deceleration of the DC motor, when the mechanism arrives at a predetermined position, a velocity command value to the motor, generated in accordance with a cubic function having a mild curve profile, is changed to a constant value, thus the velocity is discontinuously reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2005
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Nobutsune Kobayashi, Michiharu Shoji, Hiroyuki Saito
  • Patent number: 6940249
    Abstract: An inverter device capable of smoothly driving an alternating current synchronous motor of large capacity and high-speed rotation is provided. The inverter device includes a power rectification main circuit for converting alternating current power into direct current power and a PWM control inverse transformation main circuit. A transformer raises output terminal of the alternating current power of the inverse transformation main circuit to drive an alternating current synchronous motor. The alternating current motor is started bypassing the transformer and limiting output voltage of the inverse transformation main circuit to a low value through PWM control of the inverse transformation main circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 11, 2003
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2005
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Masaru Toyoda
  • Patent number: 6938727
    Abstract: A fan shroud includes a fan shroud portion having a surface including an aperture. A cooling fan is supported proximate to the aperture for permitting air flow through the fan shroud from the environment to the engine compartment. An air intake portion is supported on the fan shroud portion. The air intake portion and the fan shroud portion together define at least a portion of an air passageway having an inlet for receiving ambient air and an outlet for connection to an engine throttle. The fan shroud portion and air intake portion may respectively include first and second circumferential portions that define the air passageway.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 2003
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2005
    Assignee: Siemens VDO Automotive Inc.
    Inventor: Zhouxuan Xia
  • Patent number: 6936992
    Abstract: An electrical machine is coupled to a load which has a torque profile which varies with angle. The machine is coupled so that the torque ripple of the machine is synchronized with the torque ripple of the load in such a manner as to provide an efficient drive system which can start at any angular position. This allows the size of the electrical machine to be reduced to a point where its average torque may be below the peak requirement of the load.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2005
    Assignee: Switched Reluctance Drives Limited
    Inventors: Charles Richard Elliott, Michael Leo McClelland
  • Patent number: 6930460
    Abstract: In a load driving arrangement, electric power is supplied from an auxiliary battery to a main power supply when the power stored by charging in the main power supply is scarce at the startup of the system. The power is supplied to the main power supply by closing relays to connect the auxiliary battery to the neutral point of an auxiliary motor, operating a switching transistor of a bottom arm of an auxiliary-related inverter based on a command from a control circuit, stepping up the voltage from the auxiliary battery by using a coil of the auxiliary motor as a reactor, and supplying the step-up voltage to the main power supply thereby charging the main power supply. At this time, a drive-related inverter and a DC/DC converter are stopped. When the main power supply is charged to a sufficient degree, the relays are opened to drive each load.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2005
    Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Tetsuhiro Ishikawa, Hiroshi Sugiura
  • Patent number: 6922036
    Abstract: According to one embodiment of the invention, a method includes generating, by a computer, a phase current profile, generating a phase current according to the phase current profile, and applying the phase current to the switched reluctance motor drive. Generating the phase current profile includes initializing one or more first profile parameters which define at least a first portion of the phase current profile. Generating the phase current profile also includes determining whether a first performance criterion is satisfied based on operation of the switched reluctance motor drive using the first profile parameters. Generating the phase current profile also includes updating at least one the first profile parameters if the first performance criterion is not satisfied.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2001
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2005
    Assignee: The Texas A&M University System
    Inventors: Mehrdad Ehsani, Babak Fahimi
  • Patent number: 6922038
    Abstract: A speed control circuit for a dc brushless motor includes a switch circuit and a voltage-detection circuit. The voltage-detection circuit is actuated depending upon high or low voltage of power supply to thereby cause the switch circuit to output high or low operating voltage to a driver circuit of the motor in response to changes of the voltage of the power supply. The motor is adjusted and operated at desired speeds by a rated range of input voltages according to the high or low operating voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2004
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2005
    Assignee: Sunonwealth Electric Machine Industry Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Alex Horng, Ying-Ya Lu, Ta-Lun Ko
  • Patent number: 6922033
    Abstract: A cooking apparatus for controlling the opening of a cover over a barbecue grill includes a motor for opening and closing the cover over the barbecue grill, with the motor connected to the cover by a coupling rod. The cooking apparatus includes, in one embodiment, a counterweight attached at the rear of the barbecue cover. The cooking apparatus also comes with a remote control for transmitting control signals to the motor. The remote control transmits start and stop signals to the motor, or alternatively, the motor operates only during the transmission of control signals to the motor. The remote control may also transmit signals to control flow of a combustible gas. The barbecue cover opener is removable from the barbecue grill. Control of the motor allows movement of the cover to stop at any point within the full range of the cover being opened or closed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2001
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2005
    Inventors: John T. Ziegenhorn, Eric A. Anderson
  • Patent number: 6915877
    Abstract: A muffler device, in one preferred embodiment, having four barriers therein. Each barrier functions to form an within which the exhaust stream can be partitioned and redirected. Eventually, the exhaust streams are once again recombined and expelled from the muffler. The partitioning and reassembly of the exhaust streams provides sound attenuation while increasing the horsepower of the engine and without resulting in any build up of unignited fuel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 13, 2003
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2005
    Inventor: Garabed Khayalian