Patents Examined by Rose M. Miller
  • Patent number: 11656222
    Abstract: A sensor using ultrasound to detect presence and nature of analyte includes an ultrasonic element and a receptor thereon. The ultrasonic element includes a first electrode, a second electrode facing and spaced apart from the first electrode, an insulating layer between the first electrode and the second electrode, and a vibrating film between the insulating layer and the first electrode. The vibrating film carries the first electrode. A cavity is formed between the vibrating film and the insulating layer. The receptor is on a side of the first electrode away from the second electrode. The receptor can combine with a target substance in a test analyte. When the first electrode and the second electrode are applied with different voltages, certain ultrasound frequencies are generated as the vibrating film vibrates, and the presence and weight of different target substances are indicated by the changes in resonance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2023
    Assignee: HON HAI PRECISION INDUSTRY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hsin-Hua Lin, Wei-Chih Chang, Po-Li Shih, Chao-Chun Yang, I-Min Lu
  • Patent number: 11650181
    Abstract: An apparatus which includes a mounting, a plurality of detectors provided to detect a condition of at least on parameter indicative of presence of one or more materials in a gutter channel and data processing capabilities. A sequence of signals are transmitted and received when the apparatus is in a detection mode, and the data processing analyses the received signals to provide an indication if a material is detected as being present in the channel and, if detected, a type of the material. On the basis of this analysis and identification of material, decision can be made as to whether any remedial action is required to clear the material and/or decide upon an ongoing monitoring and maintenance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2023
    Assignee: HD SHARMAN LTD
    Inventors: Mark De Rozarieux, Jakob Moeller-Jensen
  • Patent number: 11644445
    Abstract: To provide a method for evaluating a corroded part, the method making it possible to specify only a waveform reflected by a corroded part and to evaluate the waveform. When a transmission unit (2) is moved on the surface of a metal pipe (60) and the distance between a corroded part (5) and the transmission unit (2) is changed, only a waveform portion A of ultrasonic waves reflected by the corroded part (5) moves toward the left or right along an X axis, and only the intensity of a noise waveform portion B included in a received wave changes upward or downward along a Y axis, which makes it possible to separate the waveform portion A and the noise waveform portion B of a longitudinal-wave surface wave reflected by the corroded part (5) and evaluate the waveform portion A in detail.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2023
    Assignee: KUNIHIKO NIIMI
    Inventor: Kunihiko Niimi
  • Patent number: 11644442
    Abstract: A method and system of nanoscale photoacoustic tomography (nPAT) for non-invasive three-dimensional mapping and characterization of fine cellular structures (such as but not limited to organelles, vesicles, and macromolecules) of biological samples is disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2023
    Assignee: The Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma
    Inventors: Liangzhong Xiang, Jian Chen, Pratik Samant
  • Patent number: 11639238
    Abstract: A vehicle-body carrying apparatus is configured to house and carry a vehicle body of an unmanned vehicle. The apparatus includes a housing, a data collecting device, a diagnostic device, and an informing device. The housing is capable of housing the vehicle body. The data collecting device is configured to collect data relating to structural soundness of the vehicle body housed in the housing. The diagnostic device is configured to diagnose the structural soundness of the vehicle body based on the collected data. The informing device is configured to inform a user of a diagnostic result obtained by the diagnostic device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 2, 2023
    Assignee: SUBARU CORPORATION
    Inventor: Hideki Soejima
  • Patent number: 11619572
    Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a durometer enabling a contact portion in contact with an object to perform smooth piston motion. The durometer includes a main body unit including a movable unit pressed continuously against an object to be measured, a first sensor outputting acceleration information corresponding to an acceleration of movement of a contact part of the object to be measured in contact with the movable unit in a pressing direction, a second sensor outputting reactive force information corresponding to a reactive force at the contact part of the object to be measured in contact with the movable unit, a motor, a crank mechanism driven by the motor and causing the main body unit and the movable unit to perform piston motion, and at least one buffering member disposed on a periphery of the main body unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2023
    Assignee: Maxell, Ltd.
    Inventors: Akihiko Kandori, Yuko Sano, Yuhua Zhang, Shigemitsu Ando, Mitsunobu Watanabe, MItsuo Okimoto
  • Patent number: 11619614
    Abstract: Disclosed is a method of determining a characteristic of a measurement intermediate layer (220) in a multilayer structure (200) using an ultrasonic transducer (100), wherein the multilayer structure (200) includes a first layer (210), a measurement intermediate layer (220) and a third layer (230) in series abutment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2023
    Assignee: Tribosonics Limited
    Inventors: Philip Harper, Tapiwa Mutasa
  • Patent number: 11609210
    Abstract: A monitoring device for a battery pack, which includes a plurality of battery cells, has at least one ultrasound source and at least one ultrasound sensor. The ultrasound source can be configured to generate and direct ultrasound at one or more battery cells of the battery pack. The ultrasound sensor can be configured to detect ultrasound reflected from or transmitted through one or more cells of the battery pack. A battery management unit receives one or more signals from the ultrasound sensor responsive to the detected ultrasound. The battery management unit can be configured to determine a state of the battery pack based at least in part on the detected ultrasound.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2023
    Assignee: University of Maryland, College Park
    Inventors: Bhanu Sood, Michael G. Pecht, Michael D. Osterman
  • Patent number: 11592424
    Abstract: A system for inspecting flexible pipelines comprises a data analyzer, a data collector and an ultrasonic transducer. Further, the ultrasonic transducer is adapted to propagate shear wave into the annulus of the flexible pipeline. The data collector further comprises a data store and a communicator. Further, the system is capable of differentiating flooding and non-flooding condition of the annulus of the flexible pipeline which is subjected to high pressure. Using the system, an indicator of a flooded or non-flooded condition within the flexible pipeline may be calculated using transmitted and detected reflective waves or the lack of detected reflective waves.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 26, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2023
    Assignee: Oceaneering International, Inc.
    Inventors: Vilmar da Silva do Vale, Rohit Bali, Samik Das, Sheethal Sasidharan, Vikrant Verma
  • Patent number: 11585788
    Abstract: A method of automatically inspecting a weld bead deposited in a plurality of passes in a chamfer formed between two parts by performing the following steps: positioning at least one emission electromagnetic acoustic sensor on one side of the chamfer and at least one reception electromagnetic acoustic sensor on an opposite side of the chamfer, the ultrasound wave emission sensor being configured to emit Rayleigh surface waves; while depositing a pass, automatically moving the sensors to follow the movement of welding electrodes along the chamfer; activating the sensors while they are moving to enable the emission sensor to generate and emit Rayleigh waves towards the pass of the weld bead that is being deposited, the reception sensor receiving the ultrasound signals transmitted and/or reflected in said pass; and reiterating the operation for the entire pass of the weld bead.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2023
    Assignee: SAIPEM S.A
    Inventors: Nicolas Feuilly, Marco Aurelio Occhilupo, Eric Kerdiles
  • Patent number: 11573309
    Abstract: An ultrasound device, including a profile generator, an encoder configured to receive a profile signal from the profile generator, and an attenuator configured to receive a signal representing an output of an ultrasound sensor and coupled to the encoder to receive a control signal from the encoder, the attenuator including a plurality of attenuator stages, the attenuator configured to produce an output signal that is an attenuated version of the input signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2023
    Assignee: BFLY OPERATIONS, INC.
    Inventors: Kailiang Chen, Tyler S. Ralston
  • Patent number: 11561205
    Abstract: An electro-magnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT) having an electromagnet array is provided. The electromagnet array includes electromagnets. Each electromagnet includes a magnetic core and a wound coil wrapped around the magnetic core. The electromagnet array generates bias magnetic fields having different patterns when the wound coils are energized differently. For instance, the electromagnet array generates a bias magnetic field having a given pattern, for the EMAT to transmit a first type of ultrasonic wave such as shear-horizontal wave, when the wound coils are energized in a given manner; and generates a bias magnetic field having a different pattern, for the EMAT to transmit a second type of ultrasonic wave such as a Lamb wave, when the wound coils are energized in a different manner.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2023
    Assignee: ULC TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
    Inventor: Baiyang Ren
  • Patent number: 11549919
    Abstract: Systems and methods for prediction of state of charge (SOH), state of health (SOC) and other characteristics of batteries using acoustic signals, includes determining acoustic data at two or more states of charge and determining a reduced acoustic data set representative of the acoustic data at the two or more states of charge. The reduced acoustic data set includes time of flight (TOF) shift, total signal amplitude, or other data points related to the states of charge. Machine learning models use at least the reduced acoustic dataset in conjunction with non-acoustic data such as voltage and temperature for predicting the characteristics of any other independent battery.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2023
    Assignee: The Trustees of Princeton University
    Inventors: Daniel Artemis Steingart, Shoham Bhadra, Andrew Gaheem Hsieh, Benjamin Hertzberg, Peter James Gjeltema, Clarence Worth Rowley, III, Alexandre S. R. Goy, Jason Wolf Fleischer
  • Patent number: 11536698
    Abstract: A system for non-destructive testing of a bond condition of concrete beams reinforced by steel rods is described. The system includes a transducing transmitter, a transducing receiver, and an ultrasonic pulse generator configured to generate drive signals for the transducing transmitter and receive a plurality vibrational waves at the transducing receiver. The system further includes a computing device including a measurement circuit configured to record a transit time for each vibrational wave and divide a distance between the transducing transmitter and the transducing receiver by the transit time to determine a pulse velocity of each vibrational wave, a comparison circuit configured to identify a highest pulse velocity of the vibrational waves and compare each highest pulse velocity to a first reference pulse velocity, and a decision circuit including an artificial neural network configured to identify a compromised bond condition around a steel rod.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2022
    Assignee: Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University
    Inventor: Muhammad Saleem
  • Patent number: 11531007
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture are disclosed. An example pre-amplifier includes a demodulator to combine a chirp signal with an acoustic emission signal to generate a sideband acoustic emission signal, sample spectral data of the sideband acoustic emission signal at an intermediate center frequency in an intermediate frequency bandwidth, and generate demodulated acoustic emission data based on mapping the sampled spectral data to a measurement center frequency, the measurement center frequency different from the intermediate center frequency, and a transmitter to transmit the demodulated acoustic emission data to a computing device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2022
    Assignee: FISHER CONTROLS INTERNATIONAL LLC
    Inventor: Bret Anthony Dahme
  • Patent number: 11525812
    Abstract: A variable value calculating process includes: measuring a propagation time of the propagation of an ultrasound wave through a measurement sector inside a housing; obtaining a temperature calculated value on the basis of the measured value of the propagation time and a reference distance for the measurement sector; obtaining a temperature measured value by measuring the temperature inside the housing; and obtaining a temperature replacement fluctuation value indicating a difference between the temperature calculated value and the temperature measured value. The variable value calculating process is executed for each of a plurality of temperature conditions under which the temperature of a reference gas inside the housing differs. A temperature compensation table in which the temperature of a gas to be measured is associated with a temperature compensation value relating to the temperature is obtained on the basis of the temperature replacement fluctuation values obtained under each temperature condition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2022
    Assignees: Ueda Japan Radio Co., Ltd., Japan Radio Co., Ltd., Nisshinbo Holdings Inc.
    Inventors: Osamu Sakaguchi, Isao Ito, Yasuhiro Toriyama, Katsuyuki Matsubayashi
  • Patent number: 11519883
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a structure evaluation system of the embodiments includes a plurality of sensors, an arrival time determiner, a reliability calculator, and a map generator. The plurality of sensors detect elastic waves. The arrival time determiner determines arrival times of the elastic waves using elastic waves detected by the plurality of respective sensors. The reliability calculator calculates reliabilities related to measurement waveforms of the elastic waves on the basis of the arrival times. The map generator generates a first map on the basis of the calculated reliabilities or the reliabilities and a distance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2022
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Sanae Iida, Takashi Usui
  • Patent number: 11499944
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture are disclosed. An example pre-amplifier includes a demodulator to generate an oscillating signal having a measurement center frequency, combine an acoustic emission signal and the oscillating signal to generate a sideband acoustic emission signal, sample spectral data of the sideband acoustic emission signal at an intermediate center frequency in an intermediate frequency bandwidth, and generate demodulated acoustic emission data based on a mapping of the sampled spectral data to the measurement center frequency, the measurement center frequency different from the intermediate center frequency, and a transmitter to transmit the demodulated acoustic emission data to a computing device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2022
    Inventor: Bret Anthony Dahme
  • Patent number: 11493484
    Abstract: A method of detecting corrosion in a conduit or container comprises measuring the thickness of a wall of the conduit or container with one or more pulse-echo ultrasound devices, wherein the method comprises the following steps: (i) receiving signals indicative of A-scan data from the one or more pulse-echo ultrasound devices, wherein the A-scan data comprises a plurality of A-scan spectra; (ii) determining which of the A-scan spectra have a distorted waveform such that a reliable wall thickness measurement cannot be determined; (iii) analysing the A-scan spectra identified in step (ii) as having a distorted waveform to determine one or more A-scan spectral characteristics of each spectrum that are causing the distortion; (iv) resolving the waveform characteristics based on the determined spectral characteristics causing the waveform distortion so as to produce modified A-scan spectra; (v) determining thickness measurements of the wall based on the modified A-scan spectra; and (vi) determining the extent to wh
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2022
    Assignee: BP CORPORATION NORTH AMERICA INC.
    Inventors: Linxiao Yu, Margarit Lozev, Thomas Eason, Steven Orwig, Christopher Overstreet, Hamed Bazaz
  • Patent number: 11493406
    Abstract: A motor noise detecting device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes a signal sensing part for sensing an acoustic signal generated from an object to be tested, a data acquisition part for receiving the acoustic signal sensed by the signal sensing part and converting it into an acoustic digital signal, and a data analysis part for receiving and analyzing the acoustic digital signal to perform a detection on whether the object to be tested is abnormal. In addition, the signal sensing part includes an AE (Acoustic Emission) sensor for sensing an elastic wave included in the acoustic signal, and the data analysis part generates result data of analyzing the acoustic digital signal, analyzes the generated result data through a pre-learned model, and detects whether the object to be tested is abnormal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2022
    Assignee: KOREA MANUFACTURE PROCESS CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Keun Su Yun