Patents Examined by Stephen Mick
  • Patent number: 10336445
    Abstract: An apparatus comprising a rotor yoke comprising two longitudinal side portions interconnected by two outboard portions, wherein a center portion of each longitudinal side portion comprises a build-up of material that is configured to accommodate a yoke hub clamp. Included is an apparatus comprising a rotor yoke comprising two longitudinal side portions interconnected by two outboard portions, wherein no apertures pass through the two longitudinal side portions and the two outboard portions. Also included is a method of coupling aircraft blades comprising providing a rotor yoke comprising two longitudinal side portions interconnected by two outboard portions, wherein no apertures pass through the two longitudinal side portions and the two outboard portions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 2, 2019
    Assignee: BELL HELICOPTER TEXTRON INC.
    Inventors: Andrew Maresh, Frank Bradley Stamps, Andrew Haldeman
  • Patent number: 10309381
    Abstract: A submersible well pump assembly has a pump housing with a pump discharge on upper end. A pump barrel is located within the pump housing, defining an annular passage between the barrel and the pump housing. A plunger is reciprocally carried in the barrel. A motor mounted below the pump housing and operatively couples to the plunger causes the plunger to reciprocate between an upstroke and a down-stroke. A valve and porting arrangement directs well fluid in the barrel below the plunger into the annular passage and out the discharge during a down stroke of the plunger. The valve and porting arrangement admits well fluid into the barrel below the plunger during the up stroke of the plunger. A connecting rod extends between the motor and the plunger. The connecting rod is in tension during the down-stroke.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2019
    Assignee: Baker Hughes, a GE Company, LLC
    Inventors: Carroll Scott DeArman, Carlos A. Prieto, Gary L. Williams, David L. Garrett, Shawn N. Gunter, Nathan G. Nelson
  • Patent number: 10288062
    Abstract: A gas compressor of the present invention includes a reciprocating member, an accommodation portion, and a sealing portion, and the accommodation portion includes a compression chamber that compresses a gas and a non-compression chamber that is separated from the compression chamber by the reciprocating member and the sealing portion. Further, since the compression chamber includes a suction line that suctions a hydrogen gas, a discharge line that discharges a compressed gas, a connection line that is connected to the accommodation portion and is used so that at least a part of a gas flows therethrough when a gas passing through the sealing portion from the compression chamber exists, a flowmeter that is provided in the connection line, and a determination unit that determines whether a flow amount measured by the flowmeter is equal to or larger than a predetermined threshold value, it is possible to easily determine the abrasion state of the sealing portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2019
    Assignee: Kobe Steel, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kenji Nagura, Hitoshi Takagi
  • Patent number: 10202968
    Abstract: Provided herein are systems that enable proportional air flow delivery control for an air compressor. One system includes a pneumatic air compression system having a flow control member and being adapted to receive inlet air and to compress the inlet air to produce compressed air. The system also includes a pneumatic flow control system including a proportional control valve having a proportionally variable activation state. Varying the activation state of the proportional control valve regulates a pressure acting on the flow control member to regulate the flow of the compressed air produced by the pneumatic air compression system in a variable manner, and further regulates a power demand placed on the engine by the pneumatic air compression system in a variable manner.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2019
    Assignee: Illinois Tool Works Inc.
    Inventors: Benjamin Gene Peotter, Mark E. Peters
  • Patent number: 10161393
    Abstract: A drive system for a pump includes a housing defining an internal pressure chamber, a working fluid disposed within and charging the internal pressure chamber, and a reciprocating member disposed within the internal pressure chamber. The reciprocating member has a pull chamber. A pull is secured within the pull chamber, and a fluid displacement member is coupled to the pull.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 25, 2018
    Assignee: Graco Minnesota Inc.
    Inventors: Bradley H. Hines, Brian W. Koehn, Jeffrey A. Earles, Paul W. Scheierl, Adam K. Collins
  • Patent number: 10151308
    Abstract: A reciprocating compressor is provided. The reciprocating compressor may include a cylinder having a compression space, a piston inserted into the cylinder to define the compression space while being reciprocated, the piston having a suction passage to communicate with the compression space, a gas bearing having at least one bearing hole that passes through the cylinder, so that a refrigerant gas may be injected between the cylinder and the piston to support the piston with respect to the cylinder, and a flow resister disposed at an outer circumferential surface of the cylinder or at one side of the cylinder to restrict a flow of the refrigerant gas flowing through or toward the at least one bearing hole.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 11, 2018
    Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
    Inventors: Kichul Choi, Kwangwoon Ahn, Donghan Kim
  • Patent number: 10138907
    Abstract: A rotary energy recovery device (11) wherein a multi-channel cylindrical rotor (15) revolves with its end faces (32) juxtaposed in sealing relationship with end surfaces (33) of a pair of flanking end covers (19, 21), and wherein inlet and outlet fluid passageways (27, 29) are provided in each end cover. Fluid may be directed into the rotor channels (16) and allowed to exit therefrom in an axial direction parallel to the axis of the rotor; however, rotor revolution is self-driven as a result of the interior design of the channels (16) which extend axially through the rotor and are shaped so that fluid flow therethrough creates a torque.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2010
    Date of Patent: November 27, 2018
    Assignee: Energy Recovery, Inc.
    Inventors: Juan Miguel Pinto, Jeremy G. Martin, Richard L. Stover
  • Patent number: 10125754
    Abstract: A reciprocating compressor is provided. Bearing holes of a fluid bearing of the compressor may be positioned to correspond to a full reciprocating region of a piston, to reduce/eliminate frictional loss and/or abrasion between a cylinder and the piston. The bearing holes may be concentrated at certain regions of the cylinder to stably support the piston through a full reciprocating range. Compression coil springs may maintain concentric alignment of the cylinder and the piston. Gas through holes may be radially formed at the piston to lower a pressure of a bearing space and allow refrigerant to be smoothly introduced into the bearing space through a gas pocket A casing of the compressor may include an outer shell and an inner shell to attenuate vibration generated due to friction generated by operation of the reciprocating compressor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2018
    Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
    Inventors: Kwangwoon Ahn, Kichul Choi, Donghan Kim, Sunghyun Ki, Kyeongbae Park
  • Patent number: 10107274
    Abstract: An electrical submersible pump assembly for use in a well, including a well having a high gas-to-liquid ratio has a motor, a hollow, tubular drive shaft which drives the pump, and a liquid-gas separator assembly upstream of the pump intake. The liquid-gas separator has a hollow tubular portion, which communicates with the open, lower end of the drive shaft, openings through its sidewall, and a closed lower end. The sidewall also includes at least one outwardly extending projection shaped for urging liquid contained in a liquid/gas mixture flowing towards the pump outwardly, away from the sidewall openings. Preferably, the outwardly extending projection comprises a helical blade which, using either the well casing or a separate sheath, defines a helical channel through which the oil-gas mixture flows prior to reaching the pump intake.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2018
    Assignee: Saudi Arabian Oil Company
    Inventors: Mohamed Nabil Noui-Mehidi, Rabea Ahyad
  • Patent number: 10100838
    Abstract: An electric compressor is provided to more securely suppress breakage of an electric component. An inverter cover forms an accommodation space. A bus bar constituting a portion of an electric circuit for driving an electric motor is accommodated in the accommodation space. The inverter cover has a rib projecting into the accommodation space. The bus bar is placed on the rib.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2018
    Assignee: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOYOTA JIDOSHOKKI
    Inventors: Yusuke Kinoshita, Ken Suitou, Tatsuya Koide, Akio Fujii
  • Patent number: 10094369
    Abstract: A process to pump liquid held in a passive tank to an active tank when the active tank has a liquid level below a set point level and when the passive tank contains liquid at a temperature above the freezing point of the liquid, the active tank including a discontinuous level gauge configured to provide at least x+1 indications of the level of liquid in tank as a function of the relative position of a moving part with respect to x set point levels, x being at least equal to 2. The process includes: reading the level indication from a level gauge; starting a pump and measuring a time during which a pump transfers liquid; stopping the pump if this time is greater than a time constant, which depends on the value of the level indication, and if a next set point level is not reached.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 9, 2018
    Assignee: Plastic Omnium Advanced Innovation and Research
    Inventors: Paul Elong, Mircea Mateica
  • Patent number: 10072654
    Abstract: An electroproportional pressure control valve of cartridge-type construction is screwed into a housing bore of a hydrostatic pump. The cartridge includes an adjusting pressure port, a pump port, and a tank port. The adjusting pressure port is relieved to the tank port in a normal position of a spring-biased valve plunger of the pressure control valve. A connection from the pump port to the adjusting pressure port is opened counter to the force of the spring by increasing a current of an electromagnet and increasing the pump pressure at the pump port. The spring, the electromagnet, and the resultant force of the pump pressure act along a common axis of movement of the valve plunger. A first nozzle connects the adjusting pressure port to an adjusting pressure chamber. A second nozzle connects the adjusting pressure port to the tank port.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2018
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventors: Johannes Offenburger, Carola Diebold, Friedemann Nordt
  • Patent number: 10072650
    Abstract: A method of displacing fluid includes pulling a pump displacement member through a suction stroke with a pull, the pull configured to transmit only tensile forces to the fluid displacement member. A working fluid disposed in an internal pressure chamber drive the fluid displacement member through a pumping stroke. The pull is prevented from transmitting any compressive forces to the fluid displacement member, such that the pull does not drive the fluid displacement member through the pumping stroke.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2018
    Assignee: Graco Minnesota, Inc.
    Inventors: Bradley H. Hines, Brian W. Koehn, Jeffrey A. Earles, Paul W. Scheierl, Adam K. Collins
  • Patent number: 10054356
    Abstract: A refrigerator that includes a fan including a hub and a plurality of blades, the hub having a first accommodation space and the plurality of blades being disposed outside the hub; a motor including a stator and a rotor, the motor located in a case, the case having a cylindrical shape and being disposed in the hub, the stator being disposed in the case, and the rotor having a rotational shaft coupled to the hub and being rotatably disposed in the stator; and a support plate that is coupled to the case and that is configured to support the fan and the motor is disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2018
    Assignee: LG Electronics Inc.
    Inventor: Bongkook Lee
  • Patent number: 10024322
    Abstract: A fluid pump includes an input shaft, a pumping unit comprising a pump rotor, and a clutch arranged between the input shaft and the pump rotor. The clutch comprises at least two input clutch disks, at least two output clutch disks, a permanent magnet element, and an actuator. The at least two input clutch disks and the at least two output clutch discs together define at least two clutch liquid gaps which are filled with a magneto-rheological clutch liquid. The permanent magnet element shifts between an engaged position wherein a magnetic field of the permanent magnet element penetrates the at least two clutch liquid gaps with a high magnetic flux, and a disengaged position wherein the magnetic field of the permanent magnet element is less than in the engaged position. The actuator moves the permanent magnet element between the engaged position and the disengaged position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 17, 2018
    Assignee: PIERBURG PUMP TECHNOLOGY GMBH
    Inventors: Raffaele Squarcini, Elisa Bartalesi, Giacomo Armenio, Francesco Bucchi, Rocco Rizzo, Antonio Musolino, Paola Forte, Francesco Frendo, Alessandro Franceschini
  • Patent number: 10018198
    Abstract: Pump arrangement (20) for conveying a fluid, with a housing (22), with a first rotatably mounted pump member (24), and with a second rotatably mounted pump member (26), wherein a fluid-conveying effect is produced by means of a relative rotary movement between the first and the second pump member (24, 26), wherein the first pump member (24) can be driven by an electric motor (42) which is arranged concentrically to the first pump member (24) and which has a stator (44) and a rotor (46), wherein the rotor (46) is fixed to the first pump member (24) and wherein the pump arrangement (20) is constructed in such a way that fluid is present in an annular gap (58) between the rotor (46) and the stator (44). In this case, the pump arrangement has temperature control means for heating the fluid in the annular gap (58).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 10, 2018
    Assignee: MAGNA POWERTRAIN BAD HOMBURG GMBH
    Inventor: Elmar Hoppach
  • Patent number: 10012218
    Abstract: A variable displacement compressor having means for regulating the minimum inclination angle of a swash plate, a spring urging the swash plate in the inclination angle-increasing direction, and a spring urging the swash plate in the inclination angle-decreasing direction. The swash plate inclination angle is ?a as the sum of the urging forces of both springs is zero, when the drive shaft is not rotated; and, when the drive shaft is rotated, its inclination angle is ?b at which the sum of moments MS, MF is zero. Moment MS of rotational motion is based on selling the product of inertia in the variable-angle direction of the swash plate to decrease the inclination angle of the swash plate from ?a. Moment MF is based on the combined urging force of both springs set so that the inclination angle ?b is positioned at a minimum angle at maximum rotational speed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 3, 2018
    Assignee: SANDEN HOLDINGS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Satoshi Terauchi, Yukihiko Taguchi
  • Patent number: 10012221
    Abstract: Provided is a multi-range field full-automatic pressure and electric signal calibrating instrument, comprising: control components such as a shell, a power switch, multiple-interfaces, a display, a keyboard, and a gas pressure generating unit, a power supply unit, a pressure detecting unit, a gas pressure control unit and an electric signal detecting unit; the pressure output end of the pressure control unit is in parallel connection with pressure joints which are used for installing multiple pressure standard meters and detected meters with different ranges; the pressure control unit is in signal connection with the pressure standard meters; the electric signal detecting unit is in signal connection with the pressure control unit and the detected meters; the power supply unit can supply power by batteries.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 3, 2018
    Assignee: BEIJING CONST INSTRUMENT TECHNOLOGY INC.
    Inventor: Weili Jiang
  • Patent number: 10006448
    Abstract: This invention relates to apparatus and methods for pumping liquids, in particular using hydraulic ram pump techniques. The techniques we describe can advantageously be used, for example, for drawing water from a deep well in a developing country. We describe a hydraulic ram liquid pump, the pump comprising: a liquid conduit having first and second arms and a connecting portion to connect said arms; first and second one-way inlet valves to said liquid conduit; first and second internal shockwave generating devices within said liquid conduit between said first and second inlets; at least one one-way exit valve from said liquid conduit; wherein, in use, when said second shockwave generating device is sealed a column of liquid in said first arm is in fluid communication with a said exit valve and when said first shockwave generating device is sealed a column of liquid in said second arm is in fluid communication with a said exit valve.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 7, 2011
    Date of Patent: June 26, 2018
    Assignee: THERMOFLUIDICS LIMITED
    Inventor: Thomas C. B. Smith
  • Patent number: 9989027
    Abstract: A high pressure pump is provided to be used in a fuel feeding system for a vehicle engine and receive a fuel primarily pressurized by a low pressure pump, and secondarily compresses the fuel to increase the pressure of the fuel for supplying the fuel to a fuel injector. The high pressure pump includes a pump body and a camshaft that is rotatably installed in the pump body to be rotated using torque transmitted from an exterior of the pump body. Additionally, a roller bearing rotatably supports the camshaft in the pump body and an inlet port is disposed on the pump body to introduce a primarily pressurized fluid into the pump body. An orifice is configured to supply the fluid to the roller bearing while reducing a pressure of the fluid introduced via the inlet port.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 5, 2018
    Assignees: Hyundai Motor Europe Technical Center GmbH, Hyundai Motor Company, Kia Motors Corporation
    Inventor: Stephan Fitzner