Patents Examined by W. Cheung
  • Patent number: 11402128
    Abstract: A processor for a controller of a water heater is configured to receive water heater control parameters and an output from a sensor indicating a measured temperature of water in the water heater. The processor is also configured to determine whether to enter an anti-stacking control mode or to enter a demand anticipation control mode. In the anti-stacking control mode the processor is configured to initiate a call for heat when the measured temperature reaches a trigger temperature, calculate a burner on delay value and set a second timer with the calculated value, and calculate a reduced activation time. In the demand anticipation control mode the processor is configured to increase the variable offset based on a frequency of the demand anticipation control mode being activated, initiate a call for heat, and control, based on the reduced activation time or the increased offset value, the burner.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: SIT MANUFACTURING N.A. S.A. DE C.V.
    Inventors: Thomas P. Buescher, Daniel L. Furmanek, John E. Kopp
  • Patent number: 11391469
    Abstract: A hot-water supply device includes a hot-water dispenser supplying hot-water, a hot-water supply path supplying the hot-water to a hot-water supply tap, a circulation path carrying out instant hot-water operation which circulates and heats the hot-water remaining in the hot-water supply path, a first clock repeatedly measuring unit times in which a pattern of hot-water usage of a user makes a round, and a flow rate sensor detecting the supply of the hot-water from the hot-water supply tap. The control portion detects, for each of the unit times and based on detection signals of the flow rate sensor, a time zone in which hot-water supply operation is carried out, and reserves, based on a time zone in a first unit time in which the hot-water supply operation is carried out, a time zone in a second unit time following the first unit time for carrying out the instant hot-water operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 17, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2022
    Assignee: NORITZ CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takahide Hasegawa, Atsushi Ushio, Ryo Takahashi
  • Patent number: 11378307
    Abstract: A boiler includes a tank, a gas circuit that includes a main combustion chamber in the tank and branch tubes in the tank that extend off of the main combustion chamber, and a water circuit fluidly isolated from the gas circuit. The water circuit includes a first manifold and water tubes that extend off of the first manifold. Each water tube extends through a respective one of the branch tubes, which may serve to preheat the water prior to discharge of the water into the tank.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Assignee: ENERPRO
    Inventor: Seyed Jafar Mirjalali
  • Patent number: 11364766
    Abstract: A vehicle dashboard includes a trim panel defining an airflow opening. At least one register duct defines a register opening. The at least one register duct is disposed adjacent to the trim panel and the register opening aligns with the airflow opening. At least one demister duct defines a demister opening. The at least one demister duct is disposed adjacent to the trim panel and the demister opening aligns with the airflow opening. A first air deflector slidably engaged with the at least one register duct. A second air deflector slidably engaged with the at least one register duct.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2022
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Yahong Zhang, Eric J. Hupfel, Elisangela Po Previte, Craig Wetzel, Ian McLaughlin
  • Patent number: 11359838
    Abstract: A heat exchanger includes a tube expansion portion formed by expanding a heat transfer tube so that an outer peripheral surface of the heat transfer tube is pressed against an inner peripheral surface of a hole provided in a side wall portion of a case. The tube expansion portion includes first and second bulge portions positioned respectively on the inside and the outside of the side wall portion so as to sandwich the side wall portion in an axial length direction of the heat transfer tube and configured such that respective outer peripheral surfaces thereof partially bulge outward in a radial direction of the heat transfer tube, an end portion tip end of the heat transfer tube is positioned apart from the second bulge portion, and the end portion tip end and a part in the vicinity thereof are expanded so as to be included in a part of the tube expansion portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignee: NORITZ CORPORATION
    Inventors: Naoki Se, Shoji Okuda, Hideyuki Fujisawa, Taihei Terasawa, Masaki Kondo
  • Patent number: 11346544
    Abstract: A heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) includes a base and a top platform assembly disposed on the base. The top platform assembly includes a first top platform auxiliary module having a first rectangular frame in which a steam manifold is disposed, a second top platform auxiliary module having a second rectangular frame in which a high pressure (HP) drum is disposed, and a third top platform auxiliary module having a third rectangular frame in which a low pressure (LP) drum and an intermediate pressure (IP) drum are disposed. Each top platform auxiliary module may be pre-assembled on the ground prior to be raised to elevation for installed on the base.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2022
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Phillip Geoffrey Moller, Janmejaya Tripathy
  • Patent number: 11339976
    Abstract: A hot-water supply device includes a hot-water dispenser supplying hot-water, a hot-water supply path supplying the hot-water to a hot-water supply tap, a circulation path carrying out instant hot-water operation which circulates and heats the hot-water remaining in the hot-water supply path, a first clock repeatedly measuring unit times in which a pattern of hot-water usage of a user makes a round, and a flow rate sensor detecting the supply of the hot-water from the hot-water supply tap. The control portion detects, for each of the unit times and based on detection signals of the flow rate sensor, a time zone in which hot-water supply operation is carried out, and reserves, based on a time zone in a first unit time in which the hot-water supply operation is carried out, a time zone in a second unit time following the first unit time for carrying out the instant hot-water operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 17, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2022
    Assignee: NORITZ CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takahide Hasegawa, Atsushi Ushio, Ryo Takahashi
  • Patent number: 11313585
    Abstract: A heat exchanger includes front and rear walls forming a flue gas space such that a fluid flowing through a channel formed in the front and rear walls can exchange heat with flue gas in the flue gas space, in use. An entirety of the back wall extends along a first plane, and the back wall is provided with a back fin. The front wall includes a lower portion extending upwardly along the back wall, and an upper portion extending upwardly from an upper end of the lower portion and outwardly away from the back wall to form a combustion space of a flammable gas between the upper portion and the back wall. The upper portion is provided with a front fin. The front and back fins are arranged symmetrically with respect to a virtual line along which the flammable gas is to be injected into the combustion space.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2022
    Assignees: Daikin Industries, Ltd., DAIKIN EUROPE N.V.
    Inventors: Serhan M Kilic, Hakan Peker, Aydin Tuna
  • Patent number: 11306981
    Abstract: A heat exchanger (1) includes a heat exchanging body (20) disposed within an outer box (10). A supply pipe (21) and a discharge pipe (22) in fluid communication with the heat exchanging body (20) respectively extend through first and second insertion holes (31, 32) in the outer box (10). Elastic seal members (40; 240) are respectively provided around the supply pipe (21) and the discharge pipe (22) and between a first sidewall (11) of the outer box (10) and the heat exchanging body (20). At least one biasing member (50; 250) exerts a lateral biasing force (F1; F2) on the elastic seal members (40; 240), thereby maintaining the elastic seal members (40; 240) in a state of compressive deformation and contacting the outer box (10) and the heat exchanging body (20) in an air-tight manner to block potential leakage paths (LP1; LP2) via the insertion holes (31, 32).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2022
    Assignee: RINNAI CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yoshio Goto, Daisuke Naito, Shigeki Takeuchi
  • Patent number: 11231206
    Abstract: A lid for a heat generating device in which the heat generating device has a body with a combustion chamber disposed therein. The lid includes an air moving device, an air intake housing, and a hinge. The air moving device is configured to generate a flow of air. The air intake housing is disposed between the lid and the air moving device. The air intake housing extends out from the lid to cantilever the air moving device out from the lid. The hinge is disposed between the lid and the body and proximal to the air intake housing. The hinge is configured to provide a pivot for the lid. A weight of the air moving device counter balances at least a portion of a weight of the lid to ease pivoting of the lid into an open position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 3, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 25, 2022
    Assignee: The Marley Company LLC
    Inventors: Neil Butt, Joel Bodine, Michael Hostetler, Frederick Hoffmaster
  • Patent number: 11226133
    Abstract: [Problem] To provide a water heating apparatus which has a inverse combustion type burner installed within a case for a heat exchanger so as to cause heat to be transferred from an outer peripheral flange of the burner to the heat exchanger case. [Solution] This water heating apparatus is provided with: a fan for supplying combustion air; a chamber case which is connected to the fan and which has set therein a chamber where an air-fuel mixture is formed; a inverse combustion type burner for combusting the air-fuel mixture supplied from the chamber; a heat exchanger in which combustion gas generated by the burner is introduced into a case where water is heated; and sealing member which is installed between a peripheral flange of the chamber case and a peripheral flange of the case, wherein the burner is set inside the case, and an outer peripheral flange of the burner is anchored to an inner wall surface of the case.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 18, 2022
    Assignee: NORITZ CORPORATION
    Inventor: Keiichi Miura
  • Patent number: 11215390
    Abstract: A drive device with an abnormality detection mechanism may include a drive source; a drive member to which power of the drive source is transmitted; a driven member operably coupled to the drive member; and a detector structured to output a signal in response to the driven member being turned in the second direction around the second axial line. The driven member may be structured such that, in response to the drive member being turned in a first direction around a first axial line, the driven member is turned in a first direction around a second axial line; and, in response to transmission of the power from the drive member being disconnected, the driven member is turned in a second direction around the second axial line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 4, 2022
    Assignee: NIDEC SANKYO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Satoru Yokoe, Takehiko Yazawa
  • Patent number: 11170301
    Abstract: A computer-based system trains a neural network by solving a double layer optimization problem. The system includes an input interface to receive an input to the neural network and labels of the input to the neural network; a processor to solve a double layer optimization to produce parameters of the neural network, and an output interface to output the parameters of the neural network. The double layer optimization includes an optimization of a first layer subject to an optimization of a second layer. The optimization of the first layer minimizes a difference between an output of the neural network processing the input and the labels of the input to the neural network, the optimization of the second layer minimizes a distance between a non-negative output vector of each layer and a corresponding input vector to each layer. The input vector of a current layer is a linear transformation of the non-negative output vector of the previous layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 9, 2021
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Ziming Zhang, Matthew Brand
  • Patent number: 11164050
    Abstract: Machine learning classification models which are robust against label noise are provided. Noise may be modelled explicitly by modelling “label flips”, where incorrect binary labels are “flipped” relative to their ground truth value. Distributions of label flips may be modelled as prior and posterior distributions in a flexible architecture for machine learning systems. An arbitrary classification model may be provided within the system. The classification model is made more robust to label noise by operation of the prior and posterior distributions. Particular prior and approximating posterior distributions are disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 2, 2021
    Assignee: D-WAVE SYSTEMS INC.
    Inventor: Arash Vahdat
  • Patent number: 11106997
    Abstract: An online system uses multiple machine learning models to select content for providing to a user of the online system. Specifically, the online system trains a general model that intakes a first set of features and outputs predictions at a general level. The online system further trains a residual model that intakes a second set of features. The residual model predicts a residual (e.g., an error) of the predictions outputted by the general model. Therefore, the predicted residual from the residual model is combined with the prediction from the general model in order to correct for the over-generality of the general model. The online system may use the combined prediction to send content to users.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: Facebook, Inc.
    Inventors: Andrew Donald Yates, Gunjit Singh, Kurt Dodge Runke
  • Patent number: 11068781
    Abstract: A method, computer readable medium, and system are disclosed for implementing a temporal ensembling model for training a deep neural network. The method for training the deep neural network includes the steps of receiving a set of training data for a deep neural network and training the deep neural network utilizing the set of training data by: analyzing the plurality of input vectors by the deep neural network to generate a plurality of prediction vectors, and, for each prediction vector in the plurality of prediction vectors corresponding to the particular input vector, computing a loss term associated with the particular input vector by combining a supervised component and an unsupervised component according to a weighting function and updating the target prediction vector associated with the particular input vector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 20, 2021
    Assignee: NVIDIA Corporation
    Inventors: Samuli Matias Laine, Timo Oskari Aila
  • Patent number: 6492465
    Abstract: This invention relates to propylene impact copolymer compositions. In particular, these unique and improved compositions can be produced using conventional, commercial-scale processes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2000
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2002
    Assignee: ExxonMobil Chemical Patents, Inc.
    Inventors: Terry John Burkhardt, Robert Tan Li, Aspy Keki Mehta, Udo M. Stehling, William T. Haygood, Jr., Francis C. Rix, Dawn C. Wiser
  • Patent number: 6448350
    Abstract: Ethylene based copolymers having high molecular weights, narrow molecular weight distributions, and a very good homogeneous distribution of the comonomer units can be obtained in high yields at temperatures of industrial interest, by carrying out the polymerization reaction in the presence of metallocene catalysts comprising particular bridged bis-indenyl compounds substituted in the 3-position on the indenyl groups.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 1999
    Date of Patent: September 10, 2002
    Assignee: Basell Technology Company BV
    Inventors: Tiziano Dall'Occo, Luigi Resconi
  • Patent number: 6235852
    Abstract: The invention relates to a process for cooling polymerization reactors in the preparation of polyolefins, the polymerization being carried out in a first reactor and in at least one further reactor, the further reactor or reactors being connected downstream of the first reactor and each being cooled by an internal cooling circuit in which a cooling medium circulates. The invention comprises feeding cooling medium from the cooling circuit (9) of the first reactor (1) into the cooling circuit (10) of at least one further reactor (2) and taking off the same amount of cooling medium from the cooling circuit (10) of this reactor (2), cooling it and recirculating it into the cooling circuit (9) of the first reactor (1).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 1999
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2001
    Assignee: Aventis Research & Technologies GmbH & Co KG
    Inventors: Jürgen Hess, Matthias Stumpf