Patents by Inventor Ben Hatfield

Ben Hatfield has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 11940361
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides an integrated collection, filtration, and analysis system which is configured to automatically collect fluid samples from a surrounding open water environment, isolate floating particles of a target size range, and perform analysis on the collected particles in-situ. The particles may also be filtered by one or more parameters other than size, and also provided herein is a two-stage vortex filter specially adapted to isolate floating particles of a desired density range from a fluid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2024
    Inventors: Shiwei Liu, Xiaoge Cheng, Tianye Wang, Ben Hatfield, Fred Lu
  • Publication number: 20220187830
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides a system for autonomously controlling a fleet of carrier platforms on a water body surface, each carrier platform hosting and being configured to deploy and retrieve one or more sub-carriers for autonomously carrying out operations in a marine environment. The one or more carrier platforms and sub-carriers of the system each have navigation and positioning modules for coordinating movements and are also centrally managed via an intelligent central control system from which the operations of the fleet can be monitored and controlled. The present invention solves the retrieval issue presented by deploying unmanned sub-carriers in complex real-world environments. The invention provides for a modular retrieval system for unmanned sub-carriers.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 10, 2021
    Publication date: June 16, 2022
    Inventors: Shiwei Liu, Tianye Wang, Ben Hatfield, Lishao Wang, Xiaoge Cheng, Fred Lu
  • Publication number: 20220136940
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides an integrated collection, filtration, and analysis system which is configured to automatically collect fluid samples from a surrounding open water environment, isolate floating particles of a target size range, and perform analysis on the collected particles in-situ. The particles may also be filtered by one or more parameters other than size, and also provided herein is a two-stage vortex filter specially adapted to isolate floating particles of a desired density range from a fluid.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 27, 2021
    Publication date: May 5, 2022
    Inventors: Shiwei Liu, Xiaoge Cheng, Tianye Wang, Ben Hatfield, Fred Lu