Patents by Inventor Douglas William SCHOUTEN

Douglas William SCHOUTEN 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: 12007527
    Abstract: A borehole muon detector for muon radiography or geotomography is provided, the borehole muon detector including a substantially cylindrical housing, which defines a bore, a pair of end caps, each end cap sealing an end of the cylindrical housing and a plurality of sealed drift tubes which are longitudinally disposed in the bore of the housing to form a bundle of drift tubes, wherein each sealed drift tube comprises: a centrally located anode wire disposed on a longitudinal axis; an inner surface which is coated with a cathode coating, the cathode coating divided into a first cathode pad and a second cathode pad by a Vernier pattern; and a timer in electrical communication with the anode wire for measuring a drift time. A system and a method are also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2024
    Assignee: Ideon Technologies Inc.
    Inventor: Douglas William Schouten
  • Patent number: 11994645
    Abstract: A borehole muon detector for detecting and characterizing a geographic region of interest is provided, the borehole muon detector comprising a housing and sensor, which is housed in the housing, the sensor including: a plurality of photodetector elements; at least one printed circuit board in electrical communication with the plurality of photodetectors and including an integrated electronic circuit for tracking time; a first helical bundle of scintillator fibers; an oppositely wound helical bundle of scintillator fibers, the oppositely wound helical bundle, the first helical bundle and the opposite helical bundle defining an outer cylinder, which includes a first end and a second end and a bore therebetween, each scintillator fiber of each bundle directly optically connected to a photodetector element at least at one end and indirectly optically connected to the photodetector element at no more than one end; and a plurality of scintillator bars, each comprising a first end, a second end and an optical fiber
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 26, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 28, 2024
    Assignee: Ideon Technologies Inc.
    Inventors: Douglas William Schouten, Jacobus Van Nieuwkoop
  • Publication number: 20240004102
    Abstract: A borehole muon detector for muon radiography or geotomography is provided, the borehole muon detector including a substantially cylindrical housing, which defines a bore, a pair of end caps, each end cap sealing an end of the cylindrical housing and a plurality of sealed drift tubes which are longitudinally disposed in the bore of the housing to form a bundle of drift tubes, wherein each sealed drift tube comprises: a centrally located anode wire disposed on a longitudinal axis; an inner surface which is coated with a cathode coating, the cathode coating divided into a first cathode pad and a second cathode pad by a Vernier pattern; and a timer in electrical communication with the anode wire for measuring a drift time. A system and a method are also provided.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 3, 2023
    Publication date: January 4, 2024
    Inventor: Douglas William SCHOUTEN
  • Publication number: 20230324571
    Abstract: A gas electron multiplier (GEM), used to track cosmic ray muons, can have readout electrodes oriented in a helical pattern so that it can fit inside a narrow aperture borehole. The helical orientation of the readout electrodes provides for high spatial resolution and yet is cost effective to manufacture. The GEM can have an insulation layer, a plurality of conduction layers and an inner layer comprising a plurality of helical conductive stripes extending between two ends of the GEM.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 24, 2023
    Publication date: October 12, 2023
    Inventor: Douglas William SCHOUTEN
  • Publication number: 20230102216
    Abstract: A borehole muon detector for muon radiography or geotomography is provided, the borehole muon detector including a substantially cylindrical housing, which defines a bore, a pair of end caps, each end cap sealing an end of the cylindrical housing and a plurality of sealed drift tubes which are longitudinally disposed in the bore of the housing to form a bundle of drift tubes, wherein each sealed drift tube comprises: a centrally located anode wire disposed on a longitudinal axis; an inner surface which is coated with a cathode coating, the cathode coating divided into a first cathode pad and a second cathode pad by a Vernier pattern; and a timer in electrical communication with the anode wire for measuring a drift time. A system and a method are also provided.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 20, 2020
    Publication date: March 30, 2023
    Inventor: Douglas William SCHOUTEN
  • Publication number: 20220229205
    Abstract: A borehole muon detector for detecting and characterizing a geographic region of interest is provided, the borehole muon detector comprising a housing and sensor, which is housed in the housing, the sensor including: a plurality of photodetector elements; at least one printed circuit board in electrical communication with the plurality of photodetectors and including an integrated electronic circuit for tracking time; a first helical bundle of scintillator fibers; an oppositely wound helical bundle of scintillator fibers, the oppositely wound helical bundle, the first helical bundle and the opposite helical bundle defining an outer cylinder, which includes a first end and a second end and a bore therebetween, each scintillator fiber of each bundle directly optically connected to a photodetector element at least at one end and indirectly optically connected to the photodetector element at no more than one end; and a plurality of scintillator bars, each comprising a first end, a second end and an optical fiber
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 26, 2020
    Publication date: July 21, 2022
    Inventors: Douglas William SCHOUTEN, Jacobus VAN LIEUWKOOP
  • Publication number: 20220196874
    Abstract: A system for passively monitoring territory proximate to or at restrictive boundaries for tunnels, the system comprising a plurality of muon sensors, a data network in communication with each muon sensor, a power network in electrical communication with each muon sensor, and a data analysis unit, the data analysis unit in communication with each muon sensor via the data network, the data analysis unit comprising a memory and a processor, the memory configured to instruct the processor to analyse data from the plurality of muon detectors to identify and locate a new or emerging tunnel. A method of locating tunnels is also provided.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 3, 2020
    Publication date: June 23, 2022
    Inventor: Douglas William SCHOUTEN