Patents by Inventor Eric Nelson Hettler

Eric Nelson Hettler 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: 10379003
    Abstract: A fuel actuation system may comprise a servo valve (SV) including a torque motor and at least one screen, a metering valve (MV) fluidly connected to the SV, and an electronic engine control (EEC) operatively connected to the SV. The EEC may be configured and disposed to determine a travel time of the MV, a travel distance of the MV, a pressure of a fuel, and/or a temperature of the fuel, generate at least one of a travel time history, a travel distance history, a fuel temperature history, and a fuel pressure history, and determine a level of degradation of the fuel actuation system based on the at least one of the travel time history, the travel distance history, the fuel temperature history, or the fuel pressure history.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2019
    Assignee: United Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Angelo Martucci, William Donat, Amy R Grace, Thomas A Bush, Eric Nelson Hettler, Kevin Patrick McCormick
  • Publication number: 20180246012
    Abstract: A fuel actuation system may comprise a servo valve (SV) including a torque motor and at least one screen, a metering valve (MV) fluidly connected to the SV, and an electronic engine control (EEC) operatively connected to the SV. The EEC may be configured and disposed to determine a travel time of the MV, a travel distance of the MV, a pressure of a fuel, and/or a temperature of the fuel, generate at least one of a travel time history, a travel distance history, a fuel temperature history, and a fuel pressure history, and determine a level of degradation of the fuel actuation system based on the at least one of the travel time history, the travel distance history, the fuel temperature history, or the fuel pressure history.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 30, 2018
    Publication date: August 30, 2018
    Applicant: United Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Angelo Martucci, William Donat, Amy R. Grace, Thomas A. Bush, Eric Nelson Hettler, Kevin Patrick McCormick
  • Patent number: 9983096
    Abstract: Systems and methods for monitoring fuel actuation system health are described herein. A method for monitoring fuel actuation system health may comprise: moving a metering valve from a first position to a second position; detecting a first travel distance of the metering valve; storing the first travel distance of the metering valve to memory to generate a first travel distance history; and determining a level of degradation of the fuel actuation system based on at least the first travel distance history.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 29, 2018
    Assignee: United Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Angelo Martucci, William Donat, Amy R. Grace, Thomas A. Bush, Eric Nelson Hettler, Kevin Patrick McCormick
  • Publication number: 20170370790
    Abstract: A measuring system is provided that includes a turbine engine thrust estimator that computes “virtual measurements” of dynamic engine thrust and other parameters of interest from test cell data in a very short amount of time. The measuring system ‘tunes’ a user's engine model, in a numerical propulsion system simulation, by optimizing system biases and health parameters to match the sensor outputs of a set of steady state data points across the operating range. The tuned model is then utilized by the measuring system to create a constant gain extended Kalman filter that is added directly within a code of the numerical propulsion system simulation. Results, including thrust, from the numerical propulsion system simulation with Kalman filter are then presented as ‘actual’ corrected data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 3, 2015
    Publication date: December 28, 2017
    Inventors: Eric Nelson Hettler, Carl Palmer
  • Publication number: 20170227424
    Abstract: Systems and methods for monitoring fuel actuation system health are described herein. A method for monitoring fuel actuation system health may comprise: moving a metering valve from a first position to a second position; detecting a first travel distance of the metering valve; storing the first travel distance of the metering valve to memory to generate a first travel distance history; and determining a level of degradation of the fuel actuation system based on at least the first travel distance history.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 5, 2016
    Publication date: August 10, 2017
    Applicant: United Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Angelo Martucci, William Donat, Amy R. Grace, Thomas A. Bush, Eric Nelson Hettler, Kevin Patrick McCormick