Patents by Inventor ERIK PETER OOSTERWAL

ERIK PETER OOSTERWAL 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: 9679728
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture to regulate relay coil switching are disclosed. A disclosed example method of regulating switching times of a relay having a pair of contacts to selectively and electrically couple an analog alternating current (AC) power source and a load includes forming a digital pulse train representative of an AC signal at the load, determining a first value corresponding to a representative pulse width of the digital pulse train, providing a first relay switching signal to the relay at a first time relative to a zero crossing of the AC signal, selecting a second time for providing a second relay switching signal to the relay based the first value and a second value representative of the width of a first pulse of the digital pulse train associated with the first relay switching signal at the first time, and providing the second relay switching signal to the relay at the second time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2017
    Assignee: Whirlpool Corporation
    Inventors: Erik Peter Oosterwal, Peter J. Richmond
  • Publication number: 20160042901
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture to regulate relay coil switching are disclosed. A disclosed example method of regulating switching times of a relay having a pair of contacts to selectively and electrically couple an analog alternating current (AC) power source and a load includes forming a digital pulse train representative of an AC signal at the load, determining a first value corresponding to a representative pulse width of the digital pulse train, providing a first relay switching signal to the relay at a first time relative to a zero crossing of the AC signal, selecting a second time for providing a second relay switching signal to the relay based the first value and a second value representative of the width of a first pulse of the digital pulse train associated with the first relay switching signal at the first time, and providing the second relay switching signal to the relay at the second time.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 6, 2014
    Publication date: February 11, 2016
    Applicant: WHIRLPOOL CORPORATION
    Inventors: ERIK PETER OOSTERWAL, PETER J. RICHMOND