Patents by Inventor George R. Hansen

George R. Hansen 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).

  • Phase sensitive guidance sensor for wire-following vehicles
    Patent number: 4472716
    Abstract: A guidance sensor for a wire-following vehicle which is phase sensitive, includes an array of coils (C1-C16) positioned to sense the vertical component of a magnetic field (17) produced by the AC current through the guidance wire 15. The outputs of the coils are fed to associated flip flops (FF1-FF16). Flip flops associated with coils, through which flux passes in one direction, e.g. up, are driven to one state, e.g. true, and flip flops associated with coils through which flux passes in the opposite direction, e.g. down, are driven to a false state. The control signal to guide the vehicle to be over the wire is a function of the number of flip flops in the true state. Circuitry (45, 46) is included to prevent flip flops from assuming a wrong state due to noise.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 1981
    Date of Patent: September 18, 1984
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
    Inventor: George R. Hansen