Patents by Inventor Gerald Michael Eberhardt

Gerald Michael Eberhardt 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).

  • Multiplexing drive circuit for an AC ignition system with current mode control and fault tolerance detection
    Patent number: 8931457
    Abstract: A multiplexing drive circuit for an AC ignition system having a common leg that includes two switches coupled in series, and one or more dedicated legs, wherein each leg includes two switches coupled in series. The multiplexing drive circuit also includes a transformer for each of the one or more dedicated legs, each transformer having a primary winding coupled between one of the one or more dedicated legs and the common leg, and wherein each transformer has a secondary winding coupled in parallel to a spark plug, and a pulse-width modulated (PWM) switch controller configured to operate the common leg and dedicated leg switches to control characteristics of the spark discharge for the spark plug. Wherein the switch controller is capable of real time diagnostic checks by monitoring the time at which a spark discharge event takes place.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 13, 2015
    Assignee: Woodward, Inc.
    Inventors: David C. Petruska, Doyle Kent Stewart, Monte Lee Wegner, Gerald Michael Eberhardt
  • MULTIPLEXING DRIVE CIRCUIT FOR AN AC IGNITION SYSTEM WITH CURRENT MODE CONTROL AND FAULT TOLERANCE DETECTION
    Publication number: 20110255208
    Abstract: A multiplexing drive circuit for an AC ignition system having a common leg that includes two switches coupled in series, and one or more dedicated legs, wherein each leg includes two switches coupled in series. The multiplexing drive circuit also includes a transformer for each of the one or more dedicated legs, each transformer having a primary winding coupled between one of the one or more dedicated legs and the common leg, and wherein each transformer has a secondary winding coupled in parallel to a spark plug, and a pulse-width modulated (PWM) switch controller configured to operate the common leg and dedicated leg switches to control characteristics of the spark discharge for the spark plug. Wherein the switch controller is capable of real time diagnostic checks by monitoring the time at which a spark discharge event takes place.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 1, 2011
    Publication date: October 20, 2011
    Applicant: WOODWARD, INC.
    Inventors: David C. Petruska, Doyle Kent Stewart, Monte Lee Wegner, Gerald Michael Eberhardt