Patents by Inventor Gregory Cole

Gregory Cole 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: 11550339
    Abstract: A tether control system for an inspection vehicle operable in a housing having a liquid medium is disclosed in the present application. The tether system includes a tether connected between the inspection vehicle and an electronic controller. A controllable buoyancy system associated with the tether is operable for moving the tether in a desired location. The controllable buoyancy system includes one or more floating bodies having a propulsion system and one or more buoyant elements having variable buoyancy capabilities.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2023
    Assignee: HITACHI ENERGY SWITZERLAND AG
    Inventors: Gregory A. Cole, William J. Eakins, Daniel T. Lasko, Harshang Shah, Thomas A. Fuhlbrigge, Luiz V. Cheim, Poorvi Patel, Biao Zhang, Saumya Sharma, Andrew Salm, Sangeun Choi
  • Publication number: 20230000567
    Abstract: A medical device deployment system includes a main body and a guidewire capable of being passed through the main body and including a lumen. An optical shape sensing (OSS) system is configured to pass through the lumen in the guidewire. The OSS system is configured to measure shape, position or orientation of an endograft relative to a blood vessel for placement of the endograft.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 6, 2022
    Publication date: January 5, 2023
    Inventors: Molly Lara FLEXMAN, Gregory COLE, David Paul NOONAN, Neriman Nicoletta KAHYA
  • Patent number: 11526163
    Abstract: A submersible remotely operable vehicle used for inspection of liquid cooled electrical transformers can include a number of separate cameras and sensors for mapping and navigating the internal structure of the transformer with liquid coolant remaining in the transformer. The remotely operable vehicle can be wirelessly controlled to perform various inspection functions while the number of cameras provide video streams for processing to produce a three dimensional field of view based on an observation position of the remotely operable vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2022
    Assignee: HITACHI ENERGY SWITZERLAND AG
    Inventors: Gregory A. Cole, William J. Eakins, Daniel T. Lasko, Harshang Shah, Thomas A. Fuhlbrigge, Carlos W. Morato, Luiz Cheim, Poorvi Patel, Biao Zhang, Saumya Sharma, Gregory F. Rossano
  • Publication number: 20220379758
    Abstract: An automated charging system for an electric vehicle is disclosed that includes a plug with a built-in camera assembly. The camera assembly captures images of a charging port of the electric vehicle, which are processed by one or more processors to estimate the location of the charging port relative to the plug. A control system generates signals for one or more actuators to move the plug relative to the charging port, thereby inserting the plug into the charging port to connect a power supply to the electric vehicle. The images may be processed via an image recognition algorithm and/or one or more machine learning algorithms. In an embodiment, the images are processed by a neural network to estimate the location of the charging port relative to the plug. The plug can also include a tapered structure to make fine adjustments to the position or orientation of the plug during connection.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 26, 2021
    Publication date: December 1, 2022
    Inventors: Matthew Hetrich, Gregory A. Cole
  • Publication number: 20220383543
    Abstract: An automated charging system for an electric vehicle is disclosed that includes a plug with a built-in camera assembly. The camera assembly captures images of a charging port of the electric vehicle, which are processed by one or more processors to estimate the location of the charging port relative to the plug. A multi-stage localization architecture is described that includes a gross localization procedure and a fine localization procedure. The gross localization procedure can implement a first convolutional neural network (CNN) to estimate a position of an object in the image. The fine localization procedure can implement a second CNN to estimate a position and orientation of the object. Actuators for moving the plug in a three-dimensional space can be controlled by the multi-stage localization architecture.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 26, 2021
    Publication date: December 1, 2022
    Inventors: Matthew Hetrich, Gregory A. Cole
  • Patent number: 11481892
    Abstract: A method is disclosed for inspecting electrical components within a housing. The method may be useful for identifying dust, grime, corrosion, tree-like structures, edges and/or slots on electrical components. The method includes capturing two optical images of an electrical component and comparing the images. Variations in pixels between the two images may be used to generate warnings.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 7, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 25, 2022
    Assignee: ABB SCHWEIZ AG
    Inventors: Gregory F. Rossano, Gregory A. Cole, Tomas Kozel, Jianjun Wang
  • Patent number: 11468628
    Abstract: A submersible vehicle which includes a plurality of cameras can be used to collect visual images of an object of interest submerged in a liquid environment, such as in a tank (e.g. transformer tank). In one form the submersible vehicle is remotely operated such as an ROV or an autonomous vehicle. Image information from the submersible along with inertial measurements in some embodiments is used with a vision based modelling system to form a model of an internal object of interest in the tank. The vision based modelling system can include a number of processes to form the model such as but not limited to tracking, sparse and dense reconstruction, model generation, and rectification.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2022
    Assignee: Hitachi Energy Switzerland AG
    Inventors: Gregory Cole, William Eakins, Daniel Lasko, Harshang Shah, Thomas Fuhlbrigge, Carlos W. Morato, Biao Zhang, Luiz Cheim, Poorvi Patel, Harald Josef Staab, Saumya Sharma
  • Patent number: 11465517
    Abstract: A charging connection is provided for charging electric vehicles. The first connector is coupled to an electric charging station with an electric cable. The second connector is coupled to the electric vehicle. The first connector has at least two openings slide onto at least two posts of the second connector. When the first and second connectors are coupled together, an electric potential supplies power from the first connector to the second connector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2022
    Assignee: ABB SCHWEIZ AG
    Inventors: Martin Krucinski, Gregory Cole
  • Patent number: 11465653
    Abstract: An unmanned rail vehicle for surveillance, inspection, and/or maintenance of an industrial site is provided. The rail vehicle includes at least two carry rollers adapted for engaging on an upper rail side of a rail, wherein the center of gravity of the rail vehicle is vertically below the upper rail side; and at least one support roller connected to the chassis and adapted for rolling against a lateral rail side of the rail to laterally displace the center of gravity of the rail vehicle with respect to the upper rail side.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2022
    Assignee: ABB Schweiz AG
    Inventors: Harald Staab, William Eakins, Daniel Lasko, Thomas Fuhlbrigge, Edward Zhang, Harshang Shah, Stefan Rakuff, Gregory Cole, Gregory Rossano, Andrew Salm, Sang Choi, Remus Boca
  • Patent number: 11441958
    Abstract: Systems, methods, techniques and apparatuses of package identification are disclosed. One exemplary embodiment is a method for package identification comprising performing a set of initial inspection operations on a package; determining a portion of a plurality of possible packages based on the set of initial inspection operations and a data structure including initial inspection characteristics for the plurality of possible packages; performing a set of package movement inspection operations by moving the package using a robot; determining a set of movement characteristics based on the package movement inspection operations; and identifying which one of the portion of the plurality of possible packages corresponds to the package using the set of movement characteristics.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 31, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2022
    Assignee: ABB Schweiz AG
    Inventors: Gregory A. Cole, Thomas A. Fuhlbrigge
  • Patent number: 11414164
    Abstract: An inspection vehicle operable for performing one or more maintenance and repair operations in a housing filled at least partially with a liquid medium is disclosed in the present application. The inspection vehicle includes a propulsion device operable in the liquid medium and includes at least one sensor operable for sensing and transmitting data associated therewith. A control system including an electronic controller is in electronic communication with the inspection vehicle to transmit and receive communication signals to/from the inspection vehicle. One or more maintenance tools operable with the inspection vehicle are configured to perform maintenance and/or repair operations within the liquid filled housing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2022
    Assignee: Hitachi Energy Switzerland AG
    Inventors: Gregory A. Cole, William J. Eakins, Daniel T. Lasko, Harshang Shah, Thomas A. Fuhlbrigge, Luiz V. Cheim, Poorvi Patel, Biao Zhang, Saumya Sharma, Andrew Salm
  • Patent number: 11400822
    Abstract: A system for charging commercial electric vehicles, including buses and trucks. The system can include a charging station that outputs a supply of relatively high voltage electrical power, and a cable suspension post having a support post and a suspension arm. The suspension arm can be suspended away from the support post at a vertical height that is higher than the height of typical commercial vehicles. At least a portion of a charging cable is electrically coupled to the charging station and suspended from the suspension arm. A charging connector can be free-hanging from the suspended portion of the charging cable, and therefore be swingingly displaceable into electrical engagement with a mating connector of the vehicle. The suspension arm can be rotatably displaced relative to the support post and/or another portion of the suspension arm such that a vertical height and/or other position of the suspended arm can be adjusted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: ABB SCHWEIZ AG
    Inventors: Martin Krucinski, Gregory Cole
  • Publication number: 20220214686
    Abstract: A system for servicing a data center using an autonomous vehicle (AV) is provided. The system comprises the AV and the AV is configured to: receive a task to perform within the data center, wherein the data center comprises a plurality of servers associated with a plurality of enterprise organizations; navigate from an initial location within the data center to a new location within the data center along a path extending through a portion of the data center, the path being determined automatically; and while navigating the path and in response to encountering a movable barrier disposed along the path, performing a procedure to bypass the movable barrier such that the AV can continue navigating along the path.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 5, 2021
    Publication date: July 7, 2022
    Applicant: ABB Schweiz AG
    Inventors: Gregory A. Cole, Harshang Shah, William J. Eakins, Saumya Sharma, Thomas A. Fuhlbrigge
  • Patent number: 11370317
    Abstract: Systems, methods and software for automated electrical connector positioning for electric vehicle (EV) charging are provided. Using, for example, the disclosed automatic charging device, a method for charging an EV includes capturing an image of at least a portion of a pattern positioned in a fixed location in a landing zone of an EV-side electrical connector in a fixed position on or in an underside of the EV. The method includes determining, based on the image, a displacement of a charger-side electrical connector from an initial position to a final position, the final position corresponding to the charger-side electrical connector matingly engaged with the EV-side electrical connector. The method includes actuating the charger-side electrical connector from the initial position to the final position according to the displacement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2022
    Assignee: ABB Schweiz AG
    Inventors: Sree Shankar Satheesh Babu, Gregory A. Cole, Martin Krucinski
  • Patent number: 11360120
    Abstract: A method and system for acquiring, manipulating and displaying inspection data obtained by sensors associated with submersible inspection vehicle within a housing having a liquid medium is disclosed in the present application. A control system including an electronic controller is operably coupled with the inspection vehicle and is configured to display data transmitted from the sensor and overlay input data from an operator on the display to facilitate real time analysis during the inspection event.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignee: HITACHI ENERGY SWITZERLAND AG
    Inventors: Gregory A. Cole, William J. Eakins, Daniel T. Lasko, Harshang Shah, Thomas A. Fuhlbrigge, Luiz V. Cheim, Poorvi Patel, Biao Zhang, Saumya Sharma, Sanguen Choi
  • Patent number: 11344440
    Abstract: An endograft (102) includes a stent structure. An optical shape sensing (OSS) system (104) is associated with the endograft and is configured to measure shape, position and/or orientation of the stent structure. The OSS system (104) is connected to the stent structure and removable in a plurality of ways. Methods for deployment and removal of the OSS system are also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2022
    Assignee: KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V.
    Inventors: Gregory Cole, Molly Lara Flexman, David Paul Noonan, Neriman Nicoletta Kahya
  • Patent number: 11338691
    Abstract: A charge head is connected to a charge inlet of an electric vehicle to supply an electric charge to recharge the battery of the vehicle. The charge head is attached to a connecting device that moves the charge head to the charge inlet. A sensor is provided to sense the locations of the tires of the vehicle. The system then uses the relative location of the charge inlet to the tires to determine the location of the charge inlet in order to move the charge head.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2022
    Assignee: ABB SCHWEIZ AG
    Inventors: Martin Krucinski, Gregory A. Cole, Harshang Shah
  • Publication number: 20220126717
    Abstract: A charge head is connected to a charge inlet of an electric vehicle to supply an electric charge to recharge the battery of the vehicle. The charge head is attached to a connecting device that moves the charge head to the charge inlet. Multiple light detectors are provided on the charge head to sense light emitted from the vehicle. The system then uses a difference in the amount of light received by different light detectors to determine a direction to move the charge head toward the charge inlet.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 4, 2022
    Publication date: April 28, 2022
    Inventors: Gregory A. Cole, Sree Shankar, Daniel T. Lasko, Harshang Shah
  • Patent number: 11312253
    Abstract: A charging connection is provided for charging a battery of a vehicle using an external power source. The first connector is coupled to the external power source with an electric cable. The second connector is coupled to the vehicle. The first connector is automatically guided for connection to the second connector using radio frequency signals to couple the first and second connectors so that electrical energy is supplied to the vehicle from the first connector to the second connector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2022
    Assignee: ABB SCHWEIZ AG
    Inventors: Gregory A. Cole, Sree Shankar
  • Publication number: 20220001761
    Abstract: A plug connection system that autonomously charges an electric vehicle (EV) is provided. The method includes: adjusting configuration settings of an image capturing device; capturing an image using the image capturing device, wherein a portion of the image comprises an optically distinctive object associated with a charging portal of the EV, and wherein the image comprises a plurality of pixels; applying a pixel value threshold associated with a pixel metric to the image to filter the plurality of pixels of the image to a first subset of pixels; determining, based on filtering the plurality of pixels to the first subset of pixels, a location of the optically distinctive object associated with the charging portal of the EV within the image; and providing information to maneuver a robotic arm to a physical position associated with the location of the optically distinctive object within the image.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 2, 2020
    Publication date: January 6, 2022
    Applicant: ABB Schweiz AG
    Inventors: Gregory A. Cole, William J. Eakins, Stefan J. Raaijmakers