Patents by Inventor Hartmut GIMPEL

Hartmut GIMPEL 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: 11914074
    Abstract: An optoelectronic sensor for the detection of objects in a monitored region is provided that comprises at least one light transmitter for transmitting a plurality of light beams separate from one another starting from a respective transmission point, a common transmission optics for the transmitted light beams, at least one light receiver for generating a respective received signal from the remitted light beams reflected from the objects and incident at a respective reception point, a common reception optics for the remitted light beams and an evaluated unit for obtaining information on the objects from the received signals. In this connection the transmission points are arranged on a first circular line and/or the reception points are arranged on the second circular line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2024
    Assignee: SICK AG
    Inventors: Hartmut Gimpel, Gottfried Hug, Klaus Clemens
  • Patent number: 11698442
    Abstract: An optoelectronic sensor is provided that has at least one light transmitter for transmitting a plurality of mutually separated light beams starting from a respective one transmission point; a transmission optics for the transmitted light beams; at least one light receiver for generating a respective received signal from the remitted light beams reflected from the objects and incident at a respective reception point; a reception optics for the remitted light beams; and an evaluation unit for acquiring information on the objects from the received signals. The reception optics and/or the transmission optics is/are a two-lens objective for an annular image field with an image field angle that has a first lens and a second lens, with the first lens being configured such that bundles of rays of every single transmission point and/or reception point with an image field angle ? only impinge on half of the second lens.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 11, 2023
    Assignee: SICK AG
    Inventors: Hartmut Gimpel, Matthias Jägel
  • Patent number: 11624824
    Abstract: An optoelectronic sensor (10) for detecting objects in a monitoring region (20), the sensor (10) having a scanning unit (12, 58) movable about an axis of rotation (18), a plurality of scanning modules (22) for periodically scanning the monitoring region (20) and for generating corresponding received signals, and an evaluation unit (48) for obtaining information about the objects from the received signals, the scanning modules (22) comprising at least one light transmitter (24) for transmitting several light beams (28) separated from one another and at least one light receiver (36) for generating the received signals from the light beams (32) remitted by the objects, wherein at least one scanning module (22) is at least one of tilted by a tilt angle (?) relative to its main viewing direction and rotated by a rotation angle (?).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2023
    Assignee: SICK AG
    Inventors: Hartmut Gimpel, Gottfried Hug, Klaus Clemens
  • Patent number: 11579269
    Abstract: An optoelectronic sensor for determining the distance of an object in a monitoring area has a light transmitter for transmitting transmitted light, a light receiver for generating a received signal from remitted light remitted by the object, and a control and evaluation unit configured to modulate the transmitted light with at least a first frequency and a second frequency, to determine a phase offset between transmitted light and remitted light for the first frequency and the second frequency, and to determine a light time of flight. The control and evaluation unit is configured to determine a first amplitude and a second amplitude for the first frequency and the second frequency from the received signal and to detect whether the transmitted light impinges on an edge in the monitoring area on the basis of an evaluation of the first amplitude and the second amplitude.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2023
    Assignee: SICK AG
    Inventors: Hartmut Gimpel, Matthias Honal
  • Patent number: 11486973
    Abstract: An optoelectronic sensor is provided having a light receiver, a reception optics arranged upstream of the light receiver, and a control and evaluation unit, wherein the reception optics has a beam deflection device having a plurality of switchable blaze gratings of different grating constants arranged behind one another, and wherein the control and evaluation unit is configured to switch a blaze grating on and off in accordance with a desired deflection angle of the beam deflection device have the same grating constants, but a mutually different blaze angle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2022
    Assignee: SICK AG
    Inventors: Hartmut Gimpel, Thomas Russ
  • Patent number: 10948574
    Abstract: An optoelectronic sensor (10) for detecting an object in a monitored zone (20) that has at least one light transmitter (22) for transmitting a plurality of mutually separated transmitted light beams (26a-d); a plurality of light receivers (34a-d) that are each associated with one of the transmitted light beams (26a-d) for generating a received signal from the associated light beam (26, 30) remitted at the object; and an evaluation unit (46) that is configured to acquire information on the object at the respective point of incidence of the transmitted light beam (26a-d) from the received signal of the light receiver (34a-d) that is associated with the transmitted light beam (26a-d) and to additionally consider at least one received signal of a light receiver (34a-b) that is not associated with the transmitted light beam (26a-d) on the acquiring of information on the object at the point of incidence of at least one transmitted light beam (26a-d).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 16, 2021
    Assignee: SICK AG
    Inventors: Hartmut Gimpel, Roger Buser
  • Publication number: 20200355809
    Abstract: An optoelectronic sensor for determining the distance of an object in a monitoring area has a light transmitter for transmitting transmitted light, a light receiver for generating a received signal from remitted light remitted by the object, and a control and evaluation unit configured to modulate the transmitted light with at least a first frequency and a second frequency, to determine a phase offset between transmitted light and remitted light for the first frequency and the second frequency, and to determine a light time of flight. The control and evaluation unit is configured to determine a first amplitude and a second amplitude for the first frequency and the second frequency from the received signal and to detect whether the transmitted light impinges on an edge in the monitoring area on the basis of an evaluation of the first amplitude and the second amplitude.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 6, 2020
    Publication date: November 12, 2020
    Inventors: Hartmut GIMPEL, Matthias HONAL
  • Publication number: 20200124708
    Abstract: An optoelectronic sensor is provided that has at least one light transmitter for transmitting a plurality of mutually separated light beams starting from a respective one transmission point; a transmission optics for the transmitted light beams; at least one light receiver for generating a respective received signal from the remitted light beams reflected from the objects and incident at a respective reception point; a reception optics for the remitted light beams; and an evaluation unit for acquiring information on the objects from the received signals. The reception optics and/or the transmission optics is/are a two-lens objective for an annular image field with an image field angle that has a first lens and a second lens, with the first lens being configured such that bundles of rays of every single transmission point and/or reception point with an image field angle ? only impinge on half of the second lens.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 15, 2019
    Publication date: April 23, 2020
    Inventors: Hartmut GIMPEL, Matthias JÄGEL
  • Publication number: 20200088849
    Abstract: An optoelectronic sensor is provided having a light receiver, a reception optics arranged upstream of the light receiver, and a control and evaluation unit, wherein the reception optics has a beam deflection device having a plurality of switchable blaze gratings of different grating constants arranged behind one another, and wherein the control and evaluation unit is configured to switch a blaze grating on and off in accordance with a desired deflection angle of the beam deflection device have the same grating constants, but a mutually different blaze angle.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 17, 2019
    Publication date: March 19, 2020
    Inventors: Hartmut GIMPEL, Thomas Russ
  • Publication number: 20200041617
    Abstract: An optoelectronic sensor (10) for detecting an object (20) in a monitoring region (18), the sensor (10) having a light transmitter (12) for transmitting transmitted light (16) of a wavelength range; a light receiver (32) for generating a received signal from the remitted light (22) remitted or reflected by the object (20), a reception optics (24) arranged in front of the light receiver (32), the reception optics (24) comprising at least a first optical element (26) for focusing the remitted light (22), a second optical element (28) for reducing the angle of incidence, and an optical filter (30) tuned to the wavelength range for suppressing interfering light; and an evaluation unit (34) which is configured to generate object information from the received signal, wherein the second optical element (28) comprises light scattering properties.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 30, 2019
    Publication date: February 6, 2020
    Inventor: Hartmut GIMPEL
  • Patent number: 10509109
    Abstract: An optoelectronic sensor (10) for detecting an object in a monitoring area (20), the sensor (10) having at least one light transmitter (22) for transmitting a plurality of mutually separated light beams (26), a light receiver (34) with a plurality of light receiving elements (34a) for generating a respective reception signal from the remitted light beams (30) remitted by the objects, a receiving optics (32) arranged in front of the light receiver (34) and an evaluation unit (46) for obtaining information about the object from the reception signals, wherein at least some of the light receiving elements (34a) have a mutual offset in a direction perpendicular to their receiving surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2019
    Assignee: SICK AG
    Inventors: Hartmut Gimpel, Sebastian Tschuch, Roger Buser
  • Publication number: 20190324143
    Abstract: An optoelectronic sensor is provided for detecting objects and for determining the distance of objects in a monitored zone that has a light transmitter for transmitting modulated transmitted light, a light receiver having a plurality of SPAD light reception elements for generating at least one received signal from the transmitted light remitted from objects in the monitored zone, a reception optics disposed in front of the light receiver and having a diaphragm, and a control and evaluation unit that is configured to determine a time of flight from properties of the received signal and of the modulated transmitted light and to determine a distance value therefrom. The diaphragm here has a plurality of diaphragm apertures spaced apart from one another.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 19, 2019
    Publication date: October 24, 2019
    Inventor: Hartmut GIMPEL
  • Patent number: 10436935
    Abstract: An optoelectronic sensor for detecting objects in a monitored zone is provided that has a light transmitter having a plurality of individual light sources and a transmission optics arranged in front of the light transmitter for transmitting a transmitted light beam that is composed of a plurality of individual light beams of the individual light sources; a light receiver for generating a received signal from the transmitted light beam remitted in the monitored zone and incident on the light receiver; and an evaluation unit for detecting the objects from the received signal. An optical deflection element is arranged between the light transmitter and the transmission optics and has microoptical zones which are associated with the individual light sources and which deflect the individual light beams onto one another such that the cross-sections of the individual light beams together take up a smaller area in a virtual image plane in front of the transmission optics than the individual light sources themselves.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2019
    Assignee: SICK AG
    Inventors: Hartmut Gimpel, Sebastian Tschuch
  • Publication number: 20190235082
    Abstract: An optoelectronic sensor (10) for detecting objects in a monitoring region (20), the sensor (10) having a scanning unit (12, 58) movable about an axis of rotation (18), a plurality of scanning modules (22) for periodically scanning the monitoring region (20) and for generating corresponding received signals, and an evaluation unit (48) for obtaining information about the objects from the received signals, the scanning modules (22) comprising at least one light transmitter (24) for transmitting several light beams (28) separated from one another and at least one light receiver (36) for generating the received signals from the light beams (32) remitted by the objects, wherein at least one scanning module (22) is at least one of tilted by a tilt angle (?) relative to its main viewing direction and rotated by a rotation angle (?).
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 25, 2019
    Publication date: August 1, 2019
    Inventors: Hartmut GIMPEL, Gottfried HUG, Klaus CLEMENS
  • Publication number: 20190235058
    Abstract: An optoelectronic sensor for the detection of objects in a monitored region is provided that comprises at least one light transmitter for transmitting a plurality of light beams separate from one another starting from a respective transmission point, a common transmission optics for the transmitted light beams, at least one light receiver for generating a respective received signal from the remitted light beams reflected from the objects and incident at a respective reception point, a common reception optics for the remitted light beams and an evaluated unit for obtaining information on the objects from the received signals. In this connection the transmission points are arranged on a first circular line and/or the reception points are arranged on the second circular line.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 24, 2019
    Publication date: August 1, 2019
    Inventors: Hartmut GIMPEL, Gottfried HUG, Klaus CLEMENS
  • Publication number: 20190041545
    Abstract: An optoelectronic sensor for detecting objects in a monitored zone is provided that has a light transmitter having a plurality of individual light sources and a transmission optics arranged in front of the light transmitter for transmitting a transmitted light beam that is composed of a plurality of individual light beams of the individual light sources; a light receiver for generating a received signal from the transmitted light beam remitted in the monitored zone and incident on the light receiver; and an evaluation unit for detecting the objects from the received signal. An optical deflection element is arranged between the light transmitter and the transmission optics and has microoptical zones which are associated with the individual light sources and which deflect the individual light beams onto one another such that the cross-sections of the individual light beams together take up a smaller area in a virtual image plane in front of the transmission optics than the individual light sources themselves.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 3, 2018
    Publication date: February 7, 2019
    Inventors: Hartmut GIMPEL, Sebastian TSCHUCH
  • Publication number: 20180292512
    Abstract: An optoelectronic sensor (10) for detecting an object in a monitored zone (20) that has at least one light transmitter (22) for transmitting a plurality of mutually separated transmitted light beams (26a-d); a plurality of light receivers (34a-d) that are each associated with one of the transmitted light beams (26a-d) for generating a received signal from the associated light beam (26, 30) remitted at the object; and an evaluation unit (46) that is configured to acquire information on the object at the respective point of incidence of the transmitted light beam (26a-d) from the received signal of the light receiver (34a-d) that is associated with the transmitted light beam (26a-d) and to additionally consider at least one received signal of a light receiver (34a-b) that is not associated with the transmitted light beam (26a-d) on the acquiring of information on the object at the point of incidence of at least one transmitted light beam (26a-d).
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 9, 2018
    Publication date: October 11, 2018
    Inventors: Hartmut GIMPEL, Roger BUSER
  • Publication number: 20170168144
    Abstract: An optoelectronic sensor (10) for detecting an object in a monitoring area (20), the sensor (10) having at least one light transmitter (22) for transmitting a plurality of mutually separated light beams (26), a light receiver (34) with a plurality of light receiving elements (34a) for generating a respective reception signal from the remitted light beams (30) remitted by the objects, a receiving optics (32) arranged in front of the light receiver (34) and an evaluation unit (46) for obtaining information about the object from the reception signals, wherein at least some of the light receiving elements (34a) have a mutual offset in a direction perpendicular to their receiving surface.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 13, 2016
    Publication date: June 15, 2017
    Inventors: Hartmut GIMPEL, Sebastian TSCHUCH, Roger BUSER