Patents by Inventor Lowell D. Snapp

Lowell D. Snapp 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).

  • System having unmodulated flux locked loop for measuring magnetic fields
    Patent number: 7091718
    Abstract: A system (10) for measuring magnetic fields, wherein the system (10) comprises an unmodulated or direct-feedback flux locked loop (12) connected by first and second unbalanced RF coaxial transmission lines (16a, 16b) to a superconducting quantum interference device (14). The FLL (12) operates for the most part in a room-temperature or non-cryogenic environment, while the SQUID (14) operates in a cryogenic environment, with the first and second lines (16a, 16b) extending between these two operating environments.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2004
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2006
    Assignee: Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Kenneth R. Ganther, Jr., Lowell D. Snapp
  • Fast flux locked loop
    Patent number: 6448767
    Abstract: A flux locked loop for providing an electrical feedback signal, the flux locked loop employing radio-frequency components and technology to extend the flux modulation frequency and tracking loop bandwidth. The flux locked loop of the present invention has particularly useful application in read-out electronics for DC SQUID magnetic measurement systems, in which case the electrical signal output by the flux locked loop represents an unknown magnetic flux applied to the DC SQUID.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2000
    Date of Patent: September 10, 2002
    Assignee: Honeywell International, Inc.
    Inventors: Kenneth R. Ganther, Jr., Lowell D. Snapp
  • Read-out electronics for DC squid magnetic measurements
    Patent number: 6420868
    Abstract: Read-out electronics for DC SQUID sensor systems, the read-out electronics incorporating low Johnson noise radio-frequency flux-locked loop circuitry and digital signal processing algorithms in order to improve upon the prior art by a factor of at least ten, thereby alleviating problems caused by magnetic interference when operating DC SQUID sensor systems in magnetically unshielded environments.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2000
    Date of Patent: July 16, 2002
    Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
    Inventors: Kenneth R. Ganther, Jr., Lowell D. Snapp
  • Frequency multiplexed flux locked loop architecture providing an array of DC SQUIDS having both shared and unshared components
    Patent number: 6356078
    Abstract: Architecture for frequency multiplexing multiple flux locked loops in a system comprising an array of DC SQUID sensors. The architecture involves dividing the traditional flux locked loop into multiple unshared components and a single shared component which, in operation, form a complete flux locked loop relative to each DC SQUID sensor. Each unshared flux locked loop component operates on a different flux modulation frequency. The architecture of the present invention allows a reduction from 2N to N+1 in the number of connections between the cryogenic DC SQUID sensors and their associated room temperature flux locked loops. Furthermore, the 1×N architecture of the present invention can be paralleled to form an M×N array architecture without increasing the required number of flux modulation frequencies.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2000
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2002
    Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
    Inventors: Kenneth R. Ganther, Jr., Lowell D. Snapp