Patents by Inventor Michael Horstbrink

Michael Horstbrink 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: 8288920
    Abstract: An ultrasonic transducer for use in a fluid medium includes at least one transducer core having at least one acoustic/electric transducer element. The ultrasonic transducer furthermore includes at least one decoupling element which is configured to reduce a structure-borne noise coupling between the transducer core and a housing. The decoupling element includes at least one porous plastic material, in particular a foamed plastic material. The porous plastic material includes at least one thermosetting polymer and/or at least one thermoplastic.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2012
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventors: Roland Mueller, Gerhard Hueftle, Michael Horstbrink, Tobias Lang, Sami Radwan, Bernd Kuenzl, Roland Wanja
  • Publication number: 20120038248
    Abstract: An ultrasonic transducer for use in a fluid medium includes at least one piezoelectric transducer element, at least one matching body for the promotion of a vibrational coupling between the piezoelectric transducer element and the fluid medium, and at least one compensating body situated between the piezoelectric transducer element and the matching body for the reduction of thermal stresses, the compensating body having a coefficient of thermal expansion that is between a coefficient of thermal expansion of the piezoelectric transducer element and a coefficient of thermal expansion of the matching body.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 26, 2009
    Publication date: February 16, 2012
    Inventors: Roland Mueller, Gerhard Hueftle, Michael Horstbrink, Tobias Lang, Sami Radwan, Bernd Kuenzl, Roland Wanja
  • Publication number: 20110314933
    Abstract: An ultrasonic transducer is described for use in a fluid medium. The ultrasonic transducer includes at least one piezoelectric transducer element and at least one matching element for promoting an oscillation injection between the piezoelectric transducer element and the fluid medium. The ultrasonic transducer also includes a housing (112), the piezoelectric transducer element being inserted in the housing. The housing has at least one opening facing the fluid medium, the matching element being inserted at least partially into the opening. The ultrasonic transducer also has at least one sealing element, which seals at least one intervening space between the matching element and the housing in such a way that an inner space of the housing is at least largely sealed from the fluid medium.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 17, 2009
    Publication date: December 29, 2011
    Inventors: Roland Mueller, Gerhard Hueftle, Michael Horstbrink, Tobias Lang, Sami Radwan, Bernd Kuenzl, Roland Wanja
  • Publication number: 20110308317
    Abstract: A method for manufacturing an ultrasonic transducer for use in a fluid medium is described. The ultrasonic transducer includes at least one transducer core having at least one acoustic-electric transducer element. The ultrasonic transducer furthermore includes at least one housing which at least partially surrounds the transducer core and which has at least one opening facing the fluid medium. In the method, at least one sealing film is stretched and connected to the housing in the stretched state in such a way that the sealing film at least partially seals the opening.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 1, 2011
    Publication date: December 22, 2011
    Inventors: Roland Mueller, Gerhard Hueftle, Michael Horstbrink, Tobias Lang, Sami Radwan, Bernd Kuenzl, Roland Wanja
  • Publication number: 20110181322
    Abstract: A device for producing a current pulse includes supply terminals for providing a power supply voltage, and a switch which is situated in a control current branch between the supply terminals, which switch is configured to switch a control current through the control current branch as a function of an actuation signal. The device also has a current mirror having a control transistor and a signal transistor, the control transistor being situated in series to the first switch in the control current branch, and the signal transistor being configured to provide the current pulse as a function of the control current through the control transistor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 18, 2011
    Publication date: July 28, 2011
    Inventors: Roland Mueller, Gerhard Hueftle, Michael Horstbrink, Tobias Lang, Sami Radwan, Bernd Kuenzl, Roland Wanja
  • Publication number: 20110125024
    Abstract: An ultrasonic transducer for use in a fluid medium includes at least one transducer core having at least one acoustic/electric transducer element. The ultrasonic transducer furthermore includes at least one decoupling element which is configured to reduce a structure-borne noise coupling between the transducer core and a housing. The decoupling element includes at least one porous plastic material, in particular a foamed plastic material. The porous plastic material includes at least one thermosetting polymer and/or at least one thermoplastic.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 28, 2010
    Publication date: May 26, 2011
    Inventors: Roland MUELLER, Gerhard HUEFTLE, Michael HORSTBRINK, Tobias LANG, Sami RADWAN, Bernd KUENZL, Roland WANJA
  • Publication number: 20100288055
    Abstract: A sensor measures a flow quantity of a medium using a first wave converter and a second wave converter which faces the first wave converter, each of which emits and receives sound waves, and a device calculates the flow quantity on the basis of a first wave transit time from the first wave converter to the second wave converter, and on the basis of a second wave transit time from the second wave converter to the first wave converter. The device includes a unit for limiting the change to the flow quantity. In this manner, and the measurement may be carried out more accurately.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 7, 2010
    Publication date: November 18, 2010
    Inventors: Roland Mueller, Gerhard Hueftle, Dirk Daecke, Bernhard Opitz, Michael Horstbrink, Frank Steuber, Tobias Lang, Sami Radwan, Bernd Kuenzl, Roland Wanja, Ralf Kieser
  • Patent number: 7775124
    Abstract: An ultrasonic sensor has at least two ultrasonic converters for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic signals, connected with a transmitting circuit and a receiving circuit. A switching device is provided, by which the ultrasonic converters are connected in series when in the transmission mode, and they are separated from each other when in the receiving mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 17, 2010
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventors: Bernhard Optiz, Michael Horstbrink, Tobias Lang, Johannes Artzner
  • Publication number: 20100154560
    Abstract: A method for manufacturing an ultrasonic transducer for use in a fluid medium. At least one piezoelectric transducer element is joined directly or indirectly to at least one matching member for promoting vibration coupling between the piezoelectric transducer element and the fluid medium. A matching member is used which has at least one porous molding of a polymer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 17, 2009
    Publication date: June 24, 2010
    Inventors: Roland MUELLER, Gerhard Hueftle, Michael Horstbrink, Tobias Lang, Sami Radwan, Bernd Kuenzl, Roland Wanja
  • Patent number: 7637171
    Abstract: An ultrasonic flow sensor, in particular for determining the flow velocity of a medium flowing through a pipeline, has at least one ultrasonic converter for transmitting and/or receiving ultrasonic signals, an oscillator, which is connected with the ultrasonic converter, and an evaluation unit, which determines a phase shift of the ultrasonic signal that was received, with respect to a reference signal. The evaluation unit includes a plurality of quadrature demodulators, which operate with different demodulation frequencies and each determine phase information about the ultrasonic signal that was received, and when a vernier unit is provided, which determines—based on the individual pieces of phase information—a phase angle or a quantity proportional thereto.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2008
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2009
    Assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
    Inventors: Jiawei Zhang, Bernhard Opitz, Michael Horstbrink, Tobias Lang, Axel Wenzler
  • Publication number: 20090000394
    Abstract: An ultrasonic sensor has at least two ultrasonic converters for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic signals, connected with a transmitting circuit and a receiving circuit. A switching device is provided, by which the ultrasonic converters are connected in series when in the transmission mode, and they are separated from each other when in the receiving mode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 15, 2008
    Publication date: January 1, 2009
    Inventors: Bernhard Opitz, Michael Horstbrink, Tobias Lang, Johannes Artzner
  • Publication number: 20080307895
    Abstract: An ultrasonic flow sensor, in particular for determining the flow velocity of a medium flowing through a pipeline, has at least one ultrasonic converter for transmitting and/or receiving ultrasonic signals, an oscillator, which is connected with the ultrasonic converter, and an evaluation unit, which determines a phase shift of the ultrasonic signal that was received, with respect to a reference signal. The evaluation unit includes a plurality of quadrature demodulators, which operate with different demodulation frequencies and each determine phase information about the ultrasonic signal that was received, and when a vernier unit is provided, which determines—based on the individual pieces of phase information—a phase angle or a quantity proportional thereto.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 5, 2008
    Publication date: December 18, 2008
    Inventors: Jiawei Zhang, Bernhard Optiz, Michael Horstbrink, Tobias Lang, Axel Wenzler