Patents by Inventor Neil Arthur Duffie

Neil Arthur Duffie 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: 11389902
    Abstract: Surface asperities, such as roughness characteristics, are reduced or otherwise mitigated via the control of surface regions including the asperities in different regimes. In accordance with various embodiments, the height of both high-frequency and low-frequency surface asperities is reduced by controlling characteristics of a surface region under a first regime to flow material from the surface asperities. A second regime is implemented to reduce a height of high-frequency surface asperities in the surface region by controlling characteristics of the surface region under a second regime to flow material that is predominantly from the high-frequency surface asperities, the controlled characteristics in the second regime being different than the controlled characteristics in the first regime. Such aspects may include, for example, controlling melt pools in each regime via energy pulses, to respectively mitigate/reduce the asperities.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2022
    Assignee: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation
    Inventors: Venkata Madhukanth Vadali, Chao Ma, Neil Arthur Duffie, Xiaochun Li, Frank Ewald Pfefferkorn
  • Publication number: 20190291213
    Abstract: Surface asperities, such as roughness characteristics, are reduced or otherwise mitigated via the control of surface regions including the asperities in different regimes. In accordance with various embodiments, the height of both high-frequency and low-frequency surface asperities is reduced by controlling characteristics of a surface region under a first regime to flow material from the surface asperities. A second regime is implemented to reduce a height of high-frequency surface asperities in the surface region by controlling characteristics of the surface region under a second regime to flow material that is predominantly from the high-frequency surface asperities, the controlled characteristics in the second regime being different than the controlled characteristics in the first regime. Such aspects may include, for example, controlling melt pools in each regime via energy pulses, to respectively mitigate/reduce the asperities.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 10, 2019
    Publication date: September 26, 2019
    Inventors: Venkata Madhukanth Vadali, Chao Ma, Neil Arthur Duffie, Xiaochun Li, Frank Ewald Pfefferkorn
  • Patent number: 10315275
    Abstract: Surface asperities, such as roughness characteristics, are reduced or otherwise mitigated via the control of surface regions including the asperities in different regimes. In accordance with various embodiments, the height of both high-frequency and low-frequency surface asperities is reduced by controlling characteristics of a surface region under a first regime to flow material from the surface asperities. A second regime is implemented to reduce a height of high-frequency surface asperities in the surface region by controlling characteristics of the surface region under a second regime to flow material that is predominantly from the high-frequency surface asperities, the controlled characteristics in the second regime being different than the controlled characteristics in the first regime. Such aspects may include, for example, controlling melt pools in each regime via energy pulses, to respectively mitigate/reduce the asperities.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2019
    Assignee: Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation
    Inventors: Venkata Madhukanth Vadali, Chao Ma, Neil Arthur Duffie, Xiaochun Li, Frank Ewald Pfefferkorn
  • Publication number: 20140202997
    Abstract: Surface asperities, such as roughness characteristics, are reduced or otherwise mitigated via the control of surface regions including the asperities in different regimes. In accordance with various embodiments, the height of both high-frequency and low-frequency surface asperities is reduced by controlling characteristics of a surface region under a first regime to flow material from the surface asperities. A second regime is implemented to reduce a height of high-frequency surface asperities in the surface region by controlling characteristics of the surface region under a second regime to flow material that is predominantly from the high-frequency surface asperities, the controlled characteristics in the second regime being different than the controlled characteristics in the first regime. Such aspects may include, for example, controlling melt pools in each regime via energy pulses, to respectively mitigate/reduce the asperities.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 24, 2013
    Publication date: July 24, 2014
    Applicant: WISCONSIN ALUMNI RESEARCH FOUNDATION
    Inventors: Venkata Madhukanth Vadali, Chao Ma, Neil Arthur Duffie, Xiaochun Li, Frank Ewald Pfefferkorn
  • Patent number: 6013997
    Abstract: The three dimensional probe device of the present invention is mountable on a working end of a fully automated and articulated robotic arm movable through at least five degrees of axial freedom in a global dimensional reference. The three dimensional probe device comprises a base, a carriage, a probe, a Z axis measuring apparatus and a tilt measuring apparatus. The probe tip contacts the work piece surface to be traced with deflections in the workpiece seam or path resulting in movement of the carriage and probe. The probe includes a plate and a ball which is pivotable in a ball socket portion of the carriage. Movement of the carriage in relation to the base provides measurement data for rotational change in the direction of the workpiece path or seam. Tilting of the probe provides measurement data for translational change in the direction of the workpiece path or seam.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 1998
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2000
    Assignee: Tower Automotive, Inc.
    Inventors: Robert James Heideman, Elmer Gerald Blachowiak, Christopher Brian Smith, Stephen Lee Carian, Brandon Stuart Tarr, Neil Arthur Duffie, Michael Harry Predith