Patents by Inventor Robert Eugene Hetrick

Robert Eugene Hetrick 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: 6145763
    Abstract: An automotive fuel injector having a fluorine-coating amphorous hydronated carbon film coating to resist the formation of carbonaceous deposits thereon. The fluorine-coating amphorous hydronated carbon film is made in part form trifluoromethyltrimethylsilane. The coating helps the fuel injector resist coking or the growth of hard carbonaceous deposits. This reduction in coking and deposits improves the fuel economy and engine performance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 1998
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2000
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Jonathan Edward Fleming, Michael Howard Parsons, Robert Eugene Hetrick, William Martin Sheeran, Xia Zhang
  • Patent number: 5725151
    Abstract: An electrospray adapted fuel injection valve includes an anode and cathode to inject monopolar electric charge into electrically insulating fuel. On exiting the injector, the charge containing fuel atomizes and disperses to reduce electrostatic energy. Additional electrodes with an appropriate method of biasing extend the range of applicability of the process by adjusting space charge distribution within the injector to compensate for variability in component manufacture and variability in the electrical conductivity of the fuel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 3, 1996
    Date of Patent: March 10, 1998
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Robert Eugene Hetrick, Michael Howard Parsons
  • Patent number: 5671716
    Abstract: A fuel injection system used in the intake air passageway of an internal combustion engine has a strategy for reducing cold start hydrocarbon emissions. The fuel injector has an actuator which allows the fuel spray pattern to be varied from one which is widely dispersed and atomized to one which is only weakly dispersed. A strategy for varying the spray pattern during the engine warm-up period after cold start is disclosed. The strategy increases evaporation within the passageway so that cold start overfuelling and attendant hydrocarbon emissions are reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 3, 1996
    Date of Patent: September 30, 1997
    Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Robert Eugene Hetrick, Harold Sean Hilbert, Michael Howard Parsons, William Francis Stockhausen