Patents by Inventor Shawn C. Passwater

Shawn C. Passwater 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).

  • Publication number: 20080252285
    Abstract: A machine includes a first component and a second component between which relative rotation can occur about a rotation axis. The machine may also include a rotary position-sensing system, which may include a plurality of magnets mounted to the first component. The plurality of magnets mounted to the first component may include a first magnet and a second magnet mounted to the first component at different angular positions around the rotation axis. The first magnet may be magnetized in a first direction that is at an angle to a circle that extends through the first magnet perpendicular and concentric to the rotation axis. The rotary position-sensing system may also include a magnetic-flux sensor mounted to the second component to sense magnetic flux generated by at least one of the first magnet and the second magnet and generate a signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 28, 2007
    Publication date: October 16, 2008
    Inventors: Shawn C. Passwater, Daniel Ross Ekstrand
  • Patent number: 6164117
    Abstract: The present invention pertains to an inclination sensor construction that is capable of determining the pitch and roll of a machine or machine implement. Moreover, the present invention may be employed to detect the pitch and roll of a blade of a motor grader or bulldozer. The invention is directed to a method of detecting the native inaccuracy of an inclination sensor and providing compensation values to correct for errors in the sensor output, and to an inclination sensor construction that makes use of such compensation values to produce highly accurate inclination sensor construction outputs, and contemplates the inclusion in the inclination sensor construction of a microprocessor that has stored therein compensation values that are utilized during operation of the inclination sensor construction to correct the native outputs of individual transducers to take into account recognized inaccuracies of such native outputs relative to actual inclination values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 1999
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2000
    Assignee: Caterpillar Inc.
    Inventors: Shawn C. Passwater, Stephen K. Phelps, Robert R. Sychra