Patents by Inventor Stefan Jacob Wulf

Stefan Jacob Wulf 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: 12158765
    Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed for managing task assignments for a fleet of haul trucks at a mine site. An assignment engine may: receive state data for a haul truck including haul weight data and second state data for the mine site that is indicative of a plurality of available tasks and associated task material weight data; assign a task to the haul truck by inputting the state data into a trained reinforcement-learning model, wherein: the model has been trained to learn an assignment policy that optimizes a reward function, such that the learned policy accounts for vehicle performance variance due to changing vehicle haul weight and/or road conditions; and cause the at least one haul truck to be operated according to the at least one task assignment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2024
    Assignee: Caterpillar Inc.
    Inventors: Stefan Jacob Wulf, Cameron T Lane, Andrew Seungyul Yun, Greg Davis, Thomas Frank Doherty, Darryl Collins
  • Publication number: 20240202627
    Abstract: A mine site electrification planning apparatus includes a model component to simulate mine site operations under a mine site electrification plan. A simulation control component may provide configuration data to the model component that are descriptive of varying distributions of zero greenhouse gas emitting (ZGHG) mining assets for which the mine site electrification plan is simulated. An optimization control component may identify the configuration data associated with the simulated mine site electrification plan that meets an economic optimization criterion related to physically implementing the mine site electrification plan.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 14, 2022
    Publication date: June 20, 2024
    Applicant: Caterpillar Inc.
    Inventors: Daniel Jude ORGAN, Stefan Jacob WULF
  • Publication number: 20230273624
    Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed for managing task assignments for a fleet of haul trucks at a mine site. An assignment engine may: receive state data for a haul truck including haul weight data and second state data for the mine site that is indicative of a plurality of available tasks and associated task material weight data; assign a task to the haul truck by inputting the state data into a trained reinforcement-learning model, wherein: the model has been trained to learn an assignment policy that optimizes a reward function, such that the learned policy accounts for vehicle performance variance due to changing vehicle haul weight and/or road conditions; and cause the at least one haul truck to be operated according to the at least one task assignment.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 28, 2022
    Publication date: August 31, 2023
    Applicant: Caterpillar Inc.
    Inventors: Stefan Jacob WULF, Cameron T LANE, Andrew Seungyul YUN, Greg DAVIS, Thomas Frank DOHERTY, Darryl COLLINS
  • Patent number: 10401249
    Abstract: A method for detecting an unbalanced payload condition in a machine is disclosed. The method includes detecting, by a first sensor, a pressure exerted on each of one or more struts in the machine by a payload. The method further includes detecting, by a second sensor, one or more operational parameters associated with machine. Furthermore, method includes determining, by a controller, a center of gravity of the payload based on detected pressure, the one or more operational parameters, and one or more dimensions of the machine. Additionally, the method includes determining, by the controller, a force being exerted, by the payload, on each traction member of the machine based on the center of gravity of the payload. The method further includes detecting, by the controller, the unbalanced payload condition when the force, being exerted on at least one traction member of the plurality of traction members, exceeds a threshold value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2019
    Assignee: Caterpillar Inc.
    Inventors: Justin Lee Steinlage, Jason Bell, Stefan Jacob Wulf
  • Publication number: 20180100779
    Abstract: A method for detecting an unbalanced payload condition in a machine is disclosed. The method includes detecting, by a first sensor, a pressure exerted on each of one or more struts in the machine by a payload. The method further includes detecting, by a second sensor, one or more operational parameters associated with machine. Furthermore, method includes determining, by a controller, a center of gravity of the payload based on detected pressure, the one or more operational parameters, and one or more dimensions of the machine. Additionally, the method includes determining, by the controller, a force being exerted, by the payload, on each traction member of the machine based on the center of gravity of the payload. The method further includes detecting, by the controller, the unbalanced payload condition when the force, being exerted on at least one traction member of the plurality of traction members, exceeds a threshold value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 11, 2016
    Publication date: April 12, 2018
    Applicant: Caterpillar Inc.
    Inventors: Justin Lee Steinlage, Jason Bell, Stefan Jacob Wulf