Patents by Inventor Steffen Hoppe

Steffen Hoppe 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: 8973262
    Abstract: Method for producing a piston ring having an axial height <2 mm, said piston ring having a radially outer running surface provided with at least one rail, a radially inner circumferential surface, and upper and lower flank surfaces extending therebetween, wherein said rail is provided with a contour that is tapered radially outwardly, thereafter the running surface, together with the flanks of the tapered rail, is provided with at least one wear-resistant layer, and then only the flank of the rail that is to form a scraping edge is subjected to at least partial material removal to form the scraping edge.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 10, 2015
    Assignee: Federal-Mogul Burscheid GmbH
    Inventors: Johannes Esser, Hans-Gerd Kroeschel, Steffen Hoppe
  • Publication number: 20150047212
    Abstract: A level sensor for a motor vehicle includes a housing, a rotor rotatably mounted on the housing, and a printed circuit board enclosed in the housing. The printed circuit board includes at least one stator and is connected to a plug which can be attached to an opening in the housing, and seals the opening thereby. The printed circuit board and electronic components are readily and permanently protected against environmental influences. Housing has a chamber for accommodating the printed circuit board , and the opening is allocated to the chamber. The chamber is closed on all sides, with the exception of the opening. The printed circuit board can be inserted in the chamber in the manner of a drawer and can be positioned therein.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 5, 2013
    Publication date: February 19, 2015
    Inventors: Manfred Bartscht, Thomas Elpermann, Steffen Hoppe, Eckart Wirries
  • Patent number: 8652620
    Abstract: A sliding element in an internal combustion engine has a coating which has the following layers from the outside inwards: a first carbon-based layer, a second carbon-based layer which is harder and/or has a smaller proportion of hydrogen than the first carbon-based layer, a PVD layer and a bonding layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2009
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2014
    Assignee: Federal-Mogul Burscheid GmbH
    Inventors: Manfred Fischer, Steffen Hoppe
  • Patent number: 8641046
    Abstract: A piston ring with a DLC coating comprises an adhesive layer on a base material from inside to outside, an amorphous metallic hydrocarbon layer and an amorphous non-metallic hydrocarbon layer, wherein primarily sp2 bonds predominate in the metallic hydrocarbon layer and the non-metallic hydrocarbon layer comprises sp2 and sp3 bonds, the sp3 bond fraction being higher than in the metallic hydrocarbon layer so that an electrical resistance of the DLC coating arises, said resistance being in the range greater than 5000 ohms, in particular greater than 5000 kohms.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2009
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2014
    Assignee: Federal-Mogul Burscheid GmbH
    Inventors: Steffen Hoppe, Manfred Fischer
  • Publication number: 20130192458
    Abstract: A sliding element, in particular a piston ring or a cylinder liner, comprising at least one a-C:H:Me layer, where Me is germanium and silicon, having a layer thickness of 10-40 ?m, is provided.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 24, 2011
    Publication date: August 1, 2013
    Inventors: Steffen Hoppe, Marcus Kennedy, Manfred Fischer, Michael Zinnabold, Robert R. Aharonov
  • Publication number: 20130187341
    Abstract: Method for producing a piston ring having an axial height <2 mm, said piston ring having a radially outer running surface provided with at least one rail, a radially inner circumferential surface, and upper and lower flank surfaces extending therebetween, wherein said rail is provided with a contour that is tapered radially outwardly, thereafter the running surface, together with the flanks of the tapered rail, is provided with at least one wear-resistant layer, and then only the flank of the rail that is to form a scraping edge is subjected to at least partial material removal to form the scraping edge.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 13, 2011
    Publication date: July 25, 2013
    Applicant: FEDERAL-MOGUL BURSCHEID GMBH
    Inventors: Johannes Esser, Hans-Gerd Kroeschel, Steffen Hoppe
  • Publication number: 20120248706
    Abstract: The invention relates to a slide ring seal, in particular a running gear seal, at least comprising a slide ring, which is in operative connection with a counter running surface, in particular a counter ring, the slide ring having a sliding surface and an accommodating area for an elastomer spring element, at least the sliding surface of the slide ring being provided with a convex contour.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 2, 2010
    Publication date: October 4, 2012
    Inventors: Steffen Hoppe, Andreas Dengler
  • Patent number: 8273469
    Abstract: Disclosed is a piston ring comprising a supporting material and a wear-resistant coating. The wear-resistant coating is composed of a ternary system A-B—N which is applied using a PVD process and in which A and B each represent an element form the group encompassing Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Nb, Ta, Cr, Mo W, Al, Si and C, wherein A?B and N represents nitrogen. The thickness of the wear-resistant coating amounts to ?3 ?m.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2008
    Date of Patent: September 25, 2012
    Assignee: Federal-Mogul Burscheid GmbH
    Inventors: Steffen Hoppe, Manfred Fischer, Christiane Bauer, Ralf Lammers
  • Publication number: 20120161401
    Abstract: The invention relates to a gliding element of an internal combustion engine, especially a piston ring, having a DLC coating of the ta-C type which has at least one residual stress gradient, a negative residual stress gradient being present in a center region (II) of the coating, when seen from the outside to the inside, said gradient being preferably smaller than in an inner region (III), the inner region (III) having a smaller layer thickness than the center region (II).
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 19, 2010
    Publication date: June 28, 2012
    Inventors: Steffen Hoppe, Manfred Fischer, Marcus Kennedy
  • Patent number: 8201831
    Abstract: A sliding element comprises at least one surface for sliding contact with a running face, wherein a wear layer and a run-in layer made from carbon are applied to the surface, and is characterized in that the run-in layer comprises hydrogen and nanocrystalline carbide phases. In a method for manufacturing a sliding element, the run-in layer is applied by means of a PVD process. A sliding system has an above-described sliding element and a body having a running face. A coating for a sliding element comprises a wear layer which can be applied to the upper side of the sliding element, and a run-in layer which is configured as a carbon layer, and is characterized in that the run-in layer comprises hydrogen and nanocrystalline carbide phases.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2006
    Date of Patent: June 19, 2012
    Assignee: Federal-Mogul Burscheid GmbH
    Inventors: Steffen Hoppe, Manfred Fischer, Ralf Lammers, Manfred Muller, Christiane Bauer, Reiner Waller, Jorg Vetter
  • Publication number: 20120068418
    Abstract: The invention relates to a gliding element of an internal combustion engine, especially a piston ring, having a DLC coating of the ta-C type which has at least one residual stress gradient.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 24, 2010
    Publication date: March 22, 2012
    Inventors: Steffen Hoppe, Manfred Fischer, Marcus Kennedy
  • Publication number: 20110268946
    Abstract: A sliding element in an internal combustion engine has a coating which has the following layers from the outside inwards: a first carbon-based layer, a second carbon-based layer which is harder and/or has a smaller proportion of hydrogen than the first carbon-based layer, a PVD layer and a bonding layer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 26, 2009
    Publication date: November 3, 2011
    Inventors: Manfred Fischer, Steffen Hoppe
  • Publication number: 20110256366
    Abstract: In a method for coating a sliding element, in particular a piston ring or a cylinder liner of an internal combustion engine, DLC phases are embedded into a hard material layer as said hard material layer is deposited. A sliding element, such as a piston ring or a cylinder liner of an internal combustion engine, comprises a hard material layer with embedded DLC phases.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 15, 2009
    Publication date: October 20, 2011
    Inventors: Steffen Hoppe, Manfred Fischer, Marcus Kennedy
  • Publication number: 20110101620
    Abstract: A piston ring with a DLC coating comprises an adhesive layer on a base material from inside to outside, an amorphous metallic hydrocarbon layer and an amorphous non-metallic hydrocarbon layer, wherein primarily sp2 bonds predominate in the metallic hydrocarbon layer and the non-metallic hydrocarbon layer comprises sp2and sp3 bonds, the sp3 bond fraction being higher than in the metallic hydrocarbon layer so that an electrical resistance of the DLC coating arises, said resistance being in the range greater than 5000 ohms, in particular greater than 5000 kohms.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 18, 2009
    Publication date: May 5, 2011
    Inventors: Steffen Hoppe, Manfred Fischer
  • Publication number: 20100187765
    Abstract: In order to avoid burn traces on piston rings, it is proposed to provide the piston ring with a wear-protection coating which consists of a material with a thermal conductivity of at least 180 W/(m.K). At least 5% vol. of the wear-protection coating consists of aluminum nitride.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 18, 2008
    Publication date: July 29, 2010
    Inventors: Steffen Hoppe, Manfred Fischer, Christiane Bauer, Ralf Lammers
  • Publication number: 20100171272
    Abstract: Disclosed is a piston ring comprising a supporting material and a wear-resistant coating. The wear-resistant coating is composed of a ternary system A-B—N which is applied using a PVD process and in which A and B each represent an element form the group encompassing Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Nb, Ta, Cr, Mo W, Al, Si and C, wherein A ?B and N represents nitrogen. The thickness of the wear-resistant coating amounts to ?3 ?m.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 12, 2008
    Publication date: July 8, 2010
    Inventors: Steffen Hoppe, Manfred Fischer, Christiane Bauer, Ralf Lammers
  • Publication number: 20100044968
    Abstract: The invention relates to a piston ring which is produced from a carrier material, especially steel or a cast material. The piston ring has a wear-resistant coating from a periodic multilayer system, every periodicity consisting of at least two individual metal nitride layers. Adjacent individual layers within the periodicity have different metallic elements. The thickness of an individual layer is ?15 nm.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 1, 2007
    Publication date: February 25, 2010
    Inventors: Manfred Fischer, Ralf Lammers, Christiane Bauer, Steffen Hoppe
  • Publication number: 20100044969
    Abstract: The invention relates to a piston ring which is produced from a carrier material, especially steel or a cast material. The piston ring has a wear-resistant coating from a periodic multilayer system, every periodicity consisting of at least two individual metal nitride layers. The multilayer system has superlattice structures, the thickness of an individual layer being ?2 nm to <15 nm and the thickness of the multilayer system being >4.5 ?m and adjacent individual layers within the periodicity having different metallic elements.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 1, 2007
    Publication date: February 25, 2010
    Inventors: Manfred Fischer, Ralf Lammers, Christiane Bauer, Steffen Hoppe
  • Publication number: 20090001669
    Abstract: A sliding element comprises at least one surface for sliding contact with a running face, wherein a wear layer and a run-in layer made from carbon are applied to the surface, and is characterized in that the run-in layer comprises hydrogen and nanocrystalline carbide phases. In a method for manufacturing a sliding element, the run-in layer is applied by means of a PVD process. A sliding system has an above-described sliding element and a body having a running face. A coating for a sliding element comprises a wear layer which can be applied to the upper side of the sliding element, and a run-in layer which is configured as a carbon layer, and is characterized in that the run-in layer comprises hydrogen and nanocrystalline carbide phases.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 30, 2006
    Publication date: January 1, 2009
    Inventors: Steffen Hoppe, Manfred Fischer, Ralf Lammers, Manfred Muller, Christiane Bauer, Reiner Wallner, Jorg Vetter
  • Publication number: 20080095939
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method for producing a coat on the outer peripheral surface of a piston ring base. According to said method, a plurality of layers is applied layer by layer to the peripheral surface by applying, using a PVD method, at least one metal adhesive layer based on Cr to the peripheral surface without adding nitrogen to the process gas. Nitrogen is added to the process gas while increasing the partial pressure of the nitrogen, thereby forming a CrN gradient layer on the adhesive layer, and finally at least one cover layer having a constant composition based on CrN, Cr2N or a mixture of the two phases is applied to said gradient layer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 21, 2005
    Publication date: April 24, 2008
    Inventors: Manfred Fischer, Steffen Hoppe