Patents by Inventor Steven A. Michaud

Steven A. Michaud 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: 5261244
    Abstract: A cold trap includes a set of baffles cooled by the cold finger of a closed cycle refrigerator. The baffles are vertically disposed in a vertical fluid conduit with frustoconical and conical surfaces for directing liquid to a circular trough during regeneration. After the liquid is collected, it is blown from the trough through a pressure relief valve by a nitrogen purge. The trough is formed in the upper surface of a connecting flange at the lower end of the fluid conduit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 1992
    Date of Patent: November 16, 1993
    Assignee: Helix Technology Corporation
    Inventors: Philip A. Lessard, Douglas F. Aitken, Robert D. Bradford, Roland P. Graham, Steven A. Michaud, Karen J. Manning
  • Patent number: 5146124
    Abstract: A linear drive motor of a cryogenic refrigerator, where a reciprocating armature is coupled to a piston which alternately compresses and expands a gaseous fluid in a thermodynamic cycle. The piston has a clearance seal and is attached at one end to a flexible coupling to reduce cross-bearing loads exerted by the piston along the clearance seal. A displacer assembly of the cryogenic refrigerator employs a displacer piston that reciprocates along a clearance seal. The displacer piston is coupled to the displacer cylinder and/or the armature of a displacer drive motor by a flexible coupling that reduces radial forces exerted by the displacer piston on the clearance seal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 1991
    Date of Patent: September 8, 1992
    Assignee: Helix Technology Corporation
    Inventors: Graham Higham, Niels Young, Alan Weeks, Steven A. Michaud, William Sand