Patents by Inventor Thomas von Hoff

Thomas von Hoff 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: 9705332
    Abstract: A method for controlling an energy storage system for connection to a power system, and such an energy storage system are provided. The method makes use of a model based predictive controller to optimize the charging/discharging rates of energy storage elements in a hybrid energy storage system. The method includes determining respective desired charging/discharging rates for the energy storage elements in dependence upon state of charge predictions from respective models of the storage elements, using model predictive control, and adjusting respective charging/discharging rates of the storage elements in accordance with the determined rates. The energy system includes a controller configured to control respective charging/discharging rates of the energy storage elements in accordance with the method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 11, 2017
    Assignee: ABB Research LTD
    Inventors: Alexandre Oudalov, Mehmet Mercangoez, Thomas Von Hoff
  • Patent number: 9573475
    Abstract: A drive unit for driving and starting a motor in the form of an internal combustion engine designed for driving a traction generator coupled to the motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2017
    Assignee: ABB Schweiz AG
    Inventors: Christoph Stemmler, Thomas von Hoff, Urs Ehrler
  • Publication number: 20160068068
    Abstract: A drive unit for driving and starting a motor in the form of an internal combustion engine designed for driving a traction generator coupled to the motor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 17, 2015
    Publication date: March 10, 2016
    Inventors: Christoph Stemmler, Thomas von Hoff, Urs Ehrler
  • Patent number: 8493030
    Abstract: The present disclosure is concerned with operation of an energy storage system (ESS) connectable to an electric power system. The charging-discharging schedule of the ESS can be determined through application of a time-dependent forecast of ESS and power system states based on historical data. Exemplary embodiments can include ESSs which have been historically activated with a certain periodicity, for example, for power system load leveling, frequency regulation, arbitrage, peak load shaving and/or integration of renewable power generation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 23, 2013
    Assignee: ABB Research Ltd
    Inventors: Andrew Paice, Alexandre Oudalov, Thomas von Hoff
  • Publication number: 20130030573
    Abstract: A method and device are disclosed for automatically providing control parameters for a plurality of coal mills supplying coal powder for example to a furnace of a power plant. An exemplary method includes (a) acquiring a multiplicity of operation variables indicative of a load of an individual coal mill for each of the coal mills; (b) acquiring a demand variable indicative of a coal demand from the plant; (c) supplying the acquired multiplicity of operation variables and the demand variable to a computing system; (d) calculating the control parameters based on the multiplicity of operation variables and the demand variable using a multivariable calculation algorithm; and (e) providing the calculated control parameters for controlling each coal mill individually.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 19, 2012
    Publication date: January 31, 2013
    Applicant: ABB RESEARCH LTD
    Inventors: Mehmet MERCANGOEZ, Tarun Mathur, Thomas Von Hoff
  • Publication number: 20130006428
    Abstract: A control system for a power plant having a mill for pulverizing material for input into a combustion system of the power plant includes first and second sensors for recording first and second parameter of first and second outputs from the combustion system, respectively, an adjuster system for adjusting and recording at least one variable parameter of the combustion system, and a state estimator component configured to receive a first signal relating to the first parameter, a second signal relating to the second parameter and a third signal relating to the at least one variable system parameter. The state estimator component uses the first to third signals to produce a material parameter indicator signal and a system state indicator signal. The control system includes an output component configured to receive the material parameter indicator system state indicator signals and to combine these signals to produce an output control signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 14, 2012
    Publication date: January 3, 2013
    Applicant: ABB RESEARCH LTD
    Inventors: Marc ANTOINE, Mehmet MERCANGOEZ, Thomas VON HOFF
  • Publication number: 20120248873
    Abstract: A method for controlling an energy storage system for connection to a power system, and such an energy storage system are provided. The method makes use of a model based predictive controller to optimize the charging/discharging rates of energy storage elements in a hybrid energy storage system. The method includes determining respective desired charging/discharging rates for the energy storage elements in dependence upon state of charge predictions from respective models of the storage elements, using model predictive control, and adjusting respective charging/discharging rates of the storage elements in accordance with the determined rates. The energy system includes a controller configured to control respective charging/discharging rates of the energy storage elements in accordance with the method.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 6, 2012
    Publication date: October 4, 2012
    Applicant: ABB RESEARCH LTD
    Inventors: Alexandre OUDALOV, Mehmet Mercangoez, Thomas Von Hoff
  • Patent number: 8280647
    Abstract: For monitoring (unmeasured) process states of a rotating machine having a combustion chamber (e.g. a gas turbine), compositions of educts entering the combustion chamber are measured. Based on the compositions of the educts, the composition of the product produced by the combustion chamber can be determined. Moreover, the mechanical power (Pmech) generated by the rotating machine can be determined. Based on the mechanical power (Pmech), the composition of the educts and product, and stoichiometric relationships of educts and product, the values of process states, such as the air mass flow (wa) through the compressor leading into the combustion chamber and/or the gas mass flow (wg), the composition and/or the temperature (T3) of exhaust gas exiting the combustion chamber can be determined. Based on precise measurements of the educt (e.g. the composition of air and fuel in the combustion process), the product (i.e.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2012
    Assignee: ABB Research Ltd
    Inventors: Konrad Stadler, Andreas Poncet, Thomas Von Hoff
  • Patent number: 8050843
    Abstract: The present invention is concerned with the estimation of health parameters p(k) representing symptoms of a slowly degrading system, in particular industrial gas turbines. According to the invention, an estimation of a true health or independent parameter vector at time step k uses the estimation of the true health or parameter vector at a previous time step k?1 as a starting value for the production of a predicted health parameter vector at time step k. Based on the latter and a set of measured values of input variables of an extended model of the system, a prediction of output variables of the model is produced. This predicted model output is compared with measured values of the output variables to yield an error. From this error, a health parameter estimator in turn produces a health parameter estimate as a revision of the predicted health parameters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 2011
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2011
    Assignee: ABB Research Ltd
    Inventors: Thomas von Hoff, Andreas Poncet, Konrad Stadler
  • Patent number: 8032749
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method for remotely controlling and/or regulating at least one system (1), in particular an industrial system using a communications device (2) which is assigned to the system (1), and at least one receiver device (3), information relating to the system being transmitted from the communications device (2) to the at least one receiver device (3), the information containing a validation code which is generated by the communications device (2), a message being received by the communications device (2), the communications device (2) extracting a check code and instruction information from the message according to a first extraction rule, the communications device (2) validating the message by means of the validation code and check code, and the instruction information being implemented by the system (1) only when the validation is successful.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2003
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2011
    Assignee: ABB Research Ltd
    Inventors: Florian Straub, Thomas von Hoff, Mario Crevatin, Hans-Peter Züger, Bernhard Deck
  • Patent number: 8000930
    Abstract: The present disclosure is concerned with the identification of fault origins of slowly degrading systems such as industrial gas turbines. Following the initial input of some parameter values, exemplary procedure comprises a number of steps which are repeated periodically during the operation of the gas turbine. First, for each potential fault such as e.g. a contamination of compressor blades, erosion of turbine blades or corrosion of machine parts, a pre-symptom fault probability, characteristic of the specific gas turbine considered, and a symptom-conditional fault probability are calculated. In a second step, on-line data from the monitoring devices are loaded in order to update information about symptoms such as e.g. reductions in polytropic efficiency and in flow capacity, changes in vibration spectrum, or other machine condition indicators, and a post-symptom fault probability is calculated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2011
    Assignee: ABB Research Ltd
    Inventors: Andreas Poncet, Konrad Stadler, Thomas Von Hoff
  • Publication number: 20110160980
    Abstract: The present invention is concerned with the estimation of health parameters p(k) representing symptoms of a slowly degrading system, in particular industrial gas turbines. According to the invention, an estimation of a true health or independent parameter vector at time step k uses the estimation of the true health or parameter vector at a previous time step k?1 as a starting value for the production of a predicted health parameter vector at time step k. Based on the latter and a set of measured values of input variables of an extended model of the system, a prediction of output variables of the model is produced. This predicted model output is compared with measured values of the output variables to yield an error. From this error, a health parameter estimator in turn produces a health parameter estimate as a revision of the predicted health parameters.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 10, 2011
    Publication date: June 30, 2011
    Applicant: ABB RESEARCH LTD.
    Inventors: Thomas von Hoff, Andreas Poncet, Konrad Stadler
  • Patent number: 7869928
    Abstract: The present invention is concerned with the estimation of health parameters p(k) representing symptoms of a slowly degrading system, in particular industrial gas turbines. According to the invention, an estimation of a true health or independent parameter vector at time step k uses the estimation of the true health or parameter vector at a previous time step k?1 as a starting value for the production of a predicted health parameter vector at time step k. Based on the latter and a set of measured values of input variables of an extended model of the system, a prediction of output variables of the model is produced. This predicted model output is compared with measured values of the output variables to yield an error. From this error, a health parameter estimator in turn produces a health parameter estimate as a revision of the predicted health parameters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2006
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2011
    Assignee: ABB Research Ltd
    Inventors: Thomas von Hoff, Andreas Poncet, Konrad Stadler
  • Publication number: 20100127664
    Abstract: The present disclosure is concerned with operation of an energy storage system (ESS) connectable to an electric power system. The charging-discharging schedule of the ESS can be determined through application of a time-dependent forecast of ESS and power system states based on historical data. Exemplary embodiments can include ESSs which have been historically activated with a certain periodicity, for example, for power system load leveling, frequency regulation, arbitrage, peak load shaving and/or integration of renewable power generation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 25, 2009
    Publication date: May 27, 2010
    Applicant: ABB Research Ltd
    Inventors: Andrew PAICE, Alexandre OUDALOV, Thomas VON HOFF
  • Publication number: 20090281737
    Abstract: For monitoring (unmeasured) process states of a rotating machine having a combustion chamber (e.g. a gas turbine), compositions of educts entering the combustion chamber are measured. Based on the compositions of the educts, the composition of the product produced by the combustion chamber can be determined. Moreover, the mechanical power (Pmech) generated by the rotating machine can be determined. Based on the mechanical power (Pmech), the composition of the educts and product, and stoichiometric relationships of educts and product, the values of process states, such as the air mass flow (wa) through the compressor leading into the combustion chamber and/or the gas mass flow (wg), the composition and/or the temperature (T3) of exhaust gas exiting the combustion chamber can be determined. Based on precise measurements of the educt (e.g. the composition of air and fuel in the combustion process), the product (i.e.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 8, 2009
    Publication date: November 12, 2009
    Applicant: ABB RESEARCH LTD
    Inventors: Konrad STADLER, Andreas Poncet, Thomas Von Hoff
  • Publication number: 20080201104
    Abstract: The present disclosure is concerned with the identification of fault origins of slowly degrading systems such as industrial gas turbines. Following the initial input of some parameter values, exemplary procedure comprises a number of steps which are repeated periodically during the operation of the gas turbine. First, for each potential fault such as e.g. a contamination of compressor blades, erosion of turbine blades or corrosion of machine parts, a pre-symptom fault probability, characteristic of the specific gas turbine considered, and a symptom-conditional fault probability are calculated. In a second step, on-line data from the monitoring devices are loaded in order to update information about symptoms such as e.g. reductions in polytropic efficiency and in flow capacity, changes in vibration spectrum, or other machine condition indicators, and a post-symptom fault probability is calculated.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 24, 2008
    Publication date: August 21, 2008
    Applicant: ABB Research Ltd
    Inventors: Andreas Poncet, Konrad Stadler, Thomas Von Hoff
  • Publication number: 20050221811
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method for remotely controlling and/or regulating at least one system (1), in particular an industrial system using a communications device (2) which is assigned to the system (1), and at least one receiver device (3), information relating to the system being transmitted from the communications device (2) to the at least one receiver device (3), the information containing a validation code which is generated by the communications device (2), a message being received by the communications device (2), the communications device (2) extracting a check code and instruction information from the message according to a first extraction rule, the communications device (2) validating the message by means of the validation code and check code, and the instruction information being implemented by the system (1) only when the validation is successful.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 4, 2003
    Publication date: October 6, 2005
    Applicant: ABB Research Ltd
    Inventors: Florian Straub, Thomas Von Hoff, Mario Crevatin, Hans-Peter Zuger, Bernhard Deck
  • Publication number: 20040064297
    Abstract: For estimating a value of a vector of variables p in a mathematical model representing a physical process, where a state vector x of the model is estimated by a State Augmented Extended Kalman Filter (SAEKF), and where that the vector of variables p represents one or more properties of the process and is representable by a function of the state vector x, the following steps are executed:
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 29, 2003
    Publication date: April 1, 2004
    Applicant: ABB Research Ltd
    Inventors: Eduardo Gallestey Alvarez, Geir Hovland, Thomas von Hoff