Patents by Inventor Todd W. Renak

Todd W. Renak 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: 6492800
    Abstract: The invention is a miniature electro-optic voltage sensor system capable of accurate operation at high voltages without use of the dedicated voltage dividing hardware typically found in the prior art. The invention achieves voltage measurement without significant error contributions from neighboring conductors or environmental perturbations. The invention employs a transmitter, a sensor, a detector, and a signal processor. The transmitter produces a beam of electromagnetic radiation which is routed into the sensor. Within the sensor the beam undergoes the Pockels electro-optic effect. The electro-optic effect produces a modulation of the beam's polarization, which is in turn converted to a pair of independent conversely-amplitude-modulated signals, from which the voltage of the E-field is determined by the signal processor. The use of converse AM signals enables the signal processor to better distinguish signal from noise.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 2000
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2002
    Assignee: Bechtel BWXT Idaho, LLC
    Inventors: Gregory K. Woods, Todd W. Renak, James R. Davidson, Thomas M. Crawford
  • Patent number: 6124706
    Abstract: A miniature electro-optic voltage sensor system capable of accurate operation at high voltages without use of the dedicated voltage dividing hardware. The invention achieves voltage measurement without significant error contributions from neighboring conductors or environmental perturbations. The invention employs a transmitter, a sensor, a detector, and a signal processor. The transmitter produces a beam of electromagnetic radiation which is routed into the sensor. Within the sensor the beam undergoes the Pockels electro-optic effect. The electro-optic effect produces a modulation of the beam's polarization, which is in turn converted to a pair of independent conversely-amplitude-modulated signals, from which the voltage of the E-field is determined by the signal processor. The use of converse AM signals enables the signal processor to better distinguish signal from noise.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 1997
    Date of Patent: September 26, 2000
    Assignee: Bechtel BWXT Idaho, LLC
    Inventors: Gregory K. Woods, Todd W. Renak, Thomas M. Crawford, James R. Davidson
  • Patent number: 5892357
    Abstract: A miniature electro-optic voltage sensor system capable of accurate operation at high voltages. The system employs a transmitter, a sensor disposed adjacent to but out of direct electrical contact with a conductor on which the voltage is to be measured, a detector, and a signal processor. The transmitter produces a beam of electromagnetic radiation which is routed into the sensor where the beam undergoes the Pockels electro-optic effect. The electro-optic effect causes phase shifting in the beam, which is in turn converted to a pair of independent beams, from which the voltage of a system based on its E-field is determined when the two beams are normalized by the signal processor. The sensor converts the beam by splitting the beam in accordance with the axes of the beam's polarization state (an ellipse whose ellipticity varies between -1 and +1 in proportion to voltage) into at least two AM signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 1995
    Date of Patent: April 6, 1999
    Assignee: Lockheed Martin Idaho Technologies Company
    Inventors: Gregory K. Woods, Todd W. Renak