Patents by Inventor Troy Wray

Troy Wray 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: 7971493
    Abstract: The disclosure relates to a method for operation of a flow measurement device, and to a flow measurement device itself. In order in this case to record the conductivity of the medium or faults resulting from deposits by means of a measurement tube configuration in a technically simple manner, a total of at least 4 electrodes are arranged distributed on the circumference of the measurement tube, in the measurement tube. When a signal is fed in at one of the electrodes or at an electrode pair, an electric current is measured between one electrode pair, while an electrical voltage is measured between another electrode pair. An impedance value is determined from the two measured values, from which impedance value a conductivity of the medium is determined and/or in comparison of different conductivities or in comparison with historical values, it is deduced that there is a covering layer on the electrodes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 16, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2011
    Assignee: ABB AG
    Inventors: Kai Hencken, Daniel Schrag, Troy Wray
  • Patent number: 7877220
    Abstract: An electromagnetic flowmeter assembly is described in which an excitation field is set up across a flow conduit and electrodes are used to sense the electromagnetic field generated across the flow conduit as a result of interaction between the excitation field and fluid flowing along the flow conduit. The signals obtained from the electrodes are processed, together with stored calibration data, by processing circuitry to determine flow measurements and means is provided for dynamically updating the calibration data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 25, 2011
    Assignee: ABB Limited
    Inventor: Troy Wray
  • Publication number: 20090205439
    Abstract: The disclosure relates to a method for operation of a flow measurement device, and to a flow measurement device itself. In order in this case to record the conductivity of the medium or faults resulting from deposits by means of a measurement tube configuration in a technically simple manner, a total of at least 4 electrodes are arranged distributed on the circumference of the measurement tube, in the measurement tube. When a signal is fed in at one of the electrodes or at an electrode pair, an electric current is measured between one electrode pair, while an electrical voltage is measured between another electrode pair. An impedance value is determined from the two measured values, from which impedance value a conductivity of the medium is determined and/or in comparison of different conductivities or in comparison with historical values, it is deduced that there is a covering layer on the electrodes.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 16, 2009
    Publication date: August 20, 2009
    Applicant: ABB AG
    Inventors: Kai Hencken, Daniel Schrag, Troy Wray
  • Publication number: 20090071264
    Abstract: An electromagnetic flowmeter assembly is described in which an excitation field is set up across a flow conduit and electrodes are used to sense the electromagnetic field generated across the flow conduit as a result of interaction between the excitation field and fluid flowing along the flow conduit. The signals obtained from the electrodes are processed, together with stored calibration data, by processing circuitry to determine flow measurements and means is provided for dynamically updating the calibration data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 28, 2008
    Publication date: March 19, 2009
    Inventor: Troy Wray
  • Patent number: 7110899
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for determining the phase of a signal in a measurement device having a digital signal processor are described. The signal is digitised and the digitised signal, or a signal derived therefrom, is numerically correlated with a numerically generated reference signal. In one embodiment, the reference signal has a predetermined phase. In a further embodiment, the numerically generated reference signal has a reference phase and the phase is determined from the result of the correlation. The techniques described herein may reduce the amount of information lost in determining the signal phase.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2004
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2006
    Assignee: ABB Limited
    Inventor: Troy Wray
  • Patent number: 6973839
    Abstract: A method of obtaining a measure of flow from an electromagnetic flow meter is disclosed. A shaped excitation waveform is applied to the flow meter and an output is received from the meter. The sampled output data from the meter is then resolved into a non-flow waveform component and a flow waveform component to derive a measure of flow. Resolving the data into expected waveform components rather than correlating each frequency component of the sampled output data with a sine wave may allow readings to be obtained without processing each frequency component separately. Also, the method may allow more accurate removal of the non-flow component from the output signal, and may decrease the time delay before the initial reading and allow the use of a greater reading repetition rate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 2, 2004
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2005
    Assignee: ABB Limited
    Inventor: Troy Wray
  • Patent number: 6962087
    Abstract: There is described herein a method of obtaining a measure of flow from an electromagnetic flow meter having at least one field generating coil and potential sensing electrodes. A composite excitation waveform is applied to the field-generating coil. The composite excitation waveform comprises at least two frequency components and a plurality of frequency components are simultaneously present for at least a portion of the waveform. The potential sensed by the potential sensing electrodes is sampled to produce a sampled output and the sampled output is correlated with a composite waveform based on the composite excitation waveform. The result of the correlating is used to derive a measure of flow.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 2, 2004
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2005
    Assignee: ABB Limited
    Inventor: Troy Wray
  • Publication number: 20050021259
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for determining the phase of a signal in a measurement device having a digital signal processor are described. The signal is digitised and the digitised signal, or a signal derived therefrom, is numerically correlated with a numerically generated reference signal. In one embodiment, the reference signal has a predetermined phase. In a further embodiment, the numerically generated reference signal has a reference phase and the phase is determined from the result of the correlation. The techniques described herein may reduce the amount of information lost in determining the signal phase.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 28, 2004
    Publication date: January 27, 2005
    Inventor: Troy Wray
  • Publication number: 20040267463
    Abstract: A method of obtaining a measure of flow from an electromagnetic flow meter is disclosed. A shaped excitation waveform is applied to the flow meter and an output is received from the meter. The sampled output data from the meter is then resolved into a non-flow waveform component and a flow waveform component to derive a measure of flow. Resolving the data into expected waveform components rather than correlating each frequency component of the sampled output data with a sine wave may allow readings to be obtained without processing each frequency component separately. Also, the method may allow more accurate removal of the non-flow component from the output signal, and may decrease the time delay before the initial reading and allow the use of a greater reading repetition rate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 2, 2004
    Publication date: December 30, 2004
    Inventor: Troy Wray
  • Publication number: 20040260484
    Abstract: There is described herein a method of obtaining a measure of flow from an electromagnetic flow meter having at least one field generating coil and potential sensing electrodes. A composite excitation waveform is applied to the field-generating coil. The composite excitation waveform comprises at least two frequency components and a plurality of frequency components are simultaneously present for at least a portion of the waveform. The potential sensed by the potential sensing electrodes is sampled to produce a sampled output and the sampled output is correlated with a composite waveform based on the composite excitation waveform. The result of the correlating is used to derive a measure of flow.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 2, 2004
    Publication date: December 23, 2004
    Inventor: Troy Wray
  • Patent number: 6763730
    Abstract: In a vibrating tube meter such as a Coriolis meter, an accurate measurement of a fluid parameter such as density can be obtained, substantially independent of stress, by measuring vibrational characteristics, particular resonant frequencies of two different vibrational modes. Stress or other variables can be determined from the measurement. Because the measurement of or compensation for stress is based directly on the vibrational characteristics, better accuracy may be obtained than by using a conventional strain gauge to measure stress. The techniques disclosed can give accurate results without requiring particular constraints on meter design.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2002
    Date of Patent: July 20, 2004
    Assignee: ABB Limited
    Inventor: Troy Wray
  • Patent number: 6332366
    Abstract: In a coriolis flow meter, two drivers are provided and a measure of mass flow rate derived from the adjustment of the input signals to each driver required to achieve a desired phase shift in the output. This may give higher accuracy compared to conventional meters in which the phase shift is simply measured, and may also enable determination of other characteristics of the fluid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 1998
    Date of Patent: December 25, 2001
    Assignee: ABB Kent-Taylor Limited
    Inventor: Troy Wray