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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8188636 | Energy generator systems with a voltage-controlled switch A first energy generating system comprises a ferromagnetic generator coupled to a voltage controlled switch. The ferromagnetic generator includes a ferromagnetic element generating a magnetic field and positioned within a pulse generating coil and near an explosive ... | 05/29/2012 |
| 8154172 | Electronic circuit for highly efficient driving of piezoelectric loads The invention relates to a circuit for highly efficient driving of piezoelectric loads, comprising a linear driving circuit portion connected to the load through an inductive-resistive connection whereto a voltage waveform is applied. Advantageously, the circuit com... | 04/10/2012 |
| 8040019 | Driver and driving method Conventional drivers for transducers oftentimes did not provide an efficient driving mechanism because the driving signal was not “close enough” to the natural frequency of the transducer. Here, a driver for a transducer is provided that measures the natural fre... | 10/18/2011 |
| 7965016 | Method and device for converting mechanical energy into electrical energy A method for converting mechanical energy into electrical energy by at least one piezoelectric element and at least one variable capacitor. The method: a) mechanically deforms the piezoelectric element; b) recovers charges produced by the deformation of the piezoele... | 06/21/2011 |
| 7816838 | Piezoelectric force sensing A system and method for measuring absolute pressure applied to a piezoelectric element by measuring a transition time of a voltage pulse applied to a piezoelectric element. The transition time (such as the rise time and/or fall time of the voltage pulse) is affected... | 10/19/2010 |
| 7781937 | Piezoelectric generator system that includes an energy storage A device for producing electric energy including a first element converting mechanical energy into electric energy. The level of the electric energy is variable according to the variations of the mechanical energy. A controller block is connected to the first elemen... | 08/24/2010 |
| 7719166 | Apparatus for two-dimensional transducer used in three-dimensional ultrasonic imaging A single chip transducer apparatus that includes on-chip electronic circuitry which, when connected properly to a two-dimensional matrix of ultrasonic transducer elements, provides enough information to an external imaging system to form three-dimensional images of ... | 05/18/2010 |
| 7709998 | Measurement system for measuring cylinder pressure in an internal combustion engine A plurality of exchangeable, different piezoelectric pressure sensors (4) comprise integrated SAW elements (60) as identification units whose identification data can be read by an interrogation unit (3) via a common connection cable (61).... | 05/04/2010 |
| 7679263 | Apparatus for two-dimensional transducers used in three-dimensional ultrasonic imaging A single chip transducer apparatus that includes on-chip electronic circuitry which, when connected properly to a two-dimensional matrix of ultrasonic transducer elements, provides enough information to an external imaging system to form three-dimensional images of ... | 03/16/2010 |
| 7667372 | Driving circuit for piezoelectric motor In a method and a device according to the present invention, two piezo-elements of a piezo-electric actuator are driven with two voltages having a mutual phase difference. One of said piezo-elements is charged by a capacitive voltage step-up means to a voltage excee... | 02/23/2010 |
| 7629727 | Scalable tubular mechanical energy harvesting device The present invention generally relates to devices and methods for converting mechanical energy into electrical energy to power electronic devices. Some embodiments include one or more piezoelectric fibers disposed on a flexible central body capable of elastically d... | 12/08/2009 |
| 7567013 | Vibration power generation Vibration-based electrical power generation is provided. In one aspect, a vibration-based power generator is embodied within a machine dampener and includes an electromotive power generation module and a piezoelectric power generation module. A power storage device ... | 07/28/2009 |
| 7538474 | System and method for Micro Electro Mechanical System (MEMS) device characterization A system and method for Micro Electro Mechanical System (MEMS) device characterization. The system comprising a stimulator for stimulating the device to generate phonons in the device; a detector for detecting the generated phonons; a converter for converting the ph... | 05/26/2009 |
| 7531940 | Ion introducer employing piezoelectric bimorph element A piezoelectric bimorph element two piezoelectric elements to produce an electromotive force by imparting a stress to respective piezoelectric elements. The piezoelectric bimorph element is arranged in an oscillator such that the piezoelectric bimorph element is def... | 05/12/2009 |
| 7508113 | Apparatus for two-dimensional transducers used in three-dimensional ultrasonic imaging A single chip transducer apparatus that includes on-chip electronic circuitry which, when connected properly to a two-dimensional matrix of ultrasonic transducer elements, provides enough information to an external imaging system to form three-dimensional images of ... | 03/24/2009 |
| 7443075 | Entrapment detecting system An entrapment detecting system includes a detection portion provided at an opening/closing apparatus for detecting an acceleration thereof on the basis of an output from a piezoelectric sensor for outputting a voltage corresponding to the acceleration and a control ... | 10/28/2008 |
| 7436100 | Device for monitoring a predetermined filling level of a measuring medium in a container A vibration detector for determining and/or monitoring a predetermined fill level in a container. The detector includes an oscillatable unit, a driver/receiver unit and an evaluation unit. The vibration detector can, additionally, be used as a viscosity sensor or as... | 10/14/2008 |
| 7412764 | Method for manufacturing quartz crystal unit and electronic apparatus having quartz crystal unit In a method for manufacturing a quartz crystal unit, a quartz crystal tuning fork resonator is formed by etching a quartz crystal wafer to form a quartz crystal tuning fork base and first and second quartz crystal tuning fork tines connected to the quartz crystal tu... | 08/19/2008 |
| 7402264 | Sensing/actuating materials made from carbon nanotube polymer composites and methods for making same An electroactive sensing or actuating material comprises a composite made from a polymer with polarizable moieties and an effective amount of carbon nanotubes incorporated in the polymer for a predetermined electomechanical operation of the composite when such compo... | 07/22/2008 |
| 7355783 | Printer wiper for printing on bichromal or multi-colored electronic paper An electronic display includes an electronic display material having two opposing outer surfaces, wherein at least one of the outer surfaces is at least partially covered in a plurality of spaced-apart charge-retaining islands comprised of a conductive material with... | 04/08/2008 |
| 7355321 | Mechanical quantity sensor A mechanical quantity sensor includes a current-to-voltage converter/signal adder circuit that converts electric current signals flowing through two piezoelectric vibrators into voltage signals. The piezoelectric vibrators receive stresses generated by a mechanical ... | 04/08/2008 |
| 7335169 | Systems and methods for delivering ultrasound energy at an output power level that remains essentially constant despite variations in transducer impedance Systems and methods deliver ultrasound energy to an ultrasound transducer having an impedance subject to variations. The systems and methods electrically couple an ultrasound generator to the ultrasound transducer to deliver ultrasound energy. The systems and method... | 02/26/2008 |
| 7331803 | Power control system and method A power system includes an energy harvesting device, a battery coupled to the energy harvesting device, and a circuit coupled to the energy harvesting device and the battery. The circuit is adapted to deliver power to a load by providing power generated by the energ... | 02/19/2008 |
| 7325455 | High-temperature piezoelectric vibration sensor assembly An integral connectorless hermetically sealed high-temperature piezoelectric sensor housing and cable assembly includes signal conditioning/processing circuitry having a charge amplifier-differential amplifier combination with integral trim capacitor and/or a voltag... | 02/05/2008 |
| 7321846 | Two-wire process control loop diagnostics A diagnostic device for coupling to a process control loop includes digital communication circuitry configured to receive a digital communication signal from the process control loop. The digital communication signal is a digitally modulated analog signal on the pro... | 01/22/2008 |
| 7309942 | Piezoelectric transducer systems A transducer assembly has a generally planar resonator (12) (such as a disc) bonded on one face to a sheet of piezoelectric material (12B) and having a mounting flange (12C) (which may extend all around the periphery of the resonator) to mount t... | 12/18/2007 |
| 7304415 | Interconnection from multidimensional transducer arrays to electronics Interconnection from a multidimensional transducer array to electronics is provided. Circuit board modules are used in combination with z-axis interconnections of a transducer array to provide active electronics within a volume adjacent to the multidimensional trans... | 12/04/2007 |
| 7301351 | Printed capacitive sensor The invention relates to a flexible, resilient capacitive sensor suitable for large-scale manufacturing. The sensor comprises a dielectric, an electrically conductive detector and trace layer on the first side of the dielectric layer comprising a detector and trace,... | 11/27/2007 |
| 7301256 | Method and circuit configuration for operating a piezoelectric actuator A piezoelectric actuator, for instance a piezoelement for driving an injection valve of an internal combustion engine, is discharged from a charge state, in which a first control potential is present on a first piezo-terminal and a second control potential is presen... | 11/27/2007 |
| 7290450 | Process diagnostics A diagnostic device for use in a industrial process includes monitoring electronics or diagnostic circuitry configured to diagnose or identify a condition or other occurrence in the industrial process. The system can be implemented in a process device such as a flow... | 11/06/2007 |
| 7288014 | Design, fabrication, testing, and conditioning of micro-components for use in a light-emitting panel A method of forming micro-components is disclosed. The method includes pretesting and conditioning of the micro-components. The micro-components that fail testing or conditioning are discarded, and those remaining are assembled into a panel. ... | 10/30/2007 |
| 7288876 | Non-symmetric drive type piezoelectric ceramic transformer A non-symmetric drive type piezoelectric ceramic transformer has been disclosed in the present invention. The non-symmetric drive type piezoelectric ceramic transformer has a rectangular piezoelectric ceramic conductor. Along the length of rectangular piezoelectric ... | 10/30/2007 |
| 7286964 | Methods for monitoring structural health conditions Methods and recordable media for monitoring structural health conditions. The present invention provides a method for interrogating a damage of a host structure using a diagnostic network patch (DNP) system having patches. An interrogation module partitions the plur... | 10/23/2007 |
| 7274130 | Method and apparatus for a high output sensor system The present invention relates to the field of motion/movement sensors, detectors, and/or monitors, as well as other types of sensors. In particular, the present invention may provide, for example, a large pulsed output voltage in response to very low (or slow) sense... | 09/25/2007 |
| 7272976 | Pressure sensor A pressure gauge includes a diaphragm having a substantially rigid outer portion and a displaceable inner portion that displaces in response to a pressure difference between first and second sides of the diaphragm. The pressure gauge further includes a sensor locate... | 09/25/2007 |
| 7272531 | Aggregation of asset use indices within a process plant A method of monitoring an entity within a process plant wherein the entity includes a plurality of lower level entities, includes acquiring a plurality of use indices, acquiring a plurality of weighting values, and creating an aggregate use index from a combination ... | 09/18/2007 |
| 7265894 | Bi-directional printer wiper for printing on bichromal or multi-colored electronic paper An electric display system includes electric display material having two opposing outer surfaces, wherein at least one of the outer surfaces is at least partially covered in a plurality of spaced apart, charge-retaining islands comprised of a conductive material wit... | 09/04/2007 |
| 7262543 | System and method for monitoring piezoelectric material performance A system and method are provided for monitoring performance capacity of a piezoelectric material that may form part of an actuator or sensor device. A switch is used to selectively electrically couple an inductor to the piezoelectric material to form an inductor-cap... | 08/28/2007 |
| 7260984 | Power generation utilizing tire pressure changes A method of powering one or more electronic devices in a tire monitoring system using a tire pressure based energy scavenger is provided. With this method, a tire is rotated on a surface to generate pressure changes within the tire. These pressure changes are then c... | 08/28/2007 |
| 7258533 | Method and apparatus for scavenging energy during pump operation A pump comprises a body for at least partially defining a pumping chamber (28); a pump member which undergoes displacement when acting upon a fluid in the pumping chamber; and a piezoelectric element which responds to the displacement of the pump member to ge... | 08/21/2007 |
