Did You Know...
...that the Eveready Battery began as an invention called the "electric flowerpot," which was a tube with a battery and light bulb inside? The idea was to fasten this gizmo to the side of a flowerpot so it would illuminate the flowers from the bottom. The idea died on the vine and the businessman who licensed the flower pot, Conrad Huber, was left with a pile of useless tubes -- until he found a way to market them as batteries to light the world!
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8093889 | Sensor circuit Provided is a sensor circuit that is small in circuit scale, but is capable of temperature compensation. A reference voltage circuit (BL1) which compensates a temperature includes only a voltage divider circuit, and hence the sensor circuit is small in circui... | 01/10/2012 |
| 8008913 | Automatic lift-off compensation for pulsed eddy current inspection Variations in the lift-off separation between a probe and the surface of a structure to be tested often mask the detection of defects in the structure. A method and apparatus for automatically classifying and compensating for variations in the lift-off is described.... | 08/30/2011 |
| 7746068 | Method and apparatus for measuring current Current testing/measuring apparatus 10 comprises a flexible member 12 having a first end 14 and a second end 16. In use, the flexible member 12 is arranged to locate around a conductor 11 carrying a current to be measured. I... | 06/29/2010 |
| 7508200 | Means and method for reducing magnetic cross-talk in biosensors A magnetic sensor (MS) for sensing a magnetic stray field (SF) generated by magnetizable object (SPB) when magnetized and for generating an electrical object signal (UOB) which depends on the sensed magnetic stray field (SF), comprising a magnetic field g... | 03/24/2009 |
| 7414391 | Electromagnetic logging tool calibration system Techniques for calibrating an electromagnetic logging tool equipped with a plurality of antennas, with at least one antenna having its axis at an angle with respect to a tool axis, include disposing a test loop about the tool such that an axis of the tool and a plan... | 08/19/2008 |
| 7400136 | Multiscale localization procedure Position measurements are often performed using a localization system with a given fixed capture range and accuracy and resolution. Having a fixed capture range often comes at the cost of decreased accuracy and resolution. At the start, a large capture range is prov... | 07/15/2008 |
| 7391204 | Sensor signal conditioning circuit A sensor signal conditioning circuit and sensor system incorporating the same. In one embodiment, the signal conditioning circuit includes a DC-coupled detector that converts a sensor signal into a discrete level signal. An AC-coupled detector having a dynamic DC th... | 06/24/2008 |
| 7391217 | Metal detection methods and apparatus wherein a numeric representation of the sense signal and a noise contribution to the sense signal are produced Metal detectors include a sense coil coupled to an analog to digital converter that produces a numeric representation of an electrical signal associated with a conductive object situated in an active region of a sense coil. The numeric representation is processed to... | 06/24/2008 |
| 7382122 | Magnetic sensor A magnetic sensor includes a pair of serially-connected magneto-resistive elements (1a, 1b), one of which serves as a sensing portion (6) made to face a magnetic detecting medium (S), and the other of which serves as a temperature-... | 06/03/2008 |
| 7375515 | Magnetic sensor circuit and semiconductor device capable of temperature compensation A magnetic sensor circuit supplying an excitation current to an MI device, and having a detection signal supplied thereto corresponding to a magnetic field intensity from the MI device based on the excitation current. The magnetic sensor circuit includes a pulse cur... | 05/20/2008 |
| 7373271 | System and method for measuring position and orientation using distortion-compensated magnetic fields An electromagnetic tracking system (600) and a distortion compensation method (500) that utilize a lead-lag network model to compensate for position and orientation distortion caused by eddy currents formed in one or more conductive distorters (330,... | 05/13/2008 |
| 7365535 | Closed-loop magnetic sensor system A closed loop magnetic sensor system for measuring an input magnetic field from a magnetic field source has a compensation circuit, which can be for example a printed wire board, and a magnetic sensor, such as a Magnetoresistive (MR) sensor, for measuring an input m... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7348771 | Method for verifying sensor condition Sensor condition verification may be performed on electromagnetic sensors and sensor arrays mounted to a material surface. The sensors typically have a periodic winding or electrode structure that creates a periodic sensing field when driven by an electrical signal.... | 03/25/2008 |
| 7346999 | Methods and system for inspection of fabricated components Methods and apparatus for inspecting a component are provided. The method includes receiving a plurality of data points that define a shape of the component, fitting the received data points to a curve that defines a predetermined model shape, and comparing the rece... | 03/25/2008 |
| 7345476 | Method and apparatus for measuring an entity of a magnetic field by using a hall plate, an excitation signal and a detection signal Method and apparatus for measuring an entity of a magnetic field using a Hall sensor which is provided with at least one Hall plate which has a group of two pairs of terminals located at a distance from one another, an excitation signal supplied from a source to one... | 03/18/2008 |
| 7312607 | Eddy current part inspection system At least one measurement coil of an eddy current part inspection system is oriented relative to a track surface so that the longitudinal axis of the magnetic field generated by the at least one measurement coil is skewed relative to the track surface so as to be sub... | 12/25/2007 |
| 7304474 | Eddy current inspection device with arrays of magnetoresistive sensors There is provided an inspection device for the detection of flaws in a component. The inspection device comprises a magnetic field generator, a first array of magnetoresistive sensors and a second array of magnetoresistive sensors, in which the second array is subst... | 12/04/2007 |
| 7302357 | Concept for compensating piezo-influences on an integrated semiconductor circuit A compensation signal, which derives the mechanical stress, which acts on an integrated semiconductor circuit, from two partial compensation signals, which are generated by semiconductor elements with different stress characteristics, can be determined in more detai... | 11/27/2007 |
| 7295003 | Non-destructive testing system and method utilizing a magnetic field to identify defects in a layer of a laminated material Techniques for detecting defects in the proximity of a hole of a laminate structure include inserting a generally cylindrical body portion into a hole such that a first coil of wire will reside in a plane substantially parallel to a first electrically conductive lay... | 11/13/2007 |
| 7291891 | In-solid nuclear spin quantum calculation device A voltage is applied across gate electrodes (103A) and (103B) in a two-dimensional electronic system (101) placed under a magnetic field, and the polarity of an electric current passed between ohmic electrodes (102D) and (102S) is ... | 11/06/2007 |
| 7289913 | Local feature characterization using quasistatic electromagnetic sensors Local features such as cracks in materials are nondestructively characterized by measuring a response with an electromagnetic sensor and converting this response into a selected property using a database. The database is generated prior to data acquisition by using ... | 10/30/2007 |
| 7282909 | Methods and apparatus for determining the thickness of a conductive layer on a substrate A method of determining the thickness of a conductive film is disclosed. The method employs measured voltage and current responses that have been temperature-compensated to determine the thickness of the conductive film. The temperature compensation uses a temperatu... | 10/16/2007 |
| 7274219 | Offset independent sense circuit and method An offset current independent sense circuit is switchable between a store state and a sense state. In the store state, the sense circuit stores an offset current to a capacitor, and the influence of the offset current is eliminated by a transistor to regenerate the ... | 09/25/2007 |
| 7275015 | Method and device for determining motion parameters of a conductive, profiled surface A method and a device for determining motion parameters of a conductive, profiled surface (22) relative to a sensor (3), with the sensor (3) comprising at least one coil for generating an electromagnetic alternating field, which is subjected, be... | 09/25/2007 |
| 7259625 | High Q monolithic inductors for use in differential circuits The present invention provides a differentially driven monolithic inductor circuit having a shield differentially driven by phase shift buffers and a single-ended monolithic inductor circuit having single-ended shields driven by phase shift buffers, both inductor ci... | 08/21/2007 |
| 7248041 | Device and method for measuring transient magnetic performance A device for evaluating magnetic component performance and methods of evaluating transient magnetic performance of such components are disclosed. Magnetic flux capacity and/or energy loss of a magnetic component is/are measured, and the measurement data is electroni... | 07/24/2007 |
| 7239133 | Methods and systems for controlling the temperature stability of an inductor Methods and systems a method of assembling a proximity probe are provided. The method includes determining a coil wire dimension and coil geometry for the probe such that a resistance versus temperature profile of the coil is approximately constant when the coil is ... | 07/03/2007 |
| 7231320 | Extraction of imperfection features through spectral analysis Autonomous non-destructive inspection equipment provides automatic and/or continuous inspection and evaluation of a material under inspection. The inspection equipment preferably comprises at least one detection sensor and at least one detection sensor interface for... | 06/12/2007 |
| 7228249 | Methods and apparatus for determining the condition of a sensor and identifying the failure thereof Methods and apparatus are provided which generate an error signal if a sensor is either anticipated to fail or fails. At least two sensors provide input signals having magnitudes that approximately correspond to a sensed event. A processor calculates an actual corre... | 06/05/2007 |
| 7224158 | Circuit arrangement and a method for compensating changes of a transfer factor of a magnetic field sensor arrangement The invention relates to a circuit configuration for compensating for the changes in a transfer ratio of a magnetic field sensor arrangement. According to one embodiment of the invention, a control loop for effecting this compensation is provided in the form of an i... | 05/29/2007 |
| 7215117 | Measurement with a magnetic field Material properties such as stress in a ferromagnetic material may be measured using an electromagnetic probe. While generating an alternating magnetic field in the object, and sensing the resulting magnetic field with a sensor, the signals from the magnetic sensor ... | 05/08/2007 |
| 7212895 | Magnetic sensor A magnetic flux is sensed within a gap at a first location between two portions of a vehicle body/structure and a signal generated responsive thereto controls an element of the vehicle, wherein the magnetic flux is responsive to a disturbance of the vehicle body/str... | 05/01/2007 |
| 7209844 | Magnetic crash sensor A first magnetic field generated by a first coil operatively associated with a first portion of a vehicle interacts with at least one conductive element operatively associated with or at least a part of a second portion of the vehicle so as to generate an eddy curre... | 04/24/2007 |
| 7206706 | Inspection method and system using multifrequency phase analysis A method for inspecting a part is provided. The method includes applying a number of multifrequency excitation signals to a probe to generate a number of multifrequency response signals for the part being inspected. The method further includes performing a multifreq... | 04/17/2007 |
| 7196778 | Circuitry and method for measuring time interval with ring oscillator A circuitry for measuring a time interval with ring oscillator has a ring oscillator formed by a plurality of delay switching units, a counter and an encoder. Wherein, the ring oscillator generates a plurality of oscillating signals when receives a pulse signal used... | 03/27/2007 |
| 7193413 | Magnetic field measurement apparatus A magnetic field measurement apparatus which reduces an interference magnetic field entering into a pick-up coil is provided. The magnetic field measurement apparatus includes a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometer having a pick-up coil f... | 03/20/2007 |
| 7184910 | Method of compensating sensor data and evaluating an interlock of an interlock system A method of compensating sensor data and a method of evaluating an interlock of an interlock system, in which an allowable variation between sensors varying depending on a driving time for a set of equipment, an RF time, the number of wafers, etc. is minimized, ther... | 02/27/2007 |
| 7183633 | Optical cross-connect system An optical cross-connect switch comprises a base (216), a flap (211) and one or more electrically conductive landing pads (222) connected to the flap (211). The flap (211) has a bottom portion that is movably coupled to the base ( | 02/27/2007 |
| 7173410 | Proximity sensor combining impedance, frequency and decay constant information Systems and methods are disclosed that compensate for temperature drift in a proximity sensor, such as an extended range inductive proximity sensor. Voltage measurement can be taken before, and during damped oscillatory decay of a voltage in a resonant circuit in th... | 02/06/2007 |
| 7173411 | Inductive proximity sensor using coil time constant for temperature compensation Systems and methods are disclosed that facilitate determining coil temperature in a proximity sensor, such as an extended range inductive proximity sensor. Voltage measurements can be taken before, and during, damped oscillatory decay of a voltage in a resonant circ... | 02/06/2007 |
