Did You Know...
...that the x-ray was discovered purely by accident? When German physicist Wilhelm Konrad von Roentgen was experimenting with cathode rays in 1895, he put an activated Crookes tube in a book and went out to lunch. When he returned, he discovered that a key that had also been placed in the book showed up as an image on the developed film!
PatentStorm News
Make the Most of Our Site
See this month's Top Inventors and Most Cited Patents.
Stay on top of the latest innovations by subscribing to an RSS feed.
Registered users: Manage your profile.
| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8104347 | Ultrasonic inspection method and device for plastics walls A method and system for ultrasonic time of flight diffraction inspection of a plastics wall, such as a pipe wall. The method includes providing an ultrasound transmitter and transmitting an ultrasound signal having a nominal frequency into the wall, providing an ult... | 01/31/2012 |
| 7913561 | Ultrasonic wave vibrating apparatus An ultrasonic wave vibrating apparatus includes a passive element converting electric energy to ultrasonic vibration, electrodes, a horn body arranged in a forward side of the element and amplifying the vibration, a backing arranged in the base side of the element a... | 03/29/2011 |
| 7866212 | High-sensitivity sensors for sensing various physiological phenomena, particularly useful in anti-snoring apparatus and methods A mechanical vibration sensor adapted to be brought into contact with an object for sensing mechanical vibrations in the object, includes a body of a soft elastomeric material having high transmissivity and low attenuation properties with respect to a preselected ty... | 01/11/2011 |
| 7698945 | System and method for detecting internal flaws in a particulate filter A method of detecting an internal flaw in a particulate filter includes a step of coupling ultrasonic transducer with the particulate filter. The method also includes a step of moving at least one of the ultrasonic transducer and the particulate filter relative to t... | 04/20/2010 |
| 7694564 | Boiler tube inspection probe with centering mechanism and method of operating the same A centering apparatus for internal nondestructive testing of a tube to be inspected includes an elongated shaft member coupled to an inspection probe; a plurality of fingers, pivotally attached at a first end thereof to a mounting surface affixed to the shaft member... | 04/13/2010 |
| 7412889 | System and method for monitoring a filter A monitoring assembly for a filter includes an acoustic apparatus. The acoustic apparatus includes a first receiver, a second receiver, a resonator, and a transmitter. The transmitter is configured to emit sound waves receivable by at least one of the first receiver... | 08/19/2008 |
| 7395710 | System and method for monitoring a filter A monitoring assembly for a filter may include a transmitter, arranged on a first side of the filter, configured to emit sound waves. The monitoring assembly may also include a first receiver, arranged on the first side of the filter, configured to receive the sound... | 07/08/2008 |
| 7360403 | Measurement and control of asphaltene agglomeration in hydrocarbon liquids A method is provided for measuring the agglomerative state of asphaltenes in oil by applying an acoustic signal to the oil, detecting the scattered acoustic energy and using this detected signal to determine the relative particle size distribution of the asphaltene ... | 04/22/2008 |
| 7338204 | Measurement apparatus and method An apparatus (1) for measuring the transmission or attenuation of electromagnetic radiation through an object (6), said apparatus including an electromagnetic radiation emitter (2) and detector (3), characterised in that to perform transm... | 03/04/2008 |
| 7331233 | Method and apparatus for ultrasonic sizing of particles in suspensions A particle size distribution monitor, comprising: a transducer adapted to be a source of ultrasonic energy and positioned in contact with a suspension containing a percent by volume of particles in a liquid, the transducer transmitting ultrasonic energy through the ... | 02/19/2008 |
| 7330032 | Techniques for building-scale electrostatic tomography Techniques for imaging a search region to detect a dielectric target include placing multiple electrodes outside the search region. At least two electrodes are activated independently of each other. Emitter circuits are connected to corresponding emitter electrodes.... | 02/12/2008 |
| 7284433 | Ultrasonic testing of fitting assembly for fluid conduits with a hand-held apparatus Hand-held apparatus and method for determining relative and/or absolute axial position of a conduit end within a fluid coupling includes application of input ultrasonic energy in the form of transient shear waves and analyzing the reflected energy. Application of th... | 10/23/2007 |
| 7284431 | Geophone An improved system for sensing ground motion is provided. The system generally comprises a shell and a case within the shell and connected by a suspension. The mass of the case is greater than the mass of the shell. An electrode within the shell detects relative mot... | 10/23/2007 |
| 7237115 | Authenticating concealed private data while maintaining concealment A method of and system for authenticating concealed and statistically varying multi-dimensional data comprising: acquiring an initial measurement of an item, wherein the initial measurement is subject to measurement error; applying a transformation to the initial me... | 06/26/2007 |
| 7140239 | System and technique for ultrasonic characterization of settling suspensions A system for determining properties of settling suspensions includes a settling container, a mixer, and devices for ultrasonic interrogation transverse to the settling direction. A computer system controls operation of the mixer and the interrogation devices and rec... | 11/28/2006 |
| 7120562 | Signal source identification utilizing wavelet-based signal processing and associated method A signal source identification system and associated method are disclosed that utilize wavelet-based signal processing to facilitate signal source identification. In particular, the wavelet-based signal processing enables the extraction of fingerprint type signature... | 10/10/2006 |
| 7114375 | Process monitoring and particle characterization with ultrasonic backscattering A fermention process is monitored by detecting ultrasound backscattered from the cells as a function of time. A transducer 46 is placed in a fermentor 30 and transmits ultrasound towards a reflecting surface 50. The transducer receives that port... | 10/03/2006 |
| 7107852 | Method of inspecting food stuffs and/or associated packaging A system to perform measurements on liquids, meat, viscous sugar or starch-based materials, and other foodstuffs using air-coupled ultrasound is provided. The technique uses ultrasonic transducers (advantageously capacitive transducers with polymer membranes), to ge... | 09/19/2006 |
| 7055388 | Ultrasonic sensor system for horizontally polarized transversal waves The invention relates to an ultrasonic sensor system, especially for controlling a resistance welding process. Said system comprises at least one receiver which is used to detect the ultrasonic signals from the area to be examined. At least two piezoelectric sensors... | 06/06/2006 |
| 7026943 | Acoustic wave ice and water detector An acoustic wave sensor utilizes one or more acoustic waves trapped in an acoustic wave cavity to detect the presence of one or more substances on a surface of the acoustic wave cavity. To detect the presence of ice, a trapped torsional acoustic wave is used. To det... | 04/11/2006 |
| 7010979 | Method and apparatus for ultrasonic sizing of particles in suspensions A particle size distribution monitor, comprising: a transducer adapted to be a source of ultrasonic energy and positioned in contact with a suspension containing a percent by volume of particles in a liquid, the transducer transmitting ultrasonic energy through the ... | 03/14/2006 |
| 6998559 | Detection system for sorting apparatus The present invention relates to a system for determining characteristics of products of generally unequal size, e.g. apples, which are conveyed on product carriers, such as rollers of a conveying apparatus, and pass the system, the system comprising a detection dev... | 02/14/2006 |
| 6959589 | Ultrasound analysis of slurries An autoclave reactor allows for the ultrasonic analysis of slurry concentration and particle size distribution at elevated temperatures and pressures while maintaining the temperature- and pressure-sensitive ultrasonic transducers under ambient conditions. The react... | 11/01/2005 |
| 6925869 | Ultrasonic fuel-gauging system The invention provides a fuel-tank system with an ultrasonic fuel-gauging system for an aircraft. The fuel-tank system includes a fuel tank, a transducer carrier tape covered with a separation barrier, and coupled to a surface of the fuel tank, and at least one ultr... | 08/09/2005 |
| 6925880 | Apparatus and method for measuring the acoustic properties of a membranophone Apparatus and method of measuring acoustic properties of a drumhead of a drum are disclosed. The acoustic properties are measured by exciting the drumhead with a source of energy and detecting the acoustic energy emitted by the drumhead. The acoustic energy emitted ... | 08/09/2005 |
| 6915217 | Laser doppler vibrometer for remote assessment of structural components A method and system for remotely inspecting the integrity of a structure. This can be performed by a method creating a vibratory response in the structure from a remote location and then measuring the vibratory response of the structure remotely. Alternatively, this... | 07/05/2005 |
| 6799124 | Method of optimizing risk informed inspections of heat exchangers A probabilistic method for optimizing the inspection of a heat exchanger that determines the maximum number of degraded tubes that can be permitted to remain in service for a contemplated interval of time without exceeding an allowable probability of a tube burst, b... | 09/28/2004 |
| 6776044 | Ultrasonic device for inspection The invention is based on the problem of providing an inspection device and an inspection method, which recognise the defective lenses, which are difficult to detect with conventional optical methods, with a high degree of reliability. According to the invention, th... | 08/17/2004 |
| 6772634 | Conduit end identifier system The system provides a means for identifying the opposite ends of each particular conduit of an array of conduits laidout in a building. The system includes a sonic transmitter and a sonic receiver which are units that are separate from each other and portable. The t... | 08/10/2004 |
| 6678626 | Power on self test (POST) and extended self test (EST) for ultrasonic imaging system An ultrasonic imaging system including a power on self test (POST) and an extended self test (EST). The POST includes (a) a verification test, (b) a register test (c) a controller test, (d) a receive digital signal path test and (e) a basic front end test... | 01/13/2004 |
| 6655215 | Inverse corner cube for non-intrusive three axis vibration measurement A non-intrusive apparatus and method for measuring vibration of an object along three axes. A vibration measurement device is provided which has three orthogonal right triangular panels forming a pyramidal shape having three 90° angled corners which meet... | 12/02/2003 |
| 6568270 | Ultrasonic sensor self test for integrity/performance verification A contaminant sensor is provided which has an ultrasonic guided wave transducer that is bonded to a wall in which the ultrasonic energy is transmitted. A detector reflector is provided at a selected distance from the transducer, which will reflect signals... | 05/27/2003 |
| 6501355 | System having a switching device and an evaluation device for determining a remaining service life of a contact piece A system includes a switching device, a sound device and an evaluation device. The switching device includes a housing and a contact system disposed in the housing, the contact system including a contact piece carrier and a contact piece disposed on the c... | 12/31/2002 |
| 6477898 | Membrane mask stress measurement apparatus and method therefor A method and apparatus for determining stress levels of membrane masks that may be used in membrane-based lithographic techniques is presented. A piezoelectric plate (30) is used to induce vibrations into the membrane mask (35), where the frequency and am... | 11/12/2002 |
| 6470752 | Ultrasonic detection method and apparatus and ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus An ultrasonic detection method and apparatus are suited for real-time collection of three-dimensional ultrasonic data. The ultrasonic detection apparatus has an ultrasonic-optical transducer including a first optical layer and a second optical layer which... | 10/29/2002 |
| 6457363 | Method and apparatus for detecting and characterizing splits in logs Ultrasonic techniques are applied to the measurement of wooden members to detect splitting during sawing operations and thereby allow modification of a sawing technique or change in saw cut placement.... | 10/01/2002 |
| 6397679 | Method and apparatus for discriminating ultrasonic echoes using wavelet function processing A method of and apparatus for discriminating among ultrasonic echoes reflected from various objects in a tank containing liquid is disclosed. Ultrasonic signals are generated from an ultrasonic transducer into liquid contained in a tank. Ultrasonic echoes... | 06/04/2002 |
| 6324453 | Methods for determining the identification and position of and monitoring objects in a vehicle A vehicle interior monitoring system to identify, locate and monitor occupants, including their parts, and other objects in the passenger compartment and objects outside of a motor vehicle, such as an automobile or truck, by illuminating the contents of t... | 11/27/2001 |
| 6295872 | Ultrasonic measuring instrument The invention relates to an ultrasonic measuring instrument comprising a housing which contains a transducer for transmitting and receiving ultra-sound waves, and a rotatable mirror placed inside the housing for directing ultra-sound waves coming from the... | 10/02/2001 |
| 6186004 | Apparatus and method for remote, noninvasive characterization of structures and fluids inside containers An apparatus and method for the remote, noncontact evaluation of structures and containers at large distances (on the order of several meters) in air is described. The invention utilizes an air-coupled, parametric acoustic array to excite resonance vibrat... | 02/13/2001 |
