United States of America As Represented by the Administrator of Nasa

Prorbar, Inc.

Bradley M Burns

Jose M Perotti

Angel Lucena

Carlos T Mata

Norman N Blalock

Peter Vokrot

Carlos E Zavala

Jeffrey A Rees

Curtis Ihlefeld

Karin E Bassignani

Joseph J Curran

Christopher H Fogarty

Josephine B Santiago

A cathodic protection system providing substantially complete coverage to individual steel-in-concrete units in a multi-unit structure. The system includes a power supply, an electronic circuit board, a header cable, anode wire in each unit connected to the header cable, an adhesive fiber mat in each unit, and a conductive coating in each unit.

Cathodic protection system and miniaturized constant current rectifier

A short circuit protection system includes an inductor, a switch, a voltage sensing circuit, and a controller. The switch and inductor are electrically coupled to be in series with one another. A voltage sensing circuit is coupled across the switch and the inductor. A controller, coupled to the voltage sensing circuit and the switch, opens the switch when a voltage at the output terminal of the inductor transitions from above a threshold voltage to below the threshold voltage. The controller closes the switch when the voltage at the output terminal of the inductor transitions from below the threshold voltage to above the threshold voltage.

Fast-responding short circuit protection system with self-reset for use in circuit supplied by DC power

Self-Validating Thermocouple (SVT) Systems capable of detecting sensor probe open circuits, short circuits, and unnoticeable faults such as a probe debonding and probe degradation are useful in the measurement of temperatures. SVT Systems provide such capabilities by incorporating a heating or excitation element into the measuring junction of the thermocouple. By heating the measuring junction and observing the decay time for the detected DC voltage signal, it is possible to indicate whether the thermocouple is bonded or debonded. A change in the thermal transfer function of the thermocouple system causes a change in the rise and decay times of the thermocouple output. Incorporation of the excitation element does not interfere with normal thermocouple operation, thus further allowing traditional validation procedures as well.

Self-validating thermocouple

A solenoid health monitoring system uses a signal conditioner and controller assembly in one embodiment that includes analog circuitry and a DSP controller. The analog circuitry provides signal conditioning to the low-level raw signal coming from a signal acquisition assembly. Software running in a DSP analyzes the incoming data (recorded current signature) and determines the state of the solenoid whether it is energized, de-energized, or in a transitioning state. In one embodiment, the software identifies key features in the current signature during the transition phase and is able to determine the 'health' of the solenoid.

Current signature sensor

Growing community of inventors

Titusville, FL, United States of America

Bradley M Burns