The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 28, 2017
Filed:
Jul. 01, 2014
Hitachi Metals, Ltd., Minato-Ku, Tokyo, JP;
Alexei V. Smirnov, Fort Collins, CO (US);
Arun Nagarajan, San Bruno, CA (US);
Hitachi Metals, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
Mass flow controllers with on-tool diagnostic capabilities and methods for on-tool diagnosis of mass flow controllers are disclosed herein. One disclosed method includes effectuating a particular modification to the heating of the one or more heating-sensing elements, and monitoring one or more outputs of the mass flow sensor to obtain present data that characterizes a present operation of the mass flow sensor in response to the particular modification to the heating. Reference data is obtained that characterizes prior operation of the mass flow sensor, and the present operation of the mass flow sensor is compared to the prior operation of the mass flow sensor to assess whether the operation of the mass flow sensor changed over time.