A power converter is configured to measure an output current and to determine a multi-phase voltage reference as a function of the output current. Within the same switching period the voltage reference is determined, a modulation routine determines a modulation index for each phase of the output voltage. In some instances, one or more phases must start modulation during the switching period before the new modulation index is determined. The modulation routine stores the value of the modulation index generated from the prior switching period and uses the stored value when a new value is not yet ready. An offset value for the phase voltage which used a modulation index from the prior switching period is determined in order to compensate the phase voltages of the other phases and to maintain a desired line-to-line voltage output from the power converter.

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to a system and method for reducing delay in the modulation of a multi-phase output voltage from an inverter. More specifically, an improved modulation routine determines switching signals for each phase of the multi-phase output within the same switching period as feedback current is sampled and these switching signals are utilized within the same switching period to determine an output voltage for at least a portion of the phases of the multi-phase output voltage.
Power converters are widely used to supply voltages to loads at varying amplitudes and/or varying frequencies. A power converter may receive an input voltage in one form, such as an Alternating Current (AC) voltage or a Direct Current (DC) voltage, and output a voltage in a second form. One common application of power converters is a motor drive.
As is known to those skilled in the art, motor drives are utilized to control operation of a motor. According to one common configuration, a motor drive includes a DC bus having a DC voltage of suitable magnitude from which an AC voltage may be generated and provided to an AC motor. The DC voltage may be provided as an input to the motor drive or, alternately, the motor drive may include a converter section which converts an AC voltage input to the DC voltage present on the DC bus. The converter section may be passive, including conventional diode rectification, or active, including controlled power electronic switching devices, either of which may convert an AC voltage input to a DC voltage for the DC bus. The power electronic switching devices in an active rectifier may be selected from transistors, such as insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) or metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs), thyristors, or silicon-controlled rectifiers (SCRs). The power electronic switching device may also include a reverse conduction power electronic device, such as a free-wheeling diode, connected in parallel across the power electronic switching device. The reverse conduction power electronic device is configured to conduct during time intervals in which the power electronic switching device is not conducting. A controller in the motor drive generates switching signals to selectively turn on or off each switching device in the active front end to generate a desired DC voltage on the DC bus.
The motor drive receives a command signal which indicates the desired operation of the motor. The command signal may be a desired torque, speed, or position at which the motor is to operate. The torque, speed, or position of the motor is controlled by varying the amplitude and frequency of the AC voltage applied to the stator of the motor. An inverter section is provided between the DC bus and the output of the motor drive to generate the controlled AC voltage. The inverter section includes power electronic switching devices, such as IGBTs, MOSFETs, thyristors, or SCRs, and a reverse conduction power electronic device connected in parallel across the power electronic switching device. The motor is connected to the output terminals of the motor drive, and the controller generates the switching signals to rapidly switch the switching devices in the inverter on and off at a predetermined switching frequency and, thereby, to alternately connect or disconnect the DC bus to the output terminals and, in turn, to the motor. The output waveform is, by nature of the switching, rectangular, either connecting or disconnecting the output of the motor drive to the DC bus, such that the output is either at the DC voltage present on the DC bus or at zero volts. By varying the duration during each switching period for which the output terminal of the motor drive is connected to the DC voltage, the magnitude of the output voltage is varied. The motor controller utilizes modulation techniques such as pulse width modulation (PWM) to vary the magnitude of the output voltage over each cycle of a desired fundamental frequency to synthesize waveforms having desired amplitudes and frequencies.
Typically, a current regulator executing on the motor drive generates a reference signal for the modulation routine. The current regulator receives feedback signals from one or more current sensors, corresponding to the current output from the motor drive to a motor controlled by the motor drive. The current feedback signals may be single phase or multi-phase but correspond to the actual current provided on the corresponding phase to the motor. The current feedback signals are converted to a stationary or synchronous reference frame in which current control loops, including a proportional regulator, an integral regulator, a differential regulator, or combinations thereof, output voltage references in the corresponding stationary or synchronous reference frames. These voltage references are converted back to voltage reference values corresponding to a desired voltage on each phase of the motor. The modulation routine, in turn, generates the switching signals to control the power electronic switching devices in the inverter section to output the desired voltage waveforms to the motor.
Historically, it was known to execute both the current regulator and the modulation routines at the same periodic update rate. This periodic update rate is also referred to as a switching frequency or switching period. However, processing of the current feedback signals requires a finite amount of time. The analog signal is first passed through an analog to digital converter to obtain a digital value of the signal and then transmitted to the processor. The processor must sample the digital value and store the sampled value in memory for use by the current regulator. The current regulator executes based on the current reference signal and the stored current feedback signal to determine a desired voltage reference. Each of these steps requires time to execute and must be performed sequentially within the switching period. Within the same interval and potentially in parallel to sampling the current and executing the current regulator, the modulation routine is determining modulation indexes for the power switching devices to generate the desired output voltages.
Because of the delay involved in sampling and processing the current feedback signals and in executing the current regulator, the modulation routine may already be switching the output voltage to a desired output voltage within the switching period before execution of the current regulator has completed. As a result, the output of the current regulator has commonly been stored for use by the modulation routine during the next switching period. This introduces a one cycle delay between determining a desired voltage reference and using the voltage reference by the modulation routine. Although the switching frequency is typically one or more orders of magnitude larger than a fundamental frequency of the output voltage and, as a result, the one cycle delay does not significantly impact the fundamental component of the output voltage, the one cycle delay can introduce some undesirable effects on the output of the motor drive. When there are rapid and/or significant changes in the current reference, the current regulator may generate some overshoot in the response to such changes. The overshoot can cause a torque ripple or a corresponding overshoot on the output current supplied to the motor. In certain applications, such as during torque control of the motor, this overshoot and/or torque ripple may either require detuning the response of the motor drive to prevent the overshoot and/or torque ripple or accepting the overshoot and/or torque ripple, either of which results in reduced performance of the motor.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide an improved method for executing the current regulator and the modulation routine within an inverter.
Historically, there have been two different approaches to solving the problem of using a voltage reference in a modulation routine one cycle after it has been determined. A first approach has been to increase the switching frequency of the motor drive. The increased switching frequency reduces the delay between determining the voltage reference and utilizing the voltage reference in the modulation routine. As a result, the overshoot and/or torque ripple may be reduced. However, an increased switching frequency increases the power losses in the inverter due to switching, reduces the time period during which the output current may be sampled, and increases the complexity of the control routine in the inverter. A second approach at solving the delay between determining the voltage reference and using the voltage reference in the modulation routine is to execute these routines consecutively within the same switching period. The second approach has its own drawbacks. Typically, an expensive analog-to-digital converter and/or processor are required, such that the hardware may be configured to perform both the analog-to-digital conversion and current regulator processing at high rates of execution. Optionally, the second approach may impose a limit on the maximum modulation index or restrict the switching frequency to provide a minimum amount of time during the start of each switching period during which the analog-to-digital conversion and subsequent processing may occur.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide a system and method for reducing or eliminating the delay by a modulation routine in using a voltage reference generated by a current regulator without incurring any of the drawbacks indicated above.

System and method for reducing delay in the modulation of a multi-phase output voltage from an inverter


A circuit arrangement for operating at least one first and one second lamp which can be inserted in the circuit arrangement, each lamp having a first and a second filament, having a drive circuit for the purpose of driving the at least one first and second lamp, the drive circuit being designed to operate the at least one first and second lamp using a radiofrequency signal, it also includes: a comparator circuit for comparing a first and a second voltage potential within the circuit arrangement, and a deactivation apparatus for deactivating the drive circuit, the comparator circuit being designed to activate the deactivation apparatus if the difference between the first and the second voltage potential exceeds a predeterminable limit value during operation of the at least one first and one second lamp using a radiofrequency signal.

Such a circuit arrangement is known from the prior art. If the drive circuit is now in the form of a remote-controlled electronic ballast, there is the risk of the removal of a lamp from the circuit arrangement during operation not being recognized if the corresponding load circuit is not monitored. The corresponding load circuit can then continue to operate in the so-called capacitive mode. Owing to the lack of damping by the lamp removed and given an unchanged operating frequency, the switches which are generally used as transistors in the drive circuit are no longer operated at the optimum time, at which the transistors are without voltage, but at times at which a voltage is present across the transistor and, at the same time, current flows through the transistor. The power loss which is thereby increased and is converted in the transistor may lead to heating of the transistor which may result in destruction of the transistor.

Circuit arrangement for operating at least one first and one second lamp which can be inserted in said circuit arrangement

Patent-Treuhand-Gesellschaft fur Elektrische Gluhlampen mbH


A beam training method includes: determining, by a terminal device, to send n pilot sequences to a network device by using n beams in n timeslots within one uplink beam training period, where the n pilot sequences are at least partially different, and n is a positive integer greater than 1; and sending, by the terminal device, the determined n pilot sequences to the network device by using the n beams in the n timeslots within the uplink beam training period.

As mobile terminals increase, a user equipment (UE) has increasing data volume requirements. Currently, bandwidth of a frequency band lower than 6 GHz is no longer sufficient to meet increasing requirements on communication performance. Therefore, using a high frequency band having rich bandwidth resources as a frequency for backhaul and access will become a trend. The high frequency band is a frequency band higher than 6 GHz, for example, 30 GHz to 300 GHz, or higher.
However, compared with a frequency band lower than 6 GHz, one of obvious characteristics of a high frequency band is high path loss. To ensure a propagation distance, a high frequency beam needs to be relatively narrow. However, coverage of a narrow beam system is limited. Therefore, to obtain an antenna gain as much as possible, narrow beam scanning and alignment need to be performed between a network device and a terminal device, thereby implementing normal communication between the network device and the terminal device.
To implement narrow beam scanning and alignment, beam training needs to be performed. In a beam training phase, a BS (base station) allocates a different training sequence to each UE. However, training sequences are limited. Assuming there are 10 sequences, a maximum of 10 UEs can be simultaneously beam-trained. If there are 50 UEs needing to be trained, the 50 UEs need to be separately trained in five different time periods. Because one of main high-frequency scenarios is a user-intensive scenario, overheads of beam training are relatively high.


In a long bone endoprosthesis, the anchoring shaft on at least a part of its length has a cross section of generally rectangular or other polygonal shape and with rounded corners and straight side sections allowing the anchoring shaft to fit more closely with the bone when the anchoring shaft is inserted into a bone recess cut with a rotary cutting head having a minimum radius, the rounded corners of the anchoring shaft having radii equal to or greater than the minimum radius of the cutter head.

An example of this type of endoprosthesis is the part of an artificial hip joint that is used in the femur and is supposed to replace the head and neck of the femur. To seat the prosthesis firmly in the bone, the recess for the shaft must be precisely machined according to the anchoring philosophy ("formfit" or "pressfit"). In practice, it is not possible to produce the recess in the bone so precisely that the desired seat is achieved along the whole peripheral surface of the shaft.
Therefore, a new procedure is now being used in practice in which the recess is cut out using a program-controlled robot. This makes it possible to produce the recess with high precision.
However, when today's usual straight shaft prostheses, which frequently have a rectangular cross section to achieve rotational stability, are used, the problem is that no corners can be cut with a rotary cutting head. This is mainly due to the fact that the cutting head cannot have less than a certain minimum radius for reasons of stability. The cutting head is on a relatively long shaft and its diameter must be greater than the shaft diameter, so that the shaft can follow the cutting head into the recess. If the shaft diameter is too small, the shaft bends in the lateral forces, so the desired precision cannot be achieved. As a rule, the minimum cutting head radius is therefore approximately 5 mm.
If the bone is allowed to stand in the corners corresponding to the radius of the cutting head, there is a risk that the bone will split when the prosthesis is inserted with its sharp square edges. On the other hand, if the corners are completely cut out, there are hollow spaces on both sides of the corner line, in which the prosthesis shaft is not adjacent to the bone and in which not only does the prosthesis have no stop, but there is also a danger that the bone will recede there, since there is no stress on it.
The problem of the invention is to produce an endoprosthesis of the type mentioned at the beginning so that the shaft can lie on the wall of the recess on at least part of its length with its entire peripheral surface.


Preparation time of a multi print head screen printing machine is reduced by inputting the printing parameters into an electronic storage device on the silk screen when carrying out test printing, to avoid rekeying the information at the print head. The storage means can be accessed by cable connection or wireless connection.

This invention relates to screens for screen printing machines particularly multiple print head screen printing machines used for colour printing garments.
Garments such as tee shirts are decorated using multi printing head, screen printing machines. The number of heads correspond to the number of colours to be printed. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,795,189 (Jaffa) and 5,031,527 (Eppinger) disclose examples of the type of machines used in printing garments.
The garments are supported on a pallet, which in turn is supported, for registry with the printing head, on a pallet arm. The pallet is moved successively past the desired number of printing heads until the printing is complete. Each printing head incorporates a silk screen frame carrying the image and devices for applying the ink including a squeegee and drive for spreading the ink and transferring an image from the screen to a garment on the pallet. After each color is printed it is usual to flash cure the ink before applying the next color.
It is necessary to prepare each screen for each print head by determining such parameters as print speed, flood speed and position limits for the squeegee the ink colour and squeegee material to be used, the screen tension, the number of print passes required, the optimum flash period for curing the ink and the print head on the machine to which the screen should be attached.
This preparation time can be time consuming and is often carried out on a smaller test printing machine to avoid unnecessary down time of the production screen printer. However after the screen is prepared the data has to be entered at each print head or into a central controller as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,787,805 and 5,592,877. This also takes time and adds to the down time of the machine when the screens are fitted and the screen printing machine is made ready for printing. Screens for multi print head screen printers have never had any means for carrying screen printing parameters and usually the job number and customer name was hand written on an unused portion of the screen or on the frame. In offset printing using cylindrical printing presses this problem has been partially addressed but in that environment the number of printing parameters is less.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,665,824 discloses the use of a removable job strip that can be read by a scanner to obtain printing control data for the printing controller.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,123,024 describes a printed circuit board screen printing stencil which carries one or more readable tags or transponders containing data relating to the stencil pattern to be printed, the solder paste viscosity, the temperature of application, the number of printed circuit boards printed and the total time of use of the stencil.
The printing of industrial printing of circuit boards and printing by rotary printing press are very different industries compared to silk screen printing of garments and the developments outlined above can not be used in garment screen printing machines.
It is an object of this invention to overcome these problems.
To this end the present invention provides a method of preparing a silk screen for use in a screen printing machine having an electronic controller which includes the steps of
1. fitting the screen to a test machine
2. determining the printing parameters applicable for that screen,
3. storing the parameters on a readable storage means on said screen
4. fitting the screen on said screen printing machine and
5. commencing the printing operation whereby the electronic controller reads the printing parameters on said readable storage device and actuates the print head in accordance with the stored parameters.
By incorporating an electronic storage means on the silk screen itself the need to rekey the data after the parameters have been selected is avoided. This not only saves time but avoids errors in rekeying and loss of the programs if the screen printing machine is defective and another machine is required.
In another aspect this invention provides a system for preparing a screen for a multi print head garment screen printing machine which includes
1. a screen adapted for use on a multihead screen printing machine
2. a test printing machine for determining the printing parameters for a silk screen
3. an electronic storage means on said silk screen adapted to receive and store said printing parameters
4. a screen printing machine which includes a central controller and/or print head controllers adapted to read and actuate said printing parameters stored on said silk screen when it is fitted to a print head.
The screen printing parameters to be stored may include
1. job number and customer identification
2. squeegee print speed,
3. squeegee flood speed
4. squeegee position limits
5. the ink colour
6. squeegee material to be used,
7. the screen tension when new
8. the number of print passes required,
9. accumulated total number of print passes
10. the optimum flash period for curing the ink
11. the print head on the machine to which the screen should be attached
The data storage on the silk screen is preferably able to be altered or updated by an operator when the screen is fitted to the production screen printing machine. The data can be transferred over a cable connection between the printing machines and the screen or by a wireless transmission which means the screen will also have a transmitter and receiver to facilitate access to the storage means. Alternatively the storage means can be a smart card which can receive a signal and transmit a reply powered by the received signal. The wireless transmission also makes it feasible to use a handheld programmer which can also key into the screen storage the printing parameters or updates to the parameters.
The actual storage device and the connection devices are preferably attached to the screen frame in a position that allows robust use of the screen.

System and method for preparing a screen printing screen


A servo-frame recording apparatus includes: a sector information rearranging section for rearranging serial bits of the sector information that is binary data; a first ExOR section for performing the ExOR (exclusive OR) on the sector information, the serial bits of which have been rearranged by said sector information rearranging section, and the track information, so that an exclusive logical sum is obtained; and a writing section for wiring the exclusive logical sum obtained by said ExOR section into the servo frame. With this configuration, a data length required for recording gray information and sector information can be shortened without lowering the reliability of a magnetic disk.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique to recode gray information and sector information into a servo frame region formed on a magnetic disk.
2. Description of the Related Art
Accompanying drawings FIGS. 15(a) and 15(b) illustrate a configuration of a conventional magnetic disk; FIG. 15(a) schematically illustrates a configuration of a conventional magnetic disk and FIG. 15(b) schematically shows a configuration of a servo frame formed on the magnetic disk of FIG. 15(a).
A conventional magnetic disk 110, as shown in FIG. 15(a), takes the form of a platter one side or the both sides of which serve recording layer covered with a magnetic material, and a non-illustrated magnetic head reads information from and write information into a surface (a storage region) of the magnetic disk 110.
On the magnetic disk 110, a number of servo frames 111 are radially formed so as to stretch from the center to the circumference at predetermined intervals. Information for specifying a magnetic head is recorded in a servo frame 111.
For example, each servo frame 111 of a conventional magnetic disk 110 retains a preamble, a servo mark, gray/sector information (head information), a position burst, a post code and other information.
An exemplary gray/sector information is 24 bit formed by 16-bit gray information and 8-bit sector information, and a servo frame 111 prepares a space for retaining such gray information and sector information therein.
Here, gray information is a gray code generated by logical conversion performed on binary data representing a cylinder number, and sector information is binary data representing a sector number.
A magnetic disk apparatus reads data from a magnetic disk 110 with reference to gray information and sector information recorded in a servo frame with the intention of preventing a servo-frame shift and/or a track shift, which may destroy user data, from occurring.
A data recoding density has been enhanced year by year and accordingly, a servo sample rate (a servo sample frequency) has been getting higher. A raise in a servo sample rate requires an increase in the number of servo frames 111 but such an increase problematically lowers a format efficiency of a magnetic disk 110.
For compatibility between an increase in the number of servo frames and the prevention of lowering in format efficiency of a magnetic disk 110, effective solutions are enhancement of a recording density (a bit density) into a servo frame 111 and reduction in a data amount to be recorded into a servo frame 111.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (KOKAI) No. HEI 8-221892 discloses a manner for saving a storage region space of a disk by coding a servo address so that lesser bits are used for storing the servo address.
On a magnetic disk 110, both of gray information and sector information have to be recorded into a servo frame 111 in order to inhibit a servo-frame shift and/or a track shift. A conventional magnetic disk 110 however requires a long bit length for recording such gray information and sector information, and the data length of a servo frame 111 problematically lengthens. That lowers a format efficiency.

Method and apparatus for recording servo frame, storage disk, and method and apparatus for obtaining servo frame information


A portable blood storage device includes an outer housing an inner housing. The outer housing defines the structure of the blood storage device. The inner housing is located within the outer housing and has an interior cavity for storing collected blood and/or blood components. The inner housing has an open top to allow access to the interior cavity. The storage device also has an inlet duct and a return duct located within the interior cavity. The inlet duct is fluidly connectable to a cooling device and brings conditioned air into the storage device when fluidly connected to the cooling device. The return duct is also fluidly connectable to the cooling device and returns exhaust air to the cooling device when fluidly connected.

The United States Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") determines storage requirements for all blood and blood products. Among other things, the FDA requires that blood and/or blood products be stored within a specific temperature range. For example, after 8 hours, whole blood must be stored between 1 and 6 degrees Celsius. During transport, the whole blood must be kept between 1 and 10 degrees Celsius. Additionally, the FDA requirements also state that, after collection, blood products may only be outside of the specified temperature range for prescribed (brief) period of time. If the temperature of the blood or blood products remains outside of the target temperature range for longer than the allowed time, the blood and blood products must be disposed of. As one may expect, loss and disposal of any blood or blood product is wasteful and costly.
Furthermore, the FDA guidelines become more of an issue when one considers that blood and blood products are not always collected and immediately processed or placed within a fixed storage device or location. In most instances, the blood and/or blood products must be transported to a different location for permanent processing, storage, and/or use.
Currently, hospitals and blood donation organizations transport collected/stored blood and blood products in a consumer-type cooler (e.g., similar to those used to store beverages and food) with ice packs, bags of ice, or dry ice, for example. This method provides only limited transport time and cannot ensure that the stored blood and blood products remain within the target temperature range (e.g., the temperature may be above or below the target range). Additionally, this method cannot ensure that all of the blood and/or blood products within the cooler are at the same temperature (e.g., some of the blood product containers may be within the temperature range and others may not because of the uneven cooling provided by ice packs). Lastly, this method is unable to provide any information regarding how long the blood product has been stored and for how long the blood product was outside of the target temperature range. Therefore, in many instances, if the ice pack melts during transport and there is uncertainty as to whether or not the blood went over the target temperature, the blood and/or blood products must be disposed of. In other instances, the temperature of the blood or blood products is sampled at the processing center. If the blood or blood product falls within the specified range, the blood or blood product is cleared for processing even though the blood or blood unit may have been outside of the specified range at any point since collection.

System and method for active cooling of stored blood products


An alternate checksum option for transmitting TCP frame data is used that does not require computing a TCP checksum. Instead, an integrity check value is computed and placed in the ESP authentication portion near the end of the frame. Transmission of a portion of the TCP frame data may begin before all of the TCP frame data is received by a TCP checksum offload device because the integrity check value is inserted at the end of the frame. Furthermore, the integrity check value is computed using a static key or a dynamic key may be computed to cover a greater portion of the frame compared with ESP authentication specified by the IPsec standard.

Conventional Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) processing is exemplified by systems and methods developed to facilitate data transfer between a local or remote client and a server. Software implementations executed on a host processor, e.g., Central Processing Unit (CPU), are comparatively inexpensive, but slow compared with dedicated hardware implementations, such as those included within a Network Interface Card (NIC), designed to offload TCP processing from the host processor.
Some of the TCP processing that is offloaded is the computation of TCP's checksum for outgoing frame data. A NIC receives outbound payload data from the CPU, constructs frames, and outputs the frames via a Local Area Network (LAN) interface. Construction of a frame includes constructing a TCP header and an IP header. The TCP header is positioned at the beginning of the frame and includes the TCP checksum field. Conventionally, transmission of the frame cannot begin until the TCP checksum has been calculated, therefore payload data is typically stored in dedicated memory within the NIC until all of the payload data for the frame has been received by the NIC and the TCP checksum is calculated. The TCP checksum is then inserted in the header portion of the constructed frame and the constructed frame is output. Transmission latency is incurred while the NIC waits to receive the entire frame prior to completing the TCP checksum calculation.
Therefore, there is a need to reduce frame transmission latency by beginning transmission of the frame prior to computing the TCP checksum.

Method and apparatus for reducing TCP frame transmit latency


A system that incorporates teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, a Neuro Sensing and Stimulation Device having a conductive lead for implanting in a brain of a living entity, a sensor coupled to the conductive lead for collecting data associated with one or more electrical signals detected in the conductive lead, a stimulator coupled to the conductive lead to apply one or more electrical signals thereto, and a controller. The controller can be operable to collect data associated with one or more electrical signals detected in the conductive lead, determine a stimulation sequence from the collected data, and direct the stimulator to apply on the conductive lead one or more electrical signals determined from the stimulation sequence. Additional embodiments are disclosed.

Neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease can be a chronic, progressive neurodegenerative movement disorder whose primary symptoms include tremors, rigidity, slow movement, poor balance and difficulty walking. When a person has Parkinson's disease, his/her dopamine-producing cells in the brain begin to die. Dopamines are responsible for sending information to the parts of the brain that control movement and coordination. Hence, as the amount of dopamine produced decreases, messages from the brain directing the body how and when to move are delivered in a slower fashion, leaving a person incapable of initiating and controlling movements in a normal way.
Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is a surgical therapy for movement disorders that represents an advancement in the treatment of Parkinson over the last 50 years. DBS uses a surgically implanted, battery-operated thin neuron-stimulator to reverse in large part the abnormal function of the brain tissue in the region of the stimulating electrode.
Commercially available DBS systems typically include a neuron-stimulator, an extension, and a lead. The neuron-stimulator is placed under skin operating as a battery powered electrical impulse generator implanted in the abdomen. The extension is a wire also placed under the skin (from the head, down the neck, to the abdomen) to bring the signals generated by neuron-stimulator to the lead. The lead is an insulated coiled wire with four electrodes implanted deeply in the brain to release the electrical impulse.

Apparatus for managing a neurological disorder

The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois


A stencil for character projection (CP) charged particle beam lithography and a method for manufacturing the stencil is disclosed, where the stencil contains two circular characters, where each character is capable of forming patterns on a surface in a range of sizes by using different dosages, and where the size ranges for the two characters is continuous. A method for forming circular patterns on a surface using variable-shaped beam (VSB) shots of different dosages is also disclosed. A method for forming circular patterns on a surface using a set of shots, where all of the shots comprise dosages, is also disclosed.

The present disclosure is related to lithography, and more particularly to the design and manufacture of a surface which may be a reticle, a wafer, or any other surface, using charged particle beam lithography.
In the production or manufacturing of semiconductor devices, such as integrated circuits, optical lithography may be used to fabricate the semiconductor devices. Optical lithography is a printing process in which a lithographic mask or photomask manufactured from a reticle is used to transfer patterns to a substrate such as a semiconductor or silicon wafer to create the integrated circuit. Other substrates could include flat panel displays or even other reticles. Also, extreme ultraviolet (EUV) or X-ray lithography are considered types of optical lithography. The reticle or multiple reticles may contain a circuit pattern corresponding to an individual layer of the integrated circuit and this pattern can be imaged onto a certain area on the substrate that has been coated with a layer of radiation-sensitive material known as photoresist or resist. Once the patterned layer is transferred the layer may undergo various other processes such as etching, ion-implantation (doping), metallization, oxidation, and polishing. These processes are employed to finish an individual layer in the substrate. If several layers are required, then the whole process or variations thereof will be repeated for each new layer. Eventually, a combination of multiples of devices or integrated circuits will be present on the substrate. These integrated circuits may then be separated from one another by dicing or sawing and then may be mounted into individual packages. In the more general case, the patterns on the substrate may be used to define artifacts such as display pixels or magnetic recording heads.
In the production or manufacturing of semiconductor devices, such as integrated circuits, maskless direct write may also be used to fabricate the semiconductor devices. Maskless direct write is a printing process in which charged particle beam lithography is used to transfer patterns to a substrate such as a semiconductor or silicon wafer to create the integrated circuit. Other substrates could include flat panel displays, imprint masks for nano-imprinting, or even reticles. Desired patterns of a layer are written directly on the surface, which in this case is also the substrate. Once the patterned layer is transferred the layer may undergo various other processes such as etching, ion-implantation (doping), metallization, oxidation, and polishing. These processes are employed to finish an individual layer in the substrate. If several layers are required, then the whole process or variations thereof will be repeated for each new layer. Some of the layers may be written using optical lithography while others may be written using maskless direct write to fabricate the same substrate. Eventually, a combination of multiples of devices or integrated circuits will be present on the substrate. These integrated circuits are then separated from one another by dicing or sawing and then mounted into individual packages. In the more general case, the patterns on the surface may be used to define artifacts such as display pixels or magnetic recording heads.
In semiconductor manufacturing, reliably manufacturing contacts and vias is difficult and important, especially when optical lithography is used to manufacture patterns smaller than 80 nm half pitch, where half pitch is one-half of the minimum contact or via size plus one-half of the minimum required space between contacts or vias. Contacts and vias connect a conductive material on one layer to another conductive material on another layer. In older technology nodes which were relatively larger than currently-popular technology nodes, attempts were made to manufacture square vias and contacts on the wafer. Square contacts and vias are desirable so as to maximize the amount of area that connects between the conductive material in the below layer and the conductive material in the above layer. But with decreasing feature sizes, it has become prohibitively expensive or impractical to create large numbers of square patterns on the semiconductor wafer. Especially at 80 nm half pitch and below, semiconductor manufacturers target forming near-circles on the wafer, when viewed from above, which create nearly cylindrical contacts or vias. The design data that specifies the desired wafer shape still specifies the desired shape as a square. However, the manufacturers and designers alike work with the assumption that limitations of the optical lithographic process will cause the actual resulting shape to be a near-circle on the wafer. The generalized case of this effect for all shapes is sometimes referred to as corner rounding.
A significant advantage to the conventional practice of specifying contacts and vias as squares in the design data is that square patterns can be formed relatively quickly on a reticle. The use of square patterns for contacts and vias on the reticle and photomask, however, make the manufacturing of vias and contacts on the semiconductor device more difficult. It would be advantageous to eliminate the manufacturing difficulties associated with using square patterns on a photomask for contacts and vias, particularly for half-pitches less than 80 nm.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method, device, and system for forming circular patterns on a surface


When an internal combustion engine is run at a high speed revolution, a large increase in a processing time executed every predetermined crank angle position can be suppressed, and fluctuations or variations in response characteristics can be reduced, thus enabling better valve timing control. To this end, a control apparatus for an internal combustion engine includes a variable valve timing mechanism, an actual advance amount detector for detecting an actual valve timing position every predetermined crank angle position, a target advance amount setter for setting a target valve timing based upon a detection result of the operating condition detector, a controller for controlling the variable valve timing mechanism, an advance amount deviation calculator for calculating a deviation between the target advance amount and the actual advance amount every predetermined crank angle position, a differential value calculator for calculating, every predetermined time, a deviation between a current value of advance amount deviation and a preceding value thereof, and a control amount calculator for calculating a control amount used in the controller based upon both the advance amount deviation and the differential value.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a control apparatus for an internal combustion engine equipped with a variable valve timing mechanism. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a control apparatus for controlling a change in valve timing by the variable valve timing mechanism.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 8 schematically shows the arrangement of a conventional control system for an internal combustion engine equipped with a variable valve timing mechanism, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 6-299876. The conventional control system is an example of a general-purpose system for changing the open/close timing of an intake valve alone.
Now, the conventional internal combustion engine will be explained. In each cylinder 100 (only one cylinder is indicated), a combustion chamber 100a is defined by a piston 101 which is moved for reciprocation in the cylinder 100. An ignition plug 102 is provided in a cylinder head at an upper portion of the combustion chamber 100a, with a tip portion thereof being presented into the combustion chamber 100a. An intake pipe 103 and an exhaust pipe 104 are connected to each cylinder 100. The intake pipe 103 conducts intake air to the combustion chamber 100a. The exhaust pipe 104 is used to exhaust combustion gases from the combustion chamber 100a. An intake valve 117 is provided at an intake port through which the exhaust pipe 104 is opened to the combustion chamber 100a, whereas an exhaust valve 118 is provided at an exhaust port through which the exhaust pipe 104 is opened to the combustion chamber 100a. A throttle valve 108 is provided in the intake pipe 103 for controlling an amount of intake air which is supplied to the combustion chamber 100a. An opening degree of the throttle valve 108 is detected by a throttle sensor 112 mounted on the intake pipe 103 in the vicinity of the throttle valve 108. Also, within the intake pipe 103, both a fuel injection valve 105 and a pressure sensor 113 are provided on the downstream side of the throttle valve 108. The fuel injection valve 105 is to supply or inject fuel to the intake pipe 103. The pressure sensor 113 is to detect the pressure in the intake pipe 103. Furthermore, a water temperature sensor 107 for detecting a temperature of engine coolant or cooling water is mounted on the cylinder 100, and an oxygen sensor 106 for detecting an oxygen concentration in exhausted air is provided on the exhaust pipe 104.
Both an intake cam shaft 115 and an exhaust cam shaft 119, by which the respective valves are opened/closed, are arranged above the intake valve 117 and the exhaust valve 118. An intake-side timing pulley 120 and an exhaust-side timing pulley 119a are mounted on the intake cam shaft 115 and the exhaust cam shaft 119. Both the intake-side timing pulley 120 and the exhaust-side timing pulley 119a are operatively coupled via timing belts (not shown) to a crank shaft 116. The crank shaft 116 is coupled via a piston rod 116a to the piston 101 provided in each cylinder 100. As a result, both the intake cam shaft 115 and the exhaust cam shaft 119 are driven to rotate in synchronization with the rotation of the crank shaft 116.
An oil pressure actuator (VVT ACT) 114 driven by lubricating oil of the engine is coupled to an end face of the intake cam shaft 115, and the oil pressure actuator 114 changes open/close timing of the intake valve 117. In other words, the oil pressure actuator 114 changes the displacement angle of the intake cam shaft 115 with respect to the intake-side timing pulley 120 in order to continuously change the open/close timing of the intake valve 117.
An oil control valve (OCV) 121 supplies operating oil to the oil pressure actuator 114, and also adjusts the amount of the operating oil, so that the oil pressure actuator 114 is driven to change the open/close timing of the intake valve 117.
FIG. 8 represents such a system for changing the valve timing of the intake valve 117 alone. Similarly, a system for changing the open/close timing of the exhaust valve 118 may be provided.
A rotary plate 116b having concave/convex portions formed on an outer circumferential portion thereof is fixed to the crank shaft 116. A crank angle sensor 110 is arranged opposite to the outer circumferential portion and in the vicinity of the rotary plate 116b for detecting the concave/convex portion of the outer circmferential portion of the rotary plate 116b, so that this sensor 110 may detect a rotational or angular position of the crank shaft 116 (i.e., crank angle position), and the number of revolutions per minute of the engine (hereinafter referred to as "engine rotational number or speed").
The output signals of various sorts of sensors are inputted into an engine control unit (hereinafter referred to as an "ECU") 122. These sensors include the crank angle sensor 110, the throttle sensor 112, the pressure sensor 113, an intake air sensor (not shown), the water temperature sensor 107, and the like. The ECU 122 detects an operating condition of the engine in response to sensor information, and then controls the ignition plug 102, the fuel injection valve 105, the oil control valve 121 and the like in correspondence with the detected engine operating condition.
FIG. 9 is a schematic block diagram showing a basic arrangement of a conventional control apparatus for an internal combustion engine equipped with the above-described variable valve timing mechanism.
As indicated in FIG. 9, the conventional control apparatus for the internal combustion engine includes an operating condition detector 1, a target advance amount setter 2, an actual advance amount detector 3, an advance amount deviation calculator 4, a control amount calculator 5, a controller 6, and a variable valve timing mechanism 7 to be discussed later. It should be understood that these elements 1 to 6 functionally indicate the control contents of the ECU 122, and these control contents may be executed in a software manner by using a microcomputer and the like.
The operating condition detector 1 detects the operating condition of the internal combustion engine from the information of the output signals derived from various sorts of sensors such as the crank angle sensor 110 for detecting the rotational number of the engine, the throttle sensor 112, the pressure sensor 113, an intake air sensor (not shown), and the water temperature sensor 107, and so on.
The target advance amount setter 2 sets an optimum target valve timing under the detected engine operating condition based upon the detection result of the operating condition detector 1. The target valve timing is previously mapped based upon either the engine rotational number Ne and the charging efficiency Ce, or the engine rotational number Ne and the throttle opening degree. In the case where a predetermined operating condition is satisfied, for example, the engine cooling water temperature becomes higher than or equal to a predetermined temperature (for instance, higher than or equal to 0.degree. C.), the target advance amount setter 2 retrieves the map, and executes an interpolation calculation so as to set an optimum target advance amount ".theta.b". To the contrary, when the predetermined operating condition cannot be satisfied, the target advance amount setter 2 fixes the target advance amount .theta.b to a basic reference position (for example, intake side is fixed to the most retarded angle position, whereas exhaust side is fixed to the most advanced angle position).
The actual advance amount detector 3 detects the actual valve open/close timing (position) based on the output signals derived from the crank angle sensor 110 and the cam angle position detecting sensor 111 by employing the known method.
The advance amount deviation calculator 4 calculates a deviation between the target advance amount .theta.b set by the target advance amount setter 2 and the actual advance amount .theta.r of the open/close position of either the intake valve or the exhaust valve, which is detected by the actual advance amount detector 3.
The control amount calculator 5 calculates the control amount through feedback control based upon the advance amount deviation .theta.er calculated by the advance amount deviation calculator 4 in order that the actual advance amount .theta.r is converged to the target advance amount .theta.b.
The controller 6 outputs a control signal for controlling the variable valve timing mechanism 7 based on the control amount calculated by the control amount calculator 5.
The variable valve timing mechanism 7 is so operated as to continuously change the phase of the intake cam shaft 115 with respect to the crank shaft 116. The variable valve timing mechanism 7 is equipped with the oil pressure actuator 114 mounted on the end face of the cam shaft, and the oil control valve 121 for driving and controlling the oil pressure actuator 114. The oil control valve 121 is equipped with a spool valve 123 which functions as a switching valve for switching the oil path to the oil pressure actuator 114, and a linear solenoid 124 which functions as a drive mechanism for controlling the position of the spool valve 123. The energizing current of the linear solenoid 124 is controlled in response to the control signal outputted from the controller 6 so as to drive the spool valve 123. Thus, the spool valve 123 switches the oil path to the oil pressure actuator 114 in order to adjust the oil amount of the operating oil. As previously explained, the linear solenoid 124 drives the oil pressure actuator 114 so as to change the open/close timing (hereinafter referred to as "valve timing") of the intake valve 117 and also of the exhaust valve 118.
FIG. 10(a) to FIG. 10(c) indicate operating conditions of the oil pressure actuator 114 in such a case that a control current value "i" of the oil control valve 121 by the controller 6 is varied.
FIG. 10(a) shows an operating condition of the oil pressure actuator 114 in the case where the control current value "i" is such a current value "ia" (for instance, 0.1 A) smaller than a reference value "ib" (for example, 0.5 A). At this time, the spool valve 123 is moved to a left side so as to form an oil path as indicated by an arrow. Thus, the operating oil is supplied to a retardation angle (retard angle) chamber 125 of the oil pressure actuator 114, and also the operating oil is exhausted from an advance angle chamber 126, so that the phase of the intake cam shaft 115 is delayed and therefore the open/close timing of the intake valve 117 (hereinafter referred to as "intake valve timing") is brought into a retardation angle control state.
FIG. 10(b) indicates an operating condition of the oil pressure actuator 114 in the case where the control current value "i" is equal to the reference value "ib" (for instance, 0.5 A). At this time, the spool valve 123 is maintained at a position where an oil path switching port is closed, and both the retardation angle chamber 125 and the advance angle chamber 126 of the oil pressure actuator 114 are brought into such conditions that the operating oil is neither supplied nor exhausted. Thus, the phase of the intake cam shaft 115 is maintained under the current state, and also the intake valve timing is brought into a control state for maintaining the current condition.
FIG. 10(c) represents an operating condition of the oil pressure actuator 114 in the case where the control current value "i" is such a current value "ic" (for instance, 0.1 A) larger than the reference value "ib" (for example, 0.5 A). At this time, the spool valve 123 is moved to the right so as to form an oil path as indicated by an arrow. Thus, the operating oil is supplied to the advance angle chamber 126 of the oil pressure actuator 114, and also the operating oil is exhausted from the retardation angle chamber 125, so that the phase of the intake cam shaft 115 is advanced and therefore the intake valve timing is brought into an advance angle control state.
In FIG. 10(a) to FIG. 10(c), the communication degree of switching the oil path is determined by the position of the spool valve 123. There is a direct proportional relationship between the position of the spool valve 123 and the current value "i"of the linear solenoid 124.
FIG. 11 is a characteristic diagram showing a changing speed VTa of actual valve timing with respect to the current value "i" of the linear solenoid 124 under a predetermined operating condition. In this figure, a region where the changing speed VTa is positive indicates that the actual valve timing is moved along the advance angle direction, whereas a region where the changing speed VTa is negative indicates that the actual valve timing is moved along the retardation angle direction.
In FIG. 11, the current values ia, ib, ic show the current values "i" of the linear solenoid 124 corresponding to the respective positions of the spool valve 123 shown in FIG. 10(a), FIG. 10(b) and FIG. 10(c), respectively. As a current value "i" under which the actual valve timing changing speed VTa becomes "0", there is only one current value "ib" by which a total oil amount of the operating oil leaked from the retardation angle chamber 125, the advance angle chamber 126, an oil pressure pipe (not shown), and the spool valve 123 can be made balance with a total oil amount of operating oil pressure-fed from an oil pump (not shown).
It should be understood that since the reference value "ib" for the control current value of the oil control valve 121 is varied depending upon fluctuations in the dimensions of the spool valve 123 and the operating conditions of the engine such as the engine rotational number and the engine temperature, this reference value is required to be updated as the holding current value "ih" in the learning manner under predetermined conditions (for example, in the case where actual advance amount .theta.r.ltoreq.target advance amount .theta.b.+-.1.degree. CA).
Therefore, the following description will be made under such a condition that the current value "ib" for maintaining the actual valve timing unchanged (i.e., the current condition is maintained) is employed as the holding current value "ih". In other words, when the valve timing is desired to be advanced, the control current value "i" may be set to be larger than the holding current value "ih". Conversely, when the valve timing is to be retarded, the control current value "i" may be set to be smaller than the holding current value "ih".
Next, a description will be made of the detection of the actual valve timing by the actual advance amount detector 3 while referring to FIGS. 12(a) through 12(c).
FIG. 12(a) is a timing chart indicating a crank angle position detection signal SGT (hereinafter referred to as a "signal SGT") corresponding to the output signal derived from the crank angle sensor 110. FIG. 12(b) and FIG. 12(c) are timing charts showing cam angle position detection signals SGC (hereinafter referred to as "signal SGC") corresponding to the output signals derived from the cam angle position detecting sensor 11 at the most spark retarded position and at an advanced position, respectively. Generally speaking, the signal SGT is employed so as to detect the rotational number Ne of the engine, as well as to detect such a fact that the crank shaft 116 is located at a predetermined reference crank angle position.
First, to detect the actual advance amount .theta.r, as discussed later, an actual valve timing detection value ".theta.a" is calculated from a phase relationship between the signal SGT and the signal SGC.
A signal SGC* of FIG. 12(b) indicates such a signal SGC derived when the valve timing is the most retarded angle position. A signal SGCa of FIG. 12(c) shows such a signal SGC derived when the valve timing is advanced.
As shown in FIGS. 12(a) through 12(c), the ECU 122 measures a time duration T110 corresponding to a crank angle of 110.degree. CA in the signal SGT of FIG. 12(a) every predetermined crank angle position (for instance, BTDC75.degree. CA) equal to the reference timing of the signal SGT. Also, the ECU 122 measures a phase difference time duration Ta which is defined from the signal SGC up to the signal SGT, and it calculates the actual valve timing detection value .theta.a in accordance with the following formula (1): EQU .theta.a(j)=Ta(j)/T110(j).times.110[.degree. CA] (1).
Also, under a predetermined stable operating condition of the engine such as an idle operating condition, the actual valve timing detection value .theta.a, detected when the target advance amount .theta.b is at the most retarded angle position (.theta.b=0), is stored as a most retarded angle learning value ".theta.*". The most retarded angle learning value .theta.* constitutes a reference value used to calculate the actual advance amount .theta.r of the actual valve timing. This reference value is set so as to absorb detection differences occurring with respective systems employed. The detection differences are caused by variations in the component parts as well as variations in the mounting of the oil pressure actuator 114, the crank angle sensor 110 and the cam angle position detecting sensor 111. Also, in order to perform precise control, the most retarded angle learning value .theta.* is frequently updated in a short time period, for example, every time a predetermined time (e.g., 25 ms) passes, or every predetermined crank angle position (e.g., BTDC75.degree. CA) of the signal SGT.
Next, a description will now be made of the control content of a variable valve timing control operation. Conventionally, the content of the valve timing control is well known in the related field, as known from, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 6-159021.
The ECU 122 executes feedback control based upon a deviation .theta.er between the target advance amount .theta.b and the actual advance amount .theta.r every time a predetermined time passes (e.g., 25 ms) in order that the actual advance amount .theta.r can be converged to the target advance amount .theta.b.
FIG. 13 is a flow chart describing the control operation of the above-explained conventional control apparatus. The routine shown therein is processed every predetermined time (e.g., 25 ms).
In FIG. 13, first, at step 200, using the following formula (2), the actual advance amount detector 3 calculates the actual advance amount .theta.r corresponding to the advance amount of the actual valve timing while setting as a reference the most retarded angle learning value ".theta.*": EQU .theta.r(n)=.theta.a(j)-.theta.*[.degree. CA] (2)
Next, at step 201, an optimum target advance amount .theta.b under the current operating condition is set from a map indicating a relation between the engine rotational number Ne and the charging efficiency Ce as follows: EQU .theta.b(n)=(Ne, Ce)[.degree. CA] (3)
Next, at step 202, the advance amount deviation calculator 4 calculates a deviation .theta.er between the target advance amount .theta.b and the actual advance amount .theta.r based upon the following formula (4): EQU .theta.er(n)=.theta.b(n)-.theta.r(n)[.degree. CA] (4)
At step 203, the control amount calculator 5 calculates a control amount ic1(n) based on the following formula (5) in the case where proportional differential control (PD control) is carried out: EQU ic1(n)=ip(n)+id(n)=kp.times..theta.er(n)+kd.times.(.theta.er(n)-.theta.er(n -1))[A] (5),
where ip is a proportional value; id is a differential value; Kp is a proportional gain; and kd is a differential gain. Also, when the PID control is performed, the control amount calculator 5 similarly calculates another control amount ic2(n) in the PID control based on the following formula (6): EQU ic2(n)=ip(n)+id(n)+ii(n)=kp.times..theta.er(n)+kd.times.(.theta.er(n)-.thet a.er(n-1))+.SIGMA.Ki(n)[A] (6)
where ip is a proportional value; id is a differential value; and .SIGMA.Ki represents an integral value, namely .SIGMA.Ki(n)=.SIGMA.Ki(n-1)+Ki.times..theta.er(n); Kp is a proportional gain; Kd is a differential gain; and Ki is an integral gain.
Subsequently, at step 204, the control amount calculator 5 calculates a control current value "i" in accordance with the following formula (7) in the case of the PD control, or the following formula (8) in the case of the PID control: EQU i(n)=ic1(n)+ih=Kp.times..theta.er(n)+Kd.times.(.theta.er(n)-.theta.er(n-1)+ 0.5[A] (7), EQU i(n)=ic2(n)+ih=Kp.times..theta.er(n)+Kd.times.(.theta.er(n)-.theta.er(n-1)) +.SIGMA.Ki(n)+0.5[A] (8).
In these formulae (7) and (8), Kp is a proportional gain; Kd is a differential gain; and ip is a proportional value; id is a differential value; and .SIGMA.Ki represents an integral value, namely .SIGMA.Ki(n)=.SIGMA.Ki(n-1)+Ki.times..theta.er(n), and Ki is an integral gain.
Then, at step 205, the control signal is outputted to the controller 6. This control signal is calculated based on the control current value i by the control amount calculator 5. In other words, while the holding current value ih (e.g., 0.5 A) is set as a reference, the actual advance angle amount .theta.r is converged into the target advance amount .theta.b in accordance with the control amount which is calculated based on the deviation .theta.er between the target advance amount .theta.b and the actual advance amount .theta.r.
In the conventional control apparatus, since the control operation by the above-mentioned calculation is carried out every predetermined time (e.g., 25 ms) in the entire drive region, the detection sensitivity of the advance amount deviation .theta.er is not sharp, depending upon the process timing in the high speed revolution region. As a result, the converging time of the actual advance amount with respect to the target advance amount is changed without calculating the proper control amounts (proportional value, differential value and the like), so that the response characteristic is deteriorated. As a consequence, there arise such problems as deterioration in the drive performance such as lowering of engine power, engine stalling and occurrences of abnormal vibrations as well as deterioration in exhaust gases.
In particular, in the high speed revolution region, when a large number of calculating process operations are carried out every predetermined crank angle position, the processing time is increased so that it becomes difficult to perform the intended function of the engine control system itself. Therefore, the processing workloads required in the high speed revolution must be reduced as much as possible.

Control apparatus for internal combustion engine


A method for determining the phase noise of a fiber optic cable includes a step of transmitting a reference signal and a test signal over the fiber optic cable to be tested. The reference and test signal are provided with different wavelengths. The phase noise of the fiber optic cable is calculated by comparing the reference signal and the test signal output from the fiber optic cable.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to methods for testing phase noise in long fiber length at high RF frequencies.
2. Description of the Related Art
Fiber optic communication is well known. Fiber optic (FO) links are used in a number of current technologies, including for transmitting remote radio frequency (RF) signals in various systems, such as X-band phased array radars systems.
For accurate phase noise measurements, a reference path is needed in order to subtract the system phase noise thereby increasing the overall measurement dynamic range of the link. The reference path must have a length virtually identical to that of the device under test (DUT) length. For long length FO links (i.e., 1-10 km), this task is almost impossible to achieve. Additionally, if two different long fibers were used, an additional uncertainty is created because the dispersion characteristics of the two fibers may not be the same.
Thus, there is a need for new and improved systems and methods for testing phase noise in long fiber length at high RF frequencies.

System and method for measuring the phase noise of very long fiber optic links


Techniques are described for workflow management, including automatically deriving characteristics of a user task node in a workflow based on an analysis of other workflow elements such as conditional sequence connectors. In some implementations, elements of a workflow presented in the modeler user interface of a workflow management platform are analyzed, and element(s) of the workflow are automatically and dynamically modified based on the analysis. For example, a workflow may include a first user task that is connected to subsequent node(s) in the workflow, such as other user task(s) downstream from the first user task. The first user task may be connected to each subsequent node by a conditional sequence connector. The condition information for each connector can be extracted from the workflow information and used to automatically modify the first user task to include decision branches for each element of condition information extracted from a respective connector.

Various software tools are available to assist organizations in managing various types of workflows. In general, a workflow management tool may include an interface that allows a user to design a workflow by specifying nodes (e.g., events, actions, etc.) in the workflow and connecting them to specify a control flow. Execution of the workflow may initiate other events or decisions within the organization in an automated fashion, to facilitate a process.


An electric compressor includes a housing, an inverter, an inverter case, a case bottom wall, and a case peripheral wall. The inverter case has a seal peripheral wall. The seal peripheral wall has a cylindrical shape and extends from the case bottom wall in a direction opposite to a direction in which the case peripheral wall extends. The seal peripheral wall surrounds a part of an outer peripheral surface of the housing. A seal member having an annular shape seals a gap between an inner peripheral surface of the seal peripheral wall and the outer peripheral surface of the housing.

An electric compressor includes a compression part configured to compress fluid, an electric motor configured to drive the compression part, an inverter including a circuit board for driving the electric motor, and a housing having a bottomed-cylindrical shape and accommodating the electric motor. The electric compressor further includes an inverter case and an inverter cover. The inverter case has a bottomed-cylindrical shape, and has a case bottom wall having a plate-like shape and a case peripheral wall having a cylindrical shape. The case peripheral wall extends from an outer peripheral portion of the case bottom wall. The case bottom wall faces a bottom wall of the housing. The inverter cover closes an opening of the case peripheral wall and cooperates with the inverter case to form an inverter accommodation chamber for accommodating the inverter. A gap between the inverter cover and an end face of the case peripheral wall, which is distant from the case bottom wall, is sealed by an annular gasket that is pressed by bolt fastening.
The circuit board has thereon an electronic component. If the electronic component is increased in size, the component may not be accommodated in the inverter accommodation chamber. However, if the inverter case and the inverter cover are increased in size so that the increased electronic component can be accommodated in the inverter accommodation chamber, the electric compressor has to be increased in size accordingly. To solve this problem, for example in Korean Unexamined Publication No. 10-2018-0075353, a part of an electronic component is inserted through a through hole that is formed through a case bottom wall. This configuration allows the electronic component to be accommodated in an inverter accommodation chamber, without increasing an inverter case and an inverter cover in size, even if the electronic component is increased in size. However, this configuration requires that a gap between the inverter case and the housing is sealed by a seal member.
Further, for example, the electronic component is inserted through the through hole and brought thermally into contact with an outer surface of the bottom wall of the housing via gel or the like, so that heat, which is generated from the electronic component, is dissipated efficiently to the housing without passing through the inverter case. This allows an increase in the durability of the electronic component.
However, if the through hole is formed through the case bottom wall as shown in the Publication, the stiffness of the inverter case is reduced and the inverter case is likely to become deformed by fastening power of a bolt which is used for attaching the inverter cover to the inverter case via a gasket. The deformation of the inverter case is likely to generate a gap between the inverter cover and an end face of the case peripheral wall distant from the case bottom wall.
Further, the case bottom wall becomes unevenly deformed. Therefore, for example, when the seal member is disposed between the outer surface of the case bottom wall and the outer surface of the bottom wall of the housing to seal a gap between the inverter case and the housing, the gap between the outer surface of the case bottom wall and the outer surface of the bottom wall of the housing becomes uneven, which causes a decrease in sealing of the inverter accommodation chamber. Further, this configuration prevents the suitable thermal contact between the outer surface of the case bottom wall and the outer surface of the bottom wall of the housing. As a result, this configuration may prevent the efficient dissipation of heat which is generated from the electronic component disposed in the inverter accommodation chamber, to the housing.
The present disclosure, which has been made in light of the above-mentioned problem, is directed to providing an electric compressor that maintains sealing of the inverter accommodation chamber and efficiently dissipates heat which is generated from an electronic component, to a housing without an increase of the electric compressor in size.


A transmission ECU 12 determines whether or not the conditions for executing a neutral control operation are satisfied (step S11), and measures hydraulic oil temperature if it determines that the execution conditions are satisfied (step S12). Then, the transmission ECU 12 sets a target speed ratio for a torque converter 3 corresponding to the measured hydraulic oil temperature (step S13), and performs a neutral control operation to bring the speed ratio of the torque converter 3 equal to the target speed ratio (step S14).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control device for an automatic transmission, and, in particular, to a control device for an automatic transmission which performs a neutral control operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, in a control device for an automatic transmission, when the vehicle is stopped in a forward range, a creep phenomenon occurs in which the driving force generated by the idling rotation of the engine is transmitted as creep force to the driving wheels via torque converter and transmission mechanism. To keep the vehicle stationary, the driver must operate the brake to suppress the creep force, and the fuel efficiency of the engine decreases by the amount corresponding to the creep force consumed by the brake. Thus, when vehicle is stationary in a forward range with the brake pedal depressed to actuate the brake and accelerator almost fully closed, the control device for an automatic transmission performs a neutral control operation to shift the automatic transmission from a drive mode to a neutral mode in which the forward clutch is half-engaged and slips with the vehicle in the forward range.
A control device for an automatic transmission of this type decreases the engaging pressure on the forward clutch to decrease the temperature of the forward clutch to a predetermined value or lower so that the forward clutch cannot be excessively heated by the frictional heat caused by the slippage during the neutral control operation (see Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2007-9930 (JP-A-2007-9930), for example).
While performing a neutral control operation, the control device for an automatic transmission disclosed in JP-A-2007-9930 estimates the temperature of the forward clutch based on the engine speed, the ratio between the engine speed and the turbine speed of the torque converter, the hydraulic oil temperature and the duration of the neutral control operation, and decreases the engaging pressure on the forward clutch to reduce generation of frictional heat when the estimated forward clutch temperature exceeds a predetermined temperature.
However, in the above control device for an automatic transmission, when the temperature of the hydraulic oil for use in engaging the forward clutch is low, the response of hydraulic pressure is slow, in other words, the actual hydraulic pressure does not follow a desired hydraulic pressure, because of the high viscosity of the hydraulic oil, and the engaging pressure on the forward clutch may not rise as desired when the automatic transmission is returned from the neutral mode to the drive mode. Also, if the engaging pressure on the forward clutch is decreased in view of the fact that the viscosity of the lubricating oil supplied to the frictional engagement element is also high when the temperature is low, the solenoid for controlling the engagement and disengagement of the forward clutch operates in a low pressure range in which the pressure response is slow and the delay in the rise of the engaging pressure on the forward clutch may increase when the automatic transmission is returned from the neutral mode to the drive mode.
As described above, when the temperature of the hydraulic oil is low, the rise in the engaging pressure on the forward clutch delays because of the slow response of the hydraulic pressure or some other reason when the automatic transmission is returned from the neutral mode to the drive mode. Thus, the forward clutch cannot be engaged smoothly when the vehicle is started. As a result, a shock occurs to the vehicle or the starting performance of the vehicle is deteriorated, resulting in poor driveability.

Control device for an automatic transmission


A robotic apparatus comprising an articulated arm mounted to a chassis and having an end effector capable of inspecting the root and tip, as well as the length between the root and tip, of an airfoil-shaped body (such as a rotorblade). The robotic apparatus has means for propelling the chassis in a spanwise direction. The chassis-mounted articulated arm facilitates the scanning of sensors over the root or tip of the airfoil-shaped body without repositioning the chassis.

The present disclosure relates generally to the field of automated non-destructive inspection (NDI) of aircraft structural elements such as airfoil-shaped bodies, and more particularly to automated NDI apparatus that is coupled to and travels along an airfoil-shaped body having a relatively short chord length (such as a rotorcraft blade, an aircraft propeller blade, a winglet, a projectile fin, an aircraft horizontal stabilizer, or other types of blade component).
In order to non-destructively inspect airfoil-shaped bodies such as blade components, it is known to manually remove the blade components from the aircraft and then manually perform the inspection functions. Removal of blade components from an aircraft is cost intensive. With rotorcraft blades, for example, the time spent removing, transporting, re-attaching, balancing and trimming the blades can be significant. Some helicopters require that the blades be removed and inspected every 50-75 flight hours, resulting in a dramatically reduced mission capability of the aircraft.
In contrast, one system for non-destructive inspection of blade components during in-service use comprises an apparatus that crawls along a blade component and inspects for damage, without requiring costly removal, rebalancing, and re-installation of the blade component. The problem is that the root end of most blade components is complex, and the on-rotorcraft scanning element/method used by inspectors cannot adequately address the root end inspection without part specific scanning hardware.
Inspection of the root end of blade components (such as rotorblades) is currently done by hand, with the operator holding a probe and watching a screen for indications of damage. The drawbacks are that this is labor-intensive, relatively slow, does not provide repeatable comparable data, and is not suited for on-rotorcraft inspections, thereby requiring costly and time-consuming installation and re-balancing. A scanning bridge that travels along the span of a rotorblade can perform an automated inspection on a rotorcraft or on a bench, but only with respect to the large airfoil section of the rotorblade. The root end is currently done by hand. Also, the scanning bridge gets in the way of the inspection near the root end, so the apparatus is usually removed and turned around to do that inspection. And, the shape of many rotorblades near the tip can require hand-held NDI, because the scanning mechanism does not adequately cover the geometry of every tip.
The provision of means for inspecting the root and tips of airfoil-shaped bodies as part of the general inspection of the acreage would be advantageous.

Non-destructive inspection of airfoil-shaped body using self-propelling articulated robot


The method of validating a calibration of a phased-array inspection instrument uses a calibration block having two reflectors located below an inspection surface at two different depths. The method comprises: obtaining angle reference data associating expected angles with corrected angles, each corrected angle being usable to propagate a phased-array beam into the calibration block at a true angle relative to the inspection surface that corresponds to the corresponding expected angle; propagating, from the inspection surface and targeting each one of the two reflectors, phased-array beams into the calibration block at a true angle using the angle reference data, and measuring echo signals associated with the propagated phased-array beams; determining time-of-flight values corresponding to the reflection of the phased-array beams on the two reflectors using the echo signals; and validating the calibration of the phased-array inspection instrument using the time-of-flight values, the two different depths and the true angle.

For years now, ultrasonic waves (i.e. high frequency acoustic waves) have been used to detect cracks, voids, porosity, and other internal discontinuities hidden in solid material such as metals, composites, plastics, and ceramics, as well as to measure thickness and analyze solid material properties. For instance, phased-array (PA) ultrasonic testing is an inspection technique which is known to be non-destructive, safe and, by now, well-established in the manufacturing, process, and service industries.
For instance, a typical PA inspection instrument generally comprises a probe and an inspection unit for operating the probe upon given parameters which can depend on the type of material of a test object to inspect, the geometry of the test object to inspect and/or the conditions in which inspection is to be performed. The typical probe includes an array of ultrasonic acoustic transducers which two main functions are, during use, to transmit time-shifted acoustic pulses in order to propagate a phased-array beam in the test object to inspect and to receive echo signals resulting from the propagation of the transmitted phased-array beams in the test object. Each acoustic pulse is time-shifted such that the individual acoustic pulses arrive in phase at a focal point after being refracted at an interface between the probe and the test object. Upon reception, the operating inspection unit is configured to display the received echo signals in a manner which allows a user to identify and localize flaws that may or may not exist in the inspected test object, for instance.
In use, however, the user may desire to inspect the test object using a phased-array beam having a propagation axis forming a given expected angle relative to the test object to inspect. To do so, the user inputs the expected angle in the PA inspection instrument which computes, using Snell's law of refraction, propagation instructions indicating how the acoustic transducer elements are to be collectively operated in order to propagate the requested phased-array beam. However, since the coupling efficiency of one acoustic pulse in the test object depends on its incident angle relative to the test object and on the acoustic velocity in the test object, not all the time-shifted acoustic pulses are evenly coupled in the test object, which can cause a bias (also referred to as "Snell's disparities") between the requested phased-array beam and the phased-array beam truly propagated in the test object. More specifically, the phased-array beam actually propagated in the test object may form a biased angle relative to the test object rather than forming the expected angle. Such a bias can prevent the user from suitably positioning the flaws that may be present in the inspected test object, which can, in turn, cause time and cost inefficiencies.
To circumvent the challenge associated with the uneven coupling efficiency, U.S. Pat. No. 8,521,446 B2 to Zhang et al. proposes a method of calibrating the PA inspection instrument which compensates for the bias caused by the uneven coupling efficiency by measuring actual, true angles of the phased-array beams propagating in the test object to inspect using a calibration procedure. The proposed calibration procedure typically requires the user to perform high-precision, perhaps encoded, measurements using a reference block having fixed geometric and physical characteristics such as a precisely known acoustic velocity. Although appropriate in controlled conditions (e.g. in laboratories), this calibration procedure requires a degree of precision which is difficult to achieve on the field which may result in poor calibration of the phased-array inspection unit. There thus remains room for improvement.

Method of calibrating a phased array ultrasonic system without known test object sound speed


A method of automated assembly for a motor vehicle is disclosed. The method includes a step of automatically determining weld characteristics according to weld location information. The method further includes a step of generating an automated weld program according to the weld characteristics and a step of controlling a welding robot according to the automated weld program.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a motor vehicle and in particular to an automated assembly method for a motor vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
Methods of using fastener information in computer design systems have been previously proposed. However, the related art lacks provisions for enhancing the overall assembly method for a motor vehicle, including efficiently creating and using weld information during design and assembly processes.

Automated assembly method for a motor vehicle


An electromagnetic read/write head structure for longitudinal/horizontal reading and writing including first and second magnetic pole components which are spaced by a substantially uniform-width, linear, planar gap. Each pole component is characterized by a configuration, measured generally in the plane of the gap, where no portions of the outlines of the pole components, save those portions which actually define the gap, include any stretch extending parallel to the gap.

The present invention relates to longitudinal/horizontal magnetic recording apparatus, and more particularly, to an electromagnetic read/write head, or head structure, for the longitudinal/horizontal writing and reading of magnetic images with respect to a relatively moving magnetic recording medium, such as a magnetic recording disk.
In the prior-art world of longitudinal/horizontal magnetic recording, error problems have existed that result from the read/write head geometries which have been employed. More particularly, in prior-art heads, for example in thin-film heads, in addition to the two, linear, confronting, parallel pole edges which define the "operative" read/write gap, other edges in the pole components forming a head structure, even though somewhat remote from the operative gap edges, nevertheless parallel these gap edges, and are the distressing culprits. These remote but parallel other edges can, and do, exhibit what might be thought of as a "ghosting" behavior--the writing of unwanted, error-generating images on a medium, and the reading of normal images in a manner producing a false read-data stream.
A principal object of the present invention, in this setting, is to provide a revolutionary longitudinal/horizontal recording head-structure design having, to the best of my knowledge, no similarity to any prior-art head, and clearly having a geometric configuration which avoids the ghosting problems just mentioned.
Eliminating such other parallel edges is the focus, and the special accomplishment, of the head proposed by the present invention. Such elimination is achieved by a remarkable head pole-construction in which the only edges capable of creating (writing), and reading, longitudinally/horizontally oriented recorded images are the two edges that define a read/write gap in the head.
Outlining, in very broad terms, the unique geometric, and hence magnetic, characteristics of the proposed head, the same includes first and second magnetic pole components which are spaced by a substantially uniform-width linear planar gap. These pole components are each characterized by a configuration, measured generally in the "plane" of the gap, where no portion of the outline of a pole component, save that edge portion which define a side of the gap, includes any part which extends parallel to the gap-defining edge.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the first pole component has a read/write face, lying in the plane just referred to, which face has a somewhat triangular outline, terminating at one end in a "point", and at the other end in a linear edge which defines one side of the read/write gap. The second pole component includes a read/write face lying in the same plane, which face terminates at one end in a linear edge that faces and substantially parallels the edge just mentioned in the first pole component, cooperating therewith to define the opposite side of the gap, with this second pole component's read/write face flaring away from the gap-defining edge with what might be thought of as a somewhat horn-like configuration. This "flaring-away" portion of the second pole component joins homogeneously with another portion which eventually shrinks in dimension to a "point".
This general outline of the proposed head of this invention, when read along with the detailed description and drawings forming part of this disclosure, describes a unique longitudinal/horizontal read/write electromagnetic head, wherein it is only in the region of the two, confronting, parallel, gap-defining edges that longitudinal (horizontal) reading and writing can occur. The problem of "ghosting", accordingly, is substantially completely eliminated.
Those skilled in the art will recognize, from the description which now follows, that many conventional materials and fabrication techniques, may be used to implement the head of the present invention. Certain materials, which I consider to be preferred, are described herein. Also, certain fabrication techniques, which I know to work well, are generally set forth. In connection with the latter, the reader may wish to review the disclosure found in my prior-issued U.S. Pat. No. 4,414,554, issued Nov. 8, 1983 for "Magnetic Imaging Apparatus". This patent, although specifically focused on a very different kind of read/write head, nevertheless discusses, in some detail, fabrication techniques which are useful in the handling of the specific materials which I discuss below as being employed preferably in the head which is the subject matter of this invention. Because of this, I am incorporating herein, by reference, the entirety of that patent's disclosure.
Achievement of the anti-ghosting objective outlined above, and various other features and advantages which distinguish and make special the head structure proposed by this invention, will become more fully apparent as the description which now follows is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Flux-concentrating, non-ghosting electromagnetic read/write head


New methods for growing threading dislocation free heteroepitaxy are proposed and investigated theoretically. The first method contains four key steps: Stranski-Krastanov island formation, strain relaxation by defect nucleation, in-situ defect removal, and island coalescence. The central idea is that the defects are utilized to relax the lattice strain, and as soon as the strain is relaxed, the dislocation segments are removed that will propagate to the surface of the film. As a result, the heteroepitaxial film is expected to be relaxed but be free of harmful threading dislocations regardless of the degree of lattice mismatch. In the second method, single crystal islands or patches are grown initially which are a few hundred nanometers or less in diameter. The patches serve as nucleation sites for growth of single crystal heteroepitaxial layers. Because of the very small patch size, the stress (normal stress and shear stress) due to lattice mismatch will be reduced significantly. As the growth proceeds, the size of nucleation islands increases in both vertical and lateral directions and the discrete islands soon coalesce to form a continuous thin film. If all coalescing islands have the same or nearly the same crystal orientation, then the net stress will be close to zero, and a smooth, defect-free heteroepitaxial layer can be grown to any thickness.

The present invention relates to methods for growing high-quality, defect-free heteroepitaxial layers on any crystal substrates, regardless of the degree of lattice mismatch between the layers and the substrates.
A long-sought dream for semiconductor material research is to find methods for growing high-quality epitaxial layers on essentially any substrates regardless of the degree of lattice mismatch. However, the analysis of strain energy in a pseudomorphic material system suggests that this dream is unlikely to come true because threading dislocations will form when the epilayer thickness is well above the critical thickness. The concept of critical thickness has been so widely accepted by the semiconductor community that it has been used as a guiding principle for design of compound semiconductor material systems.
Recently, the emergence of compliant substrates raised hopes of lifting the constraint of critical thickness. By making the substrate compliant to an epitaxial layer grown on top, it is theoretically possible to grow threading dislocation free heteroepitaxy. One promising compliant substrate technology developed by the inventor involves bonding an ultra-thin semiconductor layer to a bulk crystal with an angle between their crystal axes, thereby forming a so-called twist-bonded compliant substrate. Experimental results have shown that threading dislocation free InGaP, InGaAs and InSb layers can be grown on such twist-bonded GaAs compliant substrates with a lattice mismatch as large as 15% in some cases. Other compliant substrates may have an SOI structure or use other thin film and bulk crystal bonding techniques.
In spite of the encouraging initial results obtained from compliant substrates, putting very thin (say 100 .ANG.) single crystal semiconductor layers on a bulk crystal is a very challenging and sometimes costly task. For low cost devices such as color LEDs, solar cells and solid state sensors, substrate cost becomes a significant part of the device cost. In such situations, the compliant substrate approach will have to face a trade-off between the device cost and performance. Thus, the most ideal scenario would be if high-quality heteroepitaxial layers could be formed on any commercial semiconductor substrates, such as Si and GaAs substrates, without having to perform any pre-growth processing or treatment of the substrates.

Methods for growing defect-free heteroepitaxial layers