An embodiment of an apparatus, or corresponding method, for developing a person's behavior according to the principles of the present invention comprises at least one visual behavior indicator that represents a behavior desired of a person viewing the at least one visual behavior indicator. The apparatus, or corresponding method, further includes at least two visual choice indicators viewable with the at least one visual behavior indicator that represent choices available to the person, the choices assisting in developing the behavior in the person by assisting the person in choosing an appropriately adaptive response supporting the desired behavior or as an alternative to behavior contrary to the desired behavior.

Parents, educators, and caregivers often need help in communicating desirable behaviors and reasonable guidelines to children. One such way of providing help is through the use of visual supports. Research has shown children prefer and benefit from the use of images in addition to the spoken word.
It has been proven that there is a direct relationship between increased self-esteem, reduced anxiety, and reduced negative behaviors when children understand their environment, know what is expected of them, and are provided consistent consequences. Research has also shown that a majority of adults fail to be consistent or clear with regard to discipline.
Visual learners are estimated at more than 60% of the population, which includes those with aneuro-typical profile, as well as those with autism, Asperger's syndrome, communication disorder, fragile X, attention deficit disorder, behavior disorder, learning disability, hearing impairment, language delay, developmental delay, brain injury, dyslexia, and countless others. Behavior is parents' and caregivers' most common challenge with children, based on multiple published surveys. Many legislators are currently involved with the issue of expulsion at the pre-school level due to behavioral issues. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), one in six children is diagnosed with developmental, behavioral, or mental disorders.
Due to the nature of autism spectrum disorders and some attention deficit disorders, much of what is referred to as "executive functioning" in an individual impaired with such disorders is believed to be compromised. "Executive function refers to a person's ability to plan, sequence, initiate, and sustain behavior towards some goal. Executive functions allow an individual to incorporate feedback and to make adjustments to responses along the way to the goal." as defined in www.tourettesyndrome.net/ef.htm. For children or adults impaired with autism or the like, teachers and caregivers usually take charge of executive function by providing structured, sequenced events for the impaired individual.
Due to the nature of people with compromised executive functioning, "sameness" (i.e., consistency of activities, sequences of events, and other routines) is preferably adhered to as much as possible. Fluctuating from a planned sequence of events is not generally tolerated well from those with executive function deficits. Once a schedule is made for an individual, major effort is demonstrated by the individual and caregiver to keep it as close to the original schedule as possible. Choices are introduced only after substantial trust and success has been accomplished between the individual and caregiver. These choices often include pre-selected items on a board, such as pertaining to a snack choice or leisure choice (e.g., apple, cracker, pretzel, video, nap, and so forth). It is assumed that, by allowing an individual to select the type of video or snack he wants, he will comply to the more undesirable elements (e.g., cutting paper) set before him in the adult directed sequence.

Method and apparatus for developing a person's behavior


A guide bar for motor chainsaws has side plates and a middle section between the side plates connected fixedly and non-movably to the side plates. The side plates form a clamping section and a deflection section opposite the clamping section. A guide groove extends circumferentially about the guide bar. The middle section forms the guide groove bottom in the deflection section. A guide bar tip is located where the longitudinal center axis of the guide bar intersects the deflection section. The side plates each have a guide surface extending continuously across a first longitudinal side of the guide bar, the deflection section, and a second longitudinal side of the guide bar. The guide surfaces of the side plates have hardened regions at the first and second longitudinal sides and at the guide bar tip with a hardness greater than a hardness of a middle region of the side plates.

The invention relates to a guide bar for a motor chainsaw, wherein the guide bar comprises a clamping section and a free end, wherein at the free end a deflection section is arranged. The guide bar comprises two one-piece side plates, wherein the side plates extend from the clamping section to the deflection section and form the deflection section. The guide bar comprises a circumferentially extending guide groove. The guide bar comprises a middle section arranged between the side plates, wherein the middle section forms the bottom of the guide groove in the deflection section. The middle section is connected fixedly and non-movably to the side plates. The guide bar comprises a guide bar tip where a longitudinal center axis of the guide bar intersects the deflection section. The guide bar comprises a first longitudinal side and a second longitudinal side. Each side plate comprises a guide surface which extends continuously across the first longitudinal side of the guide bar, the deflection section, and the second longitudinal side of the guide bar.
The invention further relates to a method for producing a guide bar.
Guide bars for motor chainsaws are subject to great wear during operation. Particularly the deflection section of the guide bar is subjected to great wear due to the high mechanical load in operation. For reducing wear, it is known in the prior art to arrange at the guide bar tip a rotatably supported nose sprocket at the deflection section. US 2010/0229406 discloses moreover that at the guide bar tip a hardened insert or the like is provided. The construction of such guide bars is however comparatively complex.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,269,100 discloses a guide bar in which the side plates extend from the clamping section to the deflection section; the side plates form the deflection section. In regard to the prior art, it is disclosed herein that the deflection region in guide bars can be hardened.
The invention has the object to provide a guide bar of the aforementioned kind that is of a simple configuration and exhibits reduced wear.
A further object of the invention resides in providing a method for producing such a guide bar.

Guide bar for a motor chainsaw and method for producing a guide bar


The present invention provides a method for eliminating crosstalk (coupling noise) in a metal programmable read only memory. The metal programmable read only memory comprises a plurality of bit lines, a plurality of word lines, a plurality of precharge transistors, and a plurality of clamp transistors. When one of the bit lines is selected, bit lines adjacent to the selected bit line are fixed to a voltage value (VDD, GND or other voltages) by the clamp transistors. The clamping method can not cause voltage drops to the adjacent bit lines, and the crosstalk on the selected bit line can be eliminated simultaneously, so that the problem of read failures caused by the crosstalk in the high-speed metal programmable read only memory can be solved, and a higher speed can be reached.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for eliminating crosstalk (coupling noise), and in particular to a method for eliminating crosstalk in a metal programmable read only memory.
2. Description of the Related Art
Typically, read only memories (ROMs) are embedded in system-on-chips (SoCs) for storing codes and wave tables. For much higher speed, large capacitance and shortened marketing time, there has been a trend to gradually use embedded read only memories in SoCs. In the prior art, when a word line is activated, crosstalk between bit lines will cause voltage drops to a selected bit line.
As shown in FIG. 1, BL-A1 and BL-A2 are bit lines with code patterns for reading a logic level "0". The voltage of BL-D (for reading a logic level "1") is larger than a reference voltage VREF, and then, it is detected as a logic level "1"; the voltage of BL-V1 (for reading a logic level "1") is smaller than the reference voltage VREF and under the influence of the crosstalk from BL-A1, and it is detected as a logic level "0", resulting in a read error in a high-speed metal read only memory.
At present, there is still no method to resolve the problems of crosstalk caused by the above-stated code pattern dependence and read failures in a high-speed metal programmable read only memory.

Method for eliminating crosstalk in a metal programmable read only memory


A multiple exposure system and a multiple exposure method using the same enhance the resolution of the image of the mask pattern transferred to a substrate. The system includes NA controllers that provide excellent resolution with respect to the directions of the short axis and long axis of the mask pattern. In one form of the method, a first exposure process is performed using a first NA controller that provides excellent resolution with respect to the direction of the short axis of the mask pattern and subsequently, a second exposure process is performed using a second NA controller that provides excellent resolution with respect to the direction of the long axis of the mask pattern. Alternatively, the first exposure process and the second or high order exposure process can be sequentially performed using the first and second NA controllers simultaneously.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for manufacturing semiconductor devices or LCDs. More particularly, the present invention relates to exposure apparatus of photolithographic equipment for transferring an image to a substrate, and to an exposure method using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A photolithography process is used in the manufacturing of semiconductor devices or LCDs to pattern a resist on a substrate. In the case of semiconductor devices, the substrate is a wafer on which a layer of the resist has been formed. In photolithography, a reticle bearing a mask pattern is illuminated with exposure light of a predetermined wavelength, and the resist is exposed to the light transmitted through the reticle. Accordingly, an image of the mask pattern can be transferred to the wafer. In addition, an exposure apparatus of the photolithography equipment includes a light emitting system for emitting the exposure light that illuminates the reticle, and an optical lens for reducing/projecting the image of the mask pattern of the reticle onto the wafer.
In the meantime, various efforts are being made to improve the resolution of the photolithography process to meet the demand for more highly integrated semiconductor devices. For example, systems and methods have been developed to control the numerical aperture (NA) of the light emitting system of the exposure apparatus.
FIGS. 1 through 3 illustrate a simulation of a photolithography process having a k1 factor of about 0.30, wherein k1=(R×NA)/λ, R is the resolution, NA is the numeral aperture, and λ is the wavelength of the exposure light. More specifically, FIG. 1 is a plan view of the reticle used in the simulated photolithography process, FIG. 2 is a plan view of an aperture plate used to control the NA, and FIG. 3 is a plan view of the pattern 22 transferred to a semiconductor substrate 20 by the photolithography process, i.e. represents the result of the simulation.
Referring to FIG. 1, the reticle 10 has a mask pattern 12 corresponding to the pattern to be transferred to the substrate. In the photolithography process, the mask pattern 12 may be oriented at an acute angle (as shown) with respect to the X-axis of the exposure apparatus or may be oriented parallel to or perpendicular to the X-axis. Also, the direction in which the features of the mask pattern 12 are spaced with the shortest pitch is referred to as the short axis of the mask pattern 12, and the direction in which the features of the mask pattern 12 are spaced with the longest pitch is referred to as the long axis of the mask pattern 12.
The aperture plate 15 has a dipole aperture as illustrated in FIG. 2 and is an NA controller having excellent resolving power with respect to the short axis of the mask pattern 12. However, the aperture plate 15 has low resolving power with respect to the long axis of the mask pattern 12.
Referring to FIG. 3, the pattern 22 transferred to the semiconductor substrate 20 shows that the dipole aperture has excellent resolving power with respect to the short axis direction. That is, the shape of the pattern 22 in the direction of the short axis of the mask pattern 12 can be clearly discriminated. On the contrary, the shape of the pattern 22 in the direction of the long axis of the mask pattern 12 can not be discriminated. That is, whereas features of the mask pattern 12 are spaced from one other along the short axis of the mask pattern 12, the corresponding features of the pattern 22 formed on the substrate 20 are contiguous in the direction of the long axis.
Finally, a double exposure process is one example of a conventional exposure process for controlling the NA. In the double exposure process, a region of a resist on a semiconductor substrate is exposed using a first reticle, and then the same region is subsequently exposed using a reticle having a mask pattern that is different from that of the first mask pattern. Therefore, the reticle is replaced during the double exposure process. Hence, the double exposure process imposes a limit on the throughput of the semiconductor device manufacturing process. Furthermore, the second reticle may not be exactly aligned with the pattern transferred to the resist during the first of the two exposure processes. In this case, a so-called shift of the pattern transferred to the resist occurs. As a result, the contrast of the pattern is poor.

Multiple exposure apparatus and multiple exposure method using the same


Methods and compositions to extract radionuclides such as various actinides and lanthanides from organic and/or aqueous solutions by utilizing extractant functionalized carbon nanotubes are disclosed. More particularly, phosphorous-containing (such as phosphine oxides, phosphoric acids or phosphates) organic extractants and other predesigned extractants (such as crown ethers, calncrown derivatives, malonamide and diglycolamide derivatives, polyethylene glycol derivatives, cobalt dicarbollide derivatives, and N-donating heterocyclic ligands) can be covalently and/or non-covalently employed on the surfaces and/or ends (tips) of carbon nanotubes for the purpose of removal radionuclides such as various actinides and lanthanides from organic and/or aqueous solutions. Extractant functionalized carbon nanotubes can be used for extracting radioactive nuclides from nuclear waste or spent nuclear fuel, which are produced and/or reprocessed from the nuclear power generation or other nuclear application.

Uranium is the most valuable energy material, 1 kg of uranium can generate ca. 500,000 megajoule of heat value comparison the same amount of coal only produces ca. 25 megajoules of heat value. Currently, developed and developing countries greatly rely on the nuclear power plants for electricity supply. In the United States, the nuclear energy plants supply ca. 20% of electricity. With the increasing fear to globe warming and shortage of foreign fuel, the solutions in energy security and energy independence are to expand the nuclear fission utilization and develop sustainable energy.
The harmful by-products derived from nuclear power plants during the electricity generation are radionuclides, including transuranic elements (TRU) with extremely long-lived isotopes, radioactive cesium and strontium, actinides, rare earth elements and lanthanides. Certainly, the hazardous materials in the radioactive liquid wastes need be reprocessed before depository in order to meet the government's requirement for diminishing the waste volume with the intention to avoid the second construction of repository. There is no current massive reprocessing activity in the United States, and most of spent nuclear wastes are stored in pools or nearby the reactor sites, for example, the Hanford Nuclear Reservation accumulates around 53 million gallons of nuclear waste. However, the nuclear wastes produced in foreign countries have been specifically treated to removal the hazardous radionuclides by using PUREX process or UNEX process. The largest reprocessing factory in the world is La Hague site located in France where annually ca. 1700 tonnes of nuclear spent fuel has been reprocessed; the rest of reprocessing plants are located in the United Kingdom, Japan, Russia and China.
Radioactive liquid wastes, including high level, intermediate level and low level wastes, can be categorized as two kinds of high level waste, namely fission products and transuranics, which must be managed to remove the harmful radioisotope nuclides before disposal or reuse.
Some of these high-level radioactive aqueous solutions have to be geologically disposed in long term storage (for example Yucca Mountain) due to the long lived elements, such as actinides, lanthanides, 90Sr and 137Cs. Management of long-lived radionuclides-containing wastes has offered advantages to develop unique separation technologies to meet the government policy requirement. Apparently, in order to minimize the capacity of waste, the imperative task is to develop extractant or ligand capable of extracting radioactive elements from acidic or high salinity solution in high selectivity and efficiency.
The TRUEX liquid-liquid extraction has been applied for the recovery of lanthanides and actinides from nuclear waste by utilizing the organophosphorous ligand, octyl-phenyl-N,N-diisobutyl-carbamoylmethyl-phosphine oxide (U.S. Pat. No. 4,548,790/1985).
The PUREX process is used to extract plutonium and uranium from the reprocessing spent nuclear fuel and from one another by liquid-liquid extraction. The active organic extractant (30% tributyl phosphate dissolving in kerosene, see U.S. Pat. No. 4,574,072/1986) transfers the plutonium and uranium from aqueous acidic spent nuclear fuel to organic phase.
Also alkyl-functional phosphoric acid derivatives can complex actinides and lanthanides (Ionova et al., New J. Chem., 2001, 25, 491-501).
Ligands contain only CHNO (carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen) elements give the opportunities to avoid the additional pollution during the burn-up process. Currently, DIAMEX process (Sep. Sci. Techol., 2007, 42, 439-452) uses N,N′-dimethyl-N,N′-dibutyl-tetradecylmalonamide as extractant for separating actinides and lanthanides from nuclear waste by a solvation process. Besides the advantage of without the secondary waste, malonamide derivatives have confirmed their excellent complex efficiencies.
Crown Ether and polyethylene glycol derivatives have been applied to remove some radioisotopes, particularly Sr, Cs and small amount of actinides which are remaining during the reprocessing of used spent nuclear fuel.
As mentioned above, removal of radioactive cesium and strontium, as well as minor actinides is particularly vital in the reprocessing of nuclear waste raffinates. More than two decades ago, scientists have started to exploit the ionic halogenated derivatives of cobalt dicarbollide possessing excellent capability to extract 137Cs as the extractant to extract the acidic waste raffinates, and subsequently realize the importance when combining with polyethylene glycol (PEG), since the complex extractant system of (COSAN-PEG) or (CCD-PEG) can be used for synergistically extracting strontium.
A recent industrial liquid-liquid extraction process has been developed in Russia by using the combining extractant system (CCD-PEG), called "UNEX", to remove the radioactive waste of Cs, Sr and minor actinides. The organic solvents used in "UNEX" are nitrobenzene or chloro-hydrocarbons.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,270,737 (Law et al from Idaho Engineering and Environmental Laboratory) disclosed the method to removal hazardous materials, such as radioactive Cs and Sr, by using non-aromatic solvent and the safe stripping agents. The method involved a synergistic extraction system comprising organoboron (for example chlorinated cobalt dicarbollide) and polyethylene glycol, the diluent solvents are the mixture of bis(tetrafluoropropyl ether of diethylene glycol) with bis(tetrafluoropropyl ether of ethylene glycol) et al.
The European Atomic Commission has recently launched a multinational project for the treatment of spent nuclear waste, called "EUROPART". "EUROPART" has devoted many contributions to the nuclear waste treatment technologies, for example Calix-CMPO (CMPO referred as carbamoylmethylphosphine oxides, Calix referred as calixarenes) and Calix-Crown. Interestedly, several groups from Europe have demonstrated the ideas by introducing cobalt dicarbollide (COSAN) derivatives to the frame of macrocyclic calxarenes (Mikulasek et al. Chem. Commun., 2006, 4001-4003), as well as incorporate the COSAN and CMPO on the same molecules (Dam et al., Chem. Soc. Rev. 2007, 36, 367-377; Gruner et al. New J. Chem., 2002, 26, 1519-1527; Reinoso-Garcia et al. New J. Chem., 2006, 30, 1480-1492) for the treatment of nuclear waste. Unfortunately, all of those developments are still under the usage of organic solvent (such as nitrobenzene and dichloroethane et al) for the liquid-liquid extractions.
A ready to scale-up achievement including the using chlorinated cobalt dicarbollide (CCD) derivatives and polyethylene glycol (PEG) as one of the series of flowsheets has been developed at Argonne National Laboratory, called "UREX+" process. The advantage of this method is run sequentially in the same shielded-cell contactor and gloveboxes with segments of 1) CCD-PEG (removing Cs and Sr), 2) NPEX (removing Pu and Np), 3) TRUEX (removing Am, Cm, and rare earth), and 4) Cyanex-301 (separating Am and Cm from the heavy rare earths). In the stage of CCD-PEG, the organic solvent for solubilizing CCD-PEG is phenyltrifluoromethyl sulfone.
Calix[4]arene based extractants which attach carbamoylmethylphosphine oxide (hereafter, referred as CMPO) groups on their wide or narrow rims leads to more than two orders efficiency increase compared to octyl-phenyl-N,N-diisobutyl-carbamoylmethyl-phosphine oxide, also increase the selectivity to actinides and lanthanides (Delmau et al., Chem. Commun. 1998, 1627-1628).
US Patent Application No. 2001/6312653 B1 discloses a functionalized calixarenes with CMPO in the wide rim for using in the extraction of actinides and lanthanides. A phosphinoxidoacetamide moieties attached to the frame of the macrocyclic calixarene, this discovery is effective to remove actinides and lanthanides from the radioactive aqueous waste by liquid-liquid extraction.
US Patent Application No. 2006/0205920 A1 discloses a method to introduce CMPO groups to the terminal amino of dendrimers, such as PAMAM for extracting lanthanides and actinides. Those dendrimers (2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th generations) usually have multiple terminal amino groups which are readily functionalized by amide reaction for the purpose of introduction of CMPO substituents.
US Patent Application No. 2005/6843921 B1 discloses a method, which use the silica absorbent containing organophosphorus, such as octyl(phenyl)-N,N-diisobutylcarbamoylmethylphosphine oxide on the complex-carrier, for separating and recovering the radioactive liquid wastes. By the elution steps, the absorptive elements on the porous silica carrier particles are eluted separately.
US Patent No. 2001/6258333 B1 discloses an extracting method comprising an extracting agent composition for the treatment of nuclear waste which containing radioactive elements and rare earths by two phases liquid-liquid extractions. By utilizing an organoboron complex, organophosphorus and polyethylene glycol compounds, the selective sequential extraction processes were used for the recovery of radionuclides, also including rare earths and actinides.
US Patent No. 1995/5468456 discloses the using of magnetic particles which contacted the metals-containing liquids to concentrate the metals to the surface of the magnetic particles.
Other specifically designed ligands, for instance polyethylene glycol and crown ether functionalized calixarenes, namely calixcrowns, have developed (Gorbunova et al., Tetrahedron Lett. 2003, 44 (29), 5397-5401, WO94/24138) for approaching the separation of cesium, strontium and actinides.
SANEX process has been created for removal lanthanides to avoid poisoning a neutron driven nuclear reaction. French CEA is studying the extraction efficiency of using N-donating extractants, such as triazine-pyridine derivatives; one of the purpose is to extract Americium (Dam et al., Chem. Soc. Rev. 2007, 36, 367-377).
Carbon nanotubes (hereafter, referred as CNT) have high surface area, high electrical conductivity, high thermal conductivity and high mechanical strength. Owing to its exceptional chemical/physical stability, CNT has been used in harsh/corrosive environments, in particularly; CNT possesses extremely high resistance to acidic environment, for example HNO3 aqueous solution, which allows to be used for the recovery of spent nuclear fuel.
The solubility of CNT can be improved by covalent and/or non-covalent modification. Harsh acid oxidative treatment of CNT by H2SO4/HNO3 mixture produces oxidative function, also short residue of CNT (<200 nm length).

Functionalized carbon nanotubes, recovery of radionuclides and separation of actinides and lanthanides


The lens apparatus includes a first lens barrel and a second lens barrel disposed on an image side further than an object side end portion of the first lens barrel so as to allow a movement of the first lens barrel in an optical axis direction, a positioning member attached to one lens barrel of the first and second lens barrels, and an elastic member disposed between the first and second lens barrels to bias the first lens barrel toward an object side. Another lens barrel of the first and second lens barrels is brought in contact with the positioning member with a biasing force from the biasing member, and thereby the first lens barrel is positioned with respect to the second lens barrel in a state where a movement of the first lens barrel on the image side due to an external force is allowed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lens apparatus including an external force absorption structure.
2. Description of the Related Art
Optical apparatuses such as lens apparatuses require not only good optical performance but also durability against an external force due to impact or the like. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 10-293238 and 2006-64930 each disclose a lens apparatus including an external force absorption structure.
The lens apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-293238 has a configuration in which a holding member that holds a first lens unit and a ring member to which an optical member such as a filter is attached and that is disposed in a front portion of an outer circumferential part of the holding member sandwich an adjustment member and a biasing member. In such a configuration, an external force applied to the ring member moves the ring member rearward to a position where the ring member is brought in contact with the adjustment member while compressing the biasing member, and thereby the external force is absorbed.
Furthermore, the lens apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-64930 has a configuration in which a front side lens barrel holding a lens and a rear side lens barrel into which the front side lens barrel is movably inserted are each provided with a taper surface, and in which a first lens barrel is biased in an optical axis direction by a biasing member, whereby the taper surfaces of the front and rear side lens barrels are brought in contact with each other. This configuration absorbs not only an external force applied in the optical axis direction but also an external force applied in a direction orthogonal to the optical axis is absorbed.
However, in the configuration of the lens apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-293238, since the ring member is moved rearward with respect to the first lens unit held by the holding member and thereby the lens apparatus (especially a wide-angle lens apparatus having a wide angle of view) may be increased in size in its radial direction. That is, in order to prevent the ring member moved rearward from interfering with the first lens unit, it is necessary to dispose the ring member apart from the first lens unit in the radial direction. In a lens apparatus having a wide angle of view, since light rays having a large angle with respect to the optical axis enter a peripheral portion thereof, it is necessary to increase a diameter of the ring member in order to prevent vignetting of the light rays due to the ring member. As a result, the lens apparatus is increased in size in the radial direction.
Moreover, in the lens apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-64930, positioning of the front side lens barrel holding the lens unit in the optical axis direction and in the direction orthogonal to the optical axis with respect to the rear side lens barrel is performed by the contact of the taper surfaces of the front and rear side lens barrels, which may decrease positioning accuracy.

Lens apparatus and image pickup apparatus


Charging apparatus and methods are provided that support multiple charging devices. In an embodiment, a charging apparatus includes a secondary signal generator (SSG) and an output circuit. The SSG receives charging control signals and generates one or more secondary charging control signals. The output circuit outputs the charging control signals to a primary charging device and the one or more secondary charging control signals to one or more secondary charging devices, thereby enabling the use of multiple charging devices in battery applications. In an embodiment, the secondary charging signals are pulse width modulated to control the current output of the secondary charging devices to avoid over-current conditions.

Electric vehicles are gaining widespread acceptance in both public and private sectors. These vehicles includes both electric and hybrid vehicles. Both vehicle types require a charging solution and often come with an on-board charger to charge batteries and power accessory devices.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional charging configuration 100 that is used in a vehicle. An electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) 102 provides power that can be used by charger 110 to charge batteries or a battery pack 112 in vehicle 104. Typically, power from the EVSE 102 is provided through a cable that has an attached plug 106, such as a plug that is part of a Society of Automobile Engineers (SAE) J1772 connector. A matching receptacle 108 is provided at the vehicle 104. When the plug and receptacle are attached, signals flow between the EVSE equipment 102 and a vehicle charger 110. For example, these signals include two high voltage signals (HV1, HV2), an earth ground, a control pilot (CP) signal, and a proximity pilot (PP) signal. The PP signal is also referred to as a "Proximity" or "Prox" signal. The CP signal is also referred to as a "Pilot" signal.
The Prox signal indicates when the EVSE 102 is attached to a vehicle 104 (e.g., by plug 106 and receptacle 108). The Pilot signal indicates when the EVSE 102 is providing charging power through the HV1 and HV2 signals.
Timelines 122 illustrate the operation of the Prox and Pilot signals during the charging process. During time interval 124, the EVSE 102 is disconnected from the vehicle 104. For example, the connectors 106 and 108 are unconnected. During this interval, the Prox signal is maintained at approximately 4.4 volts and the Pilot signal at 12 volts. At time T1, the plug 106 and receptacle 108 are connected as indicated by time interval 126. The Prox signal is pulled down to 2.8 volts and then at time T2, the Prox signal is pulled down and latched at 1.5 volts. At time T1, the charger 110 pulls the Pilot signal down to 9 volts.
At time T3, the charger 110 is ready to start charging and pulls the Pilot signal down to 6 volts to indicate that the charger 110 is ready to accept charging power. The EVSE 102 responds by placing a 1 kHz pulse width modulated (PWM) signal on the Pilot signal. This PWM Pilot signal indicates to the charger 110 that the EVSE 102 is providing charging power on the high voltage (HV1, HV2) lines. The pulse width of the PWM Pilot indicates ampacity that identifies when the maximum charging current is available to the charger 110.
After the EVSE 102 starts providing charging power to the vehicle 102, the charger 110 converts the received high voltage signals (HV1, HV2) to a DC output that is connected to the battery 112 and other devices, such as accessory loads 114. The operation of the charger 110 is monitored by a control unit (PCU) 120.

Charging apparatus and methods to support multiple charging devices


A passive surgical manipulator for holding and positioning a surgical instrument is described. The passive surgical manipulator has a frame, a first suspension arm arrangement connecting the frame in an articulated manner to a first joint, and a second suspension arm arrangement connecting the frame in an articulated manner to a second joint. The two suspension arm arrangements are implemented so that the first joint is displaceable in a first motion plane and the second joint is displaceable in a second motion plane. Also, a first actuating device has a first interface, a second actuating device has a second interface, a third actuating device has a third interface, and a fourth actuating device has a fourth interface for temporarily receiving a corresponding interface of a handheld drive unit for transferring an actuating motion to displace the first and second joints.

Such a surgical manipulator device is known from EP 1 658 016 B1, for example. The device disclosed there is provided for holding an endoscope and is fundamentally designed without a motor. The device comprises a frame having a suspension arm arrangement comprising at least two suspension arms and connecting the frame in an articulated manner to a first joint associated with the instrument, and having a second suspension arm arrangement comprising at least two suspension arms and connecting the frame in an articulated manner to a second joint associated with the first instrument, the suspension arms of the first suspension arm arrangement being pivotably supported relative to each other and relative to the frame about pivot axes, and the pivot axes running parallel to each other, and the two suspension arm arrangements being implemented so that the first joint is displaceable in a first motion plane and the second joint is displaceable in a second motion plane, the first motion plane being displaceable relative to the second motion plane. Said arrangement is used in EP 1 658 016 for compensating for a changing distance of the first and second joints for different pivoting or displacing of the first and second suspension arm arrangements. This is necessary particularly because the instrument is directly connected to the joints. It is particularly disadvantageous for such a device that it is difficult to connect the frame to a stand, because the frame must also allow the displacement of the plane.
The surgical manipulator device of the present invention is particularly intended for mounting on a mounting arm, as described in DE 10 2014 016 823 A1, DE 10 2014 016 824 A1, DE 10 2015 104 810 A1, DE 10 2015 104 819 A1, and EP 3 130 305 A1. The disclosed contents thereof with respect to the mounting arm described therein is incorporated herein in their entirety.

Passive surgical manipulator having a handheld drive unit


A method for forming a hole within a ceramic matrix composite component includes forming a first core portion for a ceramic matrix composite component; embedding a hollow member into the first core portion at a desired location; wrapping the first core portion with a first ceramic matrix composite material; inserting a rod through the hollow member and into the first core portion; removing the hollow member; assembling a second core portion to the first core portion such that the rod extends into the second core portion; and wrapping the first core portion and the second core portion with a second ceramic matrix composite material.

The present disclosure relates to ceramic matrix composite components, and more particularly, to an internal cooling passage.
Gas turbine engines typically include a compressor section to pressurize airflow, a combustor section to burn a hydrocarbon fuel in the presence of the pressurized air, and a turbine section to extract energy from the resultant combustion gases. Gas path components, such as turbine blades, often include airfoil cooling that may be accomplished by external film cooling, internal air impingement, and forced convection, either separately, or in combination.
Ceramic matrix composite (CMC) components can endure high temperatures, but those temperatures may be below the gas path operational temperatures of some modern turbine engine stages. Internal convective cooling of CMC components may be primarily from impingement baffle like structures and film cooling from cooling passages. The cooling passages are either drilled using laser or Electron Discharge Machining (EDM). Laser passages are ideal for relatively short passages such as those at the leading edge of an airfoil, while EDM is ideal for long passages such as those at the trailing edge. EDM relies on a current supplied to an electrode which is discharged through a grounded part, however CMC material cannot carry current, and cannot use EDM. Machining cooling passages in the CMC component may result in cut fibers in the CMC material which may weaken the CMC component or expose a surface to environmental attacks.

Needled ceramic matrix composite cooling passages


An alerting method for portable electronic devices, the alerting method being performed by at least one of first and second portable devices. The method includes first and second electronic devices communicating with one another through two different wireless channels, the first channel providing longer range communications than the second channel. The second electronic device may enter an alarm mode of operation if communications through a channel fails. The second electronic device may exit the alarm mode of operation if communications through the other channel are restored.

Inventive concepts relate to an alerting system and method, and more particularly, to an alerting system and method for preventing the theft of a portable electronic device.
With the development of semiconductor and battery techniques, high-performance portable electronic devices have appeared. For user's convenience, a portable electronic device may support communication with another portable electronic device or a mobile communication base station through various wireless communication methods. In addition, the portable electronic device may store data, and may particularly store user information that should be secured. When a portable electronic device is lost or stolen, risks such as economic losses and leakage of personal information may occur.
For the case when a portable electronic device is lost or stolen several methods have been proposed for protecting a user's property and personal information by preventing the portable electronic device from being inappropriately used by a person who is not the owner of the portable electronic device. In addition, use of a portable electronic device, particularly, a mobile phone supporting various functions has been popularized, and thus, providing methods for preventing a portable electronic device from being inappropriately used by another person tends to be regulated by law.

Alerting system and method for portable electronic device


A three-phase alternating current generator includes a bowl-shaped flywheel, sixteen permanent magnets provided on an inner circumferential surface of the flywheel, and a stator located in the flywheel. Further, The stator is composed of twelve teeth provided opposite to the permanent magnets and of coils each being continuously wound around every three teeth among the teeth for generating electric power by an electromagnetic induction effect with the magnets.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a three-phase alternating current generator (three-phase magnet generator) driven by an internal combustion engine.
2. Description of the Related Art
With respect to the principle of an alternating current generator, a flywheel to which permanent magnets are fixed is rotated by the power of an internal combustion engine, and rotating magnetic fields produced by the permanent magnets cut across a stator coil (generator coil), with the result that a voltage is induced in the stator coil by an electromagnetic induction effect. In this case, the magnets are fixed in a rotation direction of the flywheel and N-poles and S-poles are arranged at regular intervals. Thus, the number of magnets to be used becomes 2n (n is a positive integer (natural number)). In addition, the number of teeth of the stator coil becomes 3m (m is a positive integer (natural number)) because of a three-phase alternating current generator.
A conventional three-phase alternating current generator has a structure of n=m. In other words, when the number of magnets fixed to the flywheel is set to 2n, the number of teeth of the stator coil becomes 3n. A Y-connection is employed as a connection method for three-phase output (for example, Kokichi Okawa, "Design and Characteristic Computation Method for a Permanent Magnet Magnetic Circuit (II), Usage Volume," Sougou Denshi Research, Sep. 30, 1987, First Edition, pp.479-481).
According to the conventional three-phase alternating current generator, when the number of magnets is 2n, the number of teeth is 3n, and a three-phase output is a Y-connection, it is possible to satisfy an output specification characteristic. However, a self-heating amount becomes very high. One of factors in which the self-heating amount becomes higher is the Y-connection.
In general, the Y-connection or the Δ-connection is employed as a connection method on the output side of the three-phase alternating current generator driven by an internal combustion engine. An output current in the Y-connection becomes (line current Iu=phase current Iu′) as shown in FIG. 5. An output current in the Δ-connection becomes (line current Iu/√3=phase current Iu′) as shown in FIG. 6.
Therefore, a current value required for one phase in the Y-connection becomes about √3 times higher than that in the Δ-connection. Here, the self-heating amount is computed from I2R. Symbol I denotes a phase current and R denotes a winding resistance. The self-heating amount becomes the square of the current value. Thus, the self-heating amount in the Y-connection becomes higher than that in the Δ-connection, so that it is ideal to employ the Δ-connection with respect to measures for suppressing the self-heating amount. However, in the case of the Δ-connection, the output current at a low speed rotation is reduced. Accordingly, because it is impossible to satisfy the specification, there is a problem that it is difficult to apply the Δ-connection to the conventional three-phase alternating current generator.

Three-phase alternating current generator


Disclosed is a method for producing phosphorus pentafluoride, including mixing and reacting phosphorus trichloride and chlorine with a large excess of anhydrous hydrogen fluoride liquid, thereby producing phosphorus pentafluoride, wherein heat of reaction generated through the production of phosphorus pentafluoride is removed with latent heat of evaporation of hydrogen fluoride. It is preferable that the anhydrous hydrogen fluoride liquid is circulated, and, in this state, phosphorus trichloride and chlorine are mixed with the anhydrous hydrogen fluoride liquid. Furthermore, it is also preferable that the anhydrous hydrogen fluoride liquid is circulated along a circulation path, or that the anhydrous hydrogen fluoride liquid is circulated through stirring in a reaction vessel.

Phosphorus pentafluoride (PF5) is a useful substance as a raw material of various types of hexafluorophosphates, in particular, lithium hexafluorophosphate that can be used as an electrolyte for lithium batteries, lithium ion secondary batteries, and the like. Furthermore, phosphorus pentafluoride is also used as a catalyst for organic synthesis reactions or a doping agent for semiconductor materials.
As a method for producing phosphorus pentafluoride, Patent Literature 1 describes a method for synthesizing PF5 by adding phosphorus pentachloride (PCl5) to an HF solution. According to this method, PCl5, which is difficult to handle because it is a highly hygroscopic solid, has to be added continuously and quantitatively to an HF solution, and thus it is difficult to control the reaction.
Furthermore, Patent Literature 2 proposes a method including generating PF3 gas through a reaction of phosphorus trichloride (PCl3) and HF (a first fluorinating step), generating gaseous PF3Cl2 through a reaction of the generated PF3 gas and Cl2 gas (a chlorinating step), and generating PF5 through a reaction of PF3Cl2 and HF (a second fluorinating step).

Method for producing phosphorus pentafluoride


A vertical non-volatile memory device includes a substrate, and a first stack of word lines and a second stack of word lines extending in a first direction on the substrate and separated from each other in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. The device further includes first array lines extending in the second direction on the first and the second stack, and connected to word lines of the first and the second stack through at least two of first via contacts in a same level. The device further include first word select lines being in a same level and extending in the first direction, and connected to each of the first array lines through at least one of second via contacts. Ends of each of the first and the second stack have a form of stairs on the substrate.

The inventive concept relates to non-volatile memory devices and to methods of fabricating the same. More particularly, the inventive concept relates to vertical non-volatile memory devices including vertical strings of transistors and multiple layers of metal wiring, and to methods of fabricating the same.
The semiconductor industry employs a variety of techniques aimed at maximizing the integration of conventional planar non-volatile memory devices. These techniques include designing the structure of a cell transistor so that two or more pieces of data can be stored in a single cell of the device. Despite these techniques, the degree to which the integration of a conventional planar flash memory device can be increased is limited due to the fact that all of the wiring layers are located in a single plane (layer).
Therefore, vertical memory devices are being developed to provide higher degrees of integration. In a vertical memory device, a plurality of cell transistors of a chip are arrayed in a vertical direction

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Vertical non-volatile memory device and method of fabricating the same


In package intra-chip and/or inter-chip optical communications are provided using microLEDs and photodetectors mounted to integrated circuit (IC) chips and/or to transceiver dies associated with the IC chips. Light from the LEDs may pass through waveguides on or in a substrate to which the IC chips are mounted or which couple the IC chips.

The present application relates generally to high speed electronic packaging with short-distance connections use optical links.
Optical interconnects have replaced electrical connections over time. The low optical loss of the optical fiber, the intrinsically high bandwidth of light, the lack of interference, and the absence of parasitic inductance and capacitance, are all characteristics that favor the modulation of light for interconnects. Starting at long lengths, the advantages of optics has proven itself over shorter distance scales over time. Today, the highest speed links over a few meters are almost always optical. In the last decade, the growth of data centers and the massive deployment of optical components to connect switches and servers has generated substantial volume for optical components and resulted in dramatic innovations and investments in manufacturing infrastructure that have reduced the cost of optics, further enabling their deployment.
However, at lengths below a meter, interconnects remain electrical and are barriers for performance. Integrated circuits such as CPUs and GPUs are large, and sending data and clock signals across the silicon chip may be limited by the RC time constants of the interconnect metal. Getting information off the chip to co-packaged memory and connecting to peripherals all consume a great deal of power as electrical interconnects are lossy, distort the signal, and have capacitance that takes electrical power to charge up. Clock and data recovery circuits often must be used to periodically clean up the signal, which takes considerable electrical power. In a server, less than 5% of the electrical power consumption is for the actual computation in the gates, while greater than 95% is for transferring data across the IC, off the package and communicating with peripherals.
In addition to the RC and loss issues of electrical wiring, there is there also the limit that these interconnects are often confined to a 2D plane for example, on the surface of chips, ceramic packages, silicon interposers, or circuit boards.
The electrical interconnect issue at short distance scales has become a critical barrier as Moore's Law has slowed. Greater compute power is now obtained more through parallelism, which emphasizes communication between processor blocks. The increased importance of artificial intelligence circuits and graphical processing units are all limited by this communication barrier at shorter distances. Difficulty with clock synchronization on chip, limited memory bandwidth, and long latency to access data, are all choking high speed computation.
As an example, GPUs (graphical processing units) and microprocessors tend to access huge amounts memory at high speed. The amount of memory available and the latency in accessing data from memory is a serious limitation brought on by the limits of electrical interconnects. Lowest latency memory is on-board cache—incorporated directly into the same chip as the processor. But there is a limit to how much cache can be integrated. To access more memory, high bandwidth memory (HBM) is co-packaged with the processor using advanced packaging techniques, like using silicon interposers or silicon bridges. FIG. 1 shows a schematic of this co-packaging between processor and memory. FIG. 1 shows semiconductor package 111 with a graphics processor unit (GPU) chip 113 centrally located in the semiconductor package. HBM chips 115a-f are around the periphery of the GPU chip. To access even more memory, the processor may communicate through a slower bus (PCIe/CXL/or GenZ) to memory located further away. But this is of course at the price of higher latency and slower transfer rate.
HBM modules may be implemented in a memory stack 121 as stacks of DRAM, mounted on top of a controller chip connected to the GPU 113 by an electrical connection that passes through a silicon interposer 123 on which both sit. The stacks can be 8 layers high, and there may be 128 lanes connected to each die to form a bus that is 1024 lines wide. The transfer rate is 0.5 GT/s, moving to 2 GT/s or more in the future, to give a total transfer rate of 500 Gb/s to 2 Tb/s for each HBM. A GPU typically has 4 such HBM modules, giving a total transfer rate of up to 10 Tb/s and a total accessible memory of about 150 GB.
More DDR memory is of course available further away from the processor, typically with capacity of about 256 GB to 2 TB at a slower transfer rate of about 250 GB/s. Use of a PCIe bus can access even larger stores, but at a slower rate of about 64 GB/s per x16PCIe.
Type of MemoryDistanceCapacityBandwidth/latencyOn chip5mm70 MBVery high, a few clock cyclesIn Package (HBM)20mm16 GB-150 GB500 GB/s in stack - 3 TB/s for the systemDDR20cm256 GB in Dimm-30 GB-250 GB, 500 clock cycles latency2 TB for the systemPCIe (CXL)25cm1 TB64 GB/s per x16 PCIeIntersystem (Rackscale)5m10's TB64 GB/s per x16 PCIe
Fundamentally the barriers for optics to penetrate these smaller links have been both at generating the light and transmitting it through an appropriate medium.
On the transmission side, lasers are generally unsuitable for use in large numbers for short distance interconnects. Edge emitting lasers are usually relatively large with a length of a few hundred microns. They are typically grown on III-V materials that are incompatible with silicon, with yields that are far below electronic devices in silicon. Semiconductor lasers have high temperature sensitivity, with power and reliability dropping rapidly at the temperatures normal for processor ICs. Lasers also have threshold currents of about a few milliamps, which wastes power. Vertical cavity lasers, rather than waveguide edge-emitting lasers, could be considered more appropriate as they are smaller and have lower threshold currents, but they are even more temperature sensitive. Using an external laser and on-chip modulators has been investigated, but waveguide modulators are lossy, consume a great deal of electrical power and are typically the same size as edge-emitting lasers. Vertical cavity modulators are temperature sensitive and difficult to use.
Recently silicon photonics and heterogenous integration of III-V materials with silicon has led to advances in optical transceivers and promises breakthroughs in bringing optical links to shorter distances. However, silicon photonics is also lossy and consumes the same amount of power as III-V components.
The medium is also an issue. Coupling optical fibers to silicon chips and the integration of lateral optical waveguides with copackaged lasers and electronics is complicated and expensive. Furthermore it does not break the 2D confinement of signals in plane. Using optics in free-space, on and off the chip is a possibility with VCSELs or vertical cavity modulators, but all the issues discussed with lasers would still apply.

Chip-scale optical interconnect using microLEDs


Gas oil components, coking process recycle, and heavier hydrocarbons are cracked or coked in the coking vessel by injecting an additive into the vapors of traditional coking processes in the coking vessel. The additive contains catalyst(s), seeding agent(s), excess reactant(s), quenching agent(s), carrier(s), or any combination thereof to modify reaction kinetics to preferentially crack or coke these components. Modifications of the catalysts in the additive improve performance for certain desired outcomes. One exemplary embodiment of the present invention uses the olefin production capabilities from newly developed catalysts to increase the production of light olefins (e.g. ethylene, propylenes, butylenes, pentenes) for alkylation process unit feed, the production of oxygenates, and petrochemical feedstocks, such as plastics manufacture. Another exemplary embodiment of the present invention is the use of the olefin production from newly developed catalysts to improve the coker naphtha quality. A third exemplary embodiment of the present invention uses the cracking characteristics of newly developed catalysts to optimize the production of light gas oils, naphtha, and gases from the coking process.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of thermal coking processes, and more specifically to modifications of petroleum refining thermal coking processes to improve the product yields and/or the characteristics of the products of the coking process. Exemplary embodiments of the invention also relate generally to the production of various types of petroleum coke with unique characteristics for fuel, anode, electrode, or other specialty carbon products and markets. Furthermore, this invention relates to the development of catalysts to improve performance.
2. Description of Known Art
Thermal coking processes have been developed since the 1930s to help crude oil refineries process the "bottom of the barrel." In general, modern thermal coking processes employ high-severity, thermal decomposition (or "cracking") to maximize the conversion of very heavy, low-value residuum feeds to lower boiling hydrocarbon products of higher value. Feedstocks for these coking processes normally consist of refinery process streams which cannot economically be further distilled, catalytically cracked, or otherwise processed to make fuel-grade blend streams. Typically, these materials are not suitable for catalytic operations because of catalyst fouling and/or deactivation by ash and metals. Common coking feedstocks include atmospheric distillation residuum, vacuum distillation residuum, catalytic cracker residual oils, hydrocracker residual oils, and residual oils from other refinery units.
There are three major types of modern coking processes currently used in crude oil refineries (and upgrading facilities) to convert the heavy crude oil fractions (or bitumen from shale oil or tar sands) into lighter hydrocarbons and petroleum coke: delayed coking, fluid coking, and flexicoking. These thermal coking processes are familiar to those skilled in the art. In all three of these coking processes, the petroleum coke is considered a by-product that is tolerated in the interest of more complete conversion of refinery residues to lighter hydrocarbon compounds, referred to as 'cracked liquids' throughout this discussion. These cracked liquids range from pentanes to complex hydrocarbons with boiling ranges typically between 350 and 950 degrees F. In all three of these coking processes, the 'cracked liquids' and other products move from the coking vessel to the fractionator in vapor form. The heavier cracked liquids (e.g. gas oils) are commonly used as feedstocks for further refinery processing (e.g. Fluid Catalytic Cracking Units or FCCUs) that transforms them into transportation fuel blend stocks.
Crude oil refineries have regularly increased the use of heavier crudes in their crude blends due to greater availability and lower costs. These heavier crudes have a greater proportion of the "bottom of the barrel" components, increasing the need for coker capacity. Thus, the coker often becomes the bottleneck of the refinery that limits refinery throughput. Also, these heavier crudes often contain higher concentrations of large, aromatic structures (e.g. asphaltenes and resins) that contain greater concentrations of sulfur, nitrogen, and heavy metals, such as vanadium and nickel. As a result, the coking reactions (or mechanisms) are substantially different and tend to produce a denser, shot (vs. sponge) coke crystalline structure (or morphology) with higher concentrations of undesirable contaminants in the pet coke and coker gas oils. Consequently, these three coking processes have evolved through the years with many improvements in their respective technologies.
Many refineries have relied on technology improvements to alleviate the coker bottleneck. Some refineries have modified their vacuum crude towers to maximize the production of vacuum gas oil (e.g. <1050 degree F.) per barrel of crude to reduce the feed (e.g. vacuum reduced crude or VRC) to the coking process and alleviate coker capacity issues. However, this is not generally sufficient and improvements in coker process technologies are often more effective. In delayed coking, technology improvements have focused on reducing cycle times, recycle rates, and/or drum pressure with or without increases in heater outlet temperatures to reduce coke production and increase coker capacity. Similar technology improvements have occurred in the other coking processes, as well.
In addition, coker feedstocks are often modified to alleviate safety issues associated with shot coke production or 'hot spots' or steam 'blowouts' in cutting coke out of the coking vessel. In many cases, decanted slurry oil, heavy cycle oil, and/or light cycle oil from the FCCU are added to the coker feed to increase sponge coke morphology (i.e. reduce shot coke production). This increase in sponge coke is usually sufficient to alleviate the safety problems associated with shot coke (e.g. roll out of drum, plugged drain pipes, etc.). Also, the increase in sponge coke can provide sufficient porosity to allow better cooling efficiency of the quench to avoid 'hot spots' and steam 'blowouts' due to local areas of coke that are not cooled sufficiently before coke cutting. However, the addition of these materials to coker feed reduces coking process capacities.
Unfortunately, many of these technology improvements have substantially decreased the quality of the resulting pet coke. Most of the technology improvements and heavier, sour crudes tend to push the pet coke from porous 'sponge' coke to 'shot' coke (both are terms of the art) with higher concentrations of undesirable impurities: Sulfur, nitrogen, vanadium, nickel, and iron. In some refineries, the shift in coke quality can require a major change in coke markets (e.g. anode to fuel grade) and dramatically decrease coke value. In other refineries, the changes in technology and associated feed changes have decreased the quality of the fuel grade coke with lower volatile matter (VM), gross heating value (GHV), and Hardgrove Grindability Index (GHI). All of these factors have made the fuel grade coke less desirable in the United States, and much of this fuel grade coke is shipped overseas, even with a coal-fired utility boiler on adjacent property. In this manner, the coke value is further decreased.
More importantly, many of these coker technology improvements have substantially reduced the quality of the gas oils that are further processed in downstream catalytic cracking units. That is, the heaviest or highest boiling components of the coker gas oils (often referred to as the 'heavy tail' in the art) are greatly increased in many of these refineries (particularly with heavier, sour crudes). In turn, these increased 'heavy tail' components cause significant reductions in the efficiencies of downstream catalytic cracking units. In many cases, these 'heavy tail' components are primarily polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (or PAHs) that have a high propensity to coke and contain much of the remaining, undesirable contaminants of sulfur, nitrogen, and metals. In downstream catalytic cracking units (e.g. FCCUs), these undesirable contaminants of the 'heavy tail' components can significantly increase contaminants in downstream product pools, consume capacities of refinery ammonia recovery/sulfur plants, and increase emissions of sulfur oxides and nitrous oxides from the FCCU regenerator. In addition, these problematic 'heavy tail' components of coker gas oils can significantly deactivate cracking catalysts by increasing coke on catalyst, poisoning of catalysts, and/or blockage or occupation of active catalyst sites. Also, the increase in coke on catalyst can require a more severe regeneration, leading to suboptimal heat balance and catalyst regeneration. Furthermore, the higher severity catalyst regeneration often increases FCCU catalyst attrition, leading to higher catalyst make-up rates, and higher particulate emissions from the FCCU. As a result, not all coker gas oil is created equal. In the past, refinery profit maximization computer models (e.g. Linear Programming Models) in many refineries assumed the same value for gas oil, regardless of quality. This tended to maximize gas oil production in the cokers, even though it caused problems and decreased efficiencies in downstream catalytic cracking units. Some refineries are starting to put vectors in their models to properly devalue these gas oils that reduce the performance of downstream process units.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,394,250 describes a delayed coking process in which small amounts of cracking catalyst and hydrogen are added to the hydrocarbon feedstock before it is charged to the coking drum to increase distillate yield and reduce coke make. The catalyst settles out in the coke and does not affect the utility of the coke.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,358,366 describes a delayed coking process in which small amounts of hydrogen and a hydrogen transfer catalyst, a hydrogenation catalyst, and/or a hydrocracking catalyst are added to a coker feed consisting of shale oil material and a petroleum residuum to enhance yields of liquid product.
Disadvantages of Catalyst with Coker Feed:
This known art adds catalyst to the coker feed, which has substantially different chemical and physical characteristics than the reactants of the current invention. The coker feed of the known art is typically comprised of very heavy aromatics (e.g. asphaltenes, resins, etc.) that have theoretical boiling points greater than 1000° F. As such, the primary reactants exposed to the catalysts of the known art are heavy aromatics with a much higher propensity to coke (vs. crack), particularly with the exposure to high vanadium and nickel content in the coker feed. Furthermore, mineral matter in the coker feed tends to act as a seeding agent that further promotes coking. Calcium, sodium, and iron compounds/particles in the coker feed have been known to increase coking, particularly in the coker feed heater.
From a physical perspective, the primary reactants of the known art are a very viscous liquid (some parts semi-solid) at the inlet to the coker feed heater. Throughout the heater and into the coke drums the feed becomes primarily hot liquid, solids (from feed minerals and coking), and vapors (from coker feed cracking). The temperature of the multi-phase material at the inlet to the drum is typically between 900° F. and 950° F.
In commercial applications of the known art (i.e. catalyst in the delayed coker feed), excessive coking problems have been noted.

System and method of introducing an additive with a unique catalyst to a coking process


A position sensor is disclosed with detector elements 11 coupled to a set of output lines 20 according to a connection pattern 30. An object 2 triggers a window subset of the detector elements 11, causing a logic output on the set of output lines 20. Some output lines 20a are coupled to more that one detector element 11. However, the connection pattern 30 is arranged such that for any window subset of the detector elements falling in a variable length range, a unique logic output is provided on the set of output lines 20 to identify the position of the object. A sensing method and search process for determining the connection pattern are also disclosed.

In a number of technical areas—such as the provision of touch screens—there is a need for sensing a position of an object. A position sensor should determine position accurately and reliably, whilst ideally being simple, efficient and inexpensive. This can pose considerable difficulty where it is necessary to determine a position of an object of unknown or variable width, i.e. whose size cannot be accurately predetermined. As one illustrative example, it may be desired to sense a position of an arbitrary human finger. This is problematic as each finger of a human hand is of a different width, and finger width varies substantially from person to person.

Position sensing method and position sensing apparatus and its construction

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


An express update deployment system can enable a larger number of computing devices to be updated during a time window. When an update is to be deployed to computing devices, a management server can select a set of the computing devices to function as proxy file repositories. The management server can select the set of computing devices based on hardware details of the computing devices that are to be updated. The management server can prioritize the deployment of the update to the selected set of computing devices. Once the update has been deployed on the selected set of computing devices, the computing devices can commence functioning as proxy file repositories. The management server can then instruct other computing devices to obtain parts of the update from the computing devices that are functioning as proxy file repositories. The management server can also instruct other computing devices to concurrently obtain the update from the file repository.

File repositories may be used to deploy updates to computing devices. FIG. 1 provides an example of a computing environment 100 in which a file repository 110 deploys updates to computing devices 120 that are part of the same private network. In a typical scenario, an administrator may use management server 130 to schedule the deployment of an update on computing devices 120. For example, management server 130 could instruct a management agent (not shown) installed on each computing device 120 to download the update from file repository 110 within a particular time window. By scheduling the deployment of the update within a time window, management server 130 can minimize the impact of deploying the update (e.g., by scheduling the deployment during non-business hours).
File repository 110 will typically have a limit on the number of concurrent downloads it can support (e.g., 100). If the limit is reached when a computing device 120 attempts to download the update, file repository 110 may require the computing device 120 to wait in a job queue. Given that the wait time is proportional to the size of the update, the deployment of a larger update can result in excessive wait times. Oftentimes, these excessive wait times may prevent some computing devices 120 from downloading the update within the scheduled time window.
As an example, management server 130 could schedule the deployment of an update that is 1 GB in size to 1000 computing devices 120 and may specify that the update should be completed within a four-hour time window. Assuming that file repository 110 has a limit of 100 concurrent downloads and that each download of the update requires 1 hour, it would require 10 hours to complete the deployment of the update to all 1000 computing devices 120 (i.e., 100 computing devices 120 could download the update each hour). However, since the deployment is scheduled to be completed within a four-hour time window, the update will be deployed to only 400 of the 1000 computing devices 120 when the time window closes. It would therefore be necessary to schedule the deployment of the update to the remaining 600 computing devices 120 at another time. In the case of a critical update, it may be necessary to immediately schedule the deployment even if it is during business hours. This can lead to a reduction in productivity and network congestion. Although this issue could be addressed by using more file repositories, many organizations do not have the means to purchase and maintain a sufficient number of file repositories.


A timer operation management apparatus for managing the playback and recording of multiple video tape cassettes comprising cassette information storage capabilities for storing the presence/absence of cassette, the presence/absence of a safety lug, and the like; timer information capabilities capable of storing cassette designation information, start and stop time designations, record and play time designations, etc.; and wherein the cassette designation information includes both individual cassette designation information and all cassette designation information.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a timer operation management apparatus, assembled in, e.g., a video tape recorder (to be abbreviated to as a VTR hereinafter), a digital audio tape recorder (to be abbreviated to as a DAT hereinafter), and the like, having the function of automatically exchanging a plurality of cassettes and managing time of operations.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, many television programs tend to be long. In addition, with the advent of satellite broadcast, programs broadcast around or after midnight are becoming increasingly popular. For this reason, VTRs tend to have a recording mode allowing a long-time recording operation during a user's absence.
However, since an existing VTR can load only one tape cassette, a long-time recording operation, or a recording capacity for an absent recording operation, is limited. Since the cassette size is standardized, limitations are imposed on the manufacture of large-capacity cassette tapes. In order to solve these problems, there are some proposals wherein VTRs are arranged to be able to load a plurality of cassettes.
When VTRs are arranged to be able to load a plurality of cassettes, however, various means for associating various functions of VTRs with a plurality of cassettes are required.
For example, when a timer recording operation is to be performed while a plurality of cassettes are set in a VTR, one of these cassettes must be selected when a recording start time is reached. When a timer recording reservation operation is to be performed, a cassette to be subjected to recording must be designated.
When the timer mode is canceled before a timer recording start time, and a VTR is left in this state, and the timer recording operation cannot be executed. In particular, when a plurality of users use a VTR capable of loading a plurality of cassettes, reliability of a timer operation is often impaired. For example, when a user A goes out after he or she sets a timer recording mode, a user B may use the VTR, and leave the timer mode canceled.
Furthermore, when a user performs a timer recording reservation operation, he or she must know whether or not the designated cassette exists in the VTR. In addition, a demand has arisen for a simple timer recording reservation operation.


A windshield wiper for an automotive vehicle having an elongated base and an elongated flexible blade extending outwardly in a first direction from the base. The blade has a free edge adapted to contact a windshield on an automotive vehicle. An elongated scraper also extends outwardly from the base at an acute angle relative to the blade so that a free edge of the scraper is spaced from and generally parallel to the free edge of the blade. The scraper is constructed of a material more rigid than the blade to remove adhered debris from the windshield upon transverse movement of the windshield wiper.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a windshield wiper for use with an automotive vehicle.
II. Description of Related Art
Almost all automotive vehicles include one or more windshield wipers which are designed to clean the automotive windshield and provide a clear vision for the driver and other occupants of the vehicle. The previously known windshield wipers typically comprise an elongated base which is attached to a holder assembly while an elongated flexible blade extends outwardly from the base and is adapted to contact the windshield in operation. The blade and base are typically of a one-piece construction.
While these previously known windshield wipers adequately clear the vehicle windshield of water due to the squeegee action of the blade during transverse movement of the wiper, these previously known windshield wipers have not proven adequate in removing debris, such as insects, from the windshield. Instead, because the blade is constructed of a soft elastomeric material, these previously known windshield wipers merely pass over, but do not remove, the debris from the windshield.

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.


A receptacle connector includes a housing having a mating interface for mating with a mating connector. Ground contacts are held by the housing. The ground contacts include ground mating segments arranged along the mating interface of the housing for mating with ground terminals of the mating connector. The ground mating segments of the ground contacts include ground mating surfaces configured to engage the ground terminals. The ground mating surfaces of the ground mating segments extending within at least one ground plane. Signal contacts are held by the housing. The signal contacts include signal mating segments arranged along the mating interface of the housing for mating with signal terminals of the mating connector. The signal mating segments of the signal contacts include signal mating surfaces configured to engage the signal terminals. The signal mating surfaces of the signal contacts extend within at least one signal plane that extends parallel to and is spaced apart from the at least one ground plane.

The subject matter described and/or illustrated herein relates generally to transceiver assemblies, and more particularly, to receptacle connectors and pluggable modules for use in transceiver assemblies.
Various types of fiber optic and copper based transceiver assemblies that permit communication between host equipment and external devices are known. These transceiver assemblies typically include a module assembly that can be pluggably connected to a receptacle connector in the host equipment to provide flexibility in system configuration. The module assemblies are constructed according to various standards for size and compatibility, one standard being the Quad Small Form-factor Pluggable (QSFP) module standard. Conventional QSFP modules and receptacle assemblies perform satisfactorily conveying data signals at rates up to 10 gigabits per second (Gbps). Another pluggable module standard, the XFP standard, calls for the transceiver module to also convey data signals at rates up to 10 Gbps.
As electrical and optical devices become smaller, the signal paths thereof become more densely grouped. Moreover, the rate at which the electrical data signals propagate along the signal paths is continually increasing to satisfy the demand for faster electrical devices. Accordingly, there is a demand for transceiver assemblies that can handle the increased signal rates and/or that have a higher density of signal paths. However, because of the increased signal rates and/or higher density, the signal contacts, or terminals, within a transceiver assembly may electrically interfere with each other, which is commonly referred to as "crosstalk". Such crosstalk can become a relatively large contributor to errors along the signal paths of the transceiver assembly. Moreover, the increased signal rates and/or higher density may make it difficult to maintain a desired impedance value of the transceiver assembly, which may result in impedance discontinuities between the transceiver assembly and the host equipment and/or the external device.


Disclosed is a method of dispersing a tacky additive in a solution of a polymer, particularly a polyolefin. A dispersion composition prepared by adding the additive to a slurry of a non-polar solvent and an insoluble, infusible, non-reactive dispersant is added to the polymer solution. This prevents the additive from sticking to the vessel walls and the impeller or agglomerating.

This invention relates to a method of dispersing a tacky additive into a solution of a polymer, particularly a polyalphaolefin. In particular, it relates to the addition of the additive to a slurry comprised of a non-polar solvent and an insoluble, infusible, non-reactive dispersant, followed by the addition of the resultant slurry to a separate polymer solution.
Polyethylene can be produced by a gas phase process, a slurry process, or a solution process. In a gas phase process, the polymerization is conducted in the absence of any solvent. In a slurry process, polymerization takes place in a diluent at a temperature below the melting point of the polymer, producing solid polymer particles suspended in the diluent.
In a solution process for preparing polyethylene, polymerization of ethylene takes place in a non-polar solvent above the melting point of the polymer, producing a solution of the polymer. The polymer is recovered by evaporating the solvent and unreacted monomer. A solution process permits a shorter transition time between products which reduces the cost of changing product and permits a broader line of products to be produced. Also, in a solution process, products can be produced with a lower molecular weight and a lower density than can be obtained with a slurry process.
Various additives can be added to the polymer solution prior to separation of the polymer from the solvent to prevent degradation of the polymer during processing and/or during use by the consumer. For example, UV light stabilizers can be added to prevent the finished part from being rapidly degraded by ultraviolet light. In the solution process, all of these additives must be either dissolved in a suitable solvent or finely suspended in a solvent prior to their injection into the solution of the polymer.
However, certain additives (herein referred to as "tacky additives") are not soluble in a suitable solvent nor are they entirely insoluble in the solvent. Instead, they become soft and sticky when contacted by the solvent even though these additives exist as free flowing particles in a dry form. These tacky additives adhere to the walls of the vessel, to the impeller and to themselves, producing large elastic spheres which plug up the additive nozzle. As a result, the additive is not incorporated into the polymer stream. This results in a polymer which does not meet specifications since it does not contain the desired level of additive. Furthermore, the vessel must be shut down and cleaned periodically, which is a difficult and time-consuming process.

Method of dispersing a tacky additive in a solution of a polymer


To provide a surface-emitting type semiconductor laser that is capable of emitting a laser beam with a narrower radiation angle. A surface-emitting type semiconductor laser in accordance with the present invention includes: a substrate 110; a first mirror 142 provided above the substrate 110; an active layer 144 provided above the first mirror 142; a second mirror 146 provided above the active layer 144; an electrode 122 provided above the second mirror 146; and an emission surface 126 among the second mirror 146, which is not covered by the electrode 122, wherein the electrode 122 has a film thickness D that satisfies a formula (1) as follows, (4i+1)λ/8n≦D≦(4i+3)λ/8n . . . (1) where, in the formula (1), i is an integer, λ is an oscillation wavelength, and n is a refractive index of a material that covers the emission surface.

The present invention relates to surface-emitting type semiconductor lasers.
A surface-emitting type semiconductor laser is a semiconductor laser that emits a laser beam perpendicular to a semiconductor substrate, and because its in-process examination is easier than an edge-emitting type semiconductor laser, and its radiation pattern is circular, it is highly expected as a variety of sensors and light sources for optical communications. When a surface-emitting type semiconductor laser is used as a sensor or a light source for optical communications, it is desirous to obtain a laser beam having a radiation pattern with a narrow radiation angle.
As a technology for reducing the radiation angle, Japanese Laid-open Patent Application 2004-63707 discloses a method in which the size of an aperture of a current constricting section is made smaller than the size of an aperture of an emission surface for reducing the radiation angle. Also, Japanese Laid-open Patent Application 2002-208755 discloses a technique for designing an aperture diameter of a current constricting section and an aperture diameter of a laser emission area in a manner that a difference between the optical loss of a high mode and the optical loss of a lower mode becomes large.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Laid-open Patent Application 2004-63707
[Patent Document 2] Japanese Laid-open Patent Application 2002-208755
It is an object of the present invention to provide a surface-emitting type semiconductor laser that is capable of emitting a laser beam with a narrower radiation angle.
A surface-emitting type semiconductor laser comprising:                a substrate;        a first mirror provided above the substrate;        an active layer provided above the first mirror;        a second mirror provided above the active layer;        an electrode provided above the second mirror; and        an emission surface among the second mirror, which is not covered by the electrode, wherein the electrode has a film thickness D that satisfies a formula (1) as follows.(4i+1)/8n≦D≦(4i+3)λ/8n  (1)
(In the formula (1), i is an integer, λ is an oscillation wavelength, and n is a refractive index of a material that covers the emission surface.)
According to the surface-emitting type semiconductor laser in accordance with the present invention, the radiation angle of a laser beam can be made smaller. This effect can be obtained by setting the film thickness of the electrode provided above the second mirror in the range described above. The inventors in the present application discovered that the radiation angle of a laser beam periodically changes, and there is a correlation between the radiation angle and the film thickness of an electrode. Concretely, in examining the correlation between the radiation angle and the film thickness of an electrode, it was found that the radiation angle changed in a cycle of λ/2 with respect to the thickness of the electrode. Its details are described below. Thus, according to the present invention, because the range of the film thickness of electrodes is set based on such a consideration, a surface-emitting type semiconductor laser with a smaller radiation angle of a laser beam can be provided.
In the surface-emitting type semiconductor laser in accordance with the present invention, a specific object (hereafter referred to as "B") provided "above" another specific object (hereafter referred to as "A") includes B provided directly on A, and B provided above A through another object on A.
The present invention can be further implemented in the following embodiments.
The surface-emitting type semiconductor laser in accordance with the present invention may further include a dielectric film that covers at least an upper end section of the electrode on an emission surface side.
According to this embodiment, concentration of an electric field at the upper end section of the electrode on the emission surface side can be suppressed. Therefore, distortion of the mode of a laser beam emitted at the upper end section of the electrode that forms the emission surface can be suppressed. Distortion of the mode becomes a cause of an increase in the radiation angle. However, according to the present invention, the distortion of the mode can be suppressed by suppressing concentration of the electric field at the upper end section of the electrode. As a result, a surface-emitting type semiconductor laser that achieves a reduced radiation angle can be provided.
In the surface-emitting type semiconductor laser in accordance with the present invention, wherein the dielectric film may cover the upper end section of the electrode on the emission surface side, and may further be provided above at least a portion of the emission surface, and the dielectric film that is present above the emission surface may have a film thickness D′ that is defined by a formula (2) as follows.D′=(2i+1)λ/4n′  (2)
(In the formula (2), i is an integer, λ is an oscillation wavelength, and n′ is a refractive index of the dielectric.)
In accordance with this embodiment, the dielectric film is provided further to cover a portion of the emission surface. For example, when an optical fiber is connected to a laser, and after a laser beam is emitted, there may be light that is reflected on and turns from the fiber. The returning light may give noise to the emission light. However, according to the present embodiment, by setting the film thickness of the dielectric film provided above the emission surface in the range described above, such a problem can be suppressed. As a result, a surface-emitting type semiconductor laser with excellent characteristics can be provided.
In the surface-emitting type semiconductor laser in accordance with the present invention, the electrode may be formed from a plurality of divided electrodes, wherein the plurality of divided electrodes may be disposed such that a line connecting end faces thereof on the emission surface side defines a ring shape.
According to this embodiment, a part of the divided electrodes may be made to be an electrode that does not contribute to current injection, and can be made as a spare electrode, an electrode of another device that is connected to the surface-emitting type semiconductor laser or the like.
In the surface-emitting type semiconductor laser in accordance with the present invention, at least a portion of an end section of a cross section of the electrode on the emission surface side may be a curve (composed of a curve).
According to the present embodiment, because the cross-sectional shape of the upper end section of the electrode on the emission surface side is a curve, concentration of the electric field can be suppressed. As a result, effects similar to those of the above-described embodiment in which a dielectric film is provided can be obtained, and thus a surface-emitting type semiconductor laser with a reduced radiation angle can be provided.
The surface-emitting type semiconductor laser in accordance with the present invention may have a current constricting section above the active layer, wherein a diameter of an aperture defined by the current constricting section may be made smaller than a diameter of the emission surface.
In the surface-emitting type semiconductor laser in accordance with the present invention, the aperture may be positioned inside the emission surface as viewed in a plan view, wherein a difference ΔR between the diameter of the aperture and the diameter of the emission surface may be a value that satisfies a formula (3) as follows.ΔR≧d×tan (θ/2)  (3)
(In the formula (3), d is a distance from the active layer to the emission surface, and θ is an angle of broadening of light generated from the active layer.)
The surface-emitting type semiconductor laser in accordance with the present invention may further include a contact layer provided between the second mirror and the electrode.
According to this embodiment, because the contact layer is provided, current injection can be effectively conducted.

Surface-emitting type semiconductor laser


A translating cowl thrust reverser system with efflux management includes a support structure, a transcowl, a cowl shield, and a single cascade structure. The transcowl and cowl shield are moveable together between a first position, in which the transcowl abuts the support structure, and a second position, in which an aperture is formed between the transcowl and the support structure. The cowl shield has cowl shield turning vanes. The single cascade structure is disposed within the aperture and includes a forward wall, a curved vane, internal turning vanes, and external turning vanes. In the first position, each cowl shield turning vane is disposed between a different pair of external turning vanes. The cowl shield turning vanes, the internal turning vanes, and the external turning vanes turn the airflow so that it is directed substantially perpendicular to, and vertically outboard relative to, a plane of symmetry.

When turbine-powered aircraft land, the wheel brakes and the imposed aerodynamic drag loads (e.g., flaps, spoilers, etc.) of the aircraft may not be sufficient to achieve the desired stopping distance, therefore, most turbine-powered aircraft include thrust reversers. Turbine-powered aircraft typically include aircraft powered by turbofan engines, turbojet engines, or the like. Thrust reversers enhance the stopping power of these aircraft by redirecting the turbine engine exhaust airflow in order to generate reverse thrust. When stowed, the thrust reverser typically forms a portion of the engine nacelle and forward thrust nozzle. When deployed, the thrust reverser typically redirects at least a portion of the airflow (from the engine fan and/or core exhaust) forward and radially outward, through one or more cascade vanes, to help decelerate the aircraft.
More recently, in an effort to meet the demand for thrust reversers with reduced weight and reduced manufacturing cost, a thrust reverser system with a single cascade vane has been developed. While generally effective, current single cascade thrust reversers do not control the efflux (e.g., engine exhaust air plumes) from a deployed thrust reverser. For several reasons, it is desirable to control the efflux. For example, hot gas impingement on the empennage can blister or ruin the aircraft paint. The efflux could also get injected into the aircraft auxiliary power unit (APU), could result in passengers breathing the engine exhaust gases. If the efflux is only controlled on the aircraft side of the engine, this can adversely impact single engine landing/yaw control. Controlling the efflux can also help ensure sufficient nose down weight on the aircraft for controllability.
Hence, there is a need for a thrust reverser design capable of meeting performance requirements while controlling the efflux therefrom when in the deployed position. The provided thrust reverser system meets at least this need.

Translating cowl thrust reverser system with efflux management


A round or cycle counter for a weapon which utilizes a wear member operatively attached to the surface of a moving member which slidingly contacts a surface of a non-moving member of the weapon. A visual change in the wear means size or wear pattern enables one to calibrate the number of rounds fired or the safe life limit.

The present invention relates to the use of calibrated wear surfaces to act as round or cycle counter on small arms weapons, large caliber weapons and other military equipment that have critical end of life determination requirements.
In the past there was no finite way for the user to easily determine when a small arms weapon or a critical part of the weapon had reached the end of its safe useable life. The only sure way of determining the end of a part's or weapon's safe life previously was by doing a visual inspection at the depot level or when the weapon failed during firing. Frequently when failure occurs with a weapon during its use, the failure may result in serious injury or death to the user. Prior art devices do not provide the user with a readily descernible indicator to tell the user of a small arms weapon when the weapon has reached the end of its safe useable life. Another problem with the prior art devices was the requirement to keep an accounting record of the number of rounds tried on the weapon to ascertain when the weapon had reached its useable life. Keeping a log or record for the number of rounds fired was feasible for large caliber weapons but not feasible for small arm weapons.


A process for fabricating a sheathed-helix circular overmoded waveguide bend comprised of an inner helical wound insulated wire, a dielectric lining, and an outer conductor layer surrounding the dielectric lining. The inner winding is wound on a removable hollow rigid core, the dielectric liner or sheath is then molded onto the outer surface of the winding, and outer conductor is then attached to the outer surface of the dielectric liner. The core is made removable (from the helix winding) by coating it with a low melt temperature alloy which is melted by passing hot water through the hollow core.

It is well-known that standard or fundamental waveguide is severely restricted in maximum power capacity and in minimum loss because of its required cross sectional dimensions. It is also well-known that overmoded waveguide has the advantages that it can be designed to have arbitrarily high power capacity and arbitrarily low attenuation by appropriately increasing the waveguide cross section. In overmoded waveguide, the required suppression of unwanted modes is achieved using dielectric and metallic structures to restrict unwanted allowable modes (e.g. see "Trunk Waveguide Communication" by A. E. Karbowiak, Chapmen and Hall, Ltd., London, 1965). Overmoded waveguide have been utilized as telecommunications trunk transmission lines and to connect transmitters to communications or radar antennas.
The most common type of overmoded waveguide supports the circular TE.sub.01 mode which has the unique property of decreasing transmission loss with increasing frequency for a given diameter. Circular overmoded waveguide can take the form of a plain metallic waveguide, metallic waveguide with a dielectric liner, or a sheathed-helix waveguide consisting of a closely wound insulated wire surrounded by a dielectric layer encapsulated by a good conductor. Various processes have been proposed for fabricating helical waveguide structures; examples are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,605,046, 4,043,029, 4,066,987, 4,071,834, and 4,090,280. However, one significant problem associated with the practical application of circular overmoded waveguide is the need for an elbow structure which is efficient and practical for overmoded circular waveguide applications, and which can be fabricated in a feasible manner in practical sizes and configurations.

Overmoded waveguide elbow and fabrication process