An electronic torque wrench includes a wrench body and a torsion meter. The wrench body includes a head portion, and a neck portion connected to the head portion. The torsion meter includes a strain sensor provided on the neck portion, and a processing unit connected electrically to the strain sensor and disposed in the wrench body. A conductive shield surrounds at least the strain sensor, and is connected electrically to the torsion meter for providing protection against electromagnetic interference.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a wrench, more particularly to an electronic torque wrench.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,970,155, 4,006,629, 4,522,075, 4,669,319, and 4,976,133 disclose electronic torque wrenches that have strain gauges. The strain gauges detect elastic strains and changes in electrical resistances, translate the changes into an electrical signal, and in cooperation with a processing circuit which includes a Wheatstone bridge, an amplifier, a recorder, a microprocessor, an output unit, etc., determine a value of torque applied to a workpiece.
However, when the aforementioned electronic torque wrenches are used in a high electromagnetic interference (EMI) environment, such as in a heavily equipped factory, the accuracy of the electronic torque wrenches is adversely affected, and damage to electronic components inside the electronic torque wrenches may occur.


A method and apparatus for detecting open defects on grounded nodes of an electrical device using capacitive lead frame technology is presented. In accordance with the method of the invention, an accessible signal node that is capacitively coupled the grounded node is stimulated with a known source signal. A capacitive sense plate is capacitively coupled to the stimulated node and grounded node of the electrical device, and a measuring device coupled to the capacitive sense plate capacitively senses a resulting signal. The value of the capacitively sensed signal is indicative of the presence or non-presence of an open defect on one or both of the grounded node and stimulated signal node.

The present invention relates generally to integrated circuit testing, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for non-contact testing and diagnosing of open connections of power and ground nodes on unpowered circuit devices.
During the manufacture of circuit assemblies such as printed circuit boards (PCBs), multi-chip modules (MCMs), or other packaging hierarchies, testing for interconnection defects such as open and shorted joints or interconnects is performed. Well-known capacitance lead-frame sensing technologies exist that can detect opens between the pins of an integrated circuit (IC) and the mounting substrate (typically a PCB). Typical implementation of capacitive probe assemblies that implement a capacitive sensor may be found in the following references, each of which is incorporated herein by reference for all that it teaches: U.S. Pat. No. 5,498,964, to Kerschner et al., entitled "Capacitive Electrode System for Detecting Open Solder Joints in Printed Circuit Assemblies", U.S. Pat. No. 5,124,660 to Cilingiroglu, entitled "Identification of Pin-Open Faults By Capacitive Coupling Through the Integrated Circuit Package", U.S. Pat. No. 5,254,953 to Crook et al., entitled "Identification of Pin-Open Faults By Capacitive Coupling Through the Integrated Circuit Package", and U.S. Pat. No. 5,557,209 to Crook et al., entitled "Identification of Pin-Open Faults By Capacitive Coupling Through the Integrated Circuit Package".
U.S. Publication No. 20050242824 A1 published Nov. 3, 2005 and entitled "Methods And Apparatus For Non-Contact Testing And Diagnosing Open Connections For Connectors on Printed Circuit Boards" to Parker et al., incorporated herein by reference for all that it teaches, and assigned to the assignee of interest herein provides a method for testing for open power and ground connections in connectors and sockets, by making use of the inherently available coupling capacitors that exist between connector pins. When a signal pin is tested that is coupled to a nearby ground pin, an open on that ground pin will cause the signal pin measurement to rise in value.
For better understanding of the invention, a brief introduction to capacitive lead frame testing techniques is now presented. Turning to the drawings, FIG. 1A shows the basic setup and FIG. 1B shows the equivalent circuit model of capacitive lead-frame testing for open signal pins on an electrical circuit device embodied by an integrated circuit.
As shown, an integrated circuit (IC) die 18 is packaged in an IC package 12. The package 12 includes a lead frame 14 supporting a plurality of pins 10a, 10b. Pads of the IC die 18 are connected to the package pins 10a, 10b at the lead frame 14 via bond wires 16a, 16b. The pins 10a, 10b are supposed to be conductively attached, for example by way of solder joints, to pads 8a, 8b of a printed circuit board (PCB) 6. The test setup shown in FIG. 1A determines whether package pins are properly connected to the board at the solder joints. The test setup includes an alternating current (AC) source 2 that applies an AC signal, through a test probe 4a (and possibly other intervening circuitry, for example tester fixture adapters), to a node connected to the pad 8a on the PCB 6 to which a pin under test 10a should be electrically connected. In a typical test environment, the AC signal is typically 8192 Hz at 0.2 volts. A capacitive sensing probe 20 comprising a conductive sense plate 22 and amplifying buffer 24 is placed on top of the integrated circuit package 12. The capacitive sensing probe 20 is connected to a current measuring device 26, such as an ammeter. Another pin 10b of the integrated circuit 12 is connected to a circuit ground via a grounded probe 4b.
When the test is performed, the AC signal applied to pad 8a appears on the pin 10a of the integrated circuit package 12. Through capacitive coupling, in particular a capacitance Csense formed between the lead frame 14 and sense plate 22, a current Is is passed to the sense plate 22 and then through the amplifying buffer 24 to the current measuring device 26. If the measured current Is falls between predetermined limits, then the pin 10a is properly connected to the pad 8a. If the pin 10a is not connected to the pad 8a, a capacitance Copen is formed between the pad 8a and pin 10a, altering the current Is measured by the current measuring device 26 such that the measured current Is falls outside the predetermined limits, thereby indicating that an open defect is present at the pin connection.
The above approaches focus on detection of open conditions on signal nodes of an integrated circuit device. It is well-known in the art that source power and ground connections of a circuit should be bypassed typically with bypass capacitors or dampening resistors in order to reduce signal variations on the circuit power source. Accordingly, during a capacitive lead frame test, the source power and ground nodes are typically grounded by the tester in order to remove the effects of the bypass elements from the test measurement setup. Because they must be grounded, source power and ground nodes cannot be tested using the standard capacitive sensing technique described above. Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a technique for applying capacitive sensing testing techniques to the detection of open defects on power and ground pins of a device.
In addition, many discrete components that may be connected on a PCB do not lend themselves easily to standard capacitive leadframe testing. FIG. 2A shows an electrical schematic of a discrete Field Effect Transistor (FET) 30, and FIG. 2B shows a physical packaged FET device 35 that may be discretely mounted on a PCB 38 or other such substrate. FETs such as that shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B are often mounted on PCBs 38 for the purpose of regulating and/or generating power supplies. Such FETs are often comparatively large to support high current capacity and heat dissipation, and often have integral heat sinks 36 that are bolted 37 to the board 38, as shown in FIG. 2B.
Currently known testing techniques for determining connectivity of terminals of discrete FET devices mounted on boards include In-Circuit measurement of drain-to-source impedance. Capacitive leadframe testing may also be performed on the gate terminal; however, because the drain 33 and source 31 terminals are typically bypassed (with a bypass capacitor or dampening resistor), prior capacitive leadframe testing only tested for gate 32 connectivity. Other testing techniques may involve turning on power to measure the effect of turning on/off the FET. Each of these tests have varying disadvantages and lack of coverage. Turning on power may be especially troublesome since the board may be defective and subject to damage.
Individual FET devices may also be connected in parallel to boost current capacity of the circuit design. Accordingly, their terminals may be ganged, drain-to-drain, source-to-source, and gate-to-gate. In this configuration, conventional electrical tests for these FET devices are not able to detect open connections at the terminals since there are parallel paths for current flow. Waiting until a functional test stage (where power must be turned on) to find FET defects may be risky. Accordingly, a need also exists for an unpowered method to find open defects on all FET terminals, regardless of single or parallel FET connections.

Methods and apparatus for unpowered testing of open connections on power and ground nodes of circuit devices


To easily prevent flapping of a cover attached to a vehicle such as a motor cycle. A storage box is provided on a lateral side of a vehicle frame. The storage box includes a storage box main body having an opening facing an outside of a vehicle, and a lid member which is openable and closable to cover the opening. A side cover which covers a lateral side of the vehicle is provided in front of the storage box. A rear edge portion of the side cover extends to an outside edge portion of the storage box main body, and is fixed to the outside edge portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cover structure of a saddle ride type vehicle including a storage box on a rear lateral side of the vehicle.
2. Description of Background Art
Some saddle ride type vehicles such as motorcycles each include a storage box made of a resin material or another material, and provided on a rear lateral side of the vehicle. Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-281948, for example, discloses a motorcycle including storage boxes on the right and left sides in a vehicle rear part, the storage boxes each having a lid that is closable and openable to the outside of the vehicle. In this vehicle, a cover provided in front of each of the storage boxes is formed integrally with the storage box.

Cover structure of saddle ride type vehicle


A method for determining a formation type within a wellbore includes forming the wellbore such that the wellbore intersects fractures within a formation. Hydrocarbons are produced from the formation. An induction tool is disposed into the wellbore after producing the hydrocarbons. A resistivity of a portion of the formation is measured with the induction tool. The resistivity of the portion of the formation is compared with a known formation type. The formation type of the portion of the formation is determined based on the resistivity. A characteristic of the formation type is output.

1. Field of the Disclosure
Embodiments disclosed herein generally relate to methods to determine a fluid type of a fractured formation within a wellbore. More specifically, embodiments disclosed herein relate to methods using an induction tool when determining a formation type within a wellbore.
2. Background Art
Wells are generally drilled into the ground to recover natural deposits of hydrocarbons and other desirable materials trapped in geological formations in the Earth's crust. A well is typically drilled using a drill bit attached to the lower end of a drill string. The well is drilled so that it penetrates the subsurface formations containing the trapped materials and the materials can be recovered.
The drilling operations are controlled by an operator at the surface. The drill string is rotated at a desired rate by a rotary table, or top drive, at the surface, and the operator controls the weight-on-bit and other operating parameters of the drilling process. At the bottom end of the drill string is a "bottom hole assembly" ("BHA"). The BHA includes the drill bit along with sensors, control mechanisms, and the required circuitry. A typical BHA includes sensors that measure various properties of the formation and of the fluid that is contained in the formation, as well as the operating conditions of the drill bit and other downhole equipment.
Another aspect of drilling and well control relates to the drilling fluid, generally called "mud." The mud is a fluid that is pumped from the surface to the drill bit by way of the drill string. The mud may serve to cool and lubricate the drill bit and then carry the drill cuttings back to the surface. The density of the mud is carefully controlled to maintain the hydrostatic pressure in the borehole at desired levels.
After drilling and developing the wellbore, the formation then may be prepared for production. During production, the wellbore may produce both hydrocarbons, such as gas and oil, in addition to water. Generally, the formation and wellbore will continue to be produced for as long as is economically efficient. When the wellbore then is no longer economically efficient, such as when the wellbore is no longer producing hydrocarbons, or is only producing small amounts of hydrocarbons as compared to water, the wellbore may then be abandoned or worked-over.
Workover of a wellbore refers to the repair or stimulation of an existing wellbore for the purposes of restoring, prolonging, or enhancing the production of hydrocarbons from a wellbore. For example, a wellbore may be producing excessive water, thereby preventing the wellbore from being economically efficient. The wellbore may be worked-over to restrict the water production of the wellbore and then continue or stimulate hydrocarbon production. This may be done by sending a measuring tool downhole to determine the various fluid types in the fractures within the wellbore (e.g., a water-filled fracture and a hydrocarbon-filled fracture), in which the fluid type in the fracture may be different from the fluid type within the matrix of a formation.
A fractured formation generally includes two parts: 1) a low porosity, low permeability matrix (i.e., formation), and 2) a network of high permeability fractures, such as naturally occurring or induced fractured reservoirs, that may act as conduits for fluid flow. As is common, the measuring tools used downhole to characterize a fractured formation are usually shallow probing log tools, such as an Oil-Based Micro-Imager ("OBMI") tool or a Formation Micro-Imager ("FMI"). These shallow probing log tools usually can only measure the properties of the formation type with only a few inches (e.g., ˜3.5 in or 8.9 cm) for depth-of-investigation ("DOI"). DOI refers to the distance that characterizes how far a tool measures into the formation from the face of the measuring tool or the borehole wall. Because this DOI of the measuring tools is so shallow, and because drilling fluids may be pumped downhole, the measuring tools may not accurately measure the fluid type within the fractures, in addition to determining if the fractures are closed (e.g., healed), partially-closed, or open. Accordingly, there exists a need to more accurately measure the fluid types in the fractures of a fractured formation and to characterize the closure/openness of the fractures to determine if it may be appropriate to produce or workover the wellbore.

Method for determining fluid type in reservoir


The present disclosure provides a method and an apparatus for waking up via a speech. The method includes: obtaining audio data currently collected by an electronic device through an audio-video interface on a hardware abstraction layer of the electronic device; performing noise reduction processing on the collected audio data to generate audio data to be detected; performing wake-up phrase detection on the audio data to be detected to determine whether the audio data to be detected includes a wake-up phrase; and performing wake-up processing on the electronic device in response to determining that the audio data to be detected comprises the wake-up phrase.

At present, in the speech wake-up technology (or technology for waking up via a speech), after signal processing is performed on collected audio data, the audio data subjected to the signal processing is usually sent to an application (APP) through an audio data transmission link, then, the APP performs wake-up detection on the audio data subjected to the signal processing by calling a wake-up algorithm, and wake-up control is performed on the APP based on a detection result.

Method and apparatus for waking up via speech

BAIDU ONLINE NETWORK TECHNOLOGY (BEIJING) CO., LTD.


A method is used to prevent unwanted electrical contacts between various electrically conducting surfaces and lines in a display panel due to an n+ a-Si residue and/or ITO debris. The method provides a clearing pattern including at least a cleared area in the passivation layer for preventing the residue or debris from locating at the cleared area. As such, if an n+ a-Si residue happens to be deposited under the passivation layer, the part of the residue located in the cleared area is removed by an a-Si selective etching process, for example. Furthermore, with the cleared area, ITO debris deposited on the section of the dielectric layer deposited on the signal line can be electrically isolated from the electrode.

Thin-film transistor (TFT) liquid crystal display (LCD) panels are known in the art. Typically, an LCD panel comprises an upper substrate, a lower substrate and a liquid crystal layer disposed between the upper and lower substrates, as shown in FIG. 1a. The upper substrate typically comprises a common electrode layer and a color filter layer. The lower substrate comprises a plurality of pixel electrodes to define the pixels of the LCD panel. In each pixel, the lower substrate comprises various electronic components such as one or more thin-film transistors (TFTs), one or more capacitors, at least one gate line, and at least one data line. FIG. 1b shows part of the lower substrate in a pixel and FIGS. 2A-2G illustrate the process steps of fabricating a TFT. As shown in FIG. 1b, a gate metal layer and a capacitor metal layer are separately deposited on a glass substrate, and a dielectric layer made of SiNx or the like is deposited over the metal layers (part of these layers are shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B). On the TFT, an amorphous silicon layer (a-Si:H) and a doped amorphous silicon layer (n+ a-Si:H) are deposited above the gate structure, as shown in FIG. 2C. A source/drain metal layer is deposited over the a-Si layers, as shown in FIG. 2D. A back-channel etching (BCE) step is used to define the source electrode and a drain electrode, as shown in FIG. 2E. A passivation layer made of SiNx or the like is deposited over the transistor structure, exposing a section of the drain electrode (FIG. 2F) so that the drain electrode can make electrical contact with a pixel electrode made of indium tin oxide (ITO), as shown in FIG. 2G. Apart from the TFT, the capacitor metal layer, the dielectric layer and the ITO layer form a storage capacitor for the pixel (see FIG. 1b). During one of the process steps, a metal layer is deposited on the dielectric layer to form a data line (see FIG. 1b).
This BCE process also removes part of the n+ a-Si:H and a-Si:H layers. If some of the n+ a-Si:H residues land between the gate or data line and pixel electrode (see FIG. 3), the pixel may become defective. FIG. 3 is a schematic representation showing a plan view of two adjacent pixels in an LCD panel. As shown in FIG. 3, a pixel is substantially defined by two adjacent gate lines and two adjacent data lines. A common line is typically provided in the middle of a row of pixels.
It is desirable and advantageous to provide a method to clear the n+ a-Si:H residues so as to improve the yield of LCD manufacturing.
Furthermore, when the ITO layer is deposited, some residues may also land between the gate or data line and the pixel electrode (see FIG. 6), and thus the pixel may also become defective. It is also desirable to provide a method to clear these ITO residues.

Residue isolation process in TFT LCD fabrication


When a signal receiving unit receives red, green, and blue sub-pixels of an RGB pixel, a chromaticity weight generation unit generates a chromaticity weight according to the lowest gray level and the highest gray level of the red, green, and blue sub-pixels of the RGB pixel. Then, a gray level generation unit generates gray levels of red, green, blue, and white sub-pixels of an RGBW pixel according to the chromaticity weight, gray levels of the red, green, and blue sub-pixels of the RGB pixel, three chromaticity correction values and the lowest gray level. A RGBW display displays the RGBW pixel according to the gray levels of the red, green, blue, and white sub-pixels of the RGBW pixel.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an RGBW display system and method for displaying images thereof, and more particularly, to an RGBW display system capable of increasing luminance and keeping color saturation and method for displaying images thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An RGBW display is a display which adds white light on a traditional RGB display. Because the white light does not need a color filter, the RGBW display can provide higher luminance than the traditional RGB display, and reduce power consumption of a backlight source. Compared to the RGB display, the RGBW display has two advantages: 1. the RGBW display can provide higher luminance at the same power; and 2. the power consumption of the RGBW display is lower than the RGB display for the same luminance.
The RGBW display increases luminance of images, but reduces color saturation of the images. Please refer to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating color saturation of an RGB pixel being reduced after adding a white sub-pixel in the CIE1931 chromaticity diagram. Taking pure red light as an example, gray levels of the red, green, and blue sub-pixels are (255, 0, 0). After adding the white sub-pixel, gray levels of the red, green, blue, and white sub-pixels are (255, 0, 0, 255), so color saturation of the pure red light may shift to the left of the CIE1931 chromaticity diagram, that is to say, the color saturation of the pure red light is reduced.


A fuel cell includes a membrane-electrode assembly, an anode separator and a cathode separator disposed at both sides of the membrane-electrode assembly, wherein the anode separator includes a hydrogen adsorption portion formed in a hydrogen reaction channel in which hydrogen flows.

A fuel cell system is a kind of power generation system for generating electric energy via an electrochemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen by a fuel cell. In general, fuel cell systems have been applied to fuel cell vehicles.
The fuel cell of the fuel cell system is configured by disposing separators (separating plates or bipolar plates) at both sides of a membrane-electrode assembly (MEA). The separator may form a reaction channel for supplying hydrogen and air to the membrane-electrode assembly and a cooling channel for circulating a coolant. The fuel cell generates electric energy via an electrochemical reaction between hydrogen and air and incidentally generates heat and water.
However, during the winter season with a low external temperature, water may be locally frozen in the reaction channel of the separator, causing ice that blocks the flow of hydrogen and air that move along the reaction channel.
If the reaction channel of the separator is clogged by ice blocking at the time of cold starting the fuel cell, the amount of hydrogen supplied to the membrane-electrode assembly through the reaction channel can be low.
According to conventional art, as hydrogen supplied to a membrane-electrode assembly becomes insufficient, the membrane-electrode assembly is non-reversibly degraded. This can degrade the performance of a fuel cell.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the disclosure and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.


The present invention includes an optical fiber cable configuration comprising fibers that are grouped into buffer tubes or buffer cells, containing fiber bundles or ribbon stacks, using a lightweight fabric-type composite tape material to serve as a light-weight strength member and protective low-thermal-expansion sheath. A plurality of the buffer tubes or buffer cells of various shapes are then positioned upon another piece of composite tape material. Gel or foamy glue is placed on the tape and is used to secure the buffer tubes to the tape. A triangular or trapezoidal stack is then formed by rolling the tape to enclose the buffer tubes and excess gel serves to fill in gaps. Multiple stacks may then be stranded to form a larger super-cable structure that uses a piece of composite tape material along with the rolling process, as described above, to support the individual stacks.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the field of fiber optic cables, in particular the present invention is directed to a new and novel method and apparatus for supporting and packaging optical fibers.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Optical fibers are very small diameter glass strands which are capable of transmitting an optical signal over great distances, at very high speeds, and with relatively low signal loss as compared to standard wire or cable networks. Optical fibers are used in many areas of technology, and because of this development, there is a growing need to have fiber optic cable configurations which can provide adequate support for the optical fibers, and which are sized so that they can be effectively used in various environments.
An example of a common fiber optic cable cross-section can be seen in FIG. 1. At the center of the cable is a central strength member 1. The central strength member 1 can be made from a number of different materials, such as hard plastic, glass, or a glass reinforced composite and is used as a load bearing member for the cable, as well as for supporting the inner sides of buffer tubes 2 that are typically stranded around the central strength member in a helical path. Although FIG. 1 shows six buffer tubes 2, the quantity can increase or decrease depending on the particular application the cable is to be used for. Within each buffer tube 2 is a plurality of individual optical fibers 3. The optical fibers 3 can be configured in any number of ways. For example, within each buffer tube 2 there can be a stacked ribbon configuration (as shown in FIG. 1) where each ribbon has a plurality of individual fibers and there are a number of ribbons. Alternatively, the fibers 3 can be configured as bundles inside the buffer tube. The configuration will greatly depend on the use and application of the cable. Finally, the outer jacket 4 provides protection to the internal components of the cable, while aiding to keep all of the components together. The outer jacket 4 provides protection from the adverse physical elements that a cable can be exposed to during its use and installation.
Conventional optical fiber configurations, as shown in FIG. 1, use extruded thermoplastic materials for the outer jackets 4 and buffer tubes 2 to protect the fibers 3 and to create housings. Unfortunately, these materials contract too much at low temperatures causing deformation of the fibers. To minimize contraction, the diameter of the central strength member 1 can be increased or radial steel wires can be inserted in the jacket. Strength yarns 5 are also used to increase tensile strength. These additional elements increase the size of the cable and add to the overall cost. Thus, a high fiber count cable is needed that provides sufficient support for the optical fibers while not substantially increasing the cross-sectional size and weight of the cable.
The present invention is directed to eliminating the above problems associated with the use of various thermoplastics and multiple components, to form optical fiber configurations. Thus, the invention improves the quality of the optical fiber cable while reducing the cross-section size, number of components and weight.
The present invention addresses the above problems by providing an optical fiber configuration and method. The optical fiber configuration comprises fibers that are grouped by buffer tubes using a lightweight fabric-type composite tape material to serve as a strength member. The configuration is manufactured by first providing a plurality of optical fibers upon the composite tape material. Gel or foamy glue is placed on the tape and is used as a filler and an adhesive to secure the optical fibers to the tape. A buffer tube is then formed by rolling the composite tape or helically wrapping the tape around the fibers such that the tape takes on a tube shape and surrounds the fibers. Furthermore, multiple buffer tubes may be bundled together to form a stack. This is done by providing an additional piece of composite material having gel on one side, and placing the buffer tubes on the gel side of the composite tape material. The stack is then formed by rolling the tape to enclose the buffer tubes while excess gel serves to fill in gaps. Multiple stacks may then be stranded to form a larger cable that uses another piece of composite tape material along with an additional rolling process, similar to that described above. The individual stacks may be formed to have a triangular or trapezoidal shape for efficient packaging.
Thus, the present invention provides an optical cable configuration with improved quality while reducing the cross-section size, number of components and weight. The configuration employs innovative geometry and cost-effective materials for both dielectric and armored optical fiber cables. The tape provides a way of supporting and manipulating the optical fibers without extensive reliance on extruded plastic tubes or additional strength members, resulting in a reduced diameter. The fibers can be grouped into traditional buffer tubes or cell structures for easy identification. Additionally, with the increased number of fibers, a self-supporting effect is created that permits the fibers to carry an increased amount of external load, which further reduces excessive reliance on expensive and space-consuming strength members.


This invention provides an image forming apparatus that includes a storage area to store a print job. Whether the type of printing medium set in the received print job is the same as the type of printing medium provided in the image forming apparatus is determined. Print processing is suspended after storing the print job in the storage area when it is determined that the former type is not the same as the latter type, and the suspension time for which the print job has been suspended is measured. The suspension time is compared with a predetermined period, and the print job is deleted from the storage area when the suspension time reaches the predetermined period.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus which receives a print job and performs print processing, a method of controlling the image forming apparatus, and a storage medium storing a program.
2. Description of the Related Art
A print system includes a host computer that generates and transmits a print job to an image forming apparatus, and a print apparatus (image forming apparatus), which prints using the print job received from the host computer. In such a print system, the print job received by the image forming apparatus describes, for example, the arrangement and expression method of texts, images, etc., and the type and size of printing medium used. The image forming apparatus analyzes the received print job to rasterize it into a bitmap image. The rasterized image is printed on the conveyed printing medium using a printing member such as a photosensitive drum or a printing head.
With the recent improvements in image quality and functionality and increase in size of image forming apparatuses, the size of print data designated in a print job is increasing. Hence, an image forming apparatus, which includes a built-in mass storage device typified by a hard disk, has come to be widely used so as to handle large-size data inside the apparatus. In such an image forming apparatus, a hard disk is not only simply used as a buffer memory for print processing but also used as a device for implementing functions having various kinds of added values. In, for example, printing a plurality of copies of print data, after the print data is transmitted from the host computer to the image forming apparatus only once and stored in the hard disk, it is read out from the hard disk by a number of times equal to the number of copies, and is printed. Also, if the printing in progress fails due to, for example, a paper jam, the print data is read out again from the hard disk and printed again.
Moreover, a hard disk is used in another use application. When the type of printing medium set in the image forming apparatus is different from that designated in a print job, the image forming apparatus cannot normally print this job and therefore abnormally stops. When the image forming apparatus has stopped as in this case for a long period of time, it cannot print subsequent print jobs that match the type of printing medium set in this apparatus, either. To avoid this, in such a case, the image forming apparatus suspends print processing for the print job that cannot be normally printed, and temporarily saves it in the hard disk (such a print job will be referred to as a pending job hereinafter), instead of abnormally stopping. The image forming apparatus prints subsequent print jobs ahead of the pending job, thereby being prevented from becoming unavailable because of its abnormal stop (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-29123).
Unfortunately, as the number of pending jobs increases, the free space on the hard disk may run short. When this occurs, the image forming apparatus cannot perform print processing even when it receives a new print job from the host computer.

Image forming apparatus, method of controlling image forming apparatus, and storage medium storing program


Disclosed are a voice recognition system and a construction method for the voice recognition system. By way of layering the system, a general semantic recognition operation for the system is separated from a specific semantic recognition operation for an application program; and by way of classifying the application programs and abstracting out a common performance function, the system can find the application program matching the voice content semantics very efficiently and a third-party program is easily added into the existing voice recognition system. The present invention maps the performance function to a regular expression with semantic variables, so that the system can recognize more semantic expression manners with optimization of the semantic recognition. Therefore, the system can show more humanized characteristics.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure generally relates to the field of voice recognition technology, in particular to a distributed voice recognition system and a construction method.
2. Description of Related Art
Traditionally a voice recognition system provides voice recognition for input voice through a voice recognition module in a client or a cloud server, and the semantic recognition process is based on a pre established syntax analysis tree to identify the speech content and call a corresponding application program to complete the operation, such as SIRI, GOOGLE NOW.
The traditional voice recognition system described above intends to establish a general system that can fully understand people's intention. The execution of the identified operations generally occurs in a pre-established speech recognition system database or application. This approach can better control the scope of the operation of the semantic recognition and make the semantic recognition more close to people's understanding of speech. But there are a large number of third party applications on the system, this approach makes it impossible to perform operations against third party applications, even if these operations have been identified by the system. At the same time, the user is concerned about the different sites, because of the different data sources, the results from the same search requests are also different. In addition, in order to allow the third-party application to use the speech recognition function, a simple speech recognition module needs to be added or a cloud voice development library of the third-party needs to be applied, and then regular expressions and corresponding operations are uploaded to the semantic recognition library. In this way, the semantic recognition database of the third party cannot be found by other programs, and the operation can only occur in the third party application or database.

Voice recognition system and construction method thereof


A fireball generator device comprising a steel cylindrical main housing having first and second threaded end caps. A shotgun shell is encased in a barrel member and locked in place with a screw-on housing. When the shell is fired, the gases expelled by the shell push a knife blade forward into a gas container positioned within the main housing. The moving knife blade ruptures the gas container and the gas therein escapes and the powder gas from the shotgun shell ignites the gas escaping from the container creating various visual effects, such as a fireball.

1. Field of the Invention
A reusable device for producing a safe and consistent sized gas fireball effect for various non-destructive device uses.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Devices for producing fireballs have been available in the prior art. The typical prior art device comprises black powder contained in a carboard cup, capped and wrapped tightly with tape and placed on a fuel source such as gasoline, in a non-metal container.
The prior art fireball generators have at least one important limitation; once ignited, the device can not be reused.
Co-pending application Ser. No. 11/199,861 of common inventorship discloses a reuseable special effects audible and visual fireball generator device which comprises a cylindrical main housing having end caps mounted at each end. A gas container is positioned within the housing and a knife blade is mounted within the housing adjacent one end cap. A holder containing a predetermined amount of black sporting powder is secured within the housing adjacent the other end cap. When the black sporting powder is ignited, the gas container is forced against the knife blade, rupturing the tank. The released liquid gas mixes with air and the black sporting powder igniting the mixture and providing a fireball effect.
Although the device disclosed in the '861 application performs very well, it would be desireable if a device could produce the same visual effects without the use of black powder and an electric ignitor.


A user-manager server device includes: registration information on a local group including a domain user separately from a domain group managed by a directory server device, and authorization information on the domain group, the domain user, and/or the local group. When a logged-in user belongs to the local group, an authorization processing unit transmits the authorization information on the local group to a multifunction periphery (MFP) as the authorization information corresponding to the logged-in user. When the logged-in user does not belong to the local group, the authorization processing unit transmits the authorization information on one of the domain group and the domain user to the MFP as the authorization information corresponding to the logged-in user.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming system, an image forming apparatus and an image forming method.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, directory services such as Active Directory and e-Directory have been introduced to manage users and devices in a networked system. Some image forming apparatuses such as a printer, a copier, and a multifunction peripheral (MFP) have a network function, which performs management of users and groups by the directory service. To perform the management of the users by the directory service, a user authentication for a user who has performed a login operation to the image forming apparatus is performed on the server device for the directory service.
On the image forming apparatus, an authorization process using only a function permitted to a logged-in user among various functions is performed. In the authorization process, authorization information specifying a function which is permitted or prohibited for use has been previously set on the image forming apparatus for each user, and some functions to be used by the logged-in user are limited by the authorization information.
In addition, there is a system providing the image forming apparatus with the authorization information corresponding to the logged-in user, by an intermediate server device including the authorization information for each user. In this system, the intermediate server device performs centralized management of the authorization information for each user, but it is difficult to flexibly set the authorization information on users and groups.
For example, in a case of setting the authorization information on a group different from a domain group in the directory service, the authorization information cannot be set collectively, and hence the authorization information must be set for each of a plurality of users belonging to the group. This makes work of setting the authorization information complicated. It is possible to additionally set the authorization information in the directory service on a group basis, but there is a fear that bad influence may be exerted upon the directory service that is already in operation in a company or the like.

Image forming system, image forming apparatus, and method for creating, maintaining, and applying authorization information


A miniature transducer having an ultrathin tensioned silicon diaphragm so as to be responsive to extremely small changes in pressure. A silicon wafer is masked to define diaphragm areas, and etched to form a setback or capacitor gap a predefined depth. The mask is removed, and the entire silicon wafer is etched a second time to achieve the desired diaphragm thickness. The first and second etches are carried out independently, and thus the capacitor gap and diaphragm thickness can be independently formed. Mask and metallizing steps are carried out on glass wafers, and sandwiched around the processed semiconductor wafer, whereupon a large number of the miniature transducers are fabricated simultaneously. Unique patterning, etching and metallizing steps carried out on the sandwich structure allow a number of quadrature unit cells to be formed, thereby maximizing the area of the semiconductor and glass structures. By proper selection of materials, the diaphragm is tensioned during the fabrication of the transducer structures.

Transducers are devices which function generally to convert an input of one form into an output of another form or magnitude. Many types of transducers are available for converting light to electrical signals, mechanical energy to electrical signals, temperature to pressure, pressure to electrical signals, etc., and vice versa. In other instances, transducers can simply modify an input stimulus, such as change an input pressure to another pressure, an input amplitude to a different output amplitude, etc. Equipment or apparatus which operates between different types of energy generally requires one type of transducer or another. Based upon the application, transducers can range from inexpensive to very expensive, depending on the precision, accuracy, reliability, etc. required
In the present market, the largest number of pressure to voltage conversion devices (pressure transducers) are piezoresistive. These devices are strain sensitive rather than displacement sensitive. However, for pressure ranges less than a psi FS (Full Span), capacitive displacement transducers are predominantly employed. The capacitance is sensed by electrical circuits to provide an output voltage corresponding to the change in pressure. Highly developed silicon semiconductor processing techniques have given rise to the use of such material as flexible clamped transducer diaphragms which move in response to pressure and provide an output change in electrical resistance or capacitance. Such transducers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,495,820; 4,424,713; 4,390,925 and 4,542,435. The use of silicon semiconductor material as a pressure transducer diaphragm is a relatively new innovation, and thus many fabrication and operational uncertainties still exist For example, the characterization and mathematical modeling of silicon, when employed as a flexible membrane, is not well known. Therefore, it has been difficult to predict silicon diaphragm transducer performance which exhibits predefined characteristics over a wide range of applications. In addition, the fabrication of such type of transducer has been accompanied by many problems, one of which is that such a conductive diaphragm of the clamped type must be fixed or anchored at its peripheral edge, and electrically insulated from spaced capacitor plates Such an interface requires different materials with the attendant problems of attachment, relative temperature expansion, uniform spacing, stability, reliability and a host of other concerns
The demand for pressure transducers with increased sensitivity has always been high because the market for flow transducers using differential pressure techniques has always been larger than the entire pressure transducer market. This market has been largely unserved for lack of low cost, high sensitivity differential pressure transducers. Recently, this already high demand has been growing because energy conservation and control needs in the heating ventilation and air conditioning area (HVAC) have required more sensitive, precise and accurate flow transduction at a lower cost. In capacitive displacement type transducers, such increased sensitivity is generally achieved by increasing the diameter of the flexible diaphragm. As a result, large diaphragm diameters have been utilized to provide the desired sensitivity. It can be appreciated that with such a construction, such transducers are costly, not easily mass produced and require a lot of space for implementation. In addition, with large diameter diaphragms, the use of silicon makes the transducer economically impractical. Among other disadvantages of many large, metal diaphragm transducers is that an overpressure, even momentarily, often stretches or completely damages the diaphragm and renders the transducer unusable The typical overpressure (proof pressure) for psi ranged transducers is from 1 to 10 times FS. The required overpressure for high sensitivity differential pressure transducers in flow applications is often 10 to 100 times FS and occasionally 1000 times FS. These needs cannot be met by large diameter metal diaphragm devices with proportionally larger gaps.
It can be seen that a need exists for a miniature pressure transducer of the capacitive displacement type which is cost effective and mass producible employing new silicon fabrication and micromachining processes at a wafer level. A need also exists for a miniature transducer, and method of fabrication thereof, in which the sensitivity is not compromised based on size, and in which a large number of transducers can be fabricated in a batch process utilizing semiconductor masking, patterning and deposition technology. There also exists a need for a highly sensitive, small diameter diaphragm which can be overpressured without damage to the unit.

High sensitivity miniature pressure transducer


An apparatus (1) is proposed for drying and heat-treating pellets with a stream of inert gas, wherein the apparatus has a cuboid base unit (2) with a feed (3) for the pellets in its upper part and an outlet (4) in its lower part, with a feed (5) on one lateral surface and with an exhaust base (6) on the opposite lateral surface of the cuboid base unit (2) for the stream of inert gas, and also with distribution and retention equipment (7, 8) in the region of the feed (5) and, respectively, of the exhaust (6) for the stream of inert gas, where each of these extends essentially over the entire vertical cross section of the cuboid base unit (2).

The invention relates to an apparatus for drying and heat-treating pellets with a stream of inert gas, to a process for drying polycondensate pellets in the solid phase using the apparatus of the invention, to a system for drying and postcondensing polycondensate pellets in the solid phase with at least one apparatus of the invention, and also to a use.
Polycondensates, predominantly prepared by melt polycondensation, have to be dried and generally subjected to posttreatment to remove monomers and oligomers, and also to postcondensation to increase molecular weight.
A proven device for drying and postcondensing polyamide pellets is the tower dryer described in DE-A 2 530 304, for example, also termed an annealing tower. The tower dryer is a tall cylindrical device through which polycondensate pellets are passed from the top to the bottom and a hot inert gas, frequently nitrogen, is passed in countercurrent. The polycondensate pellets are generally moist, since in an upstream process step they have been subjected to water washing in order to reduce the content of oligomers and monomers. What takes place in the tower dryer is firstly drying of the pellets and secondly heating of the pellets to a product-specific temperature for solid-phase condensation. The stream of inert gas emerging at the head of the tower dryer is cleaned of dust and, by cooling below the dew point, of moisture. It is passed back into the tower dryer after heating and, if desired, after removal of traces of oxygen. The location at which the inert gas is fed into the tower dryer is primarily a function of the diameter of the tower: specifically, the bed height above the gas entry has to be sufficient to ensure sufficiently uniform distribution of the stream of inert gas. In practice, the lower limit for the ratio of bed height to tower diameter is from 1.3 to 2. Substantially uniform distribution of the stream of inert gas is a precondition for very uniform drying of the pellets, and this in turn is important for very low variation in the viscosity number from grain to grain. The large bed height in the drying zone, relative to the tower diameter, is a result of the requirement for substantially uniform distribution and means that, particularly for high drying or annealing temperatures, the residence times for the pellets are many times greater than the residence time required by the kinetics of drying. In addition, the high pressure loss requires a corresponding blower rating, with relatively high energy costs. Another disadvantage of the tower dryer is that the amount of inert gas is restricted by the fluidization point of the pellets. In order not to exceed the fluidization point, therefore, high-capacity systems have to be designed with correspondingly large tower diameters. However, these large tower diameters make it more difficult to achieve plug flow in the tower dryer, and this flow is important for low variation in viscosity number from grain to grain. The large tower diameters, taken together with the uniform distribution of the stream of inert gas, also increase the abovementioned energy costs.
Another disadvantage of carrying out drying and annealing in a single device, for example a tower dryer such as that described in DE-A 2 530 304, is low flexibility in relation to changes in throughput or residence time, and also in relation to the preparation of products with different molar mass and/or under different annealing conditions.
DE-A 4 326 105 therefore proposes a device for preheating and drying upstream of the tower dryer, thus decoupling the drying process and the annealing process. This proposal provides two fluidized-bed devices upstream of the tower device, the first of these having an effervescent fluidized bed and the second having a fluidized bed with plug-flow characteristics. In continuously operating fluidized beds, the product to be dried is generally placed on an inflow plate, frequently a perforated plate, a bar screen or a specifically designed plate, where the hot drying gas passes through the product from the bottom to the top. The gas velocity set here is such that the product is held in flotation, but not pneumatically conveyed or discharged. The moving product behaves like a liquid. If the product is fed continuously on one side, it flows out from the discharge opening on the other side. The gas therefore has a number of tasks: it is firstly responsible for fluidizing and secondly serves as a medium for heat transfer and mass transfer. The intensive heat transfer and mass transfer in fluidized-bed devices makes them fundamentally suitable for rapid heating and drying. However, in the case of products with slow drying kinetics, for example nylon-6, the gas flow needed for product transport is insufficiently utilized, and therefore the use of fluidized-bed devices in such cases is not very cost-effective.
A further disadvantage of fluidized-bed devices is that the product residence time distribution is broader than in the tower dryer, due to well-developed fluidization. As a result, the moisture content of the product is non-uniform at the exit from the fluidized-bed device, and therefore at the entrance to the downstream holding device. The solid-phase condensation in the holding device for further increasing the molar mass downstream is highly susceptible to non-uniform moisture content of the pellets entering. This results in variations in relative viscosity from grain to grain, and these impair product quality, for example for high-speed spinning. Another disadvantage of fluidized-bed devices is the relatively severe mechanical stress placed on the pellets due to fluidization and the resultant formation of dust.
It is an object of the present invention, in contrast, to provide a device which serves for drying and heat-treating pellets with a stream of inert gas, and which is more cost-effective, and which ensures that the product residence time distribution is narrow, that the flow rate of inert gas is markedly increased due to lack of any dependency on a fluidization point, and consequently that capacity is markedly increased. In addition, a process should be provided which decouples the drying process and the annealing process and avoids the disadvantages of the known processes.
We have found that this object is achieved by an apparatus for drying and heat-treating pellets with a stream of inert gas. The apparatus of the invention has a cuboid base unit with a feed for the pellets in its upper part and an outlet in its lower part, with a feed on one lateral surface and with an exhaust on the opposite lateral surface of the cuboid base unit for the stream of inert gas, and also with distribution and retention equipment in the region of the feed and, respectively, of the exhaust for the stream of inert gas, where each of these extends essentially over the entire vertical cross section of the cuboid base unit.
We have found that the process object of the invention is achieved by means of a process for drying polycondensate pellets in the solid phase, by
a. in one or more devices, drying the polycondensate pellets and heating the same at between a minimum temperature of 105-120xc2x0 C. and a maximum temperature 2xc2x0 C. below their softening point,
b. then treating the same in a holding device, and
c. then cooling the same in a cooling device, and selecting an apparatus of the invention, at least as the device(s) in stage a.
Pellets usually have the form of grains with a particle size of from 1.5 to 5 mm, in particular from 2 to 3 mm. The pellets may be cylindrical, spherical or lenticular. The pellets used according to the invention are preferably polycondensate pellets, in particular polyester pellets or polyamide pellets.
Polycondensates are polymers prepared by condensing monomers with elimination of low-molecular-weight compounds. Polycondensates, preferably polyesters or polyamides, are known to the skilled worker and have been described many times in the literature, and no more detailed information is therefore needed here.
It is preferable to use semicrystalline polycondensates.
Preferred polyamides are polycaprolactam (nylon-6), polyhexamethyleneadipamide (nylon-6,6), copolymers of these, or else partly aromatic copolyamides based on terephthalic acid and, if desired, isophthalic acid, 5-sulfoisophthalic acid, adipic acid, hexamethylenediamine and caprolactam.
Preferred polyesters are polyalkylene terephthalates, in particular polyethylene terephthalate (PETP) and polybutylene terephthalate (PBTP).
In one preferred embodiment, the polycondensates used comprise fillers, reinforcing agents and conventional additives and processing agents, the amounts generally being from 0.1 to 90% by weight, preferably from 10 to 75% by weight and particularly from 20 to 70% by weight, based on the polycondensate.
The polycondensates used may be low-molecular-weight polymers intended for reaction to give high-molecular-weight polymers, particularly if fillers and/or other additives have previously been added to these low-molecular-weight polymers (direct compounding). Higher-molecular-weight polymers intended for adjustment to a desired (final) molecular weight, particularly in pursuance of a secondary processing step, are also accessible. Molecular weight changes, e.g. molecular-weight-increase or degradation reactions, may take place during the processing step, for example due to energy introduction or shear, or chemical reaction with additives.
The drying and heat-treatment takes place with a stream of inert gas. The inert gases present may in particular be nitrogen or superheated steam. For energy-related reasons it is preferable to use superheated steam, i.e. steam at from 120 to 230xc2x0 C. It is preferable for the inert gas to be recirculated, the stream of inert gas emerging from the apparatus being passed through dust-removal equipment, such as a cyclone or filter, and, after reheating, being reintroduced into the apparatus. If the inert gas used comprises steam, the excess steam is discharged (partial discharge). If nitrogen is used, the entire stream of inert gas is run through a condensation cooler or a scrubbing column, so that it is cooled and any water present condensed out.
The apparatus has a cuboid base unit, the shape of which is determined by the lateral surface subjected to the stream of inert gas and by the width of the apparatus measured perpendicular to this lateral surface. The width, in combination with the flow of inert gas, has a direct effect on the pressure loss arising through the bed of pellets within the device, and thus on the energy costs incurred. For throughputs of pellets relevant to industry, the width of the device is generally greater than 0.1 m, preferably greater than 0.2 m. Rising energy costs place an upper limit on the width, which is usually not more than 1 m, preferably 0.6 m and particularly preferably 0.4 m.
The geometric dimensions of the apparatus (device width and lateral surface area supplied with inert gas), and also the throughput of inert gas through the apparatus, can be regarded as three independent variables for a given throughput of pellets and for a given fall in moisture level within the apparatus. Criteria which play an important part in determining these are in particular optimization with respect to energy costs and design requirements, and also the temperature level desired or required for the downstream solid-phase condensation.
For industrially relevant throughputs of pellets, generally from 300 to 12 000 kg/h, and for a given fall in moisture level, which, particularly for polyamide pellets, is generally from an initial moisture level of from about 11 to 15% by weight to below 1% by weight, in particular to below about 0.2% by weight, and at industrially relevant throughputs of inert gas of from about 2000 to 100 000 Nm3/h, and at a device width, limited by the energy costs which have to be met, of from 0.1 to 1 m, preferably from 0.2 to 0.6 m, particularly preferably from 0.2 to 0.4 m, the dimensions for that lateral surface of the cuboid base unit in contact with inert gas are from 1 to 50 m2, preferably from 1 to 30 m2. Higher throughput of pellets result in correspondingly larger amounts of inert gas and also, where appropriate, larger lateral surface areas of the cuboid base units.
The following example illustrates the dimensioning of the apparatus as a function of a given drying task:
Based on a throughput of 4000 kg/h of pellets and on lowering the moisture content from 11 to 0.2% by weight at a drying temperature of 180xc2x0 C., with a throughput of 25 000 Nm3/h of inert gas and a preselected device width of 0.3 m, the resultant surface area required to receive the stream of inert gas is 18 m2. The residence time resulting from the throughput of pellets and from the volume of the device is 53 minutes. If the amount of gas is increased to 40 000 Nm3/h, while the remaining parameters remain unchanged, the surface area required to receive the stream of gas is only 10 m2, and the residence time falls to about 30 minutes.
If the device width is lowered, the surface area required to receive the stream of gas rises drastically: for example, at a device width of 0.1 m and with other drying parameters unchanged, the surface areas required to receive the stream are 150 m2 (at a throughput of 25 000 Nm3/h of inert gas) and, respectively, 95 m2 (at a throughput of 40 000 Nm3/h of gas).
When superheated steam is used, as is advantageous for cost-effectiveness, the flow of inert gas is usually from about 2 to 8 kg of steam per kg of pellets, preferably from about 4 to 6 kg of steam per kg of pellets. Lower throughputs of steam lead to steam temperatures below 100xc2x0 C. in the product-entry region. This causes water to condense on the product and is undesirable.
The distribution and retention equipment in the region of the feed and exhaust for the stream of inert gas serves for uniform gas distribution, and also for retention of the pellets. Each of these pieces of equipment extends essentially over the entire vertical cross section of the cuboid base unit, and they are preferably vertical plates penetrated by passages. The vertical plates penetrated by passages are preferably perforated sheets or bar screens. Use may be made of CONIDUR(copyright) fine-perforation sheets or RIMA(copyright) or CORIMA(copyright) bar screens from Hein, Lehmann Trenn-und Fxc3x6rdertechnik GmbH. The design of the distribution and retention equipment in the region of the feed for the stream of inert gas is such that the pressure loss is from about 10 to 50 mbar and thus markedly over 10% of the pressure loss for the entire bed of pellets. The second piece of distribution and retention equipment, arranged in the region of the exhaust for the stream of inert gas, may have been designed for lower pressure losses; only minimal mechanical strength is required here, to prevent pellets from escaping. At customary pellet grain dimensions of from about 2 to 3 mm, the plates selected are those perforated by passages of dimensions from 0.5 to 1 mm, while finer pellets correspondingly require the use of plates perforated by smaller passages.
In one preferred embodiment, the flow of inert gas is set to reduce from the top to the bottom over the vertical cross-section of the cuboid base unit. The reduction here in the flow of inert gas may be either continuous or else preferably discontinuous. The reduction in the flow of inert gas from the top to the bottom reduces the amount of inert gas required for an identical drying task, with a corresponding improvement in cost-effectiveness. The following example illustrates this: based on a throughput of 4000 kg/h of pellets and a lowering of the moisture content from 11 to 0.2% by weight at a drying temperature of 180xc2x0 C., and with a dryer width of 0.4 m, and with a surface area of 10 m2 to receive the stream, a constant stream of 25 000 Nm3/h of inert gas is required. The same drying task can also be achieved with three substreams of inert gas, reducing over the height of the apparatus from the top to the bottom, specifically a first substream of 10 800 Nm3/h of inert gas in the upper region with a velocity 1.16 m/sec, a second substream of 4000 Nm3/h of inert gas in the central region with a velocity of 0.65 m/sec, and a third substream of 3600 Nm3/h of inert gas in the lower region of the apparatus with a velocity of 0.58 m/sec. The total flow of gas required can thus be reduced from 25 000 to 18 400 Nm3/h. The resultant energy saving is about 10%.
In another preferred embodiment, the stream of inert gas is fed, in each case via distribution and retention equipment, to one lateral surface of two or more cuboid base units arranged in parallel, and exhausted, in each case via distribution and retention equipment, at the opposite lateral surface in each case. The parallel arrangement of at least two cuboid base units makes it possible to divide the stream of pellets among the units and thus to ensure that the design of the apparatus is compact. The stream of inert gas is divided among the cuboid base units supplied with pellets, then brought together again after passing through the beds of pellets, and then passed through the joint dust-removal system, for example using a cyclone, by way of a blower and a heater.
The invention also provides a continuous process for drying polycondensate pellets in the solid phase, by
a. in one or more devices, drying the polycondensate pellets and heating the same at between a minimum temperature of 105-120xc2x0 C. and a maximum temperature 2xc2x0 C. below their softening point,
b. then treating the same in a holding device, and
c. then cooling the same in a cooling device, and selecting an apparatus of the invention, at least as the device(s) in stage a.
After their preparation, polycondensates and particularly polyamide condensates still comprise residual monomers, and also linear and cyclic oligomers. The content of residual monomers and oligomers is generally below 2%, but can in individual cases be substantially higher, particularly for hydrolytic melt polymerization, where contents of from 9 to 12% are generally encountered. Since the residual monomers and oligomers cause problems in the downstream stages of processing, in particular through formation of deposits and coatings on the devices used, the residual monomers and oligomers have to be removed, usually by extraction, particularly by countercurrent extraction with water. The pellets downstream of the extraction stage are therefore moist and in the case of nylon-6 pellets generally have a water content of from 11 to 15% by weight, in particular from 12 to 14% by weight. To avoid any hydrolytic degradation during the processing downstream, the moist polycondensate pellets have to be thoroughly dried, desirable moisture contents being not more than about 0.1% by weight.
It has been found that moist polycondensate pellets can be dried in the solid phase with a stream of inert gas in an apparatus of the invention, the pellets and the inert gas being conducted in crossflow. The moist polycondensate pellets here are heated to a temperature between a minimum temperature of 105-120xc2x0 C. and a maximum temperature 2xc2x0 C. below their softening point, this softening point being defined as the temperature at which more than 2% of all the particles have agglomerated, sintered or developed interlocked surfaces. The softening point of the polycondensate is substantially dependent on its chemical structure and degree of crystallinity, and also on the nature and amount of additives. In the case of nylon-6 the softening point is generally at or above about 190-195xc2x0 C. The abovementioned fall in moisture level is achieved by appropriate setting of the residence time of the pellets in the crossflow device of the invention. For example, nylon-6 pellets can be dried from an initial moisture level of from 11 to 15% by weight to a moisture content of about 1% by weight in a crossflow device of the invention in about 30 minutes at from 180 to 195xc2x0 C. Longer residence times give correspondingly lower moisture contents. The drying kinetics are temperature-dependent: lower temperatures require longer residence times.
Particularly for large-scale systems, it can be advantageous to arrange two or more crossflow devices in series with intermediate heating of the stream of inert gas, thus improving the distribution of inert gas and improving the uniformity of the heating and drying of the pellets.
The extensively dried, heated pellets then pass into a holding device, where solid-phase condensation brings about a further increase in molar mass and the pellets are post-dried, in the case of nylon-6 particularly to a residual moisture level below 0.06% by weight.
The holding device used may advantageously comprise a tower dryer through which the polycondensate flows under gravity. Various residence times can be set via the level of pellets in the tower, and thus products can be prepared with different molecular weights at a high temperature level.
In the tower dryer it is expedient to exclude atmospheric oxygen by running a gentle stream of fresh nitrogen through the device in countercurrent to the polycondensate.
However besides this method of operation with what is known as an inactive tower, i.e. with only a gentle stream of nitrogen, it is possible to use what is known as an active tower, with additional circulation of inert gas. In this case it is possible either to link the inert gas circuits of crossflow device and tower device with one another, or else to operate these separately.
This version of the process with an active tower dryer is particularly of interest for increasing the capacity of existing tower dryers by using an additional, upstream crossflow dryer.
The sole task of the crossflow dryer is then to dry the pellets from an initial moisture level of about 12% to a moisture level of about 6%.
In the downstream tower dryer, with its own gas circuit (or linked to the crossflow dryer) there is then further drying to moisture contents below 0.06% by weight.
The dimensioning of the crossflow dryer for a drying task of this type may be illustrated by the following example:
Taking a tower dryer with a throughput of 4000 kg/h of pellets and with an initial moisture level of 12% by weight for the pellets, and with a final moisture level of 0.06% by weight, arranging a crossflow dryer upstream can increase the throughput through the tower dryer to 8000 kg/h for the same initial and final moisture levels. The crossflow dryer here has a width of 0.4 m, a surface area of 5 m2 to receive the flow, and a volume flow of 11 000 Nm3/h of steam at a steam entry temperature of 180xc2x0 C. The moisture level of the pellets is lowered here in the crossflow dryer from 12 to 6% by weight.
The polycondensate pellets leaving the holding device are then cooled (process stage c) in a cooling device, and according to the invention a crossflow device is used for this purpose. The temperature of the polycondensate pellets here is generally lowered to 30-60xc2x0 C., preferably 40-50xc2x0 C. The cooling gas used may be any gas or gas mixture usual for this purpose, in particular nitrogen or air, preferably air.
The invention also provides a system for drying and postcondensing polycondensate pellets in the solid phase with at least one crossflow device for drying and heating the polycondensate pellets used with a holding device connected thereto, particularly a tower dryer, and also with a cooling device, in particular a cross-flow device.
The process and the system are particularly suitable for drying and postcondensing polycondensate pellets, in particular polyester pellets or polyamide pellets, particularly preferably nylon-6 pellets.
The crossflow device combines the advantages of the known tower devices and fluidized-bed devices: for example, as with the tower there is a narrow residence time distribution for the pellets. In addition, the thicknesses selected for the pellet layers in the drying zone can be very much lower than in a conventional tower dryer, since the distribution and retention equipment incorporated is efficient in achieving uniform gas distribution. As a result, the pressure losses are substantially lower, thus giving a lower required blower rating and finally lower energy costs.
The flow of inert gas may moreover be varied within wide boundaries, since, unlike in the fluidized-bed device, the pellets are not transported by the inert gas, but by gravity. The lower limit for the flow of inert gas here depends on the thickness selected for the layer of pellets, on the throughput of pellets, on the specified parameters for the fall in moisture level and the heating of the pellets.
Unlike in the known tower devices and fluidized-bed devices, the upper limit for the flow of inert gas is not given by the fluidization point of the pellets. The design features, particularly the distribution and retention equipment, enable the amount of inert gas to be raised above the amount of inert gas associated with the fluidization point of the pellets.
The decoupling of drying and postcondensation, and the intensive mass transfer and heat transfer in the crossflow device permit the two process steps, drying and postcondensation, to be operated at a very high temperature level. The fact that the residence time for the pellets in the holding device can be varied means that this is also possible with low-molecular-weight fiber precursors, with the following advantages: firstly, drying and postcondensation can be made considerably faster than in the prior art, even, in particular, for low-molecular-weight fiber precursors. In contrast to processes in known tower devices, with residence times of from 20 to 30 hours, the time for drying and postcondensation can be reduced to about 5 to 12 hours. In this way, higher throughput of pellets can be achieved without any need to enlarge the diameter of the tower device for postcondensation. This makes it easier to ensure that there is plug flow of the pellets, and product quality therefore improves as a consequence of lower viscosity variations from grain to grain.
The intensive heating in the crossflow device, allowing the moist pellets to be heated to very high temperatures within a few minutes, and also in the holding device, which is operated at a high temperature level, bring about a surprisingly marked lowering of the oligomer content in the polycondensate pellets. This fall in content mainly takes place before the product leaves the crossflow device. Since even after an operating time of several months no oligomer deposits of any kind could be observed on the devices, pipelines or machinery of the system, it is assumed that the fall in oligomer content has taken place via reaction with the polymer chain.
This therefore affords an opportunity of providing products with particularly low oligomer content, and in particular caprolactam dimer content, with the corresponding performance advantages, in particular with reduction or elimination of the formation of spinning fume during fiber production, of the formation of coatings on moldings during injection molding, and of coatings on rolls during film production.
Another opportunity afforded is that of increasing throughput in the upstream extraction stage, since permissible contents of in particular caprolactam oligomers are higher than for known processes, because the content of these oligomers is further reduced during the drying and postcondensation carried out according to the invention. The fall in the content of caprolactam oligomers is in fact rate-determining for the extraction process, since the diffusion coefficients and solubilities of the oligomers are markedly lower than those of the monomers.
Another advantage of the crossflow device when compared with the devices known from the prior art is markedly lower energy costs. This may be illustrated in the following example:
To dry a 7 t/h flow of pellets from an initial moisture level of 12% by weight to about 0.2% by weight, the pressure loss brought about in a tower device with a diameter of 4.2 m and a pellet bed of height 5 m above the gas entry, using a flow of about 28 000 kg/h of inert gas through the pellet bed, is about 300 mbar, requiring a blower rating of about 400 kw.
In contrast, the same drying task can be achieved in a crossflow device with, for example, a width of 0.3 m, a surface area of 36 m2 to receive the flow, and a flow of about 50 000 kg/h of inert gas, the pressure loss arising across the bed of pellets and the distribution and retention equipment being merely about 60 mbar. The blower rating required is then about 200 kW, and therefore energy costs are halved in comparison with the process in the conventional device.
The invention is further illustrated below using drawings and examples.
The details shown are as follows:

Device for drying and thermally treating granulates with an inert gas stream


An ultrasonic beam shaping device includes a plate-like beam shaping element formed of opaque material. The beam shaping element has first and second conical surfaces, with a common axis, formed as opposite surface portions of the beam shaping element. A cylindrical aperture is formed in the beam shaping element along the common axis of the first and second conical surfaces such that the cylindrical aperture is also co-axial with the conical surfaces and passes through the conical surfaces. The beam shaping element thus has a circular open end at each conical surface.

This invention relates to ultrasonic liquid level sensing systems, and more particularly to an ultrasonic beam shaping device that tailors the shape of a transducer beam emitted toward a target, tailors the shape of the return beam received by the transducer after being reflected from the target, and diverts from the transducer and target, extraneous unusable portions of the emitted and reflected transducer beams.
In one known automated sample analysis system which employs sample tubes in tube racks, a plurality of containers or sample tubes, capped or uncapped, and of different size and shape may be held in the sample tube racks. The sample tube racks are automatically transported from one location to another within the sample analysis system for selected automated processing operations.
As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,227,053 to Purpura et al, automated processing of sample tubes in sample tube racks is facilitated by developing an ultrasonic profile of the sample tubes. An ultrasonic liquid level sensor provides data relating to the type of sample tubes in the sample tube rack, indicating whether the sample tubes are capped or uncapped, and also provides data relating to the liquid level in the sample tubes, if the tubes are uncapped.
The ultrasonic sensor includes a transducer that is operable as a transmitter and a receiver. For example, the transducer can emit an ultrasonic burst that is transmitted in air toward a target. When the ultrasonic burst strikes the target, a portion of the ultrasonic wave is reflected back toward the transducer. The reflected wave is characterized as an echo or beam and a reflected wave can produce one or more echoes.
When the transducer detects the reflected waves or echoes it functions as a receiver. The time lapse between the emission of an ultrasonic burst and the detection of the echo provides data for determining the type of container that is targeted by the transducer.
It is known that an ultrasonic burst diverges and propagates along its travel path as a cone shaped wave. The diversionary spread of the cone shaped wave can extend relatively far beyond the peripheral extremities of a particular target container, such that the echoes may produce relatively indistinct imaging of the container profile as shown, for example, in FIG. 10. An ultrasonic beam of narrower cone width produces echoes that provide higher resolution profiling and a more distinct imaging of the container profile as shown, for example, in FIGS. 11 and 12.
In order to produce an ultrasonic beam transmission having a narrow cone-width it is usually necessary to provide an ultrasonic crystal having a geometry and size that corresponds to a narrow-cone beam emission. However, ultrasonic beam transmissions that have a narrow-cone beam emission pattern generally have reduced emitted energy and reduced sensing range, which can adversely affect the resolution capability of an ultrasonic sensing system.
It is thus desirable to provide a system and method for high resolution profiling of targets, with an ultrasonic transducer that normally produces a beam of relatively wide cone-width. It is also desirable to provide a system and method for reshaping an ultrasonic beam emitted by an ultrasonic transducer without reducing the emitted energy of the ultrasonic beam and without causing extraneous, unusable portions of the emitted and reflected beams to interfere with a liquid level sensing system


A request to modify a data set is received. The data set comprises a plurality of entries where the plurality of entries have a corresponding edit state and the corresponding edit state indicates whether a corresponding entry in the plurality of entries is in a published state or a preview state. The data set is modified at least in part by creating a draft entry based at least in part on the request. An edit state of the draft entry indicates that the draft entry is in the preview state. A request to render the data set is received. The request indicates whether to render a published version or a preview version. Entries of the data set to be rendered are determined based at least in part on the edit state of the entries. The determined entries of the data set are provided to a user interface layer that renders the determined entries in a display.

A database may experience several modifications. Data may be edited, added, and/or deleted. When a modification to the database occurs, the database is updated, and the modification is immediately published. Without sufficient safeguards in place, erroneous modifications to the data may be published and viewable by any user with access to the database. One way to prevent erroneous data from being published is to maintain a separate edited version of the database, and only allow new content to be published after it has been audited. Maintaining a separate copy of the database, however, significantly increases the amount of system resources required to store the data and can be impractical for large scale systems. It would be useful to create a system that efficiently stores the modifications to the database and prevents erroneous modifications from being published.

Memory efficient database change management


A stuffing box for an oil well pump which utilizes a separate lubricating fluid chamber for the polish rod rather than using the crude oil that is being pumped as the lubricating fluid.

The field of this invention relates to a stuffing box which is used in connection with an oil well pumping system. The stuffing box is utilized at the top of the oil well pumping system and is designed to prevent leakage of the oil that is being pumped exteriorly of the oil well pumping system.
Oil wells are produced by using drilling rig. After the well is obtained, the drilling rig is removed and a wellhead of a pumping system is installed at the ground whose purpose is to pump the oil from the oil well. Pumped oil is caused to flow through a storage reservoir after being removed from the well.
Within the wellhead there is utilized a rod which is lineally moved in a reciprocating manner which is part of the pumping operation. This rod, called a polish rod, extends from the wellhead into the ambient. There has to be a seal between this rod and the wellhead so that the pumped crude oil will not flow uncontrollably from the wellhead to be deposited on the ground around the wellhead. Not only is this oil lost (not usable) but also environmental laws prevent such contamination of the environment. Also, accumulation of oil around a wellhead results in an exceedingly unsightly appearance.
In the past, what has been utilized to provide the seal between the polish rod and the wellhead is referred to as a stuffing box. To make a stuffing box preventing leakage of oil from the wellhead is difficult because the polish rod is continuously moving relative to the stuffing box and wear is a constant problem. This wear results in leakage. Generally, it only takes a few days of operation of the polish rod for leakage to occur.
It is common for the stuffing box to utilize the crude oil itself as the lubricant to decrease the friction involved in moving of the polish rod in the stuffing box. However, this crude oil inherently obtains a substantial amount of contaminants and these contaminants are abrasive. Therefore, this type of lubrication of the polish rod is at best, poor.

Leakproof stuffing box with external lubrication for polish rod


A thrust-producing device comprises a body having a surface and a periphery and disposed in a first fluid; a generator for imparting energy to a second fluid; and a distributor connected to the generator, disposed adjacent the surface, for distributing the second fluid in a first stream over and adjacent the surface for blanketing and enclosing at least a portion of the surface with the first stream and causing the first stream to be initially sufficiently unattached to the surface to define a closed volume between the surface and the first stream. The distributor imparts sufficient velocity to the first stream for permitting a substantial portion of the first stream to reach beyond at least a portion of the body periphery and to partially evacuate by entrainment the volume and to create a low pressure within the volume relative to a pressure of the first fluid and to generate a second stream within the volume; whereby at least a substantial portion of the first stream is deflected angularly and around at least a portion of the body by the dynamic interaction of the first stream with the first fluid and the second stream and the low pressure within the closed volume, and whereby the at least a substantial portion of the first stream entrains a portion of the first fluid to produce a combined resultant fluid flow which proceeds angularly and around at least a portion of the body, thereby creating a resultant thrust force acting on the body.. A method for producing thrust for a body is also disclosed.

Prior inventions have described the method of obtaining lift by utilizing a gas flowing approximately radially along the upper surface of a disc-shaped body. Such lift is derived from the difference in the reduced pressure in the gas flow over the surface and the local atmospheric pressure below. These inventions have described various means of producing a streamlined, attached fluid flow about the surface of a body to obtain lift in the manner of Bernoulli's principle. Others have included descriptions of various vanes or flow deflectors or similar type effect of inducing the surface flow to follow surface contours to add momentum thrust to the pressure differential lift.


The current invention relates to a nanosized electrical probe for measuring an electrical signal of charged colloidal particles, and a device for measuring an electrical signal of charged colloidal particles using the same, thus exhibiting excellent effects on measurement of variations in internal charge or voltage of the charged colloidal particles (e.g., mitochondria) in a solution.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a nanosized electrical probe for measuring an electrical signal of charged colloidal particles, and a device for measuring an electrical signal of charged colloidal particles using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, ion channels function not only to determine the voltage of a cell membrane affecting the excitability of cells, but also to control the concentration of intracellular Ca2+ participating in the bio-signal transmission in almost all the cells. Thus, ion channels are importantly regarded as means for finding how the cells operate as bio-signal sensors and reactors. In this regard, a patch-clamp technique, which was invented by Neher & Sakmann in 1981, is employed to record the operation of a single ion channel by applying mechanical and physicochemical stimuli to the cell while varying intracellular or extracellular environments according to the intention of an experimenter, and is thus receiving attention as a core of the field of cell biology (Hamil et al., 1981; Neher et al., 1992).
However, such a patch-clamp technique for recording ion channel currents in cell levels is disadvantageous because it cannot be applied to charged colloidal particles (e.g., mitochondria) having a diameter of about 1 μm, which float in a solution, and thus it is impossible to measure their electrical bio-signals.

Nanosized electrical probe for measuring electrical signal of charged colloidal particles, and device of measuring electrical signal of charged colloidal particles using the same

INJE University Industry—Academic Cooperation Foundation


A motorcycle engine guard is disclosed which comprises a bar that surrounds the engine of the motorcycle. The bar has a first side that extends from the bottom of the engine on one side of the engine to the top of the engine and the second side that extends from the bottom of the opposite side of the engine to the top of the engine. A spring-loaded footrest is disposed in each side of the bar and the spring-loaded footrest has a retracted position when not in use and a deployed position when in use.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates motorcycle accessories, and more particularly to an engine guard with spring-loaded footrests.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The engine on a motorcycle is usually located toward the front of the vehicle, i.e., behind the front wheel struts and forward of the seat. Motorcycle engines are typically uncovered along the sides, and therefore exposed to possible damage. Most manufacturers provide a bar or other guard to lessen the risk of damage, but such bars or guards are not attractive, are inconvenient for the placement of the rider's legs and feet, and are placed or shaped in such a way as to fail to adequately protect against damage from the side.
Several types of footrests for motorcycle operators and passengers have been proposed, and these footrests have been added to various places on motorcycles. Examples of such footrests are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,073,808 to Egan (disclosing a motorcycle footrest that pivots from a stowed to a deployed position) ; U.S. Pat. No. 6,981,713 to Lindby (also disclosing a motorcycle footrest that pivots from a stowed to a deployed position); U.S. Pat. No. 6,354,723 to Spence (describing a motorcycle footrest with a light inside); U.S. Pat. No. 6,173,983 to Moore (displaying a set of otherwise conventional motorcycle footrests that have unusual mounting brackets); U.S. Pat. No. 4,456,090 to Malenotti (adjustable motorcycle footrest); U.S. Pat. No. 4,171,823 to Nemes (a motorcycle locking bar that doubles as a footrest); U.S. Pat. No. 4,030,561 to Hashimoto and Shako (a motorcycle footrest that pivots); Published Patent Application No. US2002/0158441 (a dual eccentric adjustable motorcycle footrest); and German patent DE 19511760 (an adjustable cantilevered footrest useable by a passenger on a motorcycle).
A common disadvantage of prior art footrests on a motorcycle engine guard is that the operator of the motorcycle must manually move the footrests from a retracted position to a deployed position. As a result, movement of the footrests to a deployed position while riding the motorcycle results in the operator's attention being diverted from his/her operation of the motorcycle.


A disc brake caliper is provided which has a parking brake. A dual lever parking brake apply assembly is also included which allows adjustment of the parking brake without modification of the parking brake cable. The adjustment is made by changing the relative position of the levers with one another.

Some automotive vehicles have been equipped with disc brakes on all four wheels, with the rear wheel disc brakes having incorporated therein a parking brake actuating mechanism. An example of such a mechanism is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Number 3,688,875, entitled "Disc Brake Caliper With Integral Parking Brake" and issued Sept. 5, 1972. Mechanisms of this type provide for adjustment of the disc brake as the brake linings wear. When the linings require replacement, the mechanism must be restored to its original position before the brake linings were worn to accommodate the new linings. At times this leaves the lever to which the parking brake cable is attached at such an angular position that less than all of its available stroke can then be used during parking brake actuations. Typically, that lever is attached with a hexagonal bolt and hole arrangement, so that the lever can only be adjusted in 60.degree. increments relative to the bolt after the bolt is arcuately repositioned for new brake linings. This coarse available adjustment does not permit adjustment of the parking brake mechanism without also readjusting the parking brake cable itself. Even with such readjustment, the parking brake lever of the brake assembly may not be as near to the optimum position for maximum arcuate lever actuating stroke movement as is desired. That position occurs when the parking brake lever is against its release position stop, or within a very few degrees of it, such as up to about five degrees.

Mechanism and method of positive arcuate orientation of a first member and a second member, particularly for brake adjusted orientation of a drive member and a driven member in a disc brake assembly having parking brake mechanism


A fender for a cycling apparatus is provided. The fender may include a front portion, a rear portion, and an outer surface and an inner surface that each extend from the rear portion to the front portion. The fender may further include a mount portion disposed between the rear portion and the front portion. The mount portion may include a first engagement part configured to engage with at least one blade of a pair of spaced apart blades of a fork assembly, and a second engagement part. A first engagement part may be configured minimize side-to-side motion of the fender relative to a fork assembly and a second engagement part configured to minimize fore-and-aft motion of the fender relative to the fork assembly. A fender elongated body may have a generally convex outer surface and a generally concave inner surface, the inner surface defining a hollow cavity of the body.

Fenders are desirably configured to prevent sand, mud, rocks, liquids, and other road spray from being thrown into the air by a rotating wheel. To maintain desirable deterrence of wayward road spray, a fender must generally maintain its original shape and its original position relative to the wheel.
Conventional fenders rely on one or more braces or struts to control the shape of the fender (e.g., prevent permanent deformation and breakage of the fender), and/or to aid in the prevention or reduction of undesirably excessive fore-and-aft motion and/or side-to-side motion of the fender relative to the wheel, fork assembly, and/or frame of a cycling apparatus. Such braces or struts generally extend from one or both of the spaced apart blades of a fork assembly, respectively. In particular, each brace is often an elongated member that has a first end that is coupled to one of the spaced apart blades of a fork assembly, and a second end that is coupled to a side or a side edge of the fender.
However, while such braces or struts can adequately control the shape of a fender and/or may reduce or prevent undesirable fore-and-aft motion and/or side-to-side motion for some duration of time, these types of braces or struts add to the total number of components in a fender assembly, which increases the fender assembly's overall complexity. Accordingly, braces and struts undesirably increase the total number of components to be repaired or replaced when a fender assembly component is damaged. Moreover, braces and struts also undesirably increase the time required to repair and/or replace a fender assembly.
Accordingly, it may be desirable to provide a fender that can be coupled or otherwise attached to a fork assembly without one or more braces or struts that extend from one or more blades of the fork assembly. In particular, it may be desirable to provide a fender that can be coupled or otherwise attached to a fork assembly without one or more braces or struts as described above, and also control its shape (e.g., prevent permanent deformation and breakage of the fender). Additionally, it may be desirable to provide a fender that can be coupled or otherwise attached to a fork assembly also in a manner that reduces or prevents undesirable fore-and-aft motion and/or side-to-side motion of the fender relative to the wheel, fork assembly, and/or frame of a cycling apparatus. Further, it may be desirable to provide a fender assembly that minimizes the number of components to be manipulated during repair and/or replacement of a fender to decrease time and improve efficiency during such repair and/or replacement.

Fender and fender assembly for a cycling apparatus