A family of extremely fine-grained alloys are used to make coatings or free-standing bodies having desirable properties for use as a heat-resistant and wear-resistant material. In an illustrative embodiment, the alloys are comprised of a multiplicity of alternate, microcrystalline or nanocrystalline films of tungsten metal and tungsten compound. The tungsten compound film may be comprised of a tungsten carbide or a tungsten boride. The tungsten films are the primary films. Their desirable characteristics, in addition to their very fine crystalline habit, per se, are the high strength, high hardness, high resilience, and high fracture energy which these fine crystallites foster. They may be manufactured by a chemical vapor deposition process in which reactive gas flows are rapidly switched to produce alternate films with abrupt hetero-junctions and thereby to produce the useful micro-crystalline habit. The unique synthesis method allows effective control of critical flaw size. The structure is such that the primary films may be made sufficiently thick so as to assure some desirable ductile behavior, but sufficiently thin so as to have high yield strength by dint of their microcrystalline size, and as to limit the size of any flaws. The secondary films are made of enough thickness to prevent the epitaxial growth from one primary film to the next-deposited primary film and thin enough so that they can not contain a flaw of critical size. In addition, the exterior surface of any body made by this method may have a sufficiently smooth surface that the strength of the body is determined by the bulk properties of the material and not by surface flaws.

Group VIB transition metals include, for purposes of this application, tungsten, molybdenum and chromium. The Group VIB, transition metal elements, such as tungsten, molybdenum, and chromium, have characteristics that allow their incorporation into some new, high-performance alloys. Their high stiffness suggests that they have intrinsic high strength. This indicates that they should have high fracture energy and high specific resilience. It also suggests that they are capable of being made into hard and wear resistant alloys. They have high melting temperatures, as well. Unfortunately, the potentially superior mechanical properties of these materials are seldom realized because of their lack of toughness.
They are all used as pure metals and as important alloying species with base metals. As pure metals, or as the major species in alloys, tungsten and molybdenum are more important than chromium as structural materials. Chromium is used more frequently as a coating.
These Group VIB transition metals, such as tungsten, are used industrially as pure metals, sometimes containing small quantities of a finely divided dispersant; as an alloy with other high melting metals; or as a pure metal cemented into a body with small quantities of a lower melting metal matrix; or as a carbide, either pure or alloyed, cemented with a similar lower melting metal matrix. They are also used as a dilute alloying species in high strength and high hardness base metal alloys.
Among the most important applications of tungsten, for example, are for resistance wire as in lamp bulbs and vacuum tubes, extremely small conductors in microprocessors, x-ray targets, so-called heavy metal alloys, and cemented carbide tool and wear parts. The wire and x-ray target uses take advantage of tungsten's high melting temperature; the microprocessor use of its electrical conductivity and thermal expansion coefficient; the heavy metal alloys of its high specific gravity; and the cemented carbides of the hardness and wear resistance of its monocarbide.
In most instances, it is important for these Group VIB transition metals to have the highest strength and toughness, consistent with the maintenance of its other important properties.
Fine tungsten wire, for example, after the large amount of mechanical work which goes into its manufacture, exhibits high strength. Bulk metal parts of tungsten are usually much weaker, however. In all but a few instances, e.g., the fine wire, tungsten parts suffer from lack of toughness. Even the wire soon loses both strength and ductility on heating due to the work being a high driving force for re-crystallization and grain growth. The brittleness of x-ray targets and other larger bodies has been avoided, at considerable increase in cost, by the addition of the rare metal, rhenium, as an alloying species in quantities as high as twenty-five percent.
The heavy metal and cemented carbide parts rely on another approach to achieve acceptable toughness. They are made by pressing and sintering a mixture of pure metal powder, or of carbide powder, with a lower-melting, more ductile, base metal. The tungsten or tungsten carbide is thereby cemented by the small quantities of the ductile base metal.
Properties of the final product are achieved by the judicious selection of the matrix metal composition, the size of the metal powders, or the size and composition of the carbide powders. For many applications of tungsten and for most applications of tungsten carbide the base-metal-cemented, these pseudo-alloys are the only practical solutions. There are many instances, however, where the incorporation of the softer, lower-melting, less-stiff, and less corrosion-resistant cement substantially degrades the usefulness of the bodies. Pure tungsten, or alloys of tungsten with strengthening or hardening species which would not use such cement would be much more useful.
With regard to metals and other materials in general, it has been well known to materials engineers and scientists that refinement of the crystal habit of bodies increases yield strength, and hardness. Since ancient days mechanical working to reduce their grain size has strengthened metal parts. With more sophisticated understanding, the so-called Hall-Petch relationship has become generally accepted. This relationship teaches that the yield strength of materials varies inversely with the reciprocal of the square root of the grain size. In a more recent publication, Jundal and Armstrong (see Trans. AIME 1969 vol. 245, pg. 625) reported that the Hall-Petch relationship could be extended to treat the increase in material hardness with grain size reduction as well as yield strength. Additional verification, for the case of the hardness of tungsten, comes from Vashi, et al. (see Metallurgical Trans., Vol. 1, June 1970, pg. 1769-1771). (The entire contents of all publications and patents mentioned anywhere in this disclosure are hereby incorporated by reference.)
Within the last decade, research has demonstrated that the dramatic effects on properties can be extended in materials of much finer grain refinement than had been earlier possible. Progress in the manufacture of cemented tungsten carbide cutting tool materials discussed above is a particularly good example of such improvement. Two decades ago the most modern of these cemented carbides had WC crystallite sizes no smaller than about two microns. Today, they are made quite regularly, commercially, with 0.4 micron (400 nm) crystals; and even smaller, on an experimental basis. This has resulted in superior products from the point of view of strength and wear resistance.
This reduction in grain size is not accomplished without difficulty. There are practical limits to the fineness of powders which may be used in the pressing and sintering process. Very small powders have long been considered explosion and worker-ingestion hazards. Even more importantly, these powders tend to agglomerate in handling, thereby preventing the formation of a final product with a crystal refinement as small as might be desired.
Advances to reduce the agglomeration problems have been claimed to be effected by the use of a spray-reaction process from salts of tungsten and the matrix metal with subsequent gas-phase carburization. This process is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,230,729 and 5,352,269. Further, however, even after these very fine powders have been pressed successfully to a so-called green body, there is a tendency toward grain growth upon sintering, although efforts have been made to alloy the cementing metals to allow lower temperature processing and to minimize this grain growth. This approach is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,841,044.
For reasons which have not been totally explained, none of sub-micron-size or nanostructure cemented carbides, except those with grain sizes above about 0.4 μm, or even above 0.8 μm, has shown sufficiently good toughness to be generally accepted commercially.
In the materials science arena, however, investigators have become increasingly anxious to investigate the effects of nano-technology. Nano-technology is usually defined as dealing in microcrystalline sizes below 0.1 μm (100 nm). Because of the aforementioned limitations, and because they need only small samples, they have chosen to use deposition techniques to make their research samples. Deposition is an attractive way to make extremely fine-grain materials since the crystallites of the materials of interest may be grown and consolidated, simultaneously, at temperatures which are low relative to their fusion temperatures, or even to their sintering temperatures. These bodies made by various deposition methods, therefore, need not be limited as to their coarse crystalline habit, as in casting; or as to agglomeration, or grain growth, as in powder pressing and sintering. Properly manipulated, they can be consolidated to virtually full density, quite free of internal voids and defects.
Both electrochemical deposition (ECD) or physical vapor deposition (PVD) techniques have been used by these scientists to make such samples for their scientific investigations. In the present application, physical vapor deposition refers to any of the group of similar methods, including evaporation, reactive evaporation, sputtering, reactive sputtering, and ion-plating. Such efforts are described in papers by Menezes and Anderson; J. Electrochemical Soc. 137, 440 (1990) and Chu and Bamett; J. Appl. Phys., Vol 77, No. 9, 1 May 1995. The samples have been useful to investigate the achievable improvement in properties from materials with grain refinement smaller than 0.25 micron (<250 nanometers). Small-scale samples have been made and tested. They have usually been made of a multiplicity of thin layers. Films with crystallite sizes well below 100 nm (even below 10 nm) have been successfully synthesized. These techniques, however, approach the objects of high performance materials in a very different way from those of the invention. They did not involve the strengthening and hardening of a metal with some intrinsic toughness, but rather an investigation of what happens when the grains of an intrinsically brittle material are refined.
It has been determined that much greater hardness can be achieved in such materials by the aforementioned techniques. However, improvements in strength or toughness have not been generally measured and reported.
The chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process would be more appropriate for the manufacture of industrial parts of the materials of interest than ECD or PVD. CVD, although requiring processing temperatures higher than either ECD or PVD, can still be processed well below the required fusion temperatures or sintering temperatures for the materials of interest. In the present application chemical vapor deposition is meant to include both simple thermally-activated CVD as well as plasma-assisted CVD. Since the control of CVD is more difficult than that of either ECD or PVD, it has been used very sparingly for any kind of nanotechnology research and hardly at all for any commercial manufacture of such fine-grain materials.
There are three notable exceptions. The most significant one is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,162,345 to Holzl ('345). Two decades ago, the inventor, Holzl (one of the co-inventors of the current invention) taught, in the '345 patent, that materials made by a then-unique variation of the CVD process could be made to demonstrate a useful combination of strength and hardness such as to provide excellent wear resistance. The material could be described as an early version of what is currently being called a nanostructure.
The second is a research program conducted at Stevens Institute of Technology by Eroglu and Gallois in which thin nanostructure TiN/TiC coatings were investigated (see "Design and Chemical Vapor Deposition of Graded TiN/TiC Coatings"; Surface and Coatings Technology 49, 275 (1991)). Like the Chu and Barnett work, cited above, these investigators took a different approach than that of the invention. They were also investigating the refinement of normally brittle materials.
The third is a wear-resistant coating for cemented carbide tools which has been offered commercially since late 1998 by Widia Valenite. That company introduced a thin, nanocrystalline coating for cutting tools made by what is called multilayer CVD (MLCVD). They report improved wear life for certain cutting applications and claim that crack formation through the entire thickness of the coating is minimized by the multilayer configuration. The reported coating is comprised of conventional, brittle, coating materials, titanium nitride and titanium carbonitride. No improvement in strength was reported, or should have been expected from this work.
The background art closest to the current invention is the referenced work of the '345 patent. Most of the microcrystallites in the Holzl material were in the order of 50-100 nm, but it contained some that were as much as ten times larger. The material was actually used for certain important valve trim in the NASA space program. Unfortunately, the method of the '345 patent could not be reproduced with acceptable reliability and was extremely expensive. The irregularity of the crystallite size was a major problem which was never adequately solved. The process was subsequently discarded as unacceptable for industrial use.
However, there is ample reason to continue to be interested in CVD as a process for making nanostructural parts. Electrochemical deposition while totally acceptable for the common metals is practically useless for making refractory materials such as tungsten, its alloys, or compounds. PVD can be used to make common metals and compounds at very high rates, but for refractory metals and alloys, deposition rates are unacceptably low. Chemical vapor deposition, on the other hand, can synthesize such refractory metals and ceramics at very acceptable commercial production rates. CVD is superior to ECD and PVD as manufacturing processes in other ways, as well. Principal among them are its excellent throwing power and its ability to make materials of higher and essentially full density, virtually free of internal voids. The use of CVD to produce high melting and chemical and wear-resistant metals and ceramics is well-known.
Processes for making free-standing shapes of the so-called refractory metals and alloys have been known for decades. For example, pure tungsten tubing has been made commercially by depositing the metal on a mandrel from which it is then removed. Parts of good purity exhibit a Vicker's hardness of about 4 GPa. Utilizing the method of Cahoon et al. (see J. B. Cahoon, W. H. Broughton, and A. R. Kutzak, Metallurgical Transactions, vol 2, pp. 1979-1983, 1971), which teaches that the yield stress of a material that is fully strain-hardened is approximately equal to one third the Vicker's hardness, a maximum yield stress for high purity, CVD tungsten of 1300 MPa would be predicted. This value is an upper anticipated limit as the CVD tungsten is not fully strain-hardened. In practice, maximum values of 900 MPa can be obtained and the material displays limited ductility at room temperature. The columnar growth of the CVD tungsten produces near-continuous grain boundaries, which act as a volumetric flaw within the material. This structure leads to brittle failure of the tungsten at room temperature with strengths closer to 300 MPa for larger-grained, free-standing shapes. The corresponding low fracture toughness limits their utility. Reducing grain size would be expected to increase the strength. One technique for so doing is the lowering of the deposition temperature. The process then suffers from reduced deposition rates. A second technique involves mechanical burnishing the work piece during deposition (see L. W. Roberts; Proc., Sixth Plansee Seminar, Reutte, Austria, 1967; pp 881-884). This is mechanistically difficult on all but the simplest of work pieces. The highest strengths achievable by either of these techniques is, at most, about 900 MPa. All of the strength values cited above, and those that follow in this application, are flexural strengths, measured in 3-point bending with 2-4 mm diameter round rods.
Brittle materials like the refractory carbides, nitrides, borides and suicides are also conveniently made by CVD. CVD-synthesized tungsten carbide, having a hardness above 20 GPa, is not likely to have a strength of greater than 70 MPa and is essentially useless as anything but adherent thin coatings.
CVD has been used for years to produce thin films, such as oxidation-resistant coatings for high temperature metals and wear-resultant coatings for a wide variety of cutting tools. In the case of such thin coatings as these, c.a., 4-8 μm, the deposits are not required to have significant strength since their structural integrity is derived from the substrate upon which they are adherently deposited. Thin coatings of this kind which also were extremely fine-grained are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,427,445 to Holzl.
The process described in the '345 patent and other related patents by Holzl is the most notable claim of using CVD as a means of producing metals, semi-metals, or refractory compounds having an unique combination of high-strength and excellent fracture toughness, especially in materials of high hardness.
Following the teachings of the aforementioned Hall-Petch relationship, there was reason to believe that the characteristic of the materials described in the '345 patent which caused them to have such unique properties was their extreme grain refinement, c.a., 50-100 nm. Their high hardness was attributed, at least in part, to their content of tungsten carbides. There is also ample reason to believe that the variability which was experienced in the products made by the method of the '345 patent was due to the presence of some irregular, larger grains in the structure.
In the specification of the '345 patent, Holzl postulated that the formation of the microcrystalline grain structure was a result of a reaction off of the surface of the substrate to form a liquid intermediate product which was subsequently reacted to form a second liquid intermediate product, which is deposited on the substrate, thence, rapidly, to be reacted to form the desired solid phase. In this respect, this process might be the equivalent of very rapid quenching of a metal from the melt which has been used to cast extremely fine-grain materials. Such a sequence of events probably occurred but, was not, in and of itself, sufficient to fully explain the results.
Holzl also postulated that the observed layered structure was caused by oscillating turbulence in flow of the fog or halo off of the substrate. This is now believed, based on the investigations of this invention, to have been an absolutely essential factor in the described deposition behavior.
The near impossibility of causing this oscillation to occur in a totally predictable way was most likely the fundamental cause for the process being non-reproducible and discarded as not commercially practical. Each time that the size or shape of the deposition reactor was changed and each time that the size or configuration of the work piece(s) was changed, an entirely new set of deposition conditions needed to be determined to establish this oscillating turbulence properly.
The process was so sensitive that even minor changes in the positioning of the work pieces in the reactor could cause failure of the processing runs. The layered structure was simply not acceptably uniform in its frequency and thickness of its layers.
The material made according to the method of the '345 patent was considered to be an alternate and improved method to the powder metallurgy of cemented carbides for the making of hard metal parts for tool and wear applications. It was considered to be superior to cemented carbides because it eliminated some of their deficiencies. In many cases, the wear resistance of cemented carbides is dictated more by the performance of the cement than by the hard particles and is thereby limited. In short, wear occurs frequently by the failure of the cement allowing the hard particles to be removed from the body without the particles, themselves, actually fracturing or wearing.
This behavior of cemented carbides can be compared with that of other wear materials like tool steels. Tool steels, although they contain two or more phases, wear like a homogenous material, not like a mixture. They also have greater toughness than any other materials of equivalent hardness.
If tool steels could be made as hard as the cemented carbides, they would be much preferred. The same statement could be made about cast, hard nickel or cobalt alloys versus the cemented carbides. The maximum hardness of tool steels or the cast hard alloys, however, is typically only about one half the maximum hardness of the cemented carbides; to wit, ˜7-9 GPa Vickers Hardness Number (HV) as compared to ˜11-22 GPa. For this reason they are disqualified from many applications for which cemented carbides can be used. An additional advantage of the cemented carbides over tool steels is, of course, their ability to maintain their strength and hardness at the high temperatures generated within the tool material in certain machining operations.
Note that as included in this disclosure, HV is used to denote Vickers Hardness Number as measured with a 500 g or 1000 g weight on a Shimadzu Microhardness Tester, unless otherwise cited.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

High strength alloys and methods for making same


An integrated system of non-condensable gas (NCG) and condensate treatment allows geothermal power plant condensate and non-condensable gas effluent streams containing H.sub.2 S and ammonia to be commercially useful for more than for cooling tower makeup. In the preferred embodiment, the pH of the condensate is increased by adding ammonia and the pH increased stream is contacted with NCG to scrub and oxidize the H.sub.2 S constituent of the NCG. By reducing the pH, the condensate or aqueous stream mixture can also be used to further transfer ammonia from the non-condensable gas stream to the aqueous stream, enriching the stream for use as a fertilizer/irrigation water mixture. If other commercial uses are desired for the mixture and/or oxidized NCG streams, they can be resin treated to remove the ammonia constituent. With the ammonia and H.sub.2 S constituents decreased, the condensate may be used for a variety of applications and the NCG can be injected or used as a commercial feed stream. Rejuvenation of the resin may be accomplished by recycling and purging with the treated NCG. The effluent purge gas may be used to further enrich irrigation waters. A nearly total elimination of all emissions from the geothermal power is thereby made possible.

Subterranean reservoirs of aqueous geothermal fluids --such as steam and/or hot brine--exist in many regions of the world. Such geothermal fluid reservoirs can contain vast amounts of thermal energy.
Many of the serious problems associated with the production and use of geothermal fluids can be attributed to the unusually complex chemical composition of these geothermal fluids. The aquifer conditions also tend to leach large amounts of salts, minerals, and other elements from the formations into the geothermal fluids. The concentration of these elements leached into the geothermal fluids tends to reach saturation levels. This tendency results from the extended periods of time the hot geothermal fluids have been in contact with the materials of the formation. The acid gases (e.g., CO.sub.2 and H.sub.2 S) typically present may also help to dissolve even more contaminants in these geothermal fluids.
To generate power in a geothermal power plant from geothermal brines at a reservoir temperature of over about 400.degree. F. and pressures above 400 psig, brines are typically flashed to a reduced pressure. Flashing converts some of the liquid water constituent of the brine into steam. The steam has been used in generally conventional steam. turbine-type power generators to generate electricity, e.g., in New Zealand. Steam used for power production typically contains volatile or other contaminants, e.g., brine carry-over, H.sub.2 S, and ammonia.
Whether the steam is derived directly from the geothermal resource or from flashed brine, after discharge from the power plant turbine, the contaminated steam is typically condensed in a water cooled surface condenser supplied by an evaporative cooling tower. A direct contact condenser may be used if feasible, e.g., if contamination of the cooling water can be accepted. Liquid condensate and a non-condensable gas (at condenser conditions) are the effluents typically produced in the surface condenser.
The volatile contaminants of the steam are, after condensation, partitioned between the condensate and non-condensable gas (NCG) streams. The portions of the volatile contaminants partitioned into the condensate and gas streams depend upon the geometry of the condenser and fluid property (e.g., temperature and pressure) conditions within the condenser.
The partitioning and other operating conditions cause the compositions of the NCG and condensate streams from these geothermal fluids to contain variable amounts of contaminants. The contaminants may cause both the condensate and NCG streams from the condenser to be corrosive, and in certain cases, they also may be toxic. The corrosive and toxic contaminants tend to make thence condenser effluent liquids and gases commercially unusable outside of the power plant.
The contaminated condensate stream is typically used in the power plant's cooling tower as a makeup to compensate for the evaporation loss of coolant water. This evaporation causes dissolved solids in the cooling water to be concentrated, and blowdown by discharge of the cooling water is required to remove dissolved solids, thus prevent undesired precipitation of solids in the cooling tower system.
The blowdown stream is most commonly disposed of by injection into a geothermal formation or by discharge to surface water (possibly after treatment to comply with environmental discharge regulations). Injection avoids treatment of the blowdown stream or contamination of surface waters and may also replenish the geothermal aquifer from which the geothermal fluid was produced. Injection may be especially important to avoid treatment costs when larger amounts of contaminated blowdown are involved.
The atmospheric disposal of the NCG stream produced in the geothermal power process may also present problems. Although CO.sub.2 is typically the primary constituent of these gases, ammonia and hydrogen sulfide are also common constituents. These constituents may present environmental, corrosion, and other handling problems. Prior art treatment of these constituents requires removal of these constituents prior to discharge to the atmosphere.
In addition to non-condensable gases (NCG) separated during the flash process, corrosion and emission of gases from cooling tower waters (when the cooling tower makeup fluid source is contaminated condensate) are further problems. Gases emitted from the cooling tower can include H.sub.2 S, NH.sub.3, SO.sub.2, and NO.sub.2. The NO.sub.2 may be formed by the oxidation of ammonia in the cooling water by naturally occurring bacteria. SO.sub.2 may also be generated by microorganisms, and the dissolved gases can be corrosive. Nitrites can also be formed and produce acids corrosive to the cooling tower system and injection well disposal piping.
To overcome these and other problems in cooling tower systems, inhibitors or other additives are commonly added to the cooling water. Heavy metal inhibitors have been effective in other cooling tower applications for controlling the growth of organisms and the emissions they cause, since these inhibitors are toxic to the organisms. However, multi-function, heavy metal inhibitors tend to form heavy metal sludges which are now classified as a toxic or hazardous waste material in many localities. Consequently, the disposal of these sludges is difficult and expensive.
Non-heavy metal (corrosion) inhibitors, such as phosphate-types, have recently been used in some condensate handling systems. These phosphate materials do not tend to form hazardous waste materials in the presence of ammonia, carbon dioxide, and/or hydrogen sulfide. However, unlike their counterpart heavy metal inhibitors, phosphate-type inhibitors have not been as effective in inhibiting corrosion, microorganism growth, and emissions.
In summary, many effluent streams from a geothermal power plant need to be treated, specifically including 1) contaminated condensate, 2) cooling tower blowdown, 3) NCG, and 4) vapor emissions from a cooling tower. Indeed, the treatment of the H.sub.2 S constituent of NCG has required significant capital and operating investments in many prior art geothermal power plants.

Method to treat geothermal fluid streams


A communication platform for providing computer/telephony integration services to remote subscribers comprises:                a hosted call switching unit in communication with an external telephone network or interconnected networks through a communications trunk;        for each subscriber, a subscriber telephony component, such as an intelligent agent, executed by processing means belonging to the communication platform and connected to an external subscriber's information system through a permanent private secure data channel, whereby said subscriber telephony component can communicate in a private manner with other information system components of said subscriber so as to be logically part of said information system, each subscriber component being capable of controlling said switching unit according to subscriber data;        resources available to each subscriber telephony component in association with call processing or routing;        means for allocating resources to each telephone call handled by a subscriber telephony component in response to data communication with said component through a secure interface.

The concepts of "Intelligent Networks" and "Advanced Intelligent Network" are known as involving an architecture to implement services such as intelligent call routing on a public telephony network. This technology comprises basically a routing database coupled in a quite direct manner to the telephone network. However, these services are mostly limited to voice telephony and have little or no interaction with the user's information systems.
There are also known so-called "Web Intelligent Networks" which have the purpose of solving some of the disadvantages of the classical intelligent network architecture by affording greater interactivity. It allows interaction between a subscriber's information system and a service control point (SCP) of an intelligent network via the Internet. By means of such interaction, the subscriber has control over the service execution. (see "Integrating the Intelligent Network and the Internet", O'Connell et al, ICIN 96).
Further, so-called computer telephony integration (CTI) technologies offer a wide range of solutions to integrate telephony with computers. CTI applications are numerous and include call-centers, unified messaging (basically text messages available together with voice messages through a single interface), interactive voice response systems, voice browsing systems, automatic call distribution, real time data fetch according to caller identification etc. However all standard CTI solutions are operated on customer premises equipment (CPE). Therefore, they require the subscriber to connect their computer equipment to the telephone network via PBXs or via special telephony interface cards.
A major drawback of such CTI applications is that the function of flexible call routing permitted by the intelligent network technologies is not available when such applications are CPE-based. The reason is that CTI processing is always done after the call has been delivered by the network.
Another known technology is the so-called network or virtual call centers, which provide network-based CTI solutions for call centers. Such technology allows the subscriber to globally control the routing functions of the network (including automatic call distribution) e.g. for routing calls among different sites of the subscriber.
Still another prior art is constituted by a tentative project by a consortium named "Parlay" (See parlay white papers at the Internet address www.parlay.org). Such project defines programming interfaces to implement services that control the network behavior. Such interfaces have the purpose of allowing to control the network behavior from software located in the subscriber's information system. However, this Parlay project only defines a programmatic API (Application Programming Interface, and implies that a suitable pre-existing intelligent network infrastructure is available that is capable of providing gateways between the network and the subscriber information system.

Communication platform for providing computer telephony integration services to remote subscribers, and associated method

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


Apparatus, systems, and methods to construct and operate a radio frequency self-regenerated locked optical oscillator can be used in a variety of applications. Stable synchronization of an optical oscillator can be achieved by driving an amplitude modulator with a radio frequency (RF) signal regenerated from the cavity of the optical oscillator. Additional apparatus, systems, and methods are disclosed.

In harmonically mode-locked lasers, an amplitude modulator may be used to generate a train of pulses at the round-trip rate of the laser, or a multiple, N, thereof. The repetition rate of the laser cavity is given by fo=N(vg)/P, where vg is the group velocity of the pulse in the propagating medium. P equals the perimeter of the cavity in the case of a ring laser or equals 2L in the case of a linear cavity, where 2L is the round-trip length of the cavity. This technique, called active mode-locking, requires an essentially perfect synchronization (and phase control) of the electrical signal to the modulator with the optical pulse circulating in the cavity.

Radio frequency self-regenerated locked optical oscillator


A rotary valve includes a housing having a housing bore which can be laterally closed by bearing covers. Inside the housing, a cellular wheel is rotatably supported. A guiding device extends in an axial direction of the cellular wheel and serves for drawing the cellular wheel in the direction of its axis of rotation out of the housing bore. This guiding device includes an additional bearing which can be displaceable in the axial direction relative to that bearing cover which is on the guiding side. The additional bearing serves to support the cellular wheel temporarily during removal from the housing bore. This additional bearing can be connected to that end of a cellular wheel shaft which is situated at the side of the guiding device.

Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a rotary valve which comprises a housing surrounding a housing bore open at at least one end, thus forming an opening. This opening is normally closed by at least one removable bearing cover on one side while the other end of the housing bore may be closed either by another bearing cover or some other wall. The bearing cover includes a first bearing. Within the housing bore, a cellular wheel is supported by the first bearing and is, thus, rotatable about an axis of rotation. The cellular wheel includes series of web plates arranged to extend radially in a star-shape on a hub. This cellular wheel can be dismantled and drawn out of the housing bore in axial direction so that the orientation of the axis of rotation defines a dismantling direction. A drawing device is mounted on the side of the removable bearing cover for aiding in dismantling the cellular wheel and comprises a guiding device which extends in a dismantling direction and, thus enables guided dismantling of the cellular wheel in an axial direction out of the housing bore.

Rotary valve comprising a drawing device


An improved reference electrode assembly is provided to solve blockage problems that can occur upon contamination of the internal solution in a housing member. An absorbent means can be provided for removing silver ions through the reaction of an alkali metal ion with a tetraphenylborate ion to produce a compound larger than that of a silver ion and a tetraphenylborate ion. The absorbent material can, for example, be a porous activated carbon or a silica gel, and can be positioned between the internal electrode of the reference electrode assembly and the liquid junction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improvement in a reference electrode of a silver/silver chloride electrode composition for immersion in an internal solution to serve as an internal electrode and, more particularly, to an electrode assembly capable of minimizing any blockage of a liquid junction.
2. Description of Related Art
In a reference electrode having the above-described construction, a soluble silver ion (Ag.sup.+) is dissolved from the silver/silver chloride electrode during the use of the reference electrode, or dissolved chloro complex ions are formed by the following reactions (1) and (2) listed below as equations, and the ions are brought into contact with a lower potential chloride ionized water at a liquid junction to make the above-described respective reactions progress in the left direction, whereby AgCl (silver chloride) is settled out of the solution. EQU AgCl+Cl.sup.- .revreaction.AgCl.sub.2.sup.- ( 1) EQU AgCl.sub.2.sup.- +Cl.sup.- .revreaction.AgCl.sub.3.sup.2- ( 2)
In particular during the continuous use of such a reference electrode at a high temperature of 60.degree. C. or more, the concentration of silver ion and chloro complex ion can be increased and the silver ion will be turned into silver chloride during a reduction of temperature, to eventually cause a blockage of the liquid junction. Such a reference electrode, during continuous use at 100.degree. C., will cause the liquid junction to be blocked with silver chloride within about several days. In addition, in the case where interferential substances, such as protein, silver, mercury, and H.sub.2 S, contained in a sample to be tested, enter the internal solution through the liquid junction, there is the further possibility that these interferential substances can change the electrical potential of the internal electrode, and the interferential substances may further act upon the silver ion to additionally form soluble precipitates which will also block the liquid junction.
Because of these problems, the internal solution must be periodically exchanged with a new solution to prevent the quantity of silver ions and chloro complex ions existing in the internal solution from increasing, or the internal solution must be compulsorily leaked to prevent the sample being tested from being sucked up due to any change in pressure resulting from a temperature cycle and the like.
However, exchanging the internal solution does not effectively remove silver ions, which are a dominant cause of the blockage of the liquid junction, and maintenance problems are also created in making such exchanges. In addition, the latter measure has shown disadvantages in that the reference electrode is complicated in construction, expensive, and becomes ineffective during continuous use.

Reference electrode assembly of a silver/silver chloride construction


A single software defined radio handles both AIS and ORBCOMM communications. A software defined software defined radio detects incoming signals and resolves whether they are AIS or ORBCOMM signals. The signal is directed to a processor in which an algorithm is selected in correspondence with the type of signal which has been recognized. The algorithm extracts intelligence when receiving or encodes intelligence when transmitting. The present software defined radio switches from the ORBCOMM mode to the AIS mode automatically as required in order to maintain a mandatory duty cycle in both the AIS and ORBCOMM modes as defined by regulations, and provides user configurable communications capabilities over both the AIS and ORBCOMM networks in a low-cost, integrated, hardware implementation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present subject matter relates to software defined radio, and more particularly to a radio capable of operation with multiple protocols.
2. Background
Two significant forms of radio communication are referred to as AIS and ORBCOMM.
AIS or Automatic Identification System is a short range coastal tracking system used on ships and by Vessel Traffic Services (VTS) for identifying and locating vessels by electronically exchanging identification, position, course, and speed data with other nearby ships and VTS stations. Class A AIS radio is required under an international convention to be fitted aboard international voyaging ships with gross tonnage (GT) of 300 or more tons, and all passenger ships regardless of size. Class A AIS radios are significantly more expensive than other classes of AIS radios and have a robust set of capabilities.
Other classes of AIS radios are Class B and receive (RX) only. These are simpler, and are used in fishing vessels and leisure craft. They have a smaller set of capabilities. A Class B transponder provides both AIS reception and transmission at a fraction of the cost of a conventional class A transponder. The Class B AIS radio requires use of Digital Selective Calling (DSC) channel 70 for channel management. Additionally, a GPS antenna is included. The RX only AIS radio does not include a calling channel.
In order to prevent overloading of available bandwidth, Class B transmissions are restricted to 2 watts. This limits range for vessels using Class B AIS to a range of about 5 to 10 miles. At the present time, almost all Class B units use software defined radio. The transmitted signal is a standard AIS data stream at 9600 bps using Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying (GMSK). Generally, an AIS radio is equipped with a serial interface acceptingRS-232 and/or NMEA formats.
ORBCOMM satellites are low Earth orbit communications satellites, operated by the United States satellite communications company Orbcomm, Inc. As of 2008, 44 such satellites were in orbit. The ORBCOMM Satellite Communication System is a wide area, packet switched, two-way data communication system that utilizes constellations of the ORBCOMM satellites and earth station gateways. These satellites relay digitized data in the vicinities of 137 MHz and 150 MHz. A terrestrial ORBCOMM radio communicates with a satellite. A nominal ORBCOMM radio may comprise a single board microprocessor based VHF transceiver capable of transmitting and receiving messages in cooperation with the Orbcomm Satellite Communication System. ORBCOMM customers access the gateway and thus, the satellite, via dial up circuits, the Internet, or X.25 protocol access systems. The ORBCOMM radios transmit between 148.00 and 150.05 MHz at 5 to 10 watts using 2400 bps Symmetric Differential Phase Shift Keying (SDPSK) modulation and receive downlink 4800 bps SDPSK modulated signals between 137.0 and 138.0 MHz. They access the satellite via an ORBCOMM proprietary acquire-communicate TDMA/FDMA protocol.
The AIS and ORBCOMM radios operate on diverse frequencies and use different forms of signal modulation. The data structure for packets in each system is different. If a ship or other communications platform wishes to use both AIS and ORBCOMM communications, the operator must buy separate AIS and ORBCOMM radios.

Multiple protocol software defined radio


A method for monitoring the motion of a sport ball that has been impacted by an individual during the course of an athletic activity includes the steps of a portable electronic device wirelessly receiving motion data from the sport ball, and the portable electronic device determining a point of impact based on the motion data, wherein the point of impact includes a location on a surface of the sport ball where the impact occurred.

Athletic activity is important to maintaining a healthy lifestyle and is a source of entertainment for many people. Some individuals prefer to engage in team athletic activities such as, for example, soccer or basketball, while other individuals prefer to engage in individual athletic activities such as, for example, running or skiing. Regardless of whether the activity is a team or individual activity, it is common for individuals to participate in both competitive sessions, such as a soccer match or a running race, and more informal training sessions such as conducting soccer drills or running interval sprints.
Technology has resulted in the development of athletic monitoring devices that are capable of recording information about an individual's performance during an athletic activity using sensors, and in some cases providing feedback about the individual's performance. Some portable athletic monitoring devices employ sensors attached to a piece of athletic equipment. Such sensors may be capable of measuring various parameters associated with the individual's physical activity, such as motion parameters.
Many existing athletic equipment monitoring devices are not portable and thus are not suitable for monitoring in many real world competitive or training sessions. Even those that are portable are often too heavy or lack sufficient battery and/or processing power to be used for extended periods under rigorous competitive or training conditions. In addition, while some existing athletic equipment monitoring devices are capable of making relatively simple motion or other performance determinations, more advanced determinations are often not possible or suffer from accuracy issues. Finally, the performance feedback provided by existing devices to individuals often fails to provide these individuals with quick, accurate, insightful information that would enable them to easily compare past performances, develop strategies for improving future performances, visualize performances, or select new training regimens or athletic equipment.

Sports ball athletic activity monitoring methods and systems


The invention relates to a seat assembly for a motor vehicle seat, comprising a seat frame, which defines a seating surface for a motor vehicle occupant and pivotally mounted backrest, which can be folded onto the seating surface about a pivoting axis. According to the invention, the pivoting axis is displaced along a predetermined path, when the backrest is folded forwards onto the seating surface.

A seat assembly comprises a seat frame which defines a seat surface for a motor vehicle occupant, and a backrest which is coupled pivotably to a frame subassembly of the seat and can be folded about a pivot axis onto the seat surface.
A seat arrangement of this type can serve both for forming a front seat and for forming a rear seat of a motor vehicle. It permits the backrest of the corresponding motor vehicle seat to be folded forward onto the seat surface in order to provide additional storage space. As a rule, the corresponding seat surface is formed by a seat cushion which is arranged on the seat frame. The seat frame therefore defines the seat surface insofar as it determines the position of the seat cushion. However, the seat surface is not formed by the seat frame itself, but rather by the seat cushion.
In the case of a seat assembly of the type mentioned at the beginning, there is the problem that when it is folded forward the backrest may collide with the windshield, in particular via a head restraint provided on the backrest, (in the case of a front seat) or with the backrest of another seat (in the case of a rear seat).
It is therefore necessary, before the backrest is folded forward onto the seat surface, to remove the head restraint from the backrest and to deposit it at a separate location. This considerably impairs the ease with which a seat assembly having a backrest which can be folded forward is operated.
The invention is therefore based on the problem of improving a seat assembly of the type mentioned at the beginning in respect of the ease with which it is operated.

Brose Fahrzeugteile GmbH & Co. KG, Coburg


A solid lubricant-coating device is provided with a solid lubricant to be applied to the surface of a latent image-supporting member; a supply roller for scraping and supplying the solid lubricant onto the surface of the latent image-supporting member by self rotation; a pressing unit for pressing the solid lubricant onto the supply roller; a flattening unit for forming a thin film of the supplied solid lubricant on the surface of the latent image-supporting member; and a cleaning unit for removing the residual toner on the surface of the latent image-supporting member and recovering the solid lubricant thin film on the surface of the latent image-supporting member, wherein, when a thickness of the solid lubricant thin film immediately before the supply roller in the rotation direction of the latent image-supporting member is designated as thickness A (nm) and a thickness immediately after the flattening unit is designated as thickness B (nm), the thicknesses A and B satisfy the following relational formulae (1) and (2): B−A≧8 (1) and A≧4 (2).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a solid lubricant-coating device and an image-forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
There exist a demand for acceleration of image-forming in common image-forming apparatuses using the electrophotographic mode, such as copying machines, printers and facsimile apparatuses. It is needed, for acceleration of image-forming, to increase the output of the charging unit for charging the surface of photosensitive member and the sensitivity of the photosensitive member. However, increase in output of the charging unit leads to increase in the amounts of O3 and NOx emitted, and increase in sensitivity of the photosensitive member leads to easier change of the properties of the photosensitive member surface by O3 and NOx, causing a problem of generation of image noises such as image blurring and image flowing. It may be possible to prevent generation of the imaging noises by abrading the photosensitive member surface altered in properties, but such a method also caused a problem that the lifetime of the photosensitive member was shortened.
Disclosed is a technology concerning an image-forming apparatus, comprising an application unit for applying a solid lubricant to the surface of a photosensitive member, a flattening unit for making a thin film of the applied solid lubricant at a downstream position of the application unit, and a lubricant-removing unit for removing the deteriorated solid lubricant at an upstream position of the application unit (Japanese Patent-Application Laid-Open No. 2006-259031). If such a technology is used, the lifetime of the photosensitive member may be elongated, but the problem of image noises could not be prevented sufficiently.
An object of the present invention is to provide a solid lubricant-coating device and an image-forming apparatus that can prevent generation of image noises such as image blurring and image flowing sufficiently, even when image-forming is carried out at high speed.

Solid lubricant-coating device and image-forming apparatus

Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.


A bug screen for mounting to a grille of a vehicle comprises a membrane disposed in a frame. At least one slot is disposed on the frame, and at least one platform is disposed on the grille. At least one extension is disposed on the at least one platform. A leg is included in the at least one extension. The leg projects perpendicularly from the at least one platform and has an end opposite to the at least one platform. A barb is disposed on the end of the leg. A sloping surface is disposed on the barb, and the sloping surface passes through the at least one slot on the frame to mount the bug screen to the grille.

This disclosure relates generally to a screen and a method for mounting a screen. More specially, this disclosure relates to a bug screen for a vehicle and a method of mounting a bug screen on a vehicle.
Currently, there are a plurality of bug screens that mount behind a grille of a truck. These bug screens are used to reduce likelihood of a foreign article, such as a bug, a rock and the like, contacting and potentially damaging a radiator associated with the truck. Some of these bug screens are substantially similar to the bug screen 10, shown in FIG. 1, mounted behind a grille 12. This bug screen 10 is mounted to the grille 12 by at least one fastener 14. To mount the bug screen 10 to the grille 12, a plurality, often between six (6) and eighteen (18), of fasteners 14, such as a spring clip, a scrivet, a screw, a rivet and the like, is used. During manufacture of a vehicle, this plurality of fasteners 14 may be loaded, sometimes one-by-one, into an assembly machine. This process complicates vehicle manufacture and increases time and cost of vehicle manufacture.
During use of the vehicle, the bug screen 10 may be damaged, thereby making replacement of the bug screen 10 desirable. Each of the plurality of fasteners 14 must be removed carefully to reduce probability of damaging the grille 12. A damaged grille 12 may be expensive. Time taken to remove carefully each of the plurality of fasteners 14 increases time the vehicle must be out of service for repair. This increased repair time reduces ability of the vehicle to generate revenue. Accordingly, it is desirable to improve a bug screen and a method of mounting the bug screen to a grille 12 of a vehicle.

International Truck Intellectual Property Company, LLC


A first coupling member 10 has a body 11 and an internal poppet 16. The exterior of the body 11 includes flats 30. A lug 31 is formed on one of the flats 30 during machining of the flats 30. A dust cover attached to the first coupling member 11 includes a cover portion 40 and a tether portion 41. The cover portion 40 protects an exterior surface 19 of the body, and the cover portion 40 to and tether portion 41 each protects one lateral side of the lug 31. The tether portion 41 includes an annular ring portion 43 disposed in an annular groove 25. A second embodiment 110 of the first coupling member is also disclosed. A second coupling member 210 may be coupled to or uncoupled from either of the first coupling members 10 or 110.

Quick couplings, which are also known as quick connect couplings or quick disconnect couplings, are used in a wide variety of applications. Quick couplings generally include first and second coupling members. At least one of the coupling members is typically secured to a flexible hose, and the other coupling member is typically secured to another flexible hose or to a rigid device such as a tank, pump, motor, valve, or other device.
When the coupling members are in a coupled configuration, fluid may flow between the coupling members. One of the coupling members may include a release sleeve, and actuation of the release sleeve unlocks the coupling members and permits disconnection. One or both of the coupling members may include a valve which is opened to permit fluid flow when the coupling members are in the coupled configuration and which is closed to terminate fluid flow when the coupling members are disconnected.


An improved cutter assembly for use with a header of an agricultural harvester is provided. The assembly includes a pair of oppositely directed knife blades or cutter bars and a center knife drive. A crank shaft drives both knife blades in linear reciprocating paths with no fore and aft movement. As a consequence, harmful fore and aft vibration is eliminated. The assembly is simple and durable in design, less susceptible to vibration-induced wear and tear, and comparatively simple to manufacture and repair.

The subject application relates generally to headers for agricultural harvesters. In particular, the subject application relates to a header including an improved harvester cutter assembly for driving oppositely directed knife blades in linear reciprocating or oscillating fashion.
Agricultural harvesters such as combine harvesters are well known apparatuses for harvesting grain crops. An agricultural harvester is typically a self-propelled vehicle which includes a feederhouse and mechanisms downstream of the feederhouse for separating grain from other crop material. A header is attached to the front of the harvester and includes mechanisms for cutting crop, gathering crop and delivering crop to the harvester's feederhouse. A typical crop cutter includes a stationary knife and a moving knife which together act as shears that cut crop near the ground. After cutting, the crop is gathered, e.g., by a harvesting reel which feeds the cut crop to a conveyor system that transports the cut crop to the harvester's feederhouse.
Typical agricultural harvester cutter assemblies include a pair of oppositely directed knife blades each of which are formed from a plurality of sickle sections that are secured to a knife back. Each knife back, in turn, is connected to a knife drive. In conventional cutter assemblies the knife blades are pivotably connected to the knife drives whereby the knife drives propel the knife blades through a non-linear, arc-like path of motion. In traversing the arc, the knife blades move not only from side to side (i.e., transverse to the direction of movement of the harvester) but also fore and aft (i.e., in the direction of movement of the harvester). The fore and aft motion of the knife blades results in forward and rearward vibration being introduced into the cutter assemblies which adds additional stresses on the knife blades and detrimentally affects the service life of the knife drives.
In addition, the sickle knife drives of current agricultural harvesters are complex in construction with many moving parts including multiple crank shafts and gears. In a typical arrangement, at least one crank shaft and gear is required to drive each knife blade and the interaction of these components must be carefully coordinated in order to move the knife blades in synchronicity. The complexity of such knife drives renders them difficult and costly to manufacture and repair while increasing their susceptibility to failure, which can deleteriously impact harvesting productivity.

Cutter assembly for an agricultural harvester


Nerve stimulation systems and methods are disclosed for providing improved compliance of a patient to a pelvic disorder treatment regimen. A patient interface module is connected to a control module for providing compliance information related to compliance criteria for a set of scheduled events. Patient compliance is assessed and notification or treatment events can be scheduled, rescheduled or otherwise adjusted based upon patient compliance or non-compliance according to compliance rules and parameters of a treatment compliance module. Both compliance and non-compliance may lead to adjustment of the treatment regimen, scheduled treatment events, and notifications to the patient or user operating the nerve stimulation system.

Nerve stimulation (neurostimulation) technology includes applications such as electrical neuromodulation, functional electrical stimulation, and therapeutic electrical stimulation. Nerve stimulation is an effective clinical tool used to treat various chronic medical disorders and conditions. Examples include (1) deep brain stimulation (DBS) for treating Parkinson's disease and essential tremor, (2) spinal cord stimulation for treating pain and voiding disorders, and (3) peripheral nerve stimulation for treating pelvic floor disorders and dysfunctions (e.g., overactive bladder), pain, obstructive sleep apnea, headache, migraine, epilepsy, depression, hypertension, cardiac disorders, and other disorders and disease states. Peripheral nerves may include, for example, the vagus nerve, occipital nerve, cranial nerves, spinal nerves, pudendal nerves, cutaneous nerves, and the sciatic and femoral nerves.
The peripheral nervous system provides a neural substrate that allows nerve stimulation to treat various disorders. Long-term viability of implanted neurostimulators can be complicated by issues related to repeated mechanical movement (e.g., lead fracture and/or component migration). Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) can provide a more simple and non-invasive approach. However, selective nerve activation by TENS may not be readily achieved due to, for example, intervening tissue or distance between a nerve target and the skin surface. Accordingly, some therapies rely on percutaneous stimulation to stimulate a target nerve.
Advances in minimally-invasive nerve stimulation have been realized clinically. Wireless implantable electrode probes have been developed for achieving less invasive methods of selective nerve stimulation. The BION (Advanced Bionics) is a glass or ceramic covered electrode that can be percutaneously injected into a region of interest. It can be self-powered or passively charged by radio frequency (RF) pulses. Long-term use may be complicated by migration of the BION from its original implant location. This migration may cause both reduced therapeutic effects and increased stimulation-evoked side effects due to activation of other (non-target) tissue. Nerve stimulation systems (e.g., MicroTransponder Inc. SAINT™ System) which are smaller, less expensive, and/or less technically complicated than the BION may be advantageous in treatment of some disorders. StimGuard has developed injectable implantable neurostimulators, which use wireless power in the RF and/or microwave frequency rage and non-inductive antennas which receive electromagnetic energy radiated from a source located outside of the patient's body. Energous technology is developing wireless technology that utilizes multiple antennae to provide improved transmission and harvesting of wireless energy and is developing within the implantable device space. These innovative technologies will allow smaller form factors. Witricity is using wireless magnetic induction technology to power implanted devices. Alternatively, Valencia Technologies has developed a coin-shaped implantable neurostimulator disclosed, for example in US App Nos. 20140214128A1, US20140214144A1, US20150148864A1, (all to Peterson et al.), which has a battery which may not be rechargeable, and which can last 2-3 years when providing periodic stimulation for disorders such as overactive bladder.
Transcutaneous magnetic stimulators (TMS), termed "transcranial magnetic stimulators" when used for brain stimulation, are used to treat disorders such as migraine (e.g. those made by Neuralieve Inc. such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,294,101, 8,262,556) by using an external magnetic stimulation device to stimulate central or peripheral tissue targets. The fields induced inside the tissue by one or more pulses (e.g., such as may occur with pulsed electromagnetic stimulation) may be less localized than desired. The present invention may offer advantages related to enhancing the effects of externally applied magnetic and/or electrical fields near a target nerve.
In addition to pain treatment, TENS systems have been used to apply electrical fields to the brain to modulate sleep, anxiety, depression, pain, attention, memory, and various types of brain activity. TENS systems are being developed to enhance performance of athletes by stimulating a person's head, although the mechanisms of action are not fully understood. TENS is not currently used to reliably treat certain disorders such as overactive bladder. This may be due, at least partially, to the difficulty of modulating the posterior tibial nerve which may be too deep for sufficient portion of the TENS signal to modulate the nerve target. The disclosed systems and methods may allow a TENS system to stimulate novel anatomical areas and nerve targets in the treatment of overactive bladder.
The first largely available percutaneous nerve stimulation method and system for treatment of overactive bladder was provided by Uroplasty under the name "Urgent PC". The therapy involves posterior tibial nerve stimulation using a percutaneous needle electrode at a site above and posterior to the patient's medial malleolus which stimulates in conjunction with an electrode attached to the medial side of a patient's foot. The method and system has been described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,493,588, 7,668,598, 8,046,082, 8,812,114, 9,056,194, 9,265,941 assigned to Uroplasty. The Urgent PC system design incorporates a "use" status when the device is ready to provide therapy and a "do not use" status when the device is not ready. The device works with a lead set having a status flag element with a "use" status which converts to a "do not use" status at a predetermined time after starting the therapy. The status change includes blowing a fuse of the lead set so that the lead cannot be re-used for subsequent therapy. Single-use leads require a new lead must be purchased and used for each subsequent provision of therapy.
A more recent alternative percutaneous nerve stimulation method and system has been described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,660,646 entitled "Percutaneous tibial nerve stimulator" to Laing et al. The disclosure describes a system developed by Advanced Uro-Solutions and now distributed under the name NURO by Medtronic. The system uses a method that includes providing a computer system having a customer interface and a neurostimulator unit that is operated in conjunction with the interface. The neurostimulator contains a pulse generator that is electrically coupled to a transcutaneous electrode configured to be applied to skin of a patient (e.g. inner foot) and a percutaneous electrode for insertion at stimulation site of a patient which is the posterior tibial nerve. A microcontroller communicates with the pulse generator and allows for the monitoring of how many treatment credits are available to be used by the neurostimulator. If there is at least one treatment credit, the microcontroller allows for activating the pulse generator and decrements the treatment credit counter when a treatment is provided to a patient. The system also provides for a computer system that can receive a treatment credit request transmitted through the customer interface and adjusting the number of treatment credits available based on the number of treatment credits purchased. Accordingly, the system allows for treatment to be accomplished if the treatment has been paid for by obtaining a treatment-credit beforehand.
These prior art systems suffer limitations. These provide a single stimulator (e.g., configured to provide a single percutaneous electrode for insertion at a single treatment site near the ankle). More than one stimulation site may be beneficial and stimulating the saphenous nerve near the knee may have advantages. Stimulation systems may not allow for providing more than one treatment across an interval (e.g., 3- or 24-hours) although all treatments may be related to a single event or disorder, but with greater severity, requiring a larger "dose". For example, treatment credits are related to a single stimulation session lasting a defined duration.
The prior art percutaneous stimulation devices for treatment of OAB by stimulation of the posterior tibial nerve (PTN) suffer additional disadvantages and limitations. For example, they are designed for percutaneous stimulation of the PTN rather than for percutaneous or transcutaneous stimulation of the saphenous nerve, or for a combination of different stimulation methods (e.g., first percutaneous and then TENS, using a combination of external and implanted neurostimulators).
Another disadvantage is that prior art stimulators are not configured to adjust stimulation parameters for, and then provide stimulation with, signals provided at two or more percutaneous stimulators that are applied to the patient to provide stimulation of targets including, for example, both the PTN and the saphenous nerve (SAFN). There is no provision for display of different stimulation parameters related to two or more targets.
Another disadvantage is that prior art stimulators (e.g. percutaneous, magnetic, etc) used for treatment various conditions implement a pay-per-session paradigm. For example, in the treatment of OAB (or migraine) there is a charge to stimulate at a single stimulation site. This does not allow for stimulation using 1 or more neurostimulators or for nerve stimulation using needles at two stimulation sites. This also does not allow for requiring payment to activate a device for a single interval of use rather than for each of a plurality of uses within that interval (e.g. several therapy sessions on a single day).
Another disadvantage is that prior art TENS stimulators (which work either jointly, with or without, implanted components) are not configured to provide treatment related to overactive bladder with features that promote compliance and therapy benefit. Prior art TENS stimulators are also not configured to provide stimulation of the saphenous nerve in the treatment of overactive bladder or other pelvic floor disorder.
Systems and methods are needed which provide advantages for both clinic-based and home-based therapy such as one or more of the following: a) providing at-home stimulation treatment to patients contingent upon a subscription being valid; b) allowing for providing a selected number of treatments within the course of a selected, and programmable, treatment window such as a 6, 12, 24 or 48 hour period, or an interval of weeks or months; c) monitoring, recording, displaying, reporting, sending and operating upon usage data related to treatment times, durations, compliance, non-compliance, and other characteristics of patient use; d) alerting doctors, caregivers, or patients to promote compliance and/or when non-compliance or incorrect-use occurs; e) providing the selection of session-based, dose-based, interval-based, local-based and remote-based use-management; f) providing TENS systems configured for OAB treatment and/or stimulation of the saphenous nerve to provide treatment of other disorders or provide other benefit; and g) providing a gamification system that increases the fun and entertainment value of the treatment, augments compliance, and rewards the user for providing treatment in the intended manner.

Systems for improving neurostimulation compliance using a patient interface module


The present invention provides an efficient application oriented security model. Prior to execution, an application is authenticated, and security information associated with the application is retrieved. The security information is then used to generate a token that is attached to the application. The security information may include a principle account associated with the application, a list of group accounts, and a corresponding privilege list.

As individuals and enterprises become more dependent on the use of electronic computing devices, there is an increasing need to provide security for electronic applications and their data. Users of computing devices must feel confident that their private data will not be exposed to other, unauthorized persons or groups. Moreover, providers of electronic services must also feel confident that applications which are used in connection with their services will not be corrupted by other applications from other providers. Such corruption may result in poor service quality or in a complete failure to provide the service, thereby inconveniencing the customer and tarnishing the reputation of the service provider.
In traditional desktop computing environments, most applications are either provided by a single developer or are specially designed to function and cooperate with applications from other developers. For example, in desktop, environments, common applications such as a word processor, a spreadsheet, an electronic mail application, and an Internet browser are often designed by a single developer. Additionally, even if designed by different developers, there is generally a mutual trust that desktop applications will function efficiently with one another. Accordingly, desktop security concerns generally are primarily focused on untrusted users accessing a system rather than on untrusted applications within the system. Thus, desktop security systems generally invoke user oriented security models.
In an exemplary desktop security model, each user or group of users has a corresponding security account. When a user logs on to a computing device or network of computing devices, the user enters a password to authenticate his identity. A token is then generated for the user that includes the user's corresponding accounts and privileges. A privilege is the right of an account to perform various system related operations such as, for example, shutting down the system, loading device drivers, and changing the system time. An exemplary prior art token 100 is shown in FIG. 1. Token 100 includes a user account entry 102, which includes the user's account, and a group account list 104, which includes the accounts of every group of which the user is a member. Token 100 also includes a privilege list 106, which lists each of the user's associated privileges.
The token is used to determine whether its corresponding user is authorized access to secure objects within the system. Specifically, each secure object within the system has a discretionary access control list (DACL), that identifies the access rights of each account with respect to the secure object. The DACL has a number of entries, referred to as access control entries (ACE's), each specifying the access rights of a particular account. An exemplary prior art DACL 210 is shown in FIG. 2. DACL 210 includes ACE's 212-216. User tokens 100 and 101 are both attempting to gain access to secure object 200. User token 100 has been denied access to secure object 200 because, as indicated by ACE 212, Andrew does not have access to secure object 200. The denied access of token 100 is represented by the dashed line shown in FIG. 2. By contrast, user token 101 has been granted access to secure object 200 because, as indicated by ACE 214, Group A has write access secure object 200.
Unlike desktop computers, portable computing devices such as, for example, cellular phones and personal data assistants (PDA's) generally include a number of different applications from a number of different service providers. For example, a single cellular phone may include applications from a telephone service provider, a software provider, and a company which issues the phone to an employee. Service providers and companies tend to have concerns of allowing untrusted applications to be executed on devices which are on their networks or connected to their enterprise systems. Accordingly, user oriented security models, such as the one set forth above, are not ideal for portable devices because user oriented security models do not necessarily protect one application and its data from other applications running on the system. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an efficient application oriented security model. The present invention satisfies these and other needs.

System and method for providing security to an application


The disclosure is directed to a warm mix asphalt comprising a hydrated lime slurry additive, methods of producing the same, methods of producing an asphalt pavement and methods of paving a surface.

Hydrated lime is used in many asphalt mixes and is generally required by many states to improve properties of pavements made from hot mix asphalt. Hydrated lime can be also used as an anti-stripping agent. The asphalt industry has used different approaches to introduce hydrated lime to asphalt mix. For example, the following methods have been used: dry hydrated lime injected into drum mixer, dry hydrated lime added to aggregate in pug mill, dry hydrated lime added to moist aggregate with marination, and hydrated lime slurry added to aggregate with or without marination. See, National Lime Association, How to Add Hydrated Lime to Asphalt, An Overview of Current Methods (September 2003), page 2.
Hot mix asphalts (HMA) are a mix of aggregate heated to about 300° F. to 350° F. with a similarly heated asphalt based binder, which generally includes asphalt and or asphalt and polymer.
A lower temperature alternative to HMA is warm mix asphalt (WMA). However, WMA tend to be costly due to the use of additives including waxes, amines and surfactants.
The present disclosure has been developed as an approach to introduce hydrated lime into a warm mix asphalt, while minimizing costs to recycle lost hydrated lime particles and reduce costs to dry aggregate particles.


A lid for use with an open top container threadably engages with the open head container to secure the lid to the container. A seal is located between tapered surfaces of the lid and the container member such that compression of the seal occurs gradually as the lid is threadably secured onto the container member. The lid is equipped with a torquing tool which pivots at along a ridge at the edge of the lid. In a stored configuration, the torquing tool has a handle which is at least partially contained within a chamber in the lid. A base of the torquing tool has a top surface which is coplanar with a top surface of a portion the lid in the stored configuration. To utilize the torquing tool, the handle is rotated about the pivot, to an extended position. The handle may then assist an operator in twisting the lid relative to the container member.

The present invention relates to lids for use with pails and more specifically to a pail lid or cover having a built-in torquing tool.
Various pails or barrels and similar containers and cover, or lid, assemblies are known in the art. Some pails are utilized to store chemicals or other solutions. Other pails are utilized to store dry goods.
When storing solutions, it is often important to provide a seal between a lid and the wall of the container to prevent spilling and leaking of the solution from the container past the lid. Some stored solutions may have a corrosive effect, or discolor some surfaces upon contact if the solution were to inadvertently spill from a storage container. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,494,674 and 3,897,874 disclose seals between a container member and a lid.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,170,691 and 6,006,942, owned by the owner of the present application, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference, address a need in the industry to reduce the amount of strength required to close a lid onto an open lid container by providing a seal which is gradually compressed as a lid is rotatably threaded onto the container member. While these designs are an improvement over the prior art, there remains a need to assist those individuals lacking sufficient strength to open and close lids on containers.
Specifically, if a very strong person applies a large amount of torque to a lid to secure the lid to the container, it may be very difficult for a weaker person to remove the lid from the container. Furthermore, if a lid is not attached to a particular container, even with the improved gradual sealing technique disclosed in the aforesaid other patents of the owner of the present application, it may still be difficult for some weak people to apply a specific amount of torque to the lid to significantly reduce the likelihood of spillage should a sudden surge in pressure occur within the closed container, such as may occur if the container is dropped onto a hard surface. Accordingly, a need exists to provide a means which assists a person in applying torque to a lid.
A number of mechanisms have been devised over the years to provide a handle, or a torquing tool for use with lids, caps, or tops. Specifically, U.S. Pat. No. 879,516 shows a hot water bottle with a handle 15 that pivots relative to an extension 13 which is connected to head 11. While this design may be suitable for the application provided in the ""516 patent, the use of an extension with pail lids is not convenient nor desirable. The inclusion of an extension would increase the cost of materials in the lid and would affect the way pails and pail lids are stored. Improvements may be made over this design.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,031,775 shows another top, or screw stopper, for use with cans, drums, jars bottles and other vessels. A handle slidably extends from a slot in the top of the stopper to provide a torquing aid for a user. While a number of advantages are obtained from this design, the construction utilizing the teachings of this design in the form of a pail lid would likely require significant labor and complexity. Accordingly, improvements may be made over this design as well.
Various pivoting handle designs have been utilized for particular containers. U.S. Pat. No. 4,730,747 shows a handle on a gas can lid which pivots from about the centerline of the lid. U.S. Pat. No. 3,945,526 shows another construction where a handle pivots at the centerline of a cap which may be utilized on a nail polish bottle. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,120,603 and 2,308,217 show somewhat similar constructions for a jar cap having a handle which pivots from an extension located on a top surface of the lid, about half way from the edge of the cap to the center of the cap.
Thus, although numerous attempts have been made to provide a torquing tool as a portion of a cap, none of the prior art construction are believed to be particularly suited for pail covers with the exception of U.S. Pat. No. 4,126,246 with gripping structure formed into a top surface of the lid and U.S. Pat. No. 4,453,647 having a recessed portion in the lid for receiving a paint stir stick. While these designs may be acceptable in some applications, they are not practicable when it is necessary or important to maintain a seal between a lid and a container and for other reasons.
Consequently, it is an object of the present invention to provide an open top container and lid assembly with the lid having a torquing tool available to assist a user in the attachment and/or detachment of the lid from the container.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a torquing tool which pivots about a pivot point on a ridge of the lid.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a torquing tool which may be stored in an unobstrusive manner when not in use.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a torquing tool which does not interfere with the ability of multiple pails with lids to stack on top of one another.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a lid for an open end container. The lid preferably threadably engages with the open end container to secure the lid to the container and has a seal located between tapered surfaces of the lid and the container member such that compression of the seal occurs gradually as the lid is threadably secured onto the container member.
The lid has a torquing tool which pivots at a ridge at the edge of the lid. In a stored configuration, the torquing tool has a handle which is at least partially contained within a depression or chamber in the lid. A base of the torquing tool has a top surface which is coplanar with a top surface of the lid in the stored configuration. To utilize the torquing tool, the handle is rotated about the pivot, to an extended position. The handle may then assist an operator in twisting the lid relative to the container member.


A floating body field effect transistor having a defined breakdown voltage, and a lower holding voltage, serves to clamp electrostatic discharge voltages to a low voltage level, thereby minimizing thermal power dissipation within the thin semiconductor layer of semiconductor-on-insulator circuits.

The semiconductor-on-insulator technology constitutes a new technique for fabricating high-speed MOS and CMOS circuits. According to such a technique, a thin epitaxial layer of semiconductor material, such as silicon, is deposited on an insulator to reduce the capacitive coupling between the semiconductor layer and the underlying insulator and substrate material. Field effect transistors and other devices fabricated within the thin layer of semiconductor material exhibit high-speed switching characteristics.
MOS-type circuits are particularly susceptible to damage by electrostatic discharge. According to current fabrication techniques, the thin gate insulators of MOS and CMOS transistors can be damaged by gate voltages in excess of about seventeen volts. Hence, static discharges by persons or equipment handling such integrated circuits can permanent damage an entire chip. Static discharge destruction of integrated circuits is particularly troublesome, in that electrostatic voltage buildups on a person can reach hundreds to thousands of volts.
While electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection devices have been implemented as ancillary circuits on MOS-type integrated circuit chips, an additional concern arises with semiconductor-on-insulator chips. Traditionally, the energy of an electrostatic discharge was maintained at a safe voltage level by such ancillary protection circuits, and the energy was dissipated in the bulk semiconductor substrate on which the circuits were fabricated. In contrast, with semiconductor-on-insulator SOI) circuits, the thin semiconductor layer has insubstantial bulk to safely, dissipate all the electrostatic energy as thermal energy. Since most electrically insulating materials are poor thermal conductors, substantially all the energy must be dissipated within the thin semiconductor layer which overlies the insulator on SOI chips.
Input protection circuits are well known for use on silicon-on-sapphire (SOS) substrates. The following technical articles are illustrative of the ESD protection circuits adapted for SOI structures: R. K. Pancholy and T. J. Oki, "C-MOS/SOS Gate-Protection Networks", IEEE Trans. on Elec. Dev., Vol. ED-25, pp. 917, 1978; S. H. Cohen and G. K. Caswell, "An Improved Input Protection Circuit for C-MOS/SOS Arrays" ibid, pp. 926; B. T. Ahlport, J. R. Cricchi and D. A. Barth, "C-MOS/SOS LSI Input/Output Protection Networks" ibid, pp. 933; and W. Palumbo and M. P. Dugan, "Design and Characterization of Input Protection Networks for CMOS/SOS Application", EOS/ESD SYMPOSIUM PROCEEDINGS, pp. 182, 1986. Typical of such input protection networks is a gated diode or a p-i-n diode which exhibits a forward threshold of about 0.7 volts and a reverse breakdown voltage of about 14 volts. Thus, the clamping of input gate voltages to less than the requisite 17 volts is achieved. More importantly, the energy developed across such a protection diode when operating at a breakdown voltage of about 14 volts can be substantial. The heat generated by such diodes must be dissipated by the thin semiconducter layer which, if such energy becomes excessive, poses the danger of destruction to the integrated circuit chip.
From the foregoing, it can be seen that a need exists for improved electrostatic discharge protection circuits which can be easily fabricated and which are compatible with other transistors on the chip, as well as provide a lower voltage drop thereacross to thereby reduce the thermal energy dissipation requirements of the thin semiconductor layer of the SOI structure. An associated need exists for an electrostatic discharge protection circuit which can be fabricated according to current silicon processing techniques and equipment.


A method of driving light sources controls amounts of light from light-emitting diode (LED) strings based on pulse signals to operate the LED strings connected in parallel. Voltages are synchronized with the pulse signals at input terminals of control circuits to detect the voltages, the control circuits being connected to the LED strings and controlling resistance variations of the LED strings. The operation of the LED strings is stopped when the detected voltage is out of a predetermined allowable voltage range due to a short-circuited LED. Therefore, a light source device may be protected by stopping the operation of the LED strings.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a method of driving a light source, a light source device for performing the method, and a display device having the light source device. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a method of driving a light source for local dimming driving, a light source device performing the method and a display device having the light source device.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Generally, liquid crystal display (LCD) devices have thinner thickness, lighter weight, and lower power consumption than other types of display devices. Thus, LCD devices are being widely used not only for monitors, notebook computers, and cellular phones, but also for wide-screen televisions. An LCD device includes an LCD panel displaying images using the light transmissivity property of a liquid crystal layer, and a backlight assembly providing the LCD panel with light.
The backlight assembly includes a light source that generates light. For example, the light source may be a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL), a hot cathode fluorescent lamp (HCFL) or a light-emitting diode (LED). The LED is used as a light source for an LCD panel, because the LED has low power consumption and high color reproducibility.
Recently, a local dimming method dividing the LCD panel into a plurality of regions and controlling amounts of light from the backlight based on the gray level of an image displayed in each of the regions has been developed in order to improve the contrast ratio of the image displayed on the LCD device. The local dimming method reduces amounts of light from LEDs by reducing the amount of driving current provided to the LEDs that are located in a region displaying a darker image than other regions. Additionally, the local dimming method increases the amounts of light from the LEDs by increasing the amount of the driving current provided to the LEDs that are located in a region displaying a brighter image than other regions.
As described above, the backlight assembly includes a plurality of LED strings and a multichannel current controller for providing a driving current to the LED strings connected to each other in parallel, wherein LEDs are connected in series in each of the LED strings, using the local dimming method.
The multichannel current controlling circuit generally controls resistance variations among the LED strings so that the driving currents flowing through the LED strings are controlled to be the same. When an LED is shorted in one of the LED strings, the multichannel current controlling circuit consumes an amount of power corresponding to the shorted LED by producing heat in order to maintain the driving current. The shorted LED often damages the multichannel current controlling circuit.

Method of driving a light source, light source device for performing the same, and display device having the light source device


A salt flux composition comprising a high purity salt and additives is used in the recycle of scrap aluminum to increase the recovery of aluminum. The additives include an alkaline agent and a fluoride source.

Use of molten salt fluxes in the secondary aluminum industry is known to improve direct recovery of aluminum in remelting processes. Aluminum and scrap aluminum, such as used beverage containers (UBCs), are treated using such processes. Remelting of the aluminum in a furnace is carried out under cover of a layer of molten salt to prevent oxidation of the aluminum in the furnace atmosphere and to promote coalescence of the molten aluminum so as to maximize recovery of aluminum. During processing, an oxide film tends to form on the surface of the molten aluminum droplets. The oxide film inhibits coalescence of the molten aluminum, causing smaller particles to be lost in the process thereby reducing the amount of aluminum recovered. The unrecoverable aluminum droplets having the oxide film are sometimes referred to as dross.
Use of a salt flux in the furnace helps to strip away and suspend the oxide film so that coalescence of the droplets increases and dross formation decreases. The salt flux wets the oxide film and initiates disintegration of the film, stripping it from the surface of the molten aluminum droplets. Fragments of the oxide film stripped from the aluminum remain suspended in the flux. The aluminum droplets, which have a density greater than the flux, then form a continuous molten pad beneath the flux layer. The flux also prevents further oxide formation by keeping the metal protected from the atmosphere of the furnace.
One type of salt flux is primarily composed of a mixture of high purity sodium chloride and potassium chloride. The high purity salts used in such processes are solution mined and purified by complex, highly developed methods.
An object of this invention is to provide for improved aluminum recovery in a recycle process which includes scrap aluminum and salt flux.
Another object of the invention is to provide for improved coalescence of the molten aluminum in a process which includes melting scrap aluminum with a high purity salt flux composition, especially aluminum from UBCs.
Yet another object of the invention is to use an additive with a high purity salt flux composition, which additive includes an alkaline agent and a fluoride source to increase the coalescence of the remelted molten aluminum, thereby improving recovery of the metal.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be found by reference to the following specification.

Process for recovery of aluminum using high purity salt aluminum flux


A balance weight is formed into a columnar shape to extend in an axial direction of a spoke connecting a wheel hub and a rim of a spoke wheel, has an insertion recess extending over its entire axial length to open in its outer periphery, and is secured by crimping to the spoke to surround the spoke inserted into the insertion recess. A reduced section having a decreased outer diameter is provided on the balance weight at an end facing toward the wheel hub. Thus, the balance weights can be mounted to the adjacent spokes of the spoke wheel without interference therebetween.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a balance weight adapted to be secured by crimping to a spoke connecting a wheel hub and a rim of a spoke wheel, as well as a balance-correcting structure for a spoke wheel in which balance weights are individually mounted to rim-side ends of at least adjacent two of a plurality of spokes of the spoke wheel in order to correct the balance of rotation of the spoke wheel.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-89628 discloses a conventional balance weight and a balance-correcting structure for a spoke wheel.
The conventional balance weight is formed into a columnar shape to extend in an axial direction of a spoke, and has an insertion recess provided over its entire length to open in its outer periphery. The balance weight is secured by crimping to the spoke to surround the spoke inserted into the insertion recess. A plurality of spokes of the spoke wheel are disposed so that the spokes adjacent to each other in a circumferential direction of a rim intersect each other in the vicinity of the rim. When the number of the spokes is increased, the distance between the adjacent spokes is decreased. In this case, when the conventional balance weights are mounted on the spokes at ends on the side of the rim, interference occurs between the balance weights. As a result, it is difficult to mount the balance weights to the spokes, and the number of the spokes of the spoke wheel to which the balance weights can be mounted is limited.

Balance weight and balance-correcting structure for spoke wheel