A collaboration tool is presented for accurately guiding two or more communicating users to reference common locations in similar but separate architectural drawings. The collaboration tool includes a transparent planar sheet having at least one squared corner, and a grid of squares imposed on at least one side of the transparent sheet. The grid of squares has an X axis and a Y axis originating from the at least one square corner. Each square in the grid of squares is associated with a unique X-axis designator and a unique Y-axis designator. The apparatus further includes an aperture provided within each square of the grid of squares, for allowing a marking instrument therethrough for making a mark at a designated location on an architectural drawing underneath the transparent planar sheet.

This document relates to architectural drawings, and more particularly to a transparent overlay for architectural drawings of plans, to provide users of such architectural drawings accurate references via the transparent overlay.
In an initial design, architects create architectural drawings to develop, explore, and communicate ideas and solutions. The creation of the architectural drawings involves recording ideas, recognizing functions, and finding new forms and adapting them into an architectural design. Thus, an architectural drawing enables communication between two or more users (e.g. a designer and a foreman). Furthermore, the architectural drawing also helps designers to see and understand the design they work with.
The architectural drawings may be any one of presentation drawings, survey drawings, record drawings, working drawings, drafts by drafters, architectural reprographics, computer aided architectural drawings, sketches and blueprints. An exemplary architectural drawing is shown in FIG. 1.
The architectural drawings may represent a plan, such as a floor plan, a site plan, or other drawing, such as an elevation, isometric and axonometric projections, and detail drawings. The floor plan is a horizontal section cut through a structure (building). The horizontal section cut may show walls, windows, doors, other openings and other features at a particular level of the building. Geometrically, the floor plan is defined as a vertical orthographic projection of an object on a horizontal plane, with the horizontal plane horizontally cutting through the building. The site plan shows the whole context of a building or a group of buildings. It may show the already existing buildings as well as the proposed buildings. Within a site boundary, the site plan presents buildings (if any) already existing and those that are proposed, usually as a building footprint; roads, parking lots, footpaths, hard landscaping, trees and planting. The elevation is a front view of the building i.e. a view of the building seen from a side. The isometric and axonometric projections are simple ways of representing a three dimensional object. Detail drawings characterize a small part of a construction project at a larger scale, and often illustrate how the various components of the architectural drawing fit together.
Often times, the architectural drawings and the sketches need to be altered. The alteration in the architectural drawings includes moving objects in the architectural drawings. FIG. 1 illustrates objects 102, 104, 106 and 108 that need to be identified for a number of reasons: work needs to be performed in proximity of the objects 102, 104, 106. The removal of these objects alters the architectural drawing. In other examples, a wall may need to be moved in the architectural drawing. The movement of the objects may be due to a personal preference, or due to structural design requirements.
However, when the architectural drawings are altered, the alterations need to be communicated to other people in possession with the architectural drawing, and who may not be in geographical proximity to each other. For example, if a particular wall needs to be moved, two or more people viewing identical architectural drawings may need to locate that particular wall accurately. The communication is not easy, as the alterations need to be perceived by the receivers of the alterations in an identical way. Therefore, it is hard to know whether two people looking at separate but identical architectural drawings perceive the location of objects in the architectural drawing in the same way. The first of the two people may be the structural designer, and the second of the two people may be a foreman or any other person. There may be more than two people trying to perceive identical architectural drawings.
Difference in perceptions by different people about identical architectural drawings can lead to unwanted costs and wasted of time. For example, when the suggested alterations by the structural designer are inaccurately perceived by the foreman, unwanted monetary and time loss may occur. The alterations incur materials costs, such as amount location of pipes, etc. The loss may include fines, penalties, wastage of employee time, and additional costs.
Furthermore, at times, the architectural drawings may not have a scale (e.g. linear scale representing how much distance is represented by a fixed unit of distance on the architectural drawing) displayed with the architectural drawing, even if the architectural drawings are made according to scale. Communication of alterations on such architectural drawings can lead to further communication errors.
The alterations need to be specified specifically with respect to a reference point. The reference point may be changed as per the convenience of the people using the architectural drawing. During the communication, a fixed reference point and the specific alterations need to be communicated to ensure collaboration between the different parties involved with creating and using the altered architectural drawing. The specific alterations may include the specific coordinates of the alteration. Examples of specific alterations are illustrated by objects 102, 104, 106 and 108 in FIG. 1. Therefore, there is a need to have a grid on a transparent overlay to accurately represent where the alterations are made or need to be made-on the architectural drawing.


A refrigeration apparatus includes: a casing that includes first and second spaces; a heat exchanger housed in the casing and including a heat exchange portion and a header collecting tube. The heat exchange portion includes a plurality of heat transfer tubes through which a refrigerant flows, is disposed in the first space, and causes the refrigerant to exchange heat with an air flow. The header collecting tube is connected to the heat transfer tubes and disposed in the second space. The refrigeration apparatus also includes a wind shielding plate including a wind shielding surface that shields the second space from the air flow, where the header collecting tube includes a header body portion that extends in a longitudinal direction of the header collecting tube, and the wind shielding plate is fixed to the header collecting tube and fixed to the casing or a component disposed in the casing.

Refrigeration apparatuses including heat exchangers that each cause a refrigerant and an air flow to exchange heat have been widely used. Such refrigeration apparatuses require various countermeasures to be considered to suppress a decrease in reliability in the following viewpoints. For example, in a case where a refrigeration apparatus is installed in a coastal region, a countermeasure against salt-air damage is required to be considered. Moreover, in a case where pipes and tools made of different kinds of metal (for example, copper and aluminum or an aluminum alloy) are connected to each other in a heat exchanger, a countermeasure against galvanic corrosion is required to be considered. Furthermore, in a case where an air flow is bypassed to a header collecting tube of a heat exchanger without properly passing through a heat transfer portion (a heat exchange portion) of the heat exchanger, performance may be degraded, and hence the bypass is required to be stopped. In these viewpoints, in an outdoor unit of an air conditioner disclosed in PTL 1 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2013-137126), a wind shielding plate that shields a header collecting tube or a space (a machine chamber), in which the header collecting tube is disposed, from the air flow is disposed.
Such a heat exchanger is typically disposed in a casing. The method of fixing the heat exchanger to the casing is typically fixing by screwing via a fixing member. In an outdoor unit of an air conditioner disclosed in PTL 2 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2013-139930), a heat exchanger is screwed and fixed to a side plate of a casing via a bracket brazed to a header collecting tube.
In a refrigeration apparatus including such a heat exchanger, when the technology in PTL 1 (the wind shielding plate that shields the header collecting tube side) is employed and the technology in PTL 2 (fixing by screwing to the casing via the bracket) is employed to suppress a decrease in reliability, the cost increases due to an increase in the number of parts.


The disclosure relates to a system, computer readable medium, and method for automated data verification. The disclosure provides highly automated, customizable ways of verifying the integrity of large sets of data to ensure that data migration has occurred correctly. Namely, source data is converted into spreadsheet files using a customizable set of field definitions and then filtered to identify corresponding sets of data to be verified. Once filtered, the data in the spreadsheets are converted in hashmaps, which can easily and efficiently be compared to each other to find any inconsistencies in the data. Accordingly, as a result of this process, large sets of source data can be error checked in an efficient manner that saves computing processing power and time. This disclosure therefore addresses the problem of how to perform comparisons of various data across multiple source systems in large volumes.

Generally, data verification is any computer related process that checks for accuracy in a set of data after a data migration has occurred. Data verification ensures that the data migration process did not introduce any new errors into the data. In the absence of data verification processes, data migration from one system to another may might introduce errors such as transpositions, loss of data structures, duplication, and others.
A wide range of programming techniques and tools are known to be used for data verification. Commonly, proprietary scripts are programmed for a particular type of data in a particular environment. Often, this approach successfully performs automated data verification for a particular type of data source—but may require reprogramming for each different type of data and for each different type of environment. Reprogramming efforts can introduce errors, require testing before reprogrammed code is used, and can delay subsequent data verification activities. Such scripts are also often computationally slow, requiring intensive computing power. These approaches may therefore not be suitable for large data sets that must be verified quickly and inexpensively.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for systems and methods that addresses the shortcomings discussed above.


A spherical lens (5) is fixed to the front end of a tubular housing (1) and an end part of a lightconducting fibre (9) is fixed with its first end face (11) in the focal plane of the lens. The line through the center (13) of the lens (5) and the middle of the first end face (11) is the optical axis (17). The housing (1) with the lens (5) is placed against a seat (25), which is formed as a cavity with a rotationally symmetrical surface, on whose axis of rotation (27) a light detector (31) is mounted. The detector is designed to determine deviations between the direction of a light beam coming from the lens and the direction of the axis of rotation. Near the second end face (45) of the fibre (9) light is injected into the fibre, and the rear end of the housing is displaced in two directions (x, y) perpendicular to the optical axis, until the light beam emerging from the lens ( 5) coincides with the axis of rotation (27). The lens (5) with the seating (25) thereby functions as a ball hinge. The outer surface of the housing (1) is now finish-machined with a tool (49) that rotates around the axis of rotation (27).

The invention relates to a method for manufacturing a connector part for an optical connector, in which a spherical lens is fixed to the front end of a tubular housing and an end part of a light-conducting fibre is fixed in the housing in such a way that a first end face of the fibre substantially coincides with the focal plane of the lens. The line which passes through the centre of the first end face plane and the centre of the lens is defined as the optical axis. The invention also relates to a device for implementing the method and to a connector part fabricated by the method.
A method of the aforesaid kind is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,265,511 (PHN 9163). In accordance with the known method the end part of the light-conducting fibre is fixed in a tube which carries at one end the spherical lens that rests against a seat in the housing and forms a ball hinge with it. Near the other end of the tube the housing contains set screws by which this end can be displaced until the optical axis is parallel with the geometrical axis of the housing. This adjustment is visually checked by observing images projected on a screen, and the result is therefore dependent on the observer.
By means of a mechanical operation a reference face is formed on the housing which is accurately perpendicular to the geometrical axis. When two connector parts made by this method are arranged with their reference faces one against the other, it may be expected that their optical axes will be at least parallel, although it is not certain that they will also lie in each others extension. Since the means of adjustment are built into the housing, the number of components required for a connector part is relatively large, which makes the construction difficult and the price relatively high. Moreover, the result achieved depends on the observer.

Method and device for manufacturing a connector part for an optical connector


A container with double layers includes a metallic outer layer having through holes on a surrounding portion, and a plastic inner layer formed directly over an inner side of the outer layer by means of injection molding with a mold; the mold is shaped such that three-dimensional projecting portions are formed over corresponding ones of the through holes of the outer layer to project beyond the outer layer in the injection molding, and that the edges of the three-dimensional projecting portions cover those portions of the outer layer that define the through holes; thus, the layers can""t easily separate from, or move relative to, each other.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a container with double layers made of different materials, more particularly one, which is made in such a way that both of the layers can""t separate from each other, move relatively to each other or change shape due to significant change of temperature or hit of other objects.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Containers usually have patterns printed or attached on the surface to be attractive. However, patterns on the surface of a container are likely to be damaged or fade if hard objects are rubbed against them or if they are subject to moisture, or after the container has been used for a long period of time.
Referring to FIG. 5, a conventional container 10 is comprised of outer and inner layers 11, and 12; the outer layer 11 is formed with ornamental through holes 111 with various shapes on the annular portion; the inner layer 12 is disposed in the outer layer 11 so that patterns can be presented by means of the ornamental through holes 111 and the inner layer 12; the inner layer 12 can be merely closely fitted to the outer layer 11 without use of adhesive or securely joined to the outer layer 11 with adhesive. This container 10 is found to have disadvantages as followings:
1. Adhesive used between the layers 11, 12 is likely to become loose, causing the layers 11, 12 to easily separate from each other if the layers are made of different materials to have different coefficients of expansion, and there is significant change of temperature.
2. The layers 11, 12 are prone to move relatively with respect to each other, and even change shape if the inner layer 12 is merely closely fitted into the outer layer 11 without use of adhesive, and other objects hit the container hard.
3. The through holes 111 of the outer layer 11 make the container uneven on the surface. Consequently, the appearance of the container is badly affected.
Referring to FIG. 6, another conventional container 20 is comprised of outer and inner layers 21, and 22 made of different materials; the outer layer 21 is formed with an injection gate 212 on the bottom, and ornamental through holes 211 with various shapes on the annular portion; the inner layer 22 is made, and the holes 211 are filled with plastic materials for the outer layer 22 by means of positioning the outer layer 21 on a mold, and injecting the plastic materials into the mold via the gate 212; thus, both the layers 21, 22 are joined together, and plastics formed in the holes 211 are as high as those portions of the outer layer 21 that surround the through holes 211, i.e. the container 20 is smooth on the surface thereof. However, this container 20 still has disadvantages as followings:
1. Because the layers 11, 12 are made of different materials to have different coefficients of expansion, they are prone to separate from each other when there is significant change of temperature.
2. The layers 21, 22 are prone to move relative to each other, and even change shape when other objects hit the container hard.
3. The injection gate 212 on the bottom of the outer layer 21 will make the whole container take on an unpleasant appearance.
4. The patterns are flat, which are presented by the plastics formed in the through holes 211 in the injection molding for the inner layer 22.
It is a main object of the present invention to provide a container with double layers made of different materials, of which both of the layers can""t easily separate from each other, move relatively to each other or change shape.
The container of the invention includes a metallic outer layer formed with through holes, and a plastic inner layer formed directly over an inner side of the outer layer by means of injection molding with a mold; the mold is shaped such that three-dimensional projecting portions are formed over corresponding ones of the through holes of the outer layer and project beyond the outer layer in the injection molding, and that edges of the projecting portions mount on those portions of the outer layer that define the through holes.

Container with double layers made of different materials


A stack of high-temperature fuel cells which include a ceramic solid electrolyte, a porous oxygen electrode and a porous fuel electrode with gas-tight separation plates placed between the cells, wherein the separation plates, in their plane, exhibit knobs on both sides for electrical contact and include, on their edge, oxygen-side and fuel-side sealing edges whose planes are perpendicular to the plate plane.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention is directed to high-temperature fuel cells for converting chemical energy into electrical energy and relates (1) to the development of electrochemical high-temperature cells using ceramic solid electrolytes as ion conductors, wherein the cells are to a great extent independent of the fuel used and guarantee a compact arrangement and also relates (2), in a narrower sense, to an arrangement, of a multiplicity of flat, planar high-temperature fuel cells assembled into a stack, connected in series, and utilizing zirconium oxide as the solid electrolyte with electrically conductive separation plates placed between the cells.
2. Discussion of the Background
High-temperature fuel cells using doped, stabilized zirconium oxide are known to have numerous embodiments. In flat, planar fuel cells that are lined up into stacks ("filter press principle"), frame-like seals are definitely necessary to be provided on the outer periphery of the plate-shaped elements to press the interconnected components (e.g., bipolar plate, separation plate, current collector), which act to transmit the current perpendicular to the plate plane, on the adjacent electrodes and to guarantee perfect contact. As a rule, these electrically insulating, frame-like seals are made so that their main planes lie parallel to the plate plane of the adjacent element.
This layering of fuel cells, separation plates and flat, frame-like seals leads to a repeatedly statically indeterminate system which is difficult to control in practice. Either the contact pressure of the parts that are to guarantee the electrical contact is found to be insufficient or the pressure on the seal is insufficient for gas-tight closure. In addition, these flat seals make the feeding and removal of the gaseous media at the edges of the plate-shaped fuel cells more difficult and lead to an expensive structural configuration.
The following publications and patents are known prior art:
O. Antonsen, W. Baukal and W. Fischer, "Hochtemperatur-Brennstoffbatterie mit keramischem Elektrolyten" ["High-temperature Fuel Battery with Ceramic Electrolyte"], Brown Boveri Mitteilungen [Information] January/February 1966, pages 21-30,
U.S. Pat. No. 4,692,274
U.S. Pat. No. 4,395,468
W. J. Dollard and W. G. Parker, "An Overview of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Program," Extended Abstracts, Fuel Cell Technology and Applications, International Seminar, The Hague, Netherlands, Oct. 26 to 29, 1987,
F. J. Rohr, High Temperature Fuel Cells, Solid Electrolytes, 1978 by Academic Press, Inc., page 431 ff,
D. C. Fee et al., Monolithic Fuel Cell Development, Argonne National Laboratory, paper presented at the 1986 Fuel Cell Seminar, Oct. 26-29, 1986, Tucson, Ariz, U.S. Department of Energy, the University of Chicago.
The previously known arrangements of fuel cells and components placed between them are unsatisfactory in practice in many respects. Therefore, there is a great need to create more definite and simpler conditions with respect to statics, thermal expansion and manufacturing technology.

Stack of flat, plane high-temperature fuel cells assembled into a stack


Set of dental drills having two or more dental drills (10, 10′), each of dental drills (10, 10′) having a cutting portion (20, 20′) that has an end-face drilling end (22, 22′) and a shank portion (30, 30′) that has a receiving region (32, 32′) intended to be received in a drill holding device. The shank portions (30, 30′) of the dental drills each have a substantially circular-cylindrical guide region (40, 40′) for guiding the dental drills, the guide regions (40, 40′) of the two or more dental drills being of the same diameter.

Known in dental implantology, for the preparation of an implant bed, is the practice of using a set of a plurality of differing dental drills, which set comprises, for example, a milling cutter, a pilot drill, a profile drill, a spiral drill (also twist drill) and a threading tap drill.
Broadly, the procedure in the preparation of an implant bed is as follows: Firstly, the bone surface is exposed, and smoothed by means of a milling cutter. The implantation site is marked by means of the milling cutter, and possibly widened, in which latter case a plurality of milling cutters of increasing diameters are used. The implant bed is then prepared by means of appropriate pilot drills, in order to determine the drilling axis. The drilled hole is widened to the required size by means of spiral drills. A profile drill is used to match the profile of the drilled hole to the shape of the provided implant. In a terminal step, an internal thread is then realized in the drilled hole by means of a threading tap drill.
In order to ensure an optimum implantation axis, a drilling template is usually used for the preparation of the implant bed. Such drilling templates serve to guide dental drills and to prevent slipping or deviation errors during the drilling process. A drilling template is designed in such a way that it can be used for the preparation of one or more implantation sites. It has one or more drilling holes, into which the dental drills are inserted prior to drilling. Frequently, standardized metal drill sleeves are inserted into the drilling holes of the drilling template, for example by being polymerized or pressed in, in order further to increase the precision of the drilling. Such a method is disclosed, for example, in WO 99/26540.
In the course of the drilling process, it is usually necessary for the drilling holes or drill sleeves in the drilling template to be matched, through use of corresponding reduction sleeves, to the diameter of the dental drill being used at a given time. Alternatively, appropriate drilling spoons (also drill handles) can be inserted into the drilling holes or drill sleeves. Thus, an entire set of differing reduction sleeves or drilling spoons is required for the complete preparation of a single implant bed. Because the reduction sleeves or drilling spoons must be exchanged continually, this results in increased complexity and potential for error.
Moreover, in the case of individual dental drills, particularly in the case of profile drills, it can be the case that these drills are too broad for a reduction sleeve or drilling spoon. In this case, the drilling has to be performed without guidance, and the risk of a drilling inaccuracy is significantly greater.


A system (10) for simulating vehicle crashes for testing or evaluating the reliability of a vehicle crash sensor (20) includes a model waveform generator (16) which utilizes a method of modeling an actual vehicle crash waveform to generate an infinite set of model crash waveforms, and subsequently inputs these sets of modeled crash waveforms into a thruster apparatus (12). The thruster apparatus (12) mechanically exerts a force onto the crash sensor (20) corresponding to each input model waveform. The crash sensor response is tracked and analyzed by a test analyzer (18). The model crash waveforms are generated by breaking down a predetermined crash waveform into a crash pulse (signal of interest) and multiplicative noise signal. The multiplicative noise signal is then statistically characterized as a function of time. Randomly variable waveforms from a white noise generator (128) are then modified with the statistical characterization and multiplied with the signal of interest to generate the infinite set of model crash waveforms.

The present invention relates generally to vehicle crash discrimination systems, and more particularly to a system for simulating vehicle crashes for testing vehicle crash discrimination sensors to determine statistical reliability.
In the past, vehicle crash sensor modules have been tested for reliability by continually crashing vehicles under different crash conditions. Alternatively, a small finite set of crash waveforms were also generated for a particular vehicle model by actually crashing the vehicle under different crash conditions (i.e., vehicle speed, crash location, etc.). The finite sets of crash waveforms were generally used to represent all possible crash situations when testing and/or developing crash discrimination systems.
However, purposefully crashing vehicles to either test a crash sensor module, or to generate a finite set of crash waveforms is prohibitively expensive. Also, the small finite sets of crash waveforms do not provide a reliable or realistic representation of all crash scenarios which can occur in real world situations. Thus, crash discrimination systems calibrated, or tested, using these finite sets of crash waveforms are possibly unreliable over the entire range of possible crash scenarios. Simply increasing the number of vehicles actually crashed to increase the different crash scenarios under which a crash sensor module is tested, or to increase the finite sets of crash waveforms is not a realistic solution due to the expense of crashing vehicles. Further, each crash involving the same vehicle and crash scenario typically generates statistically variant crash waveforms.

Vehicle crash simulator system for testing crash sensors


Methods and apparatus for fabricating a component is provided. The method includes receiving an ultrasound image of the component, selecting a subimage that includes a first surface of the component and an inspection area of the component, combining a filtered subimage with the selected subimage, and outputting the combined image to at least one of a display and an analyzer.

This invention relates generally to non-destructive testing and, more particularly, to ultrasound inspection of fabricated components.
Ultrasonic inspection techniques are used in many applications where non-destructive evaluation of a workpiece or component is required. One application of such ultrasonic inspection is in the inspection of gas turbine engine rotors. Such rotors are typically formed from a forging of a material with desired metallurgical properties, for example, Rene-88. In the production of aerospace rotating components, the entire volume of the finished component is required to be inspected ultrasonically. This requires that additional material be present on the forging when it is inspected before machining the finished component. This additional material is referred to as the material envelope and must be equal to or greater than the near surface resolution capability of the ultrasonic inspection process.
The capability to detect signals from near surface targets, such as flaws and/or discontinuities is a critical to quality feature of an ultrasonic inspection process. A near surface target, as used herein, refers to any target of interest positioned closely to either the front or back surface of the inspection sample. The near surface resolution of a given ultrasonic inspection process, as used herein, refers to the minimum distance from the front (or back) surface of the component to a target that produces an ultrasonic signal that meets the requirements of the inspection process.
From a component cost perspective, it is important to minimize the material envelope. Due to the high raw material costs for aerospace rotating components, even small reductions in material envelope can have a large impact on component cost. However, known systems are limited in the near surface resolution capability that would permit lessened material envelope requirements.

Methods and system for ultrasound inspection


Improved autodeposited coatings on metallic surfaces are formed by contacting the metallic surfaces with an autodepositing composition comprising an acidic aqueous coating solution containing dispersed solid resin particles of either an internally stabilized or externally stabilized vinylidene chloride polymer, an exemplary internally stabilized polymer being prepared from vinylidene chloride and a monomeric surfactant which includes an inorganic ionizable group, and an exemplary externally stabilized polymer being prepared from vinylidene chloride and a reactive comonomer, the resulting resin particles having surfactant adsorbed thereon, said autodeposited coatings having extremely good corrosion resistant properties without treatment with a reaction rinse such as a chromium rinse.

1. Field of the Invention -
This invention relates to the formation of resinous coatings on metallic surfaces. More specifically, this invention relates to the deposition of improved resinous coatings without need for reaction rinses on metallic surfaces by contacting the metallic surfaces with an acidic aqueous coating solution containing dispersed solid resin particles.
Autodeposition involves the use of an aqueous resinous coating composition of low solids concentration (usually less than about 10%) to form a coating of high solids concentration (usually greater than about 10%) on a metallic surface immersed therein, with the coating increasing in thickness or weight the longer the time the metallic surface is immersed in the composition. Autodeposition is similar to electrodeposition, but does not require the aid of external electrical current to cause the resin particles to deposit on the metal surface. In general, autodepositing compositions are aqueous acid solutions having solid resin particles dispersed therein.
2. Statement of the Related Art
Acidic aqueous coating solutions having dispersed therein solid resin particles and having the capability of forming on metallic surfaces immersed therein resinous coatings which grow with time are disclosed in various patents.
Autodeposited coatings are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,585,084; 3,592,699; and 4,373,050, each to Hall and Steinbrecher. The autodepositing compositions disclosed in these patents are aqueous solutions of acid and oxidizing agent, with solid resin particles dispersed therein, particularly a latex combined with hydrofluoric acid and hydrogen peroxide. U.S. Pat. No. 3,709,743 discloses a similar composition comprising an acidic aqueous solution of dispersed resin solids in which the acid component is nitric acid. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,347,172 and 4,411,937 disclose an improved autodepositing composition comprising hydrofluoric acid, ferric iron, for example, ferric fluoride, and dispersed resin solids. In this process, an oxidizing agent such as peroxide is disclosed as an optional ingredient.
In accordance with the disclosures of the aforementioned patents, autodeposited coatings of the type therein are treated with a solution of chromium compounds prior to curing in order to impart to the coatings corrosion resistant properties which are of an acceptable nature. Such chrome treatments are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,647,567; 3,795,546; and 4,030,945.
Autodeposited coatings with better corrosion resistant properties (up to about 1000 hours of salt spray resistance) which are achieved with a chrome after treatment are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,313,861. This patent discloses that such improved autodeposited coatings are based on the use in autodepositing compositions of particular acrylic copolymers as the resin component. The acrylic copolymers have a Tg of 2.degree. to 50.degree. C. and are prepared from either methacrylic acid or acrylic acid and at least one other polymerizable ethylenically monounsaturated monomer, and optionally, hydroxyl-containing monomer and/or a vinylenically polyunsaturated monomer.
It has also been recognized that the effectiveness of autodepositing compositions is influenced by surfactant and gegenion concentrations and that the corrosion resistance of autodeposited coatings can be improved by the use of particular resin dispersions. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,191,676 discloses an autodepositing composition containing a dispersion of polymer particles in which the surfactant concentration in the aqueous phase is below the critical micelle concentration. A particular class of resins for use in such compositions is prepared by polymerizing: (i) 25 to 70 wt. % of a conjugated diene, for example, butadiene; (ii) 5 to 70 wt. % of a CH.sub.2 =CHR compound in which R is an aryl or a cyano group, for example, styrene and acrylonitrile; (iii) 1 to 50 wt. % of a vinylidene halide, for example, vinylidene chloride; and (iv) a monoethylenically unsaturated monomer having a functional group, for example, acrylic acid and methacrylic acid. Autodeposited coatings formed from compositions within the scope of the disclosure of this patent and treated with a chromium-containing solution exhibit good corrosion resistance after 240 hours of exposure in standard salt spray tests. U.S. Pat. No. 4,180,603 discloses a coating composition containing epoxy resin solids and a cross-linking resin which when used without a chrome after-treatment produces coating capable of withstanding up to 336 hours of exposure in standard salt spray tests.
Additional, U.S. Pat. Nos. which relate to autodeposition coating include: 3,063,877; 3,776,848; 3,791,431; 3,936,546; 4,108,817; 4,177,180; 4,186,219; and 4,318,944. The foregoing additional patents disclose the use of various polymer latices in autodeposition baths, including acrylates and styrene copolymers.
British patents 1,538,911 and 1,559,118 disclose the use of latices containing up to 55% by weight of vinylidene chloride monomer.
European published patent application 71,355 also discloses autodeposition bath latices containing 70-95% vinylidene chloride and at least one other monomer. The other monomers include: lower alkyl acrylates and methacrylates; their derivatives; alkyl nitrile; vinyl chloride; acrylamide; acrylamide derivatives; vinylsulfonic acid, its salts, and esters; acrylic acid; methacrylic acid; and itaconic acid. However, this publication contains no information regarding the quantity of emulsifier to be used, and there is therefore no teaching of the internal or external stabilization of the resulting vinylidene chloride copolymer. The quantities of emulsifier normally employed in the art are described in the Encyclopedia of Polymer Science and Technology, J. Wiley and Sons, Inc. (pub.), New York (1971) at 14:551,553. 1.01% emulsifier is suggested for a latex with 35% solids, and 1.48% emulsifier is suggested for a latex with over 50% solids. H. Barth in Methoden der Organischen Chemie, Houben-Weyl, Thieme Verlag (pub.), Stuttgart, Germany (1961) at 14/1:900 specifies an emulsifier quantity of 0.74%. In none of the above instances, is an internally or externally stabilized vinylidene chloride copolymer produced.

Autodepositing composition containing vinylidene chloride based resin


A frame assembly for mounting an insulation displacement connector block includes a base frame and a modular subframe attached to the base frame. The subframe is capable of being attached to the base frame in a first position or a second position, which are generally perpendicular to each other.

In a telecommunications context, electrical connector blocks are connected to cables that feed subscribers while other electrical connector blocks are connected to cables that are fed from a processing center. To make the electrical connection between the subscriber block and the processing center block, a jumper wire (e.g., an electrical conductor) may be inserted in the electrical connector block to complete the electrical circuit. Typically a jumper wire can be connected, disconnected, and reconnected several times as the consumer's needs change.
A connector block including an insulation displacement connector ("IDC") is a useful type of electrical connector because electrical connections may be made without having to strip an insulated conductor of its insulation. An IDC element within the connector block cuts through the insulation, thereby making an electrical connection with a conductive core of the conductor.
When a connector block is used in the telecommunications context, the connector block is typically mounted in a central location, such as a telecommunications closet, an outdoor cabinet, an aerial terminal or closure or other common use applications along with a plurality of other connector blocks. Specifically, the connector block is attached to a frame, and the frame is attached to the central location. A telecommunications worker may need to access the connector block in the central location in order to make the necessary electrical connections between subscriber blocks and processing center blocks, or between other devices.


Thermoplastic compositions containing a natural filler and, more specifically, thermoplastic compositions containing a natural filler and having improved thermal and weathering resistance. The wood-plastic composites utilize a cellulose filler, such as wood flour, and vegetal fibers, such as Curauá fiber, as a reinforcement filler. The issues with regard to thermal degradation of cellulose during processing are reduced through the use of specific additives designed to improve its performance during processing. Additionally, other additives are included to improve the UV resistance. Specific combinations of thermal stabilizer and UV additive are provided that enhance the thermal resistance and weathering resistance of the compositions as compared to prior art systems.

The use of cellulosic fillers in thermoplastics has occurred for at least three decades particularly in the automobile industry. The car industry has utilized wood plastic composites including polypropylene resins melt compounded with woodflour. These wood-plastic composites as they are known today are extruded sheets for indoor parts of some vehicles.
Nonetheless, only a few inroads have been made in using wood-plastic composites in other markets. There are some records about the use of biofibers and cellulosic composites in pencil manufacturing, stationary, fencing and crossties since these areas are seeing the advantages of wood-plastic composites in comparison to conventional wood, such as dimensional stability, lower moisture absorption, fungii resistance and weathering resistance. The woodplastic and vegetal fiber composites can also be entirely recyclable and can be manufactured by means of traditional thermoplastics processing routes as extrusion, injection molding, calendering and so forth. Such characteristics are making the wood composites particularly attractive in many applications for the building industry, injection molded car parts, household appliances and mostly extruded profiles for widespread devices including furniture.
Wood-polymer composites are thermoplastic as compared to products made from lumber alone, and advantageously processed into various shapes. A wood-polymer composite, when seen as a thermoplastic resin, is advantageous in that it affords woody texture, such as appearance (e.g., color tone, gloss etc.), a touch (e.g., thermal conduction, surface roughness) and the like, which are characteristic of lumber, decreases coefficient of thermal expansion, is light weight as compared to inorganic filler products, and so on. Moreover, end lumber pieces, scrap wood, sawdust and the like, which are produced in the lumbering industry, can be used as the wood flour for wood-polymer composites, thereby enabling effective utilization of non-used resources.
However, one of the main problems faced by wood-plastic composites processors is the hygroscopic nature of the wood and, in particular, the relatively low degradation temperature of the cellulose. Thermooxidative degradation of cellulose starts at around 200° C., which severely limits its use in engineering plastics as a substitute for glass fibers. Further, for outdoor applications, fading and yellowness of the composite may occur under ultraviolet (UV) and weathering exposure.
Therefore there is a need for wood-plastic compositions that has improved thermal characteristics and/or improved weatherability.

Wood-plastic composite with improved thermal and weathering resistance and method of making the same


An electronic signature method uses a signature generation unit with a memory that is spatially separated from a data processing device. At least one biometric trait of a person who will electronically sign an electronic dataset is captured, and an electronic biometric dataset is generated based thereon. The biometric dataset is encrypted using a randomly generated value. Subsequently, the encrypted biometric dataset is transmitted to the data processing device, a first checksum is generated in the data processing device for the encrypted biometric dataset and the electronic dataset, and the first checksum is transmitted from the data processing device to the signature generation unit. The random value is encrypted using the first checksum, and the encryption result is further encrypted using the stored key. The result of this is then transmitted to the data processing device.

As an initial matter, it is noted that a device for capturing, acquiring or detecting at least one biometric trait may be referred to as a 'signature generation unit' in the following. Such a signature generation unit may, for example, comprise one or more technical or hardware devices for capturing, acquiring or detecting at least one biometric trait of a natural person, who will electronically sign an electronic dataset.
Electronic datasets in the sense of the present invention may be any types of electronic documents, for example, and not limited to, PDF files, Word files, XML files, or other files or data that can be processed in a database by known programs or software packages.
The term "transmission" as used herein generally relates to any type of transfer, transmission, sending or conveyance of information from one device to another device. In this respect, a transmission may be effected both via active transmission (e.g., via Bluetooth or W-Lan) and storage and retrieval (e.g., a mass-storage protocol or network attached server 'NAS'). The protocol used in this case (e.g., TCP-IP, HID or proprietary) is as irrelevant as the resulting type of information distribution during transfer, e.g., breakdown into packets of a predetermined size (e.g. in HID or TCP-IP), or transfer as a whole, e.g., as a continuous data stream (as used in a serial interface, mass-storage devices or possibly even proprietary protocols). The transmission medium (e.g., cable, radio waves, infrared, optical fibers, etc.) is also unaffected by this definition.
The term "display area" as used herein basically refers to any kind of technical or hardware device for two- or three-dimensionally displaying electronic data, e.g., an LCD display, TFT display, E-paper display, OLED display, a projection screen, etc. More particularly, any type of known graphical, single-colored or multi-colored visualization device should be understand as falling within the scope of "display area".
The biometric traits may be captured, acquired or detected by any suitable device, e.g., a camera configured to scan or capture, for example, the iris or a fingerprint. Other suitable technical or hardware devices may include: capacitive or resistive touch sensors, load cells or an active pen with position determining devices (for example, a commercially-available graphic tablet or tablet PC with a stylus) for capturing, acquiring or detecting the biometric data of a signature, a microphone for capturing or recording a voice sample, etc. Further, a signature generation unit may also comprise suitable signal processing devices (e.g., chips, processors, memories, etc.), e.g., for carrying out encryption operations. Appropriate electronic biometric datasets are generated based upon the captured biometric traits.
In recent years, many laws and regulations regarding electronic signature of electronic datasets, so-called "electronic signatures", have been passed. A subset of electronic signatures is 'digital signatures', in which, for example, an asymmetric key pair consisting of a secret private key and an associated public key is used (see, for example, known asymmetric encryption methods such as PGP and RSA).
One possible advantage of these asymmetric encryption methods is that data encrypted or signed with an asymmetric key cannot be decrypted with the same key. Instead, the corresponding other asymmetric key of the same key pair has to be used. If a checksum has been encrypted with a private key, the associated public key must be used for its decryption. Only in this manner can the checksum be verified later on.
One possible disadvantage of such digital signatures is that the owner of the signature (i.e. the signor) must carry around a private key (e.g., provided by a certificate supplier) that is associated with the signor. A recipient of the digital signature may then verify the signed document by using the public key, which corresponds to the private key of the sender, and attribute it to the person who signed the electronic document.
An additional or alternative way of using such person-specific asymmetric keys for electronic signature is the use of biometric traits or electronic biometric datasets based thereon. Such biometric datasets may include, for example, a digitalized signature with an image and, when appropriate, one or more of pressure and time elapsed (e.g., signing rhythm), digitalized iris scan, digitalized hand geometry data (e.g., palm print), digitalized fingerprint, digitalized voice sample, etc. All these biometric data can be associated with the signer as part of the electronic signature. In this case, instead of an association of the key pair with the signer, such biometric data serve as one or more characteristics or traits for identifying the signer.
Various methods for linking or associating biometric data with electronic datasets are already known and generally include the encryption of a biometric dataset and the subsequent linkage of the encrypted biometric dataset with an electronic dataset (see, for example, US 2008-0010218 A1, EP 1 944 716 A1 and its US counterpart US 2010-0106973 A1, U.S. Pat. No. 5,297,202, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,195,133). These methods may, however, also exhibit one or more of the following disadvantages.
In methods utilizing only a few encryption steps, the biometric dataset is linked only with the electronic dataset or a checksum (e.g., a hash function, such as, for example, SHA-1, SHA-2, Tiger, SHA-256, etc., performed on the electronic dataset or its display-relevant content). In this case, the checksum may be generated only for the electronic dataset. As a result, a reliable way of verifying whether the encrypted biometric dataset has been manipulated or modified or damaged after the biometric dataset has been linked with the electric dataset might not exist. Further, another possible disadvantage is that an integrity verification of the document always involves the decryption of the biometric dataset. However, a decrypted biometric dataset could be decoupled from the electronic dataset, which was originally electronically signed, and then misappropriated as a blank endorsement (signature) for other electronic documents, because the linkage, i.e. the connection of the biometric dataset to the electronic dataset, is secured only by its encryption.
EP 1 944 716 A1/US 2010-0106973 A1 also discloses the use of a plurality of checksums and the use of two asymmetric key pairs in order to, on the one hand, safeguard the association of the biometric dataset with the electronic dataset and, on the other hand, to also safeguard the integrity of the biometric data by using a second checksum.
In the first method, when the biometric dataset is decrypted and verified, it can only be determined whether the biometric dataset is intact. The second type of method requires a relatively high computing speed to carry out the plurality of encryptions of the plurality of checksums, mostly with the aid of a plurality of asymmetric key pairs. For this reason, this type of method is currently offered mostly only for use with a fully equipped computer, i.e. a data processing device. A computer, however, is regarded as an insecure environment, because keys stored or archived there might possibly be read out or downloaded und/or the operation itself might be affected by Trojan horses or hackers. Moreover, in this multiple-step method, a question is often raised whether a second checksum that represents the electronic document and the biometric dataset contained therein actually pertains to the original document, as the key used for encryption, e.g., a private key, is different from or belongs to a second asymmetric key pair than the key used to secure the biometric dataset as well as the linkage of the biometric dataset with a first checksum. A relatively complex logistical effort can result in the mapping of the key pairs to each other or to the signature device or computer used. This may render a method complex and in need of much explanation.
All methods may have in common that the first checksum safeguards the integrity of the electronic dataset. However, this particular checksum, which is directly connected with the encrypted biometric dataset and the process for capturing the biometric data, should also safeguard the integrity of the encrypted biometric dataset, as only this dataset can be indisputably associated with the capturing process. Hence, this first checksum is the only indisputable evidence for the integrity and the matching of the electronic dataset and the identifying trait and/or the authorization of the signer—with the assistance of the encrypted biometric dataset.
A second checksum may also safeguard the integrity, because it is not securely linked with the biometric dataset according to the known methods. However, this second checksum may not safeguard the matching or association, i.e. the second checksum may possibly only ensure that the encrypted biometric dataset secured therewith are unmodified after having been generated. Thus, this second checksum may not yield a reliable conclusion as to whether these encrypted biometric traits were actually captured at the time of signing of this electronic dataset.
All previous methods may further have the disadvantage that, in an environment in which not only an electronic signature is carried out but also in which the signer should be automatically identified, the biometric traits have to be transmitted to a verification engine (in most cases, software on a computer or server) for the identification operation without having a linkage with the electronic dataset. At this particular point in time, however, the biometric data may be intercepted or copied and possibly misappropriated for some other purpose.
Up to now, the only alternative has been the possibility of shifting the entire verification, i.e. the comparison of biometric traits with reference samples, into the signature generation unit, with which the biometric traits are captured. In practice, however, the required computing speed, as well as the transmission of the reference samples into the signature generation unit and/or the secure distribution thereof to all necessary signature generation units, are an obstacle to such an approach. In the context of banking applications, for example, it cannot be assumed that the customer to be verified will always go to the same branch or even use the same signature generation unit at the branch.
Moreover, the main focus may be on the efficiency of the method, so that it is not required to be carried out on a high-speed, but insecure computer, but rather, for the most part, in a secure device with a slower computing speed that also simultaneously captures biometric data.
The present teachings may be utilized to solve one or more of the above-mentioned problems, or at least to provide an improved approach for solving one or more said problems, or even other problems not mentioned herein.


A method includes obtaining acoustic event information from at least one device, the acoustic event information associated with a first activity, at least a portion of the acoustic event information associated with sounds originating from a plurality of individuals in an identified group during a time period of the first activity. The method also includes categorizing the acoustic event information into a plurality of sound classes. The method also includes performing collaborative filtering on the plurality of sound classes. The method also includes determining one or more interests of the plurality of individuals in the identified group based on results of the collaborative filtering. The method also includes recommending a common activity for the identified group, based in part on the one or more interests of the plurality of individuals in the identified group.

In current society, it can be difficult for people to be able to spend quality time with their loved ones. Busy consumers want personalized recommendations for creative ways to spend more time with their family and friends, and for creating memorable family experiences. They would like support to plan, create and manage unique experiences for family members with given limited time, effort, and resources.
Day to day family conversations provide important acoustic context of what a family likes to do and opportune times for recommendations. However, in most conventional activity and acoustic event detection solutions, it is often cumbersome or inaccurate to relate a non-configured event without prior labels and tags. For example, many methods use Hidden Markov Models (HMM) and Nonnegative Matrix Factorization (NMF) approaches for detecting sound events, which can be very unreliable. Additionally, while some scene independent systems attempt to use a deep learning model applicable across different home scenarios in different user environments, such deep learning models are based on feed forward networks, which lack time and frequency variance. Moreover, temporal context is limited to the short time window of the spectrogram.

System and method for prediction and recommendation using collaborative filtering


An air-bag is formed from a single element of laminar material such as fabric. The element defines a rectangular region having linear side edges. This region has a shape and configuration equivalent to that of the air-bag when inflated. Each side edge of the region carries a protruding flap. There are infill elements between adjacent flaps. The flaps are inwardly folded to overlie the rectangular region. Each infill element lies between two respective inwardly folded adjacent flaps. The folded element may be secured to form an air-tight air-bag with reinforced corners.

The present invention relates to an air-bag, and more particularly relates to an air-bag adapted to be inflated to high pressure. The present invention also relates to a method of making an air-bag.
It has been proposed to provide air-bags in various locations within a motor vehicle. Each air-bag is adapted to be inflated in the event that an accident should occur to provide protection for an occupant of the vehicle. Some air-bags are subjected to extremely high forces during a collision, especially when the occupant of the vehicle strikes the air-bag with parts of their anatomy which present only a very small contact surface to the air-bag. For example, an air-bag which is located in a motor vehicle in front of the knees of the occupant, may be subjected to a very high force when an occupant moves forwardly relative to the air-bag and strikes the air-bag with their knees, due to the fact that knees are relatively "pointed", and thus only present a small area of contact with the air-bag. In such a situation there can be a tendency for the knees of the occupant to force the material or fabric at the front of the inflated air-bag towards the back of the airbag. Thus there is a risk that, in this way, the knees of the occupant will effectively pass right through the air-bag and engage with the structure on which the air-bag is mounted.
The risk of parts of an occupant passing "through" an inflated air-bag in this way is especially high if the air-bag is "flat", which means to say that the air-bag is of such a design that it does not have a substantial thickness, when inflated, as compared with its face area. Air-bags of this type may be considered to be "two-dimensional" as opposed to a more conventional substantially spherical air-bag which may be considered to be "three-dimensional".
It would be possible to minimise the risk of parts of an occupant of a vehicle extending "through" an air-bag by providing a substantially rigid load-distribution element on the front face of the air-bag. However, this expedient is relatively expensive. Also it would be possible to utilise a three-dimensional air-bag instead of a two-dimensional air-bag, but three-dimensional air-bags are more expensive to manufacture.
A further solution would be simply to utilise a two-dimensional air-bag which, when inflated, is inflated to a very high pressure. However, here the problem is faced that with a high pressure air-bag there is a substantial risk for gas leakage, especially in the corner region of the air-bag where it is difficult to effect a good seal. Thus gas may be concentrated or trapped in the corner areas, and may escape from the air-bag, especially during inflation of the air-bag.
The present invention seeks to provide an improved air-bag.


An oxidation catalyst unit for judging a life span of an oxidation catalyst and a wet-type electrophotographic image forming apparatus having the oxidation catalyst unit, and a method of judging the life span of the oxidation catalyst. The oxidation catalyst unit includes a duct unit, a fan motor, a heater, an oxidation catalyst filter, and a temperature sensing unit. The temperature sensing unit senses upper and lower atmospheric temperatures of the oxidation catalyst filter. A controller of the wet-type electrophotographic image forming apparatus having the oxidation catalyst unit then compares data on the upper and lower atmosphere temperatures sensed by the temperature sensing unit with input reference data to judge the life span of the oxidation catalyst.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wet-type electrophotographic image forming apparatus. More particularly, the present invention relates to an oxidation catalyst unit for judging a life span of an oxidation catalyst catalyzing an oxidation of carrier vapor generated when a printing sheet with a developer passes through a fixing unit, a wet-type electrophotographic image forming apparatus having the same, and a method for judging the life span of the oxidation catalyst.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, wet-type electrophotographic image forming apparatuses such as laser beam printers irradiate a laser beam onto a photosensitive medium to form an electrostatic latent image, attach a developer to the electrostatic latent image to form a visible image, and transfer the visible image to a predetermined printing medium to output a desired image. Such a wet-type electrophotographic image forming apparatus can obtain a clearer image than a dry-type electrophotographic image forming apparatus using powdered toner and thus, is suitable for color printing.
FIG. 1 schematically illustrates the configuration of a conventional wet-type electrophotographic image forming apparatus.
As shown in FIG. 1, a conventional wet-type electrophotographic image forming apparatus comprises an image forming apparatus body 110, a plurality of photosensitive drums 121, 122, 123 and 124 (121 through 124), a plurality of charging units 131, 132, 133 and 134 (131 through 134), a plurality of exposing units 141, 142, 143 and 144 (141 through 144), a plurality of developing units 151, 152, 153 and 154 (151 through 154), a plurality of first transfer rollers 171, 172, 173 and 174 (171 through 174), a second transfer roller 180, and a fixing unit 190. Electrostatic latent images are formed on the plurality of photosensitive drums 121 through 124. The plurality of charging units 131 through 134 charge the plurality of photosensitive drums 121 through 124 with predetermined potentials, respectively. The plurality of exposing units 141 through 144 irradiate laser beams onto the charged photosensitive drums 121 through 124, respectively. The plurality of developing units 151 through 154 supply the photosensitive drums 121 through 124 with developer, respectively, to form visible images. The plurality of first transfer rollers 171 through 174 transfer the visible images from the photosensitive drums 121 through 124 to a transfer belt 160. The second transfer roller 180 transfers a final image formed on the transfer belt 160 through an overlap of the visible images to a printing sheet P. The fixing unit 190 applies heat and pressure to the printing sheet P to which the final image has been transferred to fuse and fix the final image on the printing sheet P.
The plurality of developing units 151 through 154 store developer of different colors and supply the plurality of photosensitive drums 121 through 124 with the developer of different colors, respectively. Here, the developer contains ink with dispersed toner and a liquid carrier such as Norpar. The Norpar carrier comprises a hydrocarbon-based solvent that is a compound of C10H22, C11H24, C12H26, and C13H28. The developer applied to the photosensitive drums 121 through 124 is transferred to the transfer belt 160 to form the visible images. The visible images are overlapped on the transfer belt 160 to form the final image, and then the final image is transferred to the printing sheet P. When the printing sheet P passes through the fixing unit 190, the ink of the developer is fused on the printing sheet P and the liquid carrier of the developer is changed into an inflammable hydrocarbon gas such as methane (CH4) by high heat and discharged to the outside.
The inflammable hydrocarbon gas is classified as a volatile organic compound (VOC). Thus, when the inflammable hydrocarbon gas is discharged, the inflammable hydrocarbon gas pollutes the surroundings and emits an unpleasant smell. To solve this problem, various methods of removing the resulting inflammable hydrocarbon gas are presented.
A conventional inflammable hydrocarbon gas removing method comprises a filtering method of physically removing a gas component using a carbon filter, such an activated carbon. Another conventional inflammable hydrocarbon gas removing method comprises a direct combustion method of burning a gas component at an ignition temperature between approximately 600° C. and 800° C. Still another conventional inflammable hydrocarbon gas removing method comprises an oxidation catalytic method of burning a gas component at a relatively low temperature between approximately 150° C. and 400° C. using a catalyst filter to oxidation-decompose the gas component into water and carbon dioxide.
In the filtering method, the carbon filter does not have an ability to decompose carrier collected therein. Thus, when the carbon filter is saturated with a predetermined amount or more of carrier, the carbon filter must be replaced with new one. In the direct combustion method, high heat is generated, which causes a safety problem.
To solve these problems, an oxidation catalytic method has recently been used as a method of removing carrier vapor of a wet-type electrophotographic image forming apparatus. Such an oxidation process is an exothermic reaction. Thus, when a catalyst filter normally reacts with carrier vapor, an atmospheric temperature of the catalyst filter after the reaction is higher than an atmospheric temperature of the catalyst filter before the reaction. However, in a case where the catalyst filter is exhausted due to heating or contamination and thus fails to normally react with the carrier vapor, the carrier vapor may not be normally decomposed and thus, may be discharged with a smell to the outside, which pollutes the surroundings.
Accordingly, a need exists for a system and method to easily and effectively determine a condition of a oxidation catalyst filter for use in a wet-type electrophotographic image forming apparatus.

Oxidation catalyst unit, wet-type electrophotographic image forming apparatus having the same and method for judging catalyst life span


A powerless emergency elevator includes guide rails (2) erected vertically; an elevator car (6) supported by a flexible rope (4) so as to be movable along the guide rails; a lock mechanism (7) provided on a top of the elevator car and biased in a locking direction for locking the elevator car to the guide rails; a power transmission path (9) extends upwardly from a floor plate (8) of the elevator car to the lock mechanism; a clutch mechanism (10) provided between the lock mechanism and the power transmission path for connecting or disconnecting the lock mechanism to the power transmission path; an auxiliary lock mechanism (11) provided on a side wall of the elevator car for releasing the clutch mechanism at evacuation and exit floors to thereby cut off the power transmission path; a handle (12) provided within the elevator car; a lock releasing mechanism (13) provided in the power transmission path for releasing the lock mechanism via the power transmission path by manipulating the handle; a lock releasing mechanism (15) interlocked to a door ( 14) of the elevator car and responsive to only a closing movement of the door to release the lock mechanism via the power transmission path; an engaging mechanism (16) responsive to opening and closing movements of the door and a weight of a passenger to connect or disconnect the interlocking mechanism via the power transmission path; and a lifting/speed control unit (17) for moving upwardly the elevator car via the flexible rope and controlling a descending speed of the elevator car.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to emergency elevators of the powerless type which needs no power based on electricity, heat, etc.
2. Description of the Related Art
The conventional methods for evacuating buildings in case of emergency include emergency elevators, chutes or mattresses, or escape ladders or fire engines.
For the emergency elevators it is generally necessary to supply electric power. At a time of emergency it is the common practice to switch to an auxiliary power supply such as a battery or a generator driven by an internal combustion engine.
However, there is still the possibility that the emergency elevator is cut off from the auxiliary power supply in case of emergency.
As for the chutes or mattresses, it is necessary to overcome fears. Also, it is impossible to evacuate many people at once.
With escape ladders or fire engines, it is not only very slow to evacuate many people but also impossible to do several people at once.


Embodiments of the invention provide methods and data structures for the effective and efficient synchronization or inter-exchange of invoice adjustment information between business applications employing disparate DOFs. For one embodiment, a DOF is provided that allows for relationships between entities, also referred to as invoice adjustments, to be modeled as attributes of an entity and for customization of the DOF in a manner that facilitates upgrading of the DOF. For one embodiment, the invoice adjustment DOF is provided in a common software language such as XML. For one embodiment, invoice adjustment information from each of several business applications is translated to a common DOF. The invoice adjustment information, in the common DOF, is then inter-exchanged among the several business applications. Each application has only to translate the invoice adjustment information from the common DOF to the application-specific DOF of the respective business application.

Various business entities, such as companies, store information electronically in furtherance of their business needs. These companies may have extensive databases of information that include customer tables, supplier tables, employee tables, and so on. The structure of the database system (schema) and the data object format (DOF) of each database may be customized to help meet the business needs of the company. For example, an automotive manufacturer may organize information about its customers in a way that is very different from the way that an online bookstore may organize information about its customers. Even within a single company, that company may use many different application programs that employ very different schemas and DOFs. For example, a customer relationship management application program may use a DOF that is very different from the DOF used by an accounting program. The use of customized DOFs by a company and by applications within the company has the advantage that it allows information to be modeled in a way that is appropriate for the business needs of the company. Unfortunately, because of this diversity in the DOFs, it is not easy for the company to share its information with other companies or for applications to share their information.
The inter-exchange of information between applications of different business entities or even between different applications of the same business entity can be problematic due to the variation in DOFs between applications.
For example, a business entity may use a proprietary billing system. If the business entity decides to integrate a number of related applications from each of several software vendors, a translation mechanism may have to be created and implemented between the underlying billing system and each related application. This is because each application from a different software vendor may have a unique, or substantially different, DOF. Moreover, full integration of the multiple applications may require creation and implementation of a translation mechanism between each of the related applications as well.
A change in the underlying billing system may necessitate recreating and implementing such translation mechanisms.
Various attempts have been made to define standard data models so that information can be more easily shared between companies and applications. For example, the Open Applications Group has designed a standard data model that can be used by companies and applications when sharing information. A problem with such data models is that they did not provide effective ways to model relationships between various parties, such as a person or a company. In addition, if a company or an application developer wants to customize the standard data model, the customized data model may not be compatible with future upgrades of the standard data model. It would be desirable to have a data model that would more effectively model relationships and facilitate the upgrading of customizations of the data model.

Invoice adjustment data object for a common data object format


A laminated cutting element for use on a rotary-type earth-boring drill bit for drilling subterranean formations preferably including at least one first segment formed of a hard, continuous-phase material impregnated with a particulate superabrasive material laminated to and including at least one second segment formed of a continuous-phase material having essentially no particulate superabrasive material impregnated therein. Alternatively, the at least one second segment may have superabrasive and/or abrasive material impregnated therein which is less abrasive than the superabrasive material impregnated in the at least one first segment. Preferably, the continuous-phase material in which the at least one first segment and the at least one second segment are made is a metal matrix material.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to cutting elements for use on earth-boring drill bits and bits so equipped. In particular, the present invention relates to cutting elements having abrasive particles impregnated in a matrix. More specifically, the cutting elements of the present invention may include a tough and ductile support structure which may be internal or external to the impregnated segment. Yet more specifically, cutting elements, and segments, embodying the present invention may be arranged in preselected arrays, or patterns, and orientations to enhance drilling efficiency.
2. Background of Related Art
Conventionally, earth-boring drill bits with impregnated cutting structures, commonly termed xe2x80x9csegments,xe2x80x9d have been employed to bore through hard and abrasive formations, such as basalt, dolomite and hard sandstone. As depicted by FIG. 1, the impregnated segments 16 of such drill bits are typically secured to the boring end 14, which is typically termed the xe2x80x9cface,xe2x80x9d of the bit body 12 of the drill bit 10 in a generally radial fashion. Impregnated segments may also be disposed concentrically over the face of the drill bit. As the drill bit gradually grinds through a very hard and abrasive formation, the outermost layer of the impregnated segments containing abrasive particles (such as small diamonds, diamond grit, or other superabrasive particles such as cubic boron nitride) wear and may fracture. Many conventional impregnated segments are designed to release, or xe2x80x9cshed,xe2x80x9d such diamonds or grit in a controlled manner during use of the drill bit. As a layer of diamonds or grit is shed from the face, underlying diamonds are exposed as abrasive cuttings and the diamonds that have been shed from the drill bit wear away the exposed continuous phase of the segment in which the interior diamonds are dispersed, thereby xe2x80x9cresharpeningxe2x80x9d the bit until the entire diamond-impregnated portion of the bit has been consumed. Thus, drill bits with diamond-impregnated segments typically maintain a substantially constant boring rate as long as diamonds remain exposed on such segments.
Conventional impregnated segments typically carry the superabrasive particles in a continuous phase of a hard material, such as tungsten carbide, a tungsten alloy, a metal carbide, a refractory metal alloy, a ceramic, copper, a copper-based alloy, nickel, a nickel-based alloy, cobalt, a cobalt-based alloy, iron, an iron-based alloy, silver, or a silver-based alloy. Such materials are, however, typically relatively brittle and may fracture when subjected to the stresses of drilling. Accordingly, when subjected to the high stresses of drilling, and particularly impact stresses, the continuous phase of such impregnated segments may break, resulting in the premature failure thereof and potentially the premature failure of the bit upon which such segments are carried. Thus, drilling times and costs are increased by premature failure of conventional impregnated segments, as it is necessary to remove the drill string from the bore hole, replace the entire drill bit, and reintroduce the drill string into the bore hole.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,234,048 (the xe2x80x9c""048 patentxe2x80x9d), which issued to David S. Rowley on Nov. 18, 1980, discloses an exemplary drill bit that bears diamond-impregnated segments on the crown thereof. Typically, the impregnated segments of such drill bits are C-shaped or hemispherically shaped, somewhat flat, and arranged somewhat radially around the crown of the drill bit. Each impregnated segment typically extends from the inner cone of the drill bit, over the nose and up the bit face to the gage. The impregnated segments may be attached directly to the drill bit during fabrication or partially disposed within a slot or channel formed into the crown and secured to the drill bit by brazing. When attached to the crown of a drill bit, conventional impregnated segments have a relatively low profile (i.e., shallow recesses between adjacent segments) relative to the bit face and a footprint that covers the majority of the drill bit surface from the nose to the gage. The low profile is typically required due to the relatively brittle materials from which the continuous phases of conventional impregnated segments are formed. Similarly, the generally semicircular shape of conventional impregnated segments and their somewhat radial arrangement around the crown of a bit body are required to prevent the breakage and premature wear of such impregnated segments due to the hard but relatively brittle continuous-phase materials thereof. The large xe2x80x9cfootprintxe2x80x9d of conventional impregnated segment-bearing drill bits is typically necessary to provide a sufficient amount of cutting material on the face of the bit. To some extent, the conventionally required semicircular shape of impregnated segments has also prohibited the use of alternative impregnated segment shapes, drill bit designs, and arrangements of impregnated segments on drill bits, which could otherwise optimize drilling rates and reduce the rate of bit wear and failure.
Because of the low profile or exposure and large surface area footprint of conventional impregnated segments, very little clearance exists between the face of the drill bit and the drilled formation during use of the drill bit upon which such segments are carried. Consequently, the build-up of formation fines, frequently referred to as rock flour, on the impregnated segments may prevent contact of the impregnated segments with the interior surface of the borehole and may reduce the depth of cut of the drill bit.
Moreover, due to the large surface area footprint and the low profile of impregnated segments on conventional drill bits, the hydraulics of such drill bits cannot be fully employed to remove formation fines therefrom or to cool the segments. Therefore, the penetration rate of drilling and the amount of weight on bit that may be employed on the drill bit may both decrease, while the rate of wear will be undesirably high, and failure of the drill bit may occur.
An additional characteristic with conventional impregnated segments having large surface area footprints is that much of the exposed cutting surface of the segments is located a significant lateral distance from the nearest waterway, or area in which drilling-fluid is circulated. Such relatively large lateral distances from the flow of water or drilling fluid thereby impedes the flushing away of cuttings, or fines, from the segment and can aggravate the previously mentioned problems such as the face and crown of the drill bit being built up with sands and fines.
Another problem encountered in the art is that when drilling differing formations or when drilling a formation having soft layers, medium hard layers, and hard layers, it is usually necessary to employ drill bits particularly designed and especially suited for drilling in the layer being encountered in order to ensure steady progress on the well being drilled. Thus, a drilling crew is frequently selecting a drill bit having an appropriate diamond cutter density to balance the rate of penetration (ROP) with wear resistance for extending the useful life of the bit. For example, upon encountering a relatively soft layer, a relatively economical drill bit having a light diamond cutter density particularly suited to drilling soft layers would be used to maximize the rate of bit penetration in the formation. Upon encountering a medium hard layer, a relatively more expensive drill bit having a medium cutter density particularly suited to drilling medium hard layers would be required to maximize the rate of bit penetration in that particular medium hard strata of the formation being drilled. Lastly, upon encountering a hard layer, a yet more expensive drill bit having a high diamond cutter density particularly suited to drilling hard layers would be required to prevent excessive wear of the cutters while allowing a sufficient weight-on-bit that would provide an acceptable ROP through such hard portion of the formation being drilled. Thus, it would be desirable to have a bit that could drill quickly through soft layers and medium layers of a given formation and that could also drill the hard layers of the formation at an acceptable ROP while also providing enhanced wear resistance to extend the useful life of the bit. Such a drill bit would economically benefit the art by decreasing the amount of rig time required to pull a particular drill bit from the well bore being drilled, substitute it with another drill bit more suitable for the particular layer being drilled, and then run the substitute drill bit into the well bore to resume drilling. During the drilling of a well, and depending on the total depth of the well and the number of various hard, medium, and soft layers that a well bore is to pass through until reaching the deepest or most distant zone of interest, several if not many such drill bit substitutions may be required, thereby significantly increasing the overall cost of drilling a well.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,505,272 issued to Ian E. Clark on Apr. 9, 1996, discloses a coring drill bit having cutting inserts made of segments cut from a composite blank wherein a polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC), or, alternatively, polycrystalline cubic boron nitride (PCBN), has been bonded to a tungsten carbide backing. The cut segments are then installed singularly or optionally arranged in clusters of three wherein the PDC or PCBN compact layer of each adjacent segment is differently oriented so as to be exposed to the leading face, the inner gage, or the outer gage, respectively. Additionally, a noncoring drill bit is disclosed wherein inserts protrude slightly from the face of the drill bit and extend from the outer gauge of the face of the bit toward the center of the face and wherein the inner ends of the inserts are at different distances from the central axis of the drill bit.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,128,136 issued to Generoux on Dec. 5, 1978, discloses a diamond coring bit having an annular crown and inner and outer concentric side surfaces. The inner concentric side surface of the crown defines a hollow core in the annular crown of the bit for accommodating a core sample of a subterranean formation. The annular crown is formed from a plurality of radially oriented composite segments impregnated with diamonds radially and circumferentially spaced apart from each other by less abrasive spacer materials.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,106,973 issued to Christensen on Oct. 15, 1963, discloses a drill bit provided with circumferentially and radially spaced apart grooves having cutter blades secured therein. The cutter blades have diamond impregnated sections formed of a matrix of preselected materials.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,147,001 issued to Chow et al. on Sep. 15, 1992, discloses a cutting structure for a drill bit including a substantially planar array of cutting elements arranged in contiguous proximity interrupted by a plurality of discontinuities to minimize and localize residual thermally induced stresses.
Notwithstanding benefits and advantages offered by drill bits including cutting elements incorporating abrasive particles impregnated within matrices of various materials as disclosed in the preceding references, there remains a need within the art for drill bit cutting elements incorporating impregnated segments which will better resist breakage during drilling of very hard and abrasive formations, and which may be optimally designed and arranged upon a drill bit.
There is also a need for cutting elements incorporating impregnated segments which may be strategically arranged on a drill bit to facilitate the use of drill bit hydraulics to remove formation fines from the impregnated surfaces of the drill bit, thereby facilitating the use of alternative and more efficient drill bit designs.
Furthermore, there is a need within the art for a drill bit which can be used to efficiently drill hard, medium, and soft layers of a given formation, or formations, while maximizing the wear resistance of the bit.
A further need within the art is for a drill bit having cutting elements including impregnated segments which can be positioned to have enhanced exposure to waterways or drilling fluid flow paths and channels of the bit to promote better flushing of cutting debris and formation fines away from the area of the segment engaging the formation.
An additional need within the art is for the ability to easily and consistently construct drill bits having cutting elements incorporating impregnated segments therein in preselected patterns and orientations in order to optimize the performance of the drill bit.
Another need within the art is for cutting structure which incorporates segments of abrasive, impregnated, solid matrix material which can readily and consistently be produced in a variety of shapes and nominal thicknesses to best suit a wide variety of drill bits.
The earth-boring drill bits and cutting elements embodying the present invention address the foregoing needs.
The earth-boring drill bits and cutting elements of the present invention are particularly suitable for use with bladed-style drill bits as well as nonbladed drill bits. Preferably, at least one first cutting element segment formed of a continuous-phase solid matrix material impregnated with at least one particulate superabrasive material is juxtapositioned with at least one second cutting element segment formed of a continuous-phase solid matrix material to comprise a laminated cutting element. Preferably, the at least one second segment is essentially devoid of impregnated superabrasive or abrasive particles. Alternatively, the at least one second segment can be impregnated with a preselected, secondary, particulate superabrasive material which results in the at least one second segment being less abrasive and less wear resistant than the at least one first abrasive segment.
Such continuous-phase solid matrices particularly suitable for forming the first and second segments, and not regarded as being superabrasive, include the following: metal carbide, tungsten carbide, tungsten-based alloys, refractory metal alloys, ceramics, copper, copper-based alloys, nickel, nickel-based alloys, cobalt, cobalt-based alloys, iron, iron-based alloys, silver, and silver-based alloys, for example. Such particulate superabrasive materials particularly suitable for impregnation include: natural diamond, synthetic diamond, polycrystalline diamond compact, thermally stable polycrystalline diamond, and cubic boron nitride.
Preferably, the segments have a preselected nominal thickness that can be constant or nonconstant, ranging from a minimum thickness to a maximum thickness. Typically, the nominal thicknesses of the segments are less than approximately 0.5 inches (approximately 12.2 mm) and preferably do not exceed 0.15 inches (3.8 mm). The segments may have a variety of overall configurations including generally rectangular, generally arcuate, generally circular, generally semicircular, and generally serpentine. Furthermore, the segments are arranged in preselected patterns and orientations. Such patterns include at least one first abrasive segment alternating with at least one second, generally superabrasive-free, or lesser abrasive segment. Preferably, the segments are positioned in a preselected pattern extending in a generally radial manner from the longitudinal center of the drill bit toward the gage portion of the bit body or, in the case of being mounted on a blade structure, generally along a selected portion of the blade structure. Furthermore, the individual segments comprising a laminated cutting element can be oriented generally circumferentially, radially, or at an angle with respect to an imaginary reference line to provide a wide variety of cutting elements.
An alternative embodiment of the present invention includes a cutting element adapted for being secured to a blade structure of a bladed-style earth-boring drill bit. The cutting element includes at least one first segment having a preselected overall configuration and a preselected nominal thickness secured to at least one blade structure of a drill bit. For example, a given segment could have a thickness of approximately 0.13 inches (3.3 mm) through one region of the segment and a thickness of approximately 0.5 inches (12.7 mm) through another region of the same segment.
The at least one first segment of the cutting element is comprised of an essentially continuous-phase solid matrix of at least one material impregnated with at least one particulate superabrasive material in at least a portion thereof. Furthermore, the at least one first segment is preferably disposed onto the at least one blade structure in such a manner and orientation to expose at least one lengthwise-extending edge of the at least one first segment to the formation. Additionally, the at least one first segment is located at a preselected distance from, and at a preselected orientation with respect to, an imaginary reference line extending generally along the major axis, or center, of the at least one blade structure. Optionally, the cutting element may be provided with at least one second segment being essentially superabrasive-free and having at least one lengthwise edge exposed and positioned in an end-to-end manner with the at least one first segment. A yet further option includes the at least one second segment being impregnated with a selected particulate superabrasive material which results in the at least one second segment being less abrasive and less abrasion resistant than the at least one first abrasive segment.
Other advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art through a consideration of the ensuing description, the drawings and the appended claims.

Laminated and composite impregnated cutting structures for drill bits

Abstract: A further alternative of the present invention includes a single segment formed of a continuous-phase material in which a particulate superabrasive material is impregnated. The alternative single segment has a relatively thin cross-sectional thickness and is securable to a support member preferably fabricated from a tough and ductile material. The support member further includes a bit attachment portion securable to a bit body and a segment-receiving portion adapted to receive and support the superabrasive impregnated segment during drilling.

Abstract: A yet further alternative of the present invention includes a composite segment formed of a continuous-phase material wherein a preselected portion of the segment is impregnated with a particulate superabrasive material.


An electronic device housing is disclosed. The electronic device housing, the electronic device housing comprises a cover comprising a base board, a receiving portion defined in the base board, and a fixing portion in the receiving portion; a silicone rubber membrane; and a panel received in the receiving portion, the panel is fixed to the cover via the silicone rubber membrane.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to housings, particularly to a housing for electronic device and a method for manufacturing the housing.
2. Description of Related Art
With developments in technology, electronic devices such as mobile phones, computers, and panel computers are not only required to perform many functions, but also provide an appearance appealing to a user. In order to make an electronic device thinner and lighter, it is a common procedure to attach a panel to a cover of the electronic device by an adhesive. However, when the electronic device needs to be repaired, it may be hard to disassemble the panel from the cover of the electronic device without damaging the panel. In addition, the panel may also be damaged due to scraping away of the adhesive away. As a result, the maintenance cost of the electronic device may be increased and the maintenance efficiency of the electronic device may be decreased.
Therefore, there is room for improvement in the art.

Electronic device housing and manufacturing method