A solar module design comprises a specially-designed substrate material with interconnected solar cells and topcoat laminated to the top surface by known polymer encapsulation methods. The substrate, which may be extruded in one piece or fabricated, comprises a twin-wall profile with ribs connecting the upper and lower surface. The twin-wall shape connected with ribs results in a substrate material which is very strong, stiff, and rugged, yet lightweight; and which allows the modules to be used as the roof's finished surface, yet allows outside air to pass under the photovoltaic cells to help cool them. Also, the substrate incorporates means of interconnecting modules and fastening them to roof decking or framing members and simplified means of connecting the modules to an external electrical circuit. The features of the substrate and module design result in modules which can be very large in format, yet which are very light and rugged compared to current art. The module substrate can be produced inexpensively. Installation of the modules is rapid and simple. Installed systems using the module design feature a monolithic, smooth, unbroken surface, which helps to prevent the accumulation of debris, snow, ice, or dirt.

Presently the largest single application area for photovoltaic modules in the United States is for residential power in relatively small systems installed on residential roofs. Although the electrical output of the average system size is increasing, with 1 kilowatt to 2 kilowatt systems becoming common, the present known modules are still relatively small and largely insufficient.
Nearly all high-power photovoltaic modules (>40 watts) are manufactured with the photovoltaic cells encased using glass as the top surface or the back surface or both. Usually, a picture flame-style metal frame is attached to the edges of the glass as a containment, and to lend some support to the unit, and to provide a means to fasten the modules to larger frames.
In order to install such prior art modules to a roof, the modules are commonly mounted to a larger frame, e.g., the roof frame, which is in turn directly fastened to the roof on top of the finished roof surface. Alternatively, features of the roof frame are fit into roof jacks which are fastened to the roof, again on top of the finished roof surface.
There are several disadvantages in the known prior art.
Modules which are manufactured using glass as a substrate or superstrate or as both surfaces have a high weight per unit area and are relatively fragile. Although large modules would be desirable in order to minimize handling, wiring, and other installation parameters, the larger the module area, the heavier per unit area and the more fragile the modules become, and the greater the difficulty in handling. Experience with designing and installing a residential photovoltaic system using one such large, commercially available module model having 12.5 square feet of area each has shown that the weight per unit area of these modules is on the order of 3.4 pounds per square foot, and they must be handled with extreme care. With four modules bolted to a wooden frame in a sub-array, the sub-arrays weigh nearly 190 pounds and require mechanized lifting equipment to position them on a roof. A significant fraction of such modules have been found to develop debilitating cracks between the time they are shipped and the end of the first year of operation.
The standard picture frame-stile or other external flaming for the module adds considerable cost in material and labor to the manufacture cost of the finished photovoltaic module.
The design and fabrication of the roof flames and roof jacks is usually left to the installer and involve considerable labor and material cost. Commercially available, pre-made roof frames are similarly expensive.
Significant labor is required to fasten the prior-art modules to the roof frames, and to lay out and fasten the roof frames to the roof; or to lay out and fasten the roof jacks to the roof and the roof flames to the roof jacks.
Because of the construction of such prior art modules, in mounting them spaces usually must be left between modules. This provides an opportunity for debris to collect on the roof. Sometimes spaces must be left which are large enough to permit the installer to fasten between the modules or sub-arrays. The appearance of the module frames and spaces between modules and between sub-arrays is regarded by many homeowners as aesthetically unsightly on a finished roof.
There is also an incentive to reduce installed cost through roof-integrated installations--that is, replacing certain portions of the roof construction with the photovoltaic modules themselves. This root-integration effort has been attempted through approaches similar to glazing methods for skylights, but such glazing methods have resulted in added costs which for the most part are higher than the amounts they save in replacing portions of the roof, therefore defeating their purpose.
Another drawback of most previous roof-integrated photovoltaic module designs and system designs is that they have not allowed for the free flow of cooling air beneath the photovoltaic cells. Higher cell operating temperatures result in lower power output and/or lower voltage from photovoltaic cells. In systems installed on an insulated roof, for example, in typical New Jersey weather conditions, lack of air cooling on the back surface of the photovoltaic cells can result in 40.degree. C. higher cell temperatures compared to systems with back surface air flow, according to calculations based on heat transfer simulations. In crystalline silicon cells, for instance, this temperature increase would decrease power output by about 18%, and in certain instances could lower the module voltage to a level which could not effectively charge batteries. In amorphous silicon cells, as another example, the increase in temperature could result in slightly lower power output. It could also significantly decrease the module voltage, forcing a trade-off between module power output and module design voltage for effective battery charging. If a higher design voltage is chosen to ensure battery charging in hot weather for this reason, the result may be a loss of power for the module in average and colder weather, due to a mismatch between battery voltage and optimum module voltage.
Another problem with higher operating temperatures due to lack of cooling on the back surface of the photovoltaic unit is that most photovoltaic cells and modules have been developed with voltages appropriate for battery charging in systems with back surface cooling. Therefore, raising the maximum operating temperature of such prior art modules may necessitate the redesign of some photovoltaic cells, or the use of odd numbers of them in series, in order to maintain proper voltages.
Other prior art roof integrated module and system designs have attempted to avoid this problem of cooling the cells by utilizing glazing methods for installing the modules over roof framing members with the back surface of the modules open to an unheated attic space. However, this method is not applicable to insulated roofs. Moreover, unheated attic spaces will have a significantly higher air temperature than the outside air, due to solar heat input from the roof, and there will be less air movement underneath the roof compared to the outside air. This will decrease the degree to which the back of the modules can be cooled. If a fan moving a large amount of air through the attic is installed to cool the modules during the summer, additional expense and parasitic power use result.
Accordingly, a need exists for an improved photovoltaic module which has the capability of providing for simplified installation, ease of handling including low weight, ruggedness, high strength, and stiffness, very large module formats, and roof integration without sacrificing superior back surface cooling.


Methods, frameworks and systems for validating DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) SR (Structured Reporting) XML (Extensible Markup Language) documents against DICOM SR templates, using XSLT (Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations) technology alone or as a complement to XML Schema, are disclosed. A framework of generating XSLT stylesheets from XML representation of DICOM SR templates is developed. Also a mechanism and method of automatic generating XSLT stylesheets for validating SR document contents are provided. In addition, a mechanism and method of flexibly adapting in different DICOM SR XML formats is provided.

The Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) Structured Reporting (SR) standard, and the SR Documentation Model upon which it is based, improves the expressiveness, precision, and comparability of documentation of diagnostic images and waveforms. DICOM SR supports the interchange of expressive compound reports in which the critical features shown by images and waveforms can be denoted unambiguously by the observer, indexed, and retrieved selectively by subsequent reviewers. Findings may be expressed by the observer as text, codes, and numeric measurements, or via location coordinates of specific regions of interest within images or waveforms, or references to comparison images, sound, waveforms, curves, and previous report information. The observational and historical findings recorded by the observer may include any evidence referenced as part of an interpretation procedure.
Thus, DICOM SR supports not only the reporting of diagnostic observations, but the capability to document fully the evidence that evoked the observations. This capability provides significant new opportunities for large-scale collection of structured data for clinical research, training, and outcomes assessment as a routine by-product of diagnostic image and waveform interpretation, and facilitates the pooling of structured data for multi-center clinical trials and evaluations. See "Clinical Rationale for the SR Documentation Model and the DICOM Structured Reporting (SR) Standard", Abstract, W. Dean Bidgood, Jr., © 1999.
The DICOM SR is based on a relational data technology, and has been standardized by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA). DICOM SR supports not only the reporting of diagnostic observations, but can document fully the evidence that evoked the observations. This move toward structured, coded reports presents new care-improvement opportunities beyond mere storage and distribution. Coding medical information for selective retrieval allows computers to assist in processing the increasingly large amounts of clinical data collected during normal operation of a healthcare enterprise. When judiciously combined with knowledge-based information processing we can significantly enhance clinical decision-making.
As with any structured data in healthcare, benefits exist in outcome analysis and point-of-care applications. SR in its most general form is very flexible and the same content can be expressed in different forms and structures, hampering interoperability. Templates are a means to put additional constraints on an SR document to promote common formats for specific reporting applications. DICOM part 16 DCMR (DICOM Content Mapping Resource) [2] defines general SR templates and Mammography CAD SR IOD templates. Additional templates for other specialties are being developed such as:                Supplement 26: Ultrasound OB-GYN Procedure Reports        Supplement 66: Catheterization Lab SR SOP Classes        Supplement 71: Vascular Procedure Reports        Supplement 72: Echocardiography Procedure Reports
Although the DICOM SR standard provides for a consistent reporting and recording scheme, the use of the information contained in a DICOM SR is limited to DICOM compliant applications that can process this information using the DICOM specific format. Application developers must be DICOM literate, and a methodology for deploying applications that interoperate with other applications outside the DICOM domain has not yet been developed.
In the computer industry, progress has been made in the use of standardized languages and methodologies that facilitate the use of information from a variety of sources by a variety of applications. A standard language that is widely used for processing content material is the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Extensible Markup Language (XML), which is derived from the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML), and is designed to describe data and its structure so that it can be easily transferred over a network and consistently processed by the receiver. Because XML is used to describe information as well as structure, it is particularly well suited as a data description language.
One of the particular strengths of XML is that it allows entire industries, academic disciplines, and professional organizations to develop sets of Document Type Definitions (DTDs) and Schemas that can serve to standardize the representation of information within those disciplines. Given a set of DTDs and Schemas, content material that is modeled in conformance with the DTDs and Schemas can be processed by applications that are developed for these DTDs and Schemas.
A further advantage of the use of XML is the wealth of tools that are available for the processing of XML-compatible data. Of particular significance, the "Extensible Stylesheet Language" (XSL) is a language for expressing stylesheets, and the "XSL Transformations" (XSLT) is a language for transforming XML documents into other XML documents. A stylesheet contains a set of template rules, which are used to match a pattern to a source document, or "source tree" and, when the appropriate match is found, to instantiate a template to a result document, or "result tree". In this manner, XML information that is structured for one application can be relatively easily transformed into a different structure for another application.
As has become apparent from a variety of showcases like scientific assemblies and annual meetings of the Radiology Society of North America (RSNA), annual conferences and exhibitions of Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), and various channels like technical conferences, standardization working group meetings, a large number of vendors have been doing encoding of DICOM SR in the XML since the DICOM SR was standardized in 2001 followed by a number of SR template supplements being developed.
Accordingly, with the extensive use of XML in representing DICOM SR reports, especially when SR Templates are used in generating a variety of SR XML documents, validation of SR XML documents against the SR templates becomes more and more important in promoting their precision, usage, and interoperability.
The constraints in SR Templates are complicated, making it a challenging task to validate SR documents against the SR Templates.
Validation of an XML document is considered at two levels: syntactic validation and semantic validation. Syntactic validation is mainly to check the structures of an XML document against its XML Schema or DTD. Semantic validation, on the other hand, mainly checks the non-structural constraints, in most cases, the content of an XML document. We already have XML schemas for the general SR Information Object Definitions (IODs). They can be used to validate the basic structures, DICOM tag information, and data types of SR XML documents.
We also have a mechanism to generate XML schemas for SR Templates. XML Schema can express the static or fixed value constraints specified in SR Templates. However, the dynamic value constraints and inter-relationship constraints specified in SR Templates cannot be expressed in W3C XML Schema 1.0. They are again highlighted below:                The Relation with Parent constraints;        The Context Group reference constraints;        The Parameter constraints; and        The Conditions (like the IFF statement and free text).
Therefore, XML schemas of either the general SR or the Templates cannot validate SR documents against the constraints specified in the SR Templates. Semantic validation is needed to accomplish this task.
Several approaches have been proposed for semantic validation like Schematron and XincaML. One of the drawbacks of these solutions is that they cannot deal with the Parameters that are often used in SR Templates. We propose an approach of using XSLT—an XML technology from the W3C for doing semantic validation of SR XML documents against the SR Templates. XSLT was developed originally for transforming an XML document to another XML document. It supports parameterized XSLT templates besides XPath. The document function allows access to external XML documents other than the source document. These features are exactly those needed to deal with Parameter, Context Group reference, and Relation with Parent constraints. Another benefit is that the results can be represented in XML so that it also makes the validation results human readable.
Characteristics of SR Templates
"Templates are patterns that specify the Concept Names, Requirements, Conditions, Value Types, Value Multiplicity, Value Set restrictions, Relationship Types and other attributes of Content Items for a particular application." 2 Templates are used to put additional constraints on an SR content tree (FIG. 1) to promote common formats and vocabularies for specific reporting applications. Templates specify not only what Content Items are required or optional but also what constraints are for Concept Names or Value Set Constraints, etc. Table 1 through Table 4 illustrates the complexity of SR Templates and how they work together to constrain SR documents. See: DICOM Supplement 26: OB-GYN Ultrasound Procedure Reports, Draft Final Text, Jan. 24, 2003, NEMA, Rosslyn, Va.
A template table has the same structure. A row number denotes each row of a Template Table. The first row is numbered 1 and subsequent rows are numbered in ascending order with increments of 1. This number denotes a row for convenient description as well as reference in conditions. The nesting level (NL) of Content Items is denoted by ">" symbols, one per level of nesting below the initial Source Content Item (of the Template). Relationship Type and Relationship Mode (Rel with Parent) constraints, if defined, are specified in this field. The Value Type field specifies the SR Value Type of the Content Item or conveys the word "INCLUDE" to indicate that another Template is to be included.
Any constraints on Concept Name are specified in this field as defined or enumerated coded entries, or as baseline or defined context groups. The VM field indicates the number of times that either a Content Item of the specified pattern or an included Template may appear in this position. The Requirement Type field specifies the requirements on the presence or absence of the Content Item or included Template. The Condition field specifies any conditions upon which presence or absence of the Content Item or its values depends. This field specifies any Concept Name(s) or Values upon which there are dependencies. Value Set Constraints, if any, are specified in this field as defined or enumerated coded entries, or as baseline or defined context groups.

Framework of validating DICOM structured reporting documents using XSLT technology


A dosage sensing module for or in a pen drug delivery device and comprising a power source unit, a processor unit and a dosage sensor unit with a first sensor part adapted to be fixed to a part not rotating during dose expelling and comprising a flexible printed circuit board sheet on which a pattern of individual electrical conductive sensor areas are arranged. The sensor unit further comprises a second sensor part adapted to be fixed to the piston rod to follow the rotation thereof during dose expelling. The second sensor part comprises individual structures that together with the conductive sensor areas are adapted to, upon relative rotational movement between the first and second sensor part, provide electrical signals to a processor unit indicative of the relative rotational position between the first and second sensor part.

Within diabetes performing the necessary insulin injections at the right time and in the right dose size is essential for managing the disease, i.e. compliance with the specified insulin dosage regimen is important to control the blood sugar level and to minimise the risk of hypoglycaemia/hyperglycaemia episodes. In order to make it possible for the patient herself/himself or the HCP to see, if the patient follows the recommended insulin dosage regimen, it is desirable that a log of the dose sizes and the time each dose was taken is kept. It's even better if these data can be transferred to an external source, e.g. mobile phone, server or cloud, for further analysis in order to allow for some guidance to recommended doses and/or adjustments to a present dosage regimen, if needed.
Another objective of dosage data capture is that authorities, payers and providers are increasingly demanding real-world data that demonstrates the efficacy of the insulin drugs in every day. Pharmaceutical drugs are approved for launch in the markets around the globe based on data obtained through clinical trials. However, in clinical trials patients are carefully selected to meet specific criteria and all patients are closely monitored as to their adherence to the treatment regimen. However, this is not the case in real world outside of these clinical trials, where daily lifestyle gets in the way and people are different, doses are missed and other conditions can worsen disease progression. Due to all these variables, the outcomes of treating patient in real world often do not reflect the clinical data on which a given drug was approved for marketing. In view of this it is of high interest to track dose sizes and timing of injections and communicate this data further on to e.g. HCPs. By having this it's possible to follow if patients are in compliance with their diabetes treatment, if patients follow a recommended dosage pattern, and remind them if not and give recommendations to adjustment of dose sizes, if needed. All this for the purpose of optimising the effectiveness of the insulin drug given to the patient and thereby improve their lives as diabetics but also to obtain real-world data to be used for further improvement of the treatment.
One of the most commonly used drug delivery device is a pen injection device. Depending on the type of expelling mechanism embodied in these devices, the expelling mechanism may comprise a spring, which is strained during dose setting and then released to drive a piston rod towards the distal end of the pen to advance a piston in a drug-filled cartridge and thereby expel a dose when a release button is actuated. Alternatively the expelling mechanism may be fully manual. For such types of injection devices, the expelling mechanism often includes a rotating part, e.g. the piston rod and/or a drive tube driving the piston rod, which rotates relative to the piston in the cartridge and/or another non-rotating part in the device. A way to capture expelled dose sizes is to detect number of relative rotations between a rotating part of the expelling mechanism and a non-rotating part, and then based on said relative rotations determine the size of an expelled dose of drug.
Data capturing/monitoring functionality have been proposed for injection devices earlier (see e.g. WO 2010/052275 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,008,399) however most devices are without data capturing. Also durable add-on modules to injection devices have been proposed (see e.g. WO 2010/098927), but as an add-on it requires the users to keep hold of a further device besides their injection pen and blood sugar measurement equipment. It has been also proposed to provide an integrated dose capture unit for a durable pen device (see WO 2014/128155). Further references describe dosage sensing mechanisms, such as US2016/015903 and WO2006/045523.
WO2008/113772 describes a delivery system having container recognition feature to facilitate identification of the specific type of container inserted in the delivery system.
US2016/0263327 refers to a medical device comprising indicator means configured to display information relating to an expelled dose of drug.
A significant part of insulin patients today use disposable pen devices with a prefilled drug cartridge to inject their drug, e.g. insulin or GLP-1 or a combination thereof. However, opposite to durable injection pens, disposable pens with prefilled non-interchangeable drug cartridges are normally made of cheaper components, as their FMC (Full Manufacturing Cost) need to be kept low. For that reason none of the disposable pens in the market today are equipped with integrated electronics like a dose data capturing unit, processor(s), power source(s) etc., which is why only add-on devices for disposable pens exist.
Having regard to the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a cost-effective, compact and reliable rotary sensor module to be integrated into or being integrated a disposable pen drug delivery device enabling the delivery device to accurately detect dosage data (size and time) without the need for an add-on accessory attached to the pen device.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a cost-effective, compact and reliable rotary sensor module to be integrated into or being integrated a disposable pen drug delivery device enabling the delivery device to accurately detect dosage data (size and time) and further communicate these data to an external device without the need for an add-on accessory attached to the pen device.
An even further object of the invention is to provide a cost-effective, compact and reliable rotary sensor module to be integrated into a disposable pen drug delivery device enabling detection of dosage data (size and time) and communicate these data to an external device and where the integration of the module into an existing device requires minor modifications of the device.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a compact, reliable and accurate rotary sensor module to be integrated into or being integrated in an injection device and which adds a minimum of extra torque to drive the dose expelling mechanism.

Rotary dosage sensing module for and in a disposable pen drug delivery device


A vacuum-tight envelope (601) having a terminal element (610) bearing the envelope's output window. An output screen (605) is glued to the inner face of the output window by a first glue (608) having the same refractive index as the output window. The envelope's terminal element is made unitary with a (611) of the envelope by vacuum-tight mounting (609). An optional anti-reflection coating (674) may be deposited directly onto the external face of the output window.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns the chromatic conversion of an image obtained by electromagnetic radiation. More particularly, but not exclusively, it addresses the field of radiology for the conversion of an x-ray image into a visible light image.
2. Discossion of the Background
FIG. 1 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of a prior art device for the chromatic conversion of an x-ray image, showing the main constituent elements. The device T, also known as an x-ray intensifier tube XRIT, comprises a gas-tight envelope 1 having a surface of revolution 1, inside which is created a vacuum. The vacuum envelope 1 has an input faceplate 2 that is transparent to ionising radiation. Behind the faceplate 2 is located a photoelectric input screen 3 intended to receive the ionising radiation. In response to this ionising radiation, the photoelectric screen 3 emits electrons along electron trajectories 7. At the opposite end to the input faceplate 2 is located an output window 4 whose inner face contains an output phosphor screen 5 intended to receive the electrons and produce visible light in response therefrom by cathodoluminescence. The output window 4 is transparent to the radiation from the phosphor, thus allowing the derived image to be viewed.
The envelope 1 also contains focusing means 6, joined thereto by supports 64, for focusing the electrons emitted by the input screen 3 toward output screen 5. The focusing means 6 comprise a final electrode 60--also known as an anode--which can be brought to the same potential as the output screen 5 when the device is in operation, as well as a pre-terminal electrode 61 located in the region of the final electrode 60 and further removed from the output screen 5 than the latter. The focusing means 6 also comprise a set of electrodes 60 located between the pre-terminal electrode 61 and the input window 3.
FIG. 2, which also illustrates the prior art, is a partial longitudinal cross-section showing schematically first arrangement for fixing the output screen 5 with respect to the output window 4. The output window is formed of a transparent, or semi-transparent, plate 51 (transparency on the order of 0.8), generally made of glass, covered with a phosphor layer 50 that converts the energy of the incoming electrons. In general, this phosphor layer 50 is formed of a concentration of very small size grains. The plate 51 is normally tinted and its typical dimensions are on the order of 45 mm for the diameter and 0.6 mm for the thickness. The output screen 5 is separated from the output window 4 by a shell 53 such that a vacuum cavity 52 with parallel faces is formed between the plate 51 and the output window 4. However, this vacuum cavity 52 has a detrimental effect on the output image contrast. For this reason, it was eliminated in the output screen fixing arrangement shown in FIG. 3, which also illustrates the prior art. In this figure, the elements corresponding to--or having corresponding functions to--those of FIG. 2 are given references increased by 100 with respect to the latter. Only the differences between the figures shall discussed hereafter.
In the fixing arrangement of FIG. 3, the output screen 105 serves as an output window. The plate 151 bearing the phosphor layer 150 is relatively thick (on the order of 2.5 mm) in order to withstand the external pressure. This plate 151 is fitted with a mounting element 154 soldered by a string of solder 155 to a similar fixing element 112 forming part of the envelope 101. A first manufacturing step for this device would consist in depositing the phosphor layer 150 on the glass plate 151 and then soldering the glass plate 151 to the envelope 101.
However, this fixing arrangement has a number of drawbacks. Indeed, although the size of the plate 151 bearing the phosphor layer 150 is reduced, it is still too large and increases manufacturing costs, especially since this plate 151 must be sufficiently thick to withstand the external pressure. Furthermore, the output screen is brought to a very high voltage (around 30 kilovolts), and the mounting elements 154, 155 and 112 must be isolated from the outside environment by means of a substantial and complete insulating resin potting (not shown in FIG. 3). The constraints regarding the mechanical mount, the very-high voltage insulation, optical image relaying and manufacturing costs of the phosphor layer 150 are not all compatible with each other, and thus the optimum compromise for the whole system is not optimized for each aspect, with detrimental effects on costs.
Moreover, it is difficult to deposit an anti-reflection coating 174 on the external face of the output window, owing to its fragility. The procedure thus involves gluing an additional plate 173 onto the external face of the output screen 105 using a glue 172 having the same refractive index as both the plate 151 and the additional plate 173 so as obtain a uniform refractive index between the phosphor layer 150 and the anti-reflection coating 174. The anti-reflection coating 174, being fragile, is deposited only at the last stage of the product's manufacturing process.
There results a considerable increase in the number of successive operations in the device's manufacturing process, which again increases costs. Moreover, should the anti-reflection coating 174 become scratched, repairs are impossible without damaging the potting, which risks destroying the envelope 101.
To overcome these disadvantages, frequent use is made of the fixing arrangement shown in FIG. 4, which is also prior art. In the latter figure, elements that are similar to--or have similar functions to--those of FIG. 3 have references increased by 100 with respect to the latter. Only the differences between the two figures shall be described.
In this fixing arrangement, the phosphor layer 250 is deposited on a thin, light plate 251 having relatively reduced dimensions. This plate 251 is then held in optical contact with the internal face 240 of the output window 204 by means of a glue 208 having the same refractive index as both the plate 251 and the output window 204. Image contrast is consequently improved in comparison with the fixing arrangement of FIG. 2. A narrow passage 230 is provided in the envelope to accommodate a conductor 231 for supplying the very-high voltage to the screen, thus obviating the need for a complete potting.
On the other hand, the output screen 205 must be glued directly onto the internal face 240 of the output window 204. This creates manufacturing problems since the envelope has relatively large dimensions (height on the order of 200 to 400 mm) while the output window is located at the bottom of a shrunken portion of the envelope 201 whose average height and diameter are on the order of 50 mm and 80 mm respectively.
Moreover, should it be desired to deposit an anti-reflection coating 274 on the outside of the envelope 201, it is preferable to do so on an additional plate 273 glued onto the output window 204 by means of the glue 272 in order to avoid having to handle an assembled envelope of large dimensions.
The vast majority of optical assemblies used for viewing the optical image delivered by x-ray image intensifier tubes are set for an image behind a glass plate approximately 3.5 mm thick. However, new optical assemblies that are optimized for a plate thickness of at least 8 to 10 mm are being developed in view of improving image contrast. Their utilization means having to thicken either the plate 251 bearing the phosphor layer 250, or the output window 204, or the additional plate 273 bearing the anti-reflection coating. Owing to constraints regarding the production of the phosphor layer 250, it is undesirable to increase the thickness of its support plate 251. The same applies for the output window 204 when dealing with a generally large-size envelope 201. One solution would be to thicken the additional plate 273 supporting the anti-reflection coating 274. However, this has the drawback of making the additional plate 273 heavy, making it more prone to ungluing in the event of thermal or mechanical shocks. Moreover, with the fixing arrangement described in FIG. 3, the output screen 105 tends to be heavy and the mounting elements 154 must be designed in consequence while respecting the very-high voltage insulation requirements. This further increases manufacturing complexity and hence costs.

Device for chromatic conversion of an image obtained by electromagnetic radiation and manufacturing process thereof


This invention relates to a power unit for a lighting system. Said power unit includes a mains power input (2), output terminals (3a, 3b) and a power supply (5) for regulating a supply voltage (V1) of the power unit (1). The power unit further comprises a polarity detector (13), a voltmeter (11) for measuring a voltage (V2) at said output terminals (3a, 3b) and a current meter (12) for measuring a current (A) at said output terminals (3a, 3b). The power unit also comprises a control unit (7), wherein said control unit (7) is arranged to initiate a power up procedure delay of random length after the power unit (1) has been switched on and wherein said control unit (7) is arranged to process information from the voltmeter (11), the current meter (12) and the polarity detector (13), and to control a power output of the power unit (1) on basis of said information.

Modular lighting refers to modules that can be assembled in order to obtain large lighting devices of various sizes and shapes. Each lighting module has several light elements, e.g. RGB LEDs. In addition to the flexibility in adapting the size and shape of such modular lighting applications, e.g. to the available space where the modular lighting application is to be installed or due to other reasons, such modular lighting applications may be used to visualize lighting patterns, including still and moving images and light effects, on a screen that may have a size and a shape that in general deviates from standard rectangular liquid crystal display (LCD) devices. Particularly two-dimensional lighting modules are typically referred to as lighting tiles, or simply tiles. Such a lighting tile may have various polygonal shapes, such as for example a square, triangle or pentagon shape. The lighting tiles are not limited to two-dimensional shapes but may have a three-dimensional shape, such as a cube or a pyramid.
The shape and size of the lighting system can be changed by adding, removing and relocating lighting tiles. Obviously, by varying the number of tiles in the system, the power demand will vary as well. A user employing only a small number of lighting tiles is most likely reluctant to buy a very powerful and expensive power unit dimensioned for a system comprising a high number of lighting tiles which he may never use to the full. Another issue with such a single power unit solution is that the internal wiring of the lighting tiles would all have to be dimensioned for a load in accordance with the maximum capacity of the single power unit.
The optimal solution to this would be to distribute mains power among the tiles and provide each of the tiles with its own power converter fulfilling the power demands of that specific tile. This would have many advantages, one being that no external power unit is needed which would simplify the system considerably. Another advantage would be that, with each tile having a mains power converter, such a distributed power supply is auto-scaling by itself avoiding the question of which capacity a single external power unit should have. The distribution of mains power among the tiles is, however, prohibited due to safety regulations. Therefore, large systems of lighting tiles have to be powered by a plurality of power units. One lighting system of this kind is disclosed in WO 2007/069130. In that prior art system, the lighting tiles have an internal wiring which make the tiles easy to fit since the rotational orientation of each tile relative to the neighboring tiles is non-essential. In that document one lighting system is mentioned where one power unit is capable of powering up to 10 tiles which means that for more advanced arrangements a considerable number of power units are necessary.

Intelligent lighting tile system powered from multiple power sources


Techniques perform file storage. Such techniques involve determining a candidate allocation unit (AU) size for storing data based on a statistic of an AU size matching with a write request during a statistic period, and storing a new file using the determined candidate AU size to store the new file. Accordingly, storage space is saved and reading and writing performance are improved.

This section introduces aspects that may facilitate better understanding of the disclosure. Accordingly, the statements of this section are to be read in this light and are not to be understood as admissions about what is in the prior art or what is not in the prior art.
In a file system (FS), an allocation unit (AU) is the smallest unit for file data storage allocation. Usually, the size of the allocation unit is fixed for a specific file system and is set when a new file system is created, in addition, it cannot be changed any more during the life cycle of the file system. If the AU can be well chosen and most of the input/outputs (I/Os) are AU-aligned, the file system can provide the optimal performance and make best use of the disk space.

Method, apparatus and computer storage medium for file storage


The scissors are provided with replaceable thin insert blades. The blade insert carriers of the scissors are recessed to receive the blade inserts fixed in place by a screw. The edge-to-edge force at the cutting point is controlled by the bend and the twist of the blade insert carriers. The fixation of the blade inserts by the screw in the front half of the blade insert carriers and their twist in the back section, leaves the cutting edge of the blade inserts unsupported near the pivot point of the scissors. Torsion of the blade inserts allows for easier control of the edge-to-edge force near the pivot without a penalty of the high edge-to-edge compliance towards the tips. Use of replaceable blade inserts eliminates the need for resharpening of the cutting edge and allows for use of the special purpose blade inserts with the same basic scissors.

Conventional scissors require frequent resharpening, especially in demanding professional use. This calls for scissor disassembly, grinding and reassembly--a costly process, requiring special skills. With unconventional scissors such as described in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,014,433, this is even more complicated, if possible at all, due to multiple joints which may even comprise rolling bearings.
Another problem of scissors is the control of the normal contact force at the edge-to-edge crossing point which moves with closing of the scissors from near the pivot point of the two cutting blades to their tips. A certain contact force is necessary for reliable cutting. This is usually achieved by bending of the blades (if made from sheet metal) or grinding (if forged or cast), in such a way that blade edges push against each other as the scissors are closed. Bending compliance of the blades increases with the third power of the distance from the pivot point. To keep the force between the blade edges approximately constant, they must be bent more towards the tip, but very little near the pivot point. In practice, edge-to-edge contact force near the pivot is controlled by the assembly of the pivot. Any loosening at the pivot will cause a poor function of the scissors at the beginning of the cut when they are near fully opened.
Different types of modular scissors with removable blades are already known; the need for them came with the use of ceramic materials for the cutting blades. These are highly priced professional tools used mostly to cut high strength fibers (carbon, kevlar, glass). However, in these known scissors the whole blade is made in ceramic and is fixed directly to the handle. The disadvantages of this design is that the whole blade has to be replaced which is costly.

Scissors and replaceable torsion blade inserts for scissors


The present invention relates to a continuous on-board drying method for Antarctic krill and a continuous on-board processing method of shelled Antarctic krill. The drying method includes the following steps: 1) subjecting fishing materials to cleaning, sorting, and dewatering with a vibrating screen; 2) rapidly heating the krill to the temperature of up to 70° C. using infra-red rays; 3) hot-air drying; 4) impurity removal by vacuum; 5) cooling to obtain dried krill. The processing method includes the following steps: a) subjecting fishing materials to cleaning, sorting, and dewatering with a vibrating screen; b) rapidly heating the krill to the temperature of up to 70° C. using infra-red rays; c) hot-air drying; d) subjecting the dried krill to shelling treatment to separate shell from meat, to obtain shelled krill; e) impurity removal by vacuum to obtain shelled krill product. The methods in the present invention are highly efficient, energy saving, green and environmental protection, and the krill products have high quality and safety.

For a long time, the production of seafood adopts the following traditional means: firstly marine fishing; secondly, salting processing or ice preservation and transportation; finally, processing on the land. The polar resource, Antarctic krill, is small-size, easily deteriorated, and hard to preserve. According to traditional means, after fishing of Antarctic krill, they are frozen and transported to the land. The frozen ones are processed to either powder or shrimp surimi after shelling. Because the content of fluorine in krill shell is up to 3300 mg/kg, while the content of fluorine in krill meat is about 50 mg/kg, the traditional processing methods would make fluorine transfer to krill meat, leading to the decrease of quality and safety of the product. On the other hand, due to the high activity of low-temperature proteinase within krill, the hydrolysis of krill protein during thawing by proteinase would make the product decrease in yield and deteriorate heavily in quality. Traditionally, krill is boiled and then dried to make product, which would make fluorine transfer to krill meat, and arise another problem of discharging cooking soup. Direct discharging of cooking soup is totally forbidden in Antarctic area because the cooking soup would make the water eutrophication. In addition, krill has abundant astaxanthin, and improper processing can easily destroy astaxanthin and thus decrease the colour of the krill product. In the present invention, an innovative model of on-board fast enzyme inactivation by infra-red and combined hot-air drying provides a best way to solve the problems.

Continuous drying for Antarctic krill and processing of shelled Antartic krill on board


Example item reminder systems and methods are described. In one implementation, a method receives a request to create an order and receives identification of multiple items in the order. The method identifies multiple items regularly purchased by a customer but not included in the multiple items. The method also identifies a purchase frequency of the regularly purchased items. If any of the regularly purchased items are due for purchase, based on the purchase frequency, the customer is presented with an option to purchase those regularly purchased items that are due for purchase.

With the increasing popularity of online shopping, many merchants allow customers to purchase items online and have the items delivered to their home instead of going to shop for the items at a physical store. In some situations, the items (e.g., grocery items and perishable items) are delivered from a local store to the customer's residence or business. When shopping for grocery items, some products are purchased at regular intervals, such as fresh fruit, dairy products, and the like. For example, since perishable items will spoil after a particular period of time, customers typically replenish these items on a regular basis.


Disclosed are various embodiments for detecting hardware Trojans through information flow security verification. A file comprising register transfer level (HDL) code for an intellectual property core is loaded from memory. An asset within the intellectual property core is identified. An integrity verification or confidentiality verification of the HDL code that represents the asset is performed. An integrity violation or confidentiality violation within the HDL code as a result of performance of the integrity verification or confidentiality violation on the HDL code that represents the asset is detected. A malicious control point or a malicious observation point linked to the asset is identified. Finally, a trigger circuit for a hardware Trojan is identified in response to identification of the malicious control point or malicious observation point.

Today's system-on-chips (SoCs) usually contain multiple intellectual property (IP) cores performing various functions. An IP core is a reusable unit of logic, cell, or integrated circuit that is the intellectual property of one party. An IP core may be licensed to another party or be owned and used a single party alone. IP cores can be used as building blocks for larger and more complex circuits, such as an SoC. Accordingly, an IP core can be viewed as performing the same or similar function in chip design that a software library performs in computer programming or a discrete integrated circuit performs for a printed circuit board design.
To lower research and development (R&D) cost and speed up the development cycle, SoC design houses typically purchase most of the IP cores used for various aspects of an SoC from third-party (3P) vendors. However, this can raise concerns regarding the trustworthiness of third-party intellectual property (3PIP) cores because 3PIP vendors can insert malicious components, known as hardware Trojans, into their IP cores. This issue has gained significant attention as Trojans inserted by a 3PIP core vendor can create backdoors in the design through which sensitive information can be leaked and other possible attacks (e.g., denial of service, reduction in reliability) can be performed.
Detection of Trojans in 3PIP cores is challenging as there is no trusted reference version against which to compare a given IP core during verification. In theory, an effective way to detect a Trojan in an IP core is to activate the Trojan and observe its effects. However, a Trojan's type, size, and location are generally unknown. Likewise, a Trojan's activation condition does not tend to be triggered frequently in order to escape detection. A Trojan can be, therefore, well hidden during the normal functional operation of the 3PIP core supplied as hardware description language (HDL) code, such as register transfer level (RTL) code or similar representations. A large industrial-scale IP core can include thousands of lines of HDL code. Identifying the few lines of HDL code in an IP core that represents a Trojan is an extremely challenging task. Different approaches have been proposed to validate that an IP does not perform any malicious function or contain a Trojan. Existing Trojan detection techniques can be broadly classified into structural and functional analysis, logic testing, formal verification, information flow tracking and runtime validation.
Structural analysis employs quantitative metrics to mark signals or gates with low activation probability as suspicious signals that may be a part of a Trojan. One technique that has been proposed is a technique named unused circuit identification (UCI) to find the lines of HDL code that have not been executed during simulation. These unused lines of codes may be considered to be part of a malicious circuit. However, these techniques do not guarantee Trojan detection and it has been demonstrated that hardware Trojans can be designed to defeat the UCI technique.
Functional analysis based approaches rely on functional simulation to find suspicious regions of an IP core which have characteristics similar to that of a hardware Trojan. One proposed technique is Functional Analysis for Nearly-unused Circuit Identification (FANCI), which flags nets having weak input-output dependency as suspicious. Another technique known as VeriTrust involves identifying nets that are not driven by functional inputs as potential trigger inputs of a hardware Trojan. However, it is known that Trojans can be designed to bypass both of these detection techniques. Another proposed Trojan detection technique is based on symbolic algebra. However, this technique requires a trusted reference of the IP core which may not be available when it is procured from 3PIP core vendors.
Some recent works have utilized formal methods and information flow tracking (IFT) based techniques to detect Trojans. One technique involves formally verifying malicious modification of critical data in 3PIP core by hardware Trojans. Another similar approach involves formally verifying unauthorized information leakage in 3PIP cores. Another technique involves the use of proof-carrying code (PCC) to formally validate the security related properties of an IP core. Commercial tools can identify information leakage caused by design bugs and/or hardware Trojans. However, all of these techniques share some inherent limitations which can be exploited to bypass their detection capabilities.

Hardware trojan detection through information flow security verification

University Of Florida Research Foundation, Inc.


A load positioning apparatus includes a movable table that is urged and held at a forward limit position by a movable-table urging element, a load-supporting roller that allows the load to laterally move on a horizontal surface, and a load-positioning roller that is supported on the movable table and adjoins the side face of the load supported in the fixed position on the load supporting roller. The urging element allows the table to recede together with the load-positioning roller when a load is vertically lowered at a position where the load-positioning roller is pushed outwardly with respect to the fixed position. The urging element has an urging force sufficient to return the movable table to the forward limit position so as to push back the load to the fixed position via the load positioning roller.

When thin sheet-like substrates, such as glass plates or wafers, are conveyed to each processing stage, a cassette containing these substrates, which are stacked in layers, is used. This cassette is lowered by a transfer apparatus onto a supporting board disposed at a substrate-taking-out position of each processing stage. The substrates contained in the cassette are then taken out by a substrate-taking-out robot provided beside the supporting board, and are supplied to a processing position. The substrate-taking-out robot is automatically controlled, and hence, in order to allow the robot to reliably and smoothly take the substrates out of the cassette without exerting an excessive force on the substrates, the accuracy of the posture or position of the cassette transferred onto the supporting board disposed at the substrate-taking-out position must be made sufficiently high. Therefore, a cassette-deviation automatic correction apparatus used to automatically correct positional deviations in horizontal two-dimensional directions of the cassette vertically lowered by the transfer apparatus is provided on the supporting board at the substrate-taking-out position to which the cassette is transferred. Examples of conventional load-positioning apparatuses that can be used for such a cassette-deviation automatic correction apparatus include an apparatus that needs a driving source and that is of a type that pushes a load, which has been lowered on the supporting board while being kept in a positionally deviated state, toward a fixed position by use of a pusher driven by a driving means and an apparatus that does not need a driving source and that is of a type that drives a pusher (roller) that pushes a load toward a fixed position by use of the weight of the load vertically lowered by a transfer apparatus as disclosed by Japanese Published Unexamined Utility Model Application No. H5-37755.
A plurality of load positioning apparatuses that differ from each other in a deviation correcting direction must be disposed around the supporting board to which the cassette is lowered by the transfer apparatus. Therefore, if the cassette-deviation automatic correction apparatus is composed of the load positioning apparatuses of the type that needs a driving source, a pusher driven by a driving means is required for each of the load positioning apparatuses disposed at a plurality of positions around the supporting board to which the cassette is lowered by the transfer apparatus. Since a control device is additionally required for the driving means, an extremely high equipment cost must be paid for the entire cassette-deviation automatic correction apparatus, and there is a high possibility that control system trouble will cause a breakdown. On the other hand, if the cassette-deviation automatic correction apparatus is composed of the load positioning apparatuses of the type that does not need a driving source, it will be possible to resolve the problem occurring when the load positioning apparatuses of the type that needs a driving source are used. However, the motion of, for example, an up-and-down movable lever depressed by a cassette lowered vertically while being supported by the transfer apparatus is converted into a pushing motion of the pusher (roller) pushing the descending cassette toward the fixed position, and hence the cassette descending while being supported by the transfer apparatus is horizontally moved on a supporting surface of the transfer apparatus. However, in recently-used facilities that handle a large-sized, enormously-heavy (about 1000 Kg) cassette that contains large-sized glass plates, the heavy cassette cannot be horizontally and smoothly moved on the supporting surface of the transfer apparatus, and hence such facilities cannot employ the load positioning apparatus structured as above.

Apparatus for automatically correcting a positional deviation of a load


Concepts and technologies are disclosed herein for flexible batteries and methods for forming flexible batteries. A flexible battery can include a borophene sheet, a pyroelectric peptide microtubule, and a borophene cap. A first end of the pyroelectric peptide microtubule can be located adjacent to the borophene sheet and the borophene cap can be located at a second end of the pyroelectric peptide microtubule. The borophene cap can collect a charge created by the pyroelectric peptide microtubule. The flexible battery also can include a collection wire that directs the charge to a borophene capacitor charge system.

As the ubiquitous nature of powered devices continues to proliferate (e.g., as the Internet of Things powers new and innovative devices in various environments), power supply needs continue to diversify. Whereas until the last few decades a power cord was an acceptable power supply, the need and desire for new wireless power supplies continues to evolve. As new devices begin to operate in new environments, power needs may continue to evolve.
In particular, wearable and implantable devices pose interesting power challenges. In the case of an implantable device in particular, access to the device may be limited, and chemical leakage from chemical batteries may be unsafe or at least unacceptable. Furthermore, with the scale of devices being reduced frequently, power supply challenges are compounded at least because batteries of reduced scale typically have a shorter life than larger-scale counterparts.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A position detecting device, includes a light emitting portion that includes a light emitting surface which emits light, a light receiving portion that includes a light receiving surface which receives the light from the light emitting portion, a scale that is arranged between the light emitting surface and the light receiving surface, and a cleaning member that is fixed to the scale to clean at least one of the light emitting surface and the light receiving surface.

The present invention relates to a position detecting device, a liquid ejecting apparatus provided with the same, and a method of cleaning the smear of a scale.
An inkjet printer has been known as a liquid ejecting apparatus for ejecting liquid onto a predetermined medium, such as paper. The inkjet printer includes a paper feed motor that drives a feed roller for feeding printing paper such as a medium, a carriage motor that drives a carriage having a printing head. DC motors are widely used as the above-mentioned motors, for the purpose of reducing noises. The inkjet printer having the DC motor is provided with an encoder, which includes a photosensor and a scale, as a position detecting device used to control the position or the speed of the DC motor. The photosensor includes a light emitting element and a light receiving element, and a light transmitting part for transmitting the light from the light emitting element and a light blocking part for blocking the light from the light emitting element are alternately formed in the scale.
In the inkjet printer, until the ink drops reach a printing surface of the printing paper when ink drops are ejected from the printing head, or when the ink drops reach the printing surface, some ink drops are changed into mist, thereby generating ink mist floating in the air. There has been known that the ink mist is attached to various components in the printer. When the ink mist is attached to the photosensor, the encoder is likely to perform an incorrect detection. Accordingly, a printer having cleaning members for cleaning the ink mist attached to the scale has been proposed to suppress the incorrect detection of the linear encoder (for example, see JP-A-2002-361901 (see FIGS. 5 to 7)).
In a inkjet printer disclosed in JP-A-2002-361901, cleaning members made of urethane resin or the like, which come in contact with both surfaces of a linear scale, are fixed to a photosensor mounted to a carriage. As the carriage reciprocates, the cleaning members slide on both surfaces of the linear scale. As a result, the linear scale is cleaned. Further, in the inkjet printer, the cleaning members made of urethane resin or the like, which come in contact with both surfaces of a linear scale, are fixed to a photosensor mounted to a predetermined bracket. As a rotary scale is rotated, the cleaning members slide on both surfaces of the rotary scale. As a result, the linear scale is cleaned. Moreover, in the inkjet printer disclosed in JP-A-2002-361901, even when the linear scale or the rotary scale detect the position of the carriage or a feed roller, the cleaning members normally slide on the linear scale and the rotary scale.
However, since the cleaning members are fixed to the photosensor in the inkjet printer disclosed in JP-A-2002-361901, even when the position of the carriage or the feed roller is detected, the cleaning members slide on the scales. For this reason, in the inkjet printer that requires a high accuracy in printing, sliding resistance between the cleaning members and the scales is critical. That is, since the sliding resistance between the cleaning members and the scales causes the vibration of the scales and the photosensor or the deterioration in speed of the carriage or the feed roller, there has been a problem in that the accuracy of the encoder deteriorates in detecting the position of the carriage or the feed roller. As a result, there has been a problem in that printing is difficult to be performed with high accuracy.

Position detecting device, liquid ejecting apparatus and method of cleaning smear of scale


Disclosed is a method of controlling a load in a railway signaling system, the method comprising providing a first autonomous controller connectable to the load and a second autonomous controller which is redundant with the first controller such that there is no single point of failure; operating the first and second controllers in one of two modes. There is an on-line mode wherein both controllers provide power to the load to control the load such that current through the load is shared between the first and second controllers. There is an off-line mode wherein a single controller does not provide power to the load and the other controller continues to operate on-line to control the load, whereby control of the load is uninterrupted.

The rail industry, for both passenger and freight trains, is an important industry worldwide. Obviously the safety and reliability of train systems is crucial. Rail systems are particularly vulnerable to catastrophic accidents since trains travel on fixed tracks at speeds that prevent them from being able to stop quickly.
Railway signaling systems are used to communicate a multitude of information to various railway personnel. Various types of trackside equipment (point/switch machine, signals, track circuits) are used along the track line. Trackside equipment can communicate different types of information, such as track status, required speeds, etc., all being crucial to preventing trains from colliding.
The consequence of failure of trackside equipment can be disastrous. As such, current systems employ safety methods to mitigate failure or error. Regular maintenance of trackside equipment must also be taken into account.
Generally, trackside equipment is managed by devices such as interlockings and zone controllers. Typically these controllers manage trackside field equipment through vital relay groups. In some cases, custom direct drive boards have been developed to interface with particular equipment types.
Existing known solutions which manage dual outputs (redundant configuration for zone controllers) are controlled through an external hardware "OR" device, which is a single point of failure. Additionally, these design solutions are configured only as active-passive and thus manage a controlled switchover which interrupts the final condition.

Railway signaling system with redundant controllers


A heat exchanger having a housing, which defines a first volume (V1), and having at least one conduit, which defines a second volume (V2), wherein the housing has an inlet and an outlet and at least one first opening and at least one second opening located opposite the first opening relative to the housing, wherein the at least one conduit extends through the first volume (V1) and connects the at least one first opening of the housing and the at least one second opening of the housing, and is connected at the two ends of the conduit to the housing in a fluid-tight manner. In order to provide a heat exchanger which has an improved possibility for compensating for the differential thermal expansion of the housing and the conduits, the at least one conduit does not extend in a linear manner inside the first volume (V1), and the at least one conduit is monolithically connected in the region of the first opening of the conduit and/or the second opening of the conduit to the housing.

The basic principle of heat exchangers is that heat energy is transferred from a first media stream to a second media stream. The two media streams are not in fluid communication so that mixing does not take place.
In many embodiments, a housing is provided, through which a first medium flows. One or more conduits are arranged in the housing, in which a second medium flows. The media are separated from one another by the wall of the conduit. However, the wall allows heat transfer.
Heat exchangers are divided in terms of the direction of flow of the media streams into direct flow, countercurrent flow, and cross-flow heat exchangers. Direct flow means that the media flow substantially parallel to each other in the same direction. In counterflow, the media run substantially parallel but in the opposite direction. The term cross-flow is used when the media streams flow crosswise, in particular at an angle of 90°.
From the prior art, reactors are also known which comprise a heat exchanger. By a reactor is meant a container in which, when used as intended, a reaction takes place, especially a chemical or biochemical reaction.
Reactors may be used for example in the production of methanol (CH3OH). There, a reactor is fed carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen (H2), which react with each other in the reactor. In this case, a catalyst is used, which increases the reaction rate. The reaction is exothermic, so a removal of thermal energy is required.
From EP 1048343 A2 there is known a heat exchanger/reactor which can be used for the production of methanol and which comprises a plurality of straight conduits, in which a catalyst is arranged. The conduits are arranged in a housing through which flows a first medium, thereby bathing the conduits, and they emerge at the end side into a collection space and a distribution space situated opposite relative to the housing. Through the conduits flows a second medium, which consists of the raw materials and end products of the chemical reaction. The reaction takes place in the conduits. Owing to the exothermic reaction, a temperature gradient is produced from the conduits to the housing wall. Therefore, the conduits expand more strenuously than the housing wall, so that they by a respective bellows to the housing wall. The second medium transfers thermal energy to the first medium, which is transported with the first medium out from the housing.
The use of bellows is technically costly in processing and increases the costs of the device. In addition bellows are susceptible to wear, which is also disadvantageous.
WO 2013/004254 A1 proposes arranging the conduits movably in the longitudinal direction on the housing, without providing a bellows. In this way, the use of a bellows is avoided, however the arrangement requires a complex seal between conduit and housing.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,751,761 discloses a heat pump with a boiler, in which a single conduit runs helically. The boiler and the conduit respectively form a volume through which a medium flows, the volumes not communicating with each other. Water flows through the boiler, which is optionally heated or cooled by a temperature difference from the medium flowing in the conduit.
From U.S. Pat. No. 4,858,584 there is known a device for preheating of fuel for internal combustion engines. The device comprises a rod-shaped housing and a helical conduit located therein. The housing has at one end an inlet and at the other end an outlet, respectively arranged tangentially.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,379,832 shows a heat exchanger which also has a housing, but in which two conduits are arranged. For the fabrication of the two conduits, a straight pipe is respectively wound around a core, giving the conduits a helical shape. The two conduits may then be interlocked with each other in different ways.

FRAUNHOFER-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FÖRDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG E.V.


A burst error limiting symbol detector system includes a symbol detector circuit responsive to a corrected sample signal for detecting multilevel or multidimensional symbols encoded in the corrected sample signal with reference to a plurality of associated thresholds. A feedback equalizer circuit provides a feedback equalizer signal for cancelling undesired distortion in an input signal. A summing circuit is responsive to the input signal and the feedback equalizer signal to provide the corrected sample signal to the symbol detector circuit. A feedback modification circuit is responsive to the corrected sample being within one of a plurality of valid symbol windows to feed back the detected symbol to the feedback equalizer and is responsive to the corrected sample being within one of plurality of marginal threshold windows to feed back a corresponding intermediate value to the feedback equalizer.

In modern digital data transmission channels, such as communications channels and hard disk read and write channels, digital signal processing circuits and methods are utilized to provide accurate and reliable transfer of data over such channels. A data transmission channel may be viewed generally as including an encoder/transmitter which receives data input in the form of symbols corresponding to information to be transferred. The encoder/transmitter encodes these symbols for transmission over a physical transmission channel such as a telephone line, coaxial cable, or bus in a computer system. A decoder/receiver coupled to the physical transmission channel receives the encoded symbols being transferred and decodes these symbols to provide the original data input to other circuitry in the decoder/receiver.
Electrical signals corresponding to the symbols being transferred over the physical transmission channel may experience noise and distortion as these signals propagate over the channel. In fact, as the symbols propagate over the physical transmission channel they may be severely distorted by the channel. As modern digital data transmission channels operate at increasingly faster data rates the transitions associated with sequential symbols occur closer together in time, making it more difficult to filter out channel noise and distortion to properly identify the symbols and thereafter obtain the originally transmitted data at the decoder/receiver.
The decoder/receiver typically includes a filter that removes noise from the received electrical signal to provide a filtered signal. An analog-to-digital (A/D) converter samples the filtered signal to provide a series of samples that collectively form a digital representation of the filtered signal. Digital signal processing (DSP) circuitry receives these samples and processes the samples to determine the corresponding values of the symbols being communicated over the physical transmission channel. More specifically, the DSP circuitry typically includes a "data slicer" or decision block that determines a value of respective symbols from the corresponding samples. The DSP circuitry also typically includes a feed forward equalizer (FFE) that adjusts the values of current samples being processed to compensate for precursor intersymbol interference, as will be described in more detail below. The DSP circuitry further typically includes a decision feedback equalizer (DFE) that generates a feedback signal from weighted values of previously detected symbols to adjust the current values of samples being evaluated to detect a current symbol, as will also be described in more detail below. A decoder decodes the detected symbols to provide decoded data output that ideally is identical to the original data input supplied to the encoder/transmitter.
The performance of the data transmission channel depends on how accurately the samples represent the original electrical signals corresponding to these symbols. Noise and distortion introduced by the physical transmission channel affects the electrical signals propagating over the channel and in this way may adversely affect the values of the samples and thereby the overall performance of the channel. One type of interference that the physical transmission channel can introduce is known as intersymbol interference (ISI), which results from the temporal spreading of the signal corresponding to each "symbol" being communicated over the physical transmission channel. This temporal spreading of individual symbols results in the overlap of adjacent symbols propagating over the physical transmission channel, making it difficult for the decoder/receiver to reliably determine the value of each individual received symbol. Two types of ISI can occur in a given symbol being processed: post-cursor ISI and precursor ISI. Post-cursor ISI is the effect that prior symbols have on a current symbol being processed. Precursor ISI is the effect of subsequent symbols on the current symbol being processed, which occurs due to the different velocities at which different frequency components of each symbol travel over the physical transmission channel, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art.
One approach that has been utilized to overcome the phenomena of precursor ISI is the use of a feed forward equalizer (FFE) which adjusts the value of a current sample being processed using weighted values of subsequent samples to thereby adjust the values of current sample and compensate for precursor ISI. A common approach that has been utilized to overcome the phenomena of post-cursor ISI is the use of a decision feedback equalizer (DFE). As previously mentioned, a DFE generates a feedback signal from weighted values of previously detected symbols. This feedback signal is utilized to adjust the current values of samples being evaluated to detect a current symbol. More specifically, the DFE generates the feedback signal having a value that subtracts out the ISI from prior symbols on a sample of a current symbol that is being evaluated. The effect of this is to eliminate the contributions of prior symbols on the given sample to more reliably determine a value for the given sample, as will be described in more detail below. The decision block compares the adjusted value of the given sample to predetermined detection thresholds to determine the value of the symbol being detected. For example, in a four level pulse amplitude modulation ("4-PAM) system, the decision block determines whether the adjusted sample corresponds to one of four permissible levels, such as +1, −1, +3, or −3, each level corresponding to a particular symbol. In this way, the DFE feeds back weighted values of current decisions that the decision block then utilizes in determining a value for the symbol corresponding to the current sample being processed, hence the name "decision feedback" equalizer.
A problem can arise from the recursive or feedback nature of the decision block operating in combination with the DFE. More specifically, the DFE utilizes past decisions from the decision block to generate a feedback signal that is intended to cancel post-cursor intersymbol interference (ISI), where post-cursor ISI is the effect that prior symbols have on a subsequent symbol as previously discussed. The decision block makes an optimal determination of the value of current symbol only when all past determinations are correct. If any of these prior determinations was in error, there is a likelihood that the DFE will generate a feedback signal which instead of cancelling post-cursor ISI will actually increase or compound such ISI. As a result, further errors known as burst errors can be generated by conventional DFEs. Burst errors are a sequence of errors that result from a single symbol error. Due to the feedback utilized by the DFE, a first wrong decision for a current symbol affects the value of the feedback signal that is used to adjust the value of the next symbol to be processed. As a result, this first wrong decision could result in a second wrong decision for the next symbol, which in turn could lead to yet another wrong decision for the following symbol, and so on, causing a sequence of wrong decisions that will be referred to as a burst error herein. The duration of a burst error is characterized by the burst error length measured by the number of symbols that may contain faulty decisions.
One approach to reduce burst error lengths in binary systems is to adjust the value of the feedback signal from the DFE when the value of the sample being detected is within an uncertainty window around a detection threshold. For example, assume the detection threshold is 0 volts and that when the sample is greater than 0 the decision block determines the detected value is +1 and when the sample is less than 0 the detected value is −1. The values +1 and −1 correspond to the binary values being detected. If the current sample is within the uncertainty window around the 0 threshold, the DFE adjusts the value of the feedback signal (e.g., by feeding back a 0 instead of a +1 or −1) so that the next sample being processed by the decision block will be processed differently based upon the adjusted feedback signal. Such an approach reduces the length and the likelihood of burst errors in binary systems.
There is a need for reducing the numbers of errors generally and reducing the length and likelihood of burst errors specifically in communications systems utilizing other than binary signals, such as those using multilevel modulation techniques like four level pulse amplitude modulation (4-PAM) and multidimensional modulation techniques like quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM).

Burst error limiting feedback equalizer system and method for multidimensional modulation systems


A catalyst composition comprising (a) carrier comprising (i) 5 to 95 wt % mordenite type zeolite having a mean crystallite length parallel to the direction of the 12-ring channels of 60 nm or less and a mesopore volume of at least 0.10 cc/gram, (ii) 5 to 95 wt % ZSM-5 type zeolite; and (iii) 10 to 60 wt % inorganic binder; and (b) 0.001 to 10 wt % of one or more catalytically active metals, wherein the inorganic binder comprises titania, its preparation and its use in alkylaromatic conversion.

Ethylbenzene is one of the aromatic hydrocarbons that can be obtained from naphtha pyrolysis or reformate. Reformate is an aromatic product obtained by the catalyzed conversion of straight-run hydrocarbons boiling in the 70 to 190° C. range, such as straight-run naphtha. The catalysts used for the production of reformate are often platinum-on-alumina catalysts. The reformate feedstock itself is obtained by fractionation or distillation of crude petroleum oil, its composition varying depending on the source of the crude oil, but generally having a low aromatics content. On conversion to reformate, the aromatics content is considerably increased and the resulting hydrocarbon mixture becomes highly desirable as a source of valuable chemical intermediates and as a component for gasoline. The principle components are a group of aromatics often referred to as BTX: benzene, toluene and the xylenes, including ethylbenzene. Other components may be present such as their hydrogenated homologues, e.g. cyclohexane.
Of the BTX group the most valuable components are benzene and the xylenes, and therefore BTX is often subjected to processing to increase the proportion of those two aromatics: hydrodealkylation of toluene to benzene and toluene disproportionation to benzene and xylenes. Within the xylenes, para-xylene is the most useful commodity and xylene isomerisation or transalkylation processes have been developed to increase the proportion of para-xylene.
A further process that can be applied is the hydrodealkylation of ethylbenzene to benzene.
Generally, it is preferred to isolate BTX from the reformate stream, and subject the BTX stream to xylene isomerisation with the aim of maximising the para-xylene component. Xylene isomerisation is a catalytic process. Some catalysts used in this process have the ability to not just isomerise xylenes but to simultaneously dealkylate the ethylbenzene component. Normally the para-xylene is then separated out to leave benzene, toluene (unless one or more toluene conversion processes have already been applied) and the remaining mixed xylenes, including ethylbenzene. This BTX stream can be converted by (i) dealkylation to selectively eliminate ethylbenzene and to increase the yield of benzene while isomerizing xylenes to equilibrium or (ii) further reforming to convert ethylbenzene to xylenes while isomerizing xylenes to equilibrium or (iii) transalkylation by isomerizing xylenes to equilibrium and dealkylating specific alkylaromatic compounds. The latter process is the subject of the present invention.
WO 2009/158233 A2 describes a so-called UZM-14 aggregate material comprising globular aggregates of crystallites having a MOR framework type with a mean crystallite length parallel to the direction of 12-ring channels of 60 nm or less and a mesopore volume of at least 0.10 cc/g. In one preferred embodiment, said aggregate material is disclosed in combination with a binder selected from one or more of alumina, silica and silica-alumina.
Example 1 in WO 2009/158233A2 describes catalysts comprising a so-called UZM-14 aggregate material in combination with alumina binder and rhenium as dopant and testing of said catalysts in the transalkylation of a feedstock comprising toluene and various C9/C9+ aromatic compounds is outlined in Example 2.
Example 4 in WO 2009/158233 A2 describes catalysts comprising a so-called UZM-14 aggregate material in combination with a MFI zeolite and alumina binder and nickel and molybdenum as metal dopants and the testing of said catalysts in the transalkylation of a feedstock comprising toluene and various C9/C9+ aromatic compounds.
WO 2009/158244 A2 also describes a transalkylation process using a catalyst comprising so-called UZM-14 aggregate material comprising globular aggregates of crystallites having a MOR framework type with a mean crystallite length parallel to the direction of 12-ring channels of 60 nm or less and a mesopore volume of at least 0.10 cc/g in combination with a binder selected from one or more of alumina, silica and silica-alumina. The Examples in WO 2009/158244 A2 are broadly similar to those in WO 2009/158233 A2.


A charge pump circuit comprises a first node, a second node, and at least one capacitance stage coupled between the first node and the second node. Capacitance stages of the at least one capacitance stage are coupled in series. A capacitance stage of the at least one capacitance stage includes a capacitive device and a voltage limiter coupled in parallel with the capacitor. The voltage limiter is configured to limit a voltage dropped across the capacitor. The capacitive device and the voltage limiter are configured such that a first current flowing through a first branch having the voltage limiter is more than a second current flowing through a second branch having the capacitive device.

Many approaches use gate capacitance of a transistor to pump charge in a charge pump. The transistor could be N-type or P-type Metal-Oxide Silicon, i.e., NMOS or PMOS, respectively. The gate capacitance of a single-gate transistor, however, is relatively small. To improve pump capacities, a large number of gates and thus a large die area is required. Further, using the gate capacitance is inefficient because, when the transistor is off, there is no gate capacitance and thus no capacitance for the charge pump. For example, when a voltage applied at the gate of the transistor is less than the threshold voltage of the transistor, the transistor is off, resulting in no capacitance. In other words, the gate capacitance exists and the pump function operates only when the gate voltage is above the threshold voltage. Additionally, the threshold voltage is larger at low temperatures and thus further reduces efficiency and pump ability.
Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.


Systems and methods for transferring power delivery between power sources to an electrical bus are provided. More particularly, a multi-source electrical power system can include an electrical bus having at least two power sources that each can be selectively coupled to the electrical bus, for instance, via contactors. At least one of the power sources can include a unidirectional or bidirectional power converter. The electrical power system can further include a control system configured to control the power output (e.g., the output voltage and the output current) of the power converter to provide no break power transfer of power delivery to the electrical bus between the first and second power sources. In example embodiments, the no break power transfer can be achieved by regulating the output current of a power source to a fixed current value and/or by using a virtual resistance programmed into a voltage regulator.

A multi-source electrical power system can include an electrical bus that can receive power from multiple power sources. For instance, contactors or other switching elements can be used to selectively couple each of the multiple power sources to the electrical bus. At least one of the power sources coupled to the electrical bus can include a power converter used to convert the power generated by a power source to a power suitable for the electrical bus.
For instance, in an aviation system, electrical power for avionics, motors, and other electrical equipment on an aircraft can be provided by multiple generator systems coupled to the electrical bus. Each generator system can include a generator coupled to a gas turbine engine. Each generator can convert mechanical energy generated by the gas turbine engine to alternating current (AC) power. A power converter can be used to convert the generated AC power to a direct current (DC) power for a DC electrical bus.
It can be desirable in certain circumstances to switch power delivery between power sources coupled to the electrical bus. For instance, it may be desirable to transfer power delivery from one of the multiple power sources to another power source. Transferring power delivery between power sources coupled to the electrical bus can lead to power interruptions and/or disturbances in power quality, such as voltage dips or voltage spikes or high circulating current between the related sources.
For instance, in AC systems, power delivery transfer among multiple power sources in a multi-source electrical power system can be achieved by setting a voltage of a pickup source (e.g., the power source that is being added to the electrical bus) to a voltage that is higher than a voltage of the power source already delivering power to the electrical bus. This can result in power oscillations between the power sources because the higher voltage setpoint of the new power source can result in picking up the entire load on the electrical bus. This can potentially cause a drop in bus voltage as current increases and the load shifts back to the original source. In addition, the frequency of the source being connected to the bus can be slightly offset from the frequency of the bus. As a result, unknown and uncontrolled load shifting between sources can occur when the new source is added to the electrical bus.
In DC systems, a pickup source can be coupled to the electrical bus using power sources capable of sourcing or sinking loads up to and including the full power capability of each of the sources. In addition and/or in the alternative, complex algorithms can be used to adjust internal voltage setpoints among regulators for the power sources to reduce circulating current. These techniques can result in unknown and uncontrolled load shifts and can result in significant oscillations between power sources and large power losses.
Thus a need exists for systems and methods for transferring power delivery among power sources in a multi-source electrical power system while reducing power interruptions and disturbances in power quality.

No break power transfer for multi-source electrical power system


The disclosure describes an air bag having a mechanical characteristic durable against the gas of high output and high temperature generated from an inflator, while reducing amount of the gas leaked from a sewn part of the air bag. The air bag can be used for vehicles and includes a main body part consisting of a base fabric and a sewn part being formed by sewing, with a sewing thread, the main body part into a bag, wherein a difference between an elongation of the sewing thread upon applying a tension of 31.3/a (N/thread) to the sewing thread and an elongation of the base fabric upon applying a tension of 62.5/a to the base fabric (N/stitch), wherein “a” (stitch(es)/cm) is a sewing pitch in the sewn part, is within a range of 0 to 5.0% in both directions of warp and weft, and an air permeability of the sewn part at 40 kPa during an initial stage of development of the air bag is less than 50 mm/cm/sec.

In recent years, air bags have been widely used as the safety devices for protecting the passengers upon collision. As to a base fabric for an air bag, a base fabric prepared by coating surface of woven fabric with silicone rubber or the like has been used. However, an air bag using such a surface-coated woven fabric causes a considerable increase in cost as a result of a coating treatment and also becomes heavy and thick. Therefore, recently, investigations for an air bag using a non-coat woven fabric where no surface coating is done or the so-called non-coat air bag have been carried out and a part thereof has been already in practical use.
Further, in recent years, there has been a demand for making an air bag itself light in weight and compact in size. For such a purpose, an inflator is also demanded for making its size compact. However, compacting the inflator results in high output and high temperature of the generated gas and the pressure applied to the air bag itself by the gas upon development tends to become high. Unfortunately, when the pressure upon development becomes high, there is a problem that gas leakage from base fabric or particularly from sewn part of base fabric of an air bag becomes high whereby the properties as an air bag cannot be satisfied. For solving this problem, various air bags have been proposed already (for example, see Patent Documents 1-4).
In the art of Patent Document 1, fineness and density of base fabric, and coating amount of synthetic resin, etc. are adjusted as a result of paying attention to gas leakage from stitches in a sewn part whereby air permeability of the sewn part under the presumed pressure at the time of development and of receiving the passenger is adjusted. However, the Patent Document 1 merely discloses that air permeability of the sewn part is affected by air permeability of the main body part consisting of the base fabric. The Patent Document 1 does not disclose a method for adjusting the air permeability of the sewn part itself.
Patent Document 2 discloses an air bag where auxiliary fabric is integrally sewn to a sewn part as a result of paying the attention to gas leakage and burst due to stitch opening of the sewn part. According to such an air bag, air permeability in the sewn part is reduced and, even in the base fabric of low fineness, suppression of burst upon development is possible. However, practical implementation of said air bag is difficult because of the disadvantages such as troublesomeness of the work, an increase in the mass of air bag and also an increase in cost due to an integral sewing of the auxiliary fabric.
Patent Document 3 discloses a base fabric for an air bag where three indexes of cover factor, tensile strength and edgecomb resistance are stipulated to specific ranges. Although the base fabric for an air bag achieves improvement in edgecomb resistance and reduction in slippage using a thread of relatively high fineness (not less than 400 dtex) and making the cover factor as high as possible, there is no investigation at all therein for a base fabric where the elongation of base fabric and the elongation of sewn part upon development are within predetermined ranges particularly because of high fineness of the base fabric.
Patent Document 4 discloses an air bag where a base fabric of very low fineness (110 to 185 dtex) is sewn with a precise pitch using sewing thread of low fineness. This air bag is light in weight and compact in size by decreasing the slippages but, due to the use of base fabric of low fineness, the air bag is not resistant to the gas of high output and high temperature generated from a compacted inflator.
Patent Documents 5 and 6 each discloses a base fabric for non-coat air bag using a fiber having a single thread in a rectangular cross section and a flat cross section, respectively. In the base fabric as such, flatness and surface unevenness of cross section of the single thread and also amount of oil in the spinning are stipulated to increase the friction coefficient between the fibers whereupon slidability of the thread surface is controlled and improvement in slippage of the sewn part is achieved. However, in those Patent Documents, there is no investigation at all for the base fabric where slippage of sewn part due to the specifying of the relation between elongations of "base fabric" and "sewing thread" upon development of an air bag or, particularly, the elongation of base fabric and the elongation of sewn part upon development are within predetermined ranges due to the high fineness of the base fabric.