One embodiment of the present invention is a unique method of manufacturing a component for a turbomachine, such as an airfoil. Another embodiment is a unique airfoil. Yet another embodiment is a unique gas turbine engine. Other embodiments include apparatuses, systems, devices, hardware, methods, and combinations for cooled gas turbine engine components. Further embodiments, forms, features, aspects, benefits, and advantages of the present application will become apparent from the description and figures provided herewith.

Cooled gas turbine engine components that are cooled by cooling fluids, such as a gas turbine engine airfoil cooled by cooling air, remain an area of interest. Some existing systems have various shortcomings, drawbacks, and disadvantages relative to certain applications. Accordingly, there remains a need for further contributions in this area of technology.

Method of manufacturing a turbomachine component, an airfoil and a gas turbine engine

Rolls-Royce North American Technologies, Inc.


A semiconductor device formed on a semiconductor substrate having a substrate top surface, includes: a gate trench extending from the substrate top surface into the semiconductor substrate; a gate electrode in the gate trench; a dielectric material disposed over the gate electrode; a body region adjacent to the gate trench; a source region embedded in the body region, at least a portion of the source region extending above the dielectric material; a contact trench that allows contact such as electrical contact between the source region and the body region; and a metal layer disposed over at least a portion of a gate trench opening, at least a portion of the source region, and at least a portion of the contact trench.

Many electronic circuit designs today have strict requirements on device performance parameters such as switching performance and on-state resistance. Power MOS devices are often used in such circuits. Shielded gate trench Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors (MOSFETs) is a type of power MOS device that has good high frequency switching performance and low on-state resistance. Existing fabrication techniques for shielded gate MOSFETs are typically complex and expensive, usually requiring 6 or more masks to be applied during processing. The existing techniques also tend to have significant defect rate. The resulting devices often have relatively high contact resistance and unstable transient behavior.

Shielded gate trench MOSFET with increased source-metal contact

Alpha and Omega Semiconductor Incorporated


Methods, computer-readable media, and systems for identifying characteristics of time-related data associable with intervals are provided. A frame is associated with each of a number of intervals in a period. A first data characteristic is identified for data associable with the number of intervals in the period. A body of data is mined to identify a number of first significant intervals, the first significant intervals being intervals for which the first data characteristic is manifested in data associated with each of the first significant intervals. A first representation of the data indicative of the first characteristic is presented in the frame associated with each of the first significant intervals.

Computers have revolutionized the ability to collect, sort, manipulate, and store data. The data processing capacities of computers have transformed industries from banking to transportation. The data processing abilities of computers have also created a universe of other industries from merchandising to communications that otherwise never would have been possible.
The evolution of display and graphics technologies emerging over the last few decades has further extended the usefulness of computers. It is well documented how much better people can assimilate data presented in the form of graphs or other visual representations as compared to how well they can assimilate the same information presented in the form of text and tables. Because even a commonplace personal computer can transform columns of numbers and text into a colorful, multidimensional graph or chart, computers not only collect, sort, manipulate, and store data, but can also help distill the information into a human-useable form.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional data-processing system 100. The system 100 typically has three principal layers: a data source layer 110, a processing layer 130, and a visualization layer 150. The data source layer 110 generally incorporates a number of data storage devices 120. The data storage devices 120 typically include one or more of direct-access storage devices (DASDs) such as hard disks, diskettes, or CD-ROMs. The processing layer 130 typically incorporates data-processing subsystems of the system 100 such as microprocessors and random access memory devices (RAM) in which operations are performed on data stored in the data source layer 110. The visualization layer 150 incorporates at least one of a display 160 or another device, such as a printer, configured to generate printed output 170. The visualization layer 150 allows raw data stored in the data source layer 110 and/or processed by the processing layer 130 to be presented to the user for review. The information displayed may include charts or graphs selected by the user to try to evaluate the content and/or meaning of the data.
FIG. 2 shows one form of data that it may be desirable to present using a data processing system such as the system 100 (FIG. 1). FIG. 2 shows a calendar month 200 which includes a number of days. For each day of the month, for example a day 210 such Jan. 28, 2002, various event data 220 may be logged in an event log, a portion 230 of which is shown in FIG. 2. Data 220 logged for the day 210 may include one or more events 240 and 250 that occurred on the day 210. In FIG. 2, the data 220 logged in the portion of the event log 230 includes a series of aircraft maintenance events 240 and 250. Each of the events 240 and 250 may include a number of fields such as a date 260, an event type 270, a code 280 indicating the type of event, a location of the event 290, and/or other data (not shown). In the data 220 shown in the portion of the event log 230, for example, for the date 260 of Jan. 28, 2002, the event type 270 may include a broken door, a tail light failure, or another event. The code 280, which might include an Air Transport Association (ATA) code or some other alphabetic, numeric, or alphanumeric coding scheme, includes one code to represent the broken door and another to indicate the tail light failure. The codes 280 listed here are "X" and "Y" but could include any suitable single-digit or multiple-digit coding scheme. The location 290 includes Seattle, Chicago, or another location.
Using the processing layer 130 (FIG. 1), the data 220 stored in the portion of the event log 230 may be correlated by data 260, event type 270, code 280, and/or location 290 to generate reports. Reports might be created to tally how many events of each type transpired to determine if original parts may be failing too frequently. Alternatively, the reports might be developed to help human analysts interpret what type of parts inventory and personnel and/or skills are needed, where the parts are needed, and when.
To better distill frequency of event types, trends, or other information from the data 220 stored in the portion of the event log 230, it may be desirable to generate a chart or a graph. FIG. 3, for example, shows a bar graph 300 that may be generated from the event data 220. The bar graph 300 may collect a number of events 240 and 250 (FIG. 2) that have taken place according to a number of event types 270 or codes 280 or for a day 210, a month 200, or another period of time.
The graph 300 shows a number of events 310 listed according to event type, including events collected for categories such as doors 320, engines 330, electronics 340, and lights 350. The graph 300 may show a number of events for the different categories 320, 330, 340, and 350 for an hour, a day, a week, a month, a year, or another unit of time. Thus, the graph 300 pictorially or graphically represents series of events that have taken place.
Whether the information is useful to a human analyst may depend on what the human analyst seeks to discern from the data represented. For example, if the human analyst is seeking to identify trends, such as times or dates when these events tend to peak, the graph 300 may not be particularly useful. Hypothetically, if graphs 300 were generated for the different categories 320, 330, 340 and 350 for every day of one or more years, the human analyst would have to compare hundreds upon hundreds of graphs looking for trends. Considered in this context, the graphs that might have been relatively useful to compare event totals when looking at one graph or a few graphs at a time now are no longer nearly as helpful.
FIG. 3B illustrates another conventional way of visualizing data, such as data which may be distilled from a portion of an event log 230. More particularly, FIG. 3B shows a line graph 355 that might be used for viewing numbers of occurrences or other measurements occurring over time. The line graph 355 suitably includes one or more lines 360, 370, 380, and 390, each of which recounts a status of a different measurement over time. Although a legend 395 might be included to clarify which of the lines 360, 370, 380, and 390 depicts which measurement, from FIG. 3B one can appreciate that, especially as more and more measurements are added, or more and more graphs 355 are presented the data represented by such a graph 355 may be difficult to assimilate.
Manual evaluation of such data can be time-consuming. Even when appropriate human resources are available to analyze such information, presented with large quantities of data, significant variations in data may be lost; certainly subtle but important variations similarly may be lost.
Thus, there is an unmet in the art for mining time-related data to identify variations of potential interest, and for graphically presenting time-related data spanning long periods of time to facilitate enhanced analysis of the data.

Tight integration of processing and visualizing temporal data


A separation device, comprising: a third-stage cyclone housing, a separating unit, and a granule recycle and regeneration unit, wherein, the separating unit is disposed inside the third-stage cyclone housing and comprises: a cyclone separator and a moving bed coupled to each other; the granule recycle and regeneration unit comprises: a riser, a spouted bed regenerator, and a regeneration pipe connecting the spouted bed regenerator with the moving bed; the spouted bed regenerator has upper and lower ends opposing to each other, wherein, the upper end of the spouted bed regenerator is provided with a sleeve which opens downwardly, the sleeve divides an interior of the spouted bed regenerator into a fountain area and an annular gap area, and a regenerating gas outlet which is in communication with the annular gap area is provided on a side wall of the spouted bed regenerator. A centrifugal separation and intercepting filtration of the moving granular bed to fine particles can separate fine particles under low pressure drop, and can continuously separate the captured dust particles and the moving bed granules ensuring a sustainable recycling of the moving bed granules.

It is estimated that, in the FCC (i.e., Fluid Catalytic Cracking) unit of a refinery, the energy taken away by the flue gas from the regenerator occupies about 26% of the energy consumption of the whole unit. At present, in order to reduce a waste of energy in the flue gas, a flue gas turbine is generally employed to recycle energy in the flue gas. Besides, in order to ensure a long-period stable operation of the flue gas turbine, it is generally required that the concentration of fine particles in the inlet gas of the flue gas turbine should be lowered below 200 mg/m3; it also should be guaranteed that particles greater than 10 μm are totally eliminated. However, the outlet flue gas of the regenerator are dust-laden high-temperature gases, in which the catalyst concentration (under standard state, the same below) is in general from 300 to 1200 mg/m3, and an average particle size thereof is 15 to 30 μm, which cannot meet the demands for the long-period stable operation of the flue gas turbine. In order to ensure the long-period stable operation of the FCC unit, for energy saving and cost reducing, and for reducing pollutions to the atmosphere caused by dust particles contained in the flue gas, a third-stage cyclone separator (hereafter referred to as a third-stage cyclone) is generally provided in a flue gas energy recovery system of the FCC unit.
At present, the third-stage cyclone system usually employs the multi-tubular cyclone separators scheme to purify the dust-laden flue gas. The so called multi-tubular cyclone separator is formed by mounting a plurality of cyclone tubes with a small diameter (the diameter is usually smaller than 300 mm) in parallel in a pressure bearing housing. According to the mounting way of the cyclone tubes, the third-stage cyclone can be divided into the vertical type multi-tubular third-stage cyclone and the horizontal type multi-tubular third-stage cyclone. For those small FCC units, the vertical type third-stage cyclones are usually employed, in comprehensive consideration of factors such as the manufacturing construction, the application effect and the investment economy. For example, Chinese patents CN 2568308Y and CN 201304370Y both relate to the vertical type multi-tubular third-stage cyclones. As for the large FCC units, on the other hand, the horizontal type third-stage cyclones are generally employed because the number of single tubes therein is relatively large, the diameter of the vertical type third-stage cyclone is too large consequentially, and the partition board is too thick and easily deformed. For example, Chinese patents CN 2275907Y, CN 2526075Y and CN 201132137Y all relate to horizontal type multi-tubular third-stage cyclones.
However, the multi-tubular third-stage cyclones have some problems in applications. With the increase of residual blending ratio of raw material and the regeneration temperature, the operations of the FCC unit become very unstable, which brings about the following problems of the third-stage cyclone system.
Firstly, in order to achieve a high gas-solid separating efficiency, the diameter of the cyclone tube is usually designed to be very small; correspondingly, the gas flow rate through a single tube is small. In order to ensure the handling capacity, generally we can only increase the number of the single tubes. In this way, since the number of the single tubes is large, both the floor area and material costs of the third-stage cyclone system increase correspondingly. Besides, the layout structure of the system is complex, which brings about inconvenience for mounting and repair.
Secondly, due to excessive pursuits for separation efficiency of the single tube, the inlet gas velocity of the single tube of the third-stage cyclone is too high, causing a severe wear of the single tube. When the inlet gas velocity of the single tube of the third-stage cyclone is too high, the smashing of catalyst particles will also be aggravated, which will increase the fine powders escaping from the third-stage cyclone, forming severe deposition near the dust exhaust opening of the single pipe of the third-stage cyclone, thereby affecting the operation of the flue gas turbine.
Thirdly, since the inlet gas velocity of the single tube is too high, a pressure drop of the third-stage cyclone reaches up to 15-20 kPa, thus the pressure drop and energy consumption of the system are increased.
The BSX type third-stage cyclone (patents CN 201006498Y and CN 201205524Y) developed by the China Petrochemical Corporation employs a plurality of individual PV type cyclone separators having a large diameter, which are hanged inside the third-stage cyclone housing; the diameter thereof is 800-1200(1300) mm. Compared to the multi-tubular third-stage cyclone, the BSX type third-stage cyclone removes the double-layer partition board of a large thickness and the small diameter single pipes requiring high manufacturing accuracies, instead, it employs several simple structured large diameter cyclone separators, which reduces difficulty in manufacturing, construction, installation, facilitates the repair and replacement of the third-stage cyclone. Besides, since the problems of deformation of the partition board and short-circuit flow and back-mixing of the single tube are not exist, the overall efficiency of the equipment will not decrease after the plurality of cyclones are combined, thus the reliability is high, and the adaptability is good. However, a separation efficiency of the large diameter individual cyclone separator in the BSX type third-stage cyclone is lower than that of the single pipe in the multi-tubular third-stage cyclone. Furthermore, in order to achieve high separation efficiency, the inlet gas velocity of the BSX type third-stage cyclone reaches above 32 m/s. Therefore, the third-stage cyclone system not only has a high pressure drop, but also has an obvious vibration phenomenon in operation, which will cause severe equipment wear and catalyst smashing.
Currently, a dust concentration at the gas outlet of the third-stage cyclone is usually about 150 mg/m3, and the corresponding pressure drop of the third-stage cyclone system ranges from 15 kPa to 20 kPa. As such, the overall separation efficiency of the third-stage cyclone system is not ideal because the pressure drop is high.
In order to improve the separation efficiency and reduce the pressure drop, it is doable to couple a moving bed in the separation system. The moving bed refers to a gas-solid two-phase flow system, which is intermediate regime between a fixed bed and a fluidized bed, and mainly includes three forms, namely, counter-current flow, co-current flow and cross flow. Since the moving bed has advantages of resisting high temperature, simple structured, free of rotating components, long running period and being operable circularly and continuously, it is widely employed in technological processes such as particle drying, filtration and catalytic reforming and the like. Since the granular bed has a good capability in filtering and capturing fine particles and can be adapted to high-temperature high-pressure conditions, in the past twenty years, the moving bed has also been used in the field of gas purification.
For example, Chinese patent (CN 2042374U) has proposed a filter for granules with an auto-moving bed, of which the granular bed applies a louver structure to realize a cyclic and continuous operation of the bed granules. The dipleg at the bottom of the equipment employs a U-shaped pipe delivery structure, and then the delivery of the granules is realized by using a pulsing air flow method.
The counter-current flow type moving bed filter with particle layers (CN 1552503A and CN 1552504A) developed by the Thermal Power Research Institute is used for removing dusts from coal gases or fumes under high temperature and high pressure. The contact of coal gases and fumes with the counter-current flows of the granules can realize high separation efficiency. However, due to the existing problem of local fluidization phenomenon of the bed granules and the dust particles, the equipment is limited to the small gas flow rate, the low operational flexibility, the uneven distribution of granules and gases, as well as the high pressure drop.
The Shanxi Institute of Coal Chemistry of Chinese Academy of Sciences couples a cross flow type granular bed with a surface filter plate (CN 1236660A) for improving the capability of the cross-flow type granular bed in capturing micron-grade particles. It applies the flow of descending granules to restrain the formation of a filter cake on the surface of the filter plate, so as to achieve a stable operating pressure drop. However, due to the blockage of the filter plate and formation of a filter cake on the surface, the pressure drop of the equipment is high. In addition, the purpose of limiting a filter cake on the surface is achieved because of the scouring effect of the freely descending particles. However, the balancing process is hard to be guaranteed.
The prior art also includes other equipment that couple granular bed with other type separator. However, on the whole, the current equipment does not have an ideal effect in separating dust particles from moving bed granules. It is inevitable that the moving bed granules will be mixed with dust particles, thereby affecting the subsequent sustainable recycling utilization of the granules.


A golf club (40) having a club head (42) with a face component (60) and an interchangeable aft body (61) is disclosed herein. The face component (60) has a striking plate portion (72) and a return portion (74). The aft-body (61), which is attached to the return portion (74) of the face component (60), is selected from a plurality of aft-bodies, each having a different center of gravity location. Each of the aft-bodies (61) is composed of a crown portion (62), a sole portion (64), and at least one weight member (122) for adjusting location of the center of gravity. An aft-body (61) is selected from the plurality of aft-bodies (61) based on its center of gravity location, so as to provide the club head (40) with a center of gravity location suited to a particular golfer.

Not Applicable
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a customizable golf club head and golf club. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method of customizing a golf club head with face component and a plurality of aft-bodies that allow for multiple orientations of the center of gravity of the golf club head.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a golf club head strikes a golf ball, large impacts are produced that load the club head face and the golf ball. Most of the energy is transferred from the head to the golf ball, however, some energy is lost as a result of the collision. The golf ball is typically composed of polymer cover materials (such as ionomers) surrounding a rubber-like core. These softer polymer materials having damping (loss) properties that are strain and strain rate dependent which are on the order of 10-100 times larger than the damping properties of a metallic club face. Thus, during impact most of the energy is lost as a result of the high stresses and deformations of the golf ball (0.001 to 0.20 inch), as opposed to the small deformations of the metallic club face (0.025 to 0.050 inch). A more efficient energy transfer from the club head to the golf ball could lead to greater flight distances of the golf ball.
The generally accepted approach has been to increase the stiffness of the club head face to reduce metal or club head deformations. However, this leads to greater deformations in the golf ball, and thus increases in the energy transfer problem.
Some have recognized the problem and disclosed possible solutions. An example is Campau, U.S. Pat. No. 4,398,965, for a Method Of Making Iron Golf Clubs With Flexible Impact Surface, which discloses a club having a flexible and resilient face plate with a slot to allow for the flexing of the face plate. The face plate of Campau is composed of a ferrous material, such as stainless steel, and has a thickness in the range of 0.1 inches to 0.125 inches.
Another example is Eggiman, U.S. Pat. No. 5,863,261, for a Golf Club Head With Elastically Deforming Face And Back Plates, which discloses the use of a plurality of plates that act in concert to create a spring-like effect on a golf ball during impact. A fluid is disposed between at least two of the plates to act as a viscous coupler.
Yet another example is Jepson et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,937,474, for a Golf Club With A Polyurethane Insert. Jepson discloses that the polyurethane insert has a hardness between 40 and 75 shore D.
Still another example is Inamori, U.S. Pat. No. 3,975,023, for a Golf Club Head With Ceramic Face Plate, which discloses using a face plate composed of a ceramic material having a high energy transfer coefficient, although ceramics are usually harder materials. Chen et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,743,813 for a Golf Club Head, discloses using multiple layers in the face to absorb the shock of the golf ball. One of the materials is a non-metal material.
Lu, U.S. Pat. No. 5,499,814, for a Hollow Club Head With Deflecting Insert Face Plate, discloses a reinforcing element composed of a plastic or aluminum alloy that allows for minor deflecting of the face plate which has a thickness ranging from 0.01 to 0.30 inches for a variety of materials including stainless steel, titanium, KEVLAR(copyright), and the like. Yet another Campau invention, U.S. Pat. No. 3,989,248, for a Golf Club Having Insert Capable Of Elastic Flexing, discloses a wood club composed of wood with a metal insert.
Although not intended for flexing of the face plate, Viste, U.S. Pat. No. 5,282,624 discloses a golf club head having a face plate composed of a forged stainless steel material and having a thickness of 3 mm. Anderson, U.S. Pat. No. 5,344,140, for a Golf Club Head And Method Of Forming Same, also discloses use of a forged material for the face plate. The face plate of Anderson may be composed of several forged materials including steel, copper and titanium. The forged plate has a uniform thickness of between 0.090 and 0.130 inches.
Another invention directed toward forged materials in a club head is Su et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,776,011 for a Golf Club Head. Su discloses a club head composed of three pieces with each piece composed of a forged material. The main objective of Su is to produce a club head with greater loft angle accuracy and reduce structural weaknesses. Aizawa, U.S. Pat. No. 5,346,216 for a Golf Club Head, discloses a face plate having a curved ball hitting surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,146,571 to Vincent, et al., discloses a method of manufacturing a golf club head wherein the walls are obtained by injecting a material such as plastic over an insert affixed to a meltable core. The core has a melt point lower than that of the injectable plastic material so that once the core is removed, an inner volume is maintained to form the inner cavity. The insert may comprise a resistance element for reinforcing the internal portion of the front wall of the shell upon removal of the core where the reinforcement element is comprised of aluminum with a laterally extending portion comprised of steel.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,149,534 to Peters, et al., discloses a golf club head having upper and lower metal engagement surfaces formed along a single plane interface wherein the metal of the lower surface is heavier and more dense than the metal of the upper surface.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,570,886 and 5,547,427 to Rigal, et al., disclose a golf club head of molded thermoplastic having a striking face defined by an impact-resistant metallic sealing element. The sealing element defines a front wall of the striking surface of the club head and extends upward and along the side of the impact surface to form a neck for attachment of the shaft to the club head. The sealing element preferably being between 2.5 and 5 mm in thickness.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,425,538 to Vincent, et al., discloses a hollow golf club head having a steel shell and a composite striking surface composed of a number of stacked woven webs of fiber.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,377,986 to Viollaz, et al., discloses a golf club head having a body composed of a series of metal plates and a hitting plate comprised of plastic or composite material wherein the hitting plate is imparted with a forwardly convex shape. Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 5,310,185 to Viollaz, et al., discloses a hollow golf club head having a body composed of a series of metal plates, a metal support plate being located on the front hitting surface to which a hitting plate comprised of plastic or composite is attached. The metal support plate has a forwardly convex front plate associated with a forwardly convex rear plate of the hitting plate thereby forming a forwardly convex hitting surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,106,094 to Desboilles, et al., discloses a golf club head having a metal striking face plate wherein the striking face plate is a separate unit attached to the golf club head with a quantity of filler material in the interior portion of the club head.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,568,088 to Kurahashi discloses a wooden golf club head body reinforced by a mixture of wood-plastic composite material. The wood-plastic composite material being unevenly distributed such that a higher density in the range of between 5 and 15 mm lies adjacent to and extends substantially parallel with the front face of the club head.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,021,047 to Mader discloses a golf club wherein the sole plate, face plate, heel, toe and hosel portions are formed as a unitary cast metal piece and wherein a wood or composite crown is attached to this unitary piece thereby forming a hollow chamber in the club head.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,624,331 to Lo, et al. discloses a hollow metal golf club head where the metal casing of the head is composed of at least two openings. The head also contains a composite material disposed within the head where a portion of the composite material is located in the openings of the golf club head casing.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,167,387 to Daniel discloses a hollow golf club head wherein the shell body is comprised of metal such as aluminum alloy and the face plate is comprised of a hard wood such as beech, persimmon or the like. The face plate is aligned such that the wood grain presents endwise at the striking plate.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,692,306 to Glover discloses a golf club head having a bracket with sole and striking plates formed integrally thereon. At least one of the plates has an embedded elongate tube for securing a removably adjustable weight means.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,410,798 to Lo discloses a method of manufacturing a composite golf club head using a metal casing to which a laminated member is inserted. A sheet of composite material is subsequently layered over the openings of the laminated member and metal casing to close off the openings in the top of both. An expansible pocket is then inserted into the hollow laminated member comprising sodium nitrite, ammonium chloride and water causing the member to attach integrally to the metal casing when the head is placed into a mold and heated.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,249 to Thompson discloses a wood golf club head embodying a laminated upper surface and metallic sole surface having a keel. In order to reinforce the laminations and to keep the body from delaminating upon impact with an unusually hard object, a bolt is inserted through the crown of the club head where it is connected to the sole plate at the keel and tightened to compress the laminations.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,897,066 to Belmont discloses a wooden golf club head having removably inserted weight adjustment members. The members are parallel to a central vertical axis running from the face section to the rear section of the club head and perpendicular to the crown to toe axis. The weight adjustment members may be held in place by the use of capsules filled with polyurethane resin, which can also be used to form the faceplate. The capsules have openings on a rear surface of the club head with covers to provide access to adjust the weight means.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,750,194 to Clark discloses a wooden golf club head with weight adjustment means. The golf club head includes a tray member with sides and bottom for holding the weight adjustment preferably cast or formed integrally with the heel plate. The heel plate with attached weight member is inserted into the head of the golf club via an opening.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,193,811 to Okumoto, et al. discloses a wood type club head body comprised primarily of a synthetic resin and a metallic sole plate. The metallic sole plate has on its surface for bonding with the head body integrally formed members comprising a hosel on the heel side, weights on the toe and rear sides and a beam connecting the weights and hosel. Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 5,516,107 to Okumoto, et al., discloses a golf club head having an outer shell, preferably comprised of synthetic resin, and metal weight member/s located on the interior of the club head. A foamable material is injected into the hollow interior of the club to form the core. Once the foamable material has been injected and the sole plate is attached, the club head is heated to cause the foamable material to expand thus holding the weight member/s in position in recess/es located in toe, heel and/or back side regions by pushing the weight member into the inner surface of the outer shell.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,872,685 to Sun discloses a wood type golf club head wherein a female unit is mated with a male unit to form a unitary golf club head. The female unit comprises the upper portion of the golf club head and is preferably composed of plastic, alloy, or wood. The male unit includes the structural portions of sole plate, a face insert consists of the striking plate and weighting elements. The male unit has a substantially greater weight being preferably composed of a light metal alloy. The units are mated or held together by bonding and or mechanical means.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,398,935 to Katayama discloses a wood golf club head having a striking face wherein the height of the striking face at a toe end of the golf club head is nearly equal to or greater than the height of the striking face at the center of the club head.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,780,625 to Mattern discloses a club head with a rear portion composed of a light-weight metal such as magnesium. U.S. Pat. No. 1,638,916 to Butchart discloses a golf club with a balancing member composed of persimmon or a similar wood material, and a shell-like body composed of aluminum attached to the balancing member.
The Rules of Golf, established and interpreted by the United States Golf Association (xe2x80x9cUSGAxe2x80x9d) and The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of Saint Andrews, set forth certain requirements for a golf club head. The requirements for a golf club head are found in Rule 4 and Appendix II. A complete description of the Rules of Golf are available on the USGA web page at www.usga.org. Although the Rules of Golf do not expressly state specific parameters for a golf club face, Rule 4-1e prohibits the face from having the effect at impact of a spring with a golf ball. In 1998, the USGA adopted a test procedure pursuant to Rule 4-1e which measures club face COR. This USGA test procedure, as well as procedures like it, may be used to measure club face COR.
Existing large volume driver heads ( greater than 300 cc) composed of conventional materials (titanium, steel) and conventional manufacturing methods (casting, forging, MIM, machining, etc.) are limited in the amount of discretionary material available for adjusting the center of gravity location of the golf club head. This limits the ability to customize the performance characteristics of the head to best suit a particular player or segment of players. Further, the center of gravity is not readily adjustable since the discretionary mass is in the form of parent metal or a discrete weight chip, both of which are established early in the head manufacturing process. Therefore, customizing the center of gravity of conventional head designs is generally difficult and ineffective.
The present invention provides a means for fabricating heads having a center of gravity location that is determined late in the manufacturing process and that is selected to be appropriate for a specific player or player segment. The present invention preferably includes a face component and interchangeable aft-body components that are pre-manufactured and then selected for assembly based on the desired center of gravity location for that specific golf club head. The center of gravity location of the golf club head is preferably varied independently in the heel-toe and sole-crown directions to achieve desired levels of side spin and back spin for the specific player type. Golf club performance (trajectory and shot shape) is improved by adjusting the spin characteristics of the golf club head to better match the player type. A golf club having a tendency to provide a draw (right to left) shot shape can be provided to players who tend to hit a fade or slice (left to right). Also, a golf club having a tendency to provide a higher golf ball trajectory can be provided to players who tend to hit the golf ball lower than desired.
One aspect of the invention is a multi-material golf club head including a metallic face component and a non-metallic aft-body component that is bonded to the face component.
Another aspect of the present invention are weighting elements that are either integral to the aft-body component or are secondarily attached either to the inside or outside surface of the aft-body component. A composite laminated aft-body preferably has the weighting elements co-bonded within the body during curing of the composite laminate. An injection molded aft-body preferably has the weighting elements co-molded with the aft-body. The weighting elements are preferably composed of a high-density material (greater than five grams per cubic centimeter) such as loaded urethane, copper or tin alloy material.
The weighting elements are preferably positioned within the aft-body (preferably in the ribbon area) to provide a desired center of gravity position for the assembled head. The preferred configuration consists of the minimum necessary quantity of weighting elements needed to achieve the desired range of center of gravity locations. Ideally, a single asymmetric weighting element would be rotated and/or repositioned to achieve a range of center of gravity positions. More practically, a multiple set of weighting elements would be used to achieve such center of gravity positions, either by repositioning individual weighting elements or by replacing certain elements with other elements having differing mass. The total mass of the golf club head is preferably held constant even though the center of gravity varies, although in some cases it may be desirable to also vary total golf club head mass as the center of gravity is varied in the golf club head.
In a preferred embodiment, the ribbon walls of the golf club head are near vertical so that as weight elements are repositioned, the inertial properties Iyy and Izz are minimally affected. Also, vertical or near vertical ribbon walls in the golf club head de-couple the Ycg and Zcg properties from Xcg, enabling them to be adjusted independent of each other. In the case of golf club heads having sharply contoured (non-vertical) ribbon walls, changes in Ycg and Zcg are often accompanied by degradation in Iyy and Izz, which results in reduced forgiveness and straightness of the golf club head. Also, in this case, changes in Ycg and Zcg are also accompanied by changes in Xcg.
Another aspect of the present invention is assembly of the aft-body to the face component at a late stage of fabrication thereby allowing for any one of many aft-bodies, each having different center of gravity locations, to be bonded to the face component. Such late-stage assembly allows for mass customization of the center of gravity of a golf club head for high volume manufacturing.
Another aspect of the present invention is selection and attachment of the weighting elements to the aft-body after the face component and the aft-body have been bonded together. Such post-bonding attachment provides for a range of center of gravity types in quantities that best match the projected demand.
Having briefly described the present invention, the above and further objects, features and advantages thereof will be recognized by those skilled in the pertinent art from the following detailed description of the invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Golf club head with customizable center of gravity


A bonus providing element distinct from an underlying game enables bonus awards to players at two or more player positions of the underlying game based upon receipt of a predetermined triggering outcome in the underlying game by the bonus providing element providing an indication of at least three individual random indicators, such as: a) a first random indicator configured to provide an identification of a first award to be awarded to qualifying players of the players of the underlying game; b) a second random indicator configured to provide an identification of a single one of the two or more player positions; and c) a third random indicator configured to provide an identification of a second award to be awarded to the player at the single one of the two or more player positions indicated by the second random indictor.

Many different systems and configuration have been attempted to provide bonus events in casino table gaming systems. Each of these have their benefits and detractions. For example, AGS, of Las Vegas, Nev., acquired a virtual bonus spin wheel from Aristocrat Gaming that is a single wheel with a single bonus event indicator on it, like a simple candy wheel, that can be spun after a player has a winning outcome. It is used to benefit a single pre-identified player after a winning event has occurred.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A flash-RAM memory includes non-volatile random access memory (RAM) formed on a monolithic die and non-volatile page-mode memory formed on top of the non-volatile RAM, the non-volatile page-mode memory and the non-volatile RAM reside on the monolithic die. The non-volatile RAM is formed of stacks of magnetic memory cells arranged in three-dimensional form for higher density and lower costs.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to hybrid memory made of magnetic memory and conventional random access memory (RAM), flash-RAM, exhibiting volatile and non-volatile magnetic memory characteristics and particularly to flash-RAM including stackable non-volatile magnetic memory.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Computers conventionally use rotating magnetic media, such as hard disk drives (HDDs), for data storage. Though widely used and commonly accepted, such media suffer from a variety of deficiencies, such as access latency, higher power dissipation, large physical size and inability to withstand any physical shock. Thus, there is a need for a new type of storage device devoid of such drawbacks.
Other dominant storage devices are dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and static RAM (SRAM) which are volatile and very costly but have fast random read/write access time, and solid state storage, such as solid-state-nonvolatile-memory (SSNVM) devices. SSNVM devices have memory structures made of NOR/NAND-based flash memory, providing fast access time, increased input/output (JO) speed, decreased power dissipation and physical size and increased reliability but at a higher cost which tends to be generally multiple times higher than hard disk drives (HDDs).
Although NAND-based flash memory is more costly than HDD's, it has replaced magnetic hard drives in many applications such as digital cameras, MP3-players, cell phones, and hand held multimedia devices due, at least in part, to its characteristic of being able to retain data even when power is disconnected. However, as memory dimension requirements are dictating decreased sizes, scalability is becoming an issue because the designs of NAND-based Flash memory and DRAM memory are becoming difficult to scale with smaller dimensions. For example, NAND-based flash memory has issues related to capacitive coupling, few electrons/bit, poor error-rate performance and reduced reliability due to decreased read-write endurance. Read-write endurance refers to the number of reading, writing and erase cycles before the memory starts to degrade in performance due primarily to the high voltages required in the program, erase cycles.
It is believed that NAND flash would be extremely difficult to scale below 45 nanometers (nm). Likewise, DRAM has issues related to scaling of the trench capacitors leading to very complex designs which are becoming increasingly difficult to manufacture, leading to higher cost.
Currently, applications commonly employ combinations of EEPROM/NOR, NAND, HDD, and DRAM memory in a system design. Design of different memory technology in a product adds to design complexity, time to market and increased costs. For example, in hand-held multi-media applications incorporating various memory technologies, such as NAND Flash, DRAM and EEPROM/NOR flash memory, complexity of design is increased as are manufacturing costs and time to market. Another disadvantage is the increase in size of a device that incorporates all of these types of memories therein.
There has been an extensive effort in development of alternative technologies, such as Ovanic Ram (or phase-change memory), Ferro-electric Ram (FeRAM), Magnetic Ram (MRAM), Nanochip, and others to replace memories used in current designs such as DRAM, SRAM, EEPROM/NOR flash, NAND flash and HDD in one form or another. Although these various memory/storage technologies have created many challenges, there have been advances made in this field in recent years. MRAM seems to lead the way in terms of its progress in the past few years to replace all types of memories in the system as a universal memory solution.
One of the problems with prior art memory structures including MRAMs is their cell or memory size being too large therefore not lending itself well to scalability. A typical design of such MRAMs uses one or more transistors for one memory cells that lead to nT-1 mem cell type design where n=1−6. This makes the cell size too large leading to issues of scalability and cost. Recently, current-induced magnetization switching (CIMS) is being explored as an alternative memory solution, and allegedly introduces a better way of building higher capacity MRAM type memory. But memories based on MRAM tend to have larger cell size (16-24 F2, where F is the minimum feature based on the lithography technology).
Therefore, in light of the foregoing, what is needed is a non-volatile magnetic memory element utilizing magnetic diodes for addressing memory cells, the memory cells capable of being stacked on top of each other (in the direction of the z-axis) enabling higher capacity, lower cost designs and scalability (independent of lithography limits).
In recent years, flash memory has become the non-volatile memory of choice for a number of mobile hand-held devices such as, the Multi-Player (MP) 3-players, digital cameras, cell-phones, hand-held computers. This is primarily due to a dramatic drop in the price of the flash memory. Flash memory is typically made using two designs namely, NAND or NOR. NOR flash is faster than NAND flash, while NAND flash has higher density. NOR flash memories are primarily used for applications where non-volatility is essential, but the size of the memory is small and the memory is seldom read or written. NAND on the other hand is used where a huge amount of memory is needed. The slow write and memory degradation due to write and erase are masked by clever designs. Both of these types of flash can have more than one bit of data stored in one cell. This is called MLC flash. This is mostly used in NAND flash to enhance the memory density, but normally adversely affects the speed of the memory.
Another form of dominant memory is the dynamic RAM (DRAM), which is volatile and costly but has faster random read/write time than non-volatile memory in the form of flash. From a cost perspective, MLC NAND is the cheapest, followed by NAND, then NOR, and then DRAM. Static RAM is the most expensive memory used.
In the current marketplace, NOR tends to be approximately five times more costly than MLC NAND, due primarily to its cell size. A typical size for a NOR memory cell is about 10-12 F2 vs. about 2.5 F2 for a NAND cell. DRAM has a cell size of 8 F2 but is harder to manufacture due to its various trench-capacitor design requirements. Additionally, as the process geometry decreases, the design of NAND and DRAM memory become more difficult to scale. For example, NAND has various issues related to capacitive coupling, fewer electrons/bit, poor error-rate performance and worse reliability due to its poor read-write endurance. It is believed that NAND, especially MLC NAND would be extremely difficult to scale below 45 nano meters (nm). Likewise, DRAM has issues related to scaling of its trench capacitors leading to very complex designs which are becoming very difficult to manufacture, thereby leading to increased manufacturing costs.
FIG. 1A shows a prior art system including a host, or central processing unit (CPU) 600 coupled to transfer information to and from non-volatile memory 602 (or read-only memory (ROM) and RAM), which may be in the form of NOR or NAND and further coupled to volatile memory 604, such as DRAM. In some systems, non-volatile memory 602 includes both NOR and NAND. Current high performance systems, such as that of FIG. 1A require capability for loading boot code and operating system (OS) code. The boot code typically resides in non-volatile memory 602 while the operating system (OS) code typically resides on a hard disk drive and is downloaded onto the DRAM 604 and/or NAND when the non-volatile memory 602 includes NAND as well.
In general, a combination of NOR, NAND and DRAM is used for functioning as both RAM and ROM, reducing the overall cost of the memory system. This is a dominant part of the overall cost for mobile multi-media products. This group of memory products is referred to as "hybrid-flash." Table 2 shows speed performances of hybrid flash products currently available in the market. The type and size, as well as architecture of these products are generally different, resulting in different overall timing performance, For example, the one-NAND product, manufactured by Samsung Electronics of South Korea has a smaller-sized DRAM, but the architecture and design are such that it results in higher write speed while maintaining lower cost. Depending upon the application, the system designers may choose to include additional DRAM in order to improve the overall system performance. There are a number of other such products by various manufacturers for this fast growing segment of the market, driven by the insurgence of various hand-held mobile devices.
In FIG. 1A, application code is shadowed (or copied) from non-volatile memory 602 to volatile memory 604 which then carries out the operations with the operating system.
The problem with all of the currently available hybrid designs is the large size and therefore high costs and high power consumption associated therewith. That is, ROM and RAM are manufactured on multiple chips, and perhaps a monolithic die, resulting in larger real estate being consumed by use of such memory, and therefore increased costs. In some examples, one unit of the memory capacity of a typical "hybrid-flash" product today is made of DRAM for every two units of NAND, i.e. 512 MB of DRAM for every 1 GB of NAND. This capacity usage on a printed circuit board (PCB) that additionally has other chips (or semiconductor), such as a controller, make such designs approximately 5 to 10 times more expensive than the NAND memory.
Additionally, power consumption is high due to the operations of non-volatile and volatile memory, of which the volatile memory has to stay on the standby power all the time.
Accordingly, the need arises for a hybrid memory including both volatile and non-volatile memory that is lower in power consumption, less costly to manufacture, and occupies less space.


A longitudinal guide for a seat sliding device for vehicle seats includes two elongated tracks that slide relative to each other. A guide is arranged between the tracks, there being at least two guides when viewed from the profile of the longitudinal guide, of which at least one is constructed using roller bodies. One track embraces the other track. The tracks are interconnected so that they will not separate. The tracks are positioned in an adjoined, preloaded manner. The tracks are manufactured of steel sheet containing at least 0.35% carbon content and are heat treated after they are complete.

Such a longitudinal guide is known, for example, from DE-C-31 43 431. However, equivalent longitudinal guides are also taught by DE-OS 25 45 763 or DE-AS 24 51 262. The longitudinal guides specified therein are manufactured either of steel sheet metal, whereby the steel grades are those commonly used in the automobile industry, or they are made of extruded light metal, preferably aluminum. The latter construction has become more prominent during the last few years. The production of tracks made of aluminum satisfies the need of the automobile industry to save weight in vehicles. The market share for tracks for longitudinal guides made of steel has dropped during the last few years, while the market share for aluminum rails has increased during that time. This is due, in particular, to the lighter weight of an aluminum track of equivalent strength as compared to a steel track.
A longitudinal guide is prevented from pulling out if the safety belts are mounted to the seat itself, that is, belt traction forces due to an accident are transferred by means of the tracks of the longitudinal guide that is interconnected with the floor group of the motor vehicle. Longitudinal guides are considered pull=out proof if there is no risk that the longitudinal guide will tear away or tear open in a zipper like manner in the event of high acceleration forces due to an accident.
The previously known longitudinal guide according to the previously mentioned DE-C-31 43 431 consists of an inner, embraced track and an outer embracing track. The inner track exhibits outward spring action, while the outer track exhibits inward spring action. These preloaded forces oppose each other in the area of the guiding means, and the guiding means are kept in position by means of the preload forces.

Longitudinal guide for longitudinal adjustment devices for vehicle seats


A dry reagent composition that includes an active redox enzyme that oxidizes an analyte as a specific substrate to produce an inactive reduced form of the enzyme; and a salt of ferricyanide provides improved performance in electrochemical test strips such as those used for detection of glucose. The salt of ferricyanide consists of ferricyanide and positively-charged counter ions, and the positively charged counter ions are selected such that the salt of ferricyanide is soluble in water, and such that the salt of ferricyanide or the crystalline phase of the salt of ferricyanide has a solubility in water and/or a lower E0eff at a concentration of 100 mM than potassium ferricyanide. For example, the salt of ferricyanide may be tetramethylammonium ferricyanide.

This application relates to reagents for electrochemical test strips such as the type commonly used in detection of blood glucose, and to compositions, test strips and related methods making use of such reagents.
A large fraction of biosensors, measured both by commercial value and academic interest, involve harnessing the specificity of an oxidoreductase enzyme towards a specific molecule (or "analyte") of interest. The oxidoreductase enzyme in these biosensors is used to catalyze the transfer of electrons off the specific molecule of interest and onto a chemical that is more readily detectable by some transduction mechanism, or vice versa. Transduction mechanisms include measuring concentrations by electrochemical, electrical or optical means. Chemicals that are more readily detectable by these transduction mechanisms are called "mediators" because of their intermediary role between the biological enzyme and the sensing mechanism in the biosensor.
A subset of the oxidoreductase enzymes are the oxidases, which use oxygen already present in a sample as a mediator, often forming hydrogen peroxide as the moiety which has accepted the electrons from the enzyme. Biosensors based on detection of hydrogen peroxide formed an early generation of devices but these were commercially hampered by the difficulty of detecting the peroxide, which is electrochemically detectable only at a catalytic electrode such as platinum.
Several methods to overcome this difficulty were developed. Of some relevance to this invention are the disclosures of Lau et al (U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,135,100 and 7,608,180) where different salts of ferricyanide were used to facilitate transfer of electrons off the hydrogen peroxide (formed when oxygen acts a mediator to regenerate enzyme) and into the electrode. Thus, the ferricyanide in this system does not act as a mediator with respect to the enzyme, but rather acts at one step removed from the enzyme. The salts of Lau are chosen for their solubility in organic solvents and polymers and low solubility in water, which is a criterion aimed at tackling another difficulty with peroxide-mediated biosensors. This is that the analyte of interest is often in a biological sample in the presence of catalase, which decomposes peroxide without release of the electrons. Methods such as the use of membranes had to be developed in biosensors to keep the catalase away from the peroxide generated and membrane-soluble ferricyanides developed so that the signal could reach the electrode and be detected.
Another response to the problems of these peroxide-based biosensors was the development of reagent systems for biosensors based on oxidase enzymes that could operate without the need for oxygen mediation. Such systems commonly used potassium ferricyanide as a direct mediator to restore enzyme to an active state. Salts of ferricyanide other than the potassium salt have been mentioned in combination with oxidoreductase enzymes before and include: 'sodium ferricyanide' (as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,816,145, 7,749,766, 7,582,123, 7,169,273, 6,258,254) or 'an alkali metal ferricyanide (e.g., potassium or sodium ferricyanide)' U.S. Pat. No. 6,187,751. In three other examples, salts of ferricyanide are listed indiscriminately: 'the metal ion includes, for example, alkali metal ion such as lithium, sodium, and potassium ion; alkaline earth metal ion such as magnesium and calcium ion; and also aluminium and zinc ion' (Kadota et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,858,695) or targeted towards a solubility in organic solvents (Lau et al U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,135,100 and 7,608,180 mentioned above).
Potassium ferricyanide is a good mediator for a variety of oxidoreductase enzymes. Even for oxidase enzymes such as glucose oxidase, potassium ferricyanide at high concentrations (˜100 mM or greater) is a sufficiently fast mediator that it can mostly outcompete the less concentrated oxygen in a sample, which then becomes only an interferent. The solubility of potassium ferricyanide in water gives another advantage of biosensor formulations that contain it; when ferricyanide is present in large amounts (for example, Walling et al in U.S. Pat. No. 5,508,171 define a useful range for potassium ferricyanide 'from about 0.15 molar (M) to about 0.7 M' in their sensor) it can support an adequate counter reaction at the counter electrode to balance the reaction at the working electrode. The counter reaction provides sufficient current and anchors the chemical potential so that no reference electrode is needed nor is it necessary for the counter electrode to be larger than the working electrode. This means sensors can be simplified to two-electrode sensors with electrodes of the same size and material. Other work using this type of reagent is found in WO 97/00441, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,708,247 and 6,258,229.
However, and perhaps as a consequence of its widespread use, problems with potassium ferricyanide are widely recognized. These include sensitivity to oxygen because even if the ferricyanide can out-compete the oxygen as a mediator, the ferrocyanide produced is still susceptible to oxidation by oxygen. Another problem of ferricyanide is the tendency for some of the ferricyanide to transform into ferrocyanide, even in a dried reagent over a prolonged period, if the potassium ferricyanide is left in intimate contact with the enzyme. Various methods of creating formulations have been disclosed to ameliorate this problem: Nankai et al (U.S. Pat. No. 5,120,420) deposit their enzyme and potassium ferricyanide in layers separated by a 'hydrophilic high molecular substance layer' to keep them apart and ensure 'excellent preservation properties,' while Walling et al (U.S. Pat. No. 5,508,171) use a microcrystalline cellulose to disperse the potassium ferricyanide.
With the increase in emphasis for faster test times and improved accuracy, the slow mediation rate of potassium ferricyanide (requiring higher concentrations) and its tendency to produce ferrocyanide in the dried reagent mean the ferricyanide ion is falling out of favour as a component in biosensor reagents. To this end, mediators have been developed that do not need such high concentrations to outcompete oxygen e.g. the metal bipyridyl ("bpy") complexes of U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,378,628, 5,393,903, 5,437,999, 5,410,059, 5,589,326, 5,846,702, metal pyridyl-imidazole complexes of U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,605,201, 6,676,816, 7,074,308 and the bidentate imidazole complexes of U.S. Pat. No. 7,090,756. These types of complex, however do not always have the high solubilities to support the necessary counter reaction and so the strip construction has to be more complex, with the introduction of a reference or Ag/AgCl counter/reference electrode. Types of high-solubility Os complexes have been described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,589,326 but the cost of osmium complexes makes this approach markedly more expensive than potassium ferricyanide for disposable strips.
It is possible to supplement the activity of potassium ferricyanide by adding a second mediator, including those described above; this generally results in the problem of accentuating the worst features of both mediators, in particular: (a) the oxidation potential required must suit the highest mediator oxidation potential, (b) the loss of signal due to oxygen will be dominated by the worst of the two mediators in this respect, and (c) the size of the signal will only be that of the best performing mediator. Furthermore, the addition of a second mediator to a formulation containing potassium ferricyanide accentuates the production of ferrocyanide in the dried reagent. Methods around these problems have to be developed and these include Guo et al's method of physical separation of reagent components on two electrodes in a sandwich (U.S. Pat. No. 6,033,866).
A partial solution to the problem is presented by Harding et al, US 2007/0295616-A1, which is incorporated herein by reference, where careful selection of electrode potentials allows two electron-transfer species to act in concert rather than in parallel. In this system, a mediator regenerates the enzyme, and a shuttle compound serves as the primary or even the only electroactive species for transfer of electrons to and from the electrodes. Specific combinations of mediator and shuttle compounds disclosed in the application include [Os(MeBpy)2(Im)2]2+/3+ or [Os(Mebpy)2Pic]+/2+ as mediators and ferri/ferrocyanide as the shuttle. U.S. Pat. No. 5,508,171, which is incorporated herein by reference, also discloses some systems in which two mediators are employed.

Reagents for electrochemical test strips


A wettable media pad comprises an inlet side and an outlet side and a porous structure made from a non-woven material, comprising a plurality channels having a hexagonal cross-section defined by six walls, the channels running from the inlet side to the outlet side, wherein the wettable media pad is configured to direct fluid from a top surface of the media pad to a bottom surface of the media pad along at least one of the walls of the channels, wherein the wettable media pad is configured to exchange heat and mass between a fluid positioned on or in a wall of the channels and a gas flowing through the channels as the gas flows from the inlet side to the outlet side, and wherein the wettable media pad is produced with additive manufacturing. A method of making a wettable media pad is also described.

Media used to provide a wetted surface for the flow of liquid to exchange heat and or mass with a gas has been in use for many years. One application in which such media is used is in a liquid desiccant or other liquid air conditioning system, where the media is generally manufactured either from paper (cellulose) that has been welded or bonded into shape, as in Munters media or Kuul, as examples, or some other hydrophilic material. Other suitable applications include evaporative condensers, cooling towers, or any system that has a liquid and a gas flowing through it for energy exchange, chemical exchange, for example filtration, purification, or adding or removing chemicals from the gas.
Some existing media is made of woven material, such as a fiber, e.g. cotton, wool or hemp, or nonwoven material such as paper, plastic or glass. Some media comprise composite materials such as a polymer composite or web materials, such as thermoplastic continuous web. Some existing material is wettable so as to allow a fluid to pass through the material. Some material is also configured to have a non-smooth finish so that it causes a turbulence on contact with the air or gas.
Such media pads may be wetted with a liquid desiccant solution or other liquid and positioned so that an air or gas is moved through the pad(s) to perform one or more tasks to condition the air or gas. Existing media pads are generally constructed to be rigid in form, and are generally arranged to be in combination. In some existing configurations, a bank of media pads may be as large as 8 m high by 20 m wide by 20 m deep (25 feet high×60 feet wide×60 feet deep) or as small as 5 cm high by 5 cm wide by 5 cm deep (2 inches×2 inches×2 inches). Larger pad arrangements have been generally constructed of pads 1 m high×0.3 m wide×0.3 m deep (3 feet high×1 foot wide×1 foot deep) stacked together. Transporting or shipping these larger media pads can require a significant effort and space due to their size.
Additionally, existing media pads generally comprise several sheets formed into undulating surfaces and then welded or glued or otherwise bonded together to form one piece or a pad. This glued, welded or bonded area reduces the usable wetted surface area for liquid saturation along the weld, glue or bond lines. Existing media have glue, weld or bond lines so that the holes that allow for air flow through the wetted media need to be slanted to drain the liquid over and away from the glue, weld or bond lines. The glue, weld or bond lines also restrict the shape the holes can be.
No existing media allow for compression during shipment, or can be configured with custom hole sizes or different convolutions of holes, configurable to maximize energy transfer, filtration, purification, or chemical exchange, in different sizes and configurations of air conditioning unit or other heat transfer or gas transfer process units. No existing media can be produced without wasteful glue, weld, or bond lines.
Further details about existing media for air conditioning systems may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 9,377,207, issued on Jun. 28, 2016; 9,302,922, issued on Apr. 5, 2015; 9,086,223, issued on Jul. 21, 2015; 8,800,308, issued on Aug. 12, 2014; 8,769,971, issued on Jul. 8, 2014; 6,568,662, issued on May 27, 2003; 6,409,157, issued on Jun. 25, 2002; 5,242,627, issued on Sep. 7, 1993; 5,143,658, issued on Sep. 1, 1992; 4,139,584, issued on Feb. 13, 1979; and 3,792,841, issued on Feb. 19, 1974, all of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
Reference is also made to U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 2019/0120509, published Apr. 25, 2019; 2006/0292349, published Dec. 28, 2006; and 2004/0237781, published Jan. 9, 2007, all of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
Thus, there is a need in the art for media that may be optimized such that every cubic centimeter has optimum surface area, allowing for more energy transfer and maximum heat transfer and more and deeper filtration and purification can occur in less space. There is also a need in the art for media pads that can be compressible for easy shipment and handling, while being able to revert to their full size with no or negligible damage or loss of function. Finally, there is a need in the art for media that can be produced with a non-slanting overall shape that will still allow for unimpeded draining of liquid. The disclosed devices and methods satisfy these needs.

Wettable media and method of making the same


A photoelectrolysis cell is described herein. The cell includes a photoelectrode based on a material having the general formula (Ln1−xMx)(Nb1−yTay)O1+xN2−x. Ln is at least one lanthanide element; M is at least one alkaline earth metal; 0≦x≦0.99; and 0≦y≦1. The photoelectrolysis cell further includes a counter-electrode formed from at least one metal or metallic alloy. An electrolyte which is in contact with both the photoelectrode and the counter-electrode is another component of the cell, along with a means for collecting hydrogen produced by the cell. A related process for producing hydrogen in a photoelectrolysis cell is also described.

This invention relates generally to the production of hydrogen and oxygen by the electrolysis of water. In some specific embodiments, the invention is directed to the production of hydrogen by the photoelectrolysis of water, using solar radiation.
The conversion of sunlight and water into a clean, high-efficiency chemical fuel has been of great interest for a number of years. The need for such technology is more urgent as the damaging effects of burning fossil fuels has become apparent. The photolysis of water to yield hydrogen and oxygen has been demonstrated, via the visible light illumination of Group II-sulfides and selenides, such as CdS, CdSe, ZnS, and the like. Water has also been photolyzed under ultraviolet light illumination, using compounds such as TiO2, BaTiO3, and ZnO.
Photoelectrolytic devices are in many ways similar to photovoltaic devices, which include a p-n junction. In the case of photoelectrolytic devices, the p-n junction is usually replaced by a p-electrolyte-n junction (or metal-electrolyte-n junction). Electron-hole pairs are generated by the absorption of light in the semiconductor electrodes. (The semiconductor electrodes can be thought of as "photocatalysts"). The electron-hole pairs are separated within the photocatalyst, and are injected at the respective electrodes to produce electrochemical oxidation and reduction reactions. In the case of an n-type electrode, holes combine with water molecules (H2O) to produce an anodic oxidation reaction. The reverse reaction occurs at a p-type (or metal electrode), where electrons combine with protons (H+), to produce a cathodic reduction reaction. The net effect is a flow of electrons from the anode to the cathode, resulting in reduction at the latter (hydrogen formation), and oxidation at the former (oxygen formation).
Clearly, photoelectrolysis has the potential to provide an inexpensive source of hydrogen, while also providing a way to efficiently store energy obtained from solar energy conversion. However, photoelectrolytic processes continue to have serious drawbacks. For example, the processes can be relatively slow and inefficient. The poor efficiency is due in large part to the bandgap characteristic of the photocatalyst(s) employed in the photoelectrolytic cells. ("Bandgap energy" can be defined as the difference between the reduction potential and the oxygen potential of the cell). Using related terminology, the "bandgap" is considered to be the amount of energy required to promote an electron, within its orbital configuration, from the valence band to the conduction band. Consequently, solar radiation which has an energy value less than the bandgap does not generate the electron-hole pairs required for the electrochemical reactions described above. Most known photocatalysts have bandgaps which are too large for the efficient photoelectrochemical splitting of water, i.e., only a small portion of the solar spectrum participates in photocatalysis.
Various attempts have been made to improve the efficiency of the photoelectrochemical cells. For example, semiconductors based on materials like TiO2 often incorporate an external electrical bias, i.e., in addition to the basic photon energy input. (In the case of TiO2, the alignment of the band gap with the oxidation and reduction potential of water is not ideal for some electrolysis systems). The bias can function to satisfy the energy balance for the relevant oxidation-reduction equation, e.g., by providing a better potential difference between band energies and the redox potential of water. The necessary cell reactions can therefore proceed more efficiently. However, use of a large electrical bias diminishes the advantages of using solar radiation in the first place.
Tandem photoelectrolytic cells, which usually include two or more photocatalysts, have been used in an attempt to overcome the problems of having a single, inefficient photocatalyst. Various types of tandem cells have been designed. As an example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,936,143 (Graetzel) describes a photoelectrochemical system in which one photocell is mounted behind another cell. The design of the cells involves a color-based division for absorption of the emission spectrum. One cell which absorbs blue and green portions of the spectrum generates oxygen. The second cell includes a dye-sensitized mesoporous photovoltaic film. This cell converts yellow and red light from the spectrum, reducing protons in the first cell to hydrogen.
While tandem cells may sometimes provide greater photoelectrolytic efficiency, there are drawbacks associated with them as well. For example, the cell structure can be complex, and difficult to produce. Greater complexity often leads to higher manufacturing costs. Moreover, some of the non-oxide types of tandem cells can be susceptible to photo-induced corrosion. (Photo-oxidation usually occurs on the oxygen-generating side of the cell, where non-oxide surfaces tend to become oxidized, instead of liberating oxygen. According to the overall oxidation-reduction scheme, if the oxide layer becomes thick enough, then the photo-induced generation of hydrogen will diminish, effectively shutting down the cell).
With some of these concerns in mind, improved photoelectrolytic devices would be welcome in the art. The devices should be capable of producing hydrogen efficiently and economically. Novel photocatalysts used in such devices would also be of great interest. The photocatalysts would be capable of functioning as one or more semiconductor electrodes for the device, and should be obtainable and usable at reasonable cost. More specifically, the photocatalysts should exhibit bandgap characteristics which permit very effective absorption of solar radiation and conversion to hydrogen.

Photoelectrolysis cells, and related devices and processes


Si- and Ge-based dyes and methods of using same.

Fluorescent dyes are widely used in biological research and medical diagnostics. Fluorescent dyes tend to be superior to conventional techniques because they are less expensive, less toxic and can generally be detected with sufficient sensitivity. A diversity of fluorescent dyes with a distinguishable color range has made it more practical to perform multiplexed assays capable of detecting multiple biologic targets at the same time.
Further improvement in the properties of the dyes is needed in order to meet the increasing demands of new instruments and new biological applications. In particular, additional strategies to allow for fine-tuning of the wave-lengths of the dyes for maximal signal detection and to provide additional colors are needed.

Silicon and germanium dyes for use in genetic identity


An apparatus is provided for assisting players during practices or games in games, such as basketball, in which a ball or other object is directed toward a desired location. A video camera detects the ball and provides a signal indicating the location of the ball. A processor uses the location to determine an optimal location to direct the ball, and provides a signal to an illumination system. The illumination system provides a visual indication of where the player should direct the ball. The apparatus should be able to accommodate a game in which a ball may move quickly.

This invention relates to a system for assisting athletes in games in which a ball manually is directed to a desired location.
Basketball, for example, is a very popular spectator and participant sport. A player shoots a basketball through a hoop which is positioned ten feet above the floor and is mounted to a relatively large wood, glass, fiberglass, or metal backboard. Generally, players try to score in one of two ways, either by throwing the ball directly through the hoop, or by throwing the ball off the backboard to ricochet into the hoop. Generally, a successful shot can be made in different ways, although in some cases, one kind of shot is considered better than others. The best way to make a shot generally depends on where the player and ball are located on the court.
Many other games involve directing an object at a desired location, such as hockey, billiards, soccer, and bowling. In some of these games also, there are different options for how to direct the ball, puck, or other object. It would be useful to have a system which provides a visual aid to players for indicating the best shot at any moment, especially during practice or training, and particularly when there are a number of different shots a player could select.


An apparatus for stabilizing cargo in a cargo area includes a stabilizing member having a first end, a second end, and a hinge positioned between the first and second ends. The ends of the stabilizing member are configured to engage surfaces of a cargo area to stabilize cargo packed therein. The hinge includes a locking portion configured to lock the stabilizing member in an extended position and a folded position.

The present invention generally relates to cargo bars for retaining cargo in a packed position within a cargo area, and more specifically to a cargo bar that locks in a folded position and an extended position.
Cargo bars are typically used to secure cargo packed in a cargo area, such as the trailer of a vehicle. Generally, cargo bars are wedged between the sides of the cargo area to prevent cargo packed in the cargo area from shifting or moving beyond a certain point (defined by the cargo bar) as the vehicle travels.
In order to accommodate different sized cargo areas, it is desirable to provide a cargo bar that has an adjustable length when in the extend, in-use position. Additionally, to conserve space, it is desirable to provide a cargo bar that may be collapsed, or folded for storage when not in-use. A cargo bar that can be moved between an extended and folded position should also have a locking mechanism to ensure that the cargo bar remains in the desired position.
The features and advantages of the present invention described below, as well as additional features and advantages, will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art upon reference to the following description and the accompanying drawings.


A film-to-tape transfer apparatus suitable for transferring images from movie film, slide film, photograph and the like which includes a case body having a bottom plate therein, a rotary shaft rotatably installed on the bottom plate and having a manipulating knob mounted on the top portion thereof, a supporting member secured to the rotary shaft, a reflecting mirror attached to the supporting member, a glass screen unit provided on the rear side of the case body, a macro-lens provided on the left side of the case body, a fluorescent lamp installed at the right portion inside the case body, a transparent and pushing plate provided on the right side of the case body and slightly spaced with each other for receiving a photograph to be recorded, and a sound mixing unit for controlling the sound to be recorded on the video tape.

The present invention relates to a film-to-tape transfer apparatus of the type which is suitable for recording the images of movie film, slide film and photograph on the video tape mounted in a video camera with synchronous sound recording.
Generally, a film-to-tape transfer apparatus for use in transferring the images from many sheets of photographs or movie film onto the video tape can be broadly classified into two types, of which, one is designed to transfer the image from the photograph to be recorded onto the video tape with a fluorescent lamp so as to illuminate the photograph, and the other one has a reflecting mirror in order to reflect the images of the movie film to be recorded into the video camera.
Therefore, it is necessary that two types of the transfer apparatus should be bought for transferring the photograph and the movie film onto the video tape, thus resulting in inconveniences and troublesomeness.
Another problem exists in that since the sound for the video tape will be recorded on the tape once more in accordance with editing and mixing more than two kinds of sounds with voice or stereo music after recording the images of movie film, photograph, slide film and the like on the video tape, the situational explanation at the recording time and other useful information will not be enough to record on the video tape.
Furthermore, the playback state of the video tape recorded by the above conventional transfer apparatus is not clear enough such that the recorded tape will not be preserved under the distinct condition.


For manufacturing a multi-layer structure with repeating layer sequences, a band-shaped carrier material is first partially separated into individual sections of a same size with connections capable of bearing remaining between the individual sections. After continuously applying at least one further material layer on the surface of the carrier material, the individual sections are completely separated by cutting or punching. The multi-layer structure is obtained by stacking the individual sections obtained in this way on top of one another, whereby intermediate layers can also be potentially inserted between two individual sections.

The present invention related generally to a method and apparatus for forming a multi-layer structure for the assembly into a capacitor, for example. Multi-layer structures are particularly known in electrical components in order, generally, to increase the power of electrical single-layer components by providing multiple arrangements above one another.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,621,607 discloses capacitors with a multi-layer structure that, for example, are composed of a plurality of electrode layers between which a dielectric is respectively arranged. The capacitor with multi-layer structure thereby comprises a multiple of the capacitance that attaches to an individual capacitor element composed of two electrode layers with dielectric arranged therebetween. What applies as a rule of thumb is that the power or, respectively, the capacitance of the capacitor with multi-layer structure derives from the product of the capacitance of a single capacitor element and the plurality of capacitor elements.
DE 198 04 584 C2 discloses a double layer capacitor having at least two series-connected, individual cells. It comprises an alternating arrangement of electrode layers and the electrolyte layers and is manufactured by stacking up and pressing the individual layers. JP 11-260673 A discloses a double layer capacitor for whose-manufacture positive and negative electrodes are embedded in alternation in a band-shaped separator that is subsequently folded meander-like, so that a stack with alternating arrangement of positive and negative electrodes is obtained.
Another advantage of a multi-layer structure is comprised therein that the field strength between two electrode layers increases with decreasing electrode spacing. This enhanced field strength is also of interest for other components, for example for a piczo-actuator in multi-layer structure wherein the individual piezo-actuator elements are arranged above one another. Such a piezo-actuator having multi-layer structure can be operated with a far lower operating voltage then a correspondingly single-layer piezo-actuator having the same layer thickness of piezo-material or, respectively, having the same maximum piezo-electrically induced excursion.
Dependent on the function and application, components have a multi-layer structure can be implemented or, respectively, manufactured as a more or less loose stacking of individual layers above one another. Particularly given mechanical stressing, however, a firmer union of the individual layers is required in the multi-layer structure in order to lend the whole an adequate mechanical stability. A monolithic union is desired for components having ceramic multi-structure.
Given multi-layer capacitors, particularly with liquid electrolyte, the electrode layers are arranged in alternation above one another with intermediate layers that are not electrically conductive. In particular, a separator folder meander-like is thereby employed for the intermediate layer, the electrode layers being inserted into the xe2x80x9cpocketsxe2x80x9d thereof. The electrode layers can there by also comprise a multi-layer structure; in said multi-layer capacitor, for example, they can comprise a three-layer structure composed of two porous carbon layers with intervening, metallic electrode layer, for example of aluminum. For manufacture, the different electrode layers are individually stacked on top of one another. A separate work step is thereby required for each layer or, respectively, each ply. When stacking such individual elements or, respectively, individual layers, problems then arise regarding the exact positioning of the layers, these, on the one hand, deteriorating the reproducibility and, on the other hand, leading to faulty components or components with reduced power. Particularly given layers that become thinner and thinner, the manipulation of the individual layers is also made more difficult since these layers are becoming increasingly more flexible and less mechanical stable at the same time.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to specify a method for manufacturing regular multi-layer structures suitable for, in particular, components that is simplified with respect to the implementation and dependably and exactly leads to the desired result.
This object is achieved with a method according to claim 1. Advantageous developments of the method as well as an apparatus for the manufacture of a multi-layer structure can be derived from the further claims.
The present invention is based on the basic idea of designing the manufacture of multi-layered structures as a continuous process since the repeating layer sequences in the multi-layer structure also produce repeating method steps. The most mechanically stable layer forms the base, this serving as a carrier material and being present in a band-shaped material, particularly as an xe2x80x9cendless bandxe2x80x9d.
The parting of the band-shaped carrier material into individual sections having the desired size and shape thereby ensues in at least two steps. In a first, partial separation step, the carrier material is divided into the individual carrier sections, whereby a connection that is capable of bearing remains between two respective individual, neighboring sections, the connection being fashioned, for example, web-like. As a result thereof, the continuous further processing of the carrier material at the section is possible. In the next step, the continuous application of at least one further material layer on one of the surfaces of the band-shaped carrier material ensues. Only after this step are the individual sections having the desired size separated completely from one another along a predetermined parting line, whereby the parting line lies above the partial separation that has already ensued.
The identical multi-layer sections that are thereby obtained are now joined to form the multi-layer structure by being regularly stacked on top of one another. As warranted, an intervening layer that can likewise comprise a multi-layer structure can thereby be respectively inserted between two multi-layer sections.
The method has the advantage that it can be continuously implemented, and that the smallest sections to be processed are already multi-layer sections that need not be individually stacked on top of one another. The multi-layer sections have the advantage that, due to the integrated process management, they comprise a uniform and exact structure. The problem of exact positioning has thus been solved within an individual multi-layer section. Deriving as a further advantage of the parting ensuing in two steps is that the basic areas of the individual layers, i.e. the basic area of the carrier sections and of the at least one further material layer, can be differently selected. It is thus possible to embed one material layer, particularly the carrier material, nearly completely between the other material layers. The cut edge of the carrier material then remains visible from the outside in the finished component only in the region of the most recently parted webs. This is advantageous particularly given metallic carrier materials that can form sharp cut edges, these in turn potentially representing a disturbing factor in the further-processing or in the manipulation of the component.
It is also possible with the method to apply not only one material layer on the carrier substrate but to apply further layers on the same surface or on the opposite surface simultaneously or following thereupon. It is also possible to set a different size of the sections by means of further, additional cuts for each individual material layer in order, in particular, to nearly completely embed internally disposed layers in the multi-layer section without a cut edge being visible from the outside. Only that part of the edge of the carrier material or of some other inwardly disposed layer that is parted in the last parting step as part of the bearing connection is then still visible.
Particularly given multi-layer sections having more then three individual layers, it is also possible to implement the parting in three steps, whereby the bearing connection remaining in the first partial separation is parted in a second partial separation after application of a further material layer, whereby, however, a part of the second material layer should remain as a remaining connection between two neighboring sections. In this case, the three parting lines can be placed such that a cut edge of the carrier material layer is no longer visible from the outside in the multi-layer section.
Different section sizes in the individual material layers can only be achieved when the partial separation in individual sections does not exclusively follow the parting line between two neighboring sections. On the contrary, it is necessary in this case that a broad parting line be placed in the partial separation between two respective neighboring sections orxe2x80x94betterxe2x80x94that a parting strip to be punched out or removed in some other way. When the subsequent, further partial separation or the complete parting into individual multi-layer sections subsequently ensues with a smaller cutting width or even as a sharp separation along a parting line, then the area difference of the individual sections can maximally correspond to the area of a parting strip.
In an advantageous development of the invention, it is already achieved in two-layer multi-layer sections that the externally visible cut edge of a material layer is displaced inwardly with a smaller section area compared to other layers and is thus less disturbing. This is achieved when the parting line in the complete separation forms a recess pointing toward the middle of the section in the region of the bearing connection. In order for this to be the case given two neighboring sections, the web for this purpose is preferably parted by punching, for example a circular cutout.
This is of interest particularly for the multi-layer structure, whereby the cut edge is then situated in a recess that is set back retreats from the limiting surface of the multi-layer structure.

Method for production of a regular multi-layer construction, in particular for electrical double layer capacitors and the corresponding device


In one embodiment, a device obtains a predictive model that predicts a behavior of a path in a network. The device computes, based in part on the predictive model, a route in the network that includes the path, in accordance with a routing policy that instructs the device to use the predictive model as an attribute of the path during computation of the route. The device validates that the path exhibited the behavior predicted by the predictive model. The device initiates retraining of the predictive model, when the behavior predicted by the predictive model does not match the behavior of the path.

Software-defined wide area networks (SD-WANs) represent the application of software-defined networking (SDN) principles to WAN connections, such as connections to cellular networks, the Internet, and Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) networks. The power of SD-WAN is the ability to provide consistent service level agreement (SLA) for important application traffic transparently across various underlying tunnels of varying transport quality and allow for seamless tunnel selection based on tunnel performance characteristics that can match application SLAs and satisfy the quality of service (QoS) requirements of the traffic (e.g., in terms of delay, jitter, packet loss, etc.).
Failure detection in a network has traditionally been reactive, meaning that the failure must first be detected before rerouting the traffic along a secondary (backup) path. In general, failure detection leverages either explicit signaling from the lower network layers or using a keep-alive mechanism that sends probes at some interval T that must be acknowledged by a receiver (e.g., a tunnel tail-end router). Typically, SD-WAN implementations leverage the keep-alive mechanisms of Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD), to detect tunnel failures and to initiate rerouting the traffic onto a backup (secondary) tunnel, if such a tunnel exits.
Today, routing decisions in SD-WANs and traditional networks rely on static metrics, such as Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP) link costs. In turn, probing is used periodically, to verify that a selected route remains the optimal selection. In cases in which the behavior of the route has changed, this means that the traffic may experience reduced Quality of Service (QoS) in the meantime.

Replacing static routing metrics with probabilistic models


A system and method for recommendation engine initialization and new user characterization. An implementation of the platform is a mobile application.

The present invention relates to the field of software and information management, and more specifically, to social networking.
Social networks track and enable online connections between users. Typical social networking systems allow users to associate themselves with other users to create a network of connections among the users of the social networking system.
Despite the success of existing social networks, there is a need for improved social networking and software techniques.

System and method for machine learning system initialization


A heat exchanger unit according to an exemplary embodiment includes: a plurality of heat exchangers that includes magnetic particles therein; and a connection section that is provided between the heat exchangers to connect the heat exchangers, the connection section including a solid-core member, a porous body or a combined substance of the solid-core member and the porous body. In the heat exchanger unit, the connection section invades partially into an inside of the heat exchanger connected thereto.

Currently, a gas compression and expansion cycle is used in almost all the cold and heat generating technologies, such as a refrigerator, a freezer and an air conditioner, in a room temperature range that relates closely to the daily life of a human. However, as to the cold heat technologies based on the gas compression and expansion cycle, an environmental destruction caused by emission of a specific chlorofluorocarbon gas into air becomes a big problem, and there is a fear that an alternative for chlorofluorocarbon might also affect the environment. Therefore, a natural refrigerant (such as CO2 and ammonia) or isobutane, which have low environmental risks, are proposed, and there is a demand for practical application of a safety, high-efficiency thermal cycling unit having no environmental destruction caused by the disposal of the refrigerant gas.
Expectations of magnetic refrigeration are enhanced as one of environment-friendliness, high-efficiency refrigeration techniques, and research and development of the magnetic refrigeration technique aimed at a room temperature region are increasingly performed. The magnetic refrigeration technique is based on a magnetocaloric effect. The magnetocaloric effect is a phenomenon in which a temperature of a magnetic material changes when an externally applied magnetic field is changed with respect to the magnetic material in an adiabatic state.
The magnetocaloric effect is maximized near a magnetic transition temperature, and the magnetocaloric effect decreases with departing from the magnetic transition temperature. Considering the above tendency of the magnetocaloric effect, to widen the operating temperature of the whole thermal cycling unit that obtains the high heat or cold heat from the heat exchanger unit, heat exchangers filled with the magnetic materials having different magnetic transition temperatures may be coupled to form a heat exchanger unit.
On the other hand, when the many heat exchangers filled with the magnetic materials are coupled and a liquid refrigerant flow thorough the heat exchangers, a pressure loss may increases to hardly control a flow of the liquid refrigerant. When the flow of the liquid refrigerant is interrupted, accumulation of the heat is occurred and therefore the efficiency of the system is lowered.

Heat exchanger unit and thermal cycling unit