An electronic temperature control method and apparatus unit for a mixing valve for plumbing fixtures. The loop gain in the control unit is at least approximately inversely proportional to the instantaneous slope of the characteristic curve of the mixing valve, and the slope of the characteristic curve is determined from the instantaneous conditions of valve opening, hot and cold supply temperatures and mix temperatures.

1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to an electronic temperature control unit for a mixing valve, especially for plumbing fixtures in which hot and cold water are mixed together.
2. DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART
Electronic control of mixing valves is disclosed, for example, in German Letters of Disclosure Nos. 2,836,698, 3,030,716, 3,146,501, 3,407,796, 3,425,445, 3,430,176 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,420,881. The temperature setting made manually with a conventional mixing valve is intended to be accomplished with rapidity and precision by electronic means, and to be maintained even where changes in supply pressure and temperatures occur.
As in the case of a manually actuated mixing valve, various mixing systems may be employed, for example, separate valves for mixing hot and cold water, or piston or disk type valves in which the controls for hot and cold water are combined in a single actuating unit.
The object of establishing and maintaining a certain outlet temperature is achieved by means of a regulator, which may comprise proportional, integral or differential (P, I, D) components or combinations thereof.
A disadvantage of known control systems is that the loop gain (control circuit amplification) used must be small, and hence the outlet temperature of the mixing valve cannot be corrected quickly enough to achieve stable operation of the control system in all operating conditions, with supply pressures and temperatures differing within wide limits. Unstable operating conditions arise, for example, when the valve is wide open but is sharply throttled by an outlet resistance such as a shower head or a clogged aerator, which results in simultaneous differences in supply pressures between hot and cold water.
An improvement in the proportional component of the regulation is obtainable by measuring pressure perturbations in order to compensate for them. With exact measurement and reproducible properties of the valves used, the valve settings can in principle be so determined that the outlet temperature is maintained, unaffected by the perturbations.
Direct measurement of the supply pressures requires complex and expensive sensors and is best avoided; however German Letter of Disclosure No. 3,407,796 shows how the pressure perturbations .DELTA.p.sub.H, .DELTA.p.sub.C can be calculated from the cold, hot and mix temperatures T.sub.C, T.sub.H, T.sub.M and the valve opening settings. It is an advantageous feature that the pressure measurement can be reduced to temperature measurement and displacement or angular measurement (i.e. valve opening). It is a disadvantage in this procedure that the pressure variations, in themselves rapid, must be sensed and evaluated with a delay due to the time lags of the temperature sensors and an additional time lag for calculating the pressure ratio. A further disadvantage is that calculated valve settings, owing to unavoidable errors of measurement and irregularities of the valves, especially after some time in service, will not result in the exact target temperatures, thus leaving a residual temperature error to be compensated by an additional I-control which, in turn, will function comparatively slowly for the reasons given above.


In order to synchronize timings of transmission through a radio channel for broadcast communication even when a plurality of base stations communicate independently of one another, a receiver 11 in a radio base station 10 receives broadcast information INFO1 transmitted from a different radio base station 40 through a radio channel CH1 for transmitting the broadcast information. A controller 12 specifies a radio channel CH2 used for broadcast communication by the different radio base station 40 and adjusts a timing of transmission through the radio channel CH2 for broadcast communication in its own radio base station 10 to be synchronized with a timing of transmission in the different radio base station 40, based on the broadcast information INFO1. A transmitter 13 transmits data through the radio channel CH2 for broadcast communication in accordance with the adjusted timing TA of transmission.

Recently, there have been started operations of an MBMS (Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Service) which simultaneously distributes multimedia data such as broadcast data to a plurality of user terminals. The specifications of the MBMS are established on the premise of use in a radio access network adopting a WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) method. Specifically, a plurality of radio base stations forming the radio access network transmit the same multimedia data thorough an SCCPCH (Secondary Common Control Physical Channel).
On the other hand, each of the user terminals obtains a combined gain of radio signals respectively received from adjacent radio base stations through the SCCPCH to improve reception quality of the multimedia data. In order to obtain the combined gain, timings of transmission through the SCCPCH need to be synchronized within a predetermined time difference between the adjacent radio base stations.
Therefore, in the radio access network, a radio base station controlling device (RNC: Radio Network Controller) adjusts (controls) the timings of transmission through the SCCPCH between the adjacent radio base stations.
Note that Patent Literature 1 discloses a method where a plurality of radio base stations are connected through an exclusive cable, and data for synchronization is transmitted and received through the exclusive cable, thereby synchronizing transmission timings of data between the radio base stations.

Radio base station, radio access network, communication controlling circuit, storage medium, and communication controlling method


A characteristic testing method for variable capacitance diodes includes separating element pellets of variable capacitance diodes and picking up pellets neighboring each other in any one of a longitudinal, lateral, and oblique direction. The pellets are rearranged in a row in a frame according to the order of picking up and the rearranged pellets are packaged to form capacitor components. The characteristics of the capacitor components are measured to reject defective capacitor components and to obtain a group of successive good components. Quality judgement criteria are set on the basis of the results of the testing.

This invention relates to a characteristic testing method for variable capacitance diodes, and more particularly, to a method used as an inspection method at the time of shipping or forwarding diode elements to which taping is implemented.
Variable capacitance diodes (hereinafter also abbreviated as elements) are used in place of double, triple, or quadruple mechanical variable capacitors for the receiver tuner of televisions, or radio receivers. For one tuner, two to four variable capacitance diodes are necessarily used. These elements are required to have voltage versus capacitance characteristics uniform with each other (such that they can be paired with each other). Further, for reasons of customer's work, e.g., sixty (60) elements or more having the uniform characteristics are put together (which will be called pairing) into one block. Ordinarily, several blocks per each reel, e.g., 3000 diodes are forwarded in a form when they are to be subjected to taping.
Generally, several thousand variable capacitance diode pellets are formed on a single wafer.
A conventional method of pair-sorting a plurality of elements (e.g., several thousand) will now be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. In FIG. 1, the abscissa represents voltage, and the ordinate represents capacitance. In this figure, longitudinal line segments a.sub.1, a.sub.2, a.sub.3 and a.sub.4 represent capacitance distributions of the plurality of elements at voltages V.sub.1, V.sub.2, V.sub.3 and V.sub.4, respectively. The capacitance range of elements to be paired is ordinarily limited to 1 to 3%. For example, in the case where the capacitance is limited to 2%, limits are provided for every capacitance range of 2%, and line segments a.sub.1 to a.sub.4 are divided into approximately eight to ten sections, respectively. The numerals attached to the longitudinal line segments indicate section Nos., respectively. Combinations are prepared by the sections at respective voltages to attach sorting Nos. to those combinations. For example, the combination of the sorting No. A is (6-6-4-1), the combination of the sorting No. B is (1-2-5), and the combination of the sorting No. C is (3--4--8--8). Since the polygonal line zone A connecting two adjacent two section limits (the same reference numerals as those of the sorting Nos. are used for reasons of convenience) represents a voltage versus capacitance characteristic group having the uniform characteristics where the capacitance range is approximately 2% or less, elements belonging to such combinations can be paired.
When a new combination occurs while accommodating elements having the same sorting Nos. into the same bottles, respectively, that sorting No. is registered with respect to a new bottle to continue sorting. In accordance with such a method, sorting is conducted into about 500 groups at the maximum. Further, in the case of conducting shipping in the form of a taping reel, since one reel is comprised of 3000 diodes, elements which have undergone bottle sorting are subjected to taping in order from the bottle having main elements therein so that respective reels have 3000 elements.
Explanation will be given in more detail with reference to FIG. 2. Initially, 40 plastic molded elements placed on a frame 21 are separately cut off and are arranged for a second time by means of a parts feeder 22 to measure capacitance values every respective voltages (V.sub.1 to V.sub.4) by means of a characteristic measurement device 23 to determine bottles 26 with respect to respective combinations by means of a controller 24 to accommodate them into bottles of corresponding sorts by means of a sorter 25. Further, in the case of attempting to carry out taping, although not shown, elements are arranged for a second time by using the parts feeder from the bottle having many bottles therein, and are then subjected to taping. FIG. 3 is a graph in which the arrangement position of elements on the tape and the element capacitance (e.g., at 14 volts) are shown on the abscissa and the ordinate, respectively In this figure, b.sub.1, b.sub.2 and b.sub.3 represent the sorting Nos. of bottles. All these elements have the capacitance range of 2% or less and have characteristics such that those of 60 elements or more are in harmony with each other.
However, the above-mentioned conventional method has the follows problems.
(1) A special handler (sorter) capable of conducting sorting in a broad range is required, resulting in a high cost of installation.
(2) Since sorting is conducted even into approximately 500 groups, there may occur wastefulness in the space, the labor and the time for management of the product. Further, there is the possibility that elements of any different group may be mixed because of an error in handling.
(3) Ordinarily, the taping reel is comprised of 3000 elements, but there exists the limitation that, e.g., sixty elements or more must be included within each block. Accordingly, elements belonging to bottles including 60 elements or less Cannot be subjected to taping. Namely, products belonging to bottles including elements or less can be only forwarded in the form of bagging. For this reason, balance between products to be subjected to taping and products subjected to bagging is required.
(4) Since elements belonging to a bottle including two elements or less are considered to be an inferior good as the result of bottle-sorting, yield becomes poor.
(5) Since elements are sorted twice using the parts feeder, products may be deteriorated.
As described above, in the case of variable capacitance diodes, elements having voltage versus capacitance characteristic curves in harmony with each other are put together as one block (group). Thus, products are forwarded with a plurality of blocks being attached on each taping reel. In the conventional art, since sorting is conducted into groups of even 500, not only there results increased wastefulness in the installation, space, labor, and time, etc. for inspection or sorting, but also there occurs taping reel products and products subjected to bagging, disadvantageously resulting in low productivity. On the other hand, the capacitance characteristic distribution of elements irregularly varies depending on lots, and location within the wafer. However, the conventional method cannot flexibly cope with such a characteristic distribution change.

method of grouping of variable capacitance diodes having uniform characteristics


An energy efficient a drying system and process using heated, dry air. The system includes an air inlet, a heat pump evaporator unit, a heat pump condenser unit, a drying unit, a heat exchanger unit, a fan, and air channels for transport of airflow from the air inlet through the system. The fan causes air to flow into the air inlet through the heat pump evaporator unit and to maintain an airflow through the system. The heat pump evaporator unit is configured to use a refrigerant to absorb heat from air that flows into the system through the heat pump evaporator unit. The heat pump condenser unit is configured to release the heat absorbed at the evaporator to the airflow. The heat exchanger unit is arranged to transfer heat from the airflow leaving the drying unit to the cold, dehumidified air flowing from the heat pump evaporator unit.

Drying is used in a variety of industries such as agricultural, marine products, timber, textile, chemical, paper, etc. Drying is typically performed by keeping the products at a high temperature, approximately 60° to 80° C., for a long time. Drying is an energy-intensive process and optimization of systems and processes to achieve more cost-effective drying processes will result in significant reduction of energy consumption, which may provide considerable cost savings.
In conventional systems for drying, i.e. kilning apparatus, the drying air is directly heated by using oil or gas burners. Thus, in addition to reducing the energy consumption in drying systems, there is also a desire that such systems should be environmentally friendly, with no or minimal emissions of combustion products originating from the burning of fossil fuels.
Other conventional drying systems comprise dehumidifiers, heaters and heat exchangers. U.S. Pat. No. 4,532,720 relates to a drying process and apparatus utilizing a refrigeration cycle. The drying apparatus is constructed to interpose a heat exchanger between an evaporator and a heater so that air in a drying chamber may be dried and heated in a cycle of introducing hot air in the drying chamber into the heat exchanger to pre-cool hot air, guiding pre-cooled air to the evaporator to dry it due to dehumidification by cooling, introducing cooled and dried air into the heat exchanger again to increase the temperature, introducing the air to the heater to further heat it and returning dried and heated air to the interior of the drying chamber. The heater is a condenser and an electric heater, providing hot air to the drying chamber keeping the drying chamber at a high temperature of about 60-80° C. In the system described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,532,720 the air from the drying chamber is recycled to the dehumidifier in a closed circulation system. This is a normal design for such drying apparatus.
The growing demand for renewable energy sources has led to an increased focus on bioenergy resources. The use of forest resources for bioenergy is therefore expected to increase considerably. The prevailing use of biofuel is the direct combustion of wood, wood chips and pellets for heating in stationary plants, either in conventional wood stoves, central heating systems or remote heating plants. Different wood chips heating installations require different moisture content in the wood. Some heating installations have optimal efficiency at moisture content below 30%, while others may require 40-50%. Dry wood chips will give a complete combustion with lesser emissions and provide better effect on the boiler. Trees on root normally have a moisture content of approximately 50% of the total weight, meaning half the weight of the tree is water and the rest is dry matter. Thus, the use of forest resources as bioenergy involves drying and intermediate storing of the energy wood chips.
The European standard series EN 15234, "Solid biofuels—Fuel quality assurance" is provided as general requirements and additional product standards, and consists of 6 Parts. Part 4: Wood chips for non-industrial use (EN 15234-4:2012) covers the raw material supply, production and delivery chain. The said part defines inter alia dimensions for wood chips, specifying P-classes defining particle sizes, size fractions and dimensions, e.g. in class P16 the main fraction (at least 75% of the total mass) must be between 3.15 and 16 mm. Particles smaller than 3.15 are defined as fines fraction and this amount must be less than 12 weigh-%. The sizes/dimensions for the coarse fraction are also defined. Other P-classes are P31.5: at least 75 weight-% is between 8-31.5 mm; P45: at least 75 weight-% is between 8-45 mm; and P65: at least 75 weight-% is between 8-63 mm.
M. Heling (in Helin, M., "Wood as a fuel & drying of wood chips", 2005, North Karelia Polytechnic, Finland) gives an example which illustrates the effect of correct moisture in the wood chips. The amount of heat out of 1 loose-m3 of wood chips with two different moisture contents using a 50 kW boiler:
Moisture content 50%, net heating value≈800 kWh/loose-m3.
The boiler efficiency at 50% moisture is≈62%.
The available energy (heat) is 0.62×800 kWh≈500 kWh.
Moisture content 30%, net heating value≈890 kWh/loose-m3.
The boiler efficiency at 30% moisture is≈78%.
The available energy (heat) is 0.78×890 kWh≈700 kWh
Using wood chips with 30% moisture instead of 50% moisture will thus result in 40% more heating energy in a 50 kW boiler.
Most small-scale and medium sized wood chips heating installations have optimal combustion at moisture content of 20-25%. In production of pellets and wood powder for gasification the requirement is 10-12% moisture. Traditional drying of wood chips involves storing logs for drying in cold open air or covered until moisture content in the logs is about 30%, before wood-chipping. The time for such drying is however very long. In general, the moisture content in storage stable wood chips should be less than about 25% since higher moisture content will increase the risk of heat generation in the stored wood chips, and in the worst case spontaneous ignition. The cost for artificial drying may be high compared to the gain of energy in the dried wood chips. Thus, there will be a positive energy balance only if the energy used for artificial drying the wood chips is less than the resulting energy content in the wood chips. Economical methods for drying wood chips may involve usage of waste heat from the process industries, incinerations plants or power plants. However, when there is no such waste heat available, the drying of wood chips must be carried out by lowest possible consumption of supplied energy in the form of electrical power or other energy source.
With reference to the prior art drying systems there is a desire to provide a drying system and a drying method that significantly reduces the energy consumption, shortens the time for the drying process and results in uniform drying of the products to be dried, compared to conventional drying systems. Such drying system should be equally suitable for drying different kinds of materials and products, generally divided in loose bulk materials and single piece products. Further, the drying system should be suitable for drying products which are temperature sensitive, which is often the case when drying food products. Some traditionally prepared food products is dependent on a certain climate, e.g. for drying fish the temperature must neither be too low or too high. The recent climate changes leads to challenges for such traditional methods. Thus, there is also a desire for a drying system which can be used in the production of such food products.
The present inventors found that when utilizing the heat (energy) at both the cold and the warm side of a heat pump, while controlling the air conditions throughout the drying system, very good results are achievable with regards to the above said desired properties. The inventors surprisingly found that providing dry, only moderately heated air into a drying chamber resulted in a very effective drying process both in reducing the drying time and in energy consumption per weight of dried product. Keeping the drying temperature in the drying chamber at a moderate level, i.e. 20-35° C., means that all required heat may be provided by a conventional (air-to-air type), e.g. heat pump for domestic use, or in larger drying apparatus a large industrial air-to-air heat pump.
A heat pump provides heat in a very efficient way compared to using the same amount of power by heating with a panel (electrical) heater. The performance of a heat pump is given by the term, coefficient of performance (COP), which is used to describe the ratio of useful heat movement per work input. At outside temperature of e.g. 10° C. a typical air-source heat pump has a COP of 3 to 4, at optimal conditions a COP of 5 may be achieved.
The present inventors found that by passing a slightly heated, dry airflow through or past moist material a large amount of humidity is taken up by the drying air. By passing the air leaving the drying chamber through a heat exchanger in thermal communication with cold, dry air flowing into the drying system, it is possible to recover most of the heat. The present inventors found that by combining these findings in an optimal system, wherein the air atmosphere and pressure are controlled, it is possible to attain a drying system which utilizes the supplied energy optimally, resulting in a very cost effective method for drying material. Using the drying system according to the present invention resulted in a reduction 50% less energy consumption (power consumption) compared to a conventional "modern" dryer which recycles the drying air to recover heat. Also, the drying system according to the present invention reduces the drying time by 50% compared to the said conventional modern dryer. Compared to other conventional dryers (without recycling drying air) resulted in up to 75% reduction in power consumption. Thus the present invention results in considerable savings in costs, energy consumption and time. It also has the possibilities of scaling up or down with regards to the amounts of materials to be dried. Another advantage of the present invention in relation to known drying system is that the present system eliminates the need for a separate air dehumidifier. The drying system according to the present invention also eliminates the need of an extra heater, as the heat demand is covered by the heat pump.
The present drying system can be used for drying loose bulk materials and single piece materials/products. In this context, loose bulk material refers to materials in granular or particular form or a mass of relatively small solids. Examples of loose bulk materials are grains (wheat, malt, maize, rice, barley, oats, rye, sorghum, soybeans, etc.), wood chips, and agricultural products like fruits which must be dried during processing. Further, the term "single piece materials/products" should be understood as products/materials which are not considered bulk materials, but handled individually, or only a few at the time. Examples of such products are fish products, meat products, vegetables or fruits, wood products, marine products, etc.
In this context the expressions "drying", "dehumidifying" and "lowering the moisture" are used interchangeably and should have the same meaning unless explicitly otherwise stated.

System and process for drying loose bulk material


A method of controlling the flow of data packet traffic from a first point to at least two second point in an Ethernet telecommunications network having a multiplicity of nodes interconnected by multiple network links, comprises monitoring the level of utilization of a link between the first and second points, generating flow control messages representing the level of utilization and transmitting the control messages to the first point, and using the states represented in the flow control messages as factors in controlling the rate at which the packets are transmitted from the first point to the second point. A method of controlling the flow of data packet traffic through an Ethernet telecommunications network having a multiplicity of nodes interconnected by multiple network links, comprises receiving incoming data packet traffic from multiple customer connections at a first node for entry into the network via the first node, the first node having an ingress trunk, and limiting the rate at which the incoming data packets are admitted to the network via the ingress trunk.

Ethernet is an emerging opportunity for telecommunication carriers. This service provides point-to-point and point-to-multipoint Ethernet connectivity and offers different types of services with many combinations of quality objectives, such as loss, delay and bandwidth. This opportunity is created by the access network quickly becoming a bottleneck as new applications demand more and more bandwidth. Traditional access equipment using SDH and xDSL do not offer the speeds required to transport all the new multimedia applications such as triple-play, Fixed-Mobile-Convergence (FMC) and IP multimedia sub-systems (IMS).
To address these access challenges, telecommunications carriers have selected Ethernet as the technology to rapidly deploy a wide-ranging variety of services and applications without the need to constantly modify the network infrastructure. Enterprises have long used Ethernet as the technology to support a variety of applications requiring different qualities of service (QoS) from the network. Carriers are leveraging this flexibility and are standardizing on this technology to offer data access services.
Using this service definition, existing network elements which offer network access using Ethernet technology are not designed to make maximum use of the legacy network links existing at the edge of the carrier networks. Many access technologies such as DSL or WiMAX are prone to errors which affect the link speed. The network devices are unable to react to these errors to ensure that the service level agreements are met. The following inventions are focused on addressing these challenges.
When a telecommunications provider offers an Ethernet LAN (E-LAN), a service level agreement (SLA) is entered with the customer, defining the parameters of the network connections. As part of this agreement, a bandwidth profile is defined in terms of Committed Information Rate (CIR), Committed Burst Size (CBS), Excess Information Rate (EIR) and Excess Burst Size (EBS). The CIR guarantees a minimum bandwidth to a connection while the EIR allows the connection to send at higher bandwidth when available.
Current Ethernet network implementations handle congestion locally where it occurs, by discarding overflow packets. Also, E-LAN requires duplication to support unicast miss, multicast and broadcast. This wastes bandwidth in the network in two ways:
1. bandwidth capacity is wasted as a result of retransmission of packets by higher layer protocols (e.g., TCP), and
2. packets are lost throughout the network, wasting precious upstream bandwidth which could be used by other connections generating more revenues for the carriers.
In order to meet the QoS, the Service Provider (SP) allocates an amount of bandwidth, referred to herein as the Allocated Bandwidth (ABW), which is a function of the CIR, CBS, EIR, EBS and the user line rate. Unless CBS is extremely small, the ABW is greater than the CIR in order to guarantee the QoS even when connections are bursting within the CBS.
To implement the Ethernet service in a provider's network, sufficient bandwidth needs to be allocated to each connection to meet the QoS, even though not always used, leading to inefficiencies. The service provider generally over-provisions the network in order to ensure that sufficient traffic gets through such that the application performance does not deteriorate.
When a customer subscribes to an E-LAN to receive connectivity between multiple sites, the SP needs to allocate an amount of bandwidth at least equal to ABW for each possible path in the E-LAN in order to mesh all the sites, making the service unscalable and non-profitable. E-LAN can also provide different bandwidth profiles to different sites where a site needs to send more or less information. One site can talk at any time to another site (point-to-point or "pt-pt"—by using unicast address of the destination), or one site can talk at any time to many other sites (point-to-multipoint or "pt-mpt"—by using Ethernet multicast address). Also one site can send to all other sites (broadcast—by using Ethernet broadcast address).
In FIG. 1, an E-LAN is provisioned among five customer sites 101 (sites 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5) in a network consisting of five nodes 102 (nodes A, B, C, D, E and F) connected to each other using physical links 103. The E-LAN can be implemented using VPLS technology (pseudowires with MPLS or L2TP) or traditional crossconnects with WAN links using PPP over DSC. The E-LAN can also be implemented using GRE, PPP or L2TP tunnels.
For this example, the physical links are 100 Mbps. The customer subscribes to an E-LAN to mesh its sites with a CIR of 20 Mbps and an EIR of 50 Mbps. In order to guarantee that each site can transmit the committed 20 Mbps and the burst, the SP needs to allocate a corresponding ABW of 30 Mbps between each possible pair of sites 104 such that if site 1 sends a burst to site 5 while site 4 sends a burst to site 5, they each receive the QoS for the 20 Mbps of traffic. Since any site can talk to any other site, there needs to be sufficient bandwidth allocated to account for all combinations. Therefore, in this example, (n−1)×ABW needs to be allocated on the links 104 between B and C, where n is the number of sites in the E-LAN. This situation is clearly un-scalable, as shown in FIG. 1 where the 100 Mbps physical links can only support a single E-LAN.

Efficient ethernet LAN with service level agreements


An aligned and spaced-apart end-on optical coupling is provided between the end of a single mode optical fiber and the emitting aperture of an edge-emitting diode mounted on a heat sink secured to a base. A V-shaped grooved semiconductor chip is mounted on the base a distance from the edge-emitting diode and a UV curable optical cement is applied in the V-shaped groove and on a lateral surface of the optical f. STATEMENT OF GOVERNMENT INTEREST. The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States of America for governmental purposes without the payment of any royalties thereon or therefor.

This inventive concept at least partially has a basis in the background for the cross-referenced co-pending application. In addition an article by G. Iok-Ejan Khoe et al. entitled "Progress in Monomode Optical-Fiber Interconnection Devices" Journal of Light Wave Technology Volume LT-2, 3, June 1984 discusses efficiencies of couplings for a number of coupling devices for monomode fiber systems. The laser diode-to-fiber coupling, packaging connectors and splicing discussed herein along with the use of certain lenses cover a variety of coupling techniques that are evolving toward improving coupling efficiencies and the need for better concepts in this regard. The text entitled Optoelectronic Technology and Lightwave Communications Systems, edited by Chinlon Lin, Van Nostrand Reinhold, N.Y. 1990 discusses, on pages 182 through 186, laser to fiber coupling with a variety of techniques. The packaging referred to in paragraph 7.3.2 in association with FIG. 7.9 (c) alludes to a fiber end alignment inside of a package and states that the actual position must be adjusted before the hermetic fiber seal is made. It calls for adjusting in two lateral directions with the aid of additional support inside of the package and that a sequence of adjustments depends on a particular construction of the encapsulation. This article certainly brings attention to the need for such capability yet is not clear in how this capability is performed. The publication Optical Fiber Telecommunications II edited by Stuart E. Miller and Ivan P. Kaminow, Academic Press, Inc., Boston, Mass., 1990, discusses a number of coupling stability and packaging techniques in the chapter entitled "Lightwave Transmitters", pages 747 through 752. The essentially butt-joined connectors disclosed herein disclose the use of spot welds to secure the fiber alignment; however, it is not clear how the alignments are preserved with the stresses and strains created during the fabrication procedure.
Thus, a continuing need exists in the state of the art for a method for making an optical fiber-to-edge-emitting-diode coupling that accurately establishes and maintains a secured, predetermined separation between the end of the single mode optical fiber and the emitting aperture of the light-emitting diode and a precise transverse alignment therewith which is cemented in place without the creation of undue misaligning strains.

Edge-emitting diode-to-optical fiber coupling technique

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


Systems and methods for auto creation of bypass tunnels in Fast Reroute (FRR) downstream routers include configuring one or more Label Switched Path (LSP) tunnels between an ingress Label Edge Router (LER) and an egress LER via one or more Label Switch Routers (LSRs); signaling at least one LSP tunnel of the one or more LSP tunnels with a Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP) PATH message containing a FAST_REROUTE object with a first flag indicating Facility Backup protection is desired and a second flag indicating auto generation of an associated FB bypass tunnel; and configuring the associated FB bypass tunnel between a Point of Local Repair (PLR) and a Merge Point (MP) based on the first flag and the second flag. The systems and methods can further include bypass tunnel reselection requests to a bypass tunnel with better protection.

Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) is a mechanism applied in networks that directs data from one network node or network element to the next based on locally significant short path labels rather than long, globally significant, network addresses, thereby avoiding complex lookups in a routing table. For example, MPLS is described, in part, in Request for Comments (RFC) 3032 "MPLS Label Stack Encoding," January 2001, the contents of which are incorporated by reference herein. Fast Reroute (FRR) is an MPLS resiliency technique providing fast traffic recovery upon link or router failures for critical services. Upon any single link or node failures, the technique would be able to recover impacted traffic flows at the level of 50 ms. FRR is described in RFC 4090 "Fast Reroute Extensions to RSVP-TE for LSP Tunnels," May 2005, the contents of which are incorporated by reference herein. Resource Reservation Protocol-Traffic Engineering (RSVP-TE) extensions are defined in RFC 3209 "Extensions to RSVP for LSP Tunnels," December 2001, the contents of which are incorporated by reference herein.
RFC 3209 describes the use of RSVP, including all the necessary extensions, to establish Label Switched Path (LSP) in MPLS. Since the flow along an LSP is completely identified by the label applied at the ingress node of the path, these paths may be treated as tunnels. An application of LSP tunnels is traffic engineering with MPLS as specified in RFC 2702, "Requirements for Traffic Engineering Over MPLS," September 1999, the contents of which are incorporated by reference herein.
RFC 4090 defines RSVP-TE extensions to establish backup LSP tunnels for local repair of LSP tunnels. These mechanisms enable the re-direction of traffic onto backup LSP tunnels in 10 s of milliseconds, in the event of a failure. Two approaches are defined, a one-to-one backup approach creates detour LSPs for each protected LSP at each potential point of local repair and a Facility Backup (FB) approach creates a bypass tunnel to protect a potential failure point. By taking advantage of MPLS label stacking, the bypass tunnel approach can protect a set of LSPs that have similar backup constraints. Both approaches can be used to protect links and nodes during a network failure. The described behavior and extensions to RSVP allow nodes to implement either approach or both and to interoperate in a mixed network.
In the FB approach, local protection is provided on a Point of Local Repair (PLR) by creating a backup path over another tunnel which originates on the PLR and terminates on a Merge Point (MP), bypassing the protected router. The FB approach requires an existing Facility Backup tunnel. Alternatively, such a Facility Backup tunnel can also be auto-created, in the absence of an "existing" Facility Backup Tunnel. Currently, there is no such mechanism to control the auto-generation on a per protected tunnel basis; it is something which must be configured on the PLR.

System and methods to signal auto facility bypass tunnel generation indication and backup reselection request for fast reroute capable downstream routers in MPLS


The present invention provides a dry reagent capable of amplifying a nucleic acid even after being stored in a dry state at room temperature, a dry reagent kit, a reagent container, and a method for producing the dry reagent and methods of producing and using thereof.

The present disclosure relates to a dry reagent, a dry reagent kit, a reagent container, and a method for producing the same.
In the field of molecular biology, various nucleic acid amplification methods such as the PCR method and the like are widely used as a method for amplifying a target nucleic acid sequence. The nucleic acid amplification is performed in a reaction solution containing, as essential components, polymerase, nucleic acid monomers such as dNTPs, an inorganic salt, a primer, and a buffer agent such as trishydroxyaminomethane (formal name: tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane). In this nucleic acid amplification reaction, a commercially available kit for nucleic acid amplification is generally used. The kit may be, for example, a kit including multiple liquid reagents obtained by combining the essential components and stored in the respective containers. However, there is a problem in that it is difficult to store the liquid reagents at normal temperature for a long period of time because the stability thereof is poor.
In order to avoid the stability problem, a kit for nucleic acid amplification, obtained by combining a dry reagent containing a nucleic acid monomer and a primer as some of essential components and a liquid reagent containing the other essential components has been proposed (JP 2007-43997 A). According to this kit, for example, a nucleic acid may be amplified by adding a test sample to the dry reagent so as to dissolve the dry reagent in the test sample and thereafter mixing a liquid reagent in the mixture thus obtained. However, it is difficult to store the liquid reagent at normal (room) temperature because the stability of polymerase contained in the liquid reagent is poor when in a liquid. Therefore, it is necessary to refrigerate or freeze the liquid reagent, for example. However, for example, in view of the case of subjecting a large number of test samples to nucleic acid amplification and distributing the liquid reagents, it is desired that the kit for nucleic acid amplification may be stored at normal (room) temperature.
On the other hand, as a kit for nucleic acid amplification, including essential components in a dry state, a kit including a dry reagent containing polymerase and a dry reagent containing essential components other than polymerase individually has been proposed (JP 2008-501331 A).

Dry reagent, dry reagent kit, reagent container, and method for producing dry reagent


An electronic device includes a front frame, a back cover, a support stand rotatably connected to the back cover, a display panel and a circuit board. The display panel and the circuit board are fixed between the front frame and the back cover. The circuit board includes a first contact and a number of second contacts. The second contacts surround the first contact. The support includes a central shaft and a third contact. The central shaft is electrically connected to the first contact. The third contact rotates with the rotation of the central shaft to contact each of the second contacts. The circuit board includes a circuit and a processor. The electric circuit generates different signals when the first contact is connected different second contacts. The processor adjusts an orientation of display content on the display panel to rotate based on the signal.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to electronic devices with a rotatable support, especially to an electronic device capable of adjusting orientation of display content in response to rotation of a support.
2. Description of Related Art
Portable electronic devices such as digital photo frames usually include a rotatable support, thus the digital photo frame can be supported in different angles. Generally, angle snap toggles are used to adapt the rotation of the support adjusting the orientation of the display content on the digital photo frame. What is needed is a new structure capable of automatically adjusting orientation of display content for the electronic devices.

Electronic device capable of adjusting orientation of display content in response to rotation of a support

Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (ShenZhen) Co., Ltd.


A light-emitting device comprising a population of quantum dots (QDs) embedded in a host matrix and a primary light source which causes the QDs to emit secondary light and a method of making such a device. The size distribution of the QDs is chosen to allow light of a particular color to be emitted therefrom. The light emitted from the device may be of either a pure (monochromatic) color, or a mixed (polychromatic) color, and may consist solely of light emitted from the QDs themselves, or of a mixture of light emitted from the QDs and light emitted from the primary source. The QDs desirably are composed of an undoped semiconductor such as CdSe, and may optionally be overcoated to increase photoluminescence.

Light-emitting devices, in particular, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), are ubiquitous to modern display technology. More than 30 billion chips are produced each year and new applications, such as automobile lights and traffic signals, continue to grow. Conventional devices are made from inorganic compound semiconductors, typically AlGaAs (red), AJGaInP (orange-yellow-green), and AlGaTnN (green-blue). These devices emit monochromatic light of a frequency corresponding to the band gap of the compound semiconductor used in the device. Thus, conventional LEDs cannot emit white light, or indeed, light of any "mixed" color, which is composed of a mixture of frequencies. Further, producing an LED even of a particular desired "pure" single-frequency color can be difficult, since excellent control of semiconductor chemistry is required.
Light-emitting devices of mixed colors, and particularly white LEDs, have many potential applications. Consumers would prefer white light in many displays currently having red or green light-emitting devices. White light-emitting devices could be used as light sources with existing color filter technology to produce full color displays. Moreover, the use of white LEDs could lead to lower cost and simpler fabrication than red-green-blue LED technology.
White LEDs are currently made by combining a blue LED with a yellow phosphor to produce white light. However, color control is poor with this technology, since the colors of the LED and the phosphor cannot be varied. This technology also cannot be used to produce light of other mixed colors.
It has been proposed to manufacture white or colored light-emitting devices by combining various derivatives of photoluminescent polymers such as poly(phenylene vinylene) (PPVs). One device that has been proposed involves a PPV coating over a blue GaN LED, where the light from the light-emitting device stimulates emission in the characteristic color of the PPV, so that the observed light is composed of a mixture of the characteristic colors of the device and the PPV. However, the maximum theoretical quantum yield for PPV-based devices is 25%, and the color control is often poor, since organic materials tend to fluoresce in rather wide spectra. Furthermore, PPVs are rather difficult to manufacture reliably, since they are degraded by light, oxygen, and water. Related approaches use blue GaN-based LEDs coated with a thin film of organic dyes, but efficiencies are low (see, for example, Guha et al. (1997) J. Appl. Phys. 82(8):41264128; Ill-Vs Review 10(1):4, 1997).
It has also been proposed to produce light-emitting devices of varying colors by the use of quantum dots (QDs). Mattoussi et al. (1998)1 Appl. Phys. 83:7965-7974; Nakamura et al. (1998) Electronics Lett. 34:2435-2436; Schlamp et al. (1997) J. Appl. Phys. 82:5837-5842; Colvin et al. (1994) Nature 370:354-357. Semiconductor nanocrystallites (i.e., QDs) whose radii are smaller than the bulk exciton Bohr radius constitute a class of materials intermediate between molecular and bulk forms of matter. Quantum confinement of both the electron and hole in all three dimensions leads to an increase in the effective band gap of the material with decreasing crystallite size. Consequently, both the optical absorption and emission of QDs shift to the blue (higher energies) as the size of the QDs gets smaller. It has been found that a CdSe QD, for example, can emit light in any monochromatic color, in which the particular color characteristic of the light emitted is dependent only on the QD's size.
Currently available light-emitting diodes and related devices that incorporate quantum dots use QDs that have been grown epitaxially on a semiconductor layer. This fabrication technique is most suitable for the production of infrared light-emitting devices, but devices in higher-energy colors have not been achieved by this method. Further, the processing costs of epitaxial growth by currently available methods (molecular beam epitaxy and chemical vapor deposition) are quite high. Colloidal production of QDs is a much more inexpensive process, but QDs produced by this method have generally been found to exhibit low quantum efficiencies, and thus have not previously been considered suitable for incorporation into light-emitting devices.
A few proposals have been made for embedding colloidally produced QDs in an electrically conductive layer in order to take advantage of the electroluminescence of these QDs for a light-emitting device. Mattoussi et al. (1998), supra; Nakamura et al. (1998), supra; Schlamp et al. (1997), supra; Colvin et al. (1994), supra. However, such devices require a transparent, electrically conductive host matrix, which severely limits the available materials for producing devices by this method. Available host matrix materials are often themselves light-emitting, which may limit the achievable colors using this method.

Quantum dot white and colored light-emitting devices


Provided are an apparatus and a method for controlling human body contact of ground electrode, and a human body communication system using the same. The apparatus includes a resistance measuring unit for applying a predetermined voltage to a human body through a signal electrode, to measure a resistance value between the signal electrode and the ground electrode; a contact control unit for determining whether the ground electrode needs to contact the human body by using the measured resistance value, to provide control information associated with human body contact; and a contact performing unit for bringing the ground electrode into contact or out of contact with the human body according to the control information.

In these days, many people are carrying devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile phones, and medical equipment with them all the time. As a signal transfer method for transferring various data between those devices, there are a wired transmission method using a cable, and a wireless transmission method using, e.g., electric waves or light.
The wired transmission has advantages of high data security and high transmission speed, but is inconvenient because a user must carry a wiring device such as a cable all the time.
The wireless transmission is convenient in data transmission but has a limitation in that an economical price cannot be achieved because of needs for additional circuits for wireless transmission.
To overcome such a limitation, human body communication is being proposed, which uses a human body as a transmission medium. In the human body communication, a signal output through a transmitter of a communication device is applied to the human body through an electrode connected to the human body, and then is received by a receiver of another communication device through another electrode connected to the human body. The human body communication is convenient in use because no wiring device such as a cable is required, and can achieve an economical price because additional circuits for wireless transmission are not necessary.
FIG. 1 illustrates signal transfer in the human body communication. In the drawing, reference numbers 11, 12 and 10 indicate a signal transmitter, a signal receiver, and a human body, respectively.
A signal output from the signal transmitter 11 is applied to the human body 10, and is transmitted to the signal received through the human body 10. Through this signal transfer process, the human body communication is performed. Even if the signal transmitter 11 and the signal receiver 12 are individually provided in FIG. 1, they can be provided together in a dual human-body communication system.
FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate influence of a ground electrode according to locations of a signal transmitter/receiver.
FIG. 2 shows signal loss decrement according to contact of a ground electrode with the human body at wrist and fingertip locations of the signal transmitter 11 in the case where the signal receiver 12 is placed at the right wrist and a corresponding ground electrode does not contact the human body. FIG. 3 shows signal loss decrement according to contact of a ground electrode with a human body at wrist and fingertip locations of the signal receiver 12 in the case where the signal transmitter 11 is placed at the left wrist and a corresponding ground electrode does not contact the human body. Each of the graphs according to the location of the signal transmitter/receiver represents a difference between a signal loss value when the ground electrode contacts the human body and a signal loss value when the ground electrode does not contact the human body.
Electrodes constituting a communication device for human body communication are divided into a signal electrode and a ground electrode according to their functions. The signal electrode is connected to an output signal line of a transmitter of the communication device or an input signal line of a receiver of the communication device, and serves to transmit/receive signal to/from the human body. The ground electrode is connected to a ground of the communication device. The characteristic of signal loss through the human body varies according whether the ground electrode contacts the human body.
To observe a signal-loss change according to the contact of the ground electrode with the human body, the decrement of the signal loss by contact of the ground electrode with the human body is experimented, and the experimental results are shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. The positive (+) decrement of the signal loss means that the signal loss decreases by the ground electrode, while the negative (−) decrement of the signal loss means that the signal loss increases.
FIG. 2 illustrates signal loss variations according to the contact of the ground electrode with the human body in the case where the signal transmitter 11 is placed at the left wrist and fingertip. Here, the signal receiver 12 is placed at the right wrist and a corresponding ground electrode does not contact the human body.
If the signal transmitter 11 is placed at the wrist 201, the signal loss decreases as the ground electrode of the signal transmitter 11 contacts the human body. In contrast, if the signal transmitter 11 is placed at the fingertip 202, the signal loss does not change or rather increases because of the ground electrode.
This is because the amount of electromagnetic field coupling of the ground electrode through the human body varies according to the location (wrist or fingertip) of the signal transmitter.
In more detail, if the signal transmitter 11 is placed at the wrist, an area of the human body contacting the ground electrode increases because of the relatively large area of the wrist, thereby increasing the amount of electromagnetic field coupling through the human body. Consequently, the signal loss decreases. However, if the signal transmitter 11 is placed at the fingertip, the area of the human body contacting the ground electrode is small because of a relatively small area of the fingertip, thereby reducing the amount of coupling. Consequently, the signal loss increases.
FIG. 3 illustrates variations of the signal loss by contact of the ground electrode with the human body with respect to the signal receiver 12, showing cases where the signal receiver 12 is placed at the right wrist 211 and the right fingertip 212, respectively. Here, the signal transmitter 11 is placed at the left wrist, and a corresponding ground electrode does not contact the human body.
As shown in FIG. 3, experimental results with respect to the signal receiver 12 are similar to experimental results with respect to the signal transmitter 11 as shown in FIG. 2. The cause of this phenomenon is also similar to the case of the signal transmitter 11 of FIG. 2.
From the experimental results of FIGS. 2 and 3, if the signal transmitter 11 or the signal receiver 12 for the human body communication is placed at the wrist (see 201 and 211 of FIGS. 2 and 3), the respective corresponding ground electrodes must contact the human body in order to reduce the signal loss.
However, if the signal transmitter 11 or the signal receiver 12 is placed at the fingertip (see 202 and 212 of FIGS. 2 and 3), the respectively corresponding ground electrodes should not contact the human body. The reason thereof will now be described.
The first reason is to prevent an increase in signal loss caused by the ground electrode. As described above, in the case where the signal transmitter 11 or the signal receiver 12 is placed at the fingertip, the contact of the ground electrode with the human body increases the signal loss.
The second reason is to reduce the amount of current consumed while flowing between a ground electrode and a signal electrode. The contact of the ground electrode with the human body causes a considerably large amount of current to flow between the signal electrode and the ground electrode through the human body. For example, in the case where the ground electrode contacts the human body in a band of about 5 MHz, if a voltage of about 3V is applied, a current of about 16 mA flows between the signal electrode and the ground electrode. In contrast, if the ground electrode does not contact the human body under the same condition, a current of about 0.2 mA flows. Accordingly, since the contact of the ground electrode with the human body does not reduce the signal loss or rather increases the signal loss, the amount of current being consumed can be reduced by brining the ground electrode out of contact with the human body. Accordingly, power being consumed by the signal transmitter 11 or the signal receiver 12 can be reduced.
As described above, signal loss and power consumption caused by the ground electrodes vary according to a human body portion, e.g., a wrist or a fingertip, which the signal transmitter/receiver 11/12 for human body communication contacts. For this reason, contacting the ground electrode with the human body all the time is very inefficient in terms of signal loss and power consumption.

Apparatus and method for controlling human body contact of ground electrode, and human body communication system using the same

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


A pet door decorative panel system configured to decoratively cover a pet door frame while enabling ingress and egress. The exemplary pet door decorative panel system comprises a pet door, the object in which the pet door is mounted, a pet door decorative panel, and a mounting rail.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to methods and apparatus relating to pet door decorative panel systems.
2. Description of Related Art
Decorative panel systems find uses in a variety of situations such as, for example, house siding, home decorations, office environments, and pet door décor. A pet door decorative panel system may substantially benefit from a system that is easy to mount, easily changeable, and has an aperture that enables the pet door to be secured against ingress or egress without removing the decorative panel.

Methods and apparatus for a pet door decorative panel system


A wireless mobile communication device may be configured to include its Mobile Device Number (MDN) and its Mobile Equipment Identification (MEID) with each outgoing communication request when communicating over the internet through a Wi-Fi connection. A server may be configured to authenticate each request by comparing the MEID and MDN which are received from the wireless mobile communication device with MEID and MDN pairs which are stored in an equipment registration database. The wireless mobile communication device may also be configured to communicate at different times through a different type of internet connection, such as through a cellular telecommunication system. During this mode of communication, the IP address and the MDN of the mobile communication device may instead be used for authentication purposes by the server.

Wireless mobile communication devices, such as smart phones, may communicate over the internet through different types of wireless connections, such as through a Wi-Fi connection and/or through a cellular telecommunication system, such as a 3G and/or 4G system.
When a cellular telecommunication system is used, the wireless mobile communication device may be assigned an IP address by the cellular telecommunication system when a data session is established. This IP address and the mobile device number (MDN) of the wireless mobile communication device may then be stored in an authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) server. The wireless mobile communication device may include its MDN and IP address in each communication request. These requests may be authenticated by verifying that the MDN and IP address in the communication request match a corresponding MDN and IP address pair in the AAA server.
The wireless mobile communication device may at different times communicate over the internet through a Wi-Fi connection. When in this mode of operation, the IP address of the wireless mobile communication device may be assigned by the internet service provider which provides the internet service used by the Wi-Fi connection, not the wireless cellular communication network. The IP address in the communication request from the wireless mobile communication device, therefore, may not be able to be matched to any MDN and IP address pair in the AAA server, even when the requests are authentic.

Authentication of mobile communication device communicating through Wi-Fi connection


A method and device for incinerating hazardous waste, having a first rotating section for transporting hazardous waste within the device, the first rotating section having a forward opening at a first end thereof for introducing hazardous waste into the device and an exit opening at a second end thereof, a second rotating section for further transporting hazardous waste within the device, the second rotating section having a forward opening at a first end thereof and an exit opening at a second end thereof, wherein the exit opening of the first rotating section is in flow communication with the forward opening of the second rotating section, first burning means for heating and at least partially volatizing hazardous waste in the first rotating section, second burning means for increasing the temperature of solid residue in at least one additional rotating section to further convert the hazardous waste into decontaminated solid ash and flue gas, means for collecting the decontaminated residue, solid ash from the device and means for removing and decontaminating flue gases from the device prior to discharge in the environment.

The present invention relates to a hazardous waste incinerator, and more particularly to a multi-sectional rotary kiln incinerator used to treat variable waste streams having different caloric value, water content and slagability.
The use of rotary kilns for the incineration of hazardous waste is known. U.S. Pat. No. 4,734,166 to Angelo II discloses a rotatable cylindrical kiln. Rotary kilns are widely used due to their versatility to transport a wide variety of solid waste throughout the kiln chamber, making kilns suitable for treating the majority of solid waste streams with minimum preparation and shredding.
Many high BTU solid waste streams are decontaminated in conventional rotary kilns by burning with an additional oxidizing gas, such as air being delivered to the surface of a rotating bed. For such high BTU waste streams, the major part of heat needed to vaporize and thermally destroy hazardous components is generated by oxidation of the combustible components of the waste stream so that the release of the major portion of the heat is controlled by the distribution of the additional oxidizing gas along the kiln length. If the solid waste includes an appreciable amount of water, an initial drying is conducted by the use of drying heat being transferred to the bed from auxiliary burner(s). Auxiliary burners are also fired in the kiln to initially ignite the bed and to insure the continuous presence of a flame in the kiln to prevent the danger of flame loss and possible explosion.
The demand on the auxiliary burner for heat input significantly increases when high BTU waste has a high moisture content. Under such conditions, the role of auxiliary burners as a heating source becomes important to accomplish the rapid and effective drying of the waste layer prior to ignition. After drying and the ignition of high BTU waste, the heat being released by the waste burning is essential to support the burning and, therefore, to make the incineration process autogenous.
To provide for active waste burning, an adequate level of available oxygen and the rate of oxygen mass exchange should be maintained between a hot, dried waste residue layer and the kiln atmosphere. An additional oxidizing gas such as air, oxygen-enriched air, or pure oxygen has to be directed into the kiln interior to provide the necessary concentration of oxygen in the furnace atmosphere. Typically, the additional oxidizing gas is injected at the waste charging end of the kiln. Such injection, however, provides a negative impact on waste drying due to the substantial absorption of the heat being released by the auxiliary burner(s) by this additional oxidizing gas.
Therefore, the incineration process creates a significant variance in heat release and oxygen consumption along the rotary kiln length. Unfortunately, the conventional way of introducing both the auxiliary heat and the additional oxidizing gas responsible for heat release by the waste is limited to the rotary kiln ends. Such limitation reduces the controllability of heat input and oxygen mass transfer, which reduces the potential performance of rotary kiln incinerators.
When low BTU solid wastes, such as contaminated soil, are treated in a rotary kiln, a major part of the heat needed to vaporize and thermally destroy the hazardous constituents of the waste should be supplied by an auxiliary heat source. Therefore, high heat flux from one or more auxiliary burners must be maintained inside the rotary kiln to provide high levels of throughput, which are needed to make the incineration method of soil decontamination economically attractive.
To intensify heat transfer from the auxiliary flame envelope to the load located in the rotary kiln, the mixing process between fuel and oxidizing gas should be promoted by the burner designed to achieve a concentrated heat release inside of the flame envelope so as to maximize the time of contact between hot combustion products and the solid residue in the kiln. At the same time, due to the uneven heat flux from the flame envelope to the solid residue, an optimized distribution of heat flux is needed to maximize furnace throughput.
The ability of a solid layer of low BTU soil to conduct heat delivered to its surface by auxiliary burner(s) varies along the length of the kiln. The solid layer at the charging end of the rotary kiln may absorb a higher level of heat flux during the initial part of the heating cycle due to the presence of moisture and the higher temperature differential between the solid waste and the combustion products of the auxiliary burner, which is typically installed at the waste charging end. The ability of the solid layer to absorb heat is reduced as this soil increases in temperature travelling along the kiln. The kiln rotation speed is typically maintained at a relatively low level to minimize carry-over of solid waste particles. Due to the increasing the temperature of the soil bed surface been exposed to kiln atmosphere as it travels through the kiln, the heat flux from auxiliary burner(s) should be substantially reduced to prevent local overheating which causes slag formation and undesirable solid residue agglomeration. Because of this, the process of incineration of contaminated soil in a conventional rotary kiln involves a higher level of heat flux is typically delivered by the flame envelope(s) of auxiliary burners at the waste charging end and a substantially lower heat flux delivered by the flue gases of this burner(s) along the rest of the kiln length.
This especially impacts kilns used to decontaminate a material with low thermal conductivity such as soil. In such cases, the fear of local overheating forces the rotary kiln designers and operators to keep a reduced heat flux from the burners. This results in the loss of potential throughput capacity.
The flexibility of controlling the heat flux from combustion products of the auxiliary flame in rotary kilns is limited due to the restrictions on the placement of auxiliary burners. The location of an auxiliary burner is possible only at either end of the rotating chamber due to rotation of the kiln sidewall. Such burner locations make it difficult to optimize heat flux along the entire kiln length from the hot combustion products of auxiliary burner(s) to the solid bed having low thermal conductivity.
The process of incineration of high BTU wastes provides for the major heat release by complete or partial oxidation of the combustible components of a waste stream by using additional oxidizing gas. This oxidation process should also be controllable in order to maintain the desired heat input and temperature distribution along the entire kiln length. This should be accomplished by improved control over distribution of additional oxidizing gas inside of the kiln and preferably along the entire kiln length.
The introduction of additional oxidizing gas is also limited due to the rotation of the kiln sidewalls which restricts the placement of injectors for said oxidizing gas introduction. The introduction, at the waste charging end, of the entire volume of additional oxidizing gas needed for burning the solid residue along the entire length of the kiln provides as increase of actual gaseous volume and high superficial gas velocities. This results in an increase of waste particle carry-over from the rotary kiln.

Hazardous waste multi-sectional rotary kiln incinerator


System and methods for designing and using single-sided magnet assemblies for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are disclosed. The single-sided magnet assemblies can include an array of permanent magnets disposed at selected positions. At least one of the permanent magnets can be configured to rotate about an axis of rotation in the range of at least +/−10 degrees and can include a magnetization having a vector component perpendicular to the axis of rotation. The single-sided magnet assemblies can further include a magnet frame that is configured to hold the permanent magnets in place while allowing the at least one of the permanent magnets to rotate about the axis of rotation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to permanent magnets, and in particular, to adjustable permanent magnet assembly for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) applications.
2. Description of the Related Technology
During the last decade, a wide range of transportable, portable and single-sided NMR sensors and methodologies have been developed. The interest in such devices, as potential stand-alone or complementary alternatives to conventional MRI, arises from the obvious advantages of lower costs, portability, access to immovable arbitrary-sized objects, and scanning in the field. Mobile NMR measurements of, for example, relaxation times or MRI are conducted routinely in applications ranging from materials sciences to biomedicine. Recently, advances in methodology and hardware construction have allowed for high resolution NMR spectroscopy and medical imaging in one-sided, portable NMR/MRI systems.
Single-sided, portable systems feature strong magnets that produce either a remote homogeneous field or some type of natural gradient. The field homogeneity and size of the homogeneous region come at the expense of the size of these systems or the overall field strength. Magnets currently employed in portable NMR/MRI systems typically either have relatively small sensitive volumes, where the distance of this sensitive volume from the magnet often comes at the cost of field strength and hence signal, or have thin strips or slices of sensitive volume where the magnet's field usually has a strong gradient, which can cause a significant loss of signal with samples that have significant diffusion. With fixed magnets aiming for large sensitive volumes, as opposed to slices, one cannot tailor the field for specific applications, and, therefore, need to work with a fixed compromise between sensitive volume depth and field strength. For cases with fixed magnets one cannot adjust the field. With high gradient designs, the different volumes sampled by probe retuning are all high gradient and small volume. With a fixed sensitive volume magnet, one loses the low gradient large volume advantage if one doesn't work at that sensitive volume. Since field strength is sacrificed relative to a large gradient magnet to make a sensitive volume one, one has the disadvantages of both designs 1) low field, and 2) small volume large gradient when not working with the sensitive volume of the homogeneous volume type sensor.

Adjustable permanent magnet assembly for NMR and MRI

The Regents of the University of California


A method for manufacturing light-emitting device on non-transparent substrate includes the steps of forming a semiconductor epitaxial layer, a first conductive layer, a reflecting layer and a first conduction layer on a first substrate, and forming second conduction layer on a second substrate. Afterward, the first conduction layer and the second conduction layer is bounded by thermal pressing. The first substrate is then removed and a second conductive layer is formed to complete a light-emitting device. The light-emitting device can be incorporated with wetting layer and blocking layer to prevent inner diffusion and enhance external quantum efficiency.

The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing light-emitting device on non-transparent substrate, especially to a method for manufacturing light-emitting device on non-transparent substrate with high efficiency, better forward illumination and enhanced heat dissipation effect.
The nitride compound such as gallium nitride (GaN) is a direct band-gap material with energy gap corresponding to photon energy of green light and blue light. Therefore, the nitride compound is under extensive research to provide blue light source and green light source with higher efficiency and more practical application.
As to the material of substrate, sapphire has the advantage of good stability in high temperature condition during epitaxial growth process. However, the GaN film has relatively high lattice mismatch (16%) with underlying-sapphire substrate. To alleviate the effect of lattice mismatch, a GaN buffer layer is firstly grown on the sapphire substrate with a relatively low temperature (450-800xc2x0 C.). The GaN buffer layer is quasi epitaxial layer and has profound effect on growth of successive epitaxial layer and device performance. Afterward, an n-type GaN layer with thickness 3-4 mm is grown at 1000xc2x0 C. and an InGaN multiple quantum well active layer is grown at 600-900xc2x0 C., wherein the number of quantum wells is 4 to 10. After, a p-type GaN layer with thickness is grown again at 1000xc2x0 C. Finally, aside and n-side contacts are manufactured to complete the light-emitting device.
However, in above-mentioned light-emitting device, the p-side and n-side contacts are manufactured at the same face opposite to the sapphire substrate due to the electrical insulation of the sapphire substrate. The effective light emitting area is limited. Moreover, the sapphire has high hardness rendering the difficulty for slicing.
Alternative, a silicon substrate has the advantages of fewer defect, higher electrical conductivity, and lower price for larger area. However, the silicon substrate is a light absorbing material to reduce external quantum efficiency.
It is an object of the present invention to a method for manufacturing light-emitting device with higher efficiency.
It is another object of the present invention to a method for manufacturing light-emitting device with higher heat dissipation effect.
It is still another object of the present invention to a method for manufacturing light-emitting device with better forward illumination.
The various objects and advantages of the present invention will be more readily understood from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the appended drawing, in which:

Method for manufacturing light-emitting element on non-transparent substrate


Disclosed is a material roll that includes a roll of an optical film having defect information markings printed thereon and is resistant to the formation of a defect by the transfer of a bump/dent deformation at the marking site. The material roll includes a long sheet of an optical film with polarizer wound into roll shape; and marking(s) formed at or in a vicinity of at least one defect site. The marking has an optical density of 1.5 or more, and a thickness of a center part of the marking is 1.5 μm or less. The marking preferably has an optical density per unit thickness of 2.5 μm−1 or more.

In recent years, as the screen size of liquid crystal televisions, etc. has increased, more stringent demands have been placed on the display properties of optical films such as polarizing plates for use in image display devices such as liquid crystal displays, and more strict control of optical defects has been demanded. To meet these demands, there have been used methods of detecting optical defects with human eyes or automatic inspection apparatuses and removing them. When defects are detected, the information about their positions can be recorded, and the parts including defects can be eliminated so as not to be bonded to an optical display unit, so that an image display device as an end product can be prevented from being contaminated with optical film-derived defects. This can reduce the optical film loss and the rate at which reworking has to be performed to peel off the defective optical film from the optical display unit and therefore can contribute to an increase in yield and cost savings.
Proposed methods for recording positional information about detected defects include a method of printing a marking at a defect site generally with ink or the like (see for example Patent Document 1), a method of printing, on a film, bar code information or coded character information about the result of detection of defects (see for example Patent Document 2), and a method of attaching a recorded media such as an IC chip to an optical film product (see for example Patent Document 3).
When printing on an optical film is performed as described in Patent Document 1 or 2, the printed site has an increased thickness due to the thickness of the ink or the like used to form the marking, although the increase in thickness is very small. Therefore, the process of winding the optical film into a roll may cause a problem in which the thickness difference at the printed site, specifically a bump/dent deformation is transferred to a part in contact with the printed site, so that a new deformation such as a dent can occur to form a new defect in an originally-non-defective part. To prevent such transfer-induced defects, there is proposed a method of printing on a transverse end of an optical film outside the effective width of the optical film, specifically on a part not to be bonded to an optical display unit such as a liquid crystal cell (see for example Patent Document 4).
In addition to the demands for defect reduction, demands for reductions in the cost of image display devices are increasing every year. To meet the demands, there is proposed a method of manufacturing an image display device using a continuous manufacturing line that includes feeding means for feeding a long optical film from a roll of the long optical film, cutting means for cutting the optical film at specific intervals along the feed direction, and bonding means for bonding the cut piece of the optical film to an optical display unit (see Patent Document 5). Such a system makes it possible to directly cut the optical film from the material roll into the desired size and to directly bond the cut piece of the optical film to the optical display unit. Therefore, such a system makes it possible to directly package the material roll and to deliver it and therefore can contribute to a reduction in the number of man-hours or process materials, in contrast to a conventional method including stamping a sheet material of an optical film into pieces of the desired size, carefully packaging each piece of the optical film after the stamping, and delivering it to a panel processing manufacturer.
If the manufacturing method disclosed in Patent Document 5 is controlled in such a manner that the optical film is inspected for defects before it is cut by the cutting means and that defective parts of the optical film are not bonded to the optical display unit, the yield of the end product, an image display device, can be increased.
Patent Document 5 proposes that in the defect inspection, the optical film should be inspected for defects after a release film (separator) is temporarily peeled off from the optical film, and then a separator should be attached to the optical film again. Alternatively, detect inspection may be performed in advance, and the resulting defect information may be recorded on the material roll as described in Patent Documents 1 to 4, so that the optical film from the material roll can be directly cut into the desired size without peeling off the separator and that the cut piece of the optical film can be directly bonded to the optical display unit.

Optical film material roll and method for manufacturing image display device using thereof


The invention relates to a windshield wiper device (10a; 10b) for a windshield wiper (12a; 12b), comprising at least one wiper arm adapter (14a; 14b), at least one wiper blade adapter (16a; 16b), and a heating unit (18a; 18b) for heating a wiper blade (20a; 20b) and/or a spray unit (22a; 22b) for spraying a wash fluid onto a vehicle windshield, wherein the spray unit (22a; 22b) and/or the heating unit (18a; 18b) is/are at least partly arranged in the wiper blade adapter (16a; 16b). The wiper arm adapter (14a; 14b) and the wiper blade adapter (16a; 16b) have coupling elements (24a, 26a; 24b, 26b) which are provided for laterally coupling the wiper arm adapter (14a; 14b) to the wiper blade adapter (16a; 16b).

A windshield wiper device for a windshield wiper, having at least one wiper arm adapter, having at least one wiper blade adapter, and having a heating unit for heating a wiper blade and/or having a spray unit for spraying a washing fluid onto a vehicle windshield, wherein the spray unit and/or the heating unit are/is arranged at least partially in the wiper blade adapter, has already been proposed.


A method and apparatus for improving disk performance during partial stripe write operations in a computer system having a disk array subsystem utilizing parity fault tolerance technique. When a partial stripe write generation is begun, the method determines if the area or stripe where the write is to occur is unused space in the file system. If not, the partial stripe write operation is performed using a preceding read operation to read the current data and parity information from the disk as would normally be done. However, if the write area is unused space in the file system, then the contents of the data stripe do not need to be preserved. In this instance, the partial stripe write operation can be performed without any preceding read operations. By obviating the necessity of a preceding read operation, much of the performance penalty of doing a partial stripe write in the case where the rest of the data stripe does not need to be preserved is removed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed toward a method for improving performance for multiple disk drives in computer systems, and more particularly to a method for performing write operations in a disk array utilizing parity data redundancy and recovery protection.
2. Description of the Related Art
Microprocessors and the computers which utilize them have become increasingly more powerful during the recent years. Currently available personal computers have capabilities in excess of the mainframe and minicomputers of ten years ago. Microprocessor data bus sizes of 32 bits are widely available whereas in the past 8 bits was conventional and 16 bits was common.
Personal computer systems have developed over the years and new uses are being discovered daily. The uses are varied and, as a result, have different requirements for various subsystems forming a complete computer system. With the increased performance of computer systems, it became apparent that mass storage subsystems, such as fixed disk drives, played an increasingly important role in the transfer of data to and from the computer system. In the past few years, a new trend in storage subsystems, referred to as a disk array subsystem, has emerged for improving data transfer performance, capacity and reliability. One reason for building a disk array subsystem is to create a logical device that has a very high data transfer rate. This may be accomplished by "ganging" multiple standard disk drives together and transferring data to or from these drives in parallel. Accordingly, data for a logical volume is stored "across" each of the disks comprising the disk array so that each disk holds a portion of the data comprising the volume. If n drives are ganged together, then the effective data transfer rate can be increased up to n times. This technique, known as striping, originated in the supercomputing environment where the transfer of large amounts of data to and from secondary storage is a frequent requirement. In striping, a sequential data block is broken into segments of a unit length, such as sector size, and sequential segments are written to sequential disk drives, not to sequential locations on a single disk drive. The unit length or amount of data that is stored "across" each disk is referred to as the stripe size. If the data block is longer than n unit lengths, the process repeats for the next sector location on the disk drives. With this approach, the n physical drives become a single logical device. This may be implemented either through software or hardware.
One technique that is used to provide for data protection and recovery in disk array subsystems is referred to as a parity scheme. In a parity scheme, data blocks being written to various drives within the array are used and a known EXCLUSIVE-OR (XOR) technique is used to create parity information which is written to a reserved or parity drive within the array. The advantage to this technique is that it may be used to minimize the amount of data storage dedicated to data redundancy and recovery purposes within the array. However, there are a number of disadvantages to the use of parity fault tolerance techniques.
One major disadvantage is that traditional operating systems perform many small writes to the disk subsystem which are often smaller than the stripe size of the disk array, referred to as partial stripe write operations. When this occurs, the performance of the disk subsystem is seriously impacted because the data currently on the disk must be read off of the disk in order to generate the new parity information. This results in extra revolutions of the disk drive and causes delays in servicing the request. In addition to the time required to perform the actual operations, it will be appreciated that a READ operation followed by a WRITE operation to the same sector on a disk results in the loss of one disk revolution, or approximately 16.5 milliseconds for certain types of hard disk drives.
Thus, computer write operations often call for data stored on a disk to first be read, modified by the process active on the host system, and written back to the same address on the data disk. This operation consists of a data disk READ, modification of the data, and a data disk WRITE to the same address. Where an entire disk stripe is being written to the array, the parity information may be generated directly from the data being written to the drive array, and therefore no extra read of the disk stripe is required. However, a problem occurs when the computer writes only a partial stripe to a disk within the array because the array controller does not have sufficient information to compute parity for the entire stripe. There are generally two techniques used to compute. parity information for partial stripe write operations. In the first technique, a partial stripe write to a data disk in an XOR parity fault tolerant system includes issuing a READ command in order to maintain the correct parity. The computer system first reads the parity information from the parity disk for the data disk sectors which are being updated and the old data values that are to be replaced from the data disk. The XOR parity information is then recalculated by the host or a local processor, or dedicated logic, by XORing the old data sectors to be replaced with the related parity sectors. This recovers the parity value without those data values. The new data values are XORed on to this recovered value to produce the new parity data. A WRITE command is then executed, writing the updated data to the data disks and the new parity information to the parity disk. It will be appreciated that this process requires two additional partial sector READ operations, one from the parity disk and one reading the old data, prior to the generation of the new XOR parity information. The new parity information and data are then written to locations which were just read. Consequently, data transfer performance suffers.
The second method requires reading the remainder of the data that is not to be repudiated for the stripe, despite the fact that it is not being replaced by the WRITE operation. Using the new data and the old data which has been retrieved, the new parity information may be determined for the entire stripe which is being updated. This process requires a READ operation of the data not to be replaced and a full stripe WRITE operation.
Therefore, partial stripe writes hurt system performance because either the remainder of the stripe that is not being written must be fetched or the existing parity information for the stripe must be read prior to the actual write of the information. Accordingly, there exists a need for an improved method for performing partial stripe disk WRITE operations in a parity fault tolerant disk array.
Background on file systems used in computer systems is deemed appropriate. Generally, a file system may use one of two techniques, either a "free list" or a bit map technique to describe the amount and location of free space on disk drive units. In a free list technique, a known location on the disk contains a pointer to a block, and in this block is a list of other free blocks, i.e. blocks on the disk that are unused by the file system. The very last pointer in this block points to a block with a list of other free blocks, thus forming a chain of blocks which contain information about free space in the file system. When a free list technique is used, it is difficult to determine if a respective block is free or unused because the entire free list must be traversed to determine if the block is free. In a bit map scheme, a portion of the disk includes a reserved area where one bit is allocated for every "allocation cluster," wherein an allocation cluster may include a number of allocated blocks. A respective bit is set when the corresponding cluster is free and is cleared when the corresponding cluster is not free. Therefore, in a bit map scheme one need only examine the respective bit associated with the desired cluster to determine if the cluster is free. Most operating systems including DOS, OS/2, Netware, and modern versions of UNIX use a bit map scheme. The classical or original UNIX operating system is an example of an operating system which uses a free list scheme.

Method for improving partial stripe write performance in disk array subsystems


Cases and cartons are formed and/or sealed using a specific class of low viscosity reactive urethane hot melt adhesive compositions which provide a fast setting, temperature resistant bond that is not attacked by aromatic oils solvents or petrochemical vapors.

There is a growing trend in the general "case and carton sealing" as well as the "carton and tray forming" market towards high speed production so as to provide lower unit costs and higher profit levels. However, the use of such higher machine speeds often excludes the use of normal water based adhesives, such as those based on dextrins, polyvinyl acetate and latex. The packaging industry has therefore moved towards higher technology products, such as hot melt adhesives which are fast setting, easy to apply, and clean to use. These adhesives provide a fair degree of high and low temperature resistance, but are attacked by aromatic oils, solvents and petrochemical vapors.
Consequently, some food containing cartons, particularly those containing aromatic oils and mint based foods, cannot be successfully sealed with hot melts. For example, certain teas contain oil of Bergamont. After the carton is filled with tea, it is sealed with hot melt and then overwrapped with polypropylene or similar film to prevent ingress of moisture, and loss of flavour. If cartons are examined within a few hours a good bond is obtained; however, after a week the hot melt will be seen to be weakening, and eventually total bond failure will result. This failure is due to the hot melt being attacked by the oil in the tea,
A similar situation also exists in non-food applications. These are typified by soap and detergent powder essences, fire lighter fuels, and light engineering oils. Here again, the hot melt is attacked, and bond failure results.
Bonding of silane, fluorocarbon and other treated stocks is also hampered by the use of hot melt adhesives which do not "wet" the coated surface sufficiently to insure adequate adhesion. In these cases, it is necessary to "block-out", i.e. leave uncoated, those portions of the paperboard stock which will subsequently be positioned in the sealed areas.
The development of "cork wads" has also been retarded by the lack of suitable adhesives. "Wads" is the term given to the liquid seal in the cap of a bottle. They are normally constructed from an inert plastic material bonded to either naturally occurring cork or a cork derivative. A laminate is produced, which is subsequently glued into the cap. It is this latter gluing operation which is often affected by the materials or chemicals contained within the bottle or jar. These chemicals can vary from solvents, through light engine oils to liquid medications. At present, most wads are retained in the caps by water based products, which take many days to set, since there is nowhere for the water to escape.

Use of reactive hot melt adhesive for packaging applications

National Starch and Chemical Investment Holding Corporation