A magazine containing a number of standardized magnetic tape cartridges, for loading into an automated device in which a selected cartridge can be removed from the magazine and inserted into a data reader, has a number cartridge receptacles therein formed by a number of dividers extending the width of the magazine. Each divider consists of electrically conductive polymer, and has an electrical connector at a bottom thereof which extends through a bottom of the magazine, and which engages an electrically conductive path to ground in a base element on which the magazine rests within the device, thereby providing an electrostatic discharge path for each cartridge in each receptacle. Each divider also has an element extending into the receptacle, which is engaged by the cartridge as it is being inserted into the receptacle. Based on the standardized configuration of the cartridge, the element has a profile which is configured to permit the cartridge to move over the element only when the cartridge has been inserted into the receptacle into a selected orientation. If the cartridge is attempted to be inserted into the receptacle in any other orientation, the profile prevents such insertion, thereby insuring that each cartridge will always be inserted in its receptacle in an orientation for correctly inserting the cartridge in the data reader when it is automatically removed from the magazine. For a cartridge properly oriented in the receptacle, the element also serves as a spring to urge the cartridge against a neighboring receptacle, to insure good contact with the electrostatic discharge path.

1. Field Of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a magazine for data carriers, and in particular to a magazine for standardized magnetic tape cartridges, having a plurality of receptacles formed by a plurality of dividers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known to record and store data on a number of different types of storage media, such as magnetic tape, optical disks and the like. Because of the limited size of such data carriers, the amount of data which can be stored thereon is similarly limited. In computing and data retrieval systems wherein a large amount of data is stored, a relatively large number of such data carriers are required in order to contain all of the necessary data. To retrieve the data from the clam carrier, it is necessary to insert the carder into a data reader, such as a tape drive unit. (As used herein, the unit into which the data carrier is inserted will be referred to as a "reader," although it may also be use for the purpose of writing data on the carder.)
In systems requiring multiple data carriers, it is cumbersome to manually successively insert and remove the data carriers from the reader. Many such systems, therefore, employ a data carrier magazine, which holds a large number of data carriers, with the magazine being loadable into an automated device which contains the reader. A selected data carrier can then automatically removed from the magazine, and inserted into the reader wherein the data on the carrier is read, or new data is written on the carrier. After the completion of the read or write operation, the data carrier is then automatically removed from the reader and is replaced in the magazine. The device which removes the data carrier from the magazine, inserts it in the reader, and removes it from the reader and replaces it in the magazine is generically known as a "loader."
Such data carrier magazines generally are in the form of a box-like container, which is divided into a number of receptacles for individually receiving a data carrier.
A tray-type magazine for tape cassettes is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,561,004, which has a frame with sidewalls and an open top and bottom. The sidewalls of channels therein arranged in pairs, with each pair of channels receiving a cassette therebetween. A plurality of release elements are provided in one of the sidewalls respectively at the channels therein. Each release element engages a cassette placed between the channels, and holds the cassette between the channels until actuated, so that the cassette can drop through the frame into a mechanism for transporting the cassette to a tape player.
Another holder for multiple cassettes, not intended for use as a loading magazine, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,603,478. The interior of the case of this cassette holder has a plurality of guide ribs therein, which form channels for receiving tape cassettes. Each compartment formed by a pair of such guide ribs have a lid having a resilient element thereon which engages a side face of a cartridge when placed in the compartment. Such engagement causes the element to extend outwardly from the case when the lid is closed, providing a visual indication that a cassette is contained therein.
A compact disc storage unit having a plurality of spaced guides on a top and bottom of the unit, which form at receptacles for receiving a compact disc in its container, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,655,345. Each receptacle has a slidable element at a bottom thereof, which can be gripped from the exterior of the storage unit to pull a compact disc in its container out of the receptacle.
It is generally desirable to maintain data carriers free of static electrical charge accumulation because such static charge, if present when the data carrier is inserted in a reader, can cause damage to sensitive parts of the reader, if a discharge occurs within the reader, and moreover can alter or obliterate the information contained on the data carrier, particularly if the information is magnetically stored on the carrier. In magnetic tape readers, for example, it is known to provide an electrostatic discharge element, connectable to ground, at the opening of the reader, which comes into contact with a data cartridge as it is inserted into the reader. This insures that any accumulated charged will be discharged to ground before the cartridge enters into the region of any sensitive components of the reader.
It is desirable to always minimize the accumulation of static charge on a data carrier, and therefore it is desirable also to provide electrostatic discharge means in a data carrier magazine.
Protective containers for sensitive electronic components, not specifically designed for data carriers, are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,427,114 and 4,404,615. Each container includes a plurality of dividers forming receptacles for the electronic components, and each has an electrostatic discharge path around the walls of the container.
Another type of electrostatic discharge structure is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,041,319, for use with discrete electrical components of the type having one or more leads extending from a component package, such as a dual-in-line chip. The leads are then inserted into a laminated material, such as layers of anti-static foam.
Lastly, it is a problem in data carrier magazines which are intended for loading a plurality of data carriers into a loader, to insure that the data carriers are contained within the magazine in an orientation which results in a correct insertion of the data carrier into the reader. Since the data carrier is removed from the magazine and inserted into the reader automatically, the removal and insertion sequence is designed to end with the data carrier presented to the reader in the proper orientation. For example, for a data carrier such as a magnetic tape cartridge, the cartridge must be presented for insertion into the reader in an orientation which insures that the top and bottom of the cartridge are properly oriented relative to the reader, and which also insures that the proper end of the cartridge will be inserted first into the reader. Since the removal and insertion sequence is undertaken automatically, the same sequence is always used, and cannot be changed dependent on the manner by which the cartridge happens to be oriented in the magazine. This means that the cartridge must always be inserted in the magazine at a starting orientation which, given a specified sequence of loading steps, will result in the proper orientation of the cartridge at the end of the sequence.
Since the data carriers are usually initially placed in the magazine manually, it is desirable to provide means in the magazine prevents a data cartridge from being inadvertently improperly oriented within its receptacle, and which informs the person placing the cartridges in the magazine if an attempt is made to incorrectly place a cartridge in the magazine.

Conductive divider for a tape cartridge magazine with insertion error-preventing element


A directional light distributing optical element includes a light incident surface and a light emission curved surface. The light incident surface receives a light emitted by a light source. The light emission curved surface and a first plane are intersected to form a first curve. The first curve has a plurality of first curve segments, and each first curve segment includes at least three first tangent points. After passing each first tangent point along a connecting line of the light source and each first tangent point, the light exits along a first axis, and an included angle formed between the first axis and an optic axis is greater than −15° and smaller than 15°. Thus, the light after passing the directional light distributing optical element forms a one-dimensional directional light.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical element and an optical assembly, and more particularly to a directional light distributing optical element and a directional light distributing optical assembly.
2. Related Art
Due to the advantages of light, thin, and low power consumption, the Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) is widely applied to portable electronic devices such as a notebook computer, a mobile phone, and a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). However, the liquid crystal does not have the characteristic of luminescence, so the LCD needs a light-emitting device to realize the display function.
Currently, the color filter of the LCD in the prior art adopts the manner of absorbing and generating red, green, blue lights, and this manner will cause the substantial decrease of the using rate of the energy. To solve the above problem, a new LCD architecture design technique is gradually popularized.
Generally speaking, when a divergence angle of an incident light of a light source (hereinafter referred to as a backlight source for short) of a backlight module is too large, the light of various colors cannot be accurately incident on the subpixel of the liquid crystal to generate a color mixture phenomenon of a cross-talk (that is, the picture on a certain region of the display influencing the brightness of the adjacent region), such that the color saturation of the light after passing the panel is greatly reduced. In addition to generating a uniform directional light, the backlight source must reach the 70%-80% uniformity of the light, so the light source is required to be kept approximately parallel in one dimension and dispersed in another dimension at 90° different from the one dimension.
Since the backlight source in the LCD has a high requirement for collimation, the packaging technique of the general Light-Emitting Diode (LED) cannot meet the collimation requirement of the backlight source.

Directional light distributed optical element and directional light distributed optical assembly

Industrial Technology Research Institute


A display panel and a display device are provided. The display panel includes a first pixel area and a second pixel area adjacent to the first pixel area. The display panel includes an array substrate, a color film substrate arranged oppositely to the array substrate, a liquid crystal layer between the array substrate and the color film substrate, and a backlight module positioned at a side of the color film substrate, which is back on to the array substrate. The display panel comprises a plurality of micro light emitting diode (micro LED) lighting units. A transparent area is placed among the micro LED lighting units, and the color film substrate includes a color filter in the second pixel area.

Under-screen sensing technique becomes a development key point in a medium/small-size display device due to the demands for full-screen and integrated display device. Because the LCD panel is a passive lighting device illuminated by the backlight module, the optical sensor and the optical display cannot be spatially overlapped. Therefore, it becomes more difficult for LCD panel to become a full-screen device.
In contrast to LCD panel, OLED panel is an active lighting device illuminated by each OLED pixel. OLED panel has advantages such as high contrast, thin, flexible and bendable. In addition, because the OLED panel does not need a backlight module, it can be well integrated with the conventional optical sensor. Thus, the integrated optical sensing technique has become a unique advantage of the OLED panel and allows the OLED panel to be switched between the display mode and the imaging mode. Furthermore, LCD panel has a carved out area but the carved out area cannot be used to display images but OLED panel does not have this issue.
Although the LCD panel has a low-cost advantage, this advantage becomes unimportant because of the increasing demands of the full-screen. Therefore, it is important to improve the conventional LCD panel to meet the full-screen demands.

WUHAN CHINA STAR OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


The present invention is directed to the preparation of glass-ceramic articles exhibiting an apparent annealing point of at least 1200.degree. C. and containing slawsonite crystallization consisting essentially, in weight percent, of 10-54% SrO, 10-40% Al.sub.2 O.sub.3, 36-55% SiO.sub.2, and up to 25% total of at least one alkaline earth metal oxide in the indicated proportion of 0-10% MgO, 0-15% CaO, and 0-20% BaO.

Glass-ceramic articles have been marketed commercially for over three decades, the first of these being Corning's Code 9606 glass-ceramic radomes which were and still today are supplied by Corning Incorporated, Corning, N.Y. under the trademark PYROCERAM to United States missile manufacturers. Those radomes, containing cordierite as the predominant crystal phase, have a composition coming within the disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 2,920,971, the basic patent in the field of glass-ceramics.
As is well-recognized in the art, glass-ceramics have customarily been prepared through the controlled crystallization of a precursor glass. Thus, glass-ceramic articles have been conventionally produced following the three general steps below: (a) a glass-forming batch containing a nucleation agent is melted; (b) that melt is cooled to a temperature at least below the transformation range and simultaneously a glass article of a desired configuration shaped therefrom; and (c) that glass article is heat treated in accordance with a predetermined schedule in order to controllably crystallize it in situ. Frequently, the heat treatment is carried out in two stages: (1) the glass is initially heated to a temperature somewhat above its transformation range to develop nuclei therein; and then (2) the nucleated glass is heated to a temperature approaching or even exceeding the softening point thereof to grow crystals on the nuclei. (As employed herein, the expression transformation range is defined as that temperature at which a melt is transformed into an amorphous solid, that temperature typically being deemed to reside in the vicinity of the annealing point of a glass.)
Because a glass-ceramic is derived from the in situ crystallization of a glass article, it is void-free and non-porous. Furthermore, because the customary glass-ceramic is more crystalline than glass, the chemical and physical properties exhibited thereby will be more reflective of the crystal phase(s) present therein than of the parent glass, and the residual glass remaining therein will have a different composition from the original glass, inasmuch as components constituting the crystal phase(s) will have been removed therefrom. To illustrate, the coefficient of thermal expansion and the refractoriness exhibited by a glass-ceramic are typically quite different from those demonstrated by the precursor glass.
As can be appreciated, the presence of a nucleating agent alters the properties which would be displayed where a desired crystal phase is present alone. For example, in some instances the nucleating agent is less refractory than the crystal phase generated, which circumstance diminishes the refractoriness of the glass-ceramic. In other instances, the nucleating agent may become part of the residual glass, thereby resulting in a higher level of glassy phase in the final product. In still other instances, the presence of a nucleating agent can lead to the generation of several crystal phases, thereby diluting the effect of a single desired crystal phase.
Therefore, in a rather recent modification of the basic process for manufacturing glass-ceramic bodies, the following procedure has been devised: First, a glass-forming batch is melted; Second, that melt is cooled to a temperature below the transformation range thereof and simultaneously a glass body of a desired configuration is shaped therefrom; Third, that glass shape is comminuted to a very fine powder (commonly called frit); Fourth, that frit is formed into a desired shape; and Fifth, that shape is heated to a temperature and for a time sufficient to sinter the particles into an integral, non-porous article which, utilizing surface nucleation of the very fine particles, will thereafter be crystallized in situ into a glass-ceramic.
As can be appreciated, articles of complex shapes can be prepared through a variety of conventional ceramic powder processing techniques such as dry pressing, drain casting, rolling, hot pressing, isostatic pressing, jiggering, slip casting, etc. The use of frits has also been found to be especially convenient in providing a glass-ceramic coating or film on a substrate.


According to some embodiments, a circuit provides a first set of one or more flip-flops to receive a low-swing differential clock, and a second set of one or more flip-flops to receive the low-swing differential clock. One of the one or more flip-flops of the first set is to generate a first CMOS-level sampling pulse for each cycle of the low-swing differential clock, and wherein one of the one or more flip-flops of the second set is to generate a second CMOS-level sampling pulse for each cycle of the low-swing differential clock.

Data signals are commonly transmitted and received in conjunction with associated clock signals. A clock signal allows a receiver to extract data from a data signal by defining the bit-cell boundaries of the data signal. Clock signals are controlled by clocking circuits that are associated with data-carrying communication links.
A clocking circuit that is associated with a communication link is ideally capable of supporting any data rate that can be supported by the communication link and its associated transmitter and receiver. However, the speed and performance of a communication link are often limited by its clocking circuit. More specifically, a communication link may be prevented from carrying data at a particular rate because an associated clocking circuit is unable to generate clocking signals that define bit-cell lengths required by the data rate. Consequently, circuit designers desire clocking systems that support data rates that are greater than those supported by current clocking systems.


A thermoplastic resin composition and a molded article including the same. The thermoplastic resin composition includes about 100 parts by weight of a base resin including about 60 wt % to about 80 wt % of a polycarbonate (PC) resin and about 20 wt % to about 40 wt % of a polyester resin including a repeat unit represented by the following Formula 1 wherein in Formula 1, Ar1 is a substituted or unsubstituted C6 to C18 arylene group and R1 is a C1 to C20 linear alkylene group or a C3 to C20 branched alkylene group; and about 1 part by weight to about 3 parts by weight of a linear (meth)acrylic resin:

Thermoplastic resins exhibit good properties, such as low specific gravity, good moldability, and good impact resistance, as compared with glass or metal, and are useful for housings of electrical/electronic products, automotive interior/exterior materials, and exterior materials for buildings. Particularly, with the trend toward larger and lighter electrical/electronic products, plastic products produced from thermoplastic resins are quickly replacing existing glass and metal-based products.
Particularly, it is known in the art that a blend of a polyester resin and a polycarbonate resin exhibits both properties of the polyester resin such as high mechanical strength and good moldability and properties of the polycarbonate resin such as good thermal resistance, impact stability and dimensional stability.
In order to satisfy the recent trend of increasing the size of components, there is increasing demand for materials having high flowability. When a polycarbonate resin having a low weight average molecular weight is used in order to increase flowability of the blend of the polycarbonate resin and the polyester resin, there is a problem of deterioration in thermal resistance and mechanical properties such as impact resistance. Moreover, when the amount of the polyester resin is increased in order to improve flowability of the blend, there is a problem of deterioration in extrusion stability due to difference in viscosity between the polyester resin and the polycarbonate resin.

Thermoplastic resin composition and molded article comprising the same


The present invention relates to metal film encapsulation of an electrochemical device. The metal film encapsulation may provide contact tabs for the electrochemical device. The present invention may also include a selectively conductive bonding layer between a contact and a cell structure. The present invention may further include ways of providing heat and pressure resilience to the bonding layer and improving the robustness of the protection for the cell structure.

Typical electrochemical devices comprise multiple electrically active layers such as an anode, cathode, electrolyte, substrate, current collectors, etc. Some layers, such as, for example, an anode layer comprising Lithium, are comprised of materials that are very environmentally sensitive. Such batteries require an encapsulation to protect such environmentally sensitive material. Some schemes used to encapsulate the sensitive layers of electrochemical devices, such encapsulation with gold foil, are expensive. Other schemes encapsulate the device with pouch, for example, made of metal and plastic, that seals around the perimeter of the device. As the temperature changes the residual gas atmosphere within the metal and plastic pouch expands and/or contracts. This expansion and/or contraction may blow out the seals of the metal and plastic pouch or create other problems, thus eliminating the encapsulating benefits of the pouch.
Typical electrochemical devices also have tabs that extend out from the substrate. These tabs provide electrically conductive contact points for the battery. These tabs can be fragile and can break when gripped or secured from the outside and create difficulties when trying to design the encapsulation to maintain a proper seal around the tabs.
Solid-state, thin-film, secondary and primary electrochemical devices, including batteries, have very small thickness dimensions, which may put their electrically conductive contact points, the terminals, in very close layered proximity by a dimension that is mainly defined by the thickness of the seal material. Any physical impact on such a device can entail the risk of bringing these two terminals into contact, which would accidentally electrically short out the device.
Thus, there is a need in the art to provide for better and more robust encapsulating approaches and better approaches to providing electrically conductive contacts, including encapsulation that is substantially thinner than known encapsulation methods while being more about robust against physical impact.


A dielectric barrier for use with a lightning arrestor connector comprises a plurality of physically connected cells defining a hollow, tubular side wall, with each cell including a frame formed from dielectric material and an aperture that creates a void within the frame. The dielectric barrier is configured to be positioned between an inner conductor and an outer conductor and provides a low resistance path from one conductor to the other conductor when the voltage between the two conductors exceeds a threshold value.

Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the current invention relate to lightning arrestor connectors.
Description of the Related Art
Electrical connectors generally transfer an electrical signal or electrical power between an electronic device and a cable. The electronic device may be embodied by TVs, video components, audio components, data communications and networking components, tablet, laptop, and desktop computers, mobile devices such as smartphones, navigation equipment, and the like. Typically, an electrical connector on the cable connects to an electrical connector on the electronic device to transfer a signal and/or power from the cable to the device or vice-versa.
Each electrical connector may include a shell or housing and one or more electrical contacts. The shell is often formed from electrically conductive material, such as metal, and has a hollow cylindrical or box shape. The shell may often have a mechanical coupler component, such as internal or external threads, lugs, latches, clamps, etc., in order for one connector to stay connected to another connector. The electrical contact may include a pin, a rod, or the like retained within the interior of the shell and may be separated from the shell by an insulator.
Occasionally, the devices, cables, or systems to which the electrical connectors are connected may be exposed to, or experience, a surge in electrical voltage, electrical current, or both as a result of lightning or other phenomena, wherein the voltage on the electrical contact may increase exponentially. Some electrical connectors include a lightning (or surge) arrestor structure in an effort to prevent the surge from being passed on to electronic circuits. When the voltage exceeds a certain threshold, the lightning arrestor structure should break down electrically and provide a low resistance path to electrical ground through which surge current flows.
The lightning arrestor structure typically comprises a web, one or more breakdown chambers, and one or more dielectric barrier. The web may include a disc or block of electrically conductive material oriented transverse to a longitudinal axis of the connector. The web may be mechanically coupled to the shell and electrically connected to electrical ground. The web may include one or more through-hole openings, each opening to receive one electrical contact of the electrical connector. Each breakdown chamber may be located in one of the openings of the web and may provide a gap between the electrical contact and the opening in which the contact is positioned. Each dielectric barrier may be formed from electrically polarizable insulating material and may be positioned in the breakdown chamber. In some implementations, the dielectric barrier may have a hollow tubular shape with a single circumferential wall having an inner surface facing the electrical contact and an outer surface facing the through-hole opening of the web. One drawback to these implementations is that the surge current may not penetrate the solid material of the dielectric barrier sidewall and instead may flow from the electrical contact to the web at one or the other of the ends of the sidewall. The result is that the lightning arrestor structure may not break down soon enough, potentially leading to electronic circuit damage.
In other implementations, the dielectric barrier may be formed from granular dielectric material such as granules of lead magnesium niobate/lead titanate (PMN/PT). The granules may resemble sand and are typically poured into the breakdown chamber while the electrical contact is positioned therein. The granules may provide lower resistance air gaps roughly uniformly distributed throughout the volume of the breakdown chamber which would allow surge current to flow from the electrical contact to the web at roughly any point along the axial length of the breakdown chamber. However, given the small gap between the electrical contact and the web in the breakdown chamber, filling the chamber with the granules and verifying that the chamber is filled are both difficult—resulting in a decrease of quality control and unpredictable performance of the lightning arrestor structure.

Lightning arrestor connector with mesh dielectric structure

Honeywell Federal Maunfacturing and Technologies, LLC


A switch manipulation prevention device including a front plate that has a generally square configuration. The front plate has an upper edge, a lower edge, opposed side edges, a front surface, and a rear surface. The front plate has at least one recess extending downwardly of the upper edge. The recess has an open upper end and a closed lower end. The recess is dimensioned for receiving at least one electrical wall switch therein. The front plate is securable to a switch plate whereby the recess is positioned so as prevent movement of the electrical wall switch.

The present invention relates to a switch manipulation prevention device and more particularly pertains to preventing a switch from being moved.
Typically, a problem exits when someone mistakenly toggles a switch to either turn an electrical component on or off. What is needed is a simple device that will prevent this problem from occurring while at the same time can be easily removed for normal operation of the switch.
The present invention attempts to solve the abovementioned problem by providing a device that can easily prevent the manipulation of a switch. Additionally, the present invention can be simply removed so as not to obstruct the operation of the switch at times when necessary.
The use of additions to switches are known in the prior art. More specifically, additions to switches heretofore devised and utilized for the purpose of facilitating the operation of a switch are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objective and requirements, these patents do not describe a switch manipulation prevention device for preventing a switch from being moved.
In this respect, the switch manipulation prevention device according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of preventing a switch from being moved.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there exists a continuing need for a new and improved switch manipulation prevention device which can be used for preventing a switch from being moved. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.


Provided are an air conditioning plant control method by which an air conditioning plant can be operated in a most desirable state, and an air conditioning plant so controlled. An air conditioning plant is controlled, which has at least one air conditioner, a refrigerating machine supplying cold water to the air conditioner and a cooling tower supplying cooling water to the refrigerating machine. Within an extent satisfying set conditions of air conditioning, setpoints of the draft temperature of the at least one air conditioner, the cold water temperature of the refrigerating machine and the temperature of cooling water from the cooling tower are altered and optimized so as to minimize energy consumption, operating cost or carbon dioxide emission of the air conditioning plant.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air conditioning plant and a control method thereof, and more particularly to an air conditioning plant capable of optimal operation optimized with a view to energy conservation, operating cost reduction and conservation of the global environment and a control method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-98358 discloses a primary pump type heat source current transformation system which air-conditions a building by supplying in a circulatory manner cold or hot water from only a heat source side. This system comprises a cold/hot water generator which supplies cold or hot water to an air conditioner, a cooling tower which supplies cooling water to the cold/hot water generator, and a pumping variable flow rate control unit which performs variable control so as to supplying in a circulatory manner the cold or hot water and the cooling water according to the air conditioning load, and the power consumption by a cooling water pump and a cold water pump is reduced by varying the flow rates of the cold or hot water and the cooling water.
However, as the air conditioning method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-98358 is to reduce the power consumption by the cooling water pump and the cold water pump by varying only the flow rates of the cold or hot water and the cooling water, the control is not designed to reduce the overall power consumption by the air conditioning plant, and accordingly it is not possible to reduce power consumption by the whole air conditioning plant.
An object of the present invention, attempted in view of the circumstances noted above, is to provide an air conditioning plant capable of reducing the whole energy consumption, the operating cost or the carbon dioxide emission of the whole air conditioning plant and a control method thereof.
In order to attain the object stated above, the present invention is directed to a control method of an air conditioning plant having at least one air conditioner, a low/high-temperature heat generator which supplies a low/high-temperature heat transfer medium to the air conditioner, and a heat source/sink which supplies a heat discharging/absorbing medium to the low/high-temperature heat generator, whereby the setpoints of at least the draft temperature of the at least one air conditioner, the low/high-temperature heat transfer medium temperature of the low/high-temperature heat generator and the heat discharging/absorbing medium temperature of the heat source/sink are optimized so as to reduce at least one of the energy consumption, the operating cost and the carbon dioxide emission of the air conditioning plant within the extent of satisfying the set conditions of air conditioning.
The present invention is also directed to an air conditioning plant having at least one air conditioner, a low/high-temperature heat generator which supplies a low/high-temperature heat transfer medium to the air conditioner, and a heat source/sink which supplies a heat discharging/absorbing medium to the low/high-temperature heat generator, wherein the setpoints of at least the draft temperature of the at least one air conditioner, the low/high-temperature heat transfer medium temperature of the low/high-temperature heat generator and the temperature of the heat discharging/absorbing medium from the heat source/sink can be optimized so as to reduce the energy consumption, the operating cost or the carbon dioxide emission of the air conditioning plant within the extent of satisfying the set conditions of air conditioning.
The present invention is also directed to a control method of an air conditioning plant comprising at least one air conditioner, at least one low/high-temperature heat generators which supply a low/high-temperature heat transfer medium to the air conditioner, a heat source/sink which cools or heats the low/high-temperature heat generator, a low/high-temperature heat accumulator which stores the low/high-temperature heat transfer medium during a period of a low low/high-temperature heat load, heat transfer medium conveying units, such as pumps, fans and blowers, which connect the aforementioned devices, and control units which control the temperatures of heat generated by these devices and/or the flow rate of conveying the heat transfer medium, further provided with a group of measuring instruments with which data representing the operating states of individual units including the temperature and the flow rate are measured, a group of control units with which the operation of individual units is controlled, and a central monitoring device which is linked by signal lines to the group of measuring instruments and the group of control units, wherein the central monitoring device has, built into it, at least either an air conditioning plant operation simulator which manages the operation of the whole air conditioning plant or an air conditioning plant operational data table; computes on the basis of real time operational data picked up by the measuring instruments the optimal operating temperature and the optimal flow rate for the constituent units of the air conditioning plant and the optimal number of operating units of at least one of the low/high-temperature heat generators to minimize the energy consumption, operating cost or carbon dioxide emission equivalent or any indicator combining two or more of these factors of the whole air conditioning plant in predetermined ranges of conditions, including the temperature and humidity, of air conditioning, ranges of energy consumption conditions with respect to electric power, fuel, water and so forth, or various permissible areas of condition setting which satisfy the ranges of requirements set by combining these two sets of conditions in a prioritized manner; and supplies those optimal values to the group of control units as control setpoints, and the control unit group generates control signals on the basis of the control setpoints, supplies the control signals to the constituent units of the air conditioning plant or to the pertinent control units themselves to control at least two of the constituent units of the air conditioning plant at substantially the same time.
The present invention is also directed to a control method of an air conditioning plant comprising at least one air conditioner, at least one low/high-temperature heat generators which supply a low/high-temperature heat transfer medium to the air conditioner, a heat source/sink which cools or heats the low/high-temperature heat generator, heat transfer medium conveying units, such as pumps, fans and blowers, which connect the aforementioned devices, and control units which control the temperatures of heat generated by these devices and/or the flow rate of conveying the heat transfer medium, a group of measuring instruments with which data representing the operating states of individual units including the temperature and the flow rate are measured, a group of control units with which the operation of individual units is controlled, and a central monitoring device which is linked by signal lines to the group of measuring instruments and the group of control units, wherein the central monitoring device has, built into it, at least either an air conditioning plant operation simulator which manages the operation of the whole air conditioning plant or an air conditioning plant operational data table; computes on the basis of real time operational data picked up by the measuring instruments the optimal operating temperature and the optimal flow rate for the constituent units of the air conditioning plant and the optimal number of operating units of at least one of the low/high-temperature heat generators to minimize the energy consumption, operating cost or carbon dioxide emission equivalent or any indicator combining two or more of these factors of the whole air conditioning plant in predetermined ranges of conditions, including the temperature and humidity, of air conditioning, ranges of energy consumption conditions with respect to electric power, fuel, water and so forth, or various permissible areas of condition setting which satisfy the ranges of requirements set by combining these two sets of conditions in a prioritized manner; and supplies those optimal values to the group of control units as control setpoints, and the control unit group generates control signals on the basis of the control setpoints, and supplies the control signals to the constituent units of the air conditioning plant or to the pertinent control units themselves to control at least two of the constituent units of the air conditioning plant at substantially the same time.
The present invention is also directed to an air conditioning plant which performs air conditioning by supplying a low/high-temperature heat transfer medium in a circulatory manner, provided with simulation models of low/high-temperature heat generators, pumps and other units constituting the air conditioning plant, wherein optimal control targets to minimize or maximize a performance criterion are determined by simulation, and the air conditioning plant is operated according to the optimal control targets.
The present invention is also directed to an air conditioning plant which performs air conditioning by supplying a low/high-temperature heat transfer medium in a circulatory manner, provided with an equipment characteristics database which stores characteristics data on constituent units of the air conditioning plant, an air conditioning plant simulator which computes power consumptions and fuel consumptions in partial loads from the equipment characteristics data of constituent units stored in the equipment characteristics database, and computes performance functions by using conversion coefficients, and an optimizing device which computes the optimal control targets for the constituent units of the air conditioning plant by using the air conditioning plant simulator, wherein the constituent units of the air conditioning plant are operated according to the optimal control targets.
According to the present invention, so that an air conditioning plant can be operated in the most desirable state, the setpoints of the draft temperature of least one air conditioner, the low/high-temperature heat transfer medium temperature of a low/high-temperature heat generator and the temperature of the heat discharging/absorbing medium from a heat source/sink can be optimized. Thus, the inventors of the present invention discovered, as a result of analyzing these three parameters, that the air conditioning plant could be operated in a highly desirable state. This makes possible simple and prompt accomplishment of efficient operation of the air conditioning plant.
According to the present invention, it is preferable to optimize at least one of the setpoints of the draft air flow rate of the air conditioner, the low/high-temperature heat transfer medium flow rate of the low/high-temperature heat generator and the flow rate of the heat discharging/absorbing medium from the heat source/sink in addition to the draft temperature of the at least one air conditioner, the low/high-temperature heat transfer medium temperature of the low/high-temperature heat generator and the temperature of the heat discharging/absorbing medium from the heat source/sink. By adding more parameters to the aforementioned controls, it is made possible to control the operation of the air conditioning plant with greater accuracy.
Further according to the present invention, it is preferable to prepare in advance a data table showing a plurality of combinations of the draft temperature of the at least one air conditioner, the low/high-temperature heat transfer medium temperature of the low/high-temperature heat generator and the temperature of the heat discharging/absorbing medium from the heat source/sink and the energy consumption, the operating cost or the carbon dioxide emission of the air conditioning plant at the time, and to alter setpoints by accessing this data table. If a data table is prepared in advance in this manner, prompt control the operation of the air conditioning plant is made possible.
Further according to the present invention, it is preferable that the piping conditions of the at least one air conditioner, the piping conditions of the low/high-temperature heat generator and the piping conditions of the heat source/sink can be entered. If the piping conditions of these units can be entered in this way, application to various air conditioning plants or when the air conditioning plant has been remodeled would be facilitated, resulted in an expanded range of applicability of the air conditioning plant and the control method therefor pertaining to the present invention. Incidentally, the piping conditions include the number of piping lines, the piping length, pipe bore, pressure loss and other factors of each unit.
Further according to the present invention, efficient operation of the air conditioning plant can also be accomplished simply and promptly in the air conditioning plant provided with a low/high-temperature heat accumulator which stores the low/high-temperature heat transfer medium in a period of a lighter low/high-temperature heat load in addition to the air conditioner, the low/high-temperature heat generator and the heat source/sink.
The present invention is also directed to an air conditioning plant comprising an air conditioner, a low/high-temperature heat generator and a heat source/sink further provided with a group of measuring instruments with which data representing the operating states of individual units including the temperature and the flow rate are measured, a group of control units with which the operation of individual units is controlled, and a central monitoring device which is linked by signal lines to the group of measuring instruments and the group of control units, wherein the central monitoring device has, built into it, at least either an air conditioning plant operation simulator which manages the operation of the whole air conditioning plant or an air conditioning plant operational data table; computes on the basis of real time operational data picked up by the measuring instruments the optimal operating temperature and the optimal flow rate for the constituent units of the air conditioning plant and the optimal number of operating units of at least one of the low/high-temperature heat generators to minimize the energy consumption, operating cost or carbon dioxide emission equivalent or any indicator combining two or more of these factors of the whole air conditioning plant in predetermined ranges of conditions, including the temperature and humidity, of air conditioning, ranges of energy consumption conditions with respect to electric power, fuel, water and so forth, or various permissible areas of condition setting which satisfy the ranges of requirements set by combining these two sets of conditions in a prioritized manner; and supplies those optimal values to the group of control units as control setpoints, and the control unit group generates control signals on the basis of the control setpoints, and supplies the control signals to the constituent units of the air conditioning plant or to the pertinent control units themselves to control at least two of the constituent units of the air conditioning plant at substantially the same time. Efficient operation of the air conditioning plant is thereby made possible simply and promptly.
Further according to the present invention, it is preferable that the central monitoring device has a unit which enters from outside the priority ranks or the minimization indicators, on the basis of and the various permissible areas of condition setting performs the minimizing computations, generates optimal control values and controls at least two of the constituent units of the air conditioning plant at substantially the same time, with the result that efficient operation of the air conditioning plant is thereby made possible simply and promptly.
Further according to the present invention, it is preferable that at least one of the units having devices which externally supply and display the energy consumption, the operating cost and the instantaneous value and the integrated value of the carbon dioxide emission equivalent of the whole air conditioning plant is provided with the central monitoring device.
The present invention is also directed to an air conditioning plant which performs air conditioning by supplying a low/high-temperature heat transfer medium in a circulatory manner comprising simulation models of low/high-temperature heat generators, pumps and other units constituting the air conditioning plant, wherein optimal control targets to minimize or maximize a performance criterion are determined by simulation, and the air conditioning plant is operated according to the optimal control targets. This makes possible prompt control of the operation of the air conditioning plant. Also, the performance criterion here is supposed to be the energy consumption, but it can as well be the operating coast or the carbon dioxide emission equivalent.
The present invention is also directed to an air conditioning plant which performs air conditioning by supplying a low/high-temperature heat transfer medium in a circulatory manner, comprising: an equipment characteristics database which stores characteristics data on constituent units of the air conditioning plant; an air conditioning plant simulator which computes power consumptions and fuel consumptions in partial loads from the equipment characteristics data of constituent units stored in the equipment characteristics database, and computes performance functions by using conversion coefficients; and an optimizing device which computes the optimal control targets for the constituent units of the air conditioning plant by using the air conditioning plant simulator, wherein the constituent units of the air conditioning plant are operated according to the optimal control targets. This makes possible prompt control of the operation of the air conditioning plant. Also, the performance criterion here is supposed to be the energy consumption, but it can as well be the operating coast or the carbon dioxide emission equivalent.
Further according to the present invention, it is preferable that there are provided a computer for computing optima, which determines optimal control targets to minimize or maximize a performance criterion by simulation, and a monitoring/control unit which receives optimal control targets from the computer for computing optima and performs monitoring and control to ensure that constituent units of the air conditioning plant operate without abnormality, wherein the processing period of the monitoring/control unit is shorter than that of the computer for computing optima, and the monitoring/control unit adjusts the control targets, in response to variations in the conditions of outside air, the temperature of cooling water, that of cold water and other factors, so that the operational limits of the units be not surpassed with reference to the optimal control targets determined by the computer for computing optima. More accurate control of the operation of the air conditioning plant is thereby made possible.
Further according to the present invention, it is preferable that parameters required for air conditioning plant simulation are identified on the basis of measurements by sensors, the air conditioning plant is simulated using the identified parameters, and the parameters to be identified and the resistance coefficients of piping are ducting. This makes possible even more accurate control of the operation of the air conditioning plant.

Air conditioning plant and control method thereof

Hitachi Plant Engineering and Construction Co., Ltd.


In a disk drive device according to an embodiment, radial dynamic pressure corresponding portions are structured such that the diameters thereof expand toward the axial outside of the sleeve, and that the shaft is in surface-contact with each of the radial dynamic pressure corresponding portions when the rotational drive of the disk drive device is stopped. Further, a herringbone-shaped radial dynamic pressure groove is formed in each of the radial dynamic pressure corresponding portions. The radial dynamic pressure groove in each radial dynamic pressure corresponding portion is formed such that the axial outside length from the turned-back portion of the herringbone-shape is longer than the axial inside length therefrom.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disk drive device that rotationally drives a disk.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are known hard disk drives (HDDs) as media used in storage devices of computers, etc. Such devices for driving recording disks are collectively referred to as disk drive devices. In a disk drive device, a recording disk on which recording tracks for recording magnetic data are formed is rotated at high speed by a brushless motor (hereinafter, simply referred to as a "motor"). A magnetic head for performing read/write of magnetic data stored on the recording disk is arranged above the recording surface of the recording disk so as to create a slight space between the two, and is configured to trace the recording tracks.
A motor of which the disk drive device is composed is generally structured to include: a stator in which an armature coil is provided, a rotor in which a magnet to be arranged so as to face the stator is provided, and a bearing unit configured to rotatably support the rotor relative to the stator. As such motors, there are two types of motors, in one of which the rotor composed of a shaft to be the center of the rotation is rotated while being supported by a sleeve fixed to the stator, and in the other of which the rotor composed of a sleeve is, in contrast, rotated while being supported by a shaft fixed to the stator. The recording disk is fixed to a hub member fixed to the shaft or the sleeve, either of which the rotor is composed of, and is rotated with the hub member at high speed by the drive of the motor. In order to realize high performance of the motor, there are many cases where fluid dynamic bearings are used in the bearing units (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H1-210615).
This fluid dynamic bearing is configured between the aforementioned shaft and sleeve. The shaft has a flange portion at its one end. The sleeve, having a bottomed cylindrical shape, faces in the radial direction the outer circumferential surface of the shaft through a minor space, and also faces in the axial direction the upper surface and the lower surface of the flange portion through a minor space. Oil is injected into each minor space as a lubricant fluid. A pair of radial dynamic pressure corresponding portions, which are spaced apart from each other in the axial direction, are provided on the inner circumferential surface of the sleeve. A radial dynamic pressure groove for generating proper radial dynamic pressure is formed between each radial dynamic pressure corresponding portion and the shaft. On the other hand, thrust dynamic pressure corresponding portions are provided on the upper surface and the lower surface of the flange portion of the shaft. A thrust dynamic pressure groove is formed between each thrust dynamic pressure corresponding portion and the sleeve. When either the shaft or the sleeve starts rotating relative to the other, dynamic pressure is generated in each bearing unit, thereby allowing for the rotor to be rotatably supported in a non-contact state relative to the stator. That is, the rotor is floated by making the pressure in the bearing unit higher than or equal to atmospheric pressure. In recent years, the rotational accuracy of disk drive devices has been drastically improved by comprising these fluid dynamic bearings, thereby allowing for the high density and large capacity of the magnetic data, which can be stored, to be realized. As a result, the disk drive devices have been mounted in various apparatuses, thereby making use environments for the disk drive devices extensive.
Such disk drive devices are demanded to have high reliability regardless of their installation directions, due to the arrangement requirements in accordance with the installation aspects of computers in which the disk drive devices are to be mounted. That is, in the disk drive device provided with such a fluid dynamic bearing, a hub member is generally connected with one end of the shaft or the sleeve, either of which the rotor is composed of. Accordingly, when the shaft is used, in particular, in a horizontal state, the gravity of the hub member is biased to the one end of the shaft, making a so-called cantilever state. Therefore, in particular, when the rotation is stopped in which dynamic pressure does not act, the shaft becomes tilted, causing the tilts of the axes of the shaft and the sleeve to deviate from each other.
The sleeve generally has a slightly tilted structure in which the gap between the radial dynamic pressure corresponding portion and the shaft becomes smaller going from the axial center portion toward the outside of the sleeve, in order to effectively generate dynamic pressure by the shape of the radial dynamic pressure corresponding portion itself and in order not to let out the lubricant. Because the sleeve has such a shape, if the axes of the shaft and the sleeve deviate from each other as stated above, the radial dynamic pressure corresponding portion and the shaft are locally in contact with each other when the rotation is stopped, thereby increasing the surface pressure in the contact portion. That is, in particular, when a disk drive device is installed in a state where the shaft thereof is maintained horizontally, the shaft will be locally in contact with the radial dynamic pressure corresponding portion even if the rotation of the rotor is stopped at any timing, and hence the pressure at the contact is increased. In addition, even if the shaft is not maintained horizontally, local contact pressure, more or less, can be generated when the rotation of the rotor is stopped. Therefore, there has been the problem that, when start/stop of the rotation of the rotor have been repeated in a disk drive device, the radial dynamic pressure corresponding portion is abraded, and accordingly the rotational stability may be impaired and the lifetime of the disk drive device until read/write of data is not performed normally, is shortened.

Samsung Electro-Mechanics Japan Advanced Technology Co., Ltd.


A nose clip includes an outer support member adapted to contact an outside surface of a nose. A bridge connected at a first end to the outer support member; and an inner support member connected to a second end of the bridge and adapted to be inserted into the nostril and to contact an inner surface of the nostril. When inserted, tension generated between the outer support member and the inner support member causes lateral movement of a surface within the nostril and opens a nasal airway. Additionally, the inner support can be curved to create an outward movement of the lateral wall of the nose. This in turn enables improved breathing.

1. Field of Application
The present application is related to medical devices. More specifically, the present application is related to an apparatus for opening the nasal airway.
2. Discussion
Many individuals experience difficulty breathing due to collapse within the nasal cavity. It is estimated that as much as 50% of the population over the age of 50 experience some form of nasal collapse. This can result in varying degrees of discomfort, difficulty breathing, and sleepless nights. In some cases, if left untreated, nasal collapse can result in apnea and hypoxia, which can be harmful to one's health.
Some individuals resort to expensive surgery of the nasal cavity to alleviate problems associated with nasal collapse. During the surgery, the cartilage around the nasal passage may be restructured to improve airflow through the nasal passage. Other individuals resort to homemade solutions to find relief. For example, some individuals insert objects, such as paper clips, within the nasal cavity to open the nasal passageway. However, this can be dangerous because the inserted object can become lodged in the airway.
Products, such as Breathe Right® nasal strips, may provide relief in some cases. These products are usually strips of malleable material with an adhesive on one side. The user bends the strip over the outside of the nose. The adhesive then bonds the clip to the nose and tension within the clip pulls the outside of the nose in a lateral direction. However, there are several problems with these products. First, many users develop irritation and allergic reactions to the adhesive used on these products, thus preventing further use of the products. Second, because the product is mounted on the outside of the nose, the amount of lateral displacement provided inside the nasal cavity depends on the nasal anatomy and characteristics of the nasal sidewall. Other devices that are placed into the airway are designed to push on the medial wall of the nose (septum) to open the airway. This can cause irritation on the septum and even erosion of the nasal mucosa.


A metal foil-clad laminate obtained by lamination molding a resin-impregnated substrate and a metal foil, wherein the resin-impregnated substrate contains from 5 to 30% by weight of at least one inorganic filler selected from the group consisting of calcined kaolin, spherical fused silica, non-swellable synthetic mica, and a glass fine powder, the filler having an average particle diameter of from 0.1 to 5 .mu.m and at least 90 wt % of the filler having a particle diameter of from 0.02 to 5 .mu.m, and the resin-impregnated substrate is used as at least a surface layer of the laminate or as a resin-impregnated substrate which adheres the metal foil, thereby providing a surface smooth metal foil-clad laminate having a diminished surface undulation attributable to the substrate.

Conventionally, metal foil-clad laminates produced by laminating metal foils such as copper foils to prepregs (i.e., resin-impregnated substrates) prepared by impregnating nonwoven or woven glass fabrics with thermosetting resin compositions such as epoxy resins and then drying the fabrics have had "undulations" which are a surface roughness of about 5 .mu.m. For this reason, such conventional metal foil-clad laminates have been apt to encounter problems, such as poor contacts between resists and the laminates, and etching defects, when finer printed-circuit patterns are to be formed.
As expedients for eliminating the above problems, it has been attempted to, for example, use a thin woven glass fabric as a prepreg to be bonded to a metal foil or use a prepreg having an increased resin content. However, such expedients have failed to substantially completely eliminate the "undulation" attributable to the fabrics.
On the other hand, it is known that an inorganic filler-containing prepreg is used in laminates or metal foil-clad laminates using woven or nonwoven fabric substrates and that such an inorganic filler can be suitably used in a varnish in an amount of about 5-70% by weight in terms of the content of the filler in the solid components of the varnish. It is also known that the use of an inorganic filler improves dimensional stability, strength, electrical characteristics, and other properties as disclosed in, for example, JP-B-63-65092, JP-A-1-235293, and JP-A-1-150543. (The terms "J-B" and "JP-A" as used herein mean an "examined Japanese patent publication" and an "unexamined published Japanese patent application".) However, laminates having surface smoothness cannot be obtained by any techniques disclosed in the above references. In addition, the problems on drilling processability, heat resistance under moisture-absorbed conditions, metal-foil peel strength, and the like remain unimproved and, hence, the laminates obtained by the above techniques cannot be used as recent metal foil-clad laminates, on the surfaces of which electrical or electronic parts are mounted.
Furthermore, improvements of drilling processing conditions, use of a woven glass fabric which has undergone open filament treatment, and other expedients have been attempted to improve drilling processability. However, the attainable roughness of wall surfaces of drill holes, which conventionally is around 30 .mu.m, has not been improved significantly.

Metal foil-clad laminate having surface smoothness


A thin-film solar cell includes a thin-film active layer with a p-n Junction and a heat-resistant substrate for mechanically supporting the active layer, which substrate is formed by a plasma coating method. In the plasma coating method, a source material of the substrate is melted with a high-temperature plasma and sprayed onto a base plate by a high-speed gas jet. Since the substrate formed by the plasma coating method is porous, even if an inexpensive material including a lot of impurities is used as a material of the substrate, the impurities are collected in pores of the substrate and never sprout out of the substrate breaking through the thin-film active layer.

FIG. 15 is a perspective view of a prior art thin-film solar cell in which a light-to-electricity conversion is carried out in a thin silicon film disposed on a substrate. In FIG. 15, a thin-film active layer 101 including a p-n junction and contributing to power generation is disposed on a substrate 100. An anti-reflection film 102 is disposed on the active layer 101. A grid electrode 103a for collecting a photoelectric current generated in the active layer 101 and a bus electrode 103b for concentrating the photoelectric current are disposed on the anti-reflection film 102. A lower electrode 104 is disposed on the rear surface of the substrate 100.
In this thin-film solar cell, since the active layer 101 contributing to power generation is as thin as several tens of microns, it cannot mechanically support itself, so that a substrate or the like for supporting the thin active layer 101 is needed. The following conditions are required of the substrate.
First, the substrate should have a strength enough to mechanically support the thin film and itself. Second, since the Si thin-film active layer is grown on the substrate by thermal CVD or the like, the substrate should be refractory so that it can stand a process temperature of approximately 1000.degree. C. during the growth of the active layer. Third, since the substrate also serves as a lower electrode, it should be electrically conductive. Even if the substrate is not conductive, a thin-film solar cell can be achieved. In this case, however, a conductive film must be disposed on the substrate or the lower electrode must be led out from the side surface of the solar cell in an integrated type solar cell, resulting in a complicated structure. Fourth, since the substrate itself does not contribute to power generation but only supports the active layer, it is desirable that the substrate is formed in a simple process using an inexpensive material.
As a material satisfying the above-described conditions, there is metallurgical grade silicon (hereinafter referred to as MG-Si). The MG-Si is a silicon material prior to being purified to make high purity silicon and includes a lot of impurities, i.e., an impurity concentration of about 2%. Since the MG-Si is not subjected to purification, it is much cheaper than high purity silicon.
FIGS. 16(a) and 16(b) are schematic diagrams illustrating a method of producing a heat-resistant supporting substrate of a thin-film solar cell using the inexpensive MG-Si. As shown in FIG. 16(a), MG-Si powder 50 is put in a mold 110, and the mold is heated to a temperature higher than the melting point of silicon, i.e., 1414.degree. C., to melt the MG-Si powder. Then, the MG-Si thus melted is pressed with a plate 111 as shown in FIG. 16(b) and, thereafter, it is cooled and solidified to manufacture a MG-Si substrate 5.
FIG. 17 is a cross-sectional view of a prior art thin-film solar cell including the MG-Si substrate 5 formed by molding. In FIG. 17, a polycrystalline Si thin-film active layer 2 is disposed on the MG-Si substrate 5. A p-n junction 3 is produced in the surface region of the active layer 2 by diffusion or the like. An upper electrode 4 is disposed on the active layer 2 having the p-n junction 3.
A description is now given of a method of producing the thin-film solar cell shown in FIG. 17 using the MG-Si substrate 5. Initially, the MG-Si substrate 5 is put in a CVD apparatus. Then, silane (SiH.sub.4) gas, silane trichloride (SiHCl.sub.3) gas, or the like is introduced into the apparatus and decomposed at a high temperature of about 1000.degree. C., whereby a polycrystalline Si film to be the active layer 2 is grown on the substrate 5 to a thickness of several tens of microns. Since the Si thin film Just after the growth has a small grain size, the polycrystalline Si may be, in some cases, melted and recrystallized by laser radiation or radiant heating to increase the grain size. After forming the Si film, the p-n junction 3 is produced in the active layer 2 by dopant impurity diffusion or ion implantation. The p-n junction may also be produced by changing the kind of dopant gas while introducing a dopant gas into a CVD apparatus to and growing the active layer in the apparatus. Alternatively, the p-n junction may be produced by depositing on the active layer a microcrystalline film having a conductivity type opposite the conductivity type of the active layer in a plasma CVD apparatus.
After forming the p-n junction, the upper electrode 4 comprising silver or the like is formed on the active layer 2. Preferably, the upper electrode 4 is formed by screen printing or vapor deposition. There are some cases where an anti-reflection film is formed on the polycrystalline Si thin film by sputtering or the like. As the anti-reflection film, a transparent conductive film also serving as an electrode, such as an ITO (In.sub.2 O.sub.3 :SnO.sub.2) film, a SnO.sub.2 film, or a ZnO film, is used when the p-n junction is produced by depositing a microcrystalline film on the Si film and the conductivity of the Si film in the transverse direction is low. When the conductivity of the Si film in the transverse direction is high and the transparent electrode is not needed, an insulating film, such as a Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 film, is used as the anti-reflection film.
In the above-described method of producing the thin-film solar cell using the molded MG-Si substrate 5, the MG-Si substrate is heated up to about 1000.degree. C. when the polycrystalline Si thin film is grown and, thereafter, it is heated up to about 1414.degree. C. when the grain size of the Si thin film is increased by radiant heating or the like. Therefore, impurities, such as Fe, Al, Ca and the like, included in approximately 2% in the MG-Si substrate 5 unfavorably concentrate and sprout out of the substrate thereby breaking through the active layer.
This phenomenon is illustrated in FIG. 18. In FIG. 18, reference numeral 5 designates the molded MG-Si substrate, numeral 2 designates the polycrystalline Si thin-film active layer, numeral 3 designates the p-n junction, and numeral 6 designates the sprouting impurities. As shown in FIG. 18, when heat is applied to the molded substrate 5, the impurities concentrate and sprout from a portion supposed to be a grain boundary of the MG-Si substrate, breaking through the active layer 2.
In addition, the p-n junction of the active layer is formed by impurity diffusion or ion implantation, or by changing the kind of the dopant gas during the growth of the active layer in a CVD apparatus, or by depositing a microcrystalline film having an opposite conductivity type from the conductivity type of the active layer on the active layer in a plasma CVD method. In all cases, the formation of the p-n junction takes a lot of time.


The present invention provides nonapeptides selected from peptides comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2, 3, 5, 8, 11, or 12; nonapeptides or decapeptides selected from peptides comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 29, 30, 33, 34, 40, or 46; and peptides with cytotoxic T cell inducibility, in which one, two, or several amino acids are substituted or added to the above-mentioned amino acid sequences, as well as pharmaceuticals for treating or preventing tumors, where the pharmaceuticals comprise these peptides. The peptides of this invention can be used as vaccines.

Tumor-rejection antigen genes have mainly been identified for malignant melanomas, and accordingly, cancer immunotherapies utilizing these genes are developed. Specifically, with recognition of the importance of CD8-positive T cells in anti-tumor immune responses, cancer vaccine therapy that induces tumor-specific CD8-positive T cells in vivo has received attention, and is being applied to various clinical applications. In addition, the mechanism by which peptides consisting of approximately ten amino acid residues activate T cells via the Class I pathway, by the assistance of various costimulatory molecules, to induce tumor-specific cytotoxic T cells (CTLs) was also elucidated. Furthermore, peptides restricted to individual HLA molecules are being actively identified.
However, complete control of tumors is currently impossible. This may be due to tumor cell heterogeneity, a reduction or disappearance of MHC-Class I expression in tumor cells, and the absence of target molecules in the tumor cells. Furthermore, the currently identified tumor antigen peptides exist in some types of tumors, but can not exist in all tumor types. Thus, to resolve these problems, the present inventors did not use tumor cells as target cells, but rather focused on the endothelial cells of tumor vessels. More specifically, endothelial cells have hardly any problems involving a decrease or disappearance of MHC-Class I expression, or heterogeneity. Thus, if CTLs that target tumor vessels can be induced, problems in conventional cancer vaccine therapy, such as the disappearance of Class I and absence of a target molecule, may be overcome, regardless of the type of tumor, and excellent therapeutic effects can be anticipated. Studies on tumor angiogenesis were started from a pioneering hypothesis proposed by Folkman et al. in the 1970's, and have been conducted from various angles. Many studies have been carried out on vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)—VEGF receptors (VEGFRs) to evaluate their significance in tumor angiogenesis. Angiogenesis inhibitors have been vigorously developed as target-oriented drugs, particularly in cancer therapy, and are already being clinically tested. However, therapies that use this concept for cancer vaccine treatments are not yet in use. One of the reasons may be immunotolerance to VEGFR, which is expressed in normal cells. However, in the 1990's, Plate, Millauer, and Risau et al confirmed that VEGFRs were strongly expressed in the endothelial cells of tumoral tissues. In addition, the immune response to autoantigens such as CEA and HER/neu, which are also expressed in normal cells, is not necessarily one of immunotolerance. Thus, the present inventors reasoned that VEGFRs may be used as targets for cancer vaccine therapy.
Recently, it was reported that active immunization against VEGFRs can inhibit angiogenesis in tumors, and metastasis (The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 2002, 195:12, 1575-1584). However, this literature-merely used soluble VEGFR proteins, and made no investigation of the amino acid sequences of effective peptides.

KDR peptides and vaccines comprising the same


An optical disk data storage system and method are disclosed. In a data storage or "write" operation, up to a fixed number of variable-length records are written to the optical disk in close proximity to an embedded directory, which stores record length information describing the records associated therewith. A high-level directory is constructed providing a list of addresses for the embedded directories. The embedded directories comprise up to a fixed maximum number of entries each indicating the length in bytes of a corresponding record. In a data retrieval or "read" operation, the high-level directory is first accessed to determine the addresses for the embedded directories, with reference to positional information permanently written to the disk. Bytes of data are then counted in accordance with the record length stored by the embedded directory to access the record sought by the host computer. In this way, varying-length records can be efficiently stored on an optical disk divided into fixed-length data storage sectors. All data is buffered in random access memory during both read and write data transfer operations.

This invention is directed to optical disk storage systems and is more particularly directed to a new and improved embedded directory technique for storing data on an optical disk to permit rapid access thereto.
For general information concerning the field of optical data storage and the associated hardware, reference may be made to the following articles:
(1) May 7, 1984 edition, Computerworld, article entitled "Optical Storage Moves Closer to Mainframes";
(2) April, 1985 edition, Mini Micro Systems, article entitled "Optical Recording Comes of Age"; and
(3) December, 1985 edition, Mini Micro Systems, article entitled "Optical Storage Shines on the Horizon"
One object of this invention is to efficiently solve the specific problems associated with using an optical disk storage system to emulate a magnetic tape storage system in a "plug-compatible" manner. Numerous problems are encountered in such an effort, due both to the differing natures of the media and to the data organization practices which have become customary in tape storage applications.
More particularly, as conventionally implemented, a single reel of magnetic tape is commonly used to store a single "file" of data, that is, an entire data set pertaining to a particular subject, e.g., a payroll file, an employee file or the like. Within each file, the data is typically divided into "records", the length of which is not fixed. For example, each record may relate to a particular employee. Normally each record in the file is set off on the tape by "preamble" and "postamble" indicators of specified format; successive records are separated by "inter-record" gaps
In some cases, a single reel of tape may store several files, that is, several data sets accessed separately by an application program running on a host computer. If plural files are stored on a single tape, they may be divided by "file marks", as discussed below; however, the presence of a file mark does not indicate the end of a file per se. For the purposes of the present invention, it is immaterial whether one or several files are stored on a single reel of tape.
Typically, data is written to the tape record-by-record under direct control of a host computer. When the host subsequently desires to retrieve one of the records, it first directs that a particular tape be mounted, that is, so that the single file typically found on each reel of tape can be accessed. The host then directs the tape drive to obtain access to the "next" record. In response to such a command, the tape drive will typically read the next record into a random-access memory or other buffer for subsequently supplying it to the host; less sophisticated drives may simply advance the tape to a point corresponding to the beginning of the next record. If the host is not interested in a particular record, it directs instead that the next record be accessed, and so on. Thus, if the host in fact needs access to the two hundredth record on the tape, 200 such "next record" instructions must be forwarded from the host to the tape drive and executed. Obviously, this is very time consuming. Normally, of course, the intrinsic sequential nature of tape storage is turned to advantage by use of tape in connection with programs (e.g. payroll processing) in which the records can conveniently be accessed in sequence, one by one.
In order to partially alleviate this problem, it is conventional for the host computer to direct that a so called "file mark", consisting of a predetermined sequence of bits, be written to the tape from time to time, that is, at unspecified intervals between records. If the host desires to skip over a portion of the tape, it can then direct that the tape be advanced to the next file mark. The drive can advance the tape until it detects the unique file mark sequence. If the host "knows" that the record of interest is between the second and third file marks, for example, it can direct that the tape advance to the first file mark, and when this has been done, to the second file mark; the host can then direct that the tape successively read individual records, as above. Again, this process is relatively cumbersome and time consuming.
As indicated above, one object of this invention is the emulation of a tape drive using optical disk storage media. It is important that the optical disk according to the invention be "plug-compatible" with a tape drive; that is, the optical drive according to the invention must be connected to a host computer precisely as is a conventional tape drive. In this way, the optical disk can be employed without requiring any modification to the host operation or, application software. Clearly, in order to do so the optical drive must respond to all of the commands which are conventionally directed to tape drives, as outlined above, and in order to be attractive to users must provide a substantial performance advantage.
At present, all optical disk media of which the present inventor is aware define a single spiral "track", although concentric tracks could also be employed. Radially-extending "hard sectors", provided at manufacture, are spaced circumferentially around the disk and divide the spiral track into "sectors". Typically 1,024 bytes per sector may be stored on each track. The optical drive is provided with a controller operable so that its read/write head can access the disk at the beginning of any sector; hence reading and writing operations can begin at a number of "sector locations" equal to the number of the hard sectors on the disk (on the order of 32) times the number of the essentially concentric rings (on the order of 32,000) made by the spiral track.
One way of writing varying-length tape-type records to an optical disk would be to start each individual record at a sector location. In that way, whenever the host directed that the next record be accessed, the optical disk could simply begin reading at the subsequent sector. However, many tape record entries are very short, e.g., a single byte may be written as a record. In such cases, essentially the entire storage capacity represented by the sector would be wasted.
It will be recognized, of course, that magnetic disk storage is also extremely popular. Magnetic disks are also typically divided into sectors, but use concentric rather then spiral tracks. It might be considered that magnetic disk storage techniques could be usefully applied to optical disk storage. However, this actually is not the case due to the varying characteristics of magnetic and optical storage systems, for the following reasons.
Conventionally, for a disk of given size, an optical disk can store up to ten times as much data as can a magnetic disk. However, a magnetic disk can be repetitively erased and rerecorded, such that if the contents of a given file change over time, the obsolete data is simply erased and rewritten. This cannot be done with present-day commercially-available optical disk media and storage systems, which do not allow erasure.
Erasing of obsolete blocks of data, incidentally, is typically not practiced on tape, although erasing itself is readily accomplished. Instead, the new data is simply written to the end of the tape and a record is maintained (e.g. by the application program) indicating which data blocks are current and which are obsolete, such that those which are obsolete are simply ignored. This is preferred because the time consumed in rewinding the tape to the location of the obsolete record, record-by-record, as discussed - is more costly than simply using a new section of tape. An exception to this practice is discussed below.
Another important distinction between optical and magnetic disk storage is that the average "head seek" time required by state of the art magnetic read/write heads to move radially in order to access various portions of the disk is much shorter than that of the comparable optical disk read/write head units. This is simply because the magnetic read/write head assembly of a magnetic disk is typically less massive than the laser read/write head assembly associated with an optical disk. The magnetic head assembly can therefore be moved much more quickly to a given area of the disk for a read/write operation than can an optical head assembly. Accordingly, it is desired to provide a memory structure and organization for an optical disk in which head seeks are minimized insofar as possible.
The fact that magnetic disks allow repeated erasure of and rapid access to varying points of the disk has caused disk memory organization practices to develop substantially differently from those employed in connection with tape storage. As indicated above, on a given tape a single file comprising a number of individual "records" is normally stored, and a host computer accesses the file record-by-record, that is, sequentially. On a magnetic disk, by comparison, data is typically accessed only file-by-file. For example, the entire payroll file might be read from a disk into a host computer for processing in a single operation. Where a particular file extends beyond a particular sector (the beginning points of the sectors again being the only points at which the magnetic disk can accurately be addressed a directory also stored on the magnetic disk provides a "map" according to which the read/write head can then "jump" from the end of that sector to the beginning of the sector at which the next portion of the file is stored. Typically, this can be accomplished sufficiently quickly that the host does not experience a delay in accessing all of the file. Accordingly, even if an application program does not require all of the data contained in an entire file stored on a magnetic disk, but only a portion thereof, which might or might not correspond to a "record" as stored on tape, it simply accesses the entire file from the disk and then selects the individual portion required therefrom when the data has been stored in the host.
The above discussion serves to illustrate why the storage organization arrangements used for magnetic tape and disk storage cannot appropriately be applied to optical disk storage, even where a particular sequentially-organized data set to be stored on the optical disk might otherwise have been suitable for storage on tape. Notably, the fact that tape records are conventionally accessed record-by-record means that it would be inappropriate to assign an entire sector on the optical disk to each record; if the record were relatively short, most if not substantially all of the sector would be wasted. The variable-length tape records would rarely correspond to the fixed length of the sectors, such that incomplete usage would be very common.
More specifically, note that data is stored on tape record-by-record because there is no alternative to doing so; on tape, there are no permanently-written equivalents of the hard sectors on the disk which can be used to provide indexing to a particular record, for example. File marks can be written, as described above, but as presently employed this is done only in response to specific host commands. Accordingly tape records must be delimited by preamble and postamble information, so that they can be reliably counted.
Writing data to tape record-by-record does permit flexibility of record length. Media organized into blocks of fixed length, such as magnetic or optical disks, do not have this flexibility. Accordingly, to store tape-type records on media divided into fixed-length blocks (i.e., either optical or magnetic disks) is complex.
It is understood that at least in some tape systems variable-length records are also divided into fixed-length blocks for convenience in storage; see U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,398,227 and 4,531,166 to Anderson. However, if plug compatibility is to be retained, the blocks must be "transparent" to the host computer, and the random record length characteristic preserved. Hence this does not solve the problem noted above.
U. S. Pat. No. 4,467,421 to White discloses one approach to the storage of sequential, tape-type records on magnetic disks. However, this involves extensive reprogramming of the host computer, and is thus not appropriate in the plug-compatible environment primarily addressed by the present invention. Moreover, the White approach is directed principally to very large mainframe host computers.
On the other hand, to organize an optical disk in the way in which magnetic disks are normally organized would be highly inappropriate. Data stored on magnetic disks is accessed file-by-file, with numerous "head seeks" between portions of the file stored in various sectors, as indicated. Such a scheme would be inefficient in an optical disk system due to the relatively slow motion of current optical read/write head assemblies. In effect, in such case the sequential nature of the spiral track on an optical disk would not be employed gainfully. Moreover, if an optical disk were to be configured to be functionally-compatible as well as plug-compatible with a magnetic disk, the fact that data stored on magnetic disks is frequently erased and overwritten would mean that numerous obsolete copies of large volumes of data would be stored on the optical disk, since no erasure is possible. This would rapidly fill up even the high capacity optical disk systems now available. Further, to emulate a magnetic disk to a host would involve numerous difficulties with respect to plug-compatibility.
It would of course be possible to provide an interface scheme for mating a computer with an optical disk drive in a manner designed to take advantage of the characteristics of the optical media. However, to do so in a manner such that the device was not plug-compatible with a class of existing storage devices would prevent the optical disk system from being useful with preexisting computer systems, limiting the market for the optical disk.
Accordingly, it can be seen that a new way of recording data efficiently on an optical disk, while retaining plug-compatibility with a conventional magnetic data storage device, such as a tape drive, is needed.

Optical disk data storage method and apparatus with buffered interface


A process increases the concentration of non normal paraffins in a feed stream comprising separating a naphtha feed stream into a normal paraffin rich stream and a non-normal paraffin rich stream. The non-normal paraffin rich stream is isomerized over an isomerization catalyst to convert non-normal paraffins to normal paraffins, hydrocrack C5+ hydrocarbon to C2-C4 paraffins and produce an isomerization effluent stream. The isomerization effluent stream is separated into a C3− off gas, C4 rich stream and C5+ stream that is recycled to the naphtha feed stream. A depentanizer column may be positioned to either remove C6+ from the naphtha feed stream or from a bottoms stream from a stabilizer column. The amount of C2-C4 paraffins that are provided is increased from about 55% to as much as 77% and even more with further modifications including operating at higher temperatures or increasing the volume of catalyst.

Ethylene and propylene are important chemicals for use in the production of other useful materials, such as polyethylene and polypropylene. Polyethylene and polypropylene are two of the most common plastics found in use today and have a wide variety of uses. Uses for ethylene and propylene include the production of vinyl chloride, ethylene oxide, ethylbenzene and alcohol.
The great bulk of the ethylene consumed in the production of the plastics and petrochemicals such as polyethylene is produced by the thermal cracking of higher molecular weight hydrocarbons. Steam is usually mixed with the feed stream to the cracking reactor to reduce the hydrocarbon partial pressure and enhance olefin yield and to reduce the formation and deposition of carbonaceous material in the cracking reactors. The process is therefore often referred to a steam cracking or pyrolysis.
The composition of the feed to the steam cracking reactor affects the product distribution. A fundamental basis of this is the propensity of some hydrocarbons to crack more easily than others. The normal ranking of tendency of the hydrocarbons to crack to ethylene is normally given as normal paraffins, iso-paraffins, olefins, naphthenes, and aromatics. Benzene and other aromatics are particularly resistant to steam cracking and undesirable as cracking feed stocks, with only the alkyl side chains being cracked to produce the desired product.
The feed to a steam cracking unit is also normally a mixture of hydrocarbons varying both by type of hydrocarbon and carbon number. This variety makes it difficult to separate less desirable feed components, such as naphthenes and aromatics, from the feed stream by fractional distillation. The normal paraffins and the non-normal paraffins can be separated by fractionation or an adsorption process. Increasing the concentration of normal paraffins in a stream can improve the quality of a feedstock to the steam cracking unit.
Common feeds to steam crackers include light naphtha, which is concentrated in C5-C6 hydrocarbons, and LPG, which comprises C3-C4 hydrocarbons. Light naphtha streams typically contain a mixture of n-paraffins, iso-paraffins, naphthenes and aromatics. It is generally not possible to procure light naphtha streams that are concentrated in n-paraffins. Similarly, LPG streams typically contain a mixture of n-butane, iso-butane, and propane, but streams concentrated in n-butane are not commonly available.
One way to upgrade light naphtha is first to separate the naphtha into a normal paraffin rich stream and a non-normal paraffin rich stream; and subsequently convert a substantial amount of the non-normal paraffin stream in an isomerization zone in the presence of a catalyst into normal paraffins.
It has been found that prior art processes for such conversion of non-normal paraffins to normal paraffins result in about a 55% yield of C2, C3 and C4 paraffins and about 44% of the C5+ hydrocarbons are in a bottom stream from a stabilizer to be sent directly to the steam cracker.
An efficient process for separating and converting the iso-paraffins in light naphtha to normal paraffins with an increased yield of C2, C3 and normal C4 paraffins including utilizing the C5+ hydrocarbons and a would significantly increase the profitability of steam cracking operations by increasing the yield of high value ethylene and propylene.

Process for increasing the concentration of normal hydrocarbons in a stream


A pre-mix burner apparatus includes a burner having a generally cylindrical burner surface, the burner having a generally circular burner inlet at one end of the burner, the burner inlet having an inlet diameter. A flow distribution member is arranged to distribute flow of fuel and air mixture into the burner. The flow distribution member includes a closed axially central portion configured to block flow of fuel and air mixture axially centrally into the burner. The flow distribution member includes a plurality of vanes extending radially outward from the closed axially central portion. The vanes are configured to generate a swirling flow of fuel and air mixture flowing past the vanes into the burner.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to burners for use in water heaters and boilers, and more particularly to a flow distribution member used with such burners for providing an improved pressure distribution of fuel and air mixture throughout the burner.
Description of the Prior Art
One well known architecture for water heaters and boilers is that utilized in the series of water heaters produced by Lochinvar LLC, the assignee of the present invention, as its POWER-FIN® water heaters and boilers. The general construction of such water heaters may be similar to that disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,793,800 to Vallett et al. or that in U.S. Pat. No. 6,694,926 to Baese et al.
Such water heaters utilize a generally cylindrical burner concentrically received within a circular array of fin tubes.
Water heaters of this type use a premix blower to supply air and gas mixture to the cylindrical burner. One issue which is encountered in designing in such a water heater is the desire to provide a balanced uniform flow of fuel and air mixture throughout the burner, and particularly to avoid any negative pressure zones in the burner which could cause flashback into the burner.