A wheel skate device having a foot platform, a frame, and a ring-shaped wheel. The user operates a pair of the wheel skate devices while standing with one foot on each foot platform. The foot platform is movable between an in-use position and a stowage position. In the in-use position. the foot platform interlocks with the frame and can be secured with a locking pin. A pair of the wheel skate devices in stowage position can be connected together as a single unit using a connecting piece, which may have an attached strap for carrying or hanging. A mechanism which limits the wheel to rolling in only one direction, and an elastic band linking two wheel skate devices together to prevent the user's feet from accidentally moving too far apart, are useful learning aids.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,705,630 describes a human powered wheeled transportation device that uses wheel skates each encircling the foot of the user during use. Each of the wheel skates has a respective wheel, an inner circular rim and an outer circular rim spaced from the inner circular rim by bearings. The inner circular rim supports a foot placement platform. A pivot link extends between the inner circular rims of two wheel skates to connect them together. Such has the effect of constraining the foot placement platform against moving relative to the frame so as to keep the inner circular rims and thereby the foot placement platforms stationary. The pivot link enables the user to keep just one foot in one of the foot placement platforms while resting the other foot on the frame if desired.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,059,613 also describes a human powered wheeled transportation device that that permits independent foot movement with two small wheels provided under a user's foot. However, no wheel encircles the user's foot.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,980,568, by the present inventor, describes a human powered wheeled transportation device that encircles the foot of the user during use and yet provided for independent foot movement.
These types of devices are commonly operated by moving one's feet in oscillating "wave" motion. Since this method can be difficult to learn, a need exists for learning aids such as a means for limiting the wheels to moving in only one direction (to help the user propel himself in that direction), and a means for maintaining the distance between the user's feet in an optimal range.
It would also be beneficial to have a means for making the two wheel skate devices more convenient to carry or stow together.

Wheel skate device with platform locking mechanism


A process for converting noxious nitrogen oxides present in gaseous effluent to N.sub.2 comprising reacting the gaseous effluent with an effective amount of reducing agent, e.g., ammonia, in the presence of a catalyst structure comprising a film of interconnected zeolite crystals bonded to a substrate, said catalyst structure being characterized by a value r representing the mg of zeolite/cm.sup.2 of substrate surface and a value e representing the coating efficiency as mg of bonded zeolite/mg of YO.sub.2 initially in the synthesis mixture, wherein r is at least 0.5 and e is at least 0.05.

In recent years there has been an increased concern in the United States and elsewhere about air pollution from industrial emissions of noxious oxides of nitrogen, sulfur and carbon. Government agencies, in response to such concerns, have in some cases already placed limits on allowable emissions of one or more of the pollutants, and the trend is clearly in the direction of increasingly stringent restrictions. Petroleum fuel refineries are particularly affected by present and anticipated restrictions on emissions, particularly emissions of nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide.
Although several nitrogen oxides are known which are relatively stable at ambient conditions, it is generally recognized that two of these, viz. nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO.sub.2), are the principal contributors to smog and other undesirable environmental effects when they are discharged into the atmosphere. These effects will not be discussed further here since they are well recognized.
Nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide, under appropriate conditions, are interconvertible according to the equation EQU 2NO+O.sub.2 =2NO.sub.2.
For purposes of the present invention, NO.sub.x will be used herein to represent nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide (the principal noxious oxides of nitrogen), and/or mixtures thereof.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,900,554 describes a homogeneous gas phase thermal reaction to remove NO.sub.x from combustion effluent by adding 0.4 to 10 moles (preferably 0.5 to 1.5 moles) of ammonia followed by heating to 1600.degree. C. to 2000.degree. C. The NO.sub.X content is lowered as a result of its being reduced to nitrogen by reaction with ammonia. The so-called "selective catalytic reduction" (SCR) type process which operates at a much lower temperature, 200.degree. to 600.degree. C., is exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 4,220,632, which describes a process for reducing NO.sub.x from a fossil fuel fired power generation plant, or from other industrial plant off-gas streams, to elemental nitrogen and/or innocuous nitrogen oxides by employing ammonia as reductant and, as catalyst, the hydrogen or sodium form of a zeolite having pore openings of about 3 to 10 Angstroms. U.S. Pat. No. 4,220,632 is incorporated herein by reference for its description of selective catalytic reduction (SCR) processes for reducing NO.sub.x emissions.
Monolithic substrates such as wash coated ceramics, described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,771,029, and extruded catalytic monoliths, described, for example, by Lachman et al., in "Extruded Monolithic Catalyst Supports," Symposium on Catalyst Supports: Chemistry, Forming and Characteristics, American Chemical Society, New York City Meeting, 535-543 (1991), have been described as useful in emissions control.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,800,187 describes a method for crystallizing a zeolite on the surface of a ceramic monolith containing silica with a crystallization mixture containing a ratio of H.sub.2 O/SiO.sub.2 of 16-20 to 1 and a ratio of SiO.sub.2 /Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 of 1 to 0.0-0.4 for the synthesis of ZSM-5. Different ratios are described for large pore zeolites X and Y.
Now it has been found that the structure of a catalyst comprising a zeolite and substrate support improves the efficacy of catalytic NO.sub.x reduction.
The catalyst structure for use herein and the method for its manufacture are novel and provide an improved NO.sub.x abatement process.


A first piston (22) of a first locking cylinder (20) descends when a pressure of compressed air in an actuation chamber (23) has exceeded a pressure for locking commencement (P1) and ascends by a first spring (24) when the pressure of the compressed air has decreased to a pressure for releasing commencement (P2). A second advancing and retreating cylinder (32) comprises an inlet chamber (41) and an outlet chamber (45) formed below and above a second piston (35), respectively, and a second spring (46). The actuation chamber (23) communicates with the outside air through the outlet chamber (45). A restricting passage (37) is provided in a route between the actuation chamber (23) and the outside air. The actuation chamber (23) communicates with one of the inlet chamber (41) and the outlet chamber (45) through a communication hole (62).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cylinder assembly suitably used, for example, for a work support of a machine tool.
2. Explanation of Related Art
For instance, a conventional work support cylinder assembly comprises only one cylinder for working, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Public Disclosure No. 10-146733 proposed by the present inventors (or U.S. Pat. No. 5,979,267 which corresponds to the Japanese publication).
An example of the cylinder assembly of this kind that the present inventors know comprises two cylinders of a working cylinder and an advancing and retreating cylinder, and it operates as follows.
When performing a locking operation, first, an advancing and retreating piston of the advancing and retreating cylinder ascends to bring a support rod into contact with a workpiece by an urging force of an advancing spring. Thereafter, the working cylinder holds and fixes the support rod at a raised position. Further, when making a releasing operation, first, the support rod is cancelled from the condition held and fixed by the working cylinder. Then the advancing and retreating piston descends, thereby enabling the support rod to move down against the urging force of the advancing spring.
The conventional technique which comprises the two cylinders had a problem that when cancelling the support rod from the held and fixed condition, the support rod protrudes up the workpiece by resorting to the urging force of the advancing spring.
The present invention has an object to provide a cylinder assembly which can solve such a problem as mentioned above.
In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention has constructed a cylinder assembly in the following manner, for example, as shown in FIG. 1, FIGS. 2A to 2F and FIGS. 3A to 3F or in FIGS. 4 to 6.
The cylinder assembly comprises a first working cylinder 20 and an advancing and retreating cylinder 32. The first cylinder 20 performs a locking operation when a gas pressure of an actuation chamber 23 has exceeded a first set pressure (P1) and can make a releasing operation when the gas pressure of the actuation chamber 23 has decreased to a second set pressure (P2) lower than the first set pressure (P1). The second cylinder 32 comprises a second piston 35 fitted into a second cylinder bore 33, an inlet chamber 41 formed between a first end wall 40 of the second cylinder bore 33 and the second piston 35, which pressurized gas is supplied to and discharged from, an outlet chamber 45 formed between a second end wall 44 of the second cylinder bore 33 and the second piston 35, and a return means 46 which retracts the second piston 35 to the first end wall 40. The actuation chamber 23 communicates with the outside air through the outlet chamber 45. A flow resistance applying means (K) is provided in a route between the actuation chamber 23 and the outside air. A changeover means 61 is provided for communicating the actuation chamber 23 with the inlet chamber 41 or the outlet chamber 45. The changeover means 61 communicates the actuation chamber 23 with the outlet chamber 45 during a term from the beginning to the end of an advancing movement of the second piston 35. On the other hand, it communicates the actuation chamber 23 with the inlet chamber 41 at the terminal of the advancing movement of the second piston 35.
The above-mentioned invention operates in the following way, for example, as shown in FIGS. 2A to 2F and in FIGS. 3A to 3F.
When performing the locking operation, pressurized gas such as compressed air is supplied to the inlet chamber 41. Then while the inlet chamber 41 has its pressure (M) increased as indicated by a full line in FIG. 2F, the actuation chamber 23 has its pressure (N) increased in delay from the increase of the pressure (M) of the inlet chamber 41 by an action of the changeover means 61, as shown by a broken line in FIG. 2F. Therefore, first, as shown in FIGS. 2A to 2D, the pressure of the inlet chamber 41 raises the second piston 35 (and an operation member 51 connected to the second piston 35) and then the pressure (N) of the actuation chamber 23 becomes higher than the set pressure (P1), thereby advancing a first piston 22 of the first cylinder 20 to a locking side as shown in FIG. 2E.
Further, when making the releasing operation, the pressurized gas in the inlet chamber 41 is discharged to an exterior area. Then while the pressure (M) of the inlet chamber 41 decreases as indicated by a full line in FIG. 3F, the pressure (N) of the actuation chamber 23 decreases in delay from the decrease of the pressure (M) of the inlet chamber 41 owing to an action of the flow resistance applying means (K), as shown by a broken line in FIG. 3F. Therefore, first, as shown in FIG. 3A to FIG. 3D, the return means 46 lowers the second piston 35 (and the operation member 51) and then the pressure (N) of the actuation chamber 23 becomes lower than the second set pressure (P2), thereby retracting the first piston 22 to a releasing side as shown in FIG. 3E.
In consequence, the present invention offers the following advantage.
When locking, the first cylinder can perform the locking operation after the second piston of the second advancing and retreating cylinder has been advanced. When releasing, the first cylinder can make the releasing operation after the second piston has been retreated.
Accordingly, for example, in the case where the present invention is applied to a work support, at the above releasing time, it is possible to prevent the support rod from protruding up the workpiece by resorting to an advancing means such as the above-mentioned advancing spring.
The present invention includes the following cylinder assembly.
The second cylinder bore 33 has a peripheral surface opened to provide a communication hole 62 which communicates the actuation chamber 23 with an interior area of the second cylinder bore 33. An opening portion of the communication hole 62 and an outer peripheral surface of the second piston 35 constitute the changeover means 61. This invention can form the changeover means 61 into a simple structure with preciseness, which leads to a possibility of putting a reliable cylinder assembly into practice at a low cost.
The present invention includes the following cylinder assembly, for example, as shown in FIGS. 4 to 6.
A sealing member 65 is interposed between the peripheral surface of the second cylinder bore 33 and the outer peripheral surface of the second piston 35. This invention enables the sealing member to assuredly prevent the pressurized gas which has been supplied to the inlet chamber from leaking into the outlet chamber. Thus when supplying the pressurized gas, the pressurized gas can be inhibited from leaking from the outlet chamber to the outside air, which results in reducing the consumption amount of the pressurized gas. Besides, it is possible to prevent the leaked pressurized gas from letting constituent members of the cylinder assembly make some misoperation when supplying the pressurized gas.
The present invention includes the following cylinder assembly, for example, as shown in FIGS. 4 to 6.
The sealing member 65 is attached to the outer peripheral surface of the second piston 35 and forms one part of the changeover means 61. This invention can provide a changeover means which makes a sure operation and has a simple structure.
The present invention includes the following cylinder assembly, for example, as shown in FIGS. 4 to 6.
A restricting passage 66 is provided in the communication hole 62 and forms at least one part of the flow resistance applying means (K). This invention can form the flow resistance applying means into a simple structure with preciseness, which leads to the possibility of putting a reliable cylinder assembly into practice at a low cost.
The present invention includes the following cylinder assembly, for example, as shown in FIGS. 4 to 6.
A fitting clearance 67 defined between the peripheral surface of the second cylinder bore 33 and the outer peripheral surface of the second piston 35 forms at least one part of the flow resistance applying means (K). This invention can form the flow resistance applying means into a simple structure with preciseness, which leads to the possibility of putting a reliable cylinder assembly into practice at a low cost.
The present invention includes the following cylinder assembly, for example, as shown in FIG. 1.
The outlet chamber 45 is communicated in series with a rod hole 34 which has a diameter smaller than that of the outlet chamber 45. A piston rod 36 connected to the second piston 35 is inserted into the rod hole 34 with a predetermined annular clearance 37 interposed therebetween. The annular clearance 37 forms at least one part of the flow resistance applying means (K). This invention can form the flow resistance applying means into a simple structure with preciseness, which leads to the possibility of putting a reliable cylinder assembly into practice at a low cost.
The present invention includes the following cylinder assembly, for example, as shown in FIGS. 1, 2D and 3B.
There is provided a closing portion 47 which shuts off a communication between the outlet chamber 45 and the outside air at the terminal of an advancing movement of the second piston 35. This invention can surely prevent the pressurized gas which has been supplied to the inlet chamber and the actuation chamber from leaking to the outside air at the terminal of the advancing movement of the second piston.
The present invention includes the following cylinder assembly, for example, as shown in FIGS. 1, 2D and 3B.
The closing portion 47 comprises a valve seat 48 provided on the second end wall 44 of the second cylinder bore 33 and a valve face 49 provided on the second piston 35. This invention can form the closing portion into a simple structure with preciseness, which leads to the possibility of putting a reliable cylinder assembly into practice at a low cost.


A conveying apparatus is composed of a motor-installed roller (2), cams (3), a rotation axis deflector (4), a drive pulley (5), a driven pulley (6), an endless belt (7), a flat support (8) and a spring (9). The roller (2) and the deflector (4) take their position enclosed with the belt (7), and the shaft (15) of the roller (2) is operatively connected by the deflector (4) to the drive pulley (5). A sleigh-shaped top plate (25) of the support (8) intervenes between the roller (2) and the back surface of belt (7), and when the cylindrical casing (12) of this roller rotates, the cams (3) will also rotate to raise the support (8) and lift the upper transporting path of the belt (7), so that the apparatus is rendered so smaller in size that it can be used as a cross transporter adapted for installation in any desired space.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a conveying apparatus for installation in a conveyor line that is repeatedly unloaded of or loaded with articles.
2. Description of Related Art
Usually, conveyor lines are incorporated in various assembling manufacture lines or at distribution stations wherever articles are successively transported along the lines or within the stations. For example, a number of conveyor lines may typically be arranged lengthwise and crosswise in each distribution station, with some transverse conveyors called xe2x80x9ccross feedersxe2x80x9d being placed at given positions. Such cross feeders will operate to transfer the articles from one conveyor line to another so as to forward them to respective destinations.
Generally, each cross feeder is composed of a transporting mechanism and a lifting mechanism. The top of the transporting mechanism takes its normal position below the article-supporting surface of the longitudinal conveyor line, so as not to interfere with any article being moved on and along this conveyor line. A sensor or the like device will detect the destination of every article so that a stopper is driven to catch and temporarily hold the thus selected article on the cross feeder. Thereafter, the lifting mechanism will be turned on to raise the transporting mechanism above the article-supporting surface of the longitudinal conveyor line. The transporting mechanism will subsequently be switched on so that the selected article thus lifted moves onto an adjacent conveyor line.
One of the prior apparatuses known in the art is the xe2x80x9cmotor installed-rollerxe2x80x9d having a cylinder that encloses therein a motor accompanied by a speed reducer. This prior art apparatus is for use as the lifting mechanism in the cross feeder (see Patent Laying-Open Gazette H. 6-312832).
FIG. 19 recites the cross feeder disclosed in this Gazette H. 6-312832. This cross feeder 100 is composed of a transporting mechanism 101 and a lifting mechanism 102, wherein motor-installed rollers 110 and 105 serve as principal parts of the respective mechanisms 101 and 102.
The transporting mechanism 101 constituting the cross feeder shown in FIG. 19 has an idle roller 111 and some guide rollers 112, in addition to the motor-installed roller 110. Each of two belts 115 lying in parallel with each other engages with those motor-installed roller 110, idle roller 111 and guide rollers 112, to thereby form a loop around them.
On the other hand, the motor-installed roller 105 of the lifting mechanism 102 has rings 106 fixed on its outer peripheral zones. A tie link 108 has one end operatively connected by a pin 107 to the ring 106, with the tie link""s other end adjoined to the transporting mechanism 101.
As will be seen in FIG. 19, the transporting mechanism 101 will remain above the transporting surface of the conveyor line so long as the pin 107 is kept at its uppermost position. When the transporting mechanism 101 is subsequently retracted below the said surface of conveyor line, the motor-installed roller 105 will spin a quarter of one rotation to lower this mechanism synchronously with the pin 107.
The cross feeder 100 of FIG. 19 is for use in combination with a roller conveyor line such that each belt 115 of the feeder does intervene between two adjacent rollers included in the conveyor line.
When the conveyor line is loaded with or unloaded of an article, the motor-installed roller 105 in the lifting mechanism 102 will operate at first. This motion is made to lift the transporting mechanism 101 until the upper traveling path of each belt 115 protrudes up between the constituent rollers of the conveyor line so as to raise the article above it. Next, the motor-installed roller 110 in the transporting mechanism 101 will be switched on to circulate the belts 115 over and around its rollers, thereby removing the article from the conveyor line.
As described above, each of the two parallel belts 115 of the prior art cross feeder is intended for insertion in between the two adjacent rollers of a conveyor. It is however to be noted that a distance between the adjacent rollers is not necessarily constant but largely varies between the types of roller conveyors. Thus, it has been difficult in some cases to properly dispose each belt among the rollers.
Further, the prior art cross feeder is composed of two discrete sections, that is the transporting and lifting mechanisms 101 and 102. This structure has rendered the feeder considerably large in its overall size, to such an extent as possibly disabling the cross feeder to be installed in a requisite portion of the conveyor line.
An object of the present invention made in view of the drawbacks inherent in the prior art is therefore to develop and provide a transversely conveying apparatus rendered smaller in size and capable of installation into any narrow space.
A conveying apparatus provided herein to achieve the object does include a motor-installed device having a casing, a motor accommodated in the casing and a shaft. This casing is capable of rotating relative to and about the shaft, and the shaft is also capable of rotating about a rotation axis so as to produce a torque. The apparatus further includes at least one cam fixed on the casing, an endless member, a drive member for driving the endless member, a terminal member disposed opposite to the drive member, and a deflector for converting the rotation axis to a transverse axis for the drive member. The transverse axis extends crosswise to the rotation axis so as to transmit the torque to the drive member. In this apparatus, the drive member and the terminal member are spanned with the endless member that substantially encloses the motor-installed device. The apparatus still further includes a support that is interposed between the casing and the endless member so as to be capable of contacting both the at least one cam and the endless member. When the shaft rotates relative to the casing standing stationary, the torque will be applied to the drive member so as to cause the endless member to travel in a circulating manner. If contrarily the casing rotates together with the cam relative to the shaft standing still, then the cam will raise or lower the support so as to expand outwards or retract inwards a portion of the endless member.
Here, xe2x80x9cthe transverse axis extending crosswise to the rotation axisxe2x80x9d includes an axis not actually crossing and not parallel to the rotation axis, as well as an axis actually crossing the rotation axis.
In the conveying apparatus from the above-described aspect of the invention, all the principal parts take their position to be enclosed by the endless member. The apparatus thus rendered much smaller in its overall size as compared with the prior art ones can now be incorporated in any desired space, broad or narrow.
Preferably, the endless member noted above may be a belt and both the drive and terminal members may be a pulley. The endless member may otherwise be a chain cooperating with sprockets employed as the drive and terminal members.
Also preferably, the terminal member is movable towards and away from the drive member. Thus, distance between the rotation axes of those drive and terminal members is variable so that tension appearing in and along the endless member stands constant, not affected by the ascending or descending movement of the flat support.
It also is desirable to provide the apparatus with a braking means that will force the casing not to spin but to stand still. In this case, the endless member will start to travel in a circulating manner upon stoppage of the casing braked by said means, as the casing and the shaft rotate relative to each other.
Preferably the motor-installed device is a motor-installed cylinder, the casing is a cylindrical casing, a speed reducer accompanying the motor is further accommodated in the casing, and at least one end of the shaft protrudes outwards from at least one end of the casing. In other words, the motor-installed device is a motor-installed cylinder having a cylindrical casing and a shaft, the cylindrical casing accommodates the motor and a speed reducer accompanying the motor, at least one end of the shaft protrudes outwards from at least one end of the casing, and the cylindrical casing and the shaft are rotatable relative to each other.
The conveying apparatus just summarized above uses a motor-installed cylinder as a motor-installed device. A motor-installed cylinder, also called xe2x80x9ca motor-installed rollerxe2x80x9d, or xe2x80x9ca motorized rollerxe2x80x9d, is made of a cylinder accommodating a motor and a speed reducer. In the cylinder, rotational force of the motor is transmitted to the cylindrical casing through the reducer.
A conveying apparatus also provided herein includes a motor-installed device having a casing, a motor accommodated in the casing and a shaft, with these casing and shaft being capable of rotating relative to each other and about a rotational axis. The apparatus further includes a deflecting mechanism for converting the rotational axis to a further rotational axis, viz., a transverse transmission axis, a power inputting means, a transverse transporting means, and a lifting means. The transporting means transports an article axially of the motor-installed device when and while the power inputting means is energized to rotate. The lifting means for raising and lowering the transporting means is capable of being selectively and operatively connected to one of the casing and the shaft of said device, with the other of them being simultaneously connected through the deflecting mechanism to the power inputting means. Thus, when said one of these cylindrical casing and shaft of said motor-installed device is turned on to rotate, the lifting means will be driven to raise or lower the transporting means. With the other of these casing and shaft of said device being turned on to rotate, the transporting means will be activated by the power inputting means through the deflecting mechanism so as to transport the article.
In the conveying apparatus just summarized above, the motor-installed cylindrical device has such a casing and such a shaft that rotate relative to each other so that the lifting means can operate in unison with either of them, viz., the casing or the shaft. The lifting means may include a cam, a crank and/or a linkage, all constructed to raise and lower the transporting means. The conveying apparatus has such a deflecting mechanism as switching over the rotational axes from one to another and vise versa. The conveying apparatus has also the transporting means for moving the article along the axis of said motor-installed device, in response to rotation of the power inputting means. When one of the casing or the shaft (e.g., the former) of said motor-installed device is in such an operative connection as noted just above, the other of those casing and shaft (e.g., the latter) is in engagement with the power inputting means, through the deflecting mechanism. A roller conveyor, a belt conveyor or the like may be employed as the transporting means.
When the motor within the motor-installed device is turned on, the cam type raising means will operate to lift the transporting means above the transportation level of the conveyor line. Simultaneously, a torque will be imparted to the power inputting means through the deflecting mechanism so that the transporting means then operates to move the article away from the conveyor line. In other words, the transporting means will be driven by the power inputting means and then having been activated will transport the article along the axis of the motor-installed cylindrical device.
Preferably, the conveying apparatus may include a resisting member or members working against rotation either or both of the casing and the shaft. Such resisting members may have each a brake causing the casing or shaft not to spin at any small angle but to temporarily stand quite still.
In detail, the present conveying apparatus has the resisting member that will resist rotation of the casing or the shaft of the motor-installed cylindrical device. Since these casing and shaft are capable of rotating relative to each other, a torque will be imparted to one of them if and when the other is braked, with the torque being consequently transmitted to the lifting means or to the deflecting mechanism.
Also preferably, the conveying apparatus may include both the casing-resisting and shaft-resisting members that work against the casing and the shaft, respectively. One of such resisting members may always apply a resistance to rotation of the casing or shaft, while the shaft or casing being resisted by the other resisting member temporarily and only tinder certain conditions.
In detail, in the conveying apparatus including both the casing-resisting and shaft-resisting members, the casing and shaft of the motor-installed device can be braked individually. Because one of these resisting members always applies a permanent resistance to one of the casing or shaft, while the other of them being resisted by the other resisting member under certain conditions only, the motor temporarily actuated will impart a torque to said other one of the casing or shaft, to drive either one of the lifting and transporting means. Once the other resisting member is actuated, one of the casing and shaft will be caused into its stationary state, and the other of them having been suffering from the permanent resistance will consequently be forced into rotation to drive the other one of the lifting and transporting means.
It is desirable that the resisting member for the transporting means is of the type always exerting resistance against it.
Preferably, casing-resisting member may be pressed on the casing by a resilient part or parts such as a spring, a rubber piece or the like, thus simplifying structure and manufacture of said member. The spring may be a coiled spring, a leaf spring or any one of the known types of spring.
The lifting means may preferably include a cam that will simplify structure and manufacture of this member.
The cam in operative connection with the shaft of motor-installed cylindrical device may preferably be guided only in a horizontal direction so as to take a position where the shaft is forced tip and down. Such a shaft""s vertical movement caused by the cam will in turn raise and lower the transporting means in the present conveying apparatus.
Preferably, the cam may be supported simply on a sliding member that is displaceable only in horizontal direction.
The deflecting mechanism may be composed principally of a crossed belt, more specifically, a quarter-twisted belt, that will simplify this mechanism in structure for reversibly switching over the working rotational axes from one to another.
The transporting means may preferably be composed of a plurality of rotors rotating synchronously, and at least one of them may function as the power inputting means. Such a structure renders it simple and easy to manufacture both the rotors and inputting means.
Preferably, the motor-installed device may substantially consist of a cylinder incorporating in the casing the motor and a reducer and the shaft protruding sideways from and rotating relative to the cylinder, thereby rendering the present apparatus more compact.
From still another aspect of the present invention, it provides a conveying apparatus including a motor-installed device having a casing, a motor accommodated in the casing and a shaft, with the casing and the shaft being capable of rotating relative to each other and about a rotational axis. The apparatus further include a cam, a deflecting mechanism for converting the rotational axis to a further rotational axis, a power inputting means and a transverse transporting means. The transporting means transports an article axially of the motor-installed device when and while the power inputting means is energized to rotate. The apparatus still further includes a casing-resisting member for always resisting against the casing and a shaft-resisting member for temporarily resisting the shaft when the shaft is at its given angular position. Thus, this apparatus is constructed such that the cam is in an operative connection with the shaft in the motor-installed device, with the casing thereof being operatively connected to the power-inputting means through the deflecting mechanism, so that by energizing the motor, the cam will rotate along with the shaft to raise and lower the transporting means. At the given angular position of the shaft, the shaft-resisting member will impart resistance to this shaft so as to force the casing into rotation against the casing-resisting member and to thereby cause a transporting movement of the transporting means due to a power transmitted through the deflection mechanism and power-inputting means.
As just summarized above, the conveying apparatus in this mode of the present invention does include motor-installed device, the cam, the deflection mechanism, the power-inputting means, the transporting means, the casing-resisting member and the shaft-resisting member. The shaft of said motor-installed device operatively communicate with the cam, with the casing-resisting member operatively communicating with the power-inputting means through the deflection mechanism. The casing-resisting member and the shaft-resisting member in this apparatus are effective to apply resistance to the casing and the shaft of said motor-installed device, respectively and individually.
Between the two resisting members, the casing-resisting one is made as a permanently resisting member for the casing. So long as the motor rotates the casing continues to suffer from a strong resistance, thereby forcing the shaft to spin about its own axis as a result of reaction to this resistance. This means that with the motor being turned on, the shaft will start to spin at first, simultaneously causing rotation of the cam in order to raise the transporting means.
The other resisting member that is the shaft-resisting one is designed to and will actually work to resist rotation of the shaft only at the given angle thereof, whereby the casing is forced against the casing-resisting member into rotation to drive the transporting means by and through the deflecting mechanism and power-inputting means.
The cam may preferably be guided only in a horizontal direction so as to take a position where the shaft is forced up and down. Such a shaft""s vertical movement caused by the cam will in turn raise and lower the transporting means in the conveying apparatus.
From another aspect, the present invention provides a roller conveyor system including parallel rotating rollers and any one type of the conveying apparatuses summarized above, wherein the latter is interposed between any appropriate or desired two of these rollers.
In the system of such an arrangement, articles can be taken out of or be fed onto a conveyor line.
From still another aspect, the present invention provides a roller conveyor system including in addition to a conveyor line of parallel rotating rollers a conveying apparatus that is interposed between any appropriate or desired two of these rollers.
Also in this system constructed, the articles can likewise be taken out of or be fed onto the conveyor line.
From further still another aspect, the apparatus is driven with an independent power source driving it to ascend above and descend below the level of said rollers in order to convey articles transversely of a conveyor line.
Also in this system constructed, the articles can likewise be taken out of or be fed onto the conveyor line smoothly.
From yet still another aspect, the present invention provides a conveyor assembly in which a number of conveyor units are arranged in series to form a conveyor line. In this conveyor assembly, any one type of the conveying apparatuses summarized above is interposed between any two of the adjacent conveyor units, also enabling the articles to be taken out of or fed onto the conveyor line.

Conveying apparatus, a roller conveyor system and a conveyor assembly


Disclosed is a container suitable for holding objects such as flowers and which may include a body having at least one wall defining a cavity. The at least one wall may include openings separated apart from each other. A tensioner may pass through the openings. A platform may be situated within the cavity and coupled to the tensioner so as to receive a force from the tensioner when a tension is applied to the tensioner. This force may be operative to lift the platform and the flower coupled thereto so that the flower partially or fully extends from the cavity while at least a portion of the platform remains in the cavity.

Flowers are typically given as a gift and may be wrapped in a cellophane or paper wrapper or enclosed in a container such as a box typically made from cardboard or the like. Wrapped flowers may be easily bruised, damaged, and/or difficult to ship economically. Boxed flowers may protect the flower contained within but may be bulky and drab and not particularly attractive or aesthetically pleasing to a recipient. After flowers are removed from their conventional wrapping, they must be promptly placed in a liquid such as water to enhance their appearance and extend their useful life. This may require a recipient of the flower to perform additional tasks and may result in a lower price for the flower. Moreover, this may require a user have a vase or the like ready for receiving the flower. Accordingly, the present system and methods overcome these deficiencies of the above-mentioned prior art systems.

Container for flowers and method of operation thereof


A Ball Grid Array (BGA) formed on printed circuit board is provided. The BGA comprises a first solder ball module and a second solder ball module. The first solder ball module comprises a plurality of first solder balls, wherein one of the first solder balls is grounded for shielding two other first solder balls, and one of the first solder balls is floating. The second solder ball module comprises a plurality of second solder balls, wherein two of the second solder balls are grounded and one of the two grounded second solder balls penetrates the printed circuit board through a plated through hole formed on the printed circuit board for shielding two first solder balls among the first solder balls.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to ball grid array disposed on printed circuit board, in particular, to a ball grid array having good ground shielding.
2. Description of Related Art
In order to electrically connect a ball grid array (BGA) packaged chip to a printed circuit board, a BGA corresponding to the packaged chip must be provided on the printed circuit board. The BGA provided on the printed circuit board generally is formed of a plurality of solder balls, a few of which are connected to ground to provide ground shielding to the remaining solder balls. However, the arrangement of a BGA on a printed circuit board is not necessarily regularly patterned. That is, the shape of the BGA as well as the number and positions associated with the grounded solder balls may vary along with different chips.
Since a conventional arrangement of solder balls does not have a regulated pattern, and solder balls may be arranged in a scattered manner with a low density, therefore, the usable area of the printed circuit board is often under-utilized. Moreover, in practice a custom design of a BGA is unlikely to be repeatedly used, and manpower is required for verifying the performance of a BGA.

Ball grid array formed on printed circuit board


A bone fixation system and method are provided. The system includes a dual prong pin and a bone screw. The pin is especially configured and contoured to fixate fractures of the proximal phalanx, especially hyperextension fractures. Fracture of other long bones of the hand, foot or elsewhere may be managed with this bone fixation system.

1. Field of the Invention
A bone fixation system and method suitable, for example, for fracture fixation of the proximal phalanx of the hand or foot, especially of the hyperextension type, are provided. The system is also suitable for fixating fractures of other long bones of the hand, such as the middle phalanx or the metacarpals, and of the metatarsals in the foot. The system is also suitable for fixating fractures in other bones outside of the hand or foot.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Hyperextension fractures of the proximal phalanx are typically problematic, especially in the elderly, because such fractures are very difficult to stabilize. Current techniques and devices can often lead to very significant functional impairment and disability. These hyperextension fractures of the proximal phalanx usually result in less optimal outcomes than fractures of larger bones such as the distal radius.
One of the most common methods for fracture fixation is pinning. In general, a pin has a sharp cutting tip. The pin is driven into bone with the aide of a drill or an equivalent mechanical device. Despite their versatility, pins have limitations especially with fractures that have a significant amount of fragmentation (comminution) of the bone at the fracture site or when the fractured bone is too soft resulting in premature loosening of the pins.
Another common method for fracture fixation of the small bones of the hand utilizes plate fixation. However, use of plates usually results in scaring which frequently limits the proper gliding motion of the surrounding tendons, especially the extensor tendon. A second surgery is usually necessary to remove the plate and release the extensor tendon. This approach often results in a large scar in the most visible part of the hand (not readily received by most female patients). In the presence of significant comminution and osteoporosis, as is often the case scenario in the elderly female population with these fractures, plate fixation of hyperextension fractures of the proximal phalanx is usually not able to hold the alignment of the fracture because the plate has limited mechanical ability to buttress these fractures and loss of reduction is often frequent after plate fixation.
In addition, conventional plating of the long bones of the hand frequently results in malalignment of the involved bone after the plate is applied; the operated finger will tend to abnormally scissor or overlap onto an adjacent finger. Thus, plating requires absolute precision because even a small amount of angular malalignment is not well tolerated.
Yet another fixation method utilizes a flexible nail/pin mated to a locking sleeve. This method offers some advantages over plating and pinning of the long bones of the hand. However, the nail and sleeve configuration is not much different from pins and has limited ability to control hyperextension fractures of the proximal phalanx which frequently results in loss of fracture reduction. In addition, a significant portion of the hardware is prominent outside of the bone, irritating the tendons. Some relief is provided by use of a protective plastic cap. In most cases, a second surgery is needed to remove the nail and the prominent locking sleeve.

Fixed angle dual prong pin fixation system


A flexible apparatus with a bending interaction guide is provided. The flexible apparatus includes a sensor which senses a bending that deforms the shape of the flexible apparatus, and a controller which performs a controlling operation corresponding to the bending, when a previously set bending is sensed. The controller adds and provides the bending interaction guide based on a bending set with respect to each of the objects that are displayed on a screen.

1. Field
Methods and apparatuses consistent with the exemplary embodiments relate to a flexible device and more specifically, a flexible device which provides a bending interaction guide corresponding to bending and a control method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the development of electronic technologies, various types of display apparatuses have been developed. Specifically, display apparatuses such as televisions (TVs), personal computers (PC), lap-top computers, tablet PCs, cellular phones, or MP3 players are distributed and used by most families at home.
Recently, in order to meet user needs when the users request newer and a variety of functions, efforts are made to develop display apparatuses to be in a newer form. So-called, 'next generation displays' is one of such efforts.
There is a flexible display apparatus for example among the next generation displays. The flexible display apparatus indicates apparatus which has bending features.
The flexible display apparatus may be easily bent, which is different from related art display apparatuses. Accordingly, various input methods using bending features other than in the related art may be applied. When bending input methods are applied, a user can control operations of the apparatus by bending one part of the flexible display apparatus. For example, when a user bends an edge part, operation of turning a page into a next page can be performed.
Accordingly, in order to control the flexible display apparatus with a bending operation, a user has to be aware of the bending types and corresponding operations. However, when the user is a child or a senior who is not accustomed to inputting bending operations, the user may have difficulties in understanding the inputting methods. Further, when functions matched with various types of bending are provided, even a general user may have a problem in efficiently using the bending operations.
Therefore, a technology to use bending efficiently is necessary.

Flexible device for providing bending interaction guide and control method thereof


A method and apparatus for producing asphaltic mix for roadway use is disclosed, and which comprises a primary plant which is designed to be located remote from the point of use, and a separate satellite plant which is designed to be located relatively close to the point of use. The primary plant heats and dries the stone aggregate, segregates the aggregate by size, and mixes the aggregate with a small amount of liquid asphalt so as to suppress the dust. The resulting pre-mixed product of the primary plant is then transported by truck to the satellite plant, where it is stored and then mixed with a further quantity of liquid asphalt to render the mix suitable for roadway use. The primary plant performs the functions which require substantial equipment and space, and which have the more significant environmental impact, whereas the satellite plant may be relatively small and inexpensive, and its operation makes no significant environmental impact. As a result, the satellite plant can usually be located very near the point of use, thereby reducing transportation costs.

Conventional batch type plants for producing asphaltic mix typically comprise a drum dryer for heating and drying the stone aggregate, and a vertical bucket elevator for conveying the heated and dried aggregate from the dryer to the top of a tower. The tower includes an enclosed vibrating screen section at the top, for receiving and segregating the aggregate by size. The segregated aggregate then drops through individual chutes to a bin section which underlies the screen section, and which comprises a plurality of separate bins, and so that each bin receives an aggregate of a predetermined average size from the screen section. A weigh hopper is positioned below the bins, which permits the aggregate from one or more bins to be weighed out to provide a desired mixture, as required for example for a roadway base coat or a finish coat. A mixing pugmill is positioned below the weigh hopper for mixing the weighed quantity of aggregate with hot liquid asphalt, and the bottom of the pugmill includes a gate opening, such that the contents may be dropped into an underlying truck.
It is desirable to locate the asphalt plant as near as possible to the point of use, in order to minimize trucking expense. However, it often is not possible to locate the plant as near to the point of use as would be desirable. For example, conventional plants often generate dust and contribute to air pollution, and they may be noisy. As a result, many localities will not issue the necessary permits. Also, the projected asphalt production may not justify the expense of a conventional plant, or the space may be too limited or too expensive to justify a plant.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for producing asphaltic mix and which avoids or at least minimizes the above noted problems associated with conventional plants.
It is a more specific object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus of the described type and which utilizes a satellite plant which has a low environmental impact, which is relatively small in size and cost, and which can be profitably located at sites which are impractical for conventional plants.

Method and apparatus for producing asphaltic mix


A gateway device selection method is provided. The method includes: receiving, by a terminal device, a message from a gateway device, where the message includes identification information of the gateway device, and the identification information of the gateway device indicates information about the gateway device; determining, by the terminal device, that the identification information of the gateway device is consistent with preset identification information of a gateway device on the terminal device, and using the gateway device as a selected gateway device; and sending, by the terminal device, a data packet to the selected gateway device. This helps the terminal device correctly identify the gateway device to which the terminal device is to send data.

With development of various network services and terminal devices, different terminal devices and different types of gateways access a same layer 2 network, and different terminal devices need to use different gateway devices to access different service networks or networks provided by different operators.
Particularly, in recent years, with prosperous development of the Internet of Things (IoT), types of terminal devices (such as a smart electric meter and a smart water meter) are increasing. Correspondingly, different types of service networks are growing. For example, a smart electric meter in a residential community needs to access a service network of a grid company by using a grid gateway device, so as to transmit data of the electric meter to a data center of the grid company for processing. A smart water meter in the residential community needs to access a service network of a water supply company by using a water-network gateway device, so as to transmit data of the smart water meter to a data center of the water supply company for processing. However, when the smart electric meter, the smart water meter, the grid gateway device, and the water-network gateway device access a same layer 2 network, and these terminal devices cannot differentiate information about different gateway devices, the data of the smart electric meter is transmitted after the smart electric meter accesses the service network of the water supply company by using the water-network gateway device, or the data of the smart water meter is transmitted after the smart water meter accesses the service network of the grid company by using the grid gateway device. As a result, a transmission error occurs, and a service is unreachable.
Therefore, when multiple types of terminal devices and multiple types of gateway devices access a same layer 2 network, a terminal device cannot correctly select a gateway device for data transmission.

Gateway selection method, device, and system


A metal trap particle used for passivation of metals during FCC cracking comprises a calcined spray dried particle formed from kaolin, magnesium oxide or magnesium hydroxide and calcium carbonate. The metal trap particle contains at least 10 wt. % magnesium oxide which improves metals passivation during FCC cracking.

Catalytic cracking is a petroleum refining process that is applied commercially on a very large scale. A majority of the refinery gasoline blending pool in the United States is produced by this process, with almost all being produced using the fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) process. In the FCC process, heavy hydrocarbon fractions are converted into lighter products by reactions taking place at high temperatures in the presence of a catalyst, with the majority of the conversion or cracking occurring in the gas phase. The FCC hydrocarbon feedstock (feedstock) is thereby converted into gasoline and other liquid cracking products as well as lighter gaseous cracking products of four or fewer carbon atoms per molecule. These products, liquid and gas, consist of saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons.
In FCC processes, feedstock is injected into the riser section of a FCC reactor, where the feedstock is cracked into lighter, more valuable products upon contacting hot catalyst circulated to the riser-reactor from a catalyst regenerator. As the endothermic cracking reactions take place, carbon is deposited onto the catalyst. This carbon, known as coke, reduces the activity of the catalyst and the catalyst must be regenerated to revive its activity. The catalyst and hydrocarbon vapors are carried up the riser to the disengagement section of the FCC reactor, where they are separated. Subsequently, the catalyst flows into a stripping section, where the hydrocarbon vapors entrained with the catalyst are stripped by steam injection. Following removal of occluded hydrocarbons from the spent cracking catalyst, the stripped catalyst flows through a spent catalyst standpipe and into a catalyst regenerator.
Typically, catalyst is regenerated by introducing air into the regenerator and burning off the coke to restore catalyst activity. These coke combustion reactions are highly exothermic and as a result, heat the catalyst. The hot, reactivated catalyst flows through the regenerated catalyst standpipe back to the riser to complete the catalyst cycle. The coke combustion exhaust gas stream rises to the top of the regenerator and leaves the regenerator through the regenerator flue. The exhaust gas generally contains nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur oxides (SOx), carbon monoxide (CO), oxygen (O2), ammonia, nitrogen and carbon dioxide (CO2).
The three characteristic steps of the FCC process that the cracking catalyst undergoes can therefore be distinguished: 1) a cracking step in which feedstock is converted into lighter products, 2) a stripping step to remove hydrocarbons adsorbed on the catalyst, and 3) a regeneration step to burn off coke deposited on the catalyst. The regenerated catalyst is then reused in the cracking step.
A major breakthrough in FCC catalysts came in the early 1960's, with the introduction of molecular sieves or zeolites. These materials were incorporated into the matrix of amorphous and/or amorphous/kaolin materials constituting the FCC catalysts of that time. These new zeolitic catalysts, containing a crystalline aluminosilicate zeolite in an amorphous or amorphous/kaolin matrix of silica, alumina, silica-alumina, kaolin, clay or the like were at least 1,000-10,000 times more active for cracking hydrocarbons than the earlier amorphous or amorphous/kaolin containing silica-alumina catalysts. This introduction of zeolitic cracking catalysts revolutionized the fluid catalytic cracking process. New processes were developed to handle these high activities, such as riser cracking, shortened contact times, new regeneration processes, new improved zeolitic catalyst developments, and the like.
The new catalyst developments revolved around the development of various zeolites such as synthetic types X and Y and naturally occurring faujasites; increased thermal-steam (hydrothermal) stability of zeolites through the inclusion of rare earth ions or ammonium ions via ion-exchange techniques; and the development of more attrition resistant matrices for supporting the zeolites. The zeolitic catalyst developments gave the petroleum industry the capability of greatly increasing throughput of feedstock with increased conversion and selectivity while employing the same units without expansion and without requiring new unit construction.
After the introduction of zeolite containing catalysts the petroleum industry began to suffer from a lack of crude availability as to quantity and quality accompanied by increasing demand for gasoline with increasing octane values. The world crude supply picture changed dramatically in the late 1960's and early 1970's. From a surplus of light-sweet crudes the supply situation changed to a tighter supply with an ever increasing amount of heavier crudes with higher sulfur contents. These heavier and high sulfur crudes presented processing problems to the petroleum refiner in that these heavier crudes invariably also contained much higher metals with accompanying significantly increased asphaltic content.
The effects of metals such as Ni—V—Na present in the feedstock and/or deposited on the catalyst during processing of the feedstock have been described in the literature as to their highly unfavorable effect in lowering catalyst activity and selectivity for gasoline production and their equally harmful effect on catalyst life. In particular, vanadium, at high concentrations in the feed, is especially detrimental to catalyst life. Accordingly, the presence of metal contaminants in the feedstock presents a serious problem during FCC processing. Common metal contaminants are iron (Fe), nickel (Ni), sodium (Na), and vanadium (V). Some of these metals may promote dehydrogenation reactions during the cracking sequence and result in increased amounts of coke and light gases at the expense of gasoline production. Some of these metals may also have a detrimental effect on the cracking catalyst stability and crystallinity. During the cracking catalyst regeneration process, metals present in the catalyst itself may volatilize under the hydrothermal conditions and re-deposit on the catalyst. Silicon (Si) is an example of such a metal. All of these metals, whether initially present in the feedstock, the cracking catalyst, or some other compound present in the FCC reactor, may lead to loss of activity, selectivity, stability, and crystallinity of the active component of the cracking catalyst.
As previously noted, vanadium poisons the cracking catalyst and reduces its activity. The literature in this field has reported that vanadium compounds present in feedstock become incorporated in the coke which is deposited on the cracking catalyst and is then oxidized to vanadium pentoxide in the regenerator as the coke is burned off. One possible pathway by which vanadium reduces catalyst activity involves vanadium pentoxide reacting with water vapor present in the regenerator to form vanadic acid. Vanadic acid may then react with the zeolite catalyst, destroying its crystallinity and reducing its activity.
Because compounds containing vanadium and other metals cannot, in general, be readily removed from the cracking unit as volatile compounds, the usual approach has been to passivate these compounds under conditions encountered during the cracking process. Passivation may involve incorporating additives into the cracking catalyst or adding separate additive particles along with the cracking catalyst. These additives combine with the metals and therefore act as "traps" or "sinks" so that the active component of the cracking catalyst is protected. The metal contaminants are removed along with the catalyst withdrawn from the system during its normal operation and fresh metal trap is added with makeup catalyst so as to effect a continuous withdrawal of the detrimental metal contaminants during operation. Depending upon the level of the harmful metals in the feedstock, the quantity of additive may be varied relative to the makeup catalyst in order to achieve the desired degree of metals passivation.
Patents including disclosure of the use of alkaline earth compounds, including magnesium oxide, to mitigate the effects of vanadium include U.S. Pat. No. 4,465,779, U.S. Pat. No. 4,549,548; U.S. Pat. No. 4,944,865; U.S. Pat. No. 5,300,469; U.S. Pat. No. 7,361,264; WO 82/00105; GB 218314A; EP-A-020151 and EP-A-0189267. In some of these references, the magnesium oxide is contained in discrete particles, separate from the particles of zeolite cracking catalyst.
Efforts to develop products and processing modifications to mitigate vanadium passivation are by no means limited to the use of alkaline earth material. Certain perovskites such as barium titanate are employed commercially. Perovskites are expensive. Perovskites are not considered to be very effective in reducing SOX emissions in regenerator flue gas. Alkaline earth material, especially magnesium oxide, offers the additional benefit of reducing SOx in regenerator flue gas from cracking units. See, for example, WO 82/00105 (supra).
There is strong motivation to utilize the inherent vanadium binding and SOx capturing capacity of magnesium oxide in FCC operations utilizing feedstocks having a high content of vanadium. References cited above give some indication of past efforts to produce magnesium oxide based vanadium passivating particles adapted for co-circulating with zeolite cracking catalysts. Commercial success has not measured up to the motivation. One primary challenge was to provide a metals passivator in a physical form of particles sufficiently attrition-resistant for use in FCC, while maintaining the magnesium in most reactive form (oxide). Magnesium oxide without a binder/matrix is unsuitable for use in an FCC unit when it must be circulated through the reactor and regenerator of an FCC unit along with cracking catalyst particles. This is because particles of magnesium oxide readily break down into a powder when subjected to attritive forces. Note that in one of the earliest proposals to use magnesia in an FCC unit to combat SOx (U.S. Pat. No. 3,699,037), the material was circulated in the regenerator to bind SOx. The magnesia attrited during such use, eventually to be withdrawn from the regenerator with flue gas without circulating in the cracker, as would be required to achieve vanadium passivation. Because of the friable nature of magnesium oxide particles, the material did not circulate with the catalyst during the FCC cycle.
Numerous patents, including several of those cited above, disclose formulations based on composites of magnesia with kaolin clay. Kaolin clay is a widely used matrix component for cracking catalyst because it is inexpensive and has potential binding properties. Also, it is relatively catalytically inert in calcined form and is a prime candidate as a matrix/diluent for a vanadium passivator based on magnesia, wherein catalytic activity is not desired. An advantage of using kaolin clay as a matrix/diluent is that it can readily be formed into substantially catalytically inert particles by forming a dispersed concentrated fluid slurry feed for spray drying, to form microspheres in a rotary atomizer or nozzle, spray dryer. When dried, especially when calcined at a temperature above the kaolin dehydroxylation temperatures, the calcined kaolin also serves as a binding function.
Several of the references noted above provide examples of MgO/kaolin microspheres prepared by means including spray drying, but they do not disclose the composition of the feed slurry to the spray dryer. They do not provide information about attrition-resistance. There is no indication that the inventors were concerned with attrition-resistance or steam stability of the products. In the case of WO 82/00105, the matrix was a mixture of kaolin and silica-alumina gel, a conventional matrix for zeolite crystals in an active cracking catalyst. Silica-alumina is a material known to possess catalytic activity.
Those skilled in the art of handling kaolin are aware that introduction of magnesium ions into kaolin slurries causes the slurry to flocculate and thicken. This has been used with benefit in the formulation of various clay-based drilling mud. However, flocculation and thickening, especially in short time periods, causes formidable problems in producing magnesia/kaolin products useful for FCC wherein particles of appreciable magnesium oxide content are produced in spray dryers. Slurry instability results in variable particle packing resulting in particle size distribution and particle void volume. Void volume and packing variability is a major root cause in attrition control issues. It is a simple matter to provide a dispersed kaolin slurry that is sufficiently fluid at a high enough concentration (e.g., 50% solids) to produce coherent microspheres. However, if kaolin is spray dried at low solids, e.g., 10%, the microspheres will fall apart before they can be hardened by calcination. If magnesium is added to such a high solids fluid dispersed slurry of kaolin in more than a trace amount, the slurry will flocculate and thicken. If enough magnesium ions are introduced, a solid gel forms and the slurry cannot be formed into microspheres by spray drying using known technology. Addition of magnesium oxide to a kaolin slurry in amount sufficient to produce spray dried particles having a sufficiently high MgO content for effective vanadium passivation will result in a slurry that cannot be spray dried in continuous commercial spray drying equipment. This problem has plagued the pursuit of developing attrition-resistant spray dried microspheres containing magnesia with a clay diluent which meet the criteria for a good vanadium trap: attrition-resistance; high capacity for vanadium trapping; good vanadium passivation; and very high trapping efficiency (i.e., fast vanadium uptake).
To produce such particles it is necessary to overcome the difficulty caused by flocculation of a dispersed slurry of kaolin by the incorporation magnesium ions, resulting in thickening or even gelation of the slurry and, ultimately, the inability to formulate a slurry of sufficiently high solids content to produce attrition-resistant spray dried microspheres. The need to control flocculation and thickening to achieve hardness was counter-balanced by the need to produce microspheres that were sufficiently porous to function as an effective magnesium passivator.
Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,300,469, mentioned above, discloses vanadium passivation particles in the form of spray dried attrition-resistant microspheres composed of a minor amount of magnesium oxide, a major amount of calcined kaolin clay admixed therewith and a small amount, relative to the magnesium of oxide, of an in situ formed amorphous magnesium silicate cement. The particles have a low surface area and have minimal cracking activity. Products of the disclosed invention are obtained by processing steps comprising mixing magnesium oxide or magnesium hydroxide, hydrous (uncalcined) kaolin clay and sodium silicate with water to form a dispersed fluid slurry which is aged. During aging, the basic magnesium compound reacts with sodium silicate to produce magnesium silicate which functions as a binder in the finished product. Optionally colloidal silica, additional kaolin clay or both are added to the aged slurry. The proportion of magnesium oxide relative to sodium silicate is controlled to assure that only a small amount of magnesium silicate is formed, leaving the bulk of the magnesium oxide unreacted and available in the product to passivate metals and, if desired, to bind SOx. The slurry is spray dried to form microspheres which are calcined under conditions sufficiently mild to dehydrate the kaolin while preventing or minimizing the formation of crystalline magnesium silicate and/or magnesium aluminates.
One key manufacturing parameter which the inventors of U.S. Pat. No. 5,300,469 believe is crucial is the avoidance of large amounts of magnesium silicate formation in such a way that only marginal reaction between the two components can take place. Another key parameter is a moderate calcination temperature which avoids the formation of significant amounts of crystalline magnesium silicate and aluminate, thereby preserving the bulk of the MgO throughout the process. A significant amount of crystalline magnesium silicate or aluminate would be a quantity such that more than about half of the magnesium oxide is consumed in forming that crystalline material. Still another key parameter was assuring that the magnesium oxide was well dispersed from the time it was mixed with other ingredients to form a slurry until spray drying. Thus, in order to produce these microspheres in a form sufficiently attrition-resistant for use in FCC involved careful selection of starting materials (MgO, clay and binder) and making a careful selection of slurry preparation procedures prior to spray drying. The patentees stated that magnesium should not be used in the form of magnesium hydroxide or magnesium carbonate, as both give rise to problems due to particle shrinkage, ultimately resulting in vanadium traps having poor attrition resistance.
Despite the best efforts to form an effective magnesium oxide-containing metal trapping particle, which is also attrition resistant and can be readily processed and formed on a commercial scale, problems still persist. Thus, the presence of silicates whether from the kaolin or additional binders, result in reactions with the magnesium oxide to form magnesium silicate, which is not an effective metals trap in refinery applications as magnesium oxide. Moreover, the poor stability of magnesium oxide slurries is still problematic. When aged, such slurries often thicken and gel in 24-48 hours rendering scheduling of production difficult and variable. Also, when the slurry viscosity changes, controlling the final product particle size is challenging which necessitates modifications which add to the cost of the process. Further, magnesium oxide slurries have relatively low solids content, about 20-22% by weight. The low solids content reduces the spray dryer rate and, thus, the productivity of the plant, raises energy consumption and, thus, total product cost. Further, due to the low solids penalty, magnesium oxide levels in the final product may not be as high as desired for effective metals trapping.

Heavy metals trapping co-catalyst for FCC processes


A processing apparatus is described. The apparatus includes a graphics processing unit (GPU), including a register file having a plurality of channels to store data and an execution unit to examine data at each of the plurality of channels, read a data value from a first of the plurality of channels upon a determination that each of the plurality of channels has the same data and execute a single input multi data (SIMD) instruction based on the data value.

Graphics processing involves a performance of rapid mathematical calculations for image rendering. Such graphics workloads may be performed at a graphics processing unit (GPU), which is a specialized electronic circuit, to rapidly manipulate and alter memory to accelerate the creation of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display. GPUs may also be implemented as a general-purpose computing on GPU (GPGPU) to perform computations traditionally handled by a central processing unit (CPU). Accordingly, GPGPUs may be implemented to execute SIMD instructions.
GPGPU architectures with physically narrower SIMD widths often execute instructions by folding logical SIMD widths to multiple back to back components in the narrow physical channels. For example, a SIMD 16 instruction may be executed in floating point units (FPUs) by transmitting four back to back simd4. The advantage of operating in narrower physical channels is that when executing similar data (e.g., as in the case when processing pixel data like RGBA), data toggles are suppressed to save dynamic power in high power consuming logical circuitry such as a FPU. While this provides power advantage, this type of architecture is also detrimental in terms of area efficiency by repeating the same controllers for each of the four wide SIMDs.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Single input multiple data processing mechanism


A system and method for compacting data in a non-volatile memory system that may reduce the need for control data updates is described. The method may include copying valid data from a source block to a destination block, and also writing new host data to the destination block, such that the offset position in the destination block of the copied data is the same as in the source block and fewer mapping table updates are needed for the copied data. The system may include a non-volatile memory system with a coarse granularity mapping table and a fine granularity mapping table where a controller in the non-volatile memory system is configured to only update the coarse granularity mapping table for compacted data written to a new block, but is configured to update both the fine and coarse granularity mapping tables for new host data written to the new block.

Non-volatile memory systems, such as flash memory, have been widely adopted for use in consumer products. Flash memory may be found in different forms, for example in the form of a portable memory card that can be carried between host devices or as a solid state disk (SSD) embedded in a host device. Flash memory is often made up of groups of memory cells referred to as pages, and multiple pages are often then organized in groups known as blocks. Flash memory cells may be physically configured to store data in different bit per cell densities.
Modern SSDs or similar memory systems utilizing NAND flash (or a similar physical storage media) share a common challenge to continually create space in which to write to the device. Creation of this space is generally accomplished through a maintenance operation commonly termed garbage collection or compaction. This type of maintenance operation is inherent in NAND flash due to the inability to write in place to flash memory, and due the mismatch between the smaller write granularity and larger erase granularity typical of flash memory. Garbage collection usually includes the copying of valid data from a source block to a new block and the subsequent erasure of the source block for reuse. The garbage collection process can introduce a significant processing burden which may reduce SSD performance and endurance, not only because it introduces extra writing of the data being moved, but also because it introduces extra address update data (control data) writing necessary to keep track of the data being moved.

Method and system for compacting data in non-volatile memory


In one embodiment, a lamp with a ferrule includes a substrate to support a light emitting element and a wire insertion portion formed therein. A support portion to arrange the substrate is formed in one end portion of a base body. A through-hole is formed in the support portion corresponding to the wire insertion portion. A concave container portion is provided in the other end portion of the base body to accommodate a circuit board to mount electric parts. An insulating case is arranged between the circuit board and the concave container portion. The insulating case includes a protection element inserted in the through-hole and the wire insertion portion. The protection element is projected at least to inside of the wire insertion portion. A ferrule for supplying electric power to the light emitting element is provided in the other end portion of the base body.

Recently, a lamp using a semiconductor light emitting element with little power consumption and long life has been used in place of a filament type lamp. Especially, an electric bulb with a ferrule, such as a LED lamp which uses light emitting diodes as the light source, is adopted for various lighting equipments. In constituting the lamp with the ferrule using the light emitting diodes as a light source, it is necessary to make the lamp not only small but low cost taking advantages of the light emitting diodes.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No. 2003-59330 (Patent Application (1)) discloses a LED lighting equipment using a LED module in a shape of an approximately plate which is easily wired. A terminal base is provided in the module to directly connect a power supply wire to the LED module in which a plurality of LED diodes is arranged on the plate. Moreover, Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No. 2006-313718 (Patent Application (2)) discloses a LED lamp including a filament type bulb having frame components, a point-like light source, a ferrule, and a translucent cover.
However, in the Patent Application (1), the power supply wire for the LED diodes is connected to a connecting portion formed on a surface of a substrate by drawing the power supply wire outside from the back side of the substrate. Therefore, the power supply wire is projected from a perimeter edge of the substrate, which results in enlargement of outer diameter of a base body of the lamp inevitably in order to take electric insulation distance from the base body of the lamp when the LED module is provided in the base body of the lamp. Accordingly, it becomes difficult to make the lamp small.
Furthermore, in the Patent Application (2), two insulating covering electric wires coupled to a point-like light source are electrically connected a patterned layer of a light source substrate by soldering after passing along a hole formed in the substrate as shown in a paragraph [0032] and FIG. 4 especially. That is, in the Patent Application (2), the electric supply wire to the light emitting diode is inserted in the substrate without taking around on the outside of the substrate as shown in (1). However, generally, the substrate is formed of metal plates with a good thermal conductivity, such as aluminum to effectively dissipate the heat from the light emitting diodes which are arranged on the surface of the substrate through an insulating layer. Accordingly, a sharp edge is formed in a through-hole to insert the wire. The sharp edge may damage the covering of the wire. Since two thin covering electric wires are used in order to flow a direct current with a lower voltage of about 24V to the light emitting diode, the thin covering of the wire tends to suffer damage. For this reason, although there is a method of cutting off the corner of the hole, it is difficult to cut off the corner because the metal plate of the substrate consists of a thin plate. Although it has been carried out to protect the electric wire by inserting a protection tube in the hole, the arrangement results in a problem that the manufacturing cost is raised because of the increase in numbers of components and manufacturing steps. In general, a protection tube is fixed in a through-hole by providing a hooking piece at both ends of the protection tube. The hooking piece is engaged at the opening of the through-hole. In this case, the hooking piece is interposed between the substrate and a radiator (frame component). Accordingly, adhesiveness between the substrate and the radiator is weakened, and the radiation efficiency is lowered.

Lamp and lighting equipment using the same

Toshiba Lighting & Technology Corporation


In a steering apparatus for a vehicle which has a steering mechanism for steering steerable road wheels by means of a steering wheel operated by a driver and an electrically controllable auxiliary steering angle superposition mechanism, and in which a target auxiliary steering angle is set in accordance with a steering wheel angle, and an electric motor of the auxiliary steering angle superposition mechanism is driven and controlled according to the target auxiliary steering angle, the rotation of the electric motor 212 is inhibited without regard to the state of the driving control. A short-circuit relay 13 is provided for short-circuiting opposite terminals of the electric motor 212, and the short-circuit relay 13 is operated so as to short-circuit the opposite terminals of the electric motor 212 through a short-circuit relay driving unit 14 in accordance with the kind of a failure detected by a failure detection unit 18, whereby the rotation of the electric motor 212 is inhibited. In addition, when a power supply to the steering apparatus for a vehicle is interrupted, the short-circuit relay 13 operates, without power supply, to short-circuit the opposite terminals of the electric motor 212.

Conventionally, there has been well known a steering apparatus for a vehicle which has an auxiliary steering angle superposition mechanism installed at a location between a steering wheel and steerable road wheels for changing a transmission characteristic between the steered angle of the steerable road wheels and the steering-wheel steering angle of a driver in accordance with the traveling condition of the vehicle (see, for example, a first patent document).
In this kind of steering apparatus, when the electric motor becomes a freely rotatable state, even if the driver steers the steering wheel, the steerable road wheels become unable to be steered while permitting only the electric motor to rotate. Accordingly, in order to deal with this problem, in the above-mentioned conventional apparatus, the rotation of the electric motor is inhibited by driving on one-side transistors of upstream side and downstream side transistors of a transistor bridge circuit and driving off the other-side transistors thereof for the purpose of inhibiting the rotation of the electric motor.    [First Patent Document]
Japanese patent application laid-open No. 2005-350036


The invention relates to a method and apparatus for compressing an image data signal. The apparatus includes a compression control module arranged to eliminate frequency components produced from the image data signal which have a magnitude less than a threshold value. The apparatus compares the volume of the compressed image data signal with a target volume and selects to increase or decrease the applied compression level depending on the outcome of the comparison. The compression level is increased by increasing the threshold value and deacreased by decreasing the threshold value. The compression level, or ratio, is thus adaptable in real-time in order to meet a target volume for the compressed image. This is particularly advantageous in applications where, for example, the compressed image signal is to be transmitted over a fixed bandwidth link. The method and apparatus of the invention are particularly suitable for use in the implementation of the JPEG basline image compression standard.

The present invention relates generally to image data compression. More particularly, the invention relates to a method and apparatus for compressing an image data signal wherein the applied compression level, or ratio, is adaptable.
An image, such as a photograph, video still or the like, can be represented digitally by a plurality of data elements, commonly referred to as pixels. For the transmission and storage of an image, it is desirable to compress the digital image data in order to reduce the volume of data which needs to be transmitted or stored. This is particularly important where it is desired to transmit the digital image data across a communications link of limited bandwidth. Image compression techniques are commonly employed in applications such as colour printing, colour image scanning, colour facsimile transmission and multimedia computing.
A problem with conventional image compression techniques is that, for a given image size, it is not possible to predict the volume of data that will be produced after compression. This can result in loss of data in applications involving a fixed bandwidth communication link.
Examples of a conventional image compression techniques are the JPEG standards, such as the JPEG baseline standard and extended sequential JPEG as established by the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG). The JPEG standard involves sub-dividing an image into blocks containing a respective array of pixel values, performing a discrete cosine transform (DCT) on each block to produce an array of frequency coefficients, quantizing the frequency coefficients of each block in accordance with a quantization table, and entropy encoding the quantized coefficients of each block in accordance with a Huffman table to produce compressed image data. The compression ratio achieved by the JPEG is primarily determined by the quantization table and the Huffman table. Since the JPEG standard specifies that the whole image is compressed using the same set of quantization and Huffman tables, there is no means for controlling the compression ratio once the encoding of an image has started. Hence, the volume of compressed data produced is unpredictable and not controllable.
The present invention provides a method an apparatus for compressing an image wherein the level of applied compression is adaptable to the volume of compressed data produced, in order to meet a target volume of compressed data.
Accordingly, a first aspect of the invention provides an image compression apparatus for compressing an image data signal comprising one or more image data blocks, the apparatus comprising a transform module arranged to transform the or each image data block into an array of frequency coefficients; a quantization module arranged to quantize each of said frequency coefficients according to a respective quantization coefficient; a compression control module arranged to eliminate each [non-zero] frequency coefficient having a magnitude less than a threshold value; an entropy encoding module arranged to generate a coded data element for each non-zero and non-eliminated frequency coefficient to produce a compressed data signal, wherein the apparatus image data signal is processed in image segments, each image segment comprising at least one image data block, and a respective target volume is set for each image segment, the apparatus being arranged to measure the volume of the compressed data signal produced for each image segment, to calculate the difference between the respective target volume and respective measured volume for each image segment, and to sum the calculated differences, the compression control module being arranged to adapt the level of compression applied by the apparatus depending on the value of said summed calculated differences.
By adapting the applied compression level, the apparatus can control the volume of the compressed data produced in order to meet a target so that, for example, the compressed data signal is suitable for transmission over a communication link of limited bandwidth. By eliminating frequency coefficients according to their magnitude, the apparatus minimizes the impact of increasing the compression level on the visual quality of the image data signal when reconstructed.
The invention further provides a method of adapting the level of compression in an image compression apparatus as claimed in claim 10.
Preferred features of the invention are set out in the dependant Claims. Other advantageous aspects of the present invention will become apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art upon review of the following description of specific embodiments of the invention and with reference to the accompanying drawings.


A garment hanger having two clamps respectively provided on two ends thereof, each clamp includes a first jaw and a second jaw adapted to closing to each other for clamping; wherein the first jaw has on its inner surface thereof an elliptical protrusion, and the second jaw has on its inner surface thereof ridges circling to form an elliptical shape; the ridges in the elliptical shape form a recessed area for accommodating the elliptical protrusion, the protrusion and the recess are made mainly of soft materials such as rubber, so that taking advantage of the friction of the rubber, softer garments can be firmly clamped without damaging material of the garments.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a garment hanger and clamps used thereon, and more particularly to clamps each with a pair of clamping arms closable to each other and respectively having a protrusion and a recess thereon the clamping arms; the protrusion and the recess are made mainly of rubber in order to firmly clamp garments without damaging the material of the garments.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are various types of garment hangers for hanging garments in the markets; in general, in order to achieve the objects of hanging more garments on a single garment hanger or put multiple decorative attached parts of a garment on a single garment hanger along with the garment, two clamps are often provided respectively on the two ends of a garment hanger.
Clamps found nowadays are variant; however, they normally are limited to being strong elastic clamps which make the two clamping arms engage in a mode of engagement of teeth set thereon the opposite claiming arms in an included angle.
In the past, as shown in FIG. 1, a clamp A10 using strong elastic clamps A11 to clamp two clamping arms A12, A13 together which in general is provided thereon the two clamping arms A12, A13 with canine teeth A14 or other sharp ridges to firmly and strongly clamp and hold garments such as jeans or those garments made from harder cloths. The garments A15 being clamped, as shown in FIG. 1A, is strongly clamped by the canine teeth A14, so that the garments can be damaged, or after a long time clamping, the garments are having on its surface clamping marks; therefore, such clamps do not suit softer garments (such as garments made of natural silk, rayon etc.).
Therefore, it is the primary objective of the present invention to provide a garment hanger with a clamp applicable to clamp softer garments firmly without damaging the clothes.