Delay induced apparent amplitude desensitization in a data signal channel and its accompanying worm-like distortion in an Eye Diagram Analyzer is avoided by altering the measurement to avoid the need for any substantial delay in the path of the data channel threshold comparison signals. In a first technique, only enough delay will be inserted in the data channels to produce the relative adjustments needed to compensate for skew between the data channels, as determined by a calibration operation, and it is these de-skewed, but otherwise un-delayed, data threshold comparison signals that are, in rapid succession, clocked into the latches whose difference registers a hit at a given (time, voltage) pair. The clock path delay is then varied from a minimal value to a sufficiently large value capable of spanning a desired the number of eye diagram cycles. In a second technique, the needed amounts of de-skew delay found by the calibration operation are noted, and then the actual delays in the data path are set back to zero. The clock path delay is swept as in the first technique. The de-skewing operation is then performed in post-processing that produces the eye diagram after the measurement is complete. In either technique, the short width of transitions in the data threshold comparison signals that are associated with threshold values near the extremes of data signal excursion are no longer swallowed by the finite bandwidth of a long delay line, since the delay lines in the data channel paths now either introduce only just enough delay to compensate for skew (and those amounts are very short), or, do not introduce any extra delay at all.

Eye diagrams are a conventional format for representing parametric information about signals, and especially digital signals. Various prior art eye diagram testers are known, but we shall call the technique described in xe2x80x9cMETHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PERFORMING EYE DIAGRAM MEASUREMENTSxe2x80x9d, as well as the preferred method to be disclosed herein (and any corresponding circuit apparatus), an Eye Diagram Analyzer, or EDA for short.
A modern eye diagram for a digital signal is not so much a trace formed continuously in the time domain, as it is an xe2x80x9ceyexe2x80x9d shape composed of closely spaced points (displayed dots, or illuminated pixels) representing many individual measurement samples taken upon separate instances of a signal occurring on a channel of interest, and which were then stored in a memory. Each measurement sample contributes to a displayed dot. The eye shape appears continuous because the collection of dots is rather dense, owing to the large number of times that the signal is sampled. Unlike a true continuous technique, however, there may be detached dots that are separated from the main body of the eye shape. A further difference with the continuous analog technique is that rare or infrequently occurring events, once sampled, do not appear faint in the display or disappear with the persistence of the CRT""s phosphor. This latter difference is often quite an advantage, since it is often the case that such otherwise xe2x80x9chard to seexe2x80x9d features of the trace are very much of interest.
In any event, the vertical axis is voltage, and the horizontal axis represents the differences in time (i.e., various offsets) between some reference event and the locations for the measurement samples. The reference event is generally an edge of a clock signal in the system under test, represents directly or through some fixed delay the expected point in time when the value of an applied data signal would be captured by some receiving circuit in an SUT (System Under Test), and is derived from an application of the SUT""s clock to the Eye Diagram Analyzer. The time axis will generally have enough length to depict one complete eye-shape (cycle of a SUT signal) centered about the reference, with sometimes perhaps several additional eyes (cycles) before and after.
Different (X, Y) regions within a (sample) space containing an eye diagram represent different combinations of time and voltage. Assume that the eye diagram is composed of a number of pixels, and temporarily assume that the resolution is such that each different (X, Y) pixel position can represent a different combination of time and voltage (and vice versa), which combinations of time and voltage we shall term xe2x80x9cmeasurement points.xe2x80x9d What the Eye Diagram Analyzer measures is the number of times, out of a counted number of clock cycles, that the signal on the channel being monitored passed through a selected measurement point. Then another measurement point is selected, and the process repeated until there are enough measurement points for all the pixels needed for the display. Points along the visible eye diagram trace describe something about those (time, voltage) combinations that were observed to actually occur in the data signal under test. The value of a (time, voltage) combination is represented by its location, but the color or intensity of the measured result is determined in a way that assists in appreciating the meaning of the measured data. The range over which the measurement points are varied is called a xe2x80x9csample spacexe2x80x9d and is defined during a measurement set-up operation. And in reality, we define the sample space and the resolution for neighboring measurement points first, start the measurement and then let the analyzer figure out later how to ascribe values to the pixels of the display. The xe2x80x9cdisplayxe2x80x9d is, of course, an arbitrary graphic output device such as a printer or an X Window of some as yet unknown size in a window manager (e.g., X11) for a computer operating system. (A one-to-one correspondence between display pixels and measurement points is not required. It will be appreciated that it is conventional for display systems, such as X Windows, to figure out how to ascribe values to the pixels for an image when the correspondence between the display""s pixel locations and the measurements that are the original image description is not one-to-one.)
A modern eye diagram trace itself is thus not a single time domain waveform (think: xe2x80x98single valued functionxe2x80x99), but is instead equivalent to an accumulation of many such instances; it can present multiple voltage (Y axis) values for a given time value (X axis). So, for example, the upper left-hand region of an eye might represent the combination of an adequate logical one at an adequately early time relative to the SUT""s clock signal, and an eye diagram whose trace passes robustly through that region indicates to us that a signal of interest is generally achieving a proper onset of voltage at a proper time. Furthermore, we note that there are also other regions, say, near the center of an eye, that are not ordinarily transited by the trace, and which if that were indeed to happen, would presumably be an indication of trouble. Thickening of the traces is indicative of jitter, a rounding of a corner is indicative of slow transitions, and so on. An eye diagram by itself cannot reveal in the time domain which isolated instance (cycle) of the data signal caused such an exception, as other types of measurements might, but it does provide timely and valid information about signal integrity within a system as it operates. In particular, by incorporating various rules for determining the intensity and color of the displayed pixels of the eye diagram trace (e.g., very long, perhaps xe2x80x9cinfinitexe2x80x9d, persistence) the eye diagram presents readily seen evidence of infrequently occurring failures or other hard to spot conditions.
The EDA of the incorporated xe2x80x9cMETHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PERFORMING EYE DIAGRAM MEASUREMENTSxe2x80x9d operates by applying the clock signal from the SUT to a comparator circuit whose output is then delayed by a fixed amount, say about a half cycle, or some integral multiple thereof. The delayed clock comparison is then the reference mentioned above, and it used by determining when individually threshold-compared and then delayed data signals (the SUT data channels) are sampled.
This sampling of the individually threshold-compared and then delayed data signals is actually performed twice in rapid succession, a very brief (but selectable) amount of time apart. If these two successive samples are different, then the input signal transitioned through the voltage region of interest, and we call this a hit. This is the manner of sampling that accomplishes the taking of the (time, voltage) pairs that are the basic data of the eye diagram measurement, and it is an alternative to digitizing with a conventional Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC). We use it because it works at frequencies that are impractical for ADCs.
Different sampling voltages are obtained by varying the comparison thresholds for the data signals. Different times are obtained by varying the amount of delay in the data channel path, while leaving the clock data signal path essentially fixed. Skew between data channels is removed by introducing corresponding increases or decreases in the individual delays of the data channels.
An advantage of this technique is that, once skew is calibrated out, it allows the delay and threshold comparison for each data channel to vary as needed to complete the measurement. That is, the EDA will dwell on a measurement point for say, a specified number of clocks, or say, until some other condition is met, before moving on to the next measurement point. It sometimes happens that the rate of progress among the channels is not all the same. This particular technique allows each channel to be measured at a different measurement point, simultaneously with the other channels at their measurement points, if that is appropriate. That is, each data channel can have its own delay and threshold voltage, independent of those for the other channels. This speeds up the measurement by allowing xe2x80x9coverlap,xe2x80x9d as it were, compared to requiring that all channels be measuring for the same (time, voltage) pair. Thus, each channel""s measurement is completed as soon as possible, without slaving intermediate progress for the entire process [start the next (time, voltage) pair] to the channel with the slowest measurement process. To be sure, the entire overall measurement will not be complete until that slowest channel is also completed, but at least the results of the other channels are visible at the earliest possible time, and that may have a bearing on what the operator decides to do. He may determine from an inspection of other results that it is not necessary to wait (perhaps in the minutes, or more) for the measurement on the final channel to be completed.
There is, however, a disadvantage to this technique as set out in xe2x80x9cMETHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PERFORMING EYE DIAGRAM MEASUREMENTSxe2x80x9d. The delay lines used are each a tapped series of non-inverting buffers. The input is applied to the start of the tapped series, and the delayed output is taken at the location in the series selected by the tap. It is important to remember that each buffer in the tapped sequence has a frequency response (finite rise and fall times), and that the combined effect for large values of delay (over a thousand buffers in series) is significant. The effective rise and fall time for the stage of delay at the final tap is considerably less than that for any single buffer in the sequence.
Here is why that is important. As will be explained in due course with reference to FIG. 1, consider a (high speed digital) data channel whose signal has rise and fall times that are a significant fraction (say a third, or even more) of the pulse width of that signal. (At, say, ten megahertz we would be justified in considering such a digital signal quite defective. But as for signals in the gigahertz range, we often won""t have the luxury of being so fussy, and will have to find a way to cope with signals that are significantly less than perfect. Read on.) The rise and fall time imperfections mean that the width of that data signal at the level corresponding to the threshold varies with the level of the threshold (which would not happen if the data signal had zero rise and fall times and perfectly flat tops and bottoms). Accordingly, the length of the output pulse produced by the threshold comparison varies according to the threshold. For thresholds near (but not above) the upper excursion of the signal the output pulse is xe2x80x9cshort.xe2x80x9d Perhaps very short. Even too short. For if it gets short enough it will not make it through the tapped delay line, but will eventually be xe2x80x9cswallowed,xe2x80x9d instead. What comes out of the end of the delay line is a steady level (incorrectly) indicating xe2x80x9cno comparison occurred.xe2x80x9d For thresholds close to (but not below) the lower excursion the comparison pulse width is xe2x80x9clong.xe2x80x9d However, it must be remembered that it is still a periodic signal, which means that when it gets xe2x80x9clongxe2x80x9d it must also contain a xe2x80x9cshortxe2x80x9d pulse in the other direction corresponding to a brief period of no comparison. Insufficient bandwidth in the delay line can swallow that necessary short separation, so that xe2x80x9clongxe2x80x9d turns into xe2x80x9ctoo long!xe2x80x9d That is, the delayed comparison is no longer responsive to the excursions in the data signal, which is an indication that no change in comparison occurred. Each case (high thresholds, low thresholds) upsets the (delayed) data channel comparison values clocked into the difference detection circuitry (recall the two samples in rapid succession mentioned above, and which if different, indicate a hit). The result is no difference between those samples taken in rapid succession (implying the signal did not passed through the corresponding threshold voltage), which in turn means that for increasing values of data channel delay the EDA exhibits a decreasing sensitivity to both upper and lower thresholds when observing high speed imperfect signals.
So, for example, an eye diagram of several consecutive cycles for such a signal would be made by sweeping the delay from greatest (on the left side of the trace) to least (on the right side). At each step in the delay the amplitude threshold would be swept through its range. The dynamically varying voltage response squashes the trace at locations having the greater delay (on the left, since increased delay is needed in the data path to see earlier times along the time axis). See, in due course, FIG. 2. In the words of one of the inventors: xe2x80x9cThe resulting eye diagram measurement looks more like a sick worm than an electrical signal.xe2x80x9d It seems our Eye Diagram Analyzer has turned into a Worm Diagram Generator.
We can""t allow rise time imperfections in high speed data signals to generate diagrams of sick worms in our Eye Diagram Analyzer. What to do?
A solution to the sick worm phenomenon of delay induced apparent amplitude desensitization in an Eye Diagram Analyzer is to alter the measurement technique to avoid the need for any substantial delay in the path of the data channel threshold comparison signals. There are two similar techniques by which this may be accomplished. In the first of these techniques, only enough delay will be inserted in the data channels to produce the relative adjustments needed to compensate for skew between the data channels, as determined by a calibration operation. In this first technique it is these de-skewed, but otherwise un-delayed, data threshold comparison signals that are, in rapid succession, clocked into the latches whose difference registers a hit at a given (time, voltage) pair. The clock path delay is then varied from a minimal value to a sufficiently large value capable of spanning a desired the number of eye diagram cycles. That is, the delay in the de-skewed data channel paths will remain constant, and different (time, voltage) pairs needed for eye diagram production are thus produced by stepping the amount of delay in the clock path. This first technique provides good bandwidth for the data channel comparison signal, and also allows the entire range of relative delay that can be swept with the variable clock path delay. In the second technique, the needed amounts of de-skew delay found by the calibration operation are noted, and then the actual delays in the data path are set back to zero. The clock path delay is swept as in the first technique. This completely maximizes the available bandwidth for the data channel comparison signals, but can be expected to somewhat limit the range of relative delay that can be swept with the variable clock path delay. The de-skewing operation is then performed in post-processing that produces the eye diagram after the measurement is complete. The second technique is presently the preferred one. In either technique, the short width of transitions in the data threshold comparison signals that are associated with threshold values near the extremes of data signal excursion are no longer swallowed by the finite bandwidth of a long delay line, since the delay lines in the data channel paths now either introduce only just enough delay to compensate for skew (and those amounts are very short), or, do not introduce any extra delay at all. The threshold comparison for the clock signal is set at a suitable value at or near the midrange of clock values, and thereafter is not changed. The output pulse from the clock threshold comparator may not have the full width of the clock pulse, but it nevertheless remains robust and constant as it makes its way unhindered through even the full length of the variable tapped delay line within the clock path.

Eye diagram analyzer with fixed data channel delays and swept clock channel delay


The plant contains high temperature fuel cells which form a battery (1) in which electrochemical reactions can be carried out with a fuel (6) and a gas (5) containing oxygen while producing an electrical current (8) and a hot exhaust gas flow (7) which transports waste heat. The plant has a device with the following components:

The invention relates to a plant with high temperature fuel cells and to methods for operating the plant.
High temperature fuel cells, for example of the SOFC type (xe2x80x9cSolid Oxide Fuel Cellxe2x80x9d), enable an exploitation of the energy which is converted by the fuel cells in the operation of a building infrastructure. In this both the electrical energy which is produced as a result of electrochemical processes and the thermal energy which arises in the form of hot exhaust gases of the processes are used. If the building infrastructure is provided for a climate in which the weather conditions, in particular the ambient temperatures, vary in a marked fashion, then it is necessary at times to give off surplus heat to the surroundings. If fuel cells of the SOFC type are used, then the temperature of the exhaust gas is so high that the exhaust gas must not be expelled directly via a chimney into the surroundings in order to eliminate surplus heat. At these high temperatures, damage to the chimney could result; the hot exhaust gas would also be a source of danger for the environment.
Plants for the simultaneous production of electrical and thermal energy are known from EP-A 0 823 742. In these plants a surplus amount of heat which arises with the exhaust gases can be utilized by means of thermal engines. Possibilities of use of this kind are however often complicated and expensive, so that it is economically more advantageous to eliminate surplus heat in that it is emitted unused to the surroundingsxe2x80x94xe2x80x9cdisposed ofxe2x80x9d.
It is an object of the invention to create a plant with high temperature fuel cells which permits the electrical and thermal energy requirement of a building infrastructure to be covered and the surplus heat which arises from time to time to be emitted to the surroundings without parts of the building infrastructure being damaged or the environment being endangered.
The plant contains high temperature fuel cells which form a battery in which electrochemical reactions can be carried out with a fuel and a gas containing oxygen while producing an electrical current and a hot exhaust gas flow which transports waste heat. The plant comprises a device with the following components:
a circulation with a heat carrier medium,
a first heat exchanger for the exhaust gas flow in which a portion of the waste heat can be transferred to the heat carrier medium,
at the output of the heat exchanger a discharge conduit for the exhaust gas flow which leads to a chimney, with it not being permitted for the exhaust gas temperature in the chimney to exceed a predetermined value, and
at least one heat sink, in particular in the form of a further heat exchanger, in which the waste heat which is transferred to the heat carrier medium can be removed from the circulation at least partly as surplus heat when required, with it not being possible for the surplus heat to be used either for room heating and/or utility water heating or for another useful purpose.
In the following the invention will be explained with reference to the drawing.

Abstract: a circulation (2) with a heat carrier medium (20),

Abstract: a first heat exchanger (21) for the exhaust gas flow in which a portion of the waste heat can be transferred to the heat carrier medium,

Abstract: at the output of the heat exchanger (21) a discharge conduit for the exhaust gas flow which leads to a chimney (10), with it not being permitted for the exhaust gas temperature in the chimney to exceed a predetermined value, and

Abstract: at least one heat sink (22), in particular in the form of a further heat exchanger, in which the waste heat which is transferred to the heat carrier medium can be removed from the circulation at least partly as surplus heat when required, with it not being possible for the surplus heat to be used either for room heating (3) and/or utility water heating (3) or for another purpose (3).


The pixels of an organic EL display panel each include an anode electrode layer, an organic layer, and a cathode electrode layer. Each of the organic layer and the cathode electrode layer is shared by the plurality of pixels. An organic EL element in each of the pixels includes an anode section, a cathode section, and a light emitting section. A conductor layer having a recess is provided in a region outside a region of the organic EL element in a view from a light exiting direction in which the organic EL element emits light. The recess includes a coated section that is covered with the organic layer and a conductor exposed section where the conductor layer is exposed. The cathode electrode layer is connected to part of the conductor exposed section.

As a display panel used as part of a display apparatus, such as a digital television, there is a known organic electro luminescence (EL) display panel having a plurality of pixels arranged in a matrix. In an organic EL display panel for color display, for example, three organic EL elements corresponding to colors RGB form three sub-pixels, and the combination of the three sub-pixels forms one pixel.
Each of the organic EL elements includes an anode section, a cathode section, and a light emitting section containing an organic material and provided between the anode section and the cathode section. The organic EL elements each emit light when voltage is applied to the anode section and the cathode section to inject holes and electrons into the light emitting section and the injected holes and electrons recombine with each other.
An organic EL display panel having a top-emission structure has a structure in which an anode electrode layer, an organic layer, and a cathode electrode layer are sequentially layered on a substrate. The anode section that forms each of the organic EL elements is formed of part of the anode electrode layer, the cathode section that forms the organic EL element is formed of part of the cathode electrode layer, and the light emitting section that forms the organic EL element is formed of part of the organic layer.
For example, in an organic EL display panel in which the cathode electrode layer is formed across the surface of the substrate and the plurality of pixels share the cathode electrode layer, insufficient power is supplied to a pixel located far away from a power supply, reducing the amount of light emitted from the pixel, resulting in poor image quality, such as luminance unevenness, in some cases. To supply a pixel located far away from the power supply with sufficient power, it is conceivable to employ a cathode electrode layer having low resistance. As an example of the cathode electrode layer having low resistance, Patent Literature 1 discloses a technology for connecting an auxiliary electrode to a cathode electrode layer to lower the resistance of the cathode electrode layer.


A component having a platinum-aluminum substrate surface region which is formed in the area of the substrate surface of the component by diffusion of platinum and aluminum into the substrate surface and which contains platinum and aluminum as well as the constituents of the substrate composition. The integrated aluminum content and/or the integrated platinum content in the substrate area is less than 18 wt %.

This application claims the priority of German Patent Document No. 103 50 727.2, filed 30 Oct. 2003, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference therein.
This invention relates to a component with a platinum-aluminum substrate area, in particular a component of a gas turbine. In addition, this invention also relates to a platinum-aluminum coating and a method of producing such a component.
European Patent 0 784 104 B1 relates to a superalloy based on nickel with an optimized platinum-aluminum coating. This prior art discloses an object having a platinum-aluminum surface region, where a nickel-based substrate has first platinum and then aluminum diffused into the substrate surface. This provides a substrate surface region having an integrated aluminum content of 18 to 24 wt % and an integrated platinum content of 18 to 45 wt %, with the remainder comprising constituents of the substrate mass composition. The platinum content and the aluminum content are relatively high in the area adjacent to the substrate surface, decreasing with an increase in the distance from the substrate surface into the substrate. According to European Patent 0 784 104 B1, the integrated values for the aluminum content and the platinum content of the substrate surface region are determined by an integration method, in which the platinum content and the aluminum content are integrated over the distance from the outer substrate surface. A lower integration limit is approx. 2 to 3 μm below the substrate surface. An upper integration limit is determined by the distance from the substrate surface at which the aluminum content measured in wt % has dropped to a value of 18 wt %, starting from a higher value. This upper integration limit is used for determining the integrated aluminum content and also for determining the integrated platinum content.
The platinum-aluminum coating and/or the component having such a coating disclosed in European Patent 0 784 104 B1 has a low ductility. This low ductility is caused by the relatively high aluminum and platinum contents. Because of this low ductility, components coated in this way have a limited thermomechanical fatigue (TMF) resistance. In the case of the blades of gas turbines that are exposed to cyclic thermomechanical stresses due to changes or fluctuations in operating temperature, cracks may develop in materials of limited TMF resistance. This may lead to breakage of the blades. An object of the present invention is thus to improve the TMF resistance.

Component with a platinum-aluminum substrate area, platinum-aluminum coating and production method


Methods and systems are provided for reducing angular velocity of a vehicle using a gyroscope array. A method comprises dithering a gyroscope of the gyroscope array, obtaining current through a gimbal motor of the gyroscope while dithering the gyroscope, determining a gimbal rate command to reduce angular velocity of the vehicle based on the current through the gimbal motor obtained while dithering the gyroscope, and operating the gimbal motor of the gyroscope based on the gimbal rate command.

Gyroscopes are currently used in a number of military and civilian applications. One common application involves using gyroscopes, known as control moment gyroscopes (CMGs), to control the attitude (or orientation) of a spacecraft, satellite, or another agile vehicle. A CMG comprises a spinning rotor and one or more motorized gimbals, which are used to rotate the axis of rotation of the rotor (e.g., gimballing), which in turn alters the direction of the angular momentum vector of the rotor. This change in angular momentum produces a reactionary torque which causes the spacecraft to rotate to the desired attitude or orientation. Attitude control systems (ACSs) and other spacecraft orienting applications often utilize a momentum control system (MCS) that includes at least three CMGs, also known as a CMG array.
During operation of the agile vehicle, it may be desirable to cease rotation or otherwise reduce angular velocity of the agile vehicle. For example, in response to an interruption or loss of communication between an ACS and the MCS, ceasing rotation of the agile vehicle can prevent the agile vehicle from being oriented at an undesirable attitude. One way to reduce angular velocity and cease rotation of an agile vehicle involves locking the gimbals of the CMGs and utilizing other actuators onboard the agile vehicle to stop the agile vehicle's rotation. However, this approach depletes resources onboard the agile vehicle (e.g., fuel or electrical power) and may also suffer from a relatively long response time. Another approach involves unlocking the gimbals of the CMGs and allowing them to rotate freely. Angular momentum from the agile vehicle is absorbed by the CMG array until the angular velocity of the agile vehicle reaches zero, or the CMG array saturates. However, this approach requires gimbal motors that are capable of being backdriven.

Methods and systems for reducing angular velocity using a gyroscope array


Techniques are disclosed for generating anomaly scores for a neuro-linguistic model of input data obtained from one or more sources. According to one embodiment, generating anomaly scores includes receiving a stream of symbols generated from an ordered stream of normalized vectors generated from input data received from one or more sensor devices during a first time period. Upon receiving the stream of symbols, generating a set of words based on an occurrence of groups of symbols from the stream of symbols, determining a number of previous occurrences of a first word of the set of words, determining a number of previous occurrences of words of a same length as the first word, and determining a first anomaly score based on the number of previous occurrences of the first word and the number of previous occurrences of words of the same length as the first word.

Many currently available surveillance and monitoring systems are trained to observe specific activities and alert an administrator after detecting those activities. Such systems are generally rules-based and require advance knowledge of what actions and/or objects to observe. The activities may be hard-coded into underlying applications or the system may train itself based on any provided definitions or rules. In other words, unless the underlying code includes descriptions of certain behaviors or rules for generating an alert for a given observation, the system is incapable of recognizing such behaviors. Such a rules-based approach is rigid. That is, unless a given behavior conforms to a predefined rule, an occurrence of the behavior can go undetected by the monitoring system. Even if the system trains itself to identify the behavior, the system requires rules to be defined in advance for what to identify. In addition, many surveillance systems, e.g., video surveillance systems, require a significant amount of computing resources, including processor power, storage, and bandwidth. For example, typical video surveillance systems require a large amount of computing resources per camera feed because of the typical size of video data. Given the cost of the resources, such systems are difficult to scale.

Unusual score generators for a neuro-linguistic behavorial recognition system


A gate valve having a valve body, a valve rod, a regulation device, a cam mechanism and a drive for supplying a straight-move force to the cam mechanism is provided. The valve rod is held so that it can move in a straight-move direction of opening and closing the valve via a pair of linear guides provided on both sides of the valve rod.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gate valve for opening and closing a variety of openings, for example, relates to a gate valve capable of airtightly opening and closing an opening of a vacuum process chamber used for a production process of a semiconductor apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a dry etching step, a sputtering step or an epitaxial wafer forming step, etc. in the manufacturing process of a semiconductor device, a multi-chamber structure vacuum process apparatus comprising a plurality of vacuum process chambers connected with each other is used.
In a vacuum process apparatus of this kind, a wafer is transported to and from a transport chamber to a vacuum process chamber via a gate, and a gate valve is provided for securing a vacuum and cleanness of the vacuum process chamber. As a conventional gate valve, one disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,415,376 is known.
However, the conventional gate valve has disadvantages below.
First of all, the gate valve described in the above U.S. Pat. No. 5,415,376 is configured to guide a vertical move of a valve rod by a guide mechanism comprised of a pivotal shaft and a groove guide, so a certain clearance would be necessarily designed between the pivotal shaft and the groove guide. Due to this essential clearance, it is liable that the valve rod rattles and which becomes a cause of fluctuation and noise or ends up in causing rocking. This disadvantage becomes noticeable particularly when the gate valve is driven at a high speed.
Also, the one disclosed in the above U.S. Pat. No. 5,415,376 is a gate valve of a vertical drive type wherein the valve rod moves in the vertical direction, while in a gate valve of a horizontal drive type wherein the valve rod moves back and forth in the horizontal direction, since the gravitation of the valve body attached at one end of the valve rod acts as a moment on the horizontal drive of the valve rod, probability of an occurrence of fluctuation, noise and rocking due to the above rattling becomes higher.
The second disadvantage of the gate valve in the above U.S. Pat. No. 5,415,376 relates to a mechanism of making the valve rod move in an inclining way when the valve body opens and closes the opening of the vacuum process chamber. Namely, in the gate valve of the above U.S. Pat. No. 5,415,376, the valve rod is moved in an inclining way by spring action of a tension spring, however, when using the tension spring, a point contact at fixed portions at both ends becomes inevitable, so stress intensifies to the points and the fixed portion of the spring is liable to be damaged due to fatigue.
An object of the present invention is to provide a gate valve capable of not making any noise and preventing rocking even when driven at a high speed and having an excellent durability.
[1] To attain the above object, according to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a gate valve comprising a valve body (2) capable of opening and closing an opening of a sealed chamber, and capable of sealing the opening by inclination with respect to the opening; a valve rod (6) to one end portion of which said valve body is fixed, held so that it can move in a straight-move direction for the valve body to open and close the opening, and held so that it can incline about an inclination axis (41a); a regulation means (12) for regulating a straight movement in the direction of closing the opening of the valve body at a close position where the valve body closes the opening; a cam mechanism (31) connected to the other end portion of the valve rod outside the sealed chamber, for moving the valve rod straight by a supplied straight-move force, converting the supplied straight-move force to an inclination force and inclining about the inclination axis the valve rod wherein a straight movement is regulated at the close position toward the direction that the valve body seals the opening; and a drive means (60) for supplying the straight-move force to the cam mechanism; and wherein the valve rod is held so that it can move in a straight-move direction of opening and closing the opening via a pair of linear guides (48, 48) provided on both sides of the valve rod.
In the gate valve of the present invention, since a valve rod can be moved in a straight-move direction in a state of holding both ends of the valve rod by using a pair of linear guides, a conventionally required clearance disappears, consequently, it can attain silence even when the gate valve is driven at a high speed and rocking of the valve rod can be also prevented.
Note that in the above invention, the above linear guide (48) may be configured to have a guide body (44) being attached on the valve rod side, a guide rail (45) attached on the drive means side, and a rolling bearing (46) provided between the guide body and the guide rail.
Also, in the above invention, a inclination axis (41a) of the valve rod may be set on or near a straight line connecting to attaching portions of guide bodies of the pair of linear guides and the valve rod.
Furthermore, in the above invention, the inclination axis (41a) of the valve rod may be set on an axis line of the valve rod.
Also, in the above invention, a thrust bearing (42) can be provided at an attaching portion of the valve rod and the guide body of the linear guide.
Also, in the above invention, the valve rod (6) may be configured to be held by sandwiching by receiving a preload in the inclination axis (41a) direction from the pair of linear guides (48, 48).
Furthermore, in the above invention, a sealing means (10) for sealing between the valve rod and the airtight chamber may be further provided so that the valve rod can move.
Also, in the above invention, the thrust bearing may be attached to the guide body by a bearing holding member (43) and the bearing holding member may be shaped to be received in a concave portion (12a) formed on a stopper member.
[2] To attain the above object, according to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a gate valve comprising a valve body (2) capable of opening and closing an opening of a sealed chamber, and capable of sealing the opening by inclination with respect to the opening; a valve rod (6) to one end portion of which the valve body is fixed, held so that it can move in a straight-move direction for the valve body to open and close the opening, and held so that it can incline about an inclination axis (41a); a regulation means (12) for regulating a straight movement in the direction of closing the opening of the valve body at a close position where the valve body closes the opening; a cam mechanism (31) connected to the other end portion of the valve rod outside the sealed chamber, for moving the valve rod straight by a supplied straight-move force, converting the supplied straight-move force to an inclination force and inclining about the inclination axis the valve rod wherein a straight movement is regulated at the close position toward the direction that the valve body seals the opening; and a drive means (60) for supplying the straight-move force to the cam mechanism; and wherein the cam mechanism (31) comprises a rolling body (35); a rolling body holding member (38) for holding the rolling body and being driven by the drive means a cam member (32) arranged facing to the rolling body holding member, provided with a cam plane for the rolling body to roll thereon to incline the valve rod, and connected to the valve rod; and further comprising a compression coil spring (80) for maintaining a relative positional relationship of the rolling body holding member and the cam member constant while elastically permitting a change of a relative position of the rolling body holding member and the cam member.
In the gate valve of the present invention, since a compression coil spring is used in a cam mechanism to incline the valve rod, the spring can contact the valve rod which relatively inclines and the gate valve fixed side by a plane. As a result, it is possible to provide a gate valve capable of dispersing the elastic stress imposed on the contact portion of the spring and preventing breaks due to fatigue as a result of repeated drive, and having excellent durability.
Note that in the above invention, the compression coil spring (80) may be configured to be attached in a non-load state to an offset state so that a reactive force by the offset acts to recover the valve (2) to an initial position direction via a relative move of the rotation body holding member (38) and the cam (32).
Also, in the above invention, the compression coil spring (80) may be provided so as to surround the rotation body holding member (38) and the cam (32).
Furthermore, in the above invention, the rotation body (35) may be configured to comprise a roller (35a) having a rotation plane contacting the cam surface and a roller shaft (35b) for rotatably supporting the roller rotatably and being supported by the rotation body holding member.
Also, in the above invention, a sealing means (10) for sealing between the valve rod and the airtight chamber so that the valve rod can move may be further provided.


A fuel rail assembly for delivering fuel to at least one fuel injector. The assembly includes a main pipe defining a passageway through which fuel passes to the fuel injector. A fastener mount is forged with the main pipe such that the fastener mount is integral with the main pipe. The fastener mount defines a first aperture configured to receive a fastener for mounting the main pipe. A wire harness mount is forged with the main pipe such that the wire harness mount is integral with the main pipe. The wire harness mount defines a second aperture configured to cooperate with a coupling member of a wire harness. The fastener mount and the wire harness mount are on a common side of the main pipe.

This section provides background information related to the present disclosure, which is not necessarily prior art.
A fuel rail assembly is commonly used to deliver fuel to an engine. Conventional fuel rail assemblies are comprised of numerous individual parts connected by brazing. While conventional fuel rail assemblies are suitable for their intended use, they are subject to improvement. For example, brazing is costly and may present quality control challenges. The present disclosure advantageously provides for improved fuel rail assemblies including at least the advantages set forth herein.


A tool consists of a base material selected from cemented carbide, tool steels, cermet, or hard materials, and a coating of two or more layers. At least one coating layer has the composition Ti—Al—Ta—N and at least one further coating layer has the composition Ti—Al—Ta-Me-N. The component Me is one more elements selected from the group consisting of Si, V, B. The tool, which is preferably a wearing part, is distinguished by a high wear resistance that improves the service life, in particular where high demands are imposed on the tool.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a tool consisting of a base material selected from the group consisting of cemented carbide, cermet, hard material and tool steel and a coating comprising two or more layers with a total coating thickness of from 0.5 μm to 15 μm, a coating layer having a thickness of from 0.0003-5.0 μm.
Cemented carbides, cermets, hard materials and tool steels are used for tools which are exposed to high wearing stresses. The term cemented carbide is to be understood as meaning a composite material which is composed of a hard material phase and a metallic binder. The cermet group of materials comprises all materials which are composed of one or more ceramic phases and one or more metallic phases. Hard materials encompass all materials with a hardness of >1000 HV. These include compounds of elements from group IVa to Vla of the periodic system with the elements carbon, nitrogen, boron or silicon. However, this group of materials also encompasses diamond, cubic boron nitride, silicon carbide, sialons, aluminum oxide, aluminum nitride and silicon nitride, to mention just the most important. Tool steels in accordance with DIN 17 300 are steels defined by their use in tools.
To increase the resistance to wear, wear-resistant hard material coatings based on carbides, nitrides, borides, silicides and oxides are applied to the base material. These coatings may comprise one or more coating layers and have hardnesses which are usually in the range from 1500 HV to 4000 HV. By way of example, reference may be made to single-layer or multilayer coatings consisting of titanium nitride, titanium carbon nitride, titanium aluminum nitride or aluminum oxide.
Under load, the tribological system, in addition to the tool, also comprises opposing bodies which cause the wear and friction, possibly intervening materials, the forces which are active, the sequence of movements and the environmental influences. In particular if the forces which are active and the relative velocity between tool and opposing body are high, a considerable temperature rise occurs in the superficial boundary region between the wearing part and the opposing body. For example, temperatures of 1000° C. and in some cases even above are measured at the surface of a machining tool. The causes of this are deformation and separation work in the shearing zone, friction of the chip at the primary face and friction of the work piece at the flank.
Hard-material coatings based on TiAlN are in widespread use for improving the wearing properties of tools. The influence of different Al contents on the improvement to the abrasion and oxidation resistance and the influence of further elements on the abrasion resistance of titanium nitride coatings, in particular produced using PVD processes, have been investigated.
For example, Thin Solid Films, 343 (1999), pp. 242-145 has described TiAlBN layers which have been produced in an Ar plasma at 450° C. However, it was not possible to achieve any significant improvements to the wear resistance during dry machining.
Surface Coat. Technol., 133-134 (2000) pp. 145-151 has disclosed TiAlSiN coatings produced by means of cathode arc vaporization and containing from 3.8 at. % to 8.2 at. % Si, wherein case hardness values from 35 to 45 GPa were achieved.
Furthermore, in a TiAlN coating it is also possible for Ti to be substituted by Cr, Hf, Zr or Nb.
For example, international PCT publication WO 2004/059030 describes an AlCrN coating with improved wear properties.
European patent publication EP 0 558 061 describes the partial or complete substitution of the Ti in the titanium nitride by the elements Hf, Zr, Cr or Nb, hard-material coatings of this type being joined to the base material via a metallic interlayer of Nb or Ta.
Japanese patent publication JP 2003-034859 describes a wear-resistant MeAlCrVCN coating, wherein at least one of the elements Ti, Nb, W, Ta or Mo is used for Me.
European patent publication EP 1 201 776 describes a gear-cutting tool made from high-speed steel with a multilayer coating combination comprising TiAlTaN or TiAlTaCN and TiAlN or TiAlCN, which is used for the machining of low-alloy steels or soft steels. The combination of the two layers results in a high service life combined with a low susceptibility to chip sticking.
In the event of high tool stresses, as occur for example in the dry milling of alloyed steels, very high surface temperatures are reached in the tool contact zones, such as for example the primary face and flank. Similarly high stresses also occur, for example, in the entry region of a shaping tool. The wear resistance of the known coating systems described above has hitherto been unsatisfactory in these applications, in particular if coolants are not used.


A sweat control or hyperhidrosis treatment device for providing iontophoresis of antiperspirant into a region of a human body includes a DC power source, a controller and a pair of electrodes. The electrodes are mounted in generally close proximity to one another and are separated by an insulating member. The electrodes generally carry an antiperspirant element and are responsive to an a current signal through the controller. The electrodes are generally formed of aluminum and have a rough surface to increase the number of aluminum ions available for infusion into the region. The controller converts the DC signal to an AC waveform. The electrodes are of opposite polarity with respect to each other such that during the first portion of the AC waveform, current is conducted through the region in a first direction from the first electrode to the second electrode. During the second portion of the AC waveform, current is conducted through the region in a second direction from the second electrode to the first electrode. The device further includes a pair of pads. Each of the pads is positioned in adjacent contact with one of the electrodes and preferably carries sodium salicylate to increase the permeability of the region. The electrodes are sized and arranged so that the tissue to be treated can extend across the insulating member and simultaneously contact both of the pads. The pads generally carry an aluminum-based antiperspirant such as aluminum-chlorohydrate or aluminum-zirconium or may include an anticholinergic substance.

This invention relates generally to a hyperhidrosis treatment device, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for conveniently and quickly providing enhanced iontophoretic application of antiperspirant chemicals to regions of the human body in a simple and economic manner.
Treatment of excess sweating is commonly done in one of two ways. For individuals with a mild case of sweating, effective treatment may be had through the application of chemical antiperspirants. For those inflicted with a more severe case of excess sweating or even hyperhidrosis, iontophoretic treatment may be necessary. Iontophoretic treatment involves the electrical introduction of ions into the skin to block the sweat duct.
An iontophoretic device for the treatment of hands, palms and axilla is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,325,367. In this device a support structure houses a pair of aluminum alloy electrodes in generally close proximity to one another as well as a source of electrical power. The electrodes are arranged so that, for example, the palm of a hand can be placed on the device and simultaneously contact both electrodes. A moisture absorbing pad is interposed between each of the electrodes and the skin of the user. In operation, the pads are moistened with water and the user places his hand on the pads. Current is applied from the electrodes, through the pads, to the user, thereby providing iontophoretic treatment.
Another iontophoretic device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,224,927. In this device, the electrical current applied between a pair of electrodes is periodically reversed at very low frequencies to mitigate tissue damage. Again, a moisture absorbing pad is interposed between each of the electrodes and the skin of the user. In operation, the treatment site may be prepared using an appropriate ionic surfactant such as an amphoteric or a cationic surfactant and electrical current in the form of a low frequency AC signal is applied to the treatment area through either water moistened pads or ionicsurfactant moistened pads.
In the well known DRIONIC compact iontophoretic device, which employs various aspects of both U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,325,367 and 5,224,927, long term treatment of severe cases of hyperhidrosis is provided through a series of iontophoretic treatments. The mean-average treatment time to effectively stop sweat is approximately seven hours. The treatment regimen calls for a series of approximately half-hour individual treatment sessions spread over the course of several days. The actual length of a session and time between sessions depends on the user's tolerance to electric current. During each treatment, metal ions, e.g., aluminum ions from the electrodes, are driven deep into the eccrine sweat pores to stop sweat. The cumulative effect of the series of treatments may stop sweat for up to six weeks. Moreover, the DRIONIC device relies on amplified voltages of 60 volts and safety control circuits.
While the DRIONIC device is intended for the extremely heavy sweater, the use of such a formidable and time consuming device may be an undesirable treatment for people suffering from only a mild case of excess sweating. Most of these individuals will chose the daily use of a wide variety of well-known over-the-counter topical antiperspirants to control heavy sweating. However, a problem associated with over-the-counter topical antiperspirants is the lack of sufficient penetration into the skin of the eccrine-pore-blocking antiperspirant chemical. Thus these topical antiperspirants have limited efficacy. It has been reported that over-the-counter topical antiperspirants are effective for only about fifty percent of those who use them. The those other fifty percent receive little or no benefit from such antiperspirants. In those people who enjoy some benefit from store bought antiperspirants, this efficacy is only between twenty and forty percent.
Hence, there has been a long existing need in the art for a system capable of administering deep-penetrating iontophoretic application of antiperspirant chemicals to the human body in a short period of time. There also exists a need for such a device that operates at a low power rating and thus relatively independent of a user's tolerance for electrical current. There further exists a need for such a device that is conducive to daily use. The present invention fulfils all of these needs and others.


A graphene/organic solvent dispersion liquid is in a stably dispersed state and also unlikely to cause electrolysis of water. A graphene/organic solvent dispersion liquid is also provided including graphene dispersed in an organic solvent and having a value of (W2−W1)/G in the range of 0.005 or more and 0.05 or less, wherein W1 and W2 are the water fractions measured at 130° C. and 250° C., respectively, by the Karl Fischer's method and G is the solid fraction of the graphene.

Graphene is in the form of a two-dimensional crystal of carbon atoms and great attention has been focused on graphene as industrial material since its discovery in 2004. Graphene has excellent electric, thermal, optical, and mechanical characteristics, and there are growing expectations for its applications in wide areas such as production of battery materials, energy storage materials, electronic devices, and composite materials.
To realize such applications of graphene, it is essential to develop efficient production methods for cost reduction and improve the dispersibility.
Methods available for the production of graphene include the mechanical exfoliation method, CVD (chemical vapor deposition) method, and CEG (crystal epitaxial growth) method, but these methods are so low in productivity that they are not suitable for mass production. Compared to this, the oxidization-reduction method (oxidized graphite, also called oxidized black lead, is produced first through oxidization of natural graphite, followed by converting it into graphene through reduction reaction) is a very important means of practical manufacturing of graphene because it can serve for large-scale synthesis of graphene.
Graphene not only has high electric conductivity, but also has a thin, flat structure to serve for forming a large number of conductive paths, and accordingly, it has a high potential particularly as a conductive material for batteries. However, graphene is a kind of nanocarbon and tends to undergo agglomeration easily. If produced by simply carrying out oxidization and reduction, therefore, the resulting graphene will not be able to disperse moderately in the matrix to realize its full potential.
In Patent document 1, graphene oxide is expanded and exfoliated while it is heated for reduction in order to produce thin layers of graphite with a large specific surface area.
In Patent document 2, graphene is chemically reduced in the presence of catechol and subsequently freeze-dried to prepare a graphene powder with high dispersibility.
In Patent document 3, graphene oxide is chemically reduced in the presence of a water-soluble compound having a 9,9-bis-(substituted aryl)-fluorene backbone and the resulting aqueous graphene sedimentation is mixed with an organic solvent. Then, graphene is recovered by centrifugal sedimentation and an organic solvent is added to prepare a graphene/organic solvent dispersion.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Graphene/organic solvent dispersion and method for producing same, and method for producing lithium-ion battery electrode


Information is communicated between access points to cause a recipient access point to invoke an action. In some aspects, a mapping is defined between: 1) sets of physical layer identifiers and/or associated time offsets; and 2) different types of information. The mapping information is provided to access points in a wireless communication system such that an access point can use this scheme to communicate specified types of information to another access point. Based on the mapping, an access point that receives a set of physical layer identifiers from another access point is able to determine the type of information being communicated. The recipient access point may then invoke a specific action based on the type of information that was communicated.

1. Field
This application relates generally to wireless communication and more specifically, but not exclusively, to access point communication.
2. Introduction
A wireless communication network may be deployed over a defined geographical area to provide various types of services (e.g., voice, data, multimedia services, etc.) to users within that geographical area. In a typical implementation, access points (e.g., corresponding to different cells) are distributed throughout a network to provide wireless connectivity for access terminals (e.g., cell phones) that are operating within the geographical area served by the network.
In some networks, low-power access points (e.g., femtocells) are deployed to supplement conventional network access points (e.g., macro access points). For example, a low-power access point installed in a user's home or in an enterprise environment (e.g., commercial buildings) may provide voice and high speed data service for access terminals supporting cellular radio communication (e.g., CDMA, WCDMA, UMTS, LTE, etc.). In general, these low-power access points provide more robust coverage and higher throughput for access terminals in the vicinity of the low-power access points.
At a given point in time, an access terminal may be served by a given one of these access points. As the access terminal roams throughout the geographical area, the access terminal may move away from its serving access point and move closer to another access point. In addition, signal conditions within a given cell may change, whereby an access terminal may be better served by another access point. In these cases, to maintain mobility for the access terminal, the access terminal may be handed-over from its serving access point to the other access point.
In general, for handing-over an active call user from a source cell to a target cell, the unique cell identity of the target cell has to be known at the source cell. In a planned macrocell deployment, mapping between physical layer identities (such as PSCs in UMTS) and cell identities of the neighboring cells is pre-provisioned by an operator or network infrastructure vendor at each cell for handover purposes. Thus, when an access terminal (e.g., a UE) reports the physical layer identity (e.g., PSC) of a neighboring cell, the source cell uses the provisioned mapping to determine the cell identity and, thereby, initiate handover to the target cell.
In contrast, it may be more difficult to provide a mapping between physical layer identities and cell identities for low-power access point deployments. For example, these deployments are generally unplanned and are allotted a relatively small number of physical layer identities relative to the number of low-power access points. Thus, it is desirable to have low-power access points self-discover this information.
There are several challenges associated with the discovery of such a target cell identity, however. First, in UMTS, pre-Release 9 UE reports do not contain the cell identity of the target cell. Thus, this information cannot be obtained from measurement reports in these cases. Second, a source low-power access point may not be able to detect all of its neighboring low-power access points via a co-located receiver (also known as network listen module or NLM) and thereby decode the broadcast information from those low-power access points for the cell identity information. For example, other relatively nearby low-power access points may be "hidden" from (e.g., not detectable by) a source low-power access point, even though they may be close enough to be seen by (e.g., detectable by) an access terminal within the coverage of the source low-power access point.
Further to the above, there are other reasons why it is desirable for a low-power access point to be able to communicate with its neighbor access points. For example, access points in communication may coordinate on selection parameters such as transmit power and physical layer identifiers and may share identifiers, paging area codes, or other information. In this way, the access points may cooperate to improve service in the area, mitigate interference between access points, facilitate handover of access terminals between access points, and so on. In view of the above, there is a need for effective techniques for enabling communication between access points.

Access point communication based on transmission of physical layer identifiers according to at least one time offset


A method and a controller for controlling a magnetic bearing device, in which a rotor is suspended for rotation around a shaft, are disclosed. Sensor signals are transformed to yield tilt displacement signals (Sθx, Sθy) which correspond to tilting displacements of the shaft in predetermined directions (x, y). From the tilt displacement signals (Sθx, Sθy), tilt control signals Aθx, Aθy) are derived; these are transformed to yield actuator control signals for driving electromagnetic actuators in the magnetic bearing device. According to the invention, tilting displacements for which the tilt vector rotates about the device axis (z) with a first predetermined sense of rotation are controlled separately from tilting displacements for which the tilt direction vector rotates about the device axis (z) with a second sense of rotation opposite to the first predetermined sense of rotation. In this way, control of nutation and precession can be achieved without influence from blade vibrations or shaft bending modes.

Magnetic bearings are useful in a variety of applications in which a rotor is to be rotated in a contact-free manner. Applications of magnetic bearings include, e.g., turbo-molecular pumps (TMPs).
A rotor suspended in a magnetic bearing device for rotation around a rotor shaft can be described, to a first approximation, as a rigid object having six spatial degrees of freedom (DOFs). One DOF is the rotation around the device axis, whose direction will be designated as z in the following. This DOF is usually driven by an electromotor. Excitation of the other five degrees of freedom is undesired. These five degrees of freedom can be separated into three translational degrees of freedom (translational motions of the center of mass of the rotor in three directions x, y, and z, where x and y designate two mutually orthogonal axes perpendicular to the z direction) and two rotational degrees of freedom (tilting motions of the rotor around the x and y axes with fixed center of mass).
Control of these degrees of freedom is generally achieved by providing position and/or velocity sensors in various locations, feeding the sensor signals to a controller, and providing control signals for the actuators of the magnetic bearings at the controller outputs. At least five sensors are needed to control five degrees of freedom. Often, these sensors are: one sensor measuring displacements along the device axis (z); and two sensors each in an upper and a lower position along the device axis, for measuring displacements of an upper and a lower section of the shaft in the x and y directions.
A translational motion leads to the same displacement of both shaft sections. As an example, a translation in the x direction induces the same signal in an upper and a lower x sensor. A tilt leaves the center of mass unaffected and leads to different displacements of the upper and lower sections. A tilt, say, around the x axis leads to displacements in the y direction. In this sense, in this document reference to tilts "in" particular directions will be made: A tilt in a particular direction (called the tilt direction) is to be understood as a tilt in the plane spanned by the tilt direction and the z axis, or, equivalently, as a tilt around an axis (called the tilt axis) perpendicular to the tilt direction and the z axis. Mathematically, a tilt can be properly described by a tilt vector. The tilt vector is a unit vector pointing in the direction of the tilt axis, multiplied by the tilt angle.
In the controller, the signals from the upper and lower x and y sensors are transformed by forming weighted sums and differences to yield measures for translational displacements and/or velocities of the center of mass in the x and y directions, respectively, and for tilting displacements and/or angular velocities around the x and y axes, respectively. Traditionally, each of the three translational DOFs and the two tilting DOFs is then controlled separately by an individual control unit for each DOF. The outputs of these units are finally transformed back to generate driving signals for each actuator coil of the magnetic bearings. This control scheme can be readily generalized for the case where more than five sensors are employed. An example for such a traditional controller with ten sensor inputs organized in five pairs can be found in FIG. 2 of GB 2 109 596 A.
However, for rapidly rotating rotors, such a control scheme often does not achieve good results in controlling the tilting motions. One reason for this can be found in the gyroscopic character of the rotor. For a rigid rotor rotating at a high angular velocity, eigenmodes contributing to the tilting displacements are the precession and nutation modes. Precession and nutation are well-known effects in the theory of a rigid top; details can be found in standard textbooks of mechanics. The importance of these gyroscopic modes has been recognized in the art, and several approaches have been suggested for dealing with such gyroscopic effects. An important feature of the gyroscopic character of these modes is that a force in some direction may cause displacements in a different direction (or in other words, a moment of force around a given direction may cause angular displacements around a different direction). Therefore, a gyroscopic mode is properly controlled by applying forces not only in the opposite direction of a given displacement and/or velocity (say, along the x direction), but also in a direction perpendicular to the displacement resp. velocity (say, along the y direction).
In DE 33 23 648 A1, a cross-coupling scheme is proposed, in which an input signal for a tilt in the x direction does not only result in an output signal for the bearings in the x direction, but in which this input signal also causes an output signal in the y direction. Similarly, a tilt signal in the y direction also causes an output signal for the x bearings, however with opposite sign. In this way, the nutation mode can be controlled.
A similar scheme is proposed in GB 2 109 596 A. In that document the signs of the cross couplings are chosen opposite to DE 33 23 648 A1, such that the precession mode is controlled.
In EP 0 185 765, a cross-coupling scheme was proposed in which bandpass filters are employed in the cross-coupling branches. In this way, only tilting motions within a certain fixed frequency band lead to cross couplings. The frequency band is chosen such that the precession mode is identified by its frequency.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,885,491 a control scheme employing cross couplings is disclosed, in which both a bandpass filter and a lowpass filter are employed in each cross-coupling branch, however, with opposite signs at their outputs. Additionally, the gain in the cross-coupling branches depends on the rotation frequency. This allows precession and nutation to be discriminated by their frequencies. Control is then performed dependent on the such-identified mode.
However, the control schemes of the prior art still often fail to achieve good, stable control at high rotation frequencies. This might be attributed to other disturbances superposed to a pure rigid-body behavior. This problem appears to be particularly strong in TMPs.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,697,128 employs a tracking filter at the rotational frequency for compensating unbalance vibrations of the rotor which are synchronous with the rotational frequency. As the tracking filter is centered at the rotational frequency, and only translational displacements are used as input signals, this method is only useful for unbalance compensation and cannot be applied for control of tilting motions.

Method and apparatus for controlling a magnetic bearing device


An infrared detector output of a radiometer is amplified and inverted to provide a first signal which is amplified to a predetermined level and a second signal which is inverted with respect to the first signal and amplified to a fraction of the predetermined level of the first signal. The first and second signals are alternately sampled to sample portions of those signals which occur when the detector of the radiometer is viewing the target and then viewing the reference. The signals are sampled once while the detector of the radiometer is looking at the target and twice occurring on each side of the target sample when the detector is looking at the reference signal. The first and second signals are separately integrated in accordance with a predetermined timing pattern determined by the sampling rate of the first (target) and second (reference) signals. The peak integrated outputs of the first and second signals are held then sampled to produce the demodulated output from the radiometer. The integrating circuit is then dumped during the time of the second target view of the detector, to restart the integrating cycles which permits integrating every other signal which appears on the detector through the radiation chopper of the radiometer. With the addition of a second integrator circuit which is alternately phased with the first in respect to clear and target timing, every signal which appears on the detector is integrated and sampled with no retention. Complete views of the target are provided for every opening and there is no recall of any previous signal providing full band width for the chopper of the radiometer. This type of synchronous demodulation provides an improvement in noise characteristics over previous full wave rectified radiometer output methods.

Radiometers receive infrared radiation from sources in their fields of view and transform the received radiation into electrical signals which can be measured and recorded without physical contact with the target sources being measured. A basic radiometer includes an optical system, a chopper, detector, a reference source, a synchronizing signal generator, and an electronic processing system. The optical system may take many forms but is frequently a mirror telescope consisting of concave primary and convex secondary mirrors with the focusing usually accomplished by moving the secondary mirror along the optical axis. An infrared detector is located at the focal point of the optical system to receive and convert the infrared radiation into a detector signal. A black body radiation reference source is used as a standard against which the target radiation is continuously compared. An optical chopper, for example, in the form of a mirror surface, sector-disc-shutter is driven by a motor and rotates in front of the reference source. The detector alternately senses target radiation as the rotating disc is opened and closed, and the detector output comprises an alternating signal, the peak-to-peak voltage of which is precisely proportional to the difference between the target radiation and the known radiation from the black body reference source. A synchronizing signal generator develops a square wave signal which drives a phase sensitive demodulator in the electronic processing system. As the blades of the optical chopper rotate, the synchronizing signal generator generates a square wave signal of exactly the same frequency as the detector output signal and the synchronizing signal can be moved so as to adjust the phase of the output.
An amplifier located close to the detector amplifies the detector output signal and generally speaking a synchronous rectifier is used driven by the synchronizing signal generator which demodulates the amplifier output producing a DC signal exactly proportional to the difference between the radiation from the target and the known radiation from the reference black body source. The polarity of the demodulated output signal indicates whether the target is hotter or colder than the reference source. Since variations in the output signal are precisely proportional to variations in the target temperature, the DC signal generated by the radiometer can be connected to a control system for the real time scanning of spectral targets and/or temperature monitoring or control of other devices or electronic circuits based on the temperature of the target.
Conventional full wave rectified signals contain a large amount of ripple which must be heavily filtered to reduce demodulation noise, generally cutting system frequency response down to one quarter of the input signal frequency. Also, when the target radiation is small, large variations in noise can produce errors and in some cases can actually swamp out the signals desired to be detected. The problem is caused by the synchronous demodulation technique in which the switching circuit filters provide a lag between readings and are not achieving the full band width of the optical chopper.

Method and apparatus for synchronously demodulating detector output of a radiometer


Since a peripheral-flow pump according to the present invention has a peripheral-flow impeller having a cylindrical staircase shape whose outer diameter increases in one direction only like a staircase, a stator, which conventionally has been of a complicated configuration composed of two pieces, can be formed into an integral molding without any deterioration in pump performance. Accordingly, the production of pumps is facilitated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a turbo vacuum pump.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional turbo vacuum pump in which atmospheric pressure is maintained in its outlet port is proposed in, for example, Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 62-113887.
In this conventional turbo vacuum pump, a first impeller and a diffuser fixing plate are arranged in the axial direction, and second impellers and fixing plates are arranged alternately. For this reason, the diffuser fixing plate and the fixing plates must be formed as two-piece fitting structures.
In general, in order to attain satisfactory pump performance, the above turbo vacuum pump must be made to maintain a predetermined small gap between the impellers and the respective fixing plates, particularly between the second impellers and the fixing plates. However, in the case of the two-piece fitting structures of the fixing plates, the processing accuracy is difficult to maintain because of the complex construction, and the above small gap for the pump performance may not be insured.
In the proposed type described in, for example, Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 62/29796, radial blades are in general employed and compressing operation is effected by forming a swirl by the action of, primarily, centrifugal force.
In the other proposed type described in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 63/147989, each blade is in general a forward arc blade, and a flow is deflected by means of the blades to form a swirl, thereby achieving compressing operation.
Although the prior art arrangement disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 62/29796 effects compressing operation by sufficiently utilizing centrifugal force, the function of the blades, that is, the function of deflecting a flow is not taken into account. Accordingly, this prior art has the problem that the compression ratio of the centrifugal-flow pump cannot be increased so as to achieve high performance.
Although the prior art arrangement disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 63/147989 effects compressing operation by sufficiently utilizing the function of blades, the utilization of centrifugal force is not taken into account. Accordingly, this prior art has the problem that the compression ratio of the centrifugal-flow pump cannot be increased so as to achieve high performance.


A method of growing a plant or its propagule is described. The method includes: (i) powering a light source with input power to generate an incident light; (ii) illuminating, for a period of time, a growth area of the plant/propagule with the incident light having a spectral profile defined by a first (i.e., between about 400 nm and about 470 nm), a second (i.e., between about 526 nm and about 570 nm) and a third (i.e., between about 626 nm and about 700 nm) set of wavelengths; (iii) achieving, using the incident light, a final harvest index that is greater than that achieved if the growth area of the plant/propagule had been illuminated by another incident light with same amount of input power for substantially same period of time, and another incident light includes the first and the third set of wavelengths, but not the second set of wavelengths.

Greenhouses, growth chambers, grow boxes and other indoor enclosures (hereinafter collectively referred to as "plant enclosures") provide controlled environments designed to protect germinating seedlings, bulbs, cuttings, or young plants from harsh weather that might otherwise be detrimental to their growth. More than offer protection, such plant enclosures include certain features that allow for optimum plant growth.
A greenhouse is a building made from glass or is a tunnel-shaped structure made from plastic. It houses numerous plants that are typically arranged in an array (i.e., along rows and columns). Above this arrangement, many light sources are suspended such that the light emanating from them is distributed to the plants below. Light incident on these plants provides them with the requisite energy to promote photosynthesis, which is necessary for plant growth. Modern greenhouses also allow other features such as automatic temperature control, ventilation and semi-automatic watering and feeding to optimize plant growth.
In a grow box, one or a few germinating seeds and grow seedlings that are sensitive to harsh environments such as short days, freezing or dry air are grown. As a result, grow boxes may not be as elaborate as modern greenhouses. However, they at a minimum include a single light source to foster plant growth.
A growth chamber provides a more accurately controlled environment than a greenhouse or a grow box and is typically used for research purposes. It may be used in other cases where it is important to have known repeatable environmental factors to grow plants. Typically, young plants, which tend to be sensitive to their environment, are well suited to be grown in growth chambers.
Use of artificial light in plant enclosures has increased over the years for various reasons. These include the need for year round production of small potted flowering plants, exotic flowers, fresh fruits, vegetables, herbs, growth of plant cuttings, bulbs, seeds and other propagules, and early start of bedding plants. In greenhouses supplemental lighting is essential to maintain constant day-lengths, as for example 14 or 16 hours, throughout the year, and to supplement sunlight in order to boost photosynthetic activity where sunlight intensity is low, as for example in northern climates and foggy areas. In growth chambers, grow boxes, and indoor spaces all of the light for plant growth is provided by artificial conventional lighting. This has produced a strong practical interest in the field of artificially illuminating vegetation.
Unfortunately, the use of conventional lamps, including fluorescent lamps, high pressure sodium lamps, and metal halide lamps for artificial illumination during plant growth suffers from a number of drawbacks. By way of example, artificial illumination by conventional lamps result in undesired slow rate of total plant growth or biomass production, low final dry and wet weights of the plants, small numbers and sizes of flowers, fruits, and seeds. Furthermore the plants may be excessively "leggy," that is elongated and spindly so that they may not stand erect, or they do not have the compact appearance demanded by the market.
As another example, the operating expenses of grow lamps used in conventional greenhouses and growth chambers can also be significant because they are not energy efficient. Furthermore, the operating expenses of artificial lighting for plant growth is generally excessive because the light spectra of conventional lamps are not optimized for plant photosynthesis. The largest non-labor cost in the greenhouse production of flowering potted plants, bedding plants, cut flowers and vegetables, especially in costal and northern growing regions is electrical power for supplemental lighting. By way of example, in one of the several greenhouse operations in California where more than 6000 high pressure sodium lamps ranging from about 400 watts to about 1000 watts are used, the electric bill exceeds $1,000,000 per year.
As yet another example, a significant amount of the energy produced by the light sources and ballasts, used in conventional greenhouses, is needlessly converted to large amounts of heat. To circumvent undesirable overheating inside the greenhouse, additional equipment in the greenhouse is installed to allow for frequent ventilation. The ventilation equipment represents capital costs for the greenhouse nursery and operating the equipment adds to the operating expense of the greenhouse. As a result, light sources used in conventional greenhouses add to its capital cost and operating expenses.
Therefore, what are needed are light sources, which do not encounter the drawbacks encountered by conventional light sources, such as energy inefficiency and insufficient plant biomass production.

Light sources and methods for illuminating plants to achieve effective plant growth


Disclosed is a pop-up type portable terminal. The pop-up type portable terminal includes a main housing, a sub-housing slidably coupled to the main housing such that the sub-housing is slidably accommodated in or withdrawn from the main housing, a main board installed in the main housing, a guide beam fixed to one side of the main board and extending lengthwise along the main board, a guide rail installed at a rear surface of the sub-housing and extending lengthwise along the sub-housing so as to engage with the guide beam for guiding a sliding movement of the sub-housing, and a torsion coil spring installed in the main housing and having a first end portion fixedly coupled to the main housing and a second end portion fixedly coupled to the sub-housing in order to provide bias force in a direction urging the sub-housing to be withdrawn from the main housing. Noise caused by friction between the guide beam and the guide rail is thereby significantly reduced.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable terminal, and more particularly to a pop-up type portable terminal including a pair of housings, which are slidably coupled with each other in such a manner that one housing can be slidably accommodated in or withdrawn from the other housing.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, portable terminals are electronic appliances for providing wireless communication between users and service providers or allowing users to perform wireless communication with other users. Such portable terminals are classified into bar-type portable terminals, flip-type portable terminals, and folder-type portable terminals according to their construction.
The bar-type portable terminal has a single housing equipped with data input/output units and signal receiving/transmitting units. In the bar-type portable terminal, the data input unit, such as a keypad, is always exposed, so the bar-type portable terminal may be inadvertently operated. In addition, since a predetermined distance must be ensured between the signal receiving unit and the signal transmitting unit, it is difficult to make the bar-type portable terminal in a compact size.
The flip-type portable terminal includes a body, a flip and a hinge module connecting the flip to the body. The body is equipped with data input/output units and signal receiving/transmitting units. The data input unit, such as a keypad, is positioned on the body and is covered with the flip, so the flip-type portable terminal can be prevented from being inadvertently operated. However, the flip-type portable terminal also requires a predetermined distance between the signal receiving unit and the signal transmitting unit, so it is difficult to make the flip-type portable terminal in a compact size.
The folder-type portable terminal includes a body, a folder and a hinge module rotatably connecting the body to the folder in such a manner that the folder is moved between an opened position and a closed position with respect to the body. Such a folder-type portable terminal may be maintained in a call-wait mode when the folder is in the closed position with respect to the body, thereby preventing the keypad from being inadvertently operated. In a communication mode, the folder is positioned in the opened position with respect to the body so that a sufficient distance may be ensured between the signal receiving unit and the signal transmitting unit. Thus, the folder-type portable terminal can be fabricated in a compact size. For this reason; folder-type portable terminals have been widely used.
In the flip-type portable terminal or the folder-type portable terminal, a flip or a folder is rotatably coupled to a body by means of a hinge module. When the flip or the folder has been rotated with respect to the body by a predetermined angle, the typical hinge module applies a bias force to the flip or the folder in such a manner that the flip or the folder is shifted into a completely opened position with respect to the body, even if external force is not additionally applied to the flip or the folder. In addition, during opening the flip or the folder will return to the closed position with respect to the body by means of the hinge device if the flip or the folder is rotatably moved away from the body by less than the predetermined angle. During closing, once the flip or folder moves past the predetermined angle, the flip or folder will move to the closed position without additional force.
Although various designs have been proposed for the conventional portable terminals, they do not completely satisfy various tastes of consumers. For instance, various kinds of pop-up type portable terminals including a pair of housings, which are slidably coupled with each other, have been proposed. However, such pop-up type portable terminals may generate a metallic noise when one housing is slidably moved with respect to the other housing, thereby annoying the user.


A plurality of electronic control units such as engine ECU, navigation ECU and meter ECU as well as a transponder unit is provided in a vehicle so that those control units communicate with each other through a communication line. Each unit stores therein a vehicle identification code which varies from vehicle to vehicle. Each unit checks whether the vehicle identification code is stored in response to a turn-on of power supply. One control unit which does not store the vehicle identification code, it requests a transmission of the vehicle identification code stored in other control units of the vehicle. The other control units responsively transmit the respective stored vehicle identification code to the one control unit. The one control unit, receiving the vehicle identification code writes the transmitted vehicle identification code into its non-volatile memory. Each unit not only controls a vehicle-mounted device, but also diagnoses the vehicle-mounted device. The diagnosis result is transmitted from the transponder unit to an external management station through a radio communication together with the stored vehicle identification code, so that the management station may determine to which a repair instruction should be issued.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and method capable of automatically storing a vehicle identification code among electronic control units in each vehicle and, more particularly, to a system and method for communicating vehicle information along with the vehicle identification code with an external management station through a radio signal.
2. Related Art
It is known to transmit vehicle information such as a vehicle inspection result (diagnosis information regarding an abnormality in an engine-related devices) on the vehicle side from the vehicle to a management station via a radio signal communication. The management station is thus enabled to instruct the user of the vehicle to repair the vehicle in response to the received vehicle inspection result.
In this type of centralized system, each vehicle is required to transmit the inspection result along with a vehicle identification code, which specifies the vehicle. As this code must be set to differ from vehicle to vehicle, it is stored in a non-volatile memory of an electronic control unit (ECU) such as an engine ECU of each vehicle when the ECU is mounted on the vehicle.
In the event that the ECU has to be replaced by a new one because of failure or malfunction, for instance, it is necessary to check the vehicle identification code stored in the non-volatile memory of the old ECU and to store it again in a non-volatile memory of the new ECU.

Vehicle communication system and method for vehicles capable of automatic storing of vehicle identification code


A die cushion device includes: a cushion pad which is located below a blank holder and is movable up and down while being synchronized with the blank holder; a linear driving device which drives a brake member along a predetermined line and regenerates energy from the linear movement of the brake member by combination of a servo motor and a conversion mechanism; and a hydraulic speed change device which transfers the speed of the cushion pad to the brake member via the pressure of hydraulic fluid while increasing the speed and transfers the speed of the brake member to the cushion pad via the pressure of the enclosed hydraulic fluid while decreasing the speed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a die cushion device for a press machine capable of regenerating energy to achieve high energy efficiency.
2. Description of the Related Art
A die cushion device is defined as a device that clamps a workpiece between the blank holder and the upper die of a press machine and applies a blank holding force (a cushion force) to the workpiece.
For some time, there have been proposed various types of die cushion devices as the die cushion device for a press machine (for example, refer to Patent Documents 1 to 3).
Patent Document 1 discloses a hydraulic force increasing linear motor type, and Patent Documents 2 and 3 disclose a ball screw type.
As shown in FIG. 1, the die cushion device of Patent Document 1 includes a body container 51; a movable body 52 which is movable along the inner wall of the body container 51; a cylinder 53 which is connected to communicate with the inside of the body container 51; a stator 57 which is installed at the cylinder 53; a piston head 54 which slides along the inner wall of the cylinder 53; a piston rod 55 which is attached to the piston head 54; and a mover 58 which is connected to the piston rod 55, wherein a hydraulic fluid L is commonly accommodated in the body container 51 and the cylinder 53 and is also sealed by the movable body 52 and the piston head 54, wherein the cross-sectional area of the cylinder 53 is smaller than that of the movable body, wherein the stator 57 and the mover 58 constitute a linear motor, wherein the linear motor is driven to make the piston head 54 slide on the inside of the cylinder 53 via the piston rod 55 so that the hydraulic fluid L accommodated in the cylinder 53 flows into or from the body container 51 to move the movable body 52.
The die cushion device disclosed in Patent Document 2 is adapted to drive a ball screw using a force applied from a servo motor via a deceleration mechanism such as a timing belt.
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-280907, "LINEAR MOTOR TYPE PRESSURIZATION PUMP AND DIE CUSHION DEVICE HAVING THE SAME"
[Patent Document 2]
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-000908, "DIE CUSHION DEVICE"
[Patent Document 3]
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-055872, "DIE CUSHION DEVICE"


A ladder-type filter includes: one or more series resonators connected in series between an input terminal and an output terminal; one or more parallel resonators connected in parallel between the input terminal and the output terminal; divided parallel resonators formed by serially dividing at least one parallel resonator of the one or more parallel resonators; and an inductor of which a first end is coupled to a first node located in a path from the input terminal to the output terminal through the one or more series resonators, and of which a second end is coupled to a second node located between the divided parallel resonators.

Ladder-type filters have been used in high frequency communication systems. It has been known to connect an inductor between a parallel resonator of a ladder-type filter and ground as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-314372 (Patent Document 1). It has been also known to connect a capacitor between the ground terminal and the serial arm of a parallel resonator as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2014-17537 (Patent Document 2).
The arts disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2 allow an attenuation pole to be formed outside the passband of the ladder-type filter. When an attenuation pole is formed, the loss of the passband and the characteristics including an isolation characteristic are required not to deteriorate before and after the connection of an inductor. For example, if the resonant frequency of a resonator changes due to the addition of the inductor, the characteristics of the ladder-type filter changes.

Ladder-type filter, duplexer, and module