A computer system includes a display device, a video output interface, and a control module. The control module includes a central processing unit, a multimedia processing unit, and an output switch circuit. When the computer system is powered off and a multimedia mode is entered, the multimedia processing unit is capable of processing signals from a multimedia source of a storage medium. The output switch circuit includes inputs X1 and X2 respectively coupled to the central processing unit and the multimedia processing unit, and outputs Y1 and Y2 respectively coupled to the display device and the video output interface. The input X1 or X2 of the output switch circuit is selected to receive the signals from the central processing unit or from the multimedia processing unit, and the output Y1 or Y2 is selected to output the signals to the display device or to the video output interface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a computer system, and more particularly, to a computer system capable of playing video when the computer is powered off.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Since electronics technology has progressed, electronic devices, such as personal computers, notebook computers, and personal data assistants, have become available to everyone. In addition to data management, such devices also allow access to the Internet and can serve audio and video entertainment, adding more fun to a busy life.
For audio and video entertainment, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, or CD-RW implemented in a computer system are commonly used for playing video multimedia, such as VCDs and DVDs. After the operating system of the computer is loaded, a user can enjoy the video and audio via the display and the speaker of the computer. However, the power supply of the computer system only provides power to the optical disk drive after the computer system is booted, and only then the optical disk drive is capable of being operated. If the computer system is powered off, the optical disk drive does not work. Therefore, the computer system must be powered on before playing video multimedia. The lengthy duration of the booting process for the operating system renders playing video multimedia undesirable.
Regarding an optical disk drive capable of being operated when the computer is powered off, there are related teachings in U.S. Pat. No. 6,279,056, No. 6,266,714, and No. 6,006,285. These patents disclose computer systems capable of playing audio CDs in a CD-ROM drive independent of the operating system by switching into an audio CD mode. The computer systems disclosed in these patents are capable of playing audio CDs by using an interrupt signal for system management or by using the playing function of the CD-ROM drive when the operating system, the CD-ROM drive software, and application programs are not completely loaded.
FIG. 1 shows a computer system 1 capable of playing video multimedia when the computer is powered off, disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/096,332. The computer system 1 can play data in a multimedia source 3 of a storage medium via a display 2, and can be a personal computer, a notebook computer, or other electronic device having an access device 12 capable of accessing the multimedia source 3. In addition to the access device 12 mentioned above, the computer system 1 further comprises a power supply 11, a switch circuit 13, a host 14, a multimedia processing unit 15, and a display control unit 16.
The power supply 11 provides power to the access device 12, the switch circuit 13, the host 14, and the multimedia processing unit 15. The access device 12 can access the multimedia source 3 of the storage medium and generate a data signal 101 to the switch circuit 13. The switch circuit 13 is used for switching to a computer mode or a multimedia mode in the computer system 1. The host 14 executes common computer functions, and outputs a host signal 102 to the display control unit 16. The display 2, electrically connected to the display control unit 16, is used for displaying images of the computer.
When switching to the computer mode, the access device 12 can be electrically connected to the host 14 via the switch circuit 13, so that the host 14 can receive the data signal 101 from the switch circuit 13 and output the host signal 102 to the display control unit 16. Then, the display control unit 16 outputs the host signal 102 to the display 2 for showing images related to the operating system or other programs (i.e. windows or screens).
When switching to the multimedia mode, the access device 12 can be electrically connected to the multimedia processing unit 15 via the switch circuit 13, so that the multimedia processing unit 15 can process the data signal 101 from the switch circuit 13 to generate a multimedia signal 103 inputted into the display control unit 16. Then the display control unit 16 scales the multimedia signal 103 according to the size of the display 2 for displaying the multimedia signal 103. Therefore, although the host 14 is not powered on, the data of the multimedia source 3 of the storage media can be read by the access device 12, and processed and displayed by the multimedia processing unit 15.
Whether the display control unit 16 receives the host signal 102 output from the host 14 in the computer mode or receives the multimedia signal 103 output from the multimedia processing unit 15 in the multimedia mode, the display control unit 16 must distinguish video signals for the computer mode or the multimedia mode so as to scale video signals for the display 2. Therefore, the design of this prior art system becomes more complex.

Computer system with built-in multimedia system where multimedia system is operable independent of the operating system of the computer system and where computer system is capable of outputting video


A beam scanning device includes a light source to emit a light beam, an optical deflector to deflect the light beam, and an optical system including a fθ lens to guide the defected light beam to a scan surface to form an image thereon. The beam scanning device also includes a synchronization detecting sensor to detect the deflected light beam outside an area of the image, a light blocking member configured to block the deflected light beam on an exit side of the fθ lens outside an effective scan area that includes the area of the image and also includes an optical path extending to the synchronization detecting sensor. The beam scanning device further includes a metal housing accommodating the light source, the optical deflector, the optical system, the light blocking member, and the synchronization detecting sensor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a beam scanning device and an image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
General types of image forming apparatuses such as multifunction peripherals having the combined functions of printer/copier/facsimile device may include color image forming apparatuses, for example. Such color image forming apparatuses shine laser beams emitted from a plurality of light sources on four image carriers (e.g., photoconductive drums) arranged in parallel so as to create latent images. The latent images formed on the image carriers are developed with developers (e.g., yellow, magenta, cyan, black toners) for visualization. A transfer material such as a print paper sheet carried on a transfer conveyer belt passes successively through a series of transfer units corresponding to the respective image carriers. The visualized images in the respective colors formed on the respective image carriers are transferred one over another onto the transfer material. The image transferred onto the transfer material is then fused to create a color image.
A beam scanning device (optical writing unit) used in such color image forming apparatuses may include a plurality of light sources, a beam deflecting means to deflect the light beams emitted from the plurality of light sources in two directions symmetrically, and an optical system that is arranged symmetrically on the two sides of the beam deflecting means to guide and focus the light beams on the respective scan surfaces as the light beams are deflected and scanned by the beam deflecting means. Patent Document 1 discloses an optical housing that includes the plurality of light sources, the beam deflecting means, and the optical system.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-196269
The optical writing unit described in Patent Document 1 is provided with a light blocking member for blocking reflected/scattered light (flare light) coming from the opposing optical system as the optical systems are arranged on the two sides of the beam deflecting means. Such light blocking member is located around the beam deflecting means inside the housing, and is situated outside the area where the light beams is deflected and scanned by the beam deflecting means.
Such light blocking member for blocking reflected/scattered light (flare light) coming from an optical system is also disclosed in Patent Document 2 and Patent Document 3. Patent Document 2 discloses an image forming apparatus in which a light blocking member is provided at one or more locations of the deflecting unit so as to block a portion of a light beam from a light source as the portion does not contribute to the formation of an image. Patent Document 3 is directed to a multi-beam scanning optical system. There is a need to prevent ghost light reflected by each reflective surface of the polygon mirror from entering the optical path of a correct light beam. Such ghost light is reflected on the adjacent surface of the polygon mirror after coming back along a path parallel to the optical axis of an fθ lens (scan lens). A light blocking plate having a rectangular shape perpendicular to the optical axis of the fθ lens (scan lens) is provided such as to have its tip located in a space enclosed by the optical path of the reflected ghost light and the outline of the scan area of the correct light beam at the scan end opposite the side where the laser beam enters, thereby blocking light outside the scan area of the correct light beam.
[Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-255254
[Patent Document 3] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-29671
Further, Patent Document 4 discloses a scan focus optical system receiving a corresponding deflected light beam incident thereto which is provided on the two sides of the rotating polygon mirror such as to form optical axes substantially parallel to each other. A light blocking means is provided to prevent the reflected errant light coming from one of the two scan focus optical systems from entering the other one of the two scan focus optical systems. This light blocking means blocks the light coming from one of the scan focus optical systems outside the housing of the rotating polygon mirror for the sake of the other one of the scan focus optical systems.
[Patent Document 4] Japanese Patent 3566474
Patent Document 5 is directed to interference between a lens edge and the optical path of a laser beam (incident light) traveling from the optical source unit to the rotating polygon mirror where such interference occurs when the focusing lens system is arranged near the rotating polygon mirror due to the miniaturization of the optical housing or the like. The disclosed scanning optical apparatus avoids such interference with respect to the optical path of the incident light by providing a cut by removing an edge portion of the lens.
[Patent Document 5] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-267036
In the following, an example of the related-art beam scanning devices will be described with reference to FIG. 11.
In the illustrated beam scanning device, four light sources 101K, 101M, 101C, and 101Y, corresponding to four respective image carriers (black K, magenta M, cyan C, and yellow Y), emit light beams, which are then deflected and scanned by a beam deflector 102 so as to form two pairs of deflective scans on the two respective right/left-hand sides, each pair being comprised of an upper part and a lower part. An fθ lens 103R and fθ lens 103L, which are arranged on the two respective sides, perform fθ correction so as to turn a constant angular velocity scan by the beam deflector 102 into a constant velocity scan on the image carrier surfaces. The light beams of the two pairs scanned in the upper part and lower part are reflected and separated by return mirrors 104Y, 104C, 104M, and 104K for provision to the respective image carrier. Surface-tilt correction lenses 105Y, 105C, 105M, and 105K serve to ensure that the lengths of the optical paths extending to the image carriers become equal to each other.
Further, synchronization detecting sensors 106Y, 106C, 106M, and 106K are provided outside the imaging area on the upstream side of the scan in one-to-one correspondence to the four scans. The synchronization detecting sensors 106Y, 106C, 106M, and 106K serve to synchronize the turn-on timing of the light sources 101Y, 101C, 101M, and 101K, respectively.
The light sources 101Y, 101C, 101M, and 101K, the beam deflector 102, the fθ lenses 103R and 103L, the surface-tilt correction lenses 105Y, 105C, 105M, and 105K, the return mirrors 104Y, 104C,104M, and 104K, and the synchronization detecting sensors 106Y, 106C, 160M, and 106K are accommodated in an optical housing 110.
The synchronization detecting paths directed toward the synchronization detecting sensors pass through the effective scan area of the lenses, and reach the synchronization detecting sensors with a predetermined beam diameter and power. The light sources are lit up before reaching the synchronization detecting sensors so as to ensure that the light beams are received and detected by the sensors even if the installed positions of the synchronization detecting sensors are not aligned.
In recent years, higher image quality has been pursued. Due to this, control to achieve a constant power of the light sources inside the scan area is performed before the light beams reach the synchronization detecting sensors. Some image forming apparatuses require a time allotted for such control.
In image forming apparatuses, costly lenses may be replaced with general-purpose lenses so as to allow the sharing of these lenses between different apparatuses, thereby reducing the size and cost. Because of this, the effective scan areas of the lenses are set to a required minimum
Further, the time required for synchronization-purpose pre-lighting is determined according to the control circuit and the light sources such as LDs. In the beam scanning devices for providing high-speed scans as used in high-speed image forming apparatuses, a scan area scanned per constant time period increases, resulting in a need for an increase in the area of the synchronization-purpose pre-lighting.
As a result, the synchronization-purpose pre-lit light L1 and L2 (see FIG. 11) falls outside the effective lens area. If there is a discontinuous surface outside the effective lens area, the flare light of such a discontinuous surface may enter the imaging area on the image carriers, resulting in the problem of an abnormal image.
A plastic lens made through plastic molding may be used as an fθ lens for the purpose of cost reduction. When plastic molding is used, it is typical to pour a resin in the longitudinal direction of the lens due to reasons associated with the use of plastic molding. Since the shape of the inlet (gate) through which the resin is poured is different from the shape of the lens, the resulting lens inevitably has a portion with foreign shape. A discontinuous surface is thus created at the boundary between the lens surface and the portion having foreign shape outside the effective lens area. This gives rise to the problem that the flare light of the discontinuous surface enters the imaging area on the image carriers to create an abnormal image.
In high-speed machines (image forming apparatuses), further, the beam deflector may be required to have a good heat releasing performance with respect to the generated heat and a good anti-vibration performance against vibration caused by external disturbance. In such a case, the optical housing for accommodating the light sources and the beam deflector is implemented as a metal optical housing rather than as a resin optical housing.
In general, metal-molded products are not shaped well compared with resin-molded products, and it is difficult to create a product having thin thickness. Further, if positional accuracy is required, an additional step of cutting and scraping may be necessary. Moreover, a metal surface has a relatively higher reflectivity compared with a resin surface. If a rib formed as part of the optical housing for the purpose of blocking flare light, thus, reflection occurs on the surface of the rib, resulting in the reflective light entering the imaging area.
Accordingly, there is a need for a beam scanning device which can block flare light with sufficient accuracy so as to prevent a drop in image quality while using a metal housing to ensure good heat releasing performance and anti-vibration performance. Further, there is a need for an image forming apparatus provided with such a beam scanning device.

Beam scanning device with light blocking member


A method of forming a leading edge protection component includes depositing particles using a cold spray process on a mandrel to form a leading edge protection component; and removing the leading edge protection structure from the mandrel. The leading edge protection can be formed in one or more pieces and involve using one or more mandrels.

In order to prevent damage from the impact of foreign objects such as birds or reduce or prevent erosion, a metallic sheath has been used to protect the leading edges of fan blades, rotor blades, and propellers. Materials such as titanium, steel, nickel and their alloys have been fitted on the leading edge of the element to be protected.
Sheaths can be formed and attached to an airfoil in various ways. For example, sheaths can be machined from metal and then bonded to the leading edge of an airfoil with adhesive, heat and pressure. Other methods of manufacturing a sheath include electroforming and powder laser deposition.

Leading edge protection and method of making


Level shifter translator of the type comprising at least one first transistor and one second MOS transistor belonging to respective circuit branches connected with a first common conduction terminal and connected towards a first potential reference and receiving, on the respective conduction terminals, input differential voltages, the first and the second transistor have respective circuit branches referring to a biasing circuit with current mirror, a third transistor allows to couple the second transistor to said biasing circuit, an inverter connected to an output of said the circuit with the output driving the third transistor.

As it is well known, level-shifter translators are circuits interfacing circuit logics with different supply voltages.
The technological development trend as regards circuitry of the digital type, such as for example transistors, logic gates or memory elements, is to decrease the supply voltages, thus forcing a reduction in the length of the channel interposed between source and drain in transistor-like structures. But in the case of non volatile memory, for example of the flash type, high supply voltages have not immediately undergone a reduction as in digital logic, and thus remain substantially unvaried.
Therefore, a need arises to interface circuit logics having more and more marked differences in the supply voltages. The difference between the supply voltage of a flash memory and the supply voltage of a memory cell transistor to be supplied continues to grow.
A first known technical solution to meet the need to interface circuit logics with marked differences in the supply voltage uses the circuit shown in FIG. 1.
This figure shows a standard shifter translator 1 with differential cell with positive feedback, comprising two pairs M1, M2 and M11, M12 of MOS transistors arranged symmetrically with respect to two reference terminals of supply VDD and ground GND voltages.
In particular, the transistor M1 of the NMOS type has a control terminal G1 to which is input a first supply signal Vin, for example of low logic value, has a conduction drain terminal coinciding with a circuit node B and a conduction source terminal coinciding with the ground terminal GND.
The transistor M2 of the NMOS type has in turn a control terminal G2 which is input a second supply signal corresponding to Vin, in this case a high logic value, has a conduction drain terminal coinciding with a circuit node A and a conduction source terminal coinciding with the source terminal of the transistor M1 thus connected to the ground terminal GND.
The transistor M2 has the drain terminal coinciding with a circuit node A and with a drain terminal of a transistor M12 of the PMOS type. The transistor M12 is, in turn, connected to the supply voltage VDD through its own source terminal. A control terminal G11 of a transistor M11 of the PMOS type is also connected to the circuit node A.
The transistor M11, of the PMOS type, symmetrical with respect to the transistor M12, has a source terminal connected to VDD and a drain terminal connected to a circuit node B, symmetrical with respect to the circuit node A, and connected to the drain terminal of the transistor M1. The circuit node B is also connected to the control terminal G12 of the transistor M12.
The voltage of the circuit node B is the output voltage Vout of the shifter translator 1.
Although advantageous in several aspects, this first known solution has various drawbacks.
For example, the transitions from the high logic level HV [high VDD] to the low logic level LV [GND], VDD=>GND, and vice versa from the low logic level to the high logic level, GND=>VDD, occur with very different times with respect to one another.
Moreover, the response times of the transitions VDD->GND and GND->VDD vary remarkably when the temperature varies.
The standard shifter translator 1, for its operation, resorts to a positive feedback which is started by varying the voltages at the nodes A and B in an opposite way. These nodes also respond to the commands at low voltage (LV), Vin and Vin, only if the transistors M1 and M2 of the NMOS type are much more conductive than the transistors M11 and M12 of the PMOS type, so as to "win" the positive feedback.
Additionally, once the positive feedback is started at the shifter circuit 1, a slowdown in the transaction from one level to the other may also occur due to the capacitive coupling which is created between the nodes A and B.
Thus, due to a more and more marked difference in the supply voltages of the logic and memory circuits, as above indicated, the transition from low to high voltage occurs with greater and greater difficulty. This implies that when logic circuits are interfaced, a delay is created which becomes a limiting factor for the performances of flash memory circuits, especially in terms of access time to the memory, where the times at stake are very narrow.


A fixing device is provided with a fixing roller for fixing a toner image transferred on a sheet to the sheet, and a separating mechanism for separating the sheet from the fixing roller. The separating mechanism includes a claw member having a tip portion held in contact with the outer circumferential surface of the fixing roller for separating the sheet from the fixing roller, a supporting member pivotably supporting the claw member, and a biasing member for biasing the claw member toward the outer circumferential surface of the fixing roller so that the tip portion of the claw member presses the fixing roller.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fixing device for fixing a toner image transferred on a sheet to the sheet and an image forming apparatus employing such a fixing device.
2. Description of the Background Art
There has been conventionally known a fixing device used in an image forming apparatus such as a printer or copier for fixing a toner image transferred on a sheet to the sheet. In such a fixing device, elastic layers (rubber layers) have been provided on a pressure(pressing) roller and a fixing (heating) roller, and means for separating a sheet from the outer circumferential surface of the fixing roller by the shape of a nip between the pressure roller and the fixing roller has been used.
However, if the fixing roller is provided with the elastic layer, problems such as a reduction in temperature following capability when sheets are successively fed and an increase in warm-up time arise due to a lower heat conductivity of the elastic layer. Thus, it has been difficult to sufficiently cope with a recent energy-saving tendency. Further, a technology of fixing a toner image to a sheet using a belt has been proposed and commercialized, but has problems of a complicated construction and an increased cost.
On the other hand, there has been known a fixing device using, as a fixing roller, a so-called hard roller constructed by covering the outer circumferential surface of an aluminum or iron core with a fluorocarbon-resin coating or tube. The warm-up time can be sufficiently shortened due to a high heat conductivity of the fixing roller in this fixing device and it is possible to inexpensively construct the fixing device.
However, since a large adhesive force is created between the fixing roller and the sheet where a large amount of molten toner is present if the above fixing roller (hard roller) is used, it is necessary to use means for forcibly separating the sheet from the outer circumferential surface of the fixing roller by bringing a separating claw into contact with the fixing roller. Therefore, there has been a problem of the abrasion of the fixing roller in the case of repeated use.
Accordingly, in order to suppress the abrasion of the fixing roller by the separating claw, a technology of reducing a contact pressure of the separating claw with the fixing roller by widening the width of the leading end of the separating claw has been proposed, for example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2004-157481. This publication discloses a fixing device constructed such that a separating claw rotatable about one axial direction (direction of the central axis of a fixing roller) is held in contact with the outer circumferential surface of the fixing roller using a spring.
However, according to such a method for bringing the separating claw into contact with the fixing roller, the separating claw and the fixing roller are substantially in point contact with each other if one side of the leading end of the separating claw is held in contact with the outer circumferential surface of the fixing roller due to dimensional tolerance and the like of components. Thus, a contact pressure of the separating claw with the fixing roller concentrates on this contact point and an effect of widening the width of the leading end of the separating claw cannot be sufficiently obtained, thereby causing a problem of making it difficult to sufficiently suppress the abrasion of the fixing roller. As a result, lines are formed on an image due to the abrasion marking of the fixing roller. Particularly, in a color image forming apparatus, there is a problem of considerable image deterioration.

Fixing device and image forming apparatus with separating mechanism pivotable about plural axes


A circuit configured for improving the large signal response of a control stage circuit of a switch mode DC/DC power converter by increasing the differential input range of an error amplifier by segmenting and adding an offset to the error amplifier input and output. When a transient is detected, the feedback voltage is offset in multiple segments by multiple offset voltage sources to prevent saturation of the control stage circuit. Counteracting offset voltages are added to an output of an error amplifier to prevent overshoot or undershoot. A feed-forward compensation signal is generated with the amplitude of the signal being clamped to fixed voltage levels between a minimum and a maximum amplitude of the feed-forward compensation signal. The feed-forward compensation signal is added to the output of the error amplifier to produce an output error signal of the control stage circuit configured for controlling the modulating of the switch mode DC/DC power converter.

Type III compensation is often used for the voltage-mode control DC/DC switching power converter to achieve wider bandwidth than the inductor-capacitor (LC) resonant frequency of the DC/DC switching power converter. "Demystifying Type II and Type III Compensators Using Op-Amp and OTA for DC/DC Converters", S. W. Lee, Texas Instruments Application Report—SLVA662, July, 2014, states that the purpose of adding compensation to the error amplifier of a DC/DC switching power converter is to counteract some of the gains and phases contained in the control-to-output transfer function. The gains and phases may jeopardize the stability of the DC/DC switching power converter. The ultimate goal is to make the overall closed-loop-transfer function (control-to-output cascaded with the error amplifier) satisfy the stability criteria.
A Type I compensation has a single pole based on a feedback capacitor and resistor at the input of an operational amplifier or an impedance at an output of an operational transconductance amplifier with the resistor or resistors at the input of the operational transconductance amplifier. A Type II compensation has two poles and adds a resistor-capacitance (RC) branch to flatten the gain, and improve the phase response in the mid-frequency range. The increased phase is achieved by increasing the separation of the pole and zero of the compensation. A Type III compensation has two poles, besides the pole-at-zero and two zeros. The Type III compensation is used when more than 90 degrees of phase boost is necessary. By adding another pole/zero pair to the Type II compensation, the Type III compensation can theoretically boost the phase up to 180 degrees.
FIG. 1a is a block diagram of a switch mode DC/DC power converter. FIG. 1b is a schematic diagram of a control stage circuit 5 of the related art of the switch mode DC/DC power converter of FIG. 1a. Referring to FIG. 1a, a switch mode DC/DC power converter transfers power from a source VIN to a load while converting voltage and current applied to the input of the circuit to an output voltage VOUT and current Iour suitable for the load. The switch mode DC/DC power converter consists of a control stage circuit 5 and a power stage 10. The control stage circuit 5 receives necessary feedback signals from the power stage 10 and a reference voltage VREF and control signals from system operating functions. The feedback signal VFB is applied to a compensator 20 to correct the phase and gain of the feedback signal VFB. The compensated feedback signal VCTRL is applied to an error amplifier 15 for determining the difference between the compensated feedback signal VCTRL and the reference voltage VREF. The output terminal 7 of the error amplifier 15 transfers the difference output voltage VDIF to be applied to the modulator 25 of the power stage 10. The modulator 25 compares the difference output voltage VDIF with a ramp voltage VRAMP to determine a pulse width of the modulated input voltage VMOD. The modulated input voltage VMOD is applied to the filter 35 for removing the high frequency content from the modulated input voltage VMOD for determining the output voltage VOUT of the switch mode DC/DC power converter.
Referring to FIG. 1b, the error amplifier 15 of the control stage circuit 5 has a transconductance amplifier 17. The transconductance amplifier 17 receives the feedback signal VFB at its inverting terminal (−) and the reference voltage VREF at its non-inverting terminal (+). The output of the transconductance amplifier 17 is connected to a first terminal of the feed-forward resistor Rff and the first terminal of the compensation capacitor Cc. The second terminal of the compensation capacitor Cc is connected to the ground reference voltage. The second terminal of feed forward resistor Rff is connected to summation node 16 at the output of the error amplifier 15. The summation node 16 is a single connection for combining the output signal VOEA of the error amplifier 15 with the output signal VCOMP of the compensator 20. The summation of the output signal VOEA of the error amplifier 15 and the output signal VCOMP of the compensator 20 provides the difference output voltage VDIF to terminal 7 for transmission the power stage 10.
The compensator 20 adds feed-forward compensation that increase the phase margin, defined as the difference between the unity-gain phase shift and −180 degrees, which is the point where the loop becomes unstable.
The finite gain or low gain amplifier 22 receives the feedback signal VFB at its inverting terminal (−) and the reference voltage VREF at its non-inverting terminal (+). The output of the finite gain amplifier 22 is connected to the first terminal of the feed-forward capacitor Cff. The second terminal of the feed-forward capacitor Cff is connected to the second terminal of the feed forward resistor Rff and connected to the output terminal 7 of the error amplifier 15 for providing the difference output voltage VDIF to the power stage 10.
FIG. 1c is a plot of gain and phase vs. frequency of the control stage circuit 5 of the related art of the switch mode DC/DC power converter of FIG. 1a. The plot 40 is the gain of the error amplifier 15 and the plot 45 is the gain of the compensator 20. The total gain of the control stage circuit 5 is shown in the plot 50. The compensator 20 forms a Type III compensation that is often used for the switch mode DC/DC power converter to achieve wider bandwidth than the load inductor-capacitor (LC) resonant frequency. The two zeros 55 cancel the resonant frequency of the inductor and output capacitor, and 0-dB frequency of the whole control stage circuit 5 can be higher than the resonant frequency. However, the feed-forward path of the compensator 20 is effective only during the feed-forward pole time constant (about 3 Cff Rff) and also the dynamic range is limited by the power supply voltage source VDD.
FIG. 2 is a plot of the large signal response of the error amplifier 15 and output voltage VOUT of the switch mode DC/DC power converter of FIG. 1a employing the control stage circuit of the related art of FIG. 1b. The plot 65 shows the output voltage VOC response of the compensator 20 to a large a load and/or line transient. The plot 70 shows the output voltage VOEA of the error amplifier 15 and the plot 75 illustrates the output voltage VDIF of the control stage circuit 5. The output voltage VDIF of the control stage circuit 5 is the difference voltage between the reference voltage VREF and the voltage level of the compensated feedback signal VCTRL.
When a load and/or line transient is large and/or long and the output voltage VOUT cannot be regulated while the feed-forward path of the compensator 20 is effective, the transient speed is restricted by the main pole, which is very slow, and an overshoot or undershoot 80 of the output voltage VOUT during the transient becomes large in the time prior to the time τ0. When the output voltage VOC response of the compensator 20 no longer increases, the output voltage VOEA of the error amplifier 15 begins to dominate at the time τ0 and the output voltage VOUT of the switch mode DC/DC power converter begins to raise to its required voltage level and the switch mode DC/DC power converter becomes regulated at the time τ1.
"Area- and Power-Efficient Monolithic Buck Converters with Pseudo-Type III Compensation," Wu, et al., IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. 45, no. 8, pp.: 1446-1455, August 2010, describes monolithic PWM voltage-mode buck converters with novel Pseudo-Type III (PT3) compensation. The compensation maintains the fast load transient response of the conventional Type III compensator; while the Type III compensator response is synthesized by adding a high-gain low-frequency path (via error amplifier) with a moderate-gain high-frequency path (via bandpass filter) at the inputs of PWM comparator. Found Jan. 20, 2016 at: URL: http://ieeexplore.ieee. org/stamp/stamp. jsp?tp=&arnumber=5518483&isnumber=5518480

Fast-transient switching converter with type III compensation


Apparatuses, methods, systems, and computer program products are disclosed for calculating a clock rate of a processor. A baseline data module receives a first set of performance data associated with a processor. The performance data is generated using a hardware element that captures performance data for the processor. The hardware element is external to the processor. An update data module receives a second set of performance data associated with the processor a predefined time interval after the first set of performance data is received. The second set of performance data corresponds to the first set of performance data. A rate module calculates a clock rate for the processor based on the first set of performance data and the second set of performance data.

The clock rate of a processor can vary dynamically while a computing device is powered on, which allows the processor to conserve power. For example, the clock rate can vary from −50% to +20% from a baseline or nominal clock rate in response to workload characteristics and/or measurements from the processor's physical environment. The variation in clock rate is typically performed asynchronously such that an operating system or hypervisor is not aware that the clock rate has changed. The efficient and accurate assessment of the clock rate, however, is fundamental to interpreting performance metrics that are associated with the processor and one or more workload partitions on a computing system.

Calculating the clock frequency of a processor

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


An image processor, a method for generating a pattern using self-organizing lithographic techniques, and a computer program are provided to achieve image processing suitable for addressing a sample generated by patterning using Directed Self-Assembly (DSA), and the processor, method, and computer program are characterized in that a template for addressing is prepared on the basis of guide pattern data used for patterning by DSA. The above configuration makes it possible to provide an addressing pattern suitable for visual field positioning in measuring or inspecting a pattern formed through the patterning process using DSA.

As one of the technologies for forming a minute pattern, DSA (Directed Self-Assembly; self-organization technique) is known. This is a method for forming a minute pattern using the characteristics that a polymer is regularly organized by applying heat treatment to polymer.
Patent Literature 1 describes an example of observing a pattern, which is formed with the DSA technology, using a scanning electron microscope and an example of pattern size measurement.

Image processor, method for generating pattern using self-organizing lithographic techniques and computer program


The present disclosure proposes a decomposition-coordination voltage control method for wind power to be transmitted to a nearby area via flexible DC. The method includes: initializing parameters; sending the parameters to wind power farms; for each of the wind power farms, establishing a voltage control optimization sub-model; solving the voltage control optimization sub-model to obtain a first optimal result; for the control center, establishing a voltage control optimization main model; solving the voltage control optimization main model to obtain a second optimal result; calculating a determination index based on the first optimal result and the second optimal result; and determining whether the determination index is convergent to an admissible value, if no, updating the parameters and returning to establishing the voltage control optimization sub-model.

Due to the geographical distribution of wind power resources in China, large-scale cluster wind power often needs to be delivered to the load area over a long distance. Flexible direct current (DC) has become a new choice of power transmission methods with its technical advantages, providing flexible voltage support for transmitting wind power to a nearby area (via a large-scale flexible DC grid-connected wind power collection area). However, there are dozens of wind power farms for transmitting wind power to the nearby area via flexible DC, and there are dozens or hundreds of wind turbines in each wind power farm. In order to achieve coordinated voltage control, it is necessary to sense state parameters of each wind turbine and send it to the control center, which causes a large scale of the control problem and heavy communication burden. Therefore, the traditional centralized voltage control method is difficult to achieve real-time coordinated voltage control.

Decomposition-coordination voltage control method for wind power to be transmitted to nearby area via flexible DC

STATE GRID BEIJING ELECTRIC POWER COMPANY


A bacterium which belongs to the Enterobacteriaceae family and has an ability to produce an L-amino acid such as L-lysine, L-threonine and L-tryptophan and is modified to enhance glutamic acid decarboxylase activity is cultured in a medium to produce and accumulate the L-amino acid in the medium or cells of the bacterium. Then, the L-amino acid is collected from the medium or the cells.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for producing an L-amino acid using a bacterium, and more particularly, to a method for producing an L-amino acid such as L-lysine, L-threonine, and L-tryptophan. L-lysine, L-threonine, and L-tryptophan are industrially useful as additives for animal feeds, components of health foods, amino acid infusions, and the like.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
As methods for producing a target substance such as an L-amino acid by a fermentation method using a bacterium, there are known a method using a wild-type bacterium (wild-type strain), a method using an auxotrophic strain induced from a wild-type strain, a method using a metabolic control mutant induced from a wild-type strain as various drug-resistant mutants, and a method using a strain having properties of both the auxotrophic strain and the metabolic control mutant.
In recent years, fermentative production of a target substance is performed using a recombinant DNA technology. For example, improvement of L-amino acid productivity of a bacterium has been achieved by enhancing the expression of a gene encoding an L-amino acid biosynthetic enzyme (U.S. Pat. No. 5,168,056 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,776,736) or by enhancing the influx of a carbon source into an L-amino acid biosynthetic system (U.S. Pat. No. 5,906,925).
Glutamate decarboxylase (GAD) from Escherichia coli is an enzyme that produces γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) from L-glutamic acid by decarboxylation reaction (Methods Enzymol. 1985. 113: 11-16. Fonda, M. L. L-Glutamate decarboxylase from bacteria.), and is known to play an important role in the resistance to an acid (J. Bacteriol. 1999. 181(11): 3525-3535. Castanie-Cornet, M. P., Penfound, T. A., Smith, D., Elliott, J. F., and Foster, J. W. Control of acid resistance in Escherichia coli.). Two kinds of GADs have been discovered in Escherichia coli, and one is encoded by gadA gene, and the other is encoded by gadB gene (J. Bacteriol. 1992. 174(18): 5820-5826. Smith, D. K., Kassam, T., Singh, B., and Elliott, J. F. Escherichia coli has two homologous glutamate decarboxylase genes that map to distinct loci.).
Meanwhile, the gadC gene is located downstream of gadB gene and forms an operon with the gadB gene, and is presumed to encode a glutamic acid/GABA antiporter (J. Bacteriol. 1996. 178(13): 3978-3981. Hersh, B. M., Farooq, F. T., Barstad, D. N., Blankenhorn, D. L., and Slonczewski, J. L. A glutamate-dependent acid resistance gene in Escherichia coli.). It has been disclosed that elimination of gadB is effective for production of an L-amino acid such as L-glutamic acid, L-proline, or L-leucine (RU Patent 2,264,457). However, there have been no reports of the production of an L-amino acid using a bacterium modified to enhance genes encoding GAD (gadA and gadB) or a gene encoding a transporter of GABA (gadC).


A fuel cell power module is provided. The module comprises (a) power production unit, (b) a power conditioning and protection unit, and (c) a control unit, each unit being modules and integrated into a module for independent removal. Multiple modules are networked so that each module is connected to a master controller so that if one module is removed from operation, the other is able to continue operation.

Communication infrastructure facilities, banks and business customers with mission-critical processes require high-quality and reliable power that the current electrical grid is unable to provide. These applications use the grid backed up by an Uninterruptible Power Systems (UPS), which generally uses a battery and diesel generator supplement to ensure uninterrupted power. The UPS is also available to "clean" the power (e.g. by reducing harmonics), whether originating from the grid or from the diesel generator to ensure quality and reliability of electrical power.
We have now invented a network of fuel cells that may be used to supplement the use of the power grid or replace it (along with the UPS and back up power). The network will be capable of sustaining faults without affecting the quality of the electricity supplied, resulting in high system reliability.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Fuel cell power system having a master control unit and a plurality of fuel cell power units


An object of the present invention is to provide a crystal of 6′-sialyllactose (hereinafter, referred to as 6SL) sodium salt, which is easily handled, and has high storage stability at normal temperature as well as under high temperature conditions, and provide a production process thereof. The present invention relates to a crystal of 6SL sodium salt and a process for producing the crystal.

6′-Sialyllactose [O—(N-acetyl-α-neuramionsyl)-(2→6)—O-β-D-galactopyranoyl-(1→4)-D-Glucose](hereinafter, referred to as 6SL) is an acidic oligosaccharide in which sialic acid is linked to lactose.
6SL is useful, for example, as a product, a raw material, an intermediate, or the like of health food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and the like. 6SL is one of important oligosaccharides contained in human breast milk and is supposed to have a bioactivity such as a protective activity against infection with a virus or a bacterium, or an activity of lactic acid bacterial growth.
As a method for purifying 6SL, a method using a gel filtration column (Non-Patent Documents 1 and 2), a simulated moving-bed chromatographic separation device (Patent Document 1), or the like has been disclosed. Further, Patent Documents 2 to 4 describe that a crystal of 6SL salt was obtained, but do not describe the properties of the obtained crystals, and a method by which a crystal of 6SL salt can actually be obtained has not been known.

Crystal of 6′-sialyllactose sodium salt, and process for producing same


Apparatus for making different residential and commercial building siding of different widths includes a series of roller stations with selective vertical roller positioning adjustments and selective axial lateral roller portion position adjustments. An optional embossing station provides wood graining. A rotary punch forms the holes in a formed one piece nail strip siding.

Siding for buildings is commonly used in residential and commercial building construction. This siding has heretofore been made from sheet metal coil stock using roll-forming apparatus. Some of the different configurations or shapes of building siding presently in use are commonly referred to as the colonial, horizontal double four, horizontal double five, vertical board and batten, vertical double four, vertical double five and colonial dutch lap.
Knudson U.S. Pat. No. 3,791,185 discloses apparatus for forming siding for buildings wherein the lower of each pair of a group of pairs of rollers are dropped down so that the same apparatus may be used to form different siding shapes.
Knudson U.S. Pat. No. 4,899,566 discloses pairs of rollers in roll-forming apparatus having lateral adjustments of the rollers in each pair to form shaped panels having different panel widths from the same rollers.
Beymer U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,710,607, 3,788,115, 4,020,666 and 4,787,233 disclose machines for roll forming siding from sheet material using a series of roll-forming stations.

Apparatus for making siding for buildings and the like


A system for controlling the operation of a remote device via wireless communication. The remote device includes resources for communication via at least two different short-range wireless mediums with different operational ranges. The sensing of a scanning communication signal from a first wireless medium may trigger the disconnection of the remote device from an already established connection, through a second wireless communication medium, to the scanning device. The remote device may provide a remote device ID to the scanning device. As a result of this transaction, one or both devices may experience a mode change, which may be signaled by a audible, visual or tactile confirmation to a user.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a system for controlling the operation of remote devices linked by wireless communication, and more specifically, to system of controlling the operation of a remote device wirelessly communicating using a second wireless medium by scanning the remote device with a first wireless medium.
2. Description of Prior Art
Modern society has quickly adopted, and become reliant upon, handheld devices for wireless communication. For example, cellular telephones continue to proliferate in the global marketplace due to technological improvements in both the quality of the communication and the functionality of the devices. These wireless communication devices (WCDs) have become commonplace for both personal and business use, allowing users to transmit and receive voice, text and graphical data from a multitude of geographical locations. The communication networks utilized by these devices span different frequencies and cover different broadcast distances, each having strengths desirable for various applications.
Cellular networks facilitate WCD communication over large geographic areas. These network technologies have commonly been divided by generations, starting in the late 1970s to early 1980s with first generation (1G) analog cellular telephones that provided baseline voice communications, to the now emerging 4G streaming digital video content planned for the 2006-2007 timeframe. GSM is an example of a widely employed 2G digital cellular network communicating in the 900 MHZ-1.8 GHZ band in Europe and at 1.9 GHZ in the United States. This network provides voice communication and also supports the transmission of textual data via the Short Messaging Service (SMS). SMS allows a WCD to transmit and receive text messages of up to 160 characters, while providing data transfer to packet networks, ISDN and POTS users at 9.6 Kbps. The Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), an enhanced messaging system allowing for the transmission of sound, graphics and video files in addition to simple text, has also become available in certain devices. Soon emerging technologies such as Digital Video Broadcasting for Handheld Devices (DVB-H) will make streaming digital video, and other similar content, available via direct broadcast to a WCD. While long-range communication networks like GSM are a well-accepted means for transmitting and receiving data, due to cost, traffic and legislative concerns, these networks may not be appropriate for all data applications.
Short-range wireless networks provide communication solutions that avoid some of the problems seen in large cellular networks. Bluetooth™ is an example of a short-range wireless technology quickly gaining acceptance in the marketplace. A Bluetooth™ enabled WCD transmits and receives data at a rate of 720 Kbps within a range of 10 meters, and may transmit up to 100 meters with additional power boosting. A user does not actively instigate a Bluetooth™ network. Instead, a plurality of devices within operating range of each other will automatically form a network group called a "piconet". Any device may promote itself to the master of the piconet, allowing it to control data exchanges with up to seven "active" slaves and 255 "parked" slaves. Active slaves exchange data based on the clock timing of the master. Parked slaves monitor a beacon signal in order to stay synchronized with the master, and wait for an active slot to become available. These devices continually switch between various active communication and power saving modes in order to transmit data to other piconet members. In addition to Bluetooth™ other popular short-range wireless networks include WLAN (of which "Wi-Fi" local access points communicating in accordance with the IEEE 802.11 standard, is an example), WUSB, UWB, etc. All of these wireless mediums have features and advantages that make them appropriate for various applications.
Wireless communications devices incorporating some or all of the previously discussed features are powerful tools for increasing productivity. These single devices may be employed to accomplish tasks that once required a plurality of individual devices working together to complete. Telephone, email, instant messaging, Internet browsers, facsimile, audio and video recording, audio and video playback, word processing, scheduling, contact managers, conferencing tools and various other applications are all encompassed in one small package. A compact device size in this case is advantageous in terms of transporting the device, but this reduced size sometimes hampers the usability of the device, and will prompt a user to want to temporarily integrate other ancillary devices with the primary WCD to aid in the usability of the aforementioned applications and the productivity of the user.
An accessory device for a WCD originally required physical attachment for use, for example, a cable or wire. The limited amount of physical connection ports on a compact WCD restricted the use of these accessories to one or maybe two at a time, and necessarily entailed an entanglement of inconvenient wires. As the technology developed, wireless communication mediums like Bluetooth™ were developed as a replacement for these wires. Now a WCD could maintain an active connection with a plurality of satellite accessory devices without the physical constraints of communications cables or wires.
As communication technologies like Bluetooth™ mature, the applications for these types of short-range mediums continue to expand. Now, not only may a user have a plurality of remote accessory devices wirelessly connected to a WCD, but also active communications with other wireless communication devices like the encounter cellular handsets, of other users and wireless access points for distributing information may occur. As a result, a WCD may quickly become overwhelmed by the amount of simultaneous wireless activity being conducted over a certain medium, and therefore, performance will suffer for all transactions. The user may attempt to manually maintain the activity and connection status of all these devices, but current systems for connection management requires the use of cumbersome interfaces that somewhat defeat the advantages gained through the wireless communication.
Therefore, what is needed is a system to allow a user to simply manage the operational modes of various remote devices connected wirelessly to a WCD. This operational management should not require the manipulation of various configuration and control menus in the WCD and/or remote device, but instead should instantly allow a mode change in one or both devices depending on physical relationship between the devices, such as the proximity of the remote device to the WCD. The mode change should be acknowledged by the remote device and/or the WCD through some sort of audible or visual signal. The current mode of the remote device and/or WCD should be determinable by the mode change indicator.


An electronic display row drivers or column drivers that send reference currents or voltages to microdrivers to be used to drive micropixels to particular levels. The microdrivers, in turn, ship current to micropixels that display images based at least in part on the shipped current.

The present disclosure relates generally to techniques for driving a display and, more particularly, to techniques for driving of the electronic display.
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Electronic display uniformity is a valuable factor to ensure images are displayed on a display properly. Uniformity may be decreased by fluctuations based on temperature, threshold voltage variations, voltage drop due to electrical resistance in the display (IR drop), or supply variation. Specifically, IR drop in the panel can impact the overdrive voltage of the current source inside and cause brightness errors and display artifacts. Severity of the artifacts is display pattern dependent, and the problem may worsen as more pixels serially share a current or voltage supply. In other words, more pixels sharing a current or voltage supply may increase the IR drop to cause non-uniformity of the display and/or artifacts, which degrade display quality.

Electronic display emission scanning using row drivers and microdrivers


A method of forming an ultraviolet (UV) photodetector includes forming an epitaxial semiconductor metal oxide layer on a substrate, wherein the forming includes using an O2 flow rate and applied RF plasma power which together provide a ratio of O• (oxygen radicals) to O+ of at least 1.5. Metal fingers are formed on a surface of the semiconductor metal oxide layer. The metal fingers can include a multi-layer stack including a metal having a 25° C. work function <4 eV positioned between an adhesion layer and an oxidation resistant metal capping layer. The semiconductor metal oxide layer can be Zn1-xMgxO wherein 0<x<1.

Ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors and light emitters find numerous uses including applications in the defense, commercial, and scientific arenas. These include, for example, covert space-to-space communications, missile threat detection, chemical and biological threat detection and spectroscopy, UV environmental monitoring, and germicidal cleansing. Detectors and light emitters operating in the solar blind region are of special interest. The solar blind region corresponds to the spectral UV region where strong upper atmospheric absorption of solar radiation occurs, generally at wavelengths between about 200 nm and 290 nm. This creates a natural low background window for detection of man-made UV sources on and proximate to the earth's surface.
Semiconductor materials having a 25° C. band gap of about 4 to 6 eV have been used to sense or generate solar blind UV radiation. Conventional approaches have used semiconductor metal oxides such as AlGaN, MgZnO, or BeZnO, which generally have wurtzite (hexagonal) lattice structures. AlGaN is known to suffer from various problems including cracking due to strain, generally high dislocation density, and lattice mismatch (all such effects are generally interrelated). High dislocation density undesirably reduces internal quantum efficiency. The use of wurtzite MgZnO is limited due to phase segregation that occurs for mid-Mg compositions as a result of solid solubility limits and mixed phase regions. BeZnO is a somewhat more promising material, but has experienced doping difficulties, particularly difficulties in obtaining high mobility and stable p-type doping.

UV photodetectors having semiconductor metal oxide layer

University of Central Florida Research Foundation, Inc.


A serviceable draw and return tube assembly for use in fuel tanks is disclosed. The assembly may include a draw tube and a return tube secured to a plate, wherein the plate may be removably secured to a flange, which is fixedly secured to a fuel tank. The process of removably securing the plate to the flange allows for use of different sizes and materials to be utilized in manufacture of the assembly, thereby saving installation time and manufacturing costs.

The present invention is particularly intended for use on commercial vehicles, although it may be used with any internal combustion engine connected to a fuel tank having a draw and return tube assembly. In particular, diesel engines typically operate by drawing fuel from a fuel tank, combusting a portion of the fuel and then returning the unused, or uncombusted, fuel to the fuel tank. The volume of fuel returned to the fuel tank is dependent on engine power output, and generally is quite substantial. Accordingly, such draw and return tube assemblies play a vital role in the operation of diesel engines.
Heavy commercial vehicles frequently employ dual fuel tanks, also called saddle tanks, wherein fuel is drawn simultaneously from both tanks for combustion within the engine. To prevent uneven draw and return of the fuel, which may lead to air being drawn into the engine, fuel flow regulators, such as draw and return tube assemblies, typically are installed in each of the dual fuel tanks.
One prior art draw and return tube assembly comprises draw and return tubes fixedly connected to a flange at one end of the tubes. The flange typically is fixedly mounted at an aperture sized to receive the flange on an outside surface of the fuel tank such that the opposite end of each of the draw and return tubes extends downwardly into fuel held within the lower portion of the tank. Draw and return lines from the engine are connected to the draw and return tubes at the flange, outside the tank.
The tube end openings inside the tank and opposite the flange typically extend away from one another and are each positioned an equal distance from the flange so that the draw and return tube fuel openings are also each positioned an equal distance below the top surface of fuel held within the tank. In this arrangement, when the two saddle tanks and the corresponding draw and return tube assemblies are each positioned on the commercial vehicle, the pressure head of fuel positioned above the draw and return tube openings of each assembly will result in equal amounts of fuel being withdraw from each of the tanks and equal amounts of fuel being returned to each of the tanks. In addition, swedging or crimping of the end of the return tube opening opposite the flange will facilitate filling the return fuel line. This filling of the return fuel line enables a siphon effect between the left and right hand fuel tanks. Accordingly, the draw and return tube assemblies of the prior art act as passive flow regulators for ensuring equal levels of fuel drawn and returned to each of the two saddle fuel tanks.
Conventional draw and return tubes are fixedly secured to a flange that is fixedly secured, such as by welding, to the fuel tank. If servicing issues arise with respect to an interior surface of the fuel tank, or with the draw and return tubes themselves, the entire tank may need to be removed and a new tank installed on the truck. This results in expensive and time consuming servicing operations.
Accordingly, there is a need for a draw and return tube assembly that may be serviceable, i.e., removable from a fuel tank, such that an interior of the fuel tank, and the draw and return tubes themselves, may be accessible during servicing of a fuel tank and a draw and return tube assembly after installation thereof.

Servicable draw and return tube assembly


A hose material for a fuel cell which is superior in both of low extraction property and electrical isolation, and which also has excellent mechanical properties, and also a hose manufactured using the hose material. The hose material comprises:    (A) an ethylene-propylene copolymer;    (B) hydrophobic silica;    (C) a peroxide crosslinking agent; and    (D) carbon black.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hose material for a fuel cell and also to a hose manufactured by using the same hose material.
2. Description of the Art
It is generally understood that fuel cell systems, especially systems of polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFC), will be widely accepted as future power generation systems. It is said that a part for generating electricity of a fuel cell system is vulnerable to foreign matter such as sulfur, metal ions or the like. Therefore, performance of the part is drastically deteriorated if such foreign matter enters the part. For this reason, the hose material or the tube material used in fuel cell systems should have a low extraction property. In other words, the material should be difficult to be extracted by water flowing through a hose or a tube and thus has a high standard of cleanliness. Further, when fuel cell systems are used especially for vehicles, how to cool a great amount of heat generated thereby remains one of the important issues. Thus, it is thought that the role taken by the cooling system is significantly important. When electrical conductivity of the coolant such as LLC (Long Life Coolant) increases in a fuel cell system, an electrical short-circuiting tends to occur. Therefore, it is required to maintain the insulation property of internal fluid (water or LLC). In other words, a hose material or a tube material for use in a fuel cell system (especially, in the cooling system) is required to suppress ion extraction so as not to increase the electrical conductivity of the fluid.
Heretofore, under such circumstances, a SUS tube has been used because of low ion dissolution, or, alternatively, a complicated cooling system has been used, for example, by installing deionization means in the fuel cell system. However, when using a SUS tube, it is difficult to mold or install the SUS tube, which causes problems in terms of layout and processability. In addition, a problem of poor vibration durability with SUS tubes is also caused. Further, when using a tube material with a low extraction property (a high standard of cleanliness), it makes it possible to prolong the interval between regenerating the resin, activated carbon or the like in the deionization means required for a fuel cell system used in a fuel cell electrical vehicle (FCEV) or the like.
Further, the material of a tube connected with the fuel cell itself or accumulator battery (secondary battery) requires the property of electrical insulation (high electrical resistance) to help prevent electric shock due to stray current or current leakage. Alternatively, the materials of peripheral parts of the fuel cell system need to absorb sound or vibration because a fuel cell system is to be quiet compared with an internal combustion system and noise cancelled by the internal combustion system becomes obvious in a fuel cell system.
Accordingly, it has been expected that an elastomer material (a material having rubber elasticity) which is superior in low extraction property, electrical insulation (high electrical resistance) and vibration resistance for absorbing sound and vibration could be utilized as a hose material or a tube material for use in fuel cell systems.
As such a hose material for use in a fuel cell system, a mixture of an ethylene-propylene-diene terpolymer (EPDM) and carbon black has been conventionally used (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 10-180941). However, when forming a hose for a fuel cell system by using such a material, the thus obtained hose tends to have low mechanical properties and also have poor electrical insulation. In this case, the amount of carbon black mixed with the EPDM is increased to be highly filled so as to improve reinforcement characteristics.
However, when carbon black is highly-filled into EPDM as mentioned above, each particle of carbon black gets closer to adjacent particles, which further reduces electrical resistance and increases electrical conductivity of the material, which thereby results in a remarkable inferiority in electrical insulation. Further, in this case, elongation of the hose deteriorates and the scorching property is aggravated.
Instead of highly-filling the carbon black to improve reinforcement characteristics, it was thought that perhaps carbon black may be used together with another filler such as silica, talc or clay. Although such a material has excellent electrical insulation, it has remarkably inferior low extraction property. This is because the above-mentioned filler has high polarity to EPDM so that affinity increases between the material and water, which has high polarity. As a result, an element such as silica (Si element or the like) and an ion tend to easily dissolve, because they unstably exist in EPDM. Further, since the above-mentioned filler does not have good dispersibility in EPDM, which is hydrophobic, it may tend to aggravate mechanical properties. Additionally, it has been thought that perhaps silane coupling agent may be further added thereto as a compound for stabilizing silica and the like contained in EPDM, as mentioned above. However, in this case, processability during molding deteriorates (or molded surface becomes rough) and the cost increases.
Thus, it is the current situation that a material satisfying both low extraction property and electrical insulation, and having good processability and superior mechanical properties is still not available. However, such a material is strongly desired.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide a hose material for a fuel cell which satisfies both low extraction property and electrical insulation, and is also superior in mechanical properties, and also to provide a hose manufactured by using the same hose material.


A semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus is provided with a drawing pattern printing part having a print head which ejects a conductive solvent, an insulative solvent and an interface treatment solution. The print head is formed in such a way that desired circuit drawing pattern can be printed on a wafer based on information on the drawing pattern from a wafer testing part, information on the wafer from a storage part and coordinate information from a chip coordinate recognition part. In a semiconductor device manufacturing method according to the present invention, a semiconductor device is manufactured by using the semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus in such a manner that desired circuits are formed through printing process. In the semiconductor device, pad electrodes and so on are formed in such a way that trimming process can be conducted by printing circuit drawing patterns.

In the manufacture of semiconductor integrated circuits (hereinafter abbreviated as ICs), various functions are provided by forming active elements such as CMOSs and bipolar transistors and passive elements such as resistors and capacitors on wafers, and by providing metal wiring which connects them, thereby the process of manufacturing the wafers is completed. After the completion of the wafer manufacturing process, a test to check the quality of IC products, that is, a so-called wafer test is conducted in wafer form before dicing (cutting). In the wafer test, ICs, which have met preset characteristic specifications, are selected, but ICs, which have not met the characteristic specifications, are rejected and thrown away. The characteristic specifications are set in a certain permissible range in consideration of the purpose in the use of ICs and so on.
In recent years, however, to enhance the sensitivity to sensing signals of ICs for sensors or the conversion efficiency of ICs for power conversion, wafer tests to obtain high-quality ICs have been conducted by narrowing the permissible range of the characteristic specifications to the extent possible. But when wafer tests have been conducted by narrowing the permissible range of the characteristic specifications, ICs manufactured by using conventional semiconductor device manufacturing methods have increased in the number of defectives to be rejected, which has resulted in their increased production cost.
Therefore, to produce IC products, which meet the permissible range of the characteristic specifications by adjusting (trimming) the characteristic values of the ICs which have not met the characteristic specifications after the wafer tests, will become a more important and essential technique from now on. Because of this, various "trimming techniques" have been proposed. Typical "trimming techniques" includes "laser trimming" in which part of wiring is cut by using laser beams, "Zener zapping" in which Zener diodes are subjected to avalanche breakdown to form filaments for wiring, "digital trimming" in which digital data is written into memory elements to adjust circuit characteristics, and "wiring formation trimming" in which wiring of electric circuits is newly formed.
Although such various techniques have been proposed as "trimming techniques" used after wafer tests as described above, there is a need to use an expensive apparatus in the trimming process and to form elements and circuits for trimming, which are very likely to become unnecessary, on wafers in advance. As a result, the conventional trimming techniques have caused the problem that the production cost of ICs is increased.
Moreover, in "wiring formation trimming", special drawing patterns are formed in the form of thin films according to the results of wafer tests, and the thin films are affixed to the corresponding spots of the wafers to form wiring for trimming (see, for example, JP-A No. 5-291258). However, in this trimming technique, it is very difficult to form wiring with high accuracy, and high-quality ICs can not be manufactured with high yields.
Furthermore, as "wiring formation trimming", a trimming technique has been proposed in which openings where electrode terminals are exposed are formed on wafers in advance, metal paste is applied to the corresponding openings during trimming to connect the desired electrode terminals with each other, and shielding resin is applied on the connection spots (see, for example, JP-A No. 2004-273679). However, in such conventional "wiring formation trimming", since the metal paste is applied onto the desired electrode terminals in such a way that a certain wide area is covered to form metal paste layers for the formation of electric connection, it has been difficult to perform a fine adjustment. In addition, to prevent the metal paste layers, which have been formed through the application onto the electrode terminals, from peeling and so on, shielding resin layers must be formed on the upper portions of the metal paste layers and hence, ICs have not been easy to manufacture, which has brought about a complex manufacturing process.

Semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus, semiconductor device manufacturing method and semiconductor device


A manufacturing method for permeable bandages and magnetic cores for rotors of electrical machines is proposed. The proposed method relies on winding with insulated metal preferably permeable wire or ribbon with high pretension and maintaining pretension in the wire or ribbon during manufacturing steps. The proposed method could be especially useful for high-speed electrical machines.

This invention is related to permeable bandages and magnetic cores for rotors of rotating electrical machines. The proposed method could be especially useful for high-speed electrical machines.
The proposed method could be used for containment of permanent magnets, for containment of magnetic cores with permanent magnets, for containment of metal squirrel cages of high speed induction machines, for containment of electrical windings installed in the slots of the rotor, for closing rotor slots or even as a mean of assembly of complex rotors consisting of separate parts or sectors through compressing and containing these parts or sectors against a shaft.
Permanent magnets located on rotors of electrical machines often require containment sleeves. Such containment sleeves can be performed out of metal as described in US 2008/0238234 A1 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,042,118. Solid sleeves provide a path for eddy currents, which increases the rotor temperature. In US 2009/0261678 A1 segmentation of the metal containment bandage is suggested. This however does not exclude eddy currents completely. With respect to assembly of such a rotor, it becomes more complex, since each ring has to be mounted using thermal expansion. The utilized mounting procedure also requires very tight tolerances. Because of eddy currents and increased leakage of permanent magnets it is not practical to use permeable metals or alloys in solid or segmented containment metal bandages. So either Inconel or other non-magnetic materials are typically used in such bandages. This increases the non-magnetic space between the magnets and the inner surface of the stator. So in order to achieve required flux density in the air-gap of such a machine an additional volume of permanent magnets would be required.
It is also possible to use composite sleeves preferably based on carbon fibers, since these materials are strong and light. Use of such bandages is suggested, for instance, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,459,185. However use of composites also leads to some problems. The composites are normally electrically non-conducting or possess high resistivity if carbon fiber is used. This means that practically no electrical currents would be generated in a composite sleeve. But this also means that no shielding would be present for the magnets against pulsations of magnetic field in the air-gap due to typically slotted stator structure and/or because of current pulsations in the stator winding. Composites are also non-magnetic. This means that the non-magnetic space between the magnets on the rotor and the inner surface of the stator is equal to the sum of the thickness of the mechanical air-gap and the composite sleeve thickness. In order to force the main magnetic flux of the machine through this non-magnetic space and maintain required level of the flux density in the air-gap a larger volume of permanent magnets would be required, compared to a situation when sleeve is manufactured out of a permeable material. A larger volume of the magnets obviously requires a thicker containment sleeve. This increases the cost of the machine and decreases the resonance frequency of the rotor, which eventually restricts the achievable operational speed of the machine. Composite sleeves also have fairly poor radial thermal conductivity. So a larger cooling flow would be required in order to cool the rotor. Generally speaking, composite sleeves put a limit on achievable power density in high speed permanent magnet machines.
In high-speed induction machines there is a need to contain a conducting preferably copper squirrel cage, because of very high centrifugal forces. Since induction machines are very sensitive to the value of the air-gap, the containment bandage should preferably be permeable, eddy-current free and capable of sustaining large operational temperatures. Since neither non-magnetic metal containment cylinders described above, nor composite bandages satisfy these requirements, no squirrel cage is typically used in high-speed induction machines. This adversely affects performance of high-speed induction machines.
Some machines utilize rotors with an electric winding, like, for instance, synchronous machines and DC machines. The rotor winding is located in slots of a magnetic core of the rotor. These slots are often made open or half-open in order to facilitate insertion of the winding into the slots. However such a slotted rotor structure can have a negative effect on the machine performance. A permeable bandage around the rotor would smoothen the effect of slots on either side of the air-gap of the machine.
High speed machines often utilize active magnetic bearings. Magnetic bearings exert magnetic forces in order to maintain position of the rotor. Good dynamic operation of magnetic bearings requires an eddy-current free magnetic core on the rotor. This requirement is important, because eddy currents dampen rapid changes of magnetic flux in the magnetic circuit of the bearing, reduce operational frequency range and generally deteriorate performance of such a bearing. Conventional laminated cores are suitable for active radial magnetic bearings. However such configuration is not suitable for alternating axial magnetic flux. There are also other applications requiring 3D eddy-current free permeable cylindrical magnetic cores.

Method of manufacturing multilayer metal wire or ribbon bandage over operational zone of rotor


A plurality of substrate holding members and a substrate pressing member are disposed on a rotation stage at a peripheral portion. The substrate pressing member includes a magnet and is pivotally supported by the rotation stage. A ring-shaped permanent magnet is located below the rotation stage and forms a ring around the rotation axis of the rotation stage. When a substrate mounted on the rotation stage is rotated and processed, the ring-shaped permanent magnet is positioned in the vicinity of the magnet of the substrate pressing member. This creates a magnetic force between the magnets, causing the substrate pressing member to pivot so that the substrate pressing member contacts the edge of the substrate with a predetermined amount of pressure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for use in a rotation-type substrate processing apparatus, in which a substrate is processed with various processing liquids such as cleaning liquid and etching liquid applied onto the substrate The substrate is held and rotated by the device (hereinafter referred to as "a spin head"). The term "substrate" refers to an approximately round-shaped substrate such as a semiconductor wafer or a completely round-shaped substrate such as an optical disk substrate.
2. Description of the Background Art
In a rotation-type substrate processing apparatus for processing substrates such as a semiconductor wafer and a glass substrate for a photomask which must be extremely thoroughly cleaned, maximum possible suppression of a slipping between a substrate and holding members which hold the substrate while the substrate is rotated is necessary. This is because such a slippage causes the substrate surface to be chipped and damaged, and also causes dust to adhere to the substrate surface. This also causes the processing liquid to flow unevenly, which eventually deteriorates the quality of processing. To solve the above problems, various conventional techniques for suppressing a slippage of a spinning substrate have been developed including the one disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Gazette No. 51-132972 and the one disclosed in Japanese Patent Examined Gazette No. 3-9607 which was filed by the same applicant as in the present application.
In an apparatus according to the former conventional technique, centrifugal arms are attached to a horizontal rotation stage for engagement with the outer edge of a horizontally resting substrate, and pushed against the outer edge of the substrate by a centrifugal force which is created as the horizontal rotation stage rotates. An apparatus according to the latter conventional technique requires movable claws disposed on a horizontal rotation stage for engagement with the outer edge of a horizontally mounted substrate. By moving the claws in a predetermined manner, the substrate is firmly held by the claws at the outer edge under a pressing force acting on the outer edge.
The former conventional technique, however, utilizing centrifugal force to hold the substrate, has a weakness in that suppression of slippage is insufficient when the rotation speed is not high enough, i.e., during an initial period of acceleration and a last period of deceleration of the rotation. The latter technique, on the other hand, always attains suppression of a slippage. However, the latter technique needs a complex structure for the apparatus which requires a high manufacturing cost.

Device for holding and rotating a substrate


A robot apparatus includes a robot main body, a distance determining section, an order determining section, and an operation controlling section. The robot main body transfers a plurality of to-be-processed objects in order so as to subject every predetermined number of the to-be-processed objects to processing, and includes a robot arm and a robot hand. The distance determining section determines an entire transfer distance of each of the to-be-processed objects. The order determining section determines a transfer order of the to-be-processed objects based on a determination result of the distance determining section so that every predetermined number of the to-be-processed objects has uniform transfer time. The operation controlling section controls operations of the robot arm and the robot hand so as to transfer the to-be-processed objects in accordance with the transfer order determined by the order determining section.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a robot apparatus.
2. Discussion of the Background
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-300878 discloses a robot main body disposed in a robot apparatus. The robot main body (multi-articular robot) includes a robot arm (arm) and a robot hand (magnet hand) mounted to a distal end of the robot arm. In the vicinity of the robot main body, a pallet is placed on which a plurality of to-be-processed objects (iron workpieces) are randomly stacked. Then, the robot main body makes the robot hand suck one to-be-processed object after another out of the pallet.


An EL element includes plural light transmitting front-electrodes forming plural lines by wiring and plural back-electrodes forming plural lines by further wiring. The front-electrodes are angled relative to the back-electrodes and a light-emitting layer is disposed between the front-electrodes and the back-electrodes. The EL element combined with a controller works as a lighting unit, which controls light emission at any place, so that a variety of lighting is realized by the lighting unit.

The present invention relates to an electro-luminescent (EL) element and a lighting unit employing the same EL element.
Electronic apparatuses, including cellular phones and personal computers, have been equipped with various and better functions. Thus, EL element and lighting units used in such electronic apparatuses have been subject to a variety of requirements.
A conventional EL element is described hereinafter with reference to FIG. 8 and FIG. 9. FIG. 8 shows a sectional view of a conventional EL element. FIG. 9 is a perspective view illustrating respective layers laminated. The EL element comprises the following elements:
(a) transparent insulating base 1;
(b) transparent electrode layer 2 formed by printing an indium tin oxide (ITO) film or transparent synthetic resin film on the entire lower face of base 1;
where the ITO film is formed by a sputtering method or a electron beam evaporation method, and the optically transparent film is formed by printing transparent synthetic resin in which indium tin oxide is dispersed,
(c) light emitting layer 3 formed by dispersing zinc sulfide base material of light emission into synthetic resin;
(d) dielectric layer 4 formed by dispersing barium titanate into synthetic resin;
(e) back-electrode layer 5 made of silver or carbon-resin composite; and
(f) insulating layer 6 made of epoxy resin or polyester resin.
The elements (c), (d) and (e) are printed beneath element (b) in this order sequentially, and then element (f) is disposed beneath element (e) to cover all the elements.
The EL element structured above is disposed beneath a plurality of pushbuttons or a display device such as LCD, so that the EL element is used for illuminating an operating section or the display device of a lighting unit.
When a voltage is applied between transparent electrode layer 2 and back electrode layer 5, an entire surface of light emitting layer 3 disposed between layer 2 and layer 5 emits light. This light illuminates the pushbuttons or the display devices from their backs.
In the conventional EL element discussed above, the structure allows the entire EL element to emit light, so that the EL element can illuminate a plurality of pushbuttons or display devices simultaneously, i.e., overall lighting is achievable. However, this structure cannot illuminate only a specified pushbutton or a specified spot on the display device, i.e., partial lighting is not achievable. Therefore, a plurality of light-emitting elements such as EL elements or LEDs are desirably combined for achieving partial lighting. This structure, however, needs more components and increases the cost.
An EL element in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention comprises the following elements:
a light transmitting base;
a front electrode layer formed beneath the base;
a light-emitting layer formed beneath the front electrode layer; and
a back electrode layer formed beneath the light-emitting layer.
The front electrode layer includes light transmitting front electrodes forming respective lines and front wiring-electrodes which couples the light transmitting front electrodes with each other. The back electrode layer includes back electrodes forming respective lines and back wiring-electrodes which couples the back electrodes with each other. The lines of the light transmitting front electrodes are overlaid above the lines of the back electrodes at a given angle via the light-emitting layer. The plural electrodes are coupled with each other by the wiring-electrodes to form a matrix, so that plural light-emitting pixels are formed. This structure allows a specified pixel to emit light or plural pixels to emit light simultaneously. As a result, a variety of lighting can be realized by this EL element.

EL element lighting unit employing the same EL element

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A sheet finishing apparatus for an image forming apparatus includes a discharging member configured to discharge recording media. A tray is configured to receive the discharged recording media. A rotatable moving member is configured to contact the discharged recording media such that an angular position of the rotatable member changes in response to a number of the recording media on the tray. A detecting member is configured to detect a movement of the moving member. A controller is configured to control an output of the recording media to the tray based on an output of the detecting member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet finisher for an image forming apparatus, and more specifically to the sheet finisher that detects movement of an arm member contacting recording media output to a tray of the sheet finisher.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Conventionally, a stack of recording media folded in a predetermined manner is discharged to a tray or sheet loading system of a sheet finishing apparatus. For example, a typical sheet loading system includes a discharge roller that discharges a center-folded and stapled stack of sheets (sometimes referred to as a sheet stack). The sheet loading system includes a pressure arm that presses a surface of the sheet stack received on the tray, and a detecting member that detects the presence and absence of the sheet stack on the tray. The sheet loading system is generally sized to receive several dozen sheets.
In order to prevent the output of a larger number of sheet stacks than can be received by the tray, it is known to control the output to the sheet stacks to the tray based on an output from the detecting member. However, the detecting member is able only to detect the receipt of the first sheet stack on the tray. Therefore, after the detecting member detects the first sheet stack, a separate counter counts the number of sheet stacks output to the tray. When the counter counts a number of sheet stacks equal to a predetermined number, a signal indicating a tray full condition prevents further sheet stacks from being output to the tray. After a user removes the sheet stacks loaded on the tray, the detecting member detects the absence of any sheet stacks on the tray, and the counter is reset.
FIG. 1 is a side view of a known sheet finishing apparatus including a sheet loading system. As shown in the figure, the sheet finishing apparatus includes lower outlet rollers 1083, a lower tray 1203, a pressure arm 1501, a rotation fulcrum 1501a, and a sensor 1401. Center-bound sheet stacks are received on the lower tray 1203.
Specifically, sheet stacks of recording media folded in a predetermined manner are output by the lower outlet rollers 1083 to the lower tray 1203. The rotation fulcrum 1501a of the pressure arm 1501 is disposed adjacent the lower outlet rollers 1083. The pressure arm 1501 presses the surface of the sheet stacks. The sensor 1401 detects the presence or absence of the first sheet stack in the lower tray 1203. After the sensor 1401 detects the first sheet stack, a separate counter counts the number of sheet stacks output to the lower tray 1203. When the counter counts a number of sheet stacks equal to a predetermined number, a signal indicating a tray full condition prevents further sheet stacks from being output to the lower tray 1203.
A memory that stores the counted number of sheet stacks may be erased, however, when the power to the image forming apparatus including the sheet finishing apparatus is turned off, or when the image forming apparatus enters a power saving mode. Because the sheet finishing apparatus cannot determine the number of sheet stacks on the lower tray 1203 after the memory is erased, the image forming apparatus indicates the tray full condition and requires that all sheet stacks on the lower tray 1203 be removed before output of additional sheet stacks to the lower tray 1203 is permitted. Emptying the lower tray 1203 is required even if only one sheet stack is on the lower tray 1203, because the number of sheet stacks on the lower tray 1203 cannot be determined.
When the image forming apparatus is not located near the user, it is inconvenient for the user to make multiple required trips to remove all of the sheet stacks from the lower tray 1203.

Sheet finisher for an image forming apparatus