The present invention is directed to a method of producing an instructional tool for teaching an athlete how to develop and maintain a consistent tempo for performing a particular athletic activity. The method includes a step of analyzing the tempo of an athlete as they perform an athletic activity and then composing a song that includes a tempo which matches the tempo of an outstanding performance of the athletic activity. The appropriate tempo of the athletic activity is established by determining the amount of time between certain events in the activity when the particular athletic activity is performed at an optimum level by an athlete. The song is composed such that it includes a beat pattern with a time difference between two of the beats in the beat pattern that matches the time difference between two events in the ideally performed athletic activity.

The present invention is directed to the field of athletic instruction, and more particularly to a method of producing an instructional tool for teaching athletes how to develop consistent rhythm, timing and tempo.
The importance of athletics in today""s society continues to rise as evidenced by the huge amount of money that is being devoted to athletics at all levels (i.e., high school, college and professional). A good portion of the money being devoted to athletics relates to the development and use of teaching tools that are utilized to increase an athlete""s skill level.
There are a variety of different tools available to train athletes. Some of these training tools are based on solid principles and facilitate improving an athlete""s performance while other theories may actually harm to an athlete (i.e., by causing injury or teaching improper technique). Dedicated athletes typically rely on numerous types of training activities including specialized coaching and/or equipment.
One major theory focuses on repeating a specified number of events (i.e., drilling) to teach a particular activity. A typical example is in sprinting where a sprinter will run a particular number of sprints at designated distances. Another such example would relate to baseball where a hitter will repeatedly take swings in a batting cage.
There are additional teaching theories which relate to body movement or mechanics. These theories focus on one or more aspects of the relative location between an athlete""s body parts at various points during the athletic activity. These types of theories are used with athletic activities such as baseball, tennis and high-jumping among others. The teaching tools that utilize theories based on body movement or mechanics typically relate to the mechanical aspects of the movement instead of on the tempo with which the athletic activity is performed.
There are also continuing attempts to improve athletic performance by improving the equipment associated with training for, or performing, an athletic activity. The emphasis on training equipment has resulted in technology playing a big part in the fitness equipment industry. One prominent example of improvements in equipment relates to advancements in the shoe industry. Other examples include improved tennis rackets, golf equipment and an assortment of weight training machines.
Coaches are typically able to provide general instruction to an athlete as to whether to xe2x80x9cslow downxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cspeed upxe2x80x9d their tempo as an athlete practices the athletic activity. One drawback associated with this type of instruction is that the instruction is limited to the time a coach can actually spend with an athlete. This type of instruction is also rather imprecise because the coach is not the individual actually performing the athletic activity. The coach does not know how the athletic activity xe2x80x9cfeelsxe2x80x9d to the athlete as the athlete practices the athletic activity. In addition, these in-person coaching lessons are often quickly forgotten during the heat of competition because athletes often times unconsciously alter their rhythm and tempo as they perform the athletic activity, especially during the pressure of competition.
There are some instructional tools that are directed toward teaching an athlete to develop a consistent tempo. These tempo-related tools typically supply either a repeating audio or visual signal to an athlete to provide a sensory input which the athlete tries to match as the athlete performs the athletic activity. The rate of the signals is typically adjustable so that athletes can adjust the tempo with which they perform the athletic activity.
One such device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,776,323 in the form of a biofeedback system which is used to train an exerciser. During operation of the biofeedback system an exerciser performs an exercise in which arms and/or feet members move rhythmically. The system translates the hand/foot movement into an audible musical rhythm.
Conventional instructional tools that attempt to teach an athlete how to develop a consistent tempo suffer from several drawbacks. One drawback is that such devices are typically not customized for a particular athlete because even though the signals emitted by the devices are adjustable, an athlete that is practicing with the aid of the device may be using a tempo that is inappropriate for that particular athlete. Another drawback associated with most of the existing devices is that the instruction they provide is limited for all practical purposes to designated practice facilities because it would be unacceptable to bring a signal-emitting instructional aid onto a field of athletic activity during completion. These limitations on existing devices are crucial because establishing tempo during practice is one thing but maintaining the appropriate tempo as the athlete feels the pressure during actual competition is quite a different situation.
The present invention solves the aforementioned problems by providing a method of producing an instructional tool for an athletic activity that teaches an athlete appropriate rhythm, timing and tempo by using the athlete""s own best performances as a template. In addition, the instructional tool produced by the method of the present invention supplies the athlete with a technique that is easily translated onto the field of athletic activity.
The present invention is directed to a method of producing an instructional tool for teaching an athlete how to develop a consistent (and appropriate) tempo for performing a particular athletic activity. The method includes a step of analyzing the tempo of an athlete as they perform an athletic activity and then composing a song that includes a tempo which matches the tempo of an outstanding performance of the athletic activity. The appropriate tempo of the athletic activity is established by determining the amount of time between certain events in the activity when the particular athletic activity is performed at an optimum level by an athlete. The song is composed such that it includes a beat pattern with a time difference between two of the beats in the beat pattern that matches the time difference between two events in the ideally performed athletic activity.
The song that is composed preferably includes a musical note on a beat within the beat pattern that corresponds to one event during the athletic activity and a musical note on a beat within the beat pattern in the song that corresponds to a second event during the athletic activity. It should be noted that musical notes within the beat pattern can be replaced with the sounds of impact when a particular athletic activity includes contacting a ball (e.g., a tennis ball) or some other device.
The current invention also relates to an instructional tool for teaching an athlete how to develop a consistent rhythm, timing and tempo as the athlete performs a particular athletic activity. The instructional tool includes a storage medium (e.g., a compact disc) and a song stored on the storage medium so that the song can be readily played back at any time and location. The song stored on the storage medium includes a beat pattern that has a time difference between two beats in the beat pattern which matches a time difference between two events during an athlete""s ideal performance of an athletic activity. In a preferred form, the song includes a first musical note on a beat within the beat pattern that corresponds to a first event in the athletic activity and a second musical note on a beat within the beat pattern that corresponds to a second event in the athletic activity.
Using a song to teach an appropriate rhythm, timing and tempo of a particular athletic activity is effective because most people are able to carry a song with them in their head even after the music has stopped playing. The teaching tool created by the method of the present invention allows an athlete to listen to their customized song anywhere at any time so that the athlete can embed the song within their head. Once the song is embedded in an athlete""s head, the athlete can carry the tune with them anywhere. As athlete""s attempt to maintain their timing during competition, especially at crucial junctures in a competition, the athlete simply needs to recall the customized swing song within their head.
The customized song could be used for any type of athletic activity where rhythm, timing and tempo are important. The timeframe for the value of such a customized song is indefinite because the athlete is continually able to refer back to the song. Athletes involved in all sports periodically suffer slumps, and listening to the song may promote shortening the lives of such slumps.
Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon review of the following detailed description, claims and drawings.

Choreographed athletic movement to music


A method for controlling crosstalk, power and yield in nanometer-technology integrated circuits (“ICs”) is based on a performance driven space optimization technique that minimizes the coupling capacitance between the interconnecting wires. Given a routed IC design, virtual compression-springs are inserted between all the elements of the design creating a mesh of springs. The design is then perturbed, or shaken, by transforming the spring system into a minimum-energy problem, a solution for which reduces or eliminates crosstalk violations, minimizes power and increases yield as the springs reach minimum energy state. In a described method, the primitives of a given IC layout are defined in terms of object points. In a first step, a mesh of virtual compression springs connecting all the layout primitives is generated from the object points. The spring constant for each virtual spring embedded between interconnecting wires is chosen to follow a relationship between a slack function and the separation distance between the interconnecting wires. In a second step, the design is shaken by minimizing the energy of the virtual compression-spring-loaded-system, resulting in new object points and new positions for the springs and the interconnecting wires.

In nanometer process geometries, issues relating to timing, signal integrity, manufacturing and time to market are presenting new challenges to designers and EDA tools. Timing is interconnects dominated. In 130 nm designs, for example, interconnect delay accounts for about 80% of the path delay, while coupling capacitance accounts for approximately 70% of the total wire capacitance. Crosstalk, which is the most common and severe signal integrity problem, may cause induced glitches and timing errors. Timing constraints are generally managed during floor planning by controlling interconnect length, and by sizing cells. Crosstalk constraints on the other hand, may only be addressed once the absolute positions of the interconnecting wires are known, generally after routing is determined. Crosstalk is an electrical phenomenon that may occur when spatial correlations between the interconnecting wires exist or, in other words, when the geometry of the interconnecting wires is arranged in specific configurations that cause coupling capacitance to increase dramatically. Crosstalk makes a-priori prediction of timing closure difficult or impossible.
Crosstalk is generally managed by upsizing drivers for setup-time violations, inserting buffers for hold-time violations, shielding critical nets, and controlling spacing and parallelism. However, there is no way to optimally trade-off between resizing cells and fine-tuning the coupling capacitances, forcing designers to use either method, or both, in brute force.
Power consumption has been growing exponentially with each process generation. In 90 nm process geometry for example, leakage power contributes approximately half of the total power budget, with active power dissipation from device switching making up the rest. Fixing crosstalk by upsizing cells and inserting delay cells makes a bad situation worse with respect to power. Therefore, power is managed by reducing voltages, leading to a greater sensitivity to rail voltage variations and smaller margins for switching noise. As coupling capacitances continue to increase, so does the switching noise—which is a direct result of the ever-shrinking process geometries. The dramatic increase of the coupling capacitances in nanometer technology is making a-priori prediction of timing closure early in the design process, and a first pass design success "almost" impossible—a vicious circle has been created.
At 180 nm and below, aggressive resolution enhancement techniques (RET) are typically employed in order to assure that the resulting silicon pattern will match the layout exactly. Nevertheless, the ability to apply RET effectively is limited by the layout itself. To follow best practices for example, designs are required to meet minimum design rules—spacing rules, reliability rules (via stacking and minimum area rules), and process antennas rules, making RET difficult to apply. When design rules are relaxed from the minimum specifications in selected areas of the chip, RET is easier to apply, resulting in an overall yield increase without dramatically affecting design size or functionality.
Ideally, crosstalk, power and yield problems should be managed by minimizing the coupling capacitances between the interconnecting wires. It is well known that for a given area constraint, performance driven wire-spacing optimization is the most effective method for reducing interconnect coupling capacitances, reducing power, and increasing yield. Optimization based on a tradeoff between fine-tuning the coupling capacitances and resizing cells, in conjunction with buffer insertion may be the most effective method yet. Wire-spacing techniques hold the key to addressing the impact of geometrical constraints on parasitic, timing, power, and yield.
Wire-spacing techniques rely on compaction and spacing. Because compaction is a 2-D NP-complete problem it is extremely difficult to solve. As a result two 1-D problems are typically solved; X followed by Y or vice versa. Unfortunately, minimizing crosstalk between horizontal segments may maximize crosstalk between vertical segments, resulting in a redistribution of the problem. Therefore, there is no trivial way to automatically control spacing and parallelism, which are both critical to minimizing the coupling capacitances.
Ameliorating crosstalk noise during routing implies prescience because knowledge of the expected crosstalk due to nets that are not yet routed is needed in order characterize and attempt to minimize crosstalk. During global routing, crosstalk estimation may be inaccurate, but the freedom to control crosstalk is nearly unrestricted. On the other hand, during detail routing, crosstalk estimation may be more accurate, but the freedom to control crosstalk is more restricted. Therefore, routers attempt to constrain the routing by meeting not only manufacturing rules, but also meeting blanket-rule constraints for net parallelism and spacing, needed for crosstalk control. The blanket application of net parallelism and spacing rules may over-design crosstalk for some nets, while under-design crosstalk for others. When routing is over-constrained, irresolvable congestion problems often occur making it difficult to achieve 100% routing completion. As a result, worse case rules are typically applied and difficulties with routing completion often occur. Finally, when nets violate crosstalk specifications, which they generally do, designers have no choice but to locally 'fix' those nets manually, one net at a time. Buffers and repeaters are often inserted, drivers are resized, wires' width and spacing are modified, and parallelism is minimized.
Post-routing algorithms to minimize crosstalk violations have been studied extensively in the scientific literature. They can be classified into rules that attempt to decrease crosstalk by changing the spacing between the interconnecting wires, and rules that attempt to decrease crosstalk by changing the adjacencies among the interconnecting wires. Both of these rule classes suffer from severe limitations. First, even though spacing is a two-dimensional problem, it is usually carried out as two independent, one-dimensional steps. Vertical coupling is accounted for by introducing a penalty function to make sure that the final crosstalk will not exceed the initial crosstalk. Second, current spacing algorithms adjust positions of the interconnecting wires locally within routing region, not globally within the entire routing area of an IC. Third, it has been noted that the non-linearity of the objective functions involving crosstalk makes it difficult to develop efficient algorithms for their optimization. Furthermore, crosstalk for interconnecting wires that are placed into final positions early in the routing process is computed using estimations for coupling with neighboring wires that have not yet been placed. Iterative rip-up and reroute may be used to remedy this problem. However, depending on when rip-up and reroute is performed during the routing process, routing space may or may not be available, and rip-up may be so extensive that a complete re-route becomes necessary. Although in general, post-routing optimization is less flexible in moving the interconnecting wires around than during detail routing, it is still the best way to reduce coupling capacitances and hence crosstalk between the interconnecting wires for a general layout problem.

Method and apparatus for controlling crosstalk, power and yield in nanometer technology ICs


A baffle is added to the inlet pipe and inlet volume of a catalytic converter to maintain separation between converging exhaust gas streams entering into the catalytic converter material. Combination of the exhaust gas streams entering the catalytic converter is thereby substantially avoided, allowing a single catalytic converter to handle the exhaust gas components of a plurality of exhaust gas streams from an engine without overloading the catalytic converter. Overloading of the catalytic converter due to the combination of exhaust gas components, and the related surging of unreacted gases to the atmosphere from overloading, is thereby substantially prevented, providing improved emissions control at a low cost, and without requiring addition of a second catalytic converter.

The present invention relates to a system for the control of emissions with catalytic converters, and in particular to the use of a baffle to maintain separation between converging exhaust gas streams entering a single catalytic converter to improve overall emissions performance at a low cost.
Automobile engines are designed for optimal efficiency at an ideal air/fuel ratio which produces complete combustion of the fuel. In operation, however, automobile engines fluctuate in efficiency due to variation in the air/fuel ratio from the ideal. This can produce undesirable exhaust gas components, such as carbon monoxide (CO) and unburned hydrocarbons from rich mixtures, and nitrogen oxides (NO.sub.x) from lean mixtures.
To more tightly control and reduce the production of undesirable exhaust gas components, independent control over the air/fuel ratio fed to separate groups of engine cylinders, typically the left and right cylinder banks, has been maintained using feedback from exhaust gas oxygen sensors placed in the exhaust gas streams from those groups of cylinders. The exhaust gas streams from each group of cylinders are often combined, and the combined stream passed through a catalytic converter.
The catalyst most often employed in these catalytic convertors is three-way catalyst operation, the catalyst is a combination of bonding sites for reducing and oxidizing species. The exhaust from the groups of cylinders is modulated from lean to rich in order to use the advantages of the three-way catalyst. As a rich exhaust, high in reducing species, is passed through the catalyst, the reducing species are bound in the three-way catalyst and stored. When the exhaust is modulated back toward a lean mixture, high in oxidizing species, the reducing species are destroyed and the oxidizing species bound to the catalyst. Oxidizing species are then destroyed when rich exhaust is cycled back through. The three-way catalyst thereby operates by modulating the exhaust mixture from lean to rich.
This modulation from lean to rich exhaust is regulated by the oxygen gas sensors placed in the exhaust stream. Because each group of cylinders is independently controlled, the frequency and amplitude of variation in the exhaust gas components is different for each separate exhaust gas stream. This may create problems when the exhaust gas streams from the differing groups of cylinders are combined.
Due to the varying frequency of the differing exhaust streams, sometimes the exhaust gas streams being combined are "in phase", allowing the three-way catalyst to react lean and rich exhaust gas components with peak efficiency, and sometimes they are "out of phase", subjecting the three-way catalyst to extended periods with excessive levels of either lean or rich exhaust gas components which overload its capacity for retention. Under these latter conditions, the catalytic converter can allow a surge of exhaust gas components, either CO and unburned hydrocarbons from rich mixtures, or NO.sub.x from lean mixtures, to pass through to the environment unreacted. This is commonly called catalyst breakthrough.
Japanese Patent 53-116787 to Horie et al disclose traditional engine exhaust systems. In Horie et al, the exhaust of differing cylinders is combined and passed through a catalytic convertor. The converter of Horie et al is a standard two brick catalyst. A two brick catalyst comprises two different catalysts in series, reducing catalyst in the front and oxidizing catalyst in the rear. In order to properly operate the two brick catalyst, Horie et al must run the exhaust stream rich at all times.
Horie et al employ a baffle to separate the exhaust streams coming from differing groups of cylinders. However, Horie et al's purpose is to reduce exhaust pressure to improve engine efficiency. Horie is not concerned with catalyst efficiency. Further, Horie et al do not disclose use of air/fuel controls, exhaust gas oxygen sensors, or three-way catalyst in conjunction with a baffle to separate exhaust streams in order to improve efficiency of three way catalyst systems.
Accordingly, a need exists for an exhaust system which removes the effect of the varying frequencies of exhaust gas components from differing groups of cylinders when employing air/fuel control and three way catalytic converters.


Disclosed herein is an electroless solder plating bath capable of autocatalytically depositing solder on a metal such as copper or nickel or an activated non-conductor base material in an arbitrary film thickness and an arbitrary film composition. This plating bath contains bivalent ions of tin and bivalent ions of lead as metal ions, a complexing agent, and a reductant, while the reductant contains trivalent titanium ions. The plating bath can be used at a temperature of 40.degree. to 80.degree. C., with a pH value of 5.0 to 11.0.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electroless solder plating bath, and more particularly, it relates to an improvement in a reductant which is contained in such a plating bath.
2. Description of the Background Art
In general, solder plating is industrially carried out by electroplating at present. In such electroplating, however, the as-obtained plating film may be irregular in thickness as a result of current distribution or the like. While various methods to take the place of electroless plating have been studied as hereafter described, these methods still have problems to be solved.
In order to deposit any one of tin, lead and solder by electroless plating, for example, a reductant may be prepared from sodium hypophosphite, formaldehyde or borohydride, which reductant is that employed in ordinary electroless nickel plating or electroless copper plating. However, tin and lead are known as elements which exhibit catalytic toxicity, suppressing or stopping the plating reaction when the same are added into an electroless nickel plating bath or an electroless copper plating bath. Therefore, it is impossible to deposit solder in an electroless manner by using the aforementioned reductant in an electroless solder plating operation. Even if solder can be slightly deposited, it is absolutely impossible to form a thick plating film since tin and lead have no autocatalytic properties.
There has also been reported a plating method of employing thiourea for attaining electrolytical replacement on copper and a deposition method utilizing disproportionation of tin. In the former method, however, the base material to be plated must be acid-resistant since the plating bath is prepared from a strongly acidic solution, while the electrolytical replacement reaction takes place only on copper. In the latter method, on the other hand, no disproportionation takes place unless the plating bath is strongly alkaline, while only a simple substance of tin causes reaction.


The braking device is provided with an electromagnetic valve, which is an example of a device to be controlled, and a valve control unit for driving the electromagnetic valve by means of PWM control. When driving the electromagnetic valve by inputting a drive signal to the electromagnetic valve, the valve control unit changes the frequency of the drive signal within a frequency range. Note that the width of the frequency range is set on the basis of the minimum audible field among equal-loudness contours.

As a braking device for a vehicle, known is a braking device including a plurality of electromagnetic valves provided on a fluid pressure circuit arranged between a master cylinder and a wheel cylinder. In the braking device, drive of the electromagnetic valve is controlled when adjusting a fluid pressure in the wheel cylinder, i.e., braking force for a wheel.
In the meantime, the electromagnetic valve may be driven by pulse width control (also referred to as "PWM control"). In a braking device disclosed in PTL 1, in order to lower a sound pressure level of noise caused due to the drive of the electromagnetic valve, a frequency of a drive signal that is input to the electromagnetic valve when driving the electromagnetic valve is continuously changed. Thereby, as compared to a case in which the frequency of the drive signal is fixed to a constant value, it is possible to lower the sound pressure level of the noise.


A floating energy generating device includes at least two wind turbines mounted on a floating open structure, the floating open structure being moored to the seabed with a mooring system, each wind turbine featuring in operation mode a blade and rotor part mounted at the top of a tower and being connected via a cable to a central control power electronic unit on the floating open structure, the central control power unit being connected to a submerged high voltage power export cable for exporting the electricity generated by the at least two windmills, characterized in that the floating open structure being connectable to or disconnectable from the mooring system and that when disconnected from the mooring system, the center of gravity of the floating open structure is at or below its center of buoyancy.

The invention relates to a floating wind energy generating device comprising at least two wind turbines mounted on a floating open structure, each of said at least two wind turbines featuring a blade and rotor part mounted at the top of a tower, said floating open structure being moored to the seabed with a mooring system and connected to a single high voltage power export cable for exporting the electricity generated by the at least two windmills.
Device of this kind are known from literature, wherein various proposals have been made as regards to the construction of such a device. It is not known, in particular for wind turbines having large dimensions, how the various problems related to its installation are solved.
A typical state-of-the-art solution for securing offshore wind turbines was to place them on special foundations, which are either lowered onto the sea floor or forced into the seabed. Further, current offshore wind industry practice is to erect large wind turbines designed for onshore use, under complex maritime conditions offshore with the aid of a dedicated jack-up barge aimed at creating a stable working platform for the operations offshore. The currently used dedicated installation equipment poses a risk of major delays in installation works, for example when the jack-up barge encounters a breakdown.
The non-floating offshore wind turbine concepts point to a series of disadvantages such as commissioning, repair and maintenance of the wind turbines which needs to be carried out offshore. This includes the high costs associated with offshore work due to travel, distance, downtime and removal of such foundations after closure and decommissioning of the wind farm. These can be vulnerable to bad weather conditions and by poor installation accessibility.
Another key issue is the substantial risk of extended installation downtime during high winds. Under these conditions dynamic turbine loads are at maximum, yields most favorable, and simultaneously the implications of a breakdown are most severe due to difficult turbine access.
Decommissioning and compulsory removal of permanent foundations at the end of a wind farm's operational service life is also widely considered to be an underestimated cost associated with fixed offshore wind turbines, for which substantial sums must be set aside.
Floating offshore wind turbines can be installed at sites with much greater water depths, out of sight from onshore, with less interference with bird migration, and increased power production due to stronger and more stable wind conditions. In addition, the floating concept might enable the use of conventional, non-dedicated tugboats, which are readily available in any market. This limits possible downtime to a minimum. It is therefore an object of the present invention to propose a floating wind turbines system.
Prior art patent application WO2006/121337 discloses a floating wind turbine installation for one floating wind turbine, comprising a long, submerged floating concrete cylinder that is ballasted. The individual anchor lines are each, at a certain distance from the floating cylinder at a fixing point on the individual anchor line, connected with double lines connected to the floating cylinder in a delta-shaped arrangement. This configuration is hence limited to single wind turbines for deep waters as this prominent feature, the ballasted concrete cylinder, makes the design unsuitable for shallower waters. The present invention proposes a system that is suitable for multiple wind turbines for deep and shallower waters.
Patent application US2008089746 discloses a floating platform for a single wind turbine that can be installed in shallow or deep waters. The platform is fixed in position using strong chains linked to heavy weights on the seabed. By changing the length of the chains, it can be installed at very different depths. The platform comprises a steel structure with six interconnected hollow steel pipes providing the necessary buoyancy required during sea transport, as well as during offshore operation. The wind turbine itself is located on a tubular steel tower on the platform. Once the platform with the fully assembled turbine has arrived at its destination, the assembly is temporarily ballasted. This extra ballast forces the platform down into the water and creates the free play necessary to hook the six chains attached to the counterweight to the platform. When the extra ballast is removed, buoyancy creates upward force whereby the chains get tensioned in order to provide some stability. In this configuration, the necessary buoyancy required for sea transportation is integrated in the platform for one single wind turbine.                Patent NL1008318 discloses a wind turbine island comprising several wind turbines equidistant one to the other and placed on a hub anchored to the sea bed by cables. Each wind turbine rotor is on the top of a pillar which are linked by horizontal concrete tubes and fastened to the hub by radial fixing cables. A drive mechanism rotates to bring the rotors into the wind. Nothing is mentioned about the installation method, which is a key point in designing a floating system that needs to be transported over the sea.        Patent WO2007/009464 which discloses a plant for exploiting wind energy at sea comprising several wind turbines which are installed on a structure comprising longitudinal beams, support means and anchoring means. The structure is also supplied with buoyancy elements provided with ballast, and the plant is adapted so that it can adjust depending on the direction of the wind. In this invention, the plant is a floatable structure, carried by the buoyancy of buoyancy elements or pontoons in the water. During towing, the complete buoyancy of the pontoons is used, hence during towing the plant is lying high in the water, with all beams above sea water level as well as most of the support structure. In this configuration the stability is very weak, the center of gravity is well above of the center of buoyancy and the structure is permanently menacing of tilting. The stability is obtained only once the plant is brought out to the production site, when buoyancy means are ballasted until there is obtained such a balance between buoyancy and mass.
Norwegian engineering consultancy company Force Technology has developed an offshore wind unmanned floating structure which is self-orientating towards the wind and, accommodates three wind turbines mounted at each corner of a floating triangular lattice-type welded steel foundation structure. The foundation structure is anchored to the seabed and can rotate as the wind changes direction. However, in such a configuration, wind turbines are too near one from the other and even if one is higher than the other, their efficiency will be limited and not optimal.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,294,844 discloses a weathervaning wind energy converter comprising wind turbines which are mounted in a frame provided with floating bodies and supporting means which are disposed some distance away from the plane of the wind turbines to keep it substantially vertically oriented. However, this overall costly and high construction with long blades, has an very high center of gravity which results in unstable behavior of the floating system in rough weather conditions.
Patent application WO02/073032 discloses an offshore floating wind power generation plant with single point mooring system fixing a floater to the sea floor, one or several wind power generation unit being placed on the floater. The float is always directed at a constant orientation to the wind, the plant being horizontally rotatable about the mooring point. In this configuration, the fatigue and stress applied on the electrical cable are important, as even if the structure is quite stable, the movement of the structure due to the wave and wind will have a large fatigue effect on the cable, especially at the connection point.
To increase the production and make the investment worthwhile, many existing designs of offshore wind turbines are using a single very large wind turbine generator. However, the installation, maintenance and repair of very large offshore wind turbines are very costly operations and are often depending on special designed, dedicated installation vessels.
It is a therefore an objective of the present invention to provide a floating system that ensure sufficient overall stability during sea transport, which can withstand the huge dynamic loads and acceleration forces imposed upon the structure in a floating transport mode when it is installed. It is another objective of the present invention to provide a cost effective solution and method with regard to maintenance and installation costs of a floating wind turbine system. It is another objective of the present invention to provide a system and installation method that combines well known and proven technologies from the offshore industry. It is also an objective of the present invention to provide a design for a floating offshore wind turbine system that avoids fatigue problems of the electricity cables.
The present invention provides a floating energy generating device that comprises at least two wind turbines mounted on a floating open structure, said floating open structure being moored to the seabed with a mooring system, each wind turbine featuring in operation mode a blade and rotor part mounted at the top of a tower and being connected via a cable to a central control power electronic unit on the floating open structure, the central control power unit being connected to a submerged high voltage power export cable for exporting the electricity generated by the at least two windmills, the floating open structure being connectable to or disconnectable from the mooring system and when disconnected from the mooring system the center of gravity of the floating open structure being at or below its center of buoyancy.
The present invention also provides an installation method for an offshore floating wind energy generating device according to the present invention.
The present invention further provides a cost effective solution for a wind energy converter system that ensures sufficient overall stability during sea transport. The use of multi smaller-scale offshore wind turbines is also a way to increase the production. Even if having more wind turbines can imply to have more often maintenance and reparation, these operations become far less costly. In fact, the production does not have to be stopped for the change-out of one wind turbine. Also the transport at sea is much easier as compared with a floater for a very big turbine, as several smaller ones provide for a center of gravity of the floater which is much lower than the center of gravity of one very large floating windmill. Hence the stability during transport and during operation is enhanced. The stability during transport can be enhanced by lowering even more the center of gravity, by ballasting the support structure, by the use of vertical axis windmills, or in the case of horizontal axis wind turbines, to transport them without the rotor and blades.

Removable offshore wind turbines with pre-installed mooring system


A technique for processing telephone calls from a plurality of telephone sources in a vehicle audio system suitably includes providing a first call using a first one of the telephone sources to a user via the vehicle audio system, notifying the user of a second call received via a second one of the telephone sources while the first call is active, and processing an instruction from the user to either suspend the first call and accept the second call or to continue providing the first call. The technique may be implemented in a vehicle audio system that includes an onboard telephone, and may be adapted to work with wireless or other portable telephones carried by drivers and passengers in the vehicle.

To meet customer demands for safety, security and convenience, many vehicles such as automobiles are increasingly becoming available with the capability to make "hands free" cellular/wireless telephone calls using a vehicle audio system. Such systems typically use the vehicle audio speakers to play telephone audio, and use a microphone to pick up voices in the passenger cabin, thereby leaving the driver's hands free to maneuver the vehicle. One type of vehicle telephony system is the ONSTAR service available from General Motors Corporation, which provides a telephony system that is built into the vehicle at the factory. ONSTAR telephony can be used to safely make telephone calls, to obtain emergency assistance, and/or to obtain directions or other information while the vehicle is in operation.
Although on-board telephone systems such as the ONSTAR system have proven to be quite useful and convenient, many drivers and passengers nowadays carry their own personal wireless phones even when they are away from their vehicles. For many users, the portable wireless phone is a primary mode of contact, thereby requiring the user to have access to the phone at all times, including when the user is operating or riding in a vehicle. If a user receives a call on a wireless phone while driving, however, that person may focus his or her attention on using the phone for the duration of the call, thereby resulting in reduced attention to operating the vehicle. Moreover, if a person receives a call on one phone (e.g., a portable wireless phone) while talking on a call received or placed via another phone (e.g., the onboard telephony system), even more distraction can take place as the user either attempts to handle both calls simultaneously or ignores one of the calls while processing the other manually. This problem is worsened if multiple passengers are riding in the vehicle, each with their own portable phones.
More recently, techniques have been developed that allow users to answer and originate telephone calls using their personal handheld phones through the vehicle's audio system. Although these systems allow wireless calls to be handled in a "hands free" manner without distracting the driver, typically only one phone is allowed access to the vehicle audio system at any time.
Accordingly, it is desirable to create a technique that allows multiple phones to share access to the vehicle audio system. In addition, it is desirable to create a vehicle audio system capable of safely processing multiple simultaneous calls via multiple telephones. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the invention.

Method and system for managing in-vehicle telephony


A phase lock loop (PLL) and methods for using same is provided that includes a multiple-feedback CMOS voltage control oscillator (VCO) and multi-phase sampling fractional-N prescaler. The PLL provides increased performance characteristics for a single chip CMOS radio frequency (RF) communications system. The multiple feedback CMOS VCO maintains an amplitude of a VCO signal while reducing a rise/fall time of the VCO signal. The multiple feedback CMOS VCO further reduces supply noise effects. The multi-phase sampling fractional-N prescaler provides sufficient bandwidth for a CMOS VCO while maintaining spectral purity and reducing fractional-spur. The multi-phase sampling fractional-N prescaler can include a divider, a sampler circuit, a selector circuit and a modular counter.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a radio frequency (RF) communications system, and in particular to a phase lock loop (PLL) including a multi-phase sampling fractional-N prescaler and CMOS voltage controlled oscillator for the PLL.
2. Background of the Related Art
Presently, a radio frequency (RF) communication system has a variety of applications including PCS communication, IMT systems such as IMT 2000, and WLL. As such, a single chip CMOS integration of the system has been pursued to reduce the cost, size and power consumption. Accordingly, a low phase noise integrated voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) for RF communication applications has been broadly researched. However, current VCO CMOS technology can support reliable operation only up to a frequency of approximately 1.0 GHz in terms of speed and noise. As the frequency f0 of local oscillator clock signals LO+ LOxe2x88x92 increases over one GHz, a CMOS VCO cannot be implemented.
To get the low phase noise sufficient for commercial applications such as PCS, however, an LC-resonant oscillator is used because of better phase noise performance than a CMOS ring-oscillator type VCO. As described above, the related art VCO has various disadvantages. For a CMOS single chip integration of an RF receiver or communication system, on-chip implementation of a spiral inductor has not been achieved with yields sufficient for mass-production manufacturing because the Q-factor of the integrated spiral inductor should be high enough for VCO oscillation. Manufacturing yield for the high Q-factor is difficult to achieve for the on-chip spiral inductor because of distributed lossy resistance of the substrate.
The above references are incorporated by reference herein where appropriate for appropriate teachings of additional or alternative details, features and/or technical background.
An object of the invention is to solve at least the above problems and/or disadvantages and to provide at least the advantages described hereinafter.
A further object of the present invention is to fabricate a RF communications system including a PLL on a single CMOS chip.
Another object of the present invention is to increase the frequency range of a PLL.
Another object of the present invention is to reduce the noise of a PLL.
Another object of the present invention is to increase the performance of PLL.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a CMOS VCO for a PLL that can minimize phase-noise of a CMOS ring oscillator.
Another object of the present invention is provide a VCO that can output a large amplitude signal with a rise-fall time reduced or minimized.
Another object of the present invention is to reduce or minimize supplying noise effects of the VCO.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a prescaler for the PLL having increased bandwidth and spectral performance.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a fractional-N prescaler architecture that eliminates a fractional-spur problem.
To achieve the above advantages in a whole or in parts and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described, there is provided a circuit that includes a clock generator that generates a plurality of first clock signals having different phases, each first clock signal having a first frequency that is less than a reference frequency and a prescaler coupled to said clock generator for receiving the plurality of first clock signals to generate a divided clock second clock signal.
To further achieve the above advantages in a whole or in parts, there is provided a prescaler that includes a divider circuit coupled to receive one of a plurality of first clock signals, a sampler circuit that receives an output signal of the divider circuit and the plurality of first signals, wherein the sampler circuit outputs a plurality of second clock signals, a selector coupled to receive the second plurality of clock signals and a selection signal, wherein the selector outputs a divided clock signal, and a logic circuit coupled between the divider circuit and the selector to output the selection signal.
To further achieve the above advantages in a whole or in parts, there is provided a method that includes outputting a plurality of clock signals, wherein each of the plurality of clock signals have the same period, and wherein at least two of the plurality of clock signals are out of phase, inputting the plurality of clock signals into a prescaler, and generating a divided clock signal having a higher frequency than the plurality of clock signals.
To further achieve the above advantages in a whole or in parts, there is provided an apparatus that includes an oscillator, wherein the oscillator comprises a plurality of delay cells configured to output a plurality of signals at the same frequency having different phases, and device for outputting a signal having a different frequency than the oscillator.
Additional advantages, objects, and features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and in part will become apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned from practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained as particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Phase lock loop (PLL) apparatus and method


Systems and methods are provided for managing credit information relating to customers and the credit process. A credit management system may include a credit information manager, a credit limit manager, credit decision support and a credit rules engine. The credit management system may communicate with external systems, such as external credit information providers, accounting systems, electronic commerce systems and business partners. The credit rules engine may apply rules to information gathered from such sources to calculate internal credit scoring and credit limits.

Many businesses that sell goods and/or services sell such goods and/or services on credit. One such business would be a telecommunications service provider. When offering credit, it is a good business practice to determine the risk associated with offering that credit and balance it against the potential profit from the sale for which the credit was offered. This balancing process is often used to generate a credit limit for a particular customer. This process can be an involved and time-consuming process and tends to slow down the conduct of business.
Generally, in most large companies the information needed for credit decisions is spread out all over the company. The necessary communications between various departments within a company, such as the sales, credit and finance departments, can be very time consuming. For instance, the sales, credit and finance departments may need to collaborate on what is the risk associated with offering credit, what is the potential profit, and whether or not accepting the deal is worth the risk. Outside services, like Dunn & Bradstreet, may also help to some extent at determining the risk by offering outside credit scoring. However, such services do not completely address the problem, as each company has its own view of a risk/benefit analysis.
The process of credit management typically consists of interactions between the credit department, the sales department, the finance department and one or more credit information providers. Typically, when a new sales order or service contract is prepared, the sales department and credit department need to interact. The credit department can then check the credit limit of the customer. If the customer credit limit has not been established internally, the contract can be blocked which involves communication with the sales department. Then the customer credit fact sheet is checked in the credit department. The credit department can then interact with the outside credit information provider to get external credit information, such as a credit scoring. This credit scoring can then be used along with other information to establish an internal credit scoring of the customer and, based on this, a credit limit. The sales order can than be released back to the sales department for execution.
Embodiments consistent with the present invention relate to automated credit management systems and methods for managing credit information in an automated fashion. Automated credit management systems consistent with the present invention may include a credit information manager, a credit limit manager, credit decision support and a credit rules engine.
Automating the credit decision can help companies and other entities speed up the credit process and improve the consistency and efficiency of a credit operation. However, such an automated process must be flexible enough to meet the demands of different businesses.
Thus, a need exists for an automated credit management system that is flexible enough to meet the changing needs of different businesses.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to automate and manage the credit process.
In one embodiment, this is achieved by communicating with external credit information provider systems, gathering information, and applying rules to the information in order to calculate and manage the credit information.


Cathodic corrosion protection for surfaces of metallic substrates is provided by carrying out electrolysis, switching off the electrolysis, observing a control voltage and switching on the electrolysis again when the control voltage equals a specified critical voltage. A counterelectrode, which does not corrode significantly by an electrolyte, is provided as an anode. A surface of a substrate services as a cathode. A reference electrode provides a constant electrochemical potential relative to the electrolyte. A potentiostat brings about the electrolysis in the electrolyte. A controller switches on and off the electrolyzing voltage based on a value of the control voltage relative to the specified critical voltage.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to an apparatus and a method of achieving cathodic corrosion protection for a surface of a metallic, aluminum-containing substrate, particularly a substrate of aluminum or an aluminum-based alloy, which can be flushed by an electrolyte.
2. Discussion of Related Art
The service life of objects which are made of metallic materials is limited because all metals react with materials from their surroundings, with the exception of a few, expensive noble or precious metals, whose usability is limited. As a result, metals degrade, which leads to aging and to a complete loss of function of any object that may have been manufactured from them. Such degradation and aging, which on the basis of chemical reactions lead to the disintegration of the manufactured object, are processes considered to be types of "corrosion".
A frequently observed corrosion is the so-called electrochemical corrosion, which always occurs when two different metals, which are connected electrically with one another, are flushed by the same electrolyte; such a combination of two metals with an electrolyte represents a short-circuited galvanic element, where one of the metals functions as an anode and the other as a cathode. The anode is corroded by the electrochemical
In this process initiated by the additional electrolytes manner, the anode is attacked from the surface and dissolved, Under some circumstances, this electrochemical process can also be exploited for the purpose of protecting against corrosion.
For example, if a metal is found which functions as anode when dipped in the same electrolyte as a different metal which is to be protected against corrosion, the metal to be protected will be so protected when brought into electrical conducting connection with the metal functioning as the anode. This concept is used in practice for the protection of iron against corrosion by seawater, in which the iron is connected with a "sacrificial anode" of zinc.
If it is not possible to select such a material or if such a selection must be rejected for reasons of protecting the environment (heavy metal ions are formed by the process described!), the electrochemical process can also be forced. This is done by introducing a power source instead of a short circuit connection between the two electrodes in the electrolyte, one electrode being the substrate to be protected and the other electrode being a corrosion-resistant counterelectrode. The substrate to be protected is connected as the cathode and the corrosion process can usually, in fact, be stopped or at least retarded significantly by selecting a suitable electric voltage.
Electrochemical corrosion protection methods are difficult to handle, where the substrate to be protected consists of aluminum or an alloy based on aluminum. In principle, aluminum is relatively a base metal so that corrosion protection with "sacrificial anodes" is more difficult. A method concerning "cathodic corrosion protection", which uses external voltage source, is also not readily usable.
In an oxygen-containing environment, aluminum is soon coated with a relatively impervious layer of oxide. Admittedly, this layer is very stable physically. However, because of the amphoteric character of aluminum oxide, it is attacked not only by acids, but also by alkalines. This aluminum oxide layer is stable only in an electrolyte, the pH of which lies between about 4.5 and about 8.5. Electrolytes, which are too acidic or too basic, attack the metal. When the usual, cathodic method of protecting against corrosion is used for aluminum or for alloys based on aluminum, the danger of corrosion by alkaline media is, in fact, present. The electrolysis which is required for the cathodic protection against corrosion causes the cathode to be charged with the cations from the electrolyte, which have been reduced by the electrolysis- As a result, an alkaline liquid boundary layer, which under some circumstances can lead to the alkaline corrosion of the aluminum, is formed in the vicinity of the surface of the object which is to be protected.
If an object of an aluminum-containing material is to be protected cathodically against corrosion, the chemical conditions existing at the object must be monitored very carefully so as to exclude the occurrence of alkaline corrosion with certainty. A modification of the method of cathodic protection against corrosion, in which a certain degree of control is given at least for the electrical conditions, is proposed in DE-U 8900911. This publication relates to a cathodic protection of a steel pipe against corrosion. The steel pipe encases a high-tension power line, so that it can be transferred underground. The counterelectrode of the pipe is the ground of a connecting station of the pipe. The pipe is acted upon by a negative voltage relative to ground. In order to observe the relevant protection regulations, the magnitude of the voltage of the pipe against ground must be reliably limited. It may be proposed that this be brought about by a number of diodes, which are connected in antiparallel fashion. However, this is not suitable for monitoring the electrochemical conditions at the cathode because not only the cathode is charged by the electrolysis that takes place between anode and cathode; the cathode is charged with reduced cations from the electrolytes and the anode is charged with oxidized anions. Consequently, because of the electrolysis, the electrochemical potential of both electrodes with respect to the electrolyte is changed. The voltage existing between the electrodes accordingly is not a measure of the conditions at an electrode. Instead, it is a measure of the total changes at the two electrodes and, with that, cannot be called upon for a reliable evaluation of the conditions at a single electrode, be it cathode or anode.
It would be desirable to provide a cathodic corrosion protection method for a surface of a metallic substrate, particularly an aluminum-containing substrate, which faces an electrolyte. With such a method, the electrochemical conditions at the surface, which is to be protected, may be monitored precisely and controlled directly to avoid formation of excessive alkaline boundary layers.

Cathodic corrosion protection for an aluminum-containing substrate


A first instruction is sent to an integrated smart meter to initialize the integrated smart meter. A second instruction is sent to the integrated smart meter to establish a connection with an energy consuming device. The established connection between the integrated smart meter and the energy consuming device is determined to be acceptable. A third instruction is sent to the integrated smart meter to monitor the energy consuming device. Energy consumption data of the energy consuming device is received from the integrated smart meter.

The present invention relates generally to the field of energy monitoring, and more particularly to using smart meters to monitor energy usage of individual and groups of energy consumers.
Smart meters are used by power companies to monitor the energy usage of energy consuming devices. These energy consuming devices in a household range from light emitting diode (LED) nightlights having low energy consumption to heating/ventilation/air conditioning (HVAC) systems having high energy consumption. In an apartment building, each dwelling unit may include the low usage to high usage range of energy consuming devices that the single household uses. Office buildings and factories have an even wider array of energy consuming devices that a power company or owner may wish to monitor. An advantage of smart meters is that a single smart meter is able to wirelessly communicate with a central system.

Smart meters for monitoring individual and multiple energy consuming devices

International Business Machines Corporation


The invention relates to spectacles of the rimless-type, comprising a bridge interconnecting two lenses, and two side arms that are hinge-less wire structures suitable for flexing. According to the invention, each side arm presents a distal end arranged to fasten to the side zone of the corresponding lens, said distal end being substantially J-shaped, with a long portion passing through a through bore in the lens, with a pliable clamping plug being interposed that holds the distal end in place, and an anti-pivot short portion extending backwards and passing into an outwardly-open side notch, without clamping the lens between said long portion and said short portion, the central portion that interconnects the long portion and the short portion extending close to the front face of the lens.

Rimless spectacles or spectacles where mounting is via bores provided through the thickness of each lens, are in increasingly widespread use.
Reference can be made to Documents WO-2004/003632A, WO-02/21193A, EP-61107042A, WO-96/05535A, U.S. Pat. No. 66,447,117A, WO-00/26716A, EP-1382988A, WO-03/014804A, WO-02/095482A and WO-02/095481A.
In most of the above-cited arrangements, each lens is provided with a through bore and with an outwardly-open side notch, or else with two through bores for respective ones of the component elements of the frame, namely the bridge and the two side arms.
Document U.S. Pat. No. 5,835,183 A provides hinge elements that are fixed to the side portions of the lenses via respective S-shaped portions. The free end of each of the S-shaped portions passes through a through bore, and its central branch passes through an outwardly-open side notch. The end portion thus forms a loop, which is designed to clamp the intermediate portion of the lens resiliently, the clamping being reinforced by elements for increasing friction resistance, in particular by means of teeth biting into the surface of the corresponding lens in the through bore and in the outwardly-open side notch. However, that suffers from the drawback of degrading the surface of the lens that is thus scraped by the teeth, and of weakening that zone of the lens which is clamped between the two clamp-forming portions of arm, which zone is sometimes narrow.
Documents JP2002/318 372 A and EP 0 814 359 A illustrate wire frames having arms that are provided with hinges or else that are not provided with hinges but that are suitable for flexing. Each of those arms presents a distal end that is hook-shaped, and an arm end portion passing into an outwardly-open side notch in the corresponding lens, and a short clamping portion passing through a bore in the lens, these two portions forming a clamp that clamps that portion of the lens which lies between the bore and the outwardly-open side notch in order to hold the arm in place. Clamping of the lens is further reinforced in the arrangement of Document JP 2002/318 372A due to the short portion sloping towards the arm end portion, and due to the axis of the bore through the lens sloping correspondingly, optionally with a plug being interposed in the notch so that, via its flange, it forms a spacer preventing the clamping from loosening.
It has also been proposed to make rimless-type spectacles whose side arms are suitable for flexing without being hinged. For that purpose, a forming technique is used that makes advantageous use of the shape memory capacities of certain metal alloys. For fastening such hinge-less flexing arms, use is generally made of studs that are fitted into bores, as described, for example, in Documents WO-03/083553A and U.S. Pat. No. 5,367,344A.
In most cases, the fastening ends of the side arms present complex configurations, with multiple bends, involving a manufacturing cost that is high. In addition, it is sometimes necessary to form said bends in situ, after threading a rectilinear and not yet bent arm end into a bore through the glass, which is particularly awkward for the operator.

Spectacles of the rimless type having hinge-less wire side-arms that are deformable in flexing


An X-ray CT apparatus includes: intensity distribution data acquiring circuitry is configured to acquire, by performing a first scan, intensity distribution data of X-rays being radiated from an X-ray tube and having passed through a subject; scan controlling circuitry is configured to estimate an X-ray dose with which it is possible to discriminate individual X-ray photons having passed through the subject based on the intensity distribution data and to cause a second scan that is for a photon counting CT purpose to be performed by causing the estimated dose of X-rays to be radiated from the X-ray tube to the subject; a counting result acquiring circuitry is configured to acquire, by the second scan, a counting result by counting the X-ray photons being radiated from the X-ray tube and having passed through the subject; and an image reconstructing circuitry is configured to reconstruct X-ray CT image data based on the counting result.

In recent years, X-ray CT apparatuses that perform a photon counting Computed Tomography (CT) by employing a photon-counting type detector have been developed. Unlike integral-type detectors used in conventional X-ray CT apparatuses, the photon-counting type detector outputs signals that make it possible to individually count photons derived from X-rays that have passed through an examined subject (hereinafter, a "subject"). Accordingly, by performing the photon counting CT, it is possible to reconstruct an X-ray CT image having a high Signal-per-Noise (S/N) ratio.
Further, the signals output by the photon-counting type detector can be used for measuring (discriminating) an energy level of each of the counted photons. Accordingly, by performing the photon counting CT, it is possible to image data acquired by radiating X-rays while using one type of X-ray tube voltage in such a manner that the data is divided into a plurality of energy components. For example, by performing the photon counting CT, it is possible to generate an image that makes it possible to identify one or more substances by utilizing differences in K absorption edges.
By performing the photon counting CT, it is possible to accurately measure the radiation (the X-rays) if the dose of the incident radiation is small. However, during the photon counting CT, if the dose of the incident radiation is large, a phenomenon called "pile-up" may occur where pieces of data obtained by counting the individual photons pile up. In that situation, because it is not possible to separate the individual photons from one another, miscounts occur where the count characteristics are not linear.

X-ray CT apparatus and controlling method


A rotational driving apparatus of a magnetic device, a clutch mechanism or a speed change clutch mechanism is provided selectively in a path for transmitting a rotation from a capstan motor to a feed reel or a take-up reel. The clutch mechanism decelerates the rotation of the motor at a first reduction ratio, and transmits the resultant rotation to a change-over gear. The speed change clutch mechanism has a first transmission shaft, a pulley gear, a constant torque transmission member, a speed change output gear, speed change intermediate gear and a speed change movable gear. The speed change intermediate gear and speed change movable gear are mounted on a second transmission shaft provided close to a first transmission shaft, and transmit the rotation of the pulley gear to the speed change output gear via a constant torque transmission member, or directly with the speed of the rotation changed.

The present disclosure relates to the subject matter contained in Japanese Utility Model Application No. U2002-000337 filed Jan. 29, 2002, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a rotational driving apparatus of a magnetic tape device, particularly to a rotational driving apparatus capable of rapidly forwarding and rewinding a magnetic tape.
2. Description of the Related Art
Fast forwarding and rewinding of a magnetic tape device are carried out frequently, such as when finishing a reproduction, or when selecting images. In order to carry out such the fast forwarding and rewinding of a magnetic tape, it is necessary that the magnetic tape be made to run at a speed higher than a normal level.
It is conceivable to set a reduction ratio in a rotation transmission path extending from a motor to a reel low so as to increase a rotational speed of the reel. However, if the reduction ratio is set too low, the motor need to be rotated at a very low speed during a normal reproduction operation. As a result, the rotational stability of the reel during the reproduction operation is deteriorated. This may cause a disarrangement of a reproduced picture image or a deterioration of the quality of a reproduced picture image.
A magnetic tape device capable of carrying out rapid forwarding and rewinding of a magnetic tape is provided with a mechanism for transmitting a motor rotation to a reel through a transmission path different from that used during a reproduction operation, just as disclosed in, for example, JP-A-5-274749.
In a magnetic tape device provided with a rotation transmission path different from that used during a reproduction operation so as to enable a rapid forwarding and rewinding of a magnetic tape to be carried out, the number of parts increases by constructing the additional rotation transmission path, and the universality of the magnetic tape device is lost due to the special construction. Also, there may be some cases where a space in which parts necessary for carrying out the rapid forwarding and rewinding of a magnetic tape are installed need to be provided. Such a magnetic tape device goes against a space saving concept.
An object of the present invention is to provide a rotational driving apparatus of a magnetic tape device capable of carrying out rapid forwarding and rewinding of a magnetic tape without specially changing the construction thereof and without causing the quality of a reproduced picture image to be deteriorated.
According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a rotational driving apparatus of a magnetic tape device adapted to transmit a rotation of a motor to a clutch mechanism, and transmit the rotation of the clutch mechanism to a feed reel or a take-up reel selectively via a rotation transmission path change-over gear. A first clutch mechanism and a second clutch mechanism can be provided selectively as the clutch mechanism. The first clutch mechanism being adapted to decelerate the rotation of the motor at a first reduction gear ratio, and transmit the resultant rotation to the change-over gear. The first clutch mechanism has a first shaft, a first pulley, a first clutch output gear, a first constant torque transmission member and a clutch member. The first pulley is adapted to receive the rotation of the motor and supported rotatably on the first shaft. The first clutch output gear is meshed with the change-over gear supported rotatably on the first shaft. The first constant torque transmission member is provided between the first pulley and first clutch output gear and adapted to transmit torque of lower than a predetermined level from the second pulley thereto. The clutch member is adapted to transmit the rotation of the first pulley to the first clutch output gear via the first constant torque transmission member or directly. On the other hand, the second clutch mechanism is adapted to decelerate the rotation of the motor at a second reduction ratio and transmit the resultant rotation to the change-over gear. The second clutch mechanism has a second shaft, a second pulley, a second clutch output gear, a second constant torque transmission member and a speed change clutch member. The second pulley is supported rotatably on the second shaft. The second clutch output gear is meshed with the change-over gear supported rotatably on the second shaft. The second constant torque transmission member is provided between the second pulley and second output gear and adapted to transmit torque of lower than a predetermined level from the second pulley thereto. The speed change clutch member is provided close to the second shaft and adapted to transmit the rotation of the second pulley to the second clutch output gear via the second constant torque transmission member or directly with the speed of the rotation changed.
In this rotational driving apparatus of a magnetic tape device, the first clutch mechanism and second clutch mechanism can be provided selectively as the clutch mechanism for the rotation transmission path. In the second clutch mechanism, which is different from the first clutch mechanism, the transmission of the rotation of the motor can be carried out with the speed of the rotation changed. Namely, when the speed of the rotation of the motor is changed by the second clutch mechanism at the time of, for example, carrying out rapid forwarding and rewinding of a magnetic tape, these magnetic tape handling operations can be executed at a high speed as compared with the same operations in a case where the first clutch mechanism is used. Conversely, since the speed of the rotation is changed at the time of carrying out rapid forwarding and rewinding of the magnetic tape, the reel can be rotated stably at a low speed at the time of the reproduction. Moreover, this rotational driving apparatus of a magnetic tape device is capable of using structures, other than the clutch mechanism, in common. Therefore, this rotational driving apparatus of a magnetic tape device is capable of improving a mass production efficiency thereof, and manufacturing the apparatus at a low cost.
According to a second aspect of the invention, the clutch member of the first clutch mechanism is supported on the first shaft axially movably so that the clutch member can be rotated with respect to the first shaft and engaged with and disengaged from the first pulley, the clutch member in a first pulley-disengaged state transmits the rotation of the first pulley to the first clutch output gear via the first constant torque transmission member, the clutch member in a first pulley-engaged state transmits the rotation of the first pulley to the clutch output gear directly.
In this apparatus, the clutch member is engageable with and disengageable from the first pulley. When the clutch member is disengaged from the first pulley, the rotation of the first pulley is transmitted to the first clutch output gear by the first constant torque transmission member, so that only the torque of lower than a predetermined level is transmitted. Therefore, when a sudden torque is transmitted from the motor, the transmission of the torque to the first clutch output gear can be prevented. This enables the possibility that a sudden tension, which causes the magnetic tape to be broken in some cases, be imparted to the magnetic tape to be eliminated. On the other hand, when the clutch member is engaged with the first pulley at the time of carrying out rapid forwarding and rewinding of the magnetic tape, the rotation of the motor can be wholly transmitted.
According to a third aspect of the invention, the second pulley of the second clutch mechanism has a gear portion at an outer circumferential section thereof. The second clutch mechanism has a transmission gear to which the rotation of the second pulley is transmitted via the second constant torque transmission member. The speed change clutch member of the second clutch mechanism has a speed change support shaft, a speed change intermediate gear and a clutch. The speed change support shaft is provided in parallel with the second shaft. The speed change intermediate gear is supported rotatably on the speed change support shaft and meshed with the gear portion of the second pulley. The clutch is supported on the speed change support shaft rotatably and axially movably so that the clutch can be engaged with and disengaged from the speed change intermediate gear. The clutch has a first gear portion meshable with the transmission gear, and a second gear portion meshable with the second clutch output gear. The clutch is adapted to change in a speed change intermediate gear-disengaged state a speed of the rotation from the transmission gear via the first gear portion and second gear portion, and transmit the resultant rotation to the second clutch output gear; and transmit in a speed change intermediate gear-engaged state the rotation of the speed change intermediate gear to the second clutch output gear via the second gear portion. The number of the teeth of the first gear portion and that of the teeth of the second gear portion are equal to each other and larger than that of the teeth of the speed change intermediate gear. The number of the teeth of the transmission gear and that of the teeth of the second clutch output gear are equal to each other and smaller than that of the teeth of the gear portion of the second pulley.
In this apparatus, the clutch can be engaged with and disengaged from the speed change intermediate gear. When the clutch is disengaged from the speed change intermediate gear, the rotation of the second pulley can be output to the second clutch output gear. Since the rotation of the second pulley is transmitted to the second clutch output gear by the second constant torque transmission member, only the torque lower than a predetermined level is transmitted. Therefore, when a sudden torque is transmitted from the motor, the transmission of the torque to the second clutch output gear can be avoided. As a result, the possibility that a sudden tension, which causes the magnetic tape to be broken, be imparted to the magnetic tape can be eliminated. As a transmission path, a path in which the rotation of the motor is transmitted to the change-over gear via the second pulley, second constant torque transmission member, clutch (first gear portion and second gear portion) and second clutch output gear may be used.
When the clutch is engaged with the speed change intermediate gear at the time of carrying out rapid forwarding and rewinding of a magnetic tape, the rotation of the motor can be wholly transmitted. Since during this time a speed of the rotation of the second pulley is changed with the resultant rotation transmitted to the second clutch output gear, rapid forwarding and rewinding of the magnetic tape can be achieved. As a transmission path, a path in which the rotation of the motor is transmitted to the change-over gear via the second pulley, speed change intermediate gear, clutch (second gear portion) and second clutch output gear maybe used. Therefore, the reduction ratio is different due to a difference in the number of teeth in the transmission path as compared with a reduction ratio in a case where the clutch is not engaged with the speed change intermediate gear, so that it follows that a speed change is certainly made.
As described above, a reduction ratio employed when the reel is rotated at a low speed at the time of reproducing or the like, and a reduction ratio employed when the reel is rotated at a high speed at the time of carrying out rapid forwarding and rewinding of the magnetic tape can be set to different levels. Therefore, rotating the reel stably at a low speed and rotating the reel at a high speed can be done compatibly.
According to a fourth aspect of the invention, a rotational driving apparatus of a magnetic tape device is formed so as to transmit a rotation of a motor to a clutch mechanism, and the rotation of the clutch mechanism to a feed reel or a take-up reel selectively via a rotation transmission path change-over gear. The clutch mechanism includes a first shaft, a pulley, a transmission gear, a constant torque transmission member, a speed change output gear, a second shaft, a speed change intermediate gear and a clutch. The pulley is supported rotatably on the first shaft, has a gear portion at an outer circumferential section thereof and is adapted to receive the rotation transmitted from the motor. The transmission gear is supported rotatably on the first shaft. The constant torque transmission member is adapted to transmit torque of lower than a predetermined level from the pulley to the transmission gear. The speed change output gear is supported rotatably on the first shaft and meshed with the change-over gear. The second shaft is provided in parallel with the first shaft. The speed change intermediate gear is supported rotatably on the second shaft and meshed with the gear portion of the pulley. The clutch has a first gear portion meshable with the transmission gear, and a second gear portion supported movably and rotatably on the second shaft and meshable with a speed change output gear. The clutch can take a first position in which the clutch is disengaged from the speed change intermediate gear and transmits the rotation of the transmission gear to the speed change output gear via the first gear portion and second gear portion, and a second position in which the clutch is engaged with the speed change intermediate gear and transmits the rotation of the speed change intermediate gear to the speed change output gear via the second gear portion.
In this apparatus, the clutch can be engaged with and disengaged from the speed change intermediate gear. When the clutch is disengaged from the speed change intermediate gear, i.e., in the first position, the rotation of the pulley can be output to the clutch output gear by the constant torque transmission member. Since the constant torque transmission member transmits the rotation of the pulley to the clutch output gear, only torque of lower than a predetermined level is transmitted. Therefore, the possibility that a sudden tension, which causes the magnetic tape to be broken, be imparted to the magnetic tape is thereby eliminated. As a transmission path, path in which the rotation of the motor is transmitted to the change-over gear via the pulley, constant torque transmission member, transmission gear, clutch (first gear portion and second gear portion) and clutch output gear may be used.
When rapid forwarding and rewinding of the magnetic tape are carried out, the clutch is engaged with the speed change intermediate gear. When the clutch is in the second position, the rotation of the motor can be wholly transmitted. At this time, the rotation of the pulley is transmitted to the clutch output gear by changing the speed thereof, so that the forwarding and rewinding of the magnetic tape can be done at a high speed. As a transmission path, a path in which the rotation of the motor is transmitted to the change-over gear via the pulley, speed change intermediate gear, clutch (second gear portion) and clutch output gear may be used. Therefore, the reduction ratio is different from that employed in a case where the clutch is not engaged with the speed change intermediate gear due to a difference between the number of the teeth in the transmission paths in these cases, so that it follows that a speed change is certainly made.
As described above, a reduction ratio employed when the reel is rotated at a low speed at the time of reproducing or the like, and a reduction ratio employed when the reel is rotated at a high speed at the time of carrying out rapid forwarding and rewinding, etc. of the magnetic tape can be set to different levels. Therefore, rotating the reel stably at a low speed and rotating the reel at a high speed can be done compatibly.
Since the structure of the clutch mechanism is simple, it becomes possible to manufacture a rotational driving apparatus at a low cost.

Rotational driving apparatus of magnetic tape device and magnetic tape device


The present disclosure provides a method for improving the computational efficiency of an electromagnetic transients program (EMTP-type) phase domain synchronous machine model. The method comprises: acquiring a traditional phase domain synchronous machine model; acquiring matrix relations between mutual inductance matrices of stator windings and rotor windings according to a trigonometric transformation equation; substituting the matrix relations into the original expression of Req and the original formulation of eh(t), respectively, and deriving to obtain a simplified formulation of the equivalent resistance matrix Req and a simplified formulation of the total history term eh(t); and acquiring an efficient phase domain synchronous machine model. According to the embodiment of the disclosure, in the provided model, the equivalent resistance matrix of the phase domain synchronous machine model and the matrix used in the calculation of the history term are converted into constant sparse matrices, thereby improving the calculation efficiency of the model.

Synchronous generators form the principal source of electric energy in power systems. Many large loads are driven by synchronous motors. Synchronous generators and synchronous motors operate on the same principle and are collectively referred to as synchronous machines. The accurate modeling of their dynamic performance is of fundamental importance to the transient analysis. The modeling of synchronous machines has been an active topic of research for many years. A number of machine models have been developed and implemented in various electromagnetic transients programs (EMTP) including PSCAD, Micro Tran, ATP and EMTP-RV, where dq0 machine models are typically used. However, when to be connected to network models represented in the abc phase domain, the dq0 models do have indirect interfaces, which cause additional interface error and affect the accuracy of the simulation.
To provide a direct machine-network interface, a phase domain synchronous machine model has been proposed in references. The numerical stability and accuracy of the machine model is improved due to the direct machine-network interface. However, the formulation of the phase domain synchronous machine model is complicated, resulting in an increase in computational costs.

Method and device for improving efficiency of electromagnetic transients program phase domain synchronous machine model


This invention is a neonatal airway adapter (10) with a sliding internal passage (54), which virtually eliminates void volumes (112) within the bore (76) of the airways, such that mixing of the exhales pages with void gases is reduced, and the waveform of the breath is maintained without undue distortion. Furthermore, the virtual elimination of void volumes reduces the level of re-breathing. The neonatal airway adapter connects to endotracheal tube adapters is such a way as to nullify the effect of the differing internal diameters (20) and internal lengths which are used in ET adapters currently available. The cross section of the internal bore of the airway through which the breath flows from the ET adapter to the connector of the ventilator is maintained almost constant, especially in the region of the gas sampling point (66), to ensure that reasonable conditions of laminar flow, and accurate sampling are maintained.

Airway adapters are generally used with patients being given respiratory assistance, such as patients under anesthesia, or patients on life support systems, to connect between the endotracheal tube (ET tube) and the ventilating tube of the breathing apparatus. These tubes convey breathing gases to the patient and exhaled breath away from the patient. The airway adapter is in the form of a short connector of tubular shape, and is required to make a connection between the generally very different cross sections of these two tubes. The airway adapter connected directly to the endotracheal tube is known as the ET adapter. Airway adapters also have the function of providing a demountable joint in the ventilation path, for the insertion of other tubes into the patient's lungs, and for the dispensing of medication into the pulmonary areas. This is necessary since it may be difficult to remove the ET itself from its connector port, without disturbing the patient or his treatment.
A non-invasive indication of the patient's respiratory condition can be obtained by the analysis of the exhaled breath gases. The measurement of the dynamic carbon dioxide content of the exhaled breath is known as capnography. Airway adapters with sampling ports are used to collect gas samples from the exhaled breath of patients for analysis. ET adapters are also available with a small-bore port extending into the wall of the gas flow path, to collect samples of the gas flowing in the airway, for gas analysis. Since, however, capnography measurements are generally not performed on a continuous basis, and the use of a sampling ET adapter would thus necessitate the sealing of the sampling port for most of the time, and the potential danger of bacterial growth in any debris lodged in the blind sampling tube, such sampling ET adapters are not generally used, a priori, for intubated neonatals. Furthermore, the termination of the sampling ports in the wall of the ET adapter airway is likely to cause the ingestion of secretions and liquids into the gas analyzer through the sampling line, especially during pulmonary suction procedures, when liquids could be sucked straight from the lungs into the sampling port opening. To avoid this problem, ET adapters are available with a sampling port extending into the center of the bore. This, however, interferes with the insertion of other tubes and apparatus down the ET tube.
For all of the above reasons, a generally used procedure with neonatals is not to use a sampling ET adapter on commencement of intubation, but to add an airway adapter with sampling port later, if and when required.
The accuracy of the capnographic measurement depends on the maintenance of a smooth laminar flow of the patient's breath through the airway adapter, so as to maintain the waveform of the exhaled breath. The waveform, which is the time varying level of carbon dioxide in the patient's breath, contains detail which can change with a response time of 10 to 100 msec. The exact form of the waveform, including these fast variations, provides information about the patient's respiratory state. Internal mixing of the gases or alterations in the waveform reduce the accuracy of the capnographic measurement by slowing down the response time, and hence reduce the amount or accuracy of diagnostic information extractable from the capnograph.
Airway components are typically made as plastic injection moldings, to enable production costs to be kept low. In order to ensure gas tight joins, components to be connected are generally produced with slight tapers, such that one component fits snugly into the other. Because of the comparatively wide manufacturing tolerances of such plastic parts, there is a wide spread in the closed dimensions of a joined pair of matching parts. Thus for instance, a loose-fitting ET adapter/ventilation tube connector pair will seal when one part is pushed much further into the other, than a tight-fitting pair. As a consequence of this, the amount of void volume (also known as dead space) produced in such a connection is very variable, and for a tight fitting pair, could be very considerable. The airway adapter should have minimal added void volume, both to reduce the effects of gas mixing, which would adversely affect the integrity of the waveform, and to reduce the anatomical dead space, which results in rebreathing.
Furthermore, the exhaled breath of patients always contains condensable water vapor, and can also contain a significant level of liquid or solid secretions such as mucous secretions and saliva. Such liquids can block or partially block the sampling line, causing a reduction in the pressure of the gases passing through the airway adapter into the gas analyzer. This pressure drop can cause alterations in the waveform, mixing of the gas, and alterations in the gas concentration , all of which reduce the accuracy of the gas analysis. The need for accurate analysis of the gas therefore dictates efficient separation of the gas from accompanying liquids or solids, while maintaining smooth laminar flow, and without the production of a substantial pressure drop or alteration in the gas waveform.
A number of novel designs for such airway adapters have been presented in U.S. Pat. No. 5,857,461, entitled "Multiple Channel Sample Port" to the present Applicants, and hereby incorporated in its entirety by reference. Furthermore, in the Background section of that patent are mentioned a number of other patents which describe airway adapters of other designs. However, none of the airway adapters described therein are satisfactory for use with neonatals. A major problem with neonatal patients is the very small flow involved. Thus for instance, a neonatal may typically exhale breaths of only 4 cc., while the volume of a standard adult airway adapter is 6 to 8 cc. This means that even a very small void volume can cause significant mixing of the neonatal's exhaled breaths, and inaccurate capnographic results. Furthermore, the fast breathing rate of neonatals makes a fast response time even more critical than for other patients. In addition, it is impractical to disconnect the ET tube of an intubated neonatal in order to change the ET adapter to fit the sampling device to be used. Finally, closed circuit systems which include suction are widely used, and it is impractical to break such circuits in order to insert and remove capnographic adapters as needed.
There therefore exists a serious need for a sampling airway adapter, especially for use with neonatal patients, which overcomes the drawbacks and disadvantages which hitherto available adapters show when used with such patients.
The disclosures of all publications mentioned in this section and in the other sections of the specification, are hereby incorporated by reference, each in its entirety.


An electrical connector includes an insulating housing having a mating cavity and at least a contact retained in the housing. The contact defines a retaining portion, a resilient arm extending forwards from a front edge of the retaining portion and a soldering portion extending out of the housing. The resilient arm defines a contacting portion projecting into the mating cavity at a front end thereof and a skirt bending from a side edge of the resilient arm and angled with the resilient arm. The skirt provided in the resilient arm can enhance the rigidity of the contact.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly to an electrical connector having improved contacts which is reinforced with side skirt preventing the same from being crushed while mating with a mating connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electrical connector are typically used to interconnect two electronic devices, and for example, between a computer and a peripheral device. U.S. Pat. No. 6,923,687 issued to Wang on Aug. 2, 2005 discloses an electrical connector which defines an insulative housing and a plurality of terminals retained in the housing. The housing defines a base portion, a mating portion extending forwards from the base portion, a mating cavity recessed rearwards from a front face of the mating portion and a plurality of receiving grooves recessed forwards from a rear face of the base portion and communicating with the mating cavity. The plurality of terminals define an elastic contact having a retaining portion, an elastic arm extending forwardly from a front edge of the retaining portion and a soldering portion. The elastic contact is retained in a corresponding receiving groove with a front portion of the elastic arm projecting into the mating cavity for contacting with a mating connector. However, the elastic arm of the elastic contact has a comparable weak rigidity and may be vulnerably crushed while the mating connector frequently mating with the electrical connector or slantways inserted into the mating cavity to contact with the elastic arm. Hence, it is desired to provide an electrical connector to overcome the problems mentioned above.

Electrical connector with improved contacts