A wavelength independent multi-section optical coupler having at least three optical couplers, and at least two differential phase cells. Each optical coupler has two waveguides forming a coupling region having a net coupling value. The coupling value for each coupling region of the at least three optical couplers is different than the coupling values of the other two coupling regions. Each differential phase cell connects adjacent ones of said optical couplers. Each differential phase cell causes a differential phase shift in light signals traversing between the optical couplers, wherein the differential phase shifts of the differential phase cells, and the coupling value for each coupling region are chosen so as to minimize wavelength, and fabrication sensitivity of said wavelength independent multi-section optical coupler for a designed power splitting ratio.

A significant class of optical devices are commonly called "planar light-wave circuits" or "planar light-wave chips" or just PLCs. PLCs comprise technologies wherein optical components and networks are disposed monolithically within a stack or stacks of optical thin films supported by a common mechanical substrate such as a semiconductor or glass wafer. PLCs are typically designed to provide specific transport or routing functions for use within fiber-optic communications networks. These networks are distributed over a multitude of geographically dispersed terminations and commonly include transport between terminations via single-mode optical fiber. For a device in such a network to provide transparent management of the optical signals it must maintain the single-mode nature of the optical signal. As such, the PLCs are commonly, though not strictly, based on configurations of single-mode waveguides. Since optical signals do not require return paths, these waveguide configurations do not typically conform to the classic definition of "circuits", but due to their physical and functional resemblance to electronic circuits, the waveguide systems are also often referred to as circuits.
The standard family of materials for PLCs, widely demonstrated to have superior loss characteristics, is based on silicon dioxide, commonly called silica. The silica stack includes layers that may be pure silica as well as layers that may be doped with other elements such as Boron, Phosphorous, Germanium, or other elements or materials. The doping permits control of index-of-refraction and other necessary physical properties of the layers. Silica, including doped silica, as well as a few less commonly used oxides of other elements, are commonly also referred to collectively as "oxides." Furthermore, although technically the term "glass" refers to a state of matter that can be achieved by a broad spectrum of materials, it is common for "glass" to be taken to mean a clear, non crystalline material, typically SiO2 based. It is therefore also common to hear of oxide waveguides being referred to as "glass" waveguides. Subsequently, the moniker "silica" is used to refer to those silicon oxide materials suitable for making waveguides or other integrated photonic devices. It is important to note that in the context of this invention, other waveguide materials, such as lithium niobate, spin-on glasses, silicon, siliconoxynitride, silicon oxycarbide, polymers or other materials described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,614,977 (the entire content of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference), are also appropriate
In a typical example of a PLC, a waveguide formed of a core material lies between a top cladding layer and a bottom cladding layer. In some instances, a top cladding may not be used. Waveguides are often formed by at least partially removing (typically with an etching process) core material beyond the transverse limits of the channel waveguide and replacing it with at least one layer of side cladding material that has an index of refraction that is lower than that of the core material. The side cladding material is usually the same material as the top cladding material. In this example, each layer is doped in a manner such that the waveguide has a higher index of refraction than either the top cladding or bottom cladding. When layers of silica glass are used for the waveguide, the layers are typically situated on a silicon wafer. As a second example, waveguides can comprise three or more layers of InGaAsP. In this example, adjacent layers have compositions with different percentages of the constituent elements In, P, Ga, and As. As a third example, one or more of the optical layers of the waveguide may comprise an optically transparent polymer. Another example of a waveguide comprises a layer with a graded index such that the region of highest index of refraction is bounded by regions of lower indices of refraction. A doped-silica waveguide is usually preferred because it has a number of attractive properties including low cost, low loss, low birefringence, stability, and compatibility for coupling to fiber.
Many integrated optical devices require the creation of physical structures that are highly symmetric. A key example is a planar waveguide coupler consisting of two optical waveguides coupled to each other across a gap. In many cases, the achievement of highest performance in such a coupler requires the two waveguides to be identical to each other. A conventional approach to achieving this goal is to define the optical waveguides using a photolithography and etching process with a pattern consisting of two waveguides of identical cross section separated by a gap. In this scheme, the fabrication of identical guides relies upon very high fidelity in the lithography and etching processes to reproduce the identical mask patterns into the optical waveguides. This strategy will allow integrated optical couplers to be fabricated with a certain level of performance that may be adequate for some types of devices. However, the ultimate performance may be limited due to asymmetries induced by the fabrication process.

Multi-section coupler to mitigate guide-guide asymmetry


Disclosed is a method involving reacting a deprotonated mono- or dialkanol amine with one or more C4 to about C75 fatty acid monoalcohol esters.

1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to a method for preparing, mono or dialkanol amides.
2. Description of the Related Art
Engine oils typically use a mineral oil or a synthetic oil as a base oil. However, simple base oils alone do not provide the necessary properties to provide adequate friction reduction, wear protection, deposit control, etc. required to protect internal combustion engines. Thus, base oils are formulated with various additives (for imparting auxiliary functions) such as, for example, friction modifiers, ashless dispersants, metallic detergents (i.e., metal-containing detergents), antiwear agents, antioxidants (i.e., oxidation inhibitors), viscosity index improvers and the like to produce a compounded oil, i.e., a lubricating oil composition.
The petroleum industry has long recognized a need for greater fuel economy and efficiency in the operation of hydrocarbon fuel powered internal combustion engines, e.g., gasoline (i.e., spark-ignition) and diesel (i.e., compression-ignition) engines. For example, fuel economy standards mandated by the federal government have resulted in efforts by the automotive industry to improve the fuel economy of motor vehicles. One way to reduce fuel consumption is to reduce friction in particular areas of an internal combustion engine, e.g., bearings, valve trains, pistons, rings, water and oil pumps. By decreasing friction in these areas of the engine, improvement in fuel economy can also be achieved.
Accordingly, there has been a continual search for improved friction modifiers which decrease friction in strategic areas of the engine thereby improving the fuel economy of engine.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,293,432 discloses a method of friction reduction in an internal combustion engine crankcase by using a formulated motor oil containing an ashless dispersant and about 0.1 to 1.5 weight percent of a reaction product of a fatty acid and monoethanolamine.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,389,322 ("the '322 patent") discloses the use of ethoxylated amides as friction modifiers in lubricants. The '322 patent further discloses that ethoxylated amides may be obtained from commercial sources or prepared by (1) the reaction of the appropriate hydrocarbyl amide with ethylene oxide, optionally in the presence of a catalyst, to form the corresponding ethoxylated amide or (2) the reaction of a hydrocarbyl carboxylic acid with an ethoxylated amine, e.g., bis(2-hydroxyethyl)oleamide formed by the reaction of oleic acid and diethanol amine.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,729,769 discloses a detergent additive for gasoline or lubricants, which contains the reaction product of a C6 to C2O fatty acid ester such as coconut oil and a mono- or di-hydroxy hydrocarbyl amine such as diethanolamine.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,244,857 ("the '857 patent") discloses a method of making hydroxyalkyl amide composition with a decreased level of alkanolamine. The '857 patent further discloses that the method involves reacting at least one primary and/or secondary alkanolamine with at least one ester or fatty natural material, optionally in the presence of a catalyst such as an alkoxide or carbonate catalyst, to provide a reaction mixture containing hydroxyalkyl amide and unreacted alkanolamine, wherein the improvement comprises, carrying out the reaction of alkanolamine and ester in the presence of at least one metal silicate or treating the reaction mixture with at least one metal silicate.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0010244 discloses a method for producing fatty acid alkanol amides by first reacting at least one amine that contains at least one primary or secondary amino group and at least one hydroxyl group with at least one fatty acid to form an ammonium salt, and then converting the ammonium salt into the alkanol amide by way of microwave radiation.
Although the production of fatty acid alkanol amides as friction modifiers for fuel and lubricants has been quite extensive, most of the methods for their preparation produce a composition containing undesirable by-products along with the desired mono or dialkanol amide. In addition, the use of metal alkoxides such as potassium and sodium alkoxides as catalyst are expensive and can be neutralized by moisture or water resulting in possible handling issues, decrease in shelf life and even deactivation as a catalyst. In addition, if moisture is absorbed during the reaction, the metal alkoxide may be quenched thereby stopping the reaction. Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide an improved method for producing mono or dialkanol amides that substantially avoids the formation of undesirable by-products.

Method for preparing mono or dialkanol amides


An ink jet cartridge lid has a body having a first planar side and a second planar side opposite the first side. The first planar side has a raised portion having a first angled end wall and a second angled end wall. A third, side wall and a fourth, side wall each connect the first end wall to the second end wall of the lid. The second planar side has a recess therein with projections for compressing a foam insert. The lid is installed onto an ink jet cartridge having an open-ended cavity and a foam insert disposed therein.

Ink jet printers typically provide ink to the printhead through the use of ink jet cartridges. The cartridge provides a container in which printing ink is stored until used with the printheads. The ink jet cartridge is connected to the printhead so as to allow flow of ink from the cartridge to the printhead when needed.
Currently, ink jet cartridges include a main body which has a bottom and four side walls defining an ink cavity of the ink jet cartridge. A foam insert is then typically pressed into the body cavity of the cartridge, and the cavity and foam insert are then filled with ink by means of an open-ended top. Lastly, a cover or lid is placed on the now ink filled main body and attached to the side walls thereto.
Existing lids are typically configured to be used only with a particular printer. Different lids must be manufactured and installed on ink cartridges for each particular manufacturer's printer which can be time-consuming and costly. Thus, it is considered desirable to provide a lid design which is compatible with various style Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) printers.


A machine including a control system having a timer for producing bags made from thermoplastic resin films of varying thickness. A pair of feed rollers intermittently feeds a continuous flat tubular web of thermoplastic resin between an upper heat sealing bar and a lower sealing surface. The sealing bar, which approaches but does not contact the web, is heated to effect a weld bead on the web, a cutting edge severs the web adjacent the bead, and the feed rollers advance the web as the sealing bar and cutting edge are withdrawn. A sequencer provides timed control of a motor that operates the rollers and another motor that operates the sealing bar and cutting edge.

This invention relates to a novel bag making machine for producing thermoplastic resin film bags. More specifically, this invention relates to a machine for making bags and a control system which includes a timer for operably controlling production of bags made from thermoplastic resin films of varying thickness.
Thermoplastic resin bags, such as those used in supermarkets, convenience stores, etc. are produced from a long tubular web of thermoplastic synthetic resin film. The tubular web, which is unrolled from a spool, is intermittently fed into a bag making machine where heat is transversely applied to the web in order to form a weld seal between the two layers of the web. A cutting edge intersects and transversely severs the web adjacent to the seal in order to complete formation of a bag.
A common configuration for achieving the above mentioned sequence of operations includes platen rollers which intermittently draw a web of thermoplastic resin film into the bag making machine. Upon cessation of advancement of the web, a sealing mechanism, which includes a fixed lower seal surface and a heated upper reciprocating seal bar, engage and melt the top and bottom layers of the web together. A weld bead seal is formed when the web cools.
The sealing surfaces are coated with an anti-adhesive material, such as Teflon, in order to prevent the weld bead seal of the thermoplastic web from adhering to the seal bars. Associated with the upper reciprocating seal bar is a cutting edge which transversely severs the thermoplastic web adjacent to the weld bead. Platen rollers then advance the web the length of a bag in order to repeat the sealing and severing cycle.
There are various desirable configurations of bags and an accompanying variety in the thickness of the thermoplastic resin film which forms a bag. The thickness of the thermoplastic resin films may range between 0.01 and 0.2 millimeters. This relatively wide range of thicknesses necessitates differing time periods during which the sealing bar melts the bag so that a weld bead of high structural seal integrity may be formed.
One previously known bag making machine assembly includes a single motor which drives both the sealing and severing means and the platen rollers, which advance the web. The constant speed of rotation of the motor alternately drives the advancement rollers and the heat sealing and cutting mechanism. A clutch, brake, and crank assembly effect the alternating operation of the advancement and sealing and severing operations. In order to lengthen the amount of time that the sealing bar applies heat to the web, a cam connected to the assembly can be adjusted, thereby altering the duration of the sealing operation. However, adjustment of the cam assembly is time consuming and an ineffective method of varying seal time. Increasing the sealing time requires that the speed of rotation of the motor is slowed. As a result, the platen rollers, which are also responsive to this single motor, advance the web at a slower rate, thus decreasing machine efficiency. The speed of rotation of the motor limits the rate of advancement of the thermoplastic resin film, thereby adversely affecting overall machine efficiency.
The difficulties suggested in the preceeding are not intended to be exhaustive but rather are among many which may tend to reduce the efficiency of bag making machines when presented with varying thicknesses of thermoplastic resin film. Other noteworthy problems may also exist; however, those presented above should be sufficient to demonstrate that bag making machines appearing in the past will admit to worthwhile improvement.


A process for converting paraffins, especially light paraffins, e.g. C3-C8 paraffins, to higher boiling range paraffinic liquid hydrocarbons comprises endothermically dehydrogenating the light paraffin combined with a thermally coupled, exothermic reaction such as olefin oligomerization to supply heat for the endothermic conversion.

With the increasing production of shale gas and tight oils, the supply of light paraffins (e.g., C2-C8, especially C2-C5 paraffins) is increasing at an unprecedented rate in the North America region; a large fraction (up to 30%) of NGL, for example, is C4/C5 paraffins. At the same time, demand for C4/C5 molecules is decreasing due to a number of factors: 1) steam crackers switching feed from light naphtha to ethane; 2) shrinkage of gasoline pool in the North American market; and 3) a potential mandate for gasoline Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) reduction. Although diluent use of C5s for heavy crude is predicted to grow somewhat, the supply of C4s/C5s is quickly outpacing demand and the imbalance is becoming worse with time. Profitable dispositions for ethane (e.g., cracking to make ethylene) and propane (e.g., dehydrogenation making propylene) exist. Upgrading C4/C5 paraffins to higher value and large volume products while desirable, remains challenging. Conversion of C4/C5 paraffins to heavier hydrocarbon products such as kerojet, diesel fuels as well as lube basestocks would provide a large volume and higher value outlet to help alleviate the excess of light ends in the North American market but there is no current commercial process directly converting light paraffins to heavier hydrocarbons such as these. Conventional upgrading practices typically first convert light paraffins to olefins via cracking or dehydrogenation, followed by olefin chemistries such as oligomerization or polymerization, alkylation, etc. to build higher molecular weight molecules.
A number of technologies are known to convert light paraffins to aromatics such as BTX (benzene, toluene, and xylenes). Examples of such technologies include the Cyclar™ process developed by UOP and the M2-Foming developed by Mobil Oil Corporation.
Dehydrogenation of light paraffins such as propane and iso-butane is commercially practiced; and the processes are designed to isolate high purity olefins as the final product. Current state-of-the-art processes use either Pt-based catalyst (e.g., UOP Oleflex™) or Cr-based catalyst (Houdry Catofin™ licensed by CB&I). Due to thermodynamic limitations, high temperature (>500° C.) and low pressure (vacuum or dilution with steam) are needed in order to favor the dehydrogenation reaction. Consequently, the catalyst deactivates quickly and frequent regeneration (oxychlorination for Pt-based catalysts; air burn for Cr-based catalysts) is necessary.
A number of patent publications from Nierlich et al. describe processes for converting butane to unsaturated products which could then be further reacted to produce industrially useful materials. U.S. Pat. No. 5,864,052 describes a process for preparing di-n-butene and alkyl tert-butyl ethers from field butanes by dehydrogenation and oligomerization. U.S. Pat. No. 5,994,601 describes a process for preparing butene oligomers from Fischer-Tropsh olefins by oligomerization to form dibutene. U.S. Pat. No. 5,998,685 describes the synthesis of butene oligomers by dehydrogenation of field butanes and oligomerization over a nickel-containing material such as alumina or montmorillonite. US 2002/0026087 utilizes a similar dehydrogenation/oligomerization route, again using a nickel based catalyst.
Bhasin et al, Dehydrogenation and oxydehydrogenation of paraffins to olefins, Applied Catalysts A: General 221 (2001) 397-419, provide an overview of processes for the production of olefins from paraffins by dehydrogenation and oxidative dehydrogenation.
The principle of balancing heat requirement for successive reactions is utilized in the Uhde STAR Process® for light olefin production which converts a C3/C4 paraffin feed (with recycle) in a strongly endothermic dehydrogenation reaction at 500-600° C. and 6-9 bar over a noble metal/zinc catalyst impregnated on calcium aluminate support. Part of the hydrogen from the intermediate reaction product leaving the reformer is reacted selectively with oxygen or oxygen-enriched air in an adiabatic catalytic oxy-reactor to form steam, followed by further dehydrogenation of unconverted paraffin over the same catalyst. Internally supplied heat from the exothermic hydrogen conversion reduces the external heat required for the endothermic dehydrogenation.

Upgrading paraffins to distillates and lube basestocks

EXXONMOBIL RESEARCH AND ENGINEERING COMPANY


A bearing assembly includes a cylindrical configuration with a radial direction, a circumferential direction and defining a bearing assembly longitudinal axis, a first axial end, and a second axial end, an inner radial race, an outer radial race, a bearing member configured to be disposed radially between the inner radial race and the outer radial race, and a retaining ring configured to engage the inner radial race and the outer radial race, the retaining ring being configured to limit longitudinal movement of the inner radial race relative to the outer radial race once assembled.

Earth moving, construction and mining equipment and the like are often used in rough, off-road terrain. These machines often employ an endless drive with track shoes that is better able to propel the machines in such environments over obstacles and uneven terrain, etc.
As can be imagined, there can be a great deal of tension and loads on the track chain. As machines become heavier and increase in horsepower, undercarriage link assemblies of the track chain are susceptible to even greater risk of component fatigue and wear. Eventually, the machine and track will need to be serviced, resulting in loss profits.
More specifically, the load exerted on the bushings and track pins of the track chain by the sprocket may cause these components, or the track links, to become worn or fatigued. Or, the seals associated with the bearings and track links for holding lubricant near areas of friction may become damage, allowing the lubricant to leak out. This may lead to wear problems for the moving components of the track chain.
Prior track chains are directed to various performances. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 9,227,679 is commonly owned by the assignee of the present disclosure. The '679 patent is directed to a track pin having an annular exterior surface including a textured region extending less than 360 degrees around the circumference of the exterior surface of the pin. This patent focuses on preventing the track pin in a track chain assembly from walking, not necessarily on preventing component fatigue and wear.
Accordingly, it is desirable that a track chain that is less prone to maintenance be developed.


The present invention provides an ophthalmic solution without an antimicrobial preservative. The solution includes as an active substance at least one prostaglandin and as a solubilizing agent, a surfactant, where the solubilizing agent is polyoxyl-15-hydroxystearate.

In the rest of the description, "antimicrobial preservative" or "antimicrobial" is taken to mean a preservative with antimicrobial properties, i.e. a compound capable of guaranteeing protection of the ophthalmic solution from possible microbial contamination. As far as the invention is concerned such agents should be distinguished from preservative agents involved in preserving the chemical characteristics of the solution such as antioxidants e.g. EDTA.
Prostaglandins are well known active substances administered to humans or animals via the topical route in the form of ophthalmic solutions for the treatment of glaucoma. The usual dosage for these formulations is 1 drop per day in both eyes, bearing in mind that prostaglandins may also be used in combination with a second anti-glaucoma agent such as a beta-blocker, a carbonic anhydrase inhibitor or an alpha-adrenergic agonist.
The prime disadvantage of prostaglandins is that they are not water soluble, so that incorporating them into an ophthalmic solution requires a preliminary solubilization step. Moreover, another constraint on making the formulation is the requirement to provide an ophthalmic solution which is chemically stable over time, in practice for a period of between 18 and 24 months. Another characteristic required of the ophthalmic solution is that it has to be stable relative to the packaging in which it is stored, in particular relative to packaging in low-density polyethylene (LDPE) material.
Currently, most prostaglandin based ophthalmic solutions on the market contain a preservative agent which, besides having antimicrobial properties, also solubilizes the active substance and partly stabilizes it. An example of such a solution is the product marketed under the trade name of Xalatan® by Pfizer, combining latanoprost and 0.02% by weight BAC. It should be noted that, despite the presence of BAC, this ophthalmic solution is not stable at ambient temperature and must be stored in the cold at a temperature of about 5° C. Moreover, Allergan markets an ophthalmic solution under the trade name of Lumigan® combining bimatoprost and 0.005% by weight BAC.
However, the use of antimicrobial preservatives, particularly BAC, in opthalmology for long-term treatment, as is the case particularly for glaucoma, is advised against in many publications because of problems with tolerance (see in this respect: "The New Class of Ophthalmic Agents: Here's how to choose the right prostaglandin for each patient" by J. James Thimons, O.D., F.A.A.O.—Optometric Management, May issue 2002). It is thus already established that antimicrobial preservative agents are toxic in long-term use, with the result that today there is a tendency to limit their use by reducing their concentration in ophthalmic solutions as much as possible, or better still, eliminating them from formulations.
This issue has been considered in the document WO 97/29752, which discloses use in place of part of the BAC of a non-ionic agent such as Cremophor®. In the formulation proposed, the concentration of BAC is limited to 0.01% by weight, the concentration of Cremophor® EL being 0.05% by weight. A product called Travatan® is on the market combining travoprost, BAC and Creinophor®, marketed by the company Alcon, owner of the patent application WO/9729752.
Polysorbate 80 has also been used in ophthalmic solutions as a partial substitute for BAC, as is the case for the product marketed under the trade name of Rescula®, for example, by Novartis, combining unoprostone with a mixture of BAC and polysorbate 80 forming 0.015% by weight of the solution.
Documents EP 1 321 144 and EPI 666 043 describe the capacity of polysorbate 80 to slow to a greater or lesser extent the adsorption of a specific prostaglandin, tafluprost, onto polyethylene (PE), low density polyethylene (LDPE), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or a mix of PET/polyarylate forming the packaging. No indication is given of the possible capacity of polysorbate 80 to stabilize the solution over time for a period of 18 to 24 months. These documents contain no examples of ready-to-use ophthalmic solutions and simply state that a certain number of additives may be added to the prostaglandin and polysorbate 80 combination, for example preservatives such as BAC. Nothing in this document indicates that BAC or preservatives in general are expressly excluded from the final composition.
Document US2004/0082660 describes an ophthalmic solution without BAC containing a mixture of latanoprost and polysorbate 80 (table 1, test 2). The results given characterize the homogeneity of the solution obtained 30 minutes after 7 hours of agitation, i.e. the capacity of polysorbate 80 to solubilize latanoprost in 7 hours. No indication is given concerning the chemical stability of the solution over time.
Document EP 0850 926 describes ophthalmic solutions combining prostaglandin, polysorbate 80 and glycerine. No indication is given concerning the solubility of the prostaglandin or the chemical stability of the solution over time and relative to the packaging.

Preservative-free prostaglandin-based ophthalmic solution


A compression ring to grip and compress body structure such as diverticulum, hemorrhoids, and tissue adjacent a hole. A resilient ring-shaped body defines a compression channel, and an elongated axially rigid gripping member extends diametrically across the through-opening. The gripping member can rest on a flange on the opposite side of the through-opening or engage with a second gripping member that extends diametrically across the through-opening from the opposite side of the ring. Or, a flexible cage structure can be disposed in the through-opening.

Internal body tissue sometimes must be secured together for various reasons. As an example, diverticulosis is an unfortunately common condition in which an area of the intestine bulges out into the peritoneal cavity to form a sac referred to as a "diverticulum". The above-referenced patent envisions a natural orifice method for resolving diverticulum by inverting them and then securing opposed serosal surfaces together using a ring to thereby tightly and securely close off the affected tissue to alleviate the risk of peritonitis.
While the patented approach is effective, present principles further understand that slippage of the ring can occur once it is placed on tissue. In the colon and bowel, for instance, significant peristalsis and pressure can stretch the tissue wall, which can force the ring off the tissue, losing the therapeutic effect of the ring.


A panel fixing structure, which removably fixes a panel to a square opening provided in a housing, so as to cover a circumference of one or a plurality of interface terminal portions provided inside the housing, includes a square panel surface having a terminal opening in accordance with a shape and a position of the interface terminal portion and four engagement protrusions each having a spring property, each of the four engagement protrusions protruding in an insertion direction of the opening along an edge portion of each of four sides of the panel surface, the engagement protrusions being formed to have a space in each of four corner portions of the panel surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a panel fixing structure which removably fixes a panel to a rectangular panel fixing opening provided in a housing, so as to cover the circumference of one or a plurality of interface terminals disposed inside the housing, and an information processor in which a panel is fixed by the panel fixing structure.
2. Description of the Related Art
Input and output (I/O) connectors to which external devices or the like are electrically connected are provided in a panel fixing opening formed on the back surface or the like of a housing as an external casing of a personal computer (hereinafter, referred to as a personal computer). A panel which electrically shields the input and output connectors is removably fixed to the panel fixing opening, so as to cover the circumference of the input and output connectors.
As a fixing structure which removably fixes a panel to a panel fixing opening, a panel fixing structure described in Paragraph [0022] and FIG. 4 of Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H04-233017 (Reference 1) is known. According to the panel fixing structure described in Reference 1, a plurality of projections (dependent legs in Reference 1) provided in the long side of the lower side of the square panel (shield member in Reference 1) fits the neighborhood of the edge portion of the lower surface of the panel fixing opening (bay opening in Reference 1). Then, a pair of engagement projections (spring tags in Reference 1) having a spring property, which is provided in both of the short sides of the square panel (shield member in Reference 1), is pressed into the edge portions of the panel fixing opening on both sides to be engaged therewith while bending.
In the panel fixing structure described in Reference 1, as described above, both the operation which fits the projections provided in the long side of the lower side of the square panel to the neighborhood of the edge portion of the lower surface of the panel fixing opening, and the operation, which engages a pair of the engagement projections having a spring property, which is provided in both of the short sides of the square panel, with both of the edge portions of the panel fixing opening while bending the engagement projections, are required. For this reason, the workability when fixing the panel to the panel fixing opening is inefficient.
Therefore, in order to improve the workability of panel fixing, a panel fixing structure using a panel 100 having a panel surface 100a as illustrated in FIG. 19 is known. The panel 100 includes engagement protrusions 100b, 100c formed in the edge portions of the four sides of the panel surface 100a along the longitudinal direction (in FIG. 19, the neighborhood of the edge portions of the adjacent long and short sides is illustrated). Each of the engagement protrusions 100b, 100c protrudes in the insertion direction to the panel fixing opening and has a spring property. The leading end portion of each of the engagement protrusions is bent outwardly at about 180 degrees. In addition, a plurality of semispherical projections 100d is provided in the external surface of each engagement protrusion 100b, 100c along the longitudinal direction. The leading end portion of each engagement protrusion 100b, 100c on the projection side 100d is bent outwardly, and includes a leading end locking portion 100e.
As illustrated in FIGS. 20A, 20B, by inserting each engagement protrusion 100b, 100c of the panel plate 100 into the panel fixing opening 101, the projections 100d make contact with the inside wall surface of the panel fixing opening 101, and each engagement protrusion 100b, 100c reaches the edge portion of the inside wall surface while bending in the inside direction of the panel fixing opening 101, so that each bent engagement protrusion 100b, 100c is brought back to the original condition. The panel 100 is thereby fixed to the panel fixing opening 101 while sandwiching the panel fixing opening 101 by way of the leading end locking portions 100e and the projections 100d which are locked to the neighborhood of the edge portion of the inside wall surface opposite the insertion direction from both surfaces as illustrated in FIG. 20B.
Meanwhile, a space having a predetermined width is provided between the corner portions of the engagement protrusions 100b, 100c on the adjacent long side and short side, such that the engagement protrusions 100b, 100c do not interfere (make contact) with each other when each engagement protrusion 100b, 100c is inserted into the panel fixing opening 101 to be engaged therewith while bending.
Each of FIGS. 19, 20A, 20B schematically illustrates the shape of the space provided between the corner portions of the adjacent engagement protrusions 100b, 100c. Specifically, as illustrated in FIG. 21A, a cutting process is performed on the end portions of the adjacent engagement protrusions 100b, 100c, such that leading end corner portions 100f, 100g which are engaged with the corner portions of the inside wall surface of the panel fixing opening 101 when inserting are previously formed in a predetermined shape to be symmetric with the same length with respect to the intermediate line A in the middle of the corner portions.
If the size of the panel fixing opening 101 to which the panel 100 is fixed is small, the size of the entire panel 100 is adjusted according to the size of the panel fixing opening 101, so that the space between the leading end corner portions 100f, 100g of the adjacent engagement protrusions 100b, 100c illustrated in FIG. 21A is reduced according to the size of the panel 100.
For this reason, as illustrated in FIG. 21B, the leading end corners of the leading end corner portions 100f, 100g may interfere with each other by the variations in the measurement of the space between the adjacent leading end corner portions 100f, 100g in manufacturing. If the corners of the bent leading end corner portions 100f, 100g interfere with each other, the contact condition of the leading end corner portions 100f, 100g becomes unstable, so that it may become difficult to insert the engagement protrusions 100b, 100c into the panel fixing opening 101.
If some kind of external force acts on the engagement protrusions 100b, 100c of the panel 100 from the direction opposite the insertion direction in a state in which the panel 100 is fixed to the panel fixing opening 101, the engagement protrusions 100b, 100c easily bend in the inside direction of the panel fixing opening 101. Accordingly, if the engagement protrusions 100b, 100c bend by the external force, the locked state of the semispherical projections 100d which are locked to the neighborhood of the edge portion of the panel fixing opening 101 is easily released. The panel 100 may be thereby removed from the panel fixing opening 101.

Panel fixing structure and information processor


A magnetic recording and reproducing device includes: a magnetic recording medium in which a magnetic recording layer is formed in a concavo-convex pattern so that tracks are formed by convex portions of a predetermined track width and arranged in parallel in the track width direction; a heating head for heating the magnetic recording medium to partially reduce coercivity of the tracks; a recording head for applying a recording magnetic field to a heated portion of the magnetic recording medium to record magnetic data on the tracks; and a reproducing head for detecting a reproducing magnetic field of the tracks. In this configuration, an effective recording area has an effective recording width that is equal to or more than the track width, and equal to or less than a sum of the track width and a doubled value of width of concave portions between the tracks.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic recording and reproducing device which records magnetic data by application of heat and magnetic field and magnetically reproduces the magnetic data, and to a magnetic recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been a remarkable increase in areal density of magnetic recording media such as hard discs by various improvements including reduction in the grain size of magnetic particles forming the magnetic recording layer, material changes, and increased precision in the processing of magnetic heads, and a further improvement in the areal density is expected.
As the increase in the areal density leads to thermal instability, it is preferable to use material that has high magnetic anisotropy, which exhibits high coercivity, for the magnetic recording layer; however, with conventional magnetic heads, it was hard to apply a stronger magnetic field than the coercivity of such a high magnetic anisotropy material, i.e., recording and deleting of magnetic data were hard to achieve.
Meanwhile, there has been known a magnetic recording and reproducing device that projects electron beam to the magnetic recording layer to reduce the coercivity by heat so as to achieve recording and reproducing of magnetic data (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-250201).
With this method, however, it was hard to precisely magnetize only a target portion of the magnetic recording layer, because the peripheral part of the portion to which electron beam is projected is also heated by heat conduction, and because the temperature distribution of the heated portion and the magnetic field distribution of the magnetic head are not uniform. The data recording and reproducing precision was accordingly low.
The recording and reproducing precision could be improved if the minimum area for recording data were made large enough, but this would reduce the areal density.

Magnetic recording and reproducing device and magnetic recording medium


A compact vibrator support structure has a very high xe2x80x9cvibration confinement effectxe2x80x9d, and includes a vibrator, vibrator support members, and a vibrator base, which supports the vibrator in midair via the vibrator support members and is made of a material having a specific gravity of about 3.0 or above. Since the high vibration confinement effect of the vibrator support structure reduces leakage of vibration from the vibrator base, the stability of the vibration of the vibrator is greatly improved, thereby increasing the detecting accuracy of angular velocity. This eliminates the need to enlarge the vibrator base or to adhere a weight thereto, resulting in a miniaturized vibrating gyroscope.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vibrator support structure, a vibrating gyroscope therewith, and an electronic device including such a vibrating gyroscope with the vibrator support structure.
2. Description of the Related Art
A tuning fork type vibrator which is used for a vibrating gyroscope, and which vibrates in a both-end bending vibration mode, is often supported by fixing the vicinities of the node point thereof to the support members of which the end portions are fixed to the vibrator base. The term xe2x80x9cvibrator basexe2x80x9d refers to an element that provides a base for stably supporting the vibrator. An example of such a vibrator support structure is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 9-269227, in which a frame body 17 corresponds to the vibrator base, and wire members 8 correspond to the support members.
In such a conventional vibrator support structure, the vibrator base is formed by injection-molding using an engineering plastic such as a liquid crystal polymer (LCP; specific gravity: 1.6).
In order to prevent vibration of the vibrator from leaking to the outside, it is necessary to improve the xe2x80x9cvibration confinement effectxe2x80x9d of the vibrator base by increasing the mass thereof. For this purpose, the vibrator base has been enlarged, or a weight such as a brass member has been adhered to the vibrator base. A technique for adhering the weight to the vibrator base is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 56-14711.
With the increasing range of uses for vibrating gyroscopes, the demand for miniaturizing the gyroscopes has grown. This has led directly to the demand for the miniaturization of vibrators and vibrator support structures.
However, if the mass of the vibrator base is reduced by the miniaturization thereof, a problem occurs in that the xe2x80x9cvibration confinement effectxe2x80x9d of the vibrator base decreases and that the vibration of the vibrator becomes unstable.
On the other hand, if a weight is adhered to the vibrator base, the xe2x80x9cvibration confinement effectxe2x80x9d of the vibrator base will be improved, but this will create other problems in that not only the miniaturization of the vibrator support structure is prevented, but also the number of components and the number of assembly man-hours are increased, resulting in an impediment to the cost reduction.
In order to overcome the problems described above, preferred embodiments of the present invention provide a compact vibrator support structure having a high xe2x80x9cvibration confinement effectxe2x80x9d, a vibrating gyroscope therewith, and an electronic device including the vibrating gyroscope with the novel vibrator support structure.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a vibrator support structure includes a vibrator base, support members fixed to the vibrator base, and a vibrator supported by the support members. In this vibrator support structure, the vibrator base is preferably made of a material having a specific gravity of about 3.0 or greater.
In the vibrator support structure according to preferred embodiments of the present invention, it is preferred that the vibrator base be formed by molding using a resin material into which a metal or a ceramic is mixed.
Furthermore, another preferred embodiment of the present invention provides a vibrating gyroscope including the above-described vibrator support structure.
Moreover, another preferred embodiment of the present invention provides an electronic device using the above-described vibrating gyroscope.
With these arrangements, in the vibrator having the vibrator support structure according to preferred embodiments of the present invention, the stability of vibration is greatly improved, and the miniaturization thereof can be achieved.
In the vibrating gyroscope according to preferred embodiments of the present invention, the detecting accuracy of angular velocity is greatly increased.
In the electronic device according to preferred embodiments of the present invention, the correction of a camera vibration, the detection of a vehicle position, and other improvements of various devices can be achieved with a high degree of accuracy, and thereby a high performance can be provided.
The features, elements, characteristics and advantages of the present invention will be clear from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Vibrator support structure, vibrating gyroscope therewith, and electronic device using the same


A lanthanide base olefin polymerization catalyst and its use in polymerization are disclosed. The lanthanide based catalyst is prepared by contacting a lanthanide halide with an ether, then contacting the resulting lanthanide composition with an alkali or alkaline earth metal alkyl compound, and depositing the resulting lanthanide product on a particulate support.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,111,511 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,429,864 both disclose polymerizations of ethylene using the combination of a rare earth metal halide and an organometallic compound. Many of these prior art catalyst systems have relatively low activity and, as a result, research continues in an effort to improve the catalyst systems.
The present invention is concerned with new high productivity catalysts which employ rare earth metal halides as one of the catalyst components for the production of polymers from olefins. Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an improved polymerization catalyst.
A further object of this invention is to provide an improved process for the production of olefin polymers. Still another object of the present invention is to provide a method for producing a new rare earth metal halide based catalyst. Other objects, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the specification and the appended claims.


A pet perch for attachment to a window sill or other support surface comprises a generally rectangular frame defining a central opening, and a jacket for encasing the frame and covering the opening to provide a soft, hammock-like pet resting area. A pair of adjustable mounting brackets secures the frame to the window sill. The brackets engage channels formed in the undersides of the frame and two series of first holes extending along opposite sides of the frame. The series of first holes provide alternative fastening locations, so that the perch can be used with different depth window sills.

Domestic cats typically enjoy spending large amounts of time on window sills staring at the outside world. Since window sills tend to be very narrow, however, it is known to construct perches adjacent to the windows to provide additional area for cats to relax while staring outside. The perches usually comprise hard, flat, rectangular surfaces that are covered with carpet or fabric.
Additionally, various means for securing perches to the sills of windows have been developed. For example, one product currently on the market employs a pair of L-shaped brackets that are mounted to the bottom of the perch, and two series of holes formed at the front end of the perch adjacent to the window and on opposite sides of the perch. The free ends of the L-shaped brackets abut the wall underneath the window sill to provide one means of support, and a second means of support is provided in the form of fasteners, which are inserted through one of the holes in each series and anchored to the window sill. The series of holes are employed to provide alternative locations for the fastening of the perch to the window sill because window sills come in different depths (i.e. the distance from the wall to the end of the window sill).
Another product on the market uses a single U-shaped bracket mounted to the bottom of the perch near its center, and hook and loop fastening means (i.e. Velcro). One of the legs of the U-shaped bracket is longer than the other and its end abuts the wall underneath the window sill to provide one means of support. The hook and loop fastening means comprises three sets of mating pads that are affixed to the window sill and underneath the perch near its leading edge, providing further means of support.
Although these products are generally adequate and enjoyed by cats, the perches tend to be uncomfortable because they are hard, flat surfaces- Additionally, window sills come in varying size and, depending on the particular window sill, the perches can be difficult to attach because the brackets mounted to the bottom of the perch are not adjustable.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a perch for attachment to a window sill, window casement, or other support surface, and which provides a resting surface that is softer and more comfortable for cats than the heretofore known perches.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a perch having adjustable bracket means for easily mounting the perch to the window sill.
It is a still further object of this invention to provide a perch that can be either permanently mounted or releasably mounted to the window sill.

Pet perch for attachment to a window sill


A sheet supplying device is provided with a separation roller having an outer circumferential surface contacting at least a part of the sheets in a stacked state, and a pad located to face the outer circumferential surface of the separation roller. The sheet supplying device is further provided with a holder that holds the pad and is movable relative to the separation roller, and a pressing mechanism that presses the holder in a direction in which the pad held by the holder approaches the separation roller. The pad contacts a first surface of a sheet being fed by rotation of the separation roller, and the first surface of the sheet is opposite to a second surface of the sheet contacting the outer circumferential surface of the separation roller. The holder has a recessed portion formed on an upstream side of a pressurization point at which the sheet being fed is nipped between the separation roller and the pad. Space is formed by the recessed portion and a surface of the pad facing the holder.

1. Technical Field
Aspects of the present invention relate to a sheet supplying device used for various types of image forming devices such as a facsimile device, a printer and a copying device.
2. Description of Related Art
Sheet supplying devices are widely used in various types of image forming devices. FIGS. 9A and 9B show a facsimile device 80 employing a conventional sheet supplying device. FIG. 9A is a side view of the sheet supplying device of the facsimile device 80, and FIG. 9B is an enlarged view of a circled portion D of the sheet supplying device shown in FIG. 9A. The facsimile device 80 is configured such that a plurality of sheets 84 stacked on a sheet tray 82 are supplied one by one to the inside of the facsimile device 80 by rotation (in counterclockwise direction in FIG. 9A) of a separation roller 86.
The sheets 84 are placed on the sheet tray 82 in a slanting position with the front edges thereof contacting with contact surfaces 88. A separation pad 90 is located at a lower left position of the separation roller 86 on FIG. 9A. The separation pad is attached to a holder 92. The holder 92 is configured to be capable of pivoting around its right side position so that the separation pad 90 closely contacts the separation roller 86 by a pressing force caused by a coil spring 94. The sheets 84 are separated one by one when being sandwiched between the separation roller 86 and the separation pad 90.
The contact surfaces 88 are located at a plurality of positions, along a sheet width direction, including both side positions of the separation roller 86 and both end positions of the sheet tray 82. Each contact surface 88 is a surface of a small rib-like member. When a sheet from sheet 84 is carried to a printing head 96, ink is transferred from an ink ribbon 98 to the sheet 84 to form an image on the sheet from sheet 84.
Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 2002-137838 discloses a conventional sheet supplying device employing a separation pad for removing sheets one by one.
As shown in FIG. 9B, in the conventional facsimile device 80, the contact surface 88 is inclined with respect to a mounting surface (which is usually a horizontal surface) by an angle β. Therefore, it is required to press the sheets 84 in a direction E by use of a pressing plate 89 for supplying the sheets toward the inside of the facsimile device 80.
FIGS. 10A to 10D show another type of a contact surface configured to eliminate the need for using the pressing plate 89. If the separation roller 86 starts to rotate (see FIG. 10A), a plurality of sheets are carried to the separation pad 90 (see FIG. 10B), and the plurality of sheets slide and are sandwiched between the separation roller 86 and the separation pad 90, so that the plurality of sheets press the separation pad 90 downward (see FIG. 10C). Consequently, a gap is formed between the separation roller 86 and the separation pad 90, by which a separating operation of the sheet supplying device is performed and a phenomenon that a plurality of sheets are carried into the inside of the facsimile device simultaneously may be occur (see FIG. 10D).


Systems and methodologies for adapting input/output operation of an electronic device for left-handed and/or right-handed scenarios are provided herein. As described herein, sensors (e.g., capacitive, resistive, touch-sensitive, etc.) are applied to respective outer edges of a device to determine whether a device is in a user's left hand and/or right hand. Based on this determination, respective points along the sensors can be mapped to soft keys to automatically optimize input for left-handed and/or right-handed operation. As further described herein, points of contact with an input device such as a touch-screen can be corrected based on whether a user's left hand and/or right hand is holding an associated electronic device. For example, upon identifying contact between a touch-screen and a thumb of a hand being used to hold an associated device, the point of contact can be shifted to compensate for the angle of the thumb with respect to the touch-screen.

As handheld electronic devices, such as mobile telephone handsets, electronic game controllers, and the like, increase in prevalence and increase in processing power, displays for such devices are becoming larger, more complex, and more power-hungry. For example, many existing electronic devices are equipped with touch-screens to facilitate the entry of input despite the size-constrained nature of the associated devices. However, touch-screens and similar input mechanisms utilize a large amount of power for both output (e.g., lighting) and input activity, which results in reduced battery life for devices that utilize such mechanisms. Further, existing electronic devices generally rely on an activity-based and/or time-based mechanism to determine whether to provide lighting to a device display, which can result in additional excess power usage during periods where a user is not actively engaged in viewing the display and/or otherwise actively using the device.
In addition, due to the limited form factor of handheld electronic devices, controls (e.g., buttons, dials, etc.) for such devices are traditionally either optimized for only one of left hand use or right hand use or configured such that manual intervention is required to change from a left-handed orientation to a right-handed orientation or vice versa. As a result, traditional handheld device controls can lead to reduced usability, a loss in functionality, and/or potential safety risks (e.g., safety risks caused by a user being required to swap hands while driving). While some existing electronic devices utilize mechanisms such as level and/or orientation sensing for control adaptation, these existing mechanisms do not perform well in scenarios where a device is held substantially vertical or flat. Accordingly, it would be desirable to implement input/output mechanisms for handheld devices that mitigate at least the above shortcomings.

Automatic soft key adaptation with left-right hand edge sensing


Provided herein are systems and methods for computer monitoring of remote photoplethysmography (rPPG) from camera images based on chromaticity in a converted color space, which reduces motion-induced artifacts in camera images for improved rPPG computer monitoring of physiological parameters. In particular, a rPPG system for monitoring at least one physiological parameter from image data is disclosed herein. A processor subsystem electronically receives a first image data set representative of a series of consecutive images of at least a portion of a living body. The processor subsystem converts the first image data set from a first color space to a second color space to generate a second image data set including first channel data comprising a luminance component and second channel data comprising a chromatic component. The processor subsystem processes the second channel data to monitor the at least one physiological parameter of the living body.

Photoplethysmography (PPG) is an essential tool to monitor patients' vital signs in medical practice. See Garbey, M., et al., Contact-free measurement of cardiac pulse based on the analysis of thermal imagery, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 2007, 54(8): p. 1418-1426; and Sinex, J. E., Pulse oximetry: Principles and limitations, The American Journal of Emergency Medicine, 1999, 17(1): p. 59-66, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Traditional PPG requires contact with the skin, causing discomfort and even skin damage when used over a long period of time. See Sun, Y., et al., Noncontact imaging photoplethysmography to effectively access pulse rate variability, Journal of Biomedical Optics, 2012. 18(6): p. 061205, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Recently, remote photoplethysmography (rPPG) has been proposed for contactless monitoring of a subject's PPG using a camera (e.g., video camera). See Litong, F., et al., Dynamic ROI based on K-means for remote photoplethysmography, 2015 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP), 2015; Blackford, E. B. and J. R. Estepp, Effects of frame rate and image resolution on pulse rate measured using multiple camera imaging photoplethysmography, SPIE Medical Imaging, 2015, International Society for Optics and Photonics; Haque, M. A., et al., Heartbeat Rate Measurement from Facial Video, IEEE Intelligent Systems, 2015; Shao, D., et al., Noncontact Monitoring of Blood Oxygen Saturation Using Camera and Dual-Wavelength Imaging System, 2015; Shao, D., et al., Noncontact Monitoring Breathing Pattern, Exhalation Flow Rate and Pulse Transit Time, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 2014, 61(11): p. 2760-2767; and Clifton, D. A., M. C. V. Montoya, and L. Tarassenko, Remote monitoring of vital signs, 2012, Google Patents, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. rPPG is attractive because it can potentially track the subject's PPG under free-living conditions, while he/she is performing daily activities (e.g., working on a computer or watching television at home or in the workplace).
Most rPPG methods reported to date focus on still subjects in laboratory settings. In realistic settings (e.g., in hospitals or the patient's home), motion artifacts due to motion of the subject have been a challenge for reliable rPPG. See Sun, Y., et al., Motion-compensated noncontact imaging photoplethysmography to monitor cardiorespiratory status during exercise, Journal of Biomedical Optics, 2011, 16(7): p. 077010-077010-9; and Poh, M.-Z., D. J. McDuff, and R. W. Picard, Non-contact, automated cardiac pulse measurements using video imaging and blind source separation, Optics express, 2010, 18(10): p. 10762-10774, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Many cameras capture images in RGB color space, which may provide a good signal for still subjects, but is susceptible to contamination by motion artifacts in realistic situations (e.g., subject movement).
Various methods have been developed to reduce motion-induced artifacts. See Shan, C., Motion robust vital signal monitoring, 2013, Google Patents; Yoo, S. K., Photoplethysmography (PPG) device and the method thereof, 2008, Google Patents; Lewandowska, M., J. Rumiński, and T. Kocejko, Measuring pulse rate with a webcam—a non-contact method for evaluating cardiac activity, Federated Conference on Computer Science and Information Systems (FedCSIS), 2011, IEEE; Vetter, R., et al., Method and device for pulse rate detection, 2006, Google Patents; Estepp, J. R., E. B. Blackford, and C. M. Meier, Recovering pulse rate during motion artifact with a multi-imager array for non-contact imaging photoplethysmography, 2014 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC), 2014; and Tulyakov, S., et al., Self-adaptive matrix completion for heart rate estimation from face videos under realistic conditions, Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, 2016, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Independent component analysis (ICA) and principle component analysis (PCA) have been applied to separate the pulse signals of PPG from motion artifacts. See Poh, M.-Z., D. J. McDuff, and R. W. Picard, Non-contact, automated cardiac pulse measurements using video imaging and blind source separation, Optics express, 2010, 18(10): p. 10762-10774; Yoo, S. K., Photoplethysmography (PPG) device and the method thereof, 2008, Google Patents; Lewandowska, M., J. Rumiński, and T. Kocejko, Measuring pulse rate with a webcam—a non-contact method for evaluating cardiac activity, 2011 Federated Conference on Computer Science and Information Systems (FedCSIS), 2011, IEEE; and Vetter, R., et al., Method and device for pulse rate detection, 2006, Google Patents. These blind source separation algorithms often fail to recover rPPG signal from serious motion artifacts. See Feng, L., et al., Motion artifacts suppression for remote imaging photoplethysmography, 2014 19th International Conference on Digital Signal Processing (DSP), 2014, IEEE, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Since rPPG signals have different amplitudes in the three channels of RGB color space, algorithms based on a combination of different color channels have been proposed to remove the motion artifacts. See Hulsbusch, M. and B. Rembold, Ein bildgestütztes, funktionelles Verfahren zur optoelektronischen Erfassung der Hautperfusion, 2008, RWTH Aachen Univ., Aachen, Germany, p. 70; Verkruysse, W., L. O. Svaasand, and J. S. Nelson, Remote plethysmographic imaging using ambient light, Optics express, 2008, 16(26): p. 21434-21445; and De Haan, G., Device and method for extracting physiological information, 2013, Google Patents, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. The essence of these methods is to analyze the motion artifacts in each channel, and then remove them via subtraction and normalization.
In summary, rPPG computer monitoring devices with a camera are attractive for non-invasive monitoring of a subject's physiological parameters, but rPPG computer monitoring devices are prone to motion-induced artifacts, making it difficult for such devices to obtain accurate readings in realistic situations.
Accordingly, there is a need for improved and more accurate rPPG computer monitoring devices, particularly rPPG computer monitoring devices that minimize the influence of motion-induced artifacts on monitoring of physiological parameters.

Systems and methods for computer monitoring of remote photoplethysmography based on chromaticity in a converted color space

Arizona Board of Regents on Behalf of Arizona State of University


A method encodes a video by first measuring a variance of pixel intensities in a current frame. A number of bits to encode the current frame is assigned according to rate and buffer fullness constraints. A multiplier value is determined directly as a function of only the variance and the number of bits assigned to the current frame. Motion vectors between a reference frame and the current frame are estimated, and a sum of absolute difference (SAD) is based on a motion compensated residual between the reference frame and the current frame. An encoding mode is determined for each macro block in the current frame based on the sum of absolute difference, the motion vectors and the multiplier value. Then, the motion compensated residual is encoded based on the encoding mode, multiplier value and the number of allocated bits.

Video encoding, with compression, enables storing, transmitting, and processing audio-visual information with fewer storage, network, and processor resources. The most widely used video compression standards include MPEG-1 for storage and retrieval of moving pictures, MPEG-2 for digital television, and MPEG-4 and H.263 for low-bit rate video communications, see ISO/IEC 11172-2:1991, "Coding of moving pictures and associated audio for digital storage media at up to about 1.5 Mbps," ISO/IEC 13818-2:1994, "Information technology—generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio," ISO/IEC 14496-2:1999, "Information technology—coding of audio/visual objects," and ITU-T, "Video Coding for Low Bitrate Communication," Recommendation H.263, March 1996.
These standards are relatively low-level specifications that primarily deal with a spatial compression of images or frames, and the spatial and temporal compression of sequences of frames. As a common feature, these standards perform compression on a per-image basis. With these standards, one can achieve high compression ratios for a wide range of applications.
Interlaced video is commonly used to scan format for television systems. In interlaced video, each frame of the video is divided into a top-field and a bottom-field. The two interlaced fields represent odd- and even-numbered rows or lines of picture elements (pixels) in the frame. The two fields are sampled at different times to enhance a temporal smoothness of the video during playback. Compared to a progressive video scan format, interlaced video has different characteristics and provides more encoding options.
At the macro block level, a variety of modes can be used to encode a video, depending on the coding standard. For example, in order to support interlaced video sequences, the MPEG-2 standard has several different macro block coding modes, including intra mode, no motion compensation (MC) mode, frame/field motion compensation inter mode, forward/backward/interpolate inter mode, and frame/field DCT mode. As an advantage, the multiple modes provide better coding efficiencies due to their inherent adaptability.
The encoding tools included in the MPEG-2 standard are described by Puri et al., "Adaptive Frame/Field Motion Compensated Video Coding," Signal Processing: Image Communications, 1993, and Netravali et al., "Digital Pictures: Representation Compression and Standards," Second Edition, Plenum Press, New York, 1995.
In the MPEG-2 standard, after the picture-level coding mode, i.e., frame-picture or field-picture, is determined, each macro block (MB) in the P- or B-frame can be coded by several different modes. Each mode corresponds to specified motion estimation strategy and either a field-based DCT transform or a frame-based DCT transform is applied. In the TM5 reference encoder, the MB mode decision is based only on the sum of absolute difference (SAD) of the motion estimation and the corresponding variance in texture.
FIG. 1 shows the MB mode decision in a TM5 encoder for a P-type frame picture. Here, the input modes 101 depend on the picture structure type (P or B), and picture mode (frame or field). A "best inter mode" is selected 110 according to a sum 115 of absolute difference (SAD). For example, for P-type frame picture, there are three inter modes: field 111, frame 113, and dual motion vector (DMV) 112. If the SAD of field mode is the smallest of the three, then field mode is selected as the best inter mode 118. The best inter mode is then compared with intra mode 121 and a mode that just copies the co-positional MB of the previous frame (MV=0) 122 as the prediction. Based on the texture variance and some experience equations 130, a final mode 140 is selected. In the TM5 encoder, a difference of motion vector coding rate is not considered. Depending on the size of motion search window and picture type, the rate difference of the motion vectors corresponding to different modes can be tens of bits, which is significant.
After all of the MB modes are determined, the DCT type of each MB is estimated based on spatial difference between the top and bottom field part of each MB. For the field picture, the DCT type is fixed to the field type. For the frame picture, the DCT type can be either field DCT or frame DCT. In the TM5 encoder, two parameters of the top and bottom field parts are extracted. These are the sum of pixel values and the sum of the square of pixel values. The two parameters of both top and bottom field parts of each MB are combined to estimate the DCT type of the MB. However, the optimal mode decision should be based on both the rate and distortion (RD) information.
Because different modes have different motion vectors, which correspond to different coding rates, it should be obvious that the MB mode decision in the prior art TM5 encoder is not optimal. In the conventional rate control method such as TM5, the rate control is obtained by adjusting the quantization scales based on buffer fullness and localized texture variance. It is independent of the mode and DCT type decision. Obviously, that is not optimal either. Moreover, it can be shown that the TM5 DCT type estimation method is not accurate. Hence, an effective rate control method combining with MB mode decision is desired.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,909,513 "Bit allocation for sequence image compression" issued to Liang et al. on Jun. 1, 1999 describes a method and system for allocating bits for representing blocks that are transmitted in an image compression system. There, the bit allocation is obtained by minimizing a cost function cost=D+λR, where D is the total distortion for a frame, R is a desired total number of bits for the frame, a LaGrange multiplier λ is obtained by a bi-section based exhaustive search method. The LaGrange multiplier value λ can be adjusted block by block by a feedback technique.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,691,770 "Device and method for coding video pictures" issued to Keesman et al. on Nov. 25, 1997 describes a method to improve an MPEG-coded video signal by modifying selected coefficients after conventional quantization. The modification is such that a Lagrangian cost cost=D+λR is minimal for a given value of the LaGrange multiplier λ. The value of λ is calculated by means of a statistical analysis of the picture to be coded. The statistical analysis includes estimation of the RD curve on the basis of the amplitude histogram distribution of the DCT coefficients. The searched λ is the derivative of this curve at the desired bit rate. In that method for optimal quantization scale selection, the focus is on the determination of the LaGrange multiplier λ. Macro block mode decision is not considered.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,226,327, "Video coding method and apparatus which select between frame-based and field-based predictive modes," issued on May 1, 2001 to Igarashi et al, a picture is considered as a mosaic of areas. Each area is encoded using either frame-based motion compensation of a previously encoded area, or field-based motion compensation of a previously encoded area, depending on which will result in the least amount of motion compensation data. Each area is orthogonally transformed using either a frame-based transformation or a field-based transformation, depending on which will result in the least amount of motion compensation data.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,037,987, "Apparatus and method for selecting a rate and distortion based coding mode for a coding system," issued to Sethuraman on Mar. 14, 2000 describes a macro block mode decision scheme. In that method, a coding mode that has a distortion measure that is nearest to an expected distortion level is selected. After an initial coding mode is selected, the method applies a trade-off operation. The trade-off operation is actually a simplified cost comparison among the optional modes. The best coding mode after the trade-off operation is selected as the coding mode for the current macro block. In that method, it is assumed that the suitable quantization scale and rate constraint for each macro block can be obtained by a rate-control strategy.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,414,992 "Optimal encoding of motion compensated video," issued to Sriram et al. on Jul. 2, 2002 involves a system and method for optimizing video encoding. For each mode, both distortion and the amount of data required are taken into account. The optimal selection is obtained by comparing all the optional modes in the video encoder. As a rate distortion based method, encoding and decoding the macro block correspondingly is used to obtain the rate and distortion information of each mode. For example, if there are seven optional modes, seven pass encoding and decoding are required.
A similar strategy has been adopted by the Joint Video Team (JVT) reference code, see ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WG11 and ITU-T VCEG (Q.6/SG16), "Detailed Algorithm Technical Description for ITU-T VCEG Draft H.26L Algorithm in Response to Video and DCinema CJPs." In that complexity mode decision method, the macro block mode decision is done by minimizing the Lagrangian functionJ(s, c, MODE|QP, λMODE)=SSD(s, c, MODE|QP)+λMODE·R(s, c, MODE|QP),where QP is the macro block quantizer, λMODE is the LaGrange multiplier for mode decision, MODE indicates a mode chosen from the set of potential prediction, and SSD is the sum of the squared differences between the original block s and its reconstruction c. In this method, QP is fixed and λMODE is estimated based on the value of QP.
None of the above prior art methods for optimal mode consider the selection of a quantization scale.
Systems and methods for optimally selecting a macro block coding mode based on a quantization scale selected for the macro block are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,192,081, "Apparatus and method for selecting a coding mode in a block-based coding system," issued to Chiang et al. on Feb. 20, 2001, and Sun, et al., "MPEG coding performance improvement by jointly optimizing coding mode decisions and rate control," IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology, Vol. 7, No. 3, June 1997.
FIG. 2 shows a typical prior art system and method 200 for jointly optimizing the coding mode and the quantizer. That system 200 basically uses a brute force, trial-and-error method. The system 200 includes a quantization selector 210, a mode selector 220, a MB predictor 230, a discrete cosine transform (DCT) 240, a quantizer 250, a variable length coder (VLC) 260, a cost function 270 to select an optimal quantization and mode 280. The optimal quantization and mode 280 are achieved by an iterative procedure for searching through a trellis to find a path that has a lowest cost. As the quantizer selector 210 changes its step size, e.g., 1 to 31, the mode selector 220 responds by selecting each mode for each macro block, e.g., intra 221, no MC 222, MC frame 223, and MC field 224.
A macro block level is predicted 230 in terms of a decoded picture type. Then, the forward DCT 240 is applied to each macro block of a predictive residual signal to produce DCT coefficients. The DCT coefficients are quantized 250 with each step size in the quantization parameter set. The quantized DCT coefficients are entropy encoded using the VLC 260, and a bit rate 261 is recorded for later use. In parallel, a distortion calculation by means of mean-square-error (MSE) is performed over pixels in the macro block resulting in a distortion value.
Next, the resulting bit rate 261 and distortion 251 are received into the rate-distortion module for cost evaluation 270. The rate-distortion function is constrained by a target frame budget imposed by a rate constraint Rpicture 271. The cost evaluation 270 is performed on each value q in the quantization parameter set. The quantization scale and coding mode for each macro block with the lowest value are selected.
In that system, it is assumed that distortion is unchanged for different mode as long as the quantization scale value q is same. Thus, uniform distortion is used as a constraint and the minimization of the object function is equivalent to minimizing the resulted bit-rates. If Q denotes the set of all admissible quantization scales, and M denotes the set of all admissible coding modes, then the complexity of the system is Q×M. Because a single loop for each quantization scale value involves DCT transformation, quantization, distortion and bit count calculation for each macro block, the double loop for joint mode decision and quantization scale selection in that system makes its complexity extremely high.
Therefore, there is a need to provide a system and method for encoding video that achieves a solution for coding mode decision and quantization scale selection with less complexity than the prior art.

System and method for determining coding modes, DCT types and quantizers for video coding

Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.


The present invention provides a spherical boron nitride fine powder and the other superior in filling property into resin. The present invention relates to a spherical boron nitride fine powder having the following characteristics (A) to (C):                (A) the spherical boron nitride fine particles have any one or more of Si, Ti, Zr, Ce, Al, Mg, Ge, Ga, and V in an amount of 0.1 atm % or more and 3.0 atm % or less in its composition on the surface of 10 nm;        (B) the spherical boron nitride fine powder has an average particle diameter of 0.05 μm or more and 1 μm or less; and        (C) the spherical boron nitride fine powder has an average circularity of 0.8 or more.

Recently, there exists a need for reduction in size of electronic parts and thus for reduction in thickness of the parts used therein such as heat dissipation sheets.
Heat-dissipating fillers used in these electronic parts often contain both coarse powder of several μm to dozens of μm and fine powder of submicron to several μm and the fine powder has an important role in reducing the interfacial thermal resistance.
The particle shape of the heat-dissipating filler, especially of fine-powder heat-dissipating filler, is desirably spherical and spherical alumina fine powders have been mainly used traditionally. There is no example of a spherical boron nitride fine powder being used as the heat-dissipating filler.
Boron nitride is generally prepared by reacting a boron source (such as boric acid or borax) with a nitrogen source (such as urea, melamine, or ammonia) at high temperature, and known are, for example, a "pine cone"-shaped boron nitride, i.e., aggregation of scaly primary particles from boric acid and melamine, (Patent Document 1) and a spherical boron nitride prepared by spray-drying method (Patent Document 2).
Meanwhile, there are reports of spherical boron nitride fine powders being prepared by gas-phase synthesis method (Patent Documents 3, 4, and 5).
In the case of scaly boron nitride, there is a report on improvement in filling property by surface treatment in Patent Document 6 and Patent Document 6 discloses a method for producing a modified boron nitride comprising a step of mechanochemically treating scaly boron nitride in the presence of water or an organic solvent.

Spherical boron nitride fine powder, method for manufacturing same and thermally conductive resin composition using same


Disclosed are air-stable small-molecule adsorbents trimeric [Cu—Br]3 and [Cu—H]3 that undergo a reversible solid-state molecular rearrangements to [Cu—Br.(alkene)]2 and [Cu—H.(alkene)]2 dimers. The reversible solid-state rearrangement allows one to break adsorbent design trade-offs and achieve low heat of adsorption while retaining high selectivity and uptake.

Light alkenes such as ethene and propene are produced by cracking hydrocarbon feedstocks such as ethane, propane and naphtha (Froment, G., Chem. Eng. Sci., 1981, 36(8):1271-1282). The global demand and production of alkenes are higher than any other organic chemical. Annual global production of ethene and propene exceeds 200 million tonnes, and they are used to produce numerous products including polymers and olefin oxides (e.g., ethylene oxide) (Sholl, D. S. et al., Nature News, 2016, 532(7600):435).
Industrially, the separation of alkenes from unconverted alkanes is achieved by cryogenic distillation, which requires high pressures and low temperatures due to the similarities in their boiling points and volatility. For example, a distillation column with more than 100 trays operates at temperatures around −25° C. and pressures higher than 2000 kPa (Wu, Z., et al., Ind. & Eng. Chem. Res., 1997, 36(7):2749-2756). This energy-intensive separation process contributes to almost 75% of the total alkene production cost (Anson, A., et al., Chem. Eng. Sci., 2008, 63(16):4171-4175) and accounts for about 0.3% of global energy use. Several methods have been investigated to reduce the energy consumption and the cost of these separation processes. These include membrane (Hayashi, J.-I., et al., Ind. & Eng. Chem. Res., 1996, 35(11):4176-4181; Staudt-Bickel, C., et al., J. Membr. Sci., 2000, 170(2):205-214; Azhin, M., et al., J. Ind. Eng. Chem., 2008, 14(5):622-638; Bux, H., et al., J. Membrane Sci., 2011, 369(1-2):284-289; Tsou, D. T., et al., Ind. & Eng. Chem. Res., 1994, 33(12):3209-3216), adsorption (Gücüyener, C., et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2010, 132(50):17704-17706; Gücüyener, C., et al., J. Mater. Chem., 2011, 21(45):18386-18397; Shi, M., et al., Chem. Eng. Sci., 2010, 65(11):3494-3498; Shi, M., et al., Chem. Eng. Sci., 2011, 66(12):2817-2822), or hybrid separation methods that combine distillation with membrane processes (Moganti, S., et al., J. Membr. Sci., 1994, 93(1):31-44).
Complexing agents such as silver and copper have been explored to improve adsorption and membrane separation processes (King, C. J., Separation processes based on reversible chemical complexation. 1987, Wiley: New York. p. 760-774). These metals reversibly interact with then-electrons of alkenes (Khan, N. A., et al., J. Hazardous Mater., 2017, 325:198-213; Dias, H. V. R., et al., Eur. J. Inorg. Chem., 2008, 509-522; Yang, R. T., et al., Ind. & Eng. Chem. Res., 1996, 35(4):1006-1011). The π-electrons provide a distinguishing feature to separate alkenes from alkanes, enhancing the selectivity and capacity of materials, leading to process designs with higher product purity, recovery, and through-put.
What are thus needed are new materials and methods for adsorption of alkenes. The compositions and methods disclosed herein addresses these and other needs.

Selective adsorption of gaseous alkenes into non-porous copper(I) complexes: controlling heat of adsorption and loading pressure

Board of Regents, The University of Texas System


A video and audio signal control and distribution system for mobile use includes an audio select logic controller for selection and distribution of one of an AM/FM radio signal, a video tape audio track signal and a microphone signal based on a hierarchical signal arrangement. The system further includes video signal transmission circuitry and video monitors which are triggered to an on state whenever the video tape audio track signal is selected by the audio select logic controller.

The present invention relates generally to systems for controlled transmission of video and audio signals. More specifically, it relates to a unified system for controlled automatic selection and transmission of video and audio signals for use in mobile vehicles.
Systems for the electronic production of video signals or audio signals are known in the art. For example, video cassette recorders (VCR's) with their associated amplifiers, monitors and speaker systems convert images and sounds recorded on magnetic tape or optical disk to images and sounds perceivable by the human senses. Audio signals, such as RF signals or signals recorded on magnetic tape or optical disk, may be transformed into humanly perceivable sounds by radios, cassette tape players or optical disk players. Controls for such systems include selectors for one of several active channels, stations or programs, volume and tone controls, and advance/rewind controls.
Typically, such systems are stationary and operate on power provided by an AC power source. Audio systems have been adapted for use in airplanes to provide taped entertainment and information via headsets worn by passengers. Video entertainment, such as motion picture films, typically has been supplied on airplanes by well known projection machines displaying the visual image on a screen commonly viewed by numerous passengers. Public announcement systems have also been adapted to airplane use, as with the microphone and speaker systems used by airplane crew members.
Several devices have attempted to provide some degree of signal selection in audio systems. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,070,698 to Curtis et al. discloses an audio system in which one of several tracks of a multi-track tape player is selected for transmission. A timer control is provided for activating the tape player. The taped recordings include periodic commercial messages which are played while the background recording of music is caused to fade. Curtis et al. is designed to be used in commercial establishments, such as grocery stores, to allow automatic periodic recorded announcements without the need for an operator to interrupt the background music to make a live announcement. Curtis et al. does not provide for integration and automatic selection of multiple audio sources and video transmission, and does not teach or suggest the use of a low voltage, low current power supply.
Another device which attempts to provide some degree of audio signal selection is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,513,284 to Right. In Right, several control consoles are interconnected and are also connected to a plurality of remote stations. Each console is connected to a separate audio input and to the remote stations at which the audio signal is transformed into audible sounds. Each console has a hierarchical position relative to the other consoles, and when a console is activated, the consoles of a lower hierarchical position are disconnected from the remote station.
Right does not teach a single control for a plurality of audio signals, nor does Right teach or suggest the integration and automatic selection of video and audio signals. Moreover, Right teaches accomplishment of control of the audio output of the system simply by connecting and disconnecting the audio signals of selected consoles from the remote stations, rather than by the selection of a single audio signal by a unified central control to be transmitted to an audio output mechanism. Right also fails to teach or disclose any means for meeting changing output power requirements.
Another device which attempts to provide some degree of audio signal selection is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,035,589 to Parke. In Parke, a single audio amplification and transmission device is provided for use in mass transit vehicles to provide background music and means for making public announcements. In this system, one audio signal is provided by a magnetic tape recording and playback device and another audio signal is provided by a microphone, as for public announcements. A time delay network in the system provides for the partial rewinding of the tape when the microphone is in use and for restart of the tape playback when the microphone is no longer in use.
Parke does not provide for the transmission of the audio signal of a video tape in addition to an audio tape recording signal and a microphone signal. Moreover, Parke does not provide for integration of a video signal with audio signals, nor does it provide for the automatic transmission of video and audio signals in accordance with a predetermined signal hierarchy. Parke also does not teach or suggest the use of a low voltage, low current power supply which would allow reduction of the size of the device. Parke also does not teach or disclose means to add additional power amplifiers to the system to meet changing output power requirements.
It can be seen that known systems do not provide a unified video and audio signal control and distribution system capable of automatically selecting one of a radio/tape audio signal, an audio signal associated with a video tape, and a public announcement system audio signal according to a predetermined signal selection hierarchy. Nor do such systems provide for the integration of a plurality of video monitors with an automatic signal selection means.
Another disadvantage of such systems is that they are not readily adaptable to mobile vehicle use, such as in a tour bus, in which compact size, ability to operate on low supply current, input sensitivity adjustment and variable output power capability are highly desirable features. Furthermore, use of such systems in mobile vehicles would require substantial operator training to ensure proper use, and would require that the operator of a vehicle physically operate the system while the vehicle is in motion, thereby presenting a safety hazard.

Unified automatic video and audio signal control and distribution system


A connector (10) configured to bring an object (70) into conduction comprises: a pair of fitting bodies fittable to each other; and a filler (60) with which at least one fitting body of the pair of fitting bodies is loaded, wherein a fitting body of the pair of fitting bodies includes an accommodating portion (35a) configured to accommodate an end of the object (70), and the filler (60) is configured to cover the end of the object (70) in the accommodating portion (35a).

A connector which holds a plurality of objects by a pair of fitting bodies fitted to each other so that the plurality of objects are electrically connected to each other via a relay contact inside the fitting bodies is conventionally known. For such a connector, there is a known technique that protects the connection portion between each object and the relay contact to prevent external foreign matter such as water and dust from entering the connection portion, in a state in which the fitting bodies are fitted to each other.
For example, PTL 1 discloses a branch connector that can effectively prevent external foreign matter from entering the relay contact side by arranging a main packing and a sub packing inside the fitting bodies.


The reactor coolant system (RCS) of a pressurized water reactor (PWR) is chemically decontaminated and cleaned utilizing apparatus which is comprised of components designed to operate at low pressures while still utilizing installed reactor coolant pumps and/or the residual heat removal pumps to generate the high flow rates required for the process. A high volume diverted flow of reactor coolant from the RCS is passed through letdown valves to reduce the high pressure produced by the installed pumps. Chemical decontamination and cleaning agents are mixed with the low pressure diverted flow and returned to the RCS by high head injection pumps. Contamination solubilized by the decontamination and cleaning agents is removed as the reactor coolant is recirculated through demineralizers. Filters remove particulates, and fines from the demineralizer resins. A surge tank, which may or preferably is not, in the path of the diverted flow provides reactor coolant for backwashing the demineralizers and filters and downloading the demineralizer resins.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the removal of a layer of film which becomes adhered to the internal surfaces of the reactor coolant system and connected systems during operation of a pressurized water reactor (PWR). More particularly, it relates to a method and apparatus for decontaminating and cleaning the PWR reactor coolant system at a pressure which does not require high pressure components and connections.
2. Background Information
Pressurized water reactors have a reactor coolant system which circulates reactor coolant in the form of light water containing suitable levels of moderating chemicals through at least two loops which include hot leg piping between the reactor vessel and a steam generator and a cold leg returning reactor coolant from the steam generator to the reactor vessel. The reactor coolant system also includes a residual heat removal system containing heat exchangers which remove heat generated by the reactor core when the plant is shut down.
Over years of use, a two layer corrosion film forms on the typically stainless steel surfaces of the reactor coolant system. The inner layer which is a grown in place passivation film bonds to the stainless steel surface and is composed of iron, chromium, and nickel oxides. This inner layer which is several microns thick forms part of the metal surface. The outer layer of the corrosion film is a deposit of iron, cobalt nickel, and other corrosion and wear products. This film which becomes tightly adherent is activated from the passage of its constituents through the neutron flux in the reactor vessel and core. The isotopes formed in this film have long half lives such as five years or more which expose workers servicing the reactor coolant system to gamma radiation.
Most prior attempts at decontamination of PWRs have been limited to portions of the reactor coolant system, such as the steam generator channel heads and the residual heat removal system. These sections of the reactor coolant system could be chemically decontaminated with moderate flow rates at low pressure. Various processes have been developed for such chemical decontamination. Two processes are in general use. These include the LOMI process developed by the Electric Power Research Institute and the Central Electric Government Board of the United Kingdom. This process must be carried out at temperatures of about 180.degree. F. up to about 200.degree. F. The second system is CANDEREM developed by Atomic Energy Canada, Ltd. for heavy water carbon steel reactors. This process operates at temperatures in certain steps of up to 240.degree. F.
In decontaminating an entire reactor coolant system of a PWR, consideration must given to the size of the system. The hot and cold leg piping can be up to for instance 31 inches in diameter. The flow rates for such a decontamination system must be great enough that the process is effective (about one foot per second minimum), and can be completed and the system flushed of the decontaminating and cleaning agents in a reasonably short time to ensure that they do not attack (corrode) the walls of the reactor coolant system. The high flow rates required can best be achieved by circulating the reactor coolant with the decontamination and cleaning agents using the installed main reactor coolant pumps and/or the residual heat removal pumps to provide flow through the reactor coolant system and temperature control for the decontamination process. However, the minimum pressure required for operation of these installed pumps is usually fairly high, 400 psig or higher, and therefore, the decontamination system and its components must be designed to withstand such pressures. In fact, the pressure at the discharge side of the residual heat removal system pumps can be 570 psig or higher. Therefore, a decontamination system utilizing these pumps must be designed to withstand a pressure of 600 psig or higher. As it is noted above, the temperatures required for these chemical decontamination and cleaning processes can also be up to 240.degree. F. Therefore, the components of the decontamination system must be designed to withstand both high pressures and high temperatures. Vessels and conduits designed for these pressures and temperatures can have wall thicknesses of several inches. Thus, the components must be specially adapted, and welded connections and piping rather than flexible conduits are required.
There is a need for an improved method and apparatus for chemically decontaminating and cleaning the full reactor coolant system of a PWR which operates at pressures which permit the use of standard system components including couplings in place of welded connections.
There is also a need for such an improved method and apparatus which provides the required flow rate for the process while using standard components.
There is a further need for such a method and apparatus which can operate at the elevated temperatures required by the chemical decontamination and cleaning processes.

Apparatus and method for chemically decontaminating a PWR reactor coolant system