This document discloses EEG headset designs that address shortcomings in prior art headsets and also provides headset solutions for new and useful applications utilizing EEG headsets. One such application is brain computer interface (BCI) applications, and more specifically, a BCI application for stroke therapy in which the headset is utilized to obtain ipsilateral brain signals. This document also discloses BCI devices and methods utilizing EEG headsets.

Electroencephalography ("EEG") headsets are used to acquire brain signal information from the surface of a subject's head adjacent the brain. EEG headsets have many applications, and the number of applications are expanding significantly. For example, EEG headsets have long been used in medical applications, and have typically been used in a medical facility where they are applied to the subject by trained medical personnel. One very common example of an EEG headset used in medical applications is a standard EEG skullcap, which includes a cap made of a rubber or rubber-like material that is put on the subject's head like a swimming cap, and the cap has numerous surface electrodes positioned throughout the cap in a manner such that they come in contact with surface of the subject's head. EEG headset designs like the standard EEG skullcap that cover the entire head have general applicability, and so can be used for many different applications. One downside however to such EEG headsets, and with current EEG headset designs in general, is that they are difficult for subjects to put on by themselves, and do so consistently so that electrodes are positioned in the same place in multiple different uses with the same subject.
One particular application area for EEG headsets is an area referred to as brain computer interface (BCI) or brain machine interface (BMI) applications. In a BCI or BMI system, brain signals are acquired from either an implanted or surface EEG electrode assembly, and processed in a computing system that ascertains the intent of the subject. Generally, the use of a BCI system includes a screening or learning mode in which the BCI system learns the brain signals a subject produces when thinking about or performing some specific thing, followed by an operation or chronic mode in which the BCI system continuously monitors brain signal information obtained using the electrode assembly to detect the presence of the learned brain signals, thus informing the BCI system of the subject's intentions. In the context of such a BCI system when using non-implanted electrodes like an EEG headset, ensuring that the electrodes are placed in the same position every time the system is used, including for example in multiple sessions of operational use, is challenging with existing EEG headset technology. In addition, there are other areas beyond BCI systems where electrode placement during multiple different sessions is important. Examples are chronic pain applications.
It is also known that different regions of the brain and frequencies of brain signals relate to different body functions, some examples of which are planning functions and motor control functions. For example, the brain signals acquired in a BCI system may be a specific type or frequency of brain signal acquired from a specific location of the brain, depending on what the BCI system is designed to do. One example of this location-specific nature of some BCI applications is the use of a BCI system for stroke patient rehabilitation, as described for example in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/133,919 to Leuthardt et al. and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/842,749 to Leuthardt et al. (the "Leuthardt et al. patent applications"), the disclosures of which are incorporated herein in their entireties. These patent applications describe, among other things, BCI systems to assist hemiparetic subjects, or in other words, subjects who have suffered a unilateral stroke brain insult and thus have an injury in, or mainly in, one hemisphere of the brain. For such patients, the other hemisphere of the brain may be uninjured and operating normally. The Leuthardt et al. patent applications describe an idea of ipsilateral control, in which brain signals from one side of the brain are used to control body functions on the same side of the body.
The location of the brain at which ipsilateral signals are produced is generally known, namely, a hand area of the motor and/or pre-motor cortex. That said, the position for any particular patient may be a little different from patient to patient, and therefore the location where an electrode needs to be positioned to detect the ipsilateral signal needs to be ascertained during a patient screening process for the patient. Once that location is identified and known, assuming that is possible, it is challenging using current EEG headset technology to consistently place electrodes of the EEG headset at the desired location to obtain the ipsilateral signal during multiple sessions in which the BCI system may be used. In addition, stroke patients may only have the use of one arm and hand. In addition, it may be desired to have stroke therapy rehabilitation utilizing a BCI system to be performed outside of a rehabilitation clinic such that there may be no assistance available to the stroke patient in putting on the BCI system including the headset. That is challenging however, in view of current EEG headset designs being difficult for stroke patients to put on by themselves using only one arm and hand. Further, it would be challenging for such patient to put existing technology EEG headsets on in the same way and location for multiple therapy sessions so that the electrode positioning is consistent from one session to the next.

EEG headsets with precise and consistent electrode positioning


A battery-powered, liquid-detection alarm and shut-off system includes an elongated sensor, an electronic controller, and a spring biased shut-off valve assembly. The sensor comprises two partially exposed conductors separated by protruding ridges of insulation. The protruding-ridge configuration enables the sensor to detect small quantities of surface water and yet be insensitive to humidity. The electronic controller maximizes battery life and protects against false alarms caused by electrical interference. The shut-off valve assembly comprises a 1/4-turn ball valve and a valve-actuating assembly. The valve is set by being manually cocked to an open position, engaging a lever actuated cam and preloading a valve shut-off spring. The valve is then closed by momentarily passing an electrical current through a temperature-activated memory-shaped spring located on the valve assembly. The current is supplied by the electronic controller in response to detection of liquid by the sensor. The heating of the spring from the induced current causes the tension of the memory-shaped spring to increase, releasing the lever actuated cam and permitting the preloaded valve shut-off spring to close the valve.

In many situations where water or other liquids are used domestically or industrially, it is important to quickly detect and limit leakage. For example, when water begins to leak from a water heater tank, air conditioning water supply, or other plumbing system, it is important to have an early warning sounded and for the water supply to the leaking system to be quickly shut off. An extended period of leakage may cause substantial damage to carpeting and flooring, as well as ceilings and walls, if leakage should occur on an upper floor of a multi-story structure, for example.
A system to automatically detect leaks, activate an alarm, and shut off the supply to the leaking system is desirable and preferably should contain its own electrical power supply. This permits the system to remain operable if flooding or other circumstances cause a loss of electrical power. The use of a self-contained power supply requires that the system have an extremely low current drain in both quiescent and operative modes so that the battery will not need frequent replacement.
Such a system can include a probe or sensor which may be placed around the base of a water heater tank or other plumbing fixture to be monitored. The sensor should be able to quickly and accurately sense the presence of surface water anywhere along its length. The sensor also should not be activated by humidity. Some prior art sensors require a large buildup of surface water before they are activated; and in some sensors water can run along the length of the sensor and still not be detected.
The prior art includes a variety of patents relating to leak detection and shut-off systems. U.S. Pat. No. 4,319,232 to Westphal, et al. discloses a liquid detection device having an elongated water sensor. The sensor has two electrical conductors covered by an insulator having a plurality of openings along its length, periodically exposing each conductor to the environment. Exposure of the sensor to a sufficient amount of water to cover two adjacent openings will produce a change of electrical resistance between the conductors. Considerable water buildup around adjacent probe openings is required to generate the change of electrical resistance between conductors needed to activate the alarm. The sensor also requires precise placement in order to detect surface water. Self-powered detecting circuitry in the Westphal et al. device activates an audible alarm and a non-latching switch, which may be used to close an externally-powered fluid control valve. The device will not operate to control externally powered circuitry if external power is lost.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,297,686 to Tom discloses a combined extended probe liquid detection and shut-off system. A solenoid type shut-off valve is used. This type of valve is typically unsuitable for long term, unattended applications due to the substantial current drain required by this type of shut-off valve. Further, the extended probe requires a slow, steady stream of water to activate the alarm. The probe is not sensitive to small drops of surface water which may be an early warning of a leak.
Shut-off valves requiring lower current drain than solenoid valves are known in the prior art. For instance, a valve control member constructed of a shape-memory material is used to control a valve. When the control member is exposed to external heat above its transition temperature, the control member reverts to a prior shape, changing the position of the valve. U.S. Pat. No. 3,613,732 to Willson, et al. discloses several embodiments of this type of valve. The valves disclosed by Willson et al. are limited in the amount of closing force produced by the control member, making them unusable as water shut-off valves in home and industrial plumbing systems where water pressures may exceed 100 lbs/in.sup.2.
Thus, there is a need for an improved water detection sensor which is highly sensitive to the presence of relatively small amounts of surface water in the area being monitored, without causing false alarms because of sensitivity to humidity or dampness. There is also a need for an improved battery-operated system for detecting the presence of water, sounding an alarm, and shutting off a water supply without substantial electrical current drain or the other problems and drawbacks discussed above.


A vibration actuator includes a roller, a vibrating element having a contact portion that is in contact with the roller, a vibrator for vibrating the vibrating element, a pressing device for pressing the roller against the vibrating element, and a lubricator disposed close to the contact portion and in contact with the roller.

The present invention relates to a vibration actuator that allows lubrication between the roller and the vibrating element of the actuator.
A vibration actuator using ultrasonic vibration is used as a drive actuator for applications that require a high torque and multiple degrees of freedom. Such vibration actuator includes a vibrator such as a piezoelectric element for generating ultrasonic vibration, a vibrating element held in contact with the vibrator, and a roller disposed in contact with the vibrating element. Part of the vibrating element held in contact with the roller is vibrated by complex vibration caused by ultrasonic vibration of the vibrator, and the roller is rotated by friction against such part of the vibrating element. In such actuator in which the roller is rotated while being in contact with the vibrating element, abrasion occurs between the roller and the vibrating element. Thus, there have been various proposals to reduce such abrasion.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2008-206251 discloses a vibration actuator having a spherical shaped roller. In the actuator, the vibrator and the vibrating element are connected to form a generally cylindrical shape, and a cylindrical recess is formed on the side of the vibrating element opposite from the vibrator. The roller is disposed in contact with the edge of the recess. The roller is pressed against the vibrating element by a pressing device that is disposed on the side of the roller opposite from the recess. The pressing device has a recess opening toward the roller and storing therein lubricant such as grease. The recess of the vibrating element also stores therein lubricant such as grease. The pressing device and the vibrating element have lubricant supply passages communicating with the respective recesses for replenishment of lubricant from the outside of the respective pressing device and the vibrating element. Thus, lubrication between the pressing device and the roller is accomplished by the lubricant supplied from the recess of the pressing device, and lubrication between the vibrating element and the roller is accomplished by the lubricant supplied from the recess of the vibrating element.
In the actuator disclosed in the publication No. 2008-206251, however, the lubricant storage recess and the lubricant supply passage formed in the respective pressing device and the vibrating element lead to a complicated structure and hence an increased manufacturing time and cost. When the roller has a cylindrical shape instead of the spherical shape and pressed against the vibrating element by the pressing device disposed inside the roller, the structure of the lubricant storage recess becomes more complicated, thereby further increasing manufacturing cost.
The present invention is directed to providing a vibration actuator that allows easy lubrication between the roller and the vibrating element of the actuator.


A notification message gateway is disclosed. Notification data and application identification data is received. The application identification data is used to select an application credential associated with at least one application instance. The notification data and application credential are provided to a distribution node such that the notification data is provided to the application instance.

Push notification features are commonly employed in mobile applications. For example, push notification data (e.g., push notifications) may include a message (e.g., text), sound, image (e.g., badges), commands, and/or other information. A push notification may, in certain cases, be output to a mobile device user (e.g., in a dialog window, banner, as a sound, etc.). Providing push notification capabilities in an application may require significant infrastructure. For example, providing push notifications to an application may require maintenance of push message server(s), management of application credentials (e.g., application push token(s), registration identity (ID), notification keys), and/or other infrastructure.


In a power converter, a primary winding receives an input power. In addition, multiple secondary windings transform the input power into multiple charging currents to charge a set of cells via a set of paths. The multiple secondary windings further balance the set of cells based on the charging currents. A ratio between a first turn number of a first secondary winding of the secondary windings and a second turn number of a second secondary winding of the secondary windings is determined by a nominal voltage ratio between two corresponding cells of the set of cells.

In a conventional charging system that is used to charge a battery pack, multiple bypasses may be coupled to the cells in the battery pack, so as to balance the cells. For example, if one of the cells has a voltage that is greater than the voltages of all the other cells, a corresponding bypass can be turned on so as to discharge the cell that has the highest voltage. By selectively turning on the bypasses according to the voltages of the cells, the cells can be balanced. However, power losses through the bypasses may be relatively high. In addition, a bypass controller is needed to control the bypasses according to feedback signals indicative of the voltages of the cells, which may increase the time needed to balance the cells, and may further increase power losses.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Systems and methods for balancing battery cells


Systems for rapidly transferring and, as needed, recovering large data sets and methods for making and using the same. In various embodiments, the system advantageously can allow data to be transferred in larger sizes, wherein data may be easily recovered from multiple regions and wherein latency is no longer an issue, among other things.

Traditionally in a computer storage file platform, files have been saved in traditional file systems, such as New Technology File System (NTFS), XFS, EXT, etc., and the data is protected by underlying Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID), which either duplicates all data to multiple drives or protects the data with a calculated parity that allows data to be rebuilt if a disk has been lost. RAID works well in a single disk array environment in a single location but does not scale to multiple regions. Some file systems do allow replication between regions, but these replication points are in small sizes and the system requires a short distance between sites reducing latency.
In view of the foregoing, a need exists for an improved system and method for allowing data to be transferred in larger sizes, wherein data may be easily recovered from multiple regions and wherein latency is no longer an issue, in an effort to overcome the aforementioned obstacles, challenges and deficiencies of traditional computer storage file platforms.
It should be noted that the figures are not drawn to scale and that elements of similar structures or functions are generally represented by like reference numerals for illustrative purposes throughout the figures. It also should be noted that the figures are only intended to facilitate the description of the preferred embodiments. The figures do not illustrate every aspect of the described embodiments and do not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

System and method for rapidly transferring and recovering large data sets


A computer-implemented method of sharing a screen amongst at least two users participating in a real-time communication and collaboration session via a communication network can be configured so that a screen displaying a first content can be shared by a user of a first client so as to be displayed at at least a second client used by a second user. Embodiments of the method can include receiving, at a control unit for controlling the communication and collaboration session, coordinates specifying the position of an intended item of the first content of the shared screen and receiving, at the control unit, a screenshot of the intended item and a predetermined surrounding area as a sample picture or as sample pixels.

Web collaboration and communication sessions today find widespread use as people that collaborate e.g. in teams or the like work in different locations or from home office. Moreover, in such web collaboration and communication sessions, many tools and features are known from prior art, for example, screen sharing. With respect to this feature, a participant may share his or her screen such that the other remotely located participants of the collaboration session are able to view relevant content displayed at the shared screen.

Computer-implemented method of sharing a screen, media server, and application for controlling a real-time communication and collaboration session


The present invention relates to a process for the preparation of metal phthalocyanine sulphonamide [MPc(SO2NHR)x] catalyst useful for sweetening of LPG and light petroleum distillates which comprises reacting a metal phthalocyanine with chlorosulphonic acid at 90-150xc2x0 C. for 1-5 hrs. cooling the reaction mixture adding 1-7 parts of a chloride reagent heating the said mixture at 60-80xc2x0 C. from 0.5-3 hrs. to obtain the metal phthalocyanine sulphonyl chloride, isolating it by adding the reaction mixture in ice cold water, reacting the isolated metal phthalocyanine sulphonyl chloride with an amine of general formula H2NR where R is selected from hydrogen, aryl, alkyl and cycloalkyl in an aqueous or non-aqueous medium or a mixture thereof at a temperature in the range xe2x88x924 to 15xc2x0 C. and at a pH ranging between 7-9 in the presence of an acid binding agent to obtain the described metal phthalocyanine sulphonamide catalyst wherein the chloride reagent used is selected from the group consisting of thionyl chloride, phosphorus trichloride and phosphorus pentachloride, the binding agent used is selected from the group consisting of sodium bicarbonate, sodium carbonate, sodium hydroxide and tertiary organic bases selected from pyridine triethyl amine and piperidine and the catalyst metal phthalocyanine sulphonamide is selected from the group consisting of cobalt, manganese, nickel, iron vanadium phthalocyanine sulfonamide most preferably cobalt phthalocyanine sulphonamide.

The present invention relates to an improved process for the preparation of a catalyst useful for liquid-liquid sweetening of LPG and light petroleum distillates.
More particularly the invention relates to the preparation of sulphonamides of various metal phthalocyanines suitable as catalysts and their use for liquid-liquid sweetening of pentanes, LSRN, cracked naphtha and regeneration of alkali in the extraction of mercaptans from LPG, pentanes, LSRN and light thermally cracked naphtha.
It is well known that the presence of mercaptans in the petroleum products like LPG, naphtha, gasoline, kerosene, ATF etc is highly undesirable because of their foul odour and highly corrosive nature. They are also poisonous to the catalysts and adversely affect the performance of tetraethyl lead as octane booster. Although there are several processes known for the removal of mercaptans from petroleum products, the most common practice is to oxidize the mercaptans present to less deleterious disulphides with air in the presence of a catalyst. Generally, the lower mercaptans present in LPG, pentanes, LSRN and light thermally cracked naphtha are first extracted in alkali solution and then oxidized to disulfides with air in the presence of a catalyst. The disulphides, being insoluble in alkali solution, separate out from the top and the alkali is regenerated. In the liquid-liquid sweetening the lower mercaptans present in petroleum products like pentanes, LSRN, cracked naphtha etc are converted to disulphides by direct oxidation with air in the presence of alkali solution and catalyst. The higher molecular weight mercaptans present in petroleum products like heavy naphtha, FCC gasoline, ATF and kerosene are oxidized to disulphides with air in a fixed bed reactor containing catalyst impregnated on a suitable support like activated carbon (Catal. Rev.-Sci. Eng. 35(4), 571-609 (1993).
It is also well known that the phthalocyanines of the metals like cobalt, iron, manganese, molybdenum and vanadium catalyze the oxidation of mercaptans to disulphides in alkaline medium. Among these cobalt and vanadium phthalocyanines are preferred. As the metal phthalocyanines (MPC""s) are not soluble in aqueous medium, for improved catalytic activity their derivatives like sulphonated and carboxylated metal phthalocyanines are used as catalysts for sweetening of petroleum fractions. For example use of cobalt phthalocyanine monosulphonate as the catalyst in the fixed bed sweetening of various petroleum products (U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,371,031; 4,009,120; 4,207,173; 4,028,269; 4,087,378; 4,141,819, 4,121,998; 4,124,494; 4,124,531) and cobalt phthalocyanine disulphonate (U.S. Pat. No. 4,250,022) tetra sulphonate (U.S. Pat. No. 2,622,763) and the mixture thereof (U.S. Pat. No. 4,248,694) as catalysts for liquid-liquid sweetening and alkali regeneration in mercaptan extraction of light petroleum distillates have been reported. The use of phenoxy substituted cobalt phthalocyanine as sweetening catalyst (Ger Offen 3,816,952), cobalt and vanadium chelates of 2,9,16,23-tetrakis (3,4-dicarboxybenzoyl)phthalocyanine as effective catalyst for both homogeneous and fixed bed mercaptan oxidation (Ger Offen 2,757,476; Fr. Demande 2,375,201) and cobalt, vanadium chelates of tetrapyridinoporphyrazine as active catalysts for sweetening of sour petroleum distillates (Ger offen 2,441,648) have also been reported.
It is well known that the catalysts used for the liquid-liquid sweetening of petroleum fractions like pentanes, LSRN, etc. and regeneration of alkali in the mercaptan extraction from LPG, pentanes etc are di-, tri-and tetra sulphonates of metal phthalocyanines particularly those of cobalt and vanadium phthalocyanines; cobalt phthalocyanine sulphonates being specially preferred. The cobalt phthalocyanine sulphonates differ in activity and in their solubility characteristics depending upon the number of sulphonate functionalities leading to problems in their use as catalysts.
Cobalt phthalocyanine disulphonate, a commonly used catalyst in liquid-liquid sweetening and alkali regeneration, is extremely dusty in the dry fine powder form and causes a handling problem. To overcome this problem cobalt phthalocyanine disulphonate is admixed with water and commonly used as a slurry. However, with insufficient mixing the cobalt phthalocyanine disulphonate precipitates out from the slurry. Moreover, even if the slurry is mixed sufficiently, it retains the cobalt phthalocyanine disulphonate in suspension for a particular length of time only, beyond which the slurry becomes extremely viscous and may form gel, making it very difficult to remove the material from packaging. Cobalt phthalocyanine tetrasulphonate, on the other hand, is highly soluble in water and its use can eliminate precipitation and gel forming problems associated with the use of cobalt phthalocyanine disulphonate. However, it is reported that cobalt phthalocyanine tetrasulphonate has lower catalytic activity than cobalt phthalocyanine disulphonate (U.S. Pat. No. 4,885,268). Further, preparation of the metal phthalocyanine disulphonates by reacting metal phthalocynines with oleum has handling and working-up problems.
During our investigations on the development of new sweetening catalysts, we observed metal phthalocyanine sulphonamides to be active catalysts for liquid liquid sweetening of light petroleum products (Indian Patent No 1,53,190, Indian 5Patent No. 1,52,541 and Ind. J. Tech. 25, 397-400 (1987)). In these patents and literature a procedure for making cobalt phthalocyanine sulphonamides has been reported. This method involves treatment of cobalt phthalocyanine with chlorosulphonic acid followed by amidation with ammonia gas. However, the catalyst yield and activity was found to be low. Hence the present invention provides an improved process for the preparation of metal phthalocyanine sulphonamides in considerably higher yields and with very high catalytic activities for both liquid-liquid sweetening and alkali regeneration.
The objective of the present invention is to provide an improved process for the 15preparation of metal phthalocyanine sulphonamide suitable a catalyst for liquid-liquid sweetening of pentanes, LSRN, cracked naphtha etc. and regeneration of alkali in the mercaptan extraction from LPG, pentanes, LSRN, light thermally cracked naphtha and the like, which obviates the drawbacks as detailed above.
Accordingly the present invention provides an improved process for the preparation of catalyst metal phthalocyanine sulphonamide of the formula
Mpc(SO2NHR)x
wherein MPc represents
xe2x80x83M is Co, Ni, Fe, Mn, Cr or V;
X is 1, 2, 3 or 4 and
R is hydrogen, alkyl,or cycloalkyl,
useful for LPG and light petroleum distillates which comprises;
reacting a metal phthalocyanine with chlorosulphonic acid at a temperature in the range of 90-150xc2x0 C. for a period ranging between 1 hr-5 hrs, cooling the mixture to a temperature ranging between 40-80xc2x0 C., adding 1-7 parts of a chloride reagent to the said mixture, heating the above said mixture to a temperature ranging between 60-80xc2x0 C for a period ranging between 0.5 hr to 3 hrs to obtain the metal phthalocyanine sulphonyl chloride, isolating the above said compound by adding the reaction mixturein an ice cold water, reacting the above isolated metal phthalocyanine sulphonyl chloride with an amine of general formula H2NR where R is selected from hydrogen, aryl, alkyl and cycloalkyl in an aqueous or non aqueous medium or a mixture thereof at a temperature in the range xe2x88x924 to 15xc2x0 C. and at a pH ranging between 7-9 in the presence of an acid binding agent to obtain the desired catalyst.
In an another embodiment of the present invention the metal phthalocyanine used is selected from the group consisting of cobalt, manganese, iron, nickel, chromium and vanadium phthalocyanine, most preferably cobalt phthalocyanine.
In yet another embodiment of the present invention the chloride reagent used is selected from thionyl chloride, phosphorus trichloride and phosphorus pentachloride.
In yet another embodiment of the present invention the non-aqueous medium used is to selected from the group consisting of chlorobenzene, nitrobenzene, alcohols and N, N--dimethylformamide.
In yet another embodiment of the present invention the acid binding agent used is selected from the group consisting of sodium bicarbonate, sodium carbonate, sodium hydroxide and tertiary organic bases selected from pyridine, triethyl amine and piperidine. In yet another embodiment of the present invention the catalyst prepared is metal phthalocyanine sulphonamide selected from the group consisting of cobalt, manganese, nickel, iron, vanadium phthalocyanine sulphomamide and their N-substituted sulphonamide derivatives, most preferably selected from cobalt phthalocyanine tetra-sulphonamide and cobalt phthalocyanine tetra-N-(4-hydroxy phenyl)sulphonamide.
In still another embodiment of the present invention the metal phthalocyanine sulphonamide catalyst is useful for both liquid-liquid sweetening and alkali regeneration in the mercaptan extraction from petroleum fraction such as LPG, pentanes, light straight run naphtha and cracked naphtha.
In the present invention the sulphonamides of the metal phthalocyanines suitable as sweetening catalysts are prepared by first converting the suitable metal phthalocyanine to the corresponding metal phthalocyanine sulphonyl chloride (mono-, di-, tri-, tetrasulphonyl metal phthalocyanine or a mixture thereof) followed by reacting the metal phthalocyanine sulphonyl chlorides with different amines including ammonia to yield the metal phthalocyanine sulphonamides.
According to the present invention one part of suitable metal phthalocyanine is slowly added to 5-20 parts of chlorosulphonic acid at room temperature. The temperature of the reaction mixture is slowly increased in stages to 90-150xc2x0 C. and maintained at this temperature for 1-5 hrs. The reaction mixture is then preferably cooled to 40-80xc2x0 C. and 1-7 parts of thionyl chloride or phosphorus pentachloride or phosphorus trichlonde or similar such reagent is slowly added. After this addition, in case of thionyl chloride the reaction mixture is heated to 60-80xc2x0 C. and maintained at 20 this temperature for 0.5-3 hrs. In case of other reagents the reaction mixture is heated to a suitable temperature for a suitable period. The metal phthalocyanine sulphonyl chloride thus formed is isolated by any suitable technique like hydrolysing the reaction mixture with ice cold water. This yields 1.6-1.69 parts of metal phthalocyanine sulphonylchloride with metal phthalocyanine tetrasulphonyl chloride as major component and trisulphonyt-, disulphonyl chlorides as the minor components.
Similarly metal phthalocyanine mono-, di-, tri-, tetrasulphonic acid or mixture thereof is converted into the corresponding metal phthalocyanine sulphonyl chlorides in almost quantitative yields, by adding one part of the former to 3-8 parts of chlorosulphonic acid or similar such solvent at room temperature preferably under cooling conditions, heating the reaction mixture to 60-80xc2x0 C. and then adding 1-5 parts of reagents like thionyl chloride or phosphorus pentachloride or phosphorus trichloride or the like. The reaction is completed by heating for 0.5 to 5 hrs at a suitable temperature.
The present invention provides an improved methodology for the conversion of metal phthalocyanine sulphonyl chlorides, thus obtained, in to the corresponding metal phthalocyanine sulphonamides suitable as catalysts for the liquid-liquid sweetening and alkali regeneration in the mercaptan extraction. The suitable metal phthalocyanine sulphonamides havexe2x80x94SO2NHR group where R may be hydrogen, alkyl, cycloalkyl, aromatic or any other group like substituted aromatic or long chain alkyl with further substitution with different functional groups. The metal phthalocyanine sulphonamides with xe2x80x94SO2NR1R2xe2x80x94, without any hydrogen attached to nitrogen, in general are not found suitable as sweetening catalysts due to their limited solubility in alkali solution. The metal phthalocyanine sulphonamides are prepared by reacting metal phthalocyanine sulphonyl chlorides with suitable amines of general formula H2NR where R may be hydrogen, alkyl, cycloalkyl, aromatic or any other group either in the form of free base or in the form of their water soluble hydrochloride or any other acid salt. The reaction of metal phthalocyanine sulphonyl chlorides with amines can be carried out in aqueous or non-aqueous medium such as chlorobenzene, nitrobenzene, alcohols, or N, N-dimethylformamide in the presence of acid-binding agents. The suitable acid-binding agents are sodium bicarbonate, sodium carbonate, sodium hydroxide, tertiary organic bases such as pyridine or triethylamine or an excess of the amines used for making sulphonamide. The reaction is carried out at pH values in a weakly acidic to alkaline ranges.
The improved method of this invention for the preparation of metal phthalocyanine sulphonamides with SO2NH2 groups consists of dispersing the wet cake of metal phthalocyanine sulphonyl chloride in water, alcohol or their mixture or similar such medium and passing ammonia gas either after bringing the pH of the system to about 7.00 or without pH adjustment at 0-20xc2x0 C. temperature till the reaction mixture is fairly alkaline. To this reaction mixture catalytic amount of any organic base like pyridine, piperidine, triethylamine, and alkali solution, either both or one of them is added. The reaction mixture is then stirred at room temperature for 10-120 minutes and at 30-90xc2x0 C. for 10-60 minutes. The metal phthalocyanine sulphonamide is isolated by acidification of reaction mixture.
Various metal phthalocyanine sulphonamides specially those of cobalt, manganese, iron and vanadium prepared according to this invention were found to be active catalysts for liquid-liquid sweetening of pentanes, LSRN, cracked naphtha and the like, and regeneration of alkali in the mercaptan extraction from LPG, pentanes, LSRN, and light thermally cracked naphtha. The cobalt phthalocyanine sulphonamides prepared according to the improved process of this invention were found to be crystalline compounds unlike cobalt phthalocyanine disulphonate, which is extremely dusty, and can be handled without problems. These catalysts can be used directly by dissolving in alkali and no prior admixing with water is required. Unlike cobalt phthalocyanine tetrasulphonate, cobalt phthalocyanine sulphonamide prepared according to the improved method of this invention were found to be very active catalysts for liquid-liquid sweetening and alkali regeneration. As the metal phthalocyanine sulphonamide prepared according to this invention is insoluble in acidic media, they could be easily isolated.
The present invention provides an improved method for the preparation of suitable metal phthalocyanine sulphonyl chlorides which involves first treating the metal phthalocyanines with chlorsulphonic acid followed by addition of thionyl chloride to the reaction mixture. In place of thionyl chloride, phosphorus pentachoride or phosphorus trichloride or any other such reagent can also be used. The novelty of the present invention lies in the addition of thionyl chloride or such reagent which was found to be necessary to ensure complete conversion of all the sulphonic acid groups to sulphonyl chloride followed by ammination in a single step to get maximum yield of metal phthalocyanine sulphonamide.

Process for the preparation of a catalyst useful for liquid-liquid sweetening LPG and light petroleum distillates

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research


A machine tool comprises a frame; a work holder operably associated with the frame; at least one carriage disposed on the frame and movable along an axis; at least one tool disposed on the carriage for operating on a work piece disposed in the work holder; at least one nozzle assembly disposed on the carriage for directing at least one fluid stream to the work piece and the tool; a screw-nut drive operably associated with the carriage, the drive including a lead screw; a device for stretching the lead screw for compensating for thermal growth of the screw during operation; and a resilient strip operably disposed between the frame and the carriage for absorbing impact forces.

In a numerically controlled machine, a plurality of tools are typically carried by a carriage and are brought in a preselected sequence to a work piece to make a specific part. Each individual tool must be cooled and any chip build up must be removed from the part during the machining operation. A solution to this problem included mounting the chip removal and lubricating device on a fixed wall or structure adjacent the spindle of the machine. In this manner, the relative position of the work piece with respect to the device is always fixed, regardless of the position of the machine carriage. However, the chip and lubricating device so positioned may obscure an operator's field of view when inspecting the part, thereby necessitating the frequent moving of the device in order to clear his field of view. There is therefore a need for a chip removal and tool lubricating device wherein the relative position of the device with the tool and the part being machined remains substantially constant without unduly obstructing the view of the operator.
A machine tool designed for extremely accurate machining operations must compensate for errors resulting from thermal growth of the machine components. Screw-nut drives are generally used in machine tools such as a Lathe and the like and are used to accurately position a work piece supporting member or a tool. During operation of the machine tool, the resultant heat produced causes the lead screw to expand, thereby introducing errors into the system. In a situation where both ends of the lead screw are fixed, the thermal expansion will cause the screw to sag or buckle up, fooling the positioning system of the machine that tracks the number of rotations of the screw to determine the position of the carriage. Additionally, stresses are introduced at each end of the screw that could cause premature failure of the screw. There is therefore a need to provide a screw-nut drive that is compensated for the expected thermal growth of the lead screw during normal operations.
In a machine tool with a movable carriage or table, the movement of the table is typically accomplished on accurately machined close tolerance guideways and bearing assemblies. A numerically controlled machine is programmed by its operator to provide specific machining operations for a specific part. After programming, the machine then goes through its various paces automatically, without any intervention from the operator. If the operator had made a mistake in programming, the machine could conceivably crash, where the cutting tool or the movable carriage may jam into the part being machined or into the machine spindle, generating large shock forces that could damage the highly machined guideways. When a crash occurs, the machine is inspected for damages. Typically, the guideways will have indentations from the bearings, requiring rebuilding or replacement. The machine is then taken out of production while it is being repaired, thereby causing revenue loss. There is therefore a need to provide shock resistant guideways that will be able to absorb the shock forces during a crash without any damage, thereby avoiding an expensive downtime.

Temperature compensated and shock resistant machine tool


An electroplating process is described for electroplating alloys of palladium and arsenic. The resulting electrodeposits are bright, ductile and remain ductile and crack-free even when the electrodeposits are quite thick. The deposits are quite hard and suitable for contact surfaces particularly in situations where wear characteristics require thick deposits. The electroplating process is also useful for making articles such as bellows by electroform procedures particularly since the electroplated material has extraordinary physical properties (good resilience, low stress and ductility) as well as good corrosion resistance.

Electroplated palladium and palladium alloys are used in a variety of applications including deposition of protective coatings on decorative articles such as jewelry, watches, etc., in various containers and fixtures exposed to chemically corrosive liquids and gasses and in various electrical and electronic devices as a protective coating and electrical contact coating. Much of the motivation for use of palladium and palladium alloys in such applications is its lower cost compared to such traditionally-used metals as gold and platinum.
Early work on electroplating palladium and palladium alloys met with considerable difficulty. Often the electroplated palladium metal was not adherent, tended to be porous, often developed cracks and generally was quite brittle. Generally, such deposited palladium layers were not satisfactory either as electrical contact layers or as decorative coatings.
Investigation into the reason why electroplated palladium layers exhibit such poor quality soon revealed that this is due to the incorporation of hydrogen into the electroplated palladium layers. Hydrogen evolution often accompanies palladium electroplating because of the close proximity of the water electrolysis potential to the palladium electroplating potential. Incorporation of hydrogen into the electroplated palladium layers appeared to be responsible for the degraded properties of electroplated palladium. Indeed, many palladium electroplating processes appeared to work quite well under laboratory conditions where plating potential could be carefully controlled and the hydrogen evolution potential could be avoided and plating rates under these conditions are low. However, under commercial plating conditions, these processes proved unreliable either because the plating potential used was not precisely controlled or because higher plating rates required plating potentials that lead to the evolution of hydrogen during the electroplating process.
A major advance in palladium electroplating technology occurred with the discovery that certain palladium complex ions exhibited electroplating potentials far removed from the hydrogen evolution potential. The complexing agents involve certain aliphatic polyamines with best results obtained with 1,3 diamino propane. This work is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,486,274 issued to J. A. Abys, et al on Dec. 4, 1984.
This discovery led to a major commercial effort in palladium electroplating. The process has been used extensively in the United States and throughout the world to electroplate palladium typically for electrical contact surfaces in various devices such as electrical connectors. It has generally been used in applications formerly requiring gold contact surfaces and has led to considerable cost savings because of the lower cost and lower density of palladium as compared to gold. Further development work has been done as described in such references as U.S. Pat. No. 4,468,296 issued to J. A. Abys et al on Aug. 28, 1984 (replenishment compound for a palladium electroplating process) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,493,754 issued to J. A. Abys et al on Jan. 15, 1985 (unique anode structure for use in palladium electroplating process). Often, the palladium layer of the contact surface is covered with a very thin layer of gold to improve wear and contact characteristics.
Because of the success of the palladium electroplating process involving aliphatic amines, further improvements both in the electroplating process and properties of the electroplated palladium have become desirable. In particular, cost reduction in the palladium electroplating process is desirable as is greater versatility in the choice of palladium electroplating species. Also, greater ductility and adhesion of the electroplated palladium is desirable particularly for relatively thick layers. Such thick layers of palladium metal and palladium alloys would be highly useful for devices where extended wear is required. Thickness of 25 .mu.m or more are of interest for a variety of applications.
In addition, it is highly desirable to have an inert palladium alloy substance that is not affected by the evolution of hydrogen, electroplates easily even at high electroplating rates and produces electroplated layers of sufficient ductility and thickness so as to be useful for fabricating articles by electroform processes.
A variety of references have disclosed palladium electroplating processes including U.S. Pat. No. 4,487,665 issued to K. B. Miscioscio et al on Dec. 11, 1984; U.S. Pat. No. 4,491,507 issued to G. Herklotz et al on Jan. 1, 1985 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,545,869 issued to I. Goldman on Oct. 5, 1985. The palladium tetra-ammine complex is used as the source of palladium in a number of palladium electroplating processes including those described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,622,110 issued to J. L. Martin et al on Nov. 11, 1986; U.S. Pat. No. 4,552,628 issued to J. Wilcox on Nov. 12, 1985 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,628,165 issued to F. I. Nobel on Dec. 9, 1986.


A voltage control oscillation (VCO) circuit and an adjusting method for the same, which enables an adjustment for suppressing the dispersion of the output characteristic in spite of the manufacture-related dispersion of element characteristics, using a simple circuit configuration, are provided. A low-pass filter 15 and a high-pass filter 16 are composed of the elements that have the same structure as elements composing the VCO circuit 11, and a prescribed correlation is established between both elements. A corrective element 14 is connected in parallel to a main element, in which an oscillation frequency control signal VT is input, in the VCO circuit 11. Respective frequency-gain characteristic lines of the low-pass/high-pass filters 15 and 16 have gradients reverse to each other and cross at a target gain TG. When the capacitance value lowers in dispersion, the level of an output signal SL2 becomes higher than that of an output signal SH2 at a reference frequency fREF to form an output level difference LD2. In response, an adjusting signal VCNT2 is output in correspondence to the output level difference LD2 to lower an oscillation frequency fVCO.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a voltage control oscillation circuit and an adjusting method for the same, in particular, to a voltage control oscillation circuit and an adjusting method for the same, which enables an adjustment for suppressing the dispersion of output characteristics of the oscillation circuit, in spite of the manufacture-related dispersion of the characteristics of circuit elements, when the circuit is incorporated into an IC.
2. Description of Related Art
A demand for fewer components in various electronic devices, typically in mobile radio communication devices including cellular phones, has been increasing in recent years. For example, an oscillation circuit built in an IC in a mobile radio communication device is expected to reduce the number of components used in the device. As an instance of such an oscillation circuit, a voltage control oscillation circuit (hereinafter referred to as VCO circuit) is shown in FIG. 12. The VCO circuit in FIG. 12 includes a resonance circuit consisting of an inductor section 101 and a capacitance section 102. The oscillation frequency f of the resonance circuit is given by the following equation (10):f=1/(2π×(L×C)1/2)where L is the inductance of the inductor section 101 and C is the capacity of the capacitance section 102.
The capacity of variable-capacitance diodes in the capacitance sections 102 is changed by an incoming control voltage VT, which means the control voltage VT adjusts the oscillation frequency f. The VCO circuit arranged like this constitutes a phase lock loop (hereinafter referred to as PLL). The oscillation frequency f of the VCO circuit is conformed to a preset frequency of the PLL for a practical application.
A method for correcting the dispersion of circuit elements and adjusting a variable range of the oscillation frequency of output from a VCO circuit in a frequency synthesizer is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-332606. As shown in FIG. 13, an output signal from a VCO (voltage control oscillator) 110 is divided and divided signals are subjected to phase comparison with a reference signal from a reference oscillator 162 at a phase comparator 163. Compared signals are sent to a LPF (low-pass filter) 150, where the signals are converted into DC voltage signals, which are then applied to a variable resonance circuit, which includes variable-capacitance diodes, in the VCO 110. Meanwhile, an adjusting circuit 170 compares an inner reference voltage with an output control voltage from the LPF 150, and adjusts the resonance circuit in the VCO 110 so that an output frequency of the VCO 110 becomes within a desired variable range.
A technique related to the above method is also disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H10(1998)-256904.

Voltage control oscillation circuit and adjusting method for the same


A battery-monitoring device that monitors a state of charge of each battery cell constituting a battery is provided, including: a voltage detection circuit that individually detects a voltage of the battery cell; a voltage comparison circuit that individually compares the voltage of the battery cell and a threshold voltage, and outputs a signal having a first level when the voltage of the battery cell is equal to or greater than the threshold voltage, and a signal having a second level when the voltage of the battery cell is less than the threshold voltage; and a determination unit that determines the overcharged state of the battery cell when at least one condition is satisfied from among two conditions of: a voltage detection value which is input from the voltage detection circuit being equal to or greater than a threshold; and a signal which is input from the voltage comparison circuit being a first level.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a battery-monitoring device.
Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application No. 2011-222859, filed on Oct. 7, 2011, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of Related Art
As is well known, a motor which is used as a source of power, and a high voltage and capacity battery that supplies power to the motor are mounted to vehicles such as an electric automobile and a hybrid automobile. The high-voltage battery is configured such that a plurality of battery cells formed of a lithium-ion-battery, a nickel-hydrogen battery or the like are connected to each other in series.
In the related art, a voltage of each battery cell constituting the above-mentioned high-voltage battery is detected using a voltage detection circuit (for example, a dedicated IC chip), and the presence or absence of battery cells which are in an overcharged state is monitored. However, when the voltage detection circuit is out of order, the voltage of the battery cell cannot be accurately detected (voltage is detected as being low), and thus there is a concern that the presence of overcharged cells may fail to be noticed.
For this reason, a technique has been developed which prevents an overcharged cell from failing to be noticed by using a voltage detection result of the other voltage detection circuit even when one voltage detection circuit is out of order through the duplication of the voltage detection circuit (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2008-141954).
However, in the above-mentioned related art, since duplication of the voltage detection circuit such as, for example, a dedicated IC chip is required, there is a problem in that an increase in component costs, mounting space, and current consumption is caused.
The invention is contrived in view of such circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a battery-monitoring device which is capable of preventing overcharged cells due to circuit failure from failing to be noticed while suppressing an increase in component costs, mounting space, and current consumption.


The present invention discloses a backsheet of a solar cell. The backsheet of a solar cell comprises, sequentially from bottom to top, a bottom plastic layer, at least a first insulating layer, a conductive water-proof layer, at least a second insulating layer formed on the conductive water-proof layer, and a weather-resistant layer formed on the second insulating layer. The voltage-resistant ability of the weather-resistant layer is usually about one-third of that of the ordinary insulating layer and the weather-resistant layer is usually has the problem of pinhole which usually results in the defect of arc fail. Therefore, the second insulating layer, in the present invention, deposited between the conductive water-proof layer and the weather-resistant layer, can increase the voltage-resistant ability of the weather-resistant layer and to prevent the pinhole and the arc fail problem.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a solar cell, more particularly relating to a backsheet of a solar cell.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The backsheet of a solar cell can protect the solar cell from water, moisture, and heat-distortion and provide the functions of insulating and bottom lining. The defects of the backsheet of the solar cell will results in a short lifetime of the solar cell. The micro-crystalline (C—Si) solar cell usually comprises the backsheet of the Tedlar/polyethylene terephthalate/Tedlar (TPT) or Tedlar/polyethylene terephthalate/ethylene-vinyl acetate (TPE) structure. The thin-film solar cell usually comprises the backsheet of Tedlar/aluminium/polyethylene terephthalate (TAP) or Tedlar/aluminium/polyethylene terephthalate/ethylene-vinyl acetate (TAPE) structure.
Please refer to FIG. 1, which represents a schematic view of a conventional backsheet of a solar cell. The backsheet 1 of a solar cell comprises, sequentially from bottom to top, a bottom plastic layer 20, a first insulating layer 22, a conductive water-proof layer 24, and a weather-resistant layer 28.
However, the voltage-resistant ability of the weather-resistant layer of the conventional backsheet is usually one-third of that of the normal insulating layer. Such configuration tends to result in the defect of arc fail if a pinhole occurred in the solar cell. The defect of pinhole can be prevented by increasing the thickness of the weather-resistant layer. However, the cost of the manufacturing of the backsheet will be therefore increased as well.
Please refer to FIG. 2, which represents a schematic view of another conventional backsheet of a solar cell. The backsheet 2 of a solar cell comprises, sequentially from bottom to top, a bottom plastic layer 20, a first insulating layer 22, a conductive water-proof layer 24, and a second insulating layer 26.
The second insulating layer 26 is known to comprise a better voltage-resistant ability and a less expense than the normal weather-resistant layer. And the defect of the arc fail can be prevented by increasing the thickness of the second insulating layer up to 50 μm (micrometer). However, the second insulating layer is not resistant to UV light and the defect of pinhole cannot be prevented if the second insulating layer is of single-layered configuration.


A battery pack fixing apparatus which may effectively prevent a battery pack from being detached or separated from the fixing apparatus and may ensure easy installation regardless of the place where the battery pack is mounted, including a support unit supporting a lower portion of the battery pack and having a support plate with a coupling structure coupled to the lower portion of the battery pack; and a wall fixing unit including a fixing plate located at the rear of the battery pack loaded on the support unit, formed with a plate shape erecting upward, having a lower portion coupled to one side of the support unit and having a coupling structure coupled to a wall located at the rear.

Recently, secondary battery manufacturers are introducing household energy storage systems (ESS) or household battery packs as new products. The ESS or battery pack store electricity during the day with a lithium ion battery and is used when necessary to reduce electricity costs. For example, a lithium ion battery stores electricity generated by using a solar panel or a wind power generator and is then used.
For example, the household ESS or a battery pack has a size of about 120×80×20 cm and a weight of about 100 kg. Several ESS or battery packs may be used in connection. The battery pack may be configured differently in size and weight depending on storage capacity.
The household ESS or battery pack may be properly mounted and fixed to a wall or a pillar or at the ground, indoors or outdoors, by using a fixing apparatus for convenience and space utilization of the user.
In addition, the household ESS or battery pack may be detached from the fixing apparatus as the battery pack mounted at a high position drops down or the battery pack mounted to the ground falls down due to an earthquake or an external shock, or an impact may be generated between the battery pack and the fixing apparatus to damage the battery pack.
Therefore, the battery pack fixing apparatus is required to have a shock-resistant property capable of stably protecting the battery pack even in the event of an earthquake, and moreover, the battery pack should be firmly fastened not to be easily detached from the fixing apparatus due to an external impact.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view schematically showing that a conventional battery pack fixing apparatus to which a battery pack is loaded is mounted at a wall. Also, FIG. 2 is a perspective view schematically showing that a conventional battery pack fixing apparatus to which a battery pack is loaded is mounted to the ground.
Referring to FIG. 1 first, a conventional fixing apparatus 10 using a wall-mounting method for mounting a battery pack 1 to a wall surface 20 is depicted. The wall-mounting fixing apparatus 10 may mount and fix the battery pack 1 to the wall surface 20 by using a fixing member simply having a rear surface coupled to the wall surface and an upper surface formed to support a lower surface of battery pack 1.
Also, referring to FIG. 2, a conventional fixing apparatus 12 using a stand-type method for mounting the battery pack 1 to the ground is depicted. The ground-mounting apparatus 12 may mount the battery pack 1 to the ground by using a fixing member simply having a lower surface coupled to the ground and an upper surface formed to support the lower surface of the battery pack.
However, the structure of the conventional fixing apparatus for mounting the battery pack should be changed according to the purpose of using the battery pack or the place where the battery pack is mounted (to the wall or the ground), and thus two types of fixing apparatuses are required. As a result, the manufacturing cost of the battery pack fixing apparatus is increased, and the fixing apparatus less consumed becomes a stock quantity, resulting in waste of the products.


A mixer of the type comprising an axle (2) such as a screw rotatably mounted within a trough (1) is characterized in that the rotatable axle (2) has at its periphery at least one opening comprising an injection point (21) or distribution point of at least one of the constituents of the mixture. The mixer is useful in the production of foundry molds.

Foundry molds are nowadays produced from a mixture of sand, resin and if desired a catalyst. The mixing is a step rendered difficult because of the difference of density and of compactness existing between the sand and the resin. Because of this, it is necessary to use high speeds of rotation and long mixing times. One of the problems encountered in the course of mixing is due to the positioning of the point of injection of the resin which is disposed at the periphery of the trough, which renders more difficult the mixing of the resin with the sand during rotation of the screw and involves moreover a rapid clogging of the injection nozzle as shown in FIG. 1.
A partial solution of the problem is provided by the patent FR-A-2.281.786. This apparatus, adapted to mix foundry sand and binders, comprises two mixers which are disposed one above the other on a common vertical rotating shaft and are surrounded by an external envelope. The introduction of the constituents of the mixture is effected by means of a supply device disposed within the shaft and through radial perforations for the outlet of the product from the shaft. Because of its particular construction, this supply apparatus is applicable only to a vertical mixer to avoid on the one hand any obstruction of the radial perforations, and on the other hand a backing up of the material within the shaft between the external walls of the supply device and the internal walls of the shaft. Moreover, this mixer does not permit precise supply of the injected material. Another process for introducing a constituent of a mixture from the interior of a rotating shaft is also described in Japanese patent application JP-A-57136925. This device is adapted to inject a liquid, in particular water, into a mixture. Its very simple conception is not transposable to the injection of pasty or hardenable products.

Screw mixer, particulary for foundry molds

Assistance Maintenance Industrielle Gildasienne


A method for automatically detecting bi-directional link switched ring link provisioning errors. The method includes receiving an opaque link state advertisement containing bi-directional link switched ring ID and link information at a local node of the ring and checking ring IDs of neighbor nodes of the local node. If the ring IDs of the local node and neighbor nodes do not match a ring ID mismatch alarm is raised.

The present invention relates generally to communications within a computer network, and more specifically, to the automatic detection of ring link provisioning errors within a communications network.
Communication in a computer network involves the exchange of data between two or more entities interconnected by communication links and subnetworks. Entities concerned primarily with the correct routing of information in the network are called routers, to distinguish them from end systems which process traffic but do not take part in routing it. There are two fundamentally different approaches to the distribution and use of routing information in a network, called Distance Vector Routing and Link State Routing. In the former, each router tells its immediate neighbors how it would reach each entity in the network, updating this as similar information is received from its neighbors. In the latter, each router arranges to send information about its own connectivity to its neighbors to all routers in the network. Each router then runs an algorithm called Shortest Path First (SPF) to find the best route from itself to each entity in the network. Early routing protocols (e.g., RIP) used the Distance Vector approach. Link State Routing protocols first appeared in the early 1980s, and became widely used in the Internet during the 1990s. OSPF (Open Shortest Path First) and Integrated IS-IS (Intermediate System—Intermediate System) are widely used examples of such protocols.
With link state routing, each router must discover its neighbors and learn their network addresses. A cost (typically related to the link bandwidth) is associated, generally by network management, with each link. One or more link state packets are then constructed containing this information, and flooded to all routers in the network. Dijkstra's Shortest Path First algorithm is then used at each router to find the shortest path to every other router. This algorithm maintains a set of nodes whose shortest path is already known and operates by adding one node to this known set with each iteration. The next step is to the next closest router along this path, always choosing the one which has the lowest cost from the local node. This process continues until all reachable nodes are in the known set with costs assigned to each.
SONET/SDH networks typically provide protection from failure by using topologies that dedicate half of the total bandwidth for protection. One type of SONET protection is bi-directional line switched ring (BLSR). The BLSR may be two-fiber or four-fiber. BLSR provides rapid restoration times with control logic. In a BLSR, traffic can be added and dropped at any node along a given ring. At the drop site, new traffic can be added to the previously used time slot and transported further around the ring. This re-use of bandwidth in a BLSR increases the capacity for the entire ring and provides many advantages over a unidirectional path switched ring (UPSR). If a fiber is cut in the BLSR, multiplexers have the speed to send the services affected via an alternate acceptable path through the ring without interruption.
When a BLSR is provisioned, each node in the BLSR has to know what other nodes are in the same ring. A user must manually check the ring provisioning to make sure the ring ID is the same from both links at a node within the ring. If there is a provisioning mismatch within the ring, the user may not know about it until route protection is utilized.
There is, therefore, a need for a method and system for automatically detecting link provisioning mismatch errors without user intervention.

Method and system for detecting ring link provisioning mismatch


A firearm having a fixed magazine uses a latch to secure upper and lower receivers to one another in a closed position. The upper and lower receivers can be pivoted relatively to one another into an open position providing access to the magazine for loading by rotating the latch to release the upper and lower receivers from one another. The latch includes a hook spring biasing a hook contact surface of the latch to engage a hook receiving surface of a receiver when the receivers are moved from the open position to the closed position.

Rifles having fixed magazines, such as the Krag-Jorgensen, Mauser K98, Lee-Enfield and M1 "Garand" were the dominant rifle designs of the late 19th and early to mid 20th Centuries until they were supplanted by the now ubiquitous detachable magazine rifles whose design heritage can be traced back to the lesser known Sturmgewehr 44.
Although the detachable magazine rifle boasts numerous advantages, particularly for military applications, the fixed magazine rifle is still thought to be a design particularly suited to sportsmen for hunting, target, and recreational shooting. The integral nature of the fixed magazine design provides a reliable and complete shooting platform which only needs ammunition to function. There is clearly a place among modern sporting rifles for a fixed magazine design which combines the simplicity, reliability and light weight of modern rifles with the advantages of this 19th century development.
Design challenges involving fixed magazine firearms center about providing convenient access to the fixed magazine for loading ammunition. There are advantages to be realized for designs which allow popular existing rifle platforms to be adapted to the fixed magazine configuration by allowing ready access to the magazine.


N-channel power semiconductor devices in which an insulated field plate is coupled to the drift region, and immobile electrostatic charge is also present at the interface between the drift region and the insulation around the field plate. The electrostatic charge permits OFF-state voltage drop to occur near the source region, in addition to the voltage drop which occurs near the drain region (due to the presence of the field plate).

The present application relates to semiconductor devices, and particularly to power semiconductor devices which use intentionally introduced permanent electrostatic charge in trenches which adjoin regions where current flows in the ON state.
Note that the points discussed below may reflect the hindsight gained from the disclosed inventions, and are not necessarily admitted to be prior art.
Power MOSFETs are widely used as switching devices in many electronic applications. In order to minimize the conduction power loss it is desirable that power MOSFETs have a low specific on-resistance (RSP or R*A), which is defined as the product of the on-resistance of the MOSFET multiplied by the active die area. In general, the on-resistance of a power MOSFET is dominated by the channel resistance and the drift region resistances which include the substrate resistance, spreading resistance and the epitaxial (epi) layer resistance.
Recently, the so called super-junction structure has been developed to reduce the drift region resistance. The super-junction structure consists of alternating highly doped p-type and n-type pillars or layers. For a given breakdown voltage, the doping concentrations of n-type pillar (the n-type drift region) can be one order of magnitude higher than that of conventional drift region provided that the total charge of n-type pillar is designed to be balanced with charge in the p-type pillar. In order to fully realize the benefits of the super-junction, it is desirable to increase the packing density of the pillars to achieve a lower RSP. However, the minimum pillar widths that can be attained in practical device manufacturing set a limitation on the reducing the cell pitch and scaling the device.
Recently, inventions (see for example US application 20080191307 and US application 20080164518) have been disclosed to address this issue by incorporating fixed or permanent positive charge (QF) to balance the charge of a p-type pillar in a diode or voltage blocking structure. The permanent charge can also form an electron drift region in a power MOSFET, by forming an inversion layer along the interface between the oxide and P epi layer. By making use of that concept, the area scaling limitation due to inter-diffusion of p-type pillar and n-type pillar was mitigated. Consequently, a small cell pitch and high packing density of pillars and channels was achieved, reducing the device total on-resistance (and specific on-resistance RSP). In addition, the structure of FIG. 2 has a key advantage over conventional super-junction devices in that there is no JFET effect to limit the current so smaller cell pitches are highly desirable.

Devices, components and methods combining trench field plates with immobile electrostatic charge


A circuit board configured to provide multiple interfaces is disclosed. The circuit board comprises a termination slot inserted with a termination module configured to modulate circuits by applying a termination resistance and a termination voltage. If the termination module is inserted into the termination slot, the circuit board operates as a series stub terminated transceiver logic (SSTL) interface. Otherwise, the board operates as a low voltage transistor logic (LVTTL) interface. Additionally, the board comprises a switch configured to selectively connect a termination resistance to a bus. If the switch connects the termination resistance to the bus, the board operates as an SSTL interface. Otherwise, the board operates as an LVTTL interface.

The present disclosure relates generally to circuit boards, and more particularly, to a circuit board configured to provide multiple interfaces.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a conventional mother board using a low voltage transistor logic (LVTTL) interface. Typically, the mother board using an LVTTL interface comprises a bus 1 having one end connected to a chip set 2 and other end connected to a plurality of memory slots 3 inserted with DRAM modules 4. Here, the chip set 2 is a controller used in a board for LVTTL.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a conventional mother board using a series stub terminated transceiver logic (SSTL) interface. The mother board using an SSTL interface comprises a bus 5 having both ends connected to the termination resistances 6. The termination voltages VTT are applied to the termination resistances 6. One end of the bus 5 is connected to a chip set 7, and the other end of the bus 5 is connected to a plurality of memory slots 8 inserted with DRAM modules 9. The chip set 7 is a controller used in a board for SSTL. Here, the termination resistances 6 used in the mother board prevent noise caused by echo to improve high operation. However, there is a problem because current consumption is increased during the operation.
In general, an LVTTL interface is used when SDRAM operates at relatively low speed while an SSTL interface is used when DDR SDRAM operates at relatively high speed. Typically, mother boards are used for SSTL interfaces but not for LVTTL interfaces because the termination resistances 6 are directly formed on the board. That is, if DDR SDRAM using an SSTL interface as DRAM module needs to use an LVTTL interface, the mother board of DDR SDRAM should be substituted with a mother board providing an LVTTL interface.
A circuit board configured to provide multiple interfaces by selectively inserting a module formed of termination resistance into a slot is disclosed herein. Further, the board may be configured to provide multiple interfaces by selectively connecting termination resistance.
In particular, the board comprises: a bus configured to transmit data; a chip set connected to one end of the bus and configured to change setting of a memory driven system according to a logic; a plurality of memory slots connected to the other end of the bus, each memory slot configured to receive a memory module; and a plurality of termination slots correspondingly connected to each end of the bus, each termination slot configured to receive a termination module applying a termination voltage.
Alternatively, the board comprises: a bus configured to transmit data; an ordinary chip set connected to one end of the bus and configured to change for setting of a memory driven system according to a logic; a plurality of memory slots connected to other end of the bus, each memory slot configured to receive a memory module; a plurality of termination resistances correspondingly connected to each end of the bus, each termination resistance configured to apply a termination voltage; and a plurality of switching circuits connected between the bus and each termination resistance. Each of the plurality of switching circuits is configured to selectively connect the bus and each termination resistance according to the logic.

Circuit board configured to provide multiple interfaces


Absorbent articles having enhanced absorption of bodily exudates are disclosed. The absorbent articles comprise a bodily exudate modifying agent and a skin care formulation. The bodily exudate modifying agent is capable of reducing the viscosity of bodily exudates such as feces and menses. The skin care formulation comprises a film forming agent that, upon transfer to the skin, can form a continuous film layer on the skin to retard harmful agents.

The present invention is directed to absorbent articles such as diapers that contain a modifying agent and a skin care formulation. More particularly, the present invention is directed to absorbent articles that contain a skin care formulation and a bodily exudate modifying agent capable of reducing the viscosity of bodily exudates such as feces or menses to facilitate absorption of the exudate into the absorbent article and away from the skin. The skin care formulation comprises a film forming agent, which is capable of enhancing the skin barrier function to reduce possible negative effects on the skin caused by the bodily exudate modifying agents coming into direct contact with the skin of the wearer.
The stratum corneum is the outer-most layer of the skin and is responsible for regulating skin water levels and functions as a barrier against chemicals and other stress agents found in the environment. The complex arrangement of lipids in the intercellular space of the stratum corneum is responsible for the establishment of normal barrier function. Multi-layered structures of cholesterol, ceramides, and fatty acids, as well as some other minor lipids, provide the major barrier to the transport of hydrophilic substances into or through the skin. The stratum corneum is constantly exposed to physical and biological insults, which can cause a disruption in this barrier function, and numerous problems.
Absorbent articles such as diapers, training pants, incontinence products and feminine care products are worn such that they are in substantially direct contact with the stratum corneum layer of the skin of the wearer. As such, an unavoidable consequence of the use of absorbent articles is that the skin is exposed more directly to various physical and biological insults. Consequently, the barrier function of the skin covered by the absorbent article is put at risk. For example, in order to provide disposability, absorbent articles are primarily constructed of nonwoven materials. Even though nonwoven materials are engineered to have soft hand and drape, they still rub against the skin during wear causing friction. Such friction constitutes one form of physical insult to the skin barrier.
In addition to physical insults, skin covered by absorbent articles is also frequently exposed to biological insults. Biological fluids, such as urine, feces, and vaginal secretions, may contain a variety of components that can damage the skin barrier. Examples of these components include proteases, lipases, and bile acids. Once the skin barrier is compromised, these components, in addition to other constituents of biological fluids, can initiate or exacerbate inflammation of the skin. When compounded with the friction issue described above, the skin or its barrier function can be substantially damaged.
Diaper dermatitis is a type of skin condition that, in large part, originates from impaired skin barrier function. Diaper dermatitis can affect almost every infant at some point in time during the diaper wearing years. Although other factors influence the onset of diaper dermatitis, critical factors include: increased skin hydration due to the occlusion of the skin caused by diapers, enzymatic damage due to fecal and urinary enzymes, and physical damage caused by friction against the diaper surface and repeated cleaning of the skin with absorbent tissues or wet wipes.
As noted above, feces contained in the diaper can harm the skin of the wearer over time and feces leaking from the diaper almost invariably presents unpleasant, messy cleanups. Thus, several attempts have been made to add features to diapers such as barriers, pockets, spacers, transverse barriers, apertured topsheets and the like to limit the movement of fecal material across the topsheet and/or to better confine the fecal matter in the diaper. These attempts have been generally unsuccessful because they fail to address the fundamental causes of these problems (i.e., the properties of feces) and, because of their cost and complexity.
Additionally, there have been attempts to physically or chemically modify some or all of the fecal matter or other bodily exudates deposited in the article. More particularly, viscosity modifying agents such as reducing agents have been used to modify fecal matter to improve acceptance and/or retention of the exudates with the article. However, these modifying agents can also contribute to the degradation of the skin barrier function. The agents, upon contacting the skin, can disrupt the lipids of the stratum corneum layer, subjecting the skin to further irritation by the above physical and biological insults.
Based on the foregoing, it would be beneficial to provide an absorbent product that includes a bodily exudate modifying agent to allow for improved absorption of bodily exudates such as feces and menses by the absorbent product in combination with a skin care formulation that protects the skin barrier function, and improves the overall health of the skin. Additionally, it would be beneficial if the skin care formulation included a film forming agent to enhance the barrier function of the skin and reduce the possible negative effects on skin caused by the bodily exudate modifying agent contacting the skin.

Absorbent articles comprising a bodily exudate modifying agent and a film-forming skin care formulation


A drawer and a server using the same are provided. The drawer is configured for a node of a server. The drawer includes a bottom plate and a bezel. The bottom plate is configured for disposing a circuit board. The bezel is disposed at one side of the bottom plate. The bezel includes a body and a door structure connected to the body. The door structure can be opened to open an opening, such that the node is accessible through the opening. The door structure can be closed to shut the opening, such that the bezel works as an electrostatic shield of the circuit board.

1. Field of the Invention
The disclosure relates in general to a drawer and a server using the same, and more particularly to a drawer comprising a movable or rotatable door structure and a server using the drawer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Typically, in a server, nodes, each comprising devices such as a hard disc and circuit boards, are packaged by components such as a bezel and an upper cover. Facebook has promoted an attractive open compute project (OCP). In order to increase the efficiency of the data center at a lowest cost, devices and components, such as a power switch, a hard disc, circuit boards and the like, of a server according to OCP are rearranged. For example, the hard disc is now disposed outside the node. In addition, the bezel has been removed from the server, such that the server is "open" and the user is allowed to operate the devices and components disposed inside the node directly.
However, it is difficult for the server of open type hardware design to pass relevant tests such as electromagnetic interference (EMI), electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) and safety. In contrast, the conventional server package structure can pass these tests but is not applicable to the open type hardware design.


A system and method for generating and representing a consolidated resolution tree of a network are provided. The method includes receiving a target fully qualified domain name (FQDN); creating at least one tentative equivalence class (TEC) containing all the internet root domain name servers (DNS); processing the at least one TEC to determine respective consolidated edges and vertices; retrieving nameservers from domain registration records; determining whether additional TECs are to be generated for the retrieved nameserver(s); processing all new TECs to determine respective consolidated edges and vertices, when it is determined that new TECs are to be generated; and generating a resolution tree for display based on the consolidated edges and vertices.

The use of the Internet over the past three decades has escalated in previously unimaginable numbers. Such expansion allows inter- and intra-communications for enterprises, businesses, governments, non-government organizations, or others, to providing for successful maintenance of connection with practically anyone. Such rapid growth, which has provided numerous benefits, includes two distinct problems. First, the network may have vulnerabilities and various malicious actors, who exploiting such vulnerabilities.
As organizations' networks develop, network nodes are added to networks to increase capacity and resolve the complex communication schemes used by such networks. Among others, these nodes include a plurality of servers, such as domain servers, name servers, authorization servers, data servers, and the like. Such servers allow for the resolution of communications over the Internet, which may be handed over from one node to another. For example, if a first node wishes to access another node, the first node attempts to resolve the received address by connecting to another node, or nodes, for such address resolution. In turn, such nodes may further direct the request to other nodes, and the process may thus continue.
Such activity is compounded as, in certain cases, the servers used are not physical servers but, rather, are various types of virtual machines that are created or otherwise formed in the cloud. As a result, as a network grows or shrinks, the risk of having one or more residual servers is always present. These residual nodes remain connected to the network and represent a vulnerability. This vulnerability arises when accessing such nodes, which may be connected to other nodes, enables unauthorized access to the network. Such vulnerabilities in the network are often used by those who wish to penetrate the network in harmful or otherwise-unauthorized ways. Every change, misconfiguration, or security vulnerability in each of the servers that participate in the resolution process might pose risk to the resolved domain. Furthermore, every inconsistency or mistake in the resolution process (e.g., referring the traffic to a server to which it should not be referred) exposes, or might expose, the resolved domain to security attacks or to performance problems.
The rise of public cloud and content delivery network (CDN) providers, which host an ever-increasing number of applications, has brought a new complexity and an increasing likelihood of misconfigurations and potential vulnerabilities to organizations' Domain Name System (DNS) infrastructures. The advent of virtualization and cloud infrastructure also makes correct DNS setups ever-more important. The association between addresses and the services and applications that are accessible through the addresses is becoming a more transient, automatically-changing, fungible relationship. The main, and, possibly, the only construct, for finding a site or application on the internet, is through an application's Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN). Thus, DNS systems need to continually update themselves as applications evolve and move from one set of IP addresses to another, sometimes through chains of associations. Failures in keeping the DNS systems correctly configured can result in both severe operational disruptions as well as in organizational exposure to severe security risks. There is then an urgent need for systems that continuously monitor DNS systems and provide alerts for misconfigurations and potential vulnerabilities, and such systems need to be able to present to users, at any given time, the state of the DNS resolution paths for each of the FQDNs.
The prior art suggests to provide a network tree by mapping all the nodes that may be accessed as a result of a request for a name resolution. As noted above, these trees may be complex and hold dozens, hundreds, or thousands of possible nodes. Such prior art systems provide these nodes either as long and incomprehensible lists, or as displays of all the nodes as a map of complex connections that are difficult to decipher. For example, GitHub® provides a platform on which users can provide tools for DNS delegation trust graphing. The referenced platform also provides an example of how such a process may work, thereby resulting in a display of either a list of internet protocol (IP) addresses, or of complex connections of many nodes which are difficult to comprehend, even with the simple example provided (see FIG. 5).
It would, therefore, be advantageous to provide a solution that overcomes the deficiencies of the prior art and provides a way to identify such nodes which put the network at risk.
It would further be advantageous if a notification of the existence of such nodes is provided. It would be additionally advantageous if such a solution would be efficient in realizing the large number of nodes connected to the network, as well as the network's continuous changes.

System and method for generation of simplified domain name server resolution trees


The invention relates to a configuration for several consumers of electric energy, with these consumers having either the same electric power or different electric powers. Since, as a rule, not all consumers need to be supplied simultaneously with electric energy, for example if, due to maintenance work, some are not in operation, a modular energy supply system is provided, which is comprised of several interconnectable modules. This makes it possible for each consumer to be supplied from small units with the power it requires.

In industrial installations often several electric facilities are required of which, however, not all are simultaneously in operation.
For example coating installations often consist of several sputter devices in order to apply differing coatings, for example, onto glass. In this installation each sputter device has its own energy supply, which can be a DC or an AC energy supply.
The electric powers, with which the sputter devices operate, differ. They can be 15 kW but also 180 kW. If, for example, fifteen sputter devices are assumed with the powers 180 kW (AC), 30 kW (DC), 75 kW (DC), 30 kW (DC), 30 kW (DC), 120 kW (DC), 120 kW (AC), 120 kW (AC), 75 kW (DC), 120 kW (DC), 30 kW (DC), 30 kW (DC), 120 kW (DC), 120 kW (AC), 120 kW (AC), a total AC power of 660 kW and a total DC power to be provided of also 660 kW is calculated. Per kilowatt of power an electric power supply currently costs approximately 700.00, which amounts to a total power supply cost of 924,000.00.
In practice, of the overall 1320 kW only relatively few kW are called up, since not all sputter installations are operating simultaneously. As a rule, a total DC power of 300 kW is sufficient.
The invention therefore addresses the problem of making available only as much electric power as is actually required.
This problem is solved according to the present invention, which consequently relates to a configuration for several consumers of electric energy, where these consumers have either the same electric power or different electric power requirements. Since, as a rule, not all consumers need to be supplied simultaneously with electric energy, for example if some are not in operation due to maintenance work, a modular energy supply system is provided, which comprises several modules which can be interconnected. Hereby each consumer can be supplied from small units with that power which is required.
The advantage attained with the invention comprises in particular that expenditures for expensive electric energy supplies are saved.
An embodiment example of the invention is shown in the drawing and will be described below in further detail.

Configuration for N consumers of electric energy, of which M consumers are simultaneously supplied with energy