Air is separated by cryogenic distillation comprising the steps of feeding compressed, cooled and purified air to a high pressure column where it is separated into a first nitrogen enriched stream at the top and a first oxygen enriched stream at the bottom. At least a portion of the first oxygen enriched stream is fed to an intermediate pressure column to yield a second nitrogen enriched stream at the top and a second oxygen enriched stream at the bottom. At least a portion of the second nitrogen enriched stream is sent to a low pressure column or to a top condenser of an argon column, and at least a portion of the second oxygen enriched stream is sent to the low pressure column. A third oxygen enriched stream is separated at the bottom and a third nitrogen enriched stream is separated at the top of the low pressure column. A heating gas is sent to a bottom reboiler of the low pressure column, and at least a portion of the third oxygen enriched stream is removed at a removal point. A first argon enriched stream containing between 3 and 20% argon is removed from the low pressure column, and the first argon enriched stream is sent to the argon column having a top condenser. A second argon enriched stream, richer in argon than the first argon enriched stream, is recovered at the top of the argon column and a fourth oxygen enriched stream is removed at the bottom of the argon column. The argon column operates at a pressure at least 0.5 bar lower than the pressure of the low pressure column.

This invention applies in particular to the separation of air by cryogenic distillation. Over the years numerous efforts have been devoted to the improvement of this production technique to lower the oxygen cost which consists mainly of the power consumption and the equipment cost.
It has been known that an elevated pressure distillation system is advantageous for cost reduction and when the pressurized nitrogen can be utilized the power consumption of the system is also very competitive. It is useful to note that an elevated pressure system is characterized by the fact that the pressure of the lower pressure column being above 2 bar absolute. The conventional or low pressure process meanwhile has its lower pressure column operating at slightly above atmospheric pressure.
The higher the pressure of the lower pressure column, the higher is the air pressure feeding the high pressure column and the more compact is the equipment for both warm and cold portions of the plant resulting in significant cost reduction. However, the higher the pressure, the more difficult is the distillation process since the volatilities of the components present in the air (oxygen, argon, nitrogen etc) become closer to each other such that it would be more power intensive to perform the separation by distillation. Therefore the elevated pressure process is well suited for the production of low purity oxygen (<98% purity) wherein the separation is performed between the easier oxygen-nitrogen key components instead of the much more difficult oxygen-argon key components. The volatility of oxygen and argon is so close such that even at atmospheric pressure it would require high number of distillation stages and high reboil and reflux rates to conduct such separation. The elevated pressure process in the current configuration of today's state-of-the-art process cycles is not suitable nor economical for high purity oxygen production (>98% purity). Since the main impurity in oxygen is argon, the low purity oxygen production implies no argon production since over 50% of argon contained in the feed air is lost in oxygen and nitrogen products.
Therefore it is advantageous to come up with an elevated pressure process capable of high purity oxygen production and also in certain cases argon production.
The new invention described below utilizes the basic triple-column process developed for the production of low purity oxygen and adds an argon column to further separate the low purity oxygen into higher purity oxygen along with the argon by-product. By adding the argon column one can produce high purity oxygen (typically in the 99.5% purity by volume) required for many industrial gas applications and at the same time produce argon which is a valuable product of air separation plants.
The elevated pressure double-column process is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,224,045.
The triple-column process is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,231,837 and also in the following publications:
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,257,504, 5,438,835, 5,341,646, EP 636845A1, EP 684438A1, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,513,497, 5,692,395, 5,682,764, 5,678,426, 5,666,823, 5,675,977, 5,868,007, EP 833118 A1.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,245,832 discloses a process wherein a double-column system at elevated pressure is used in conjunction with a third column to produce oxygen, nitrogen and argon. In order to perform the distillation at elevated pressure a nitrogen heat pump cycle is used to provide the needed reboil and reflux for the system. In addition to the power required for the separation of argon and oxygen in the third column the heat pump cycle must also provide sufficient reflux and reboil for the second column as well such that the resulting recycle flow and power consumption would be high.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,331,818 discloses a triple column process at elevated pressure wherein the lower pressure columns are arranged in cascade and receive liquid nitrogen reflux at the top. The second column exchanges heat at the bottom with the top of the high pressure column. The third column exchanges heat at the bottom with the top of the second column. This process allows to optimize the cycle efficiency in function of the ratio of low pressure to high pressure nitrogen produced.
None of the above processes can be used economically and efficiently to produce high purity oxygen or argon.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,433,989 discloses an air separation unit using a high pressure column, an intermediate pressure column and a low pressure column, the bottom reboilers of the low and intermediate pressure columns being heated by gas from the high pressure column. Gas from the low pressure column feeds an argon column whose top condenser is cooled using liquid from the bottom of the intermediate pressure column. In this case the intermediate pressure column has no top condenser and all the nitrogen from that column is expanded to produce refrigeration.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,868,007 discloses a triple column system using an argon column operating at approximately the same pressure as the low pressure column. Gas from the bottom of the argon column is used to reboil the intermediate pressure column.
According to the invention, there is provided a process for separating air by cryogenic distillation comprising the steps of
feeding compressed, cooled and purified air to a high pressure column where it is separated into a first nitrogen enriched stream at the top and a first oxygen enriched stream at the bottom,
feeding at least a portion of the first oxygen enriched stream to an intermediate pressure column to yield a second nitrogen enriched stream at the top and a second oxygen enriched stream at the bottom, sending at least a portion of the second nitrogen enriched stream to a low pressure column or to a top condenser of the argon column, sending at least a portion of the second oxygen enriched stream to the low pressure column,
separating a third oxygen enriched stream at the bottom and a third nitrogen enriched stream at the top of the low pressure column,
sending a heating gas to a bottom reboiler of the low pressure column,
removing at least a portion of the third oxygen enriched stream at a removal point,
removing a first argon enriched stream containing between 3 and 20% argon from the low pressure column,
sending the first argon enriched stream to an argon column having a top condenser, recovering a second argon enriched stream, richer in argon than the first argon enriched stream, at the top of the argon column and removing a fourth oxygen enriched stream at the bottom of the argon column wherein the argon column operates at a pressure at least 0.5 bar lower than the low pressure column.
It is useful to note that when a stream is defined as a feed to a column, its feed point location, if not specified, can be anywhere in the mass transfer and heat transfer zones of this column wherever there is direct contact between this stream and an internal fluid stream of the column. The bottom reboiler or top condenser are therefore considered as part of the column. As an example, a liquid feed to a bottom reboiler of the column is considered as a feed to this column.
According to further optional aspects of the invention:
the process comprises sending at least a portion of the second nitrogen enriched liquid stream to the low pressure column, at least partially vaporizing a portion of the second oxygen enriched liquid stream in the top condenser of the intermediate column, sending at least a portion of the at least partially vaporized second oxygen enriched stream and a portion of the second oxygen enriched liquid to the low pressure column, PA1 the argon column has a bottom reboiler heated by a gas stream, PA1 that gas stream contains at least 90% nitrogen, PA1 the gas stream heating the bottom reboiler of the argon column is at least a portion of one of the first, second and third nitrogen enriched streams, PA1 the process comprises compressing at least a portion of the nitrogen enriched gas stream and sending it as heating gas to the bottom reboiler of the argon column, PA1 the process comprises sending the fourth oxygen enriched stream to the low pressure column, PA1 the process comprises removing the first argon enriched stream at the bottom of the low pressure column, PA1 the process comprises removing the third oxygen enriched stream and the second argon enriched stream as products, PA1 the third oxygen enriched stream contains at least 95% oxygen and the second argon enriched stream contains at least 95% argon, PA1 the process comprises removing the first argon enriched stream at least 5 theoretical trays above the bottom of the low pressure column and removing the fourth oxygen enriched stream as a product, PA1 the process comprises removing the first argon enriched stream at least 20 theoretical trays above the bottom of the low pressure column, PA1 the process comprises removing the first argon enriched stream at most 30 theoretical trays above the bottom of the low pressure column, PA1 the fourth oxygen enriched stream contains at least 95% oxygen, PA1 the process comprises sending nitrogen enriched liquid from the top of the low pressure column to the top condenser of the argon column, PA1 the heating gas for the bottom reboiler of the low pressure column is nitrogen enriched gas from the high pressure column or air, PA1 the argon column operates at a pressure at least 1 bar lower than the pressure of the low pressure column, PA1 the intermediate pressure column has a bottom reboiler, PA1 the process comprises sending a nitrogen enriched gas from the high pressure column to the bottom reboiler, PA1 the process comprises at least partially vaporizing or subcooling at least part of the second nitrogen enriched fluid before sending it to the low pressure column, PA1 the process comprises at least partially vaporizing or subcooling at least part of the second oxygen enriched fluid before sending it to the low pressure column, PA1 the argon column has a bottom reboiler, PA1 there is a conduit for sending a third nitrogen enriched stream from the low pressure column to the bottom reboiler of the argon column, PA1 there is a compressor for compressing the third nitrogen enriched stream before sending it to the bottom reboiler of the argon column, PA1 there is a conduit for sending a nitrogen enriched liquid from the top of the low pressure column to the top condenser of the argon column, PA1 the conduit for removing the first argon enriched stream is connected to the bottom of the low pressure column, PA1 there is a conduit for sending the fourth oxygen enriched stream to an intermediate point of the low pressure column, PA1 there are means for pressurizing at least one oxygen enriched liquid withdrawn from the argon column or the low pressure column, PA1 there are conduits for withdrawing oxygen enriched streams of differing purities from the low pressure column, PA1 the conduit for removing the first argon enriched stream is connected to an intermediate level of the low pressure column, PA1 there are means for at least partially vaporizing or subcooling the second nitrogen enriched liquid before sending it to the low pressure column, PA1 there are means for at least partially vaporizing or subcooling the second oxygen enriched liquid before sending it to the low pressure column, PA1 the intermediate pressure column has a bottom reboiler, PA1 there are means for sending a nitrogen enriched gas from the high pressure column to the bottom reboiler of the intermediate pressure column, PA1 the intermediate pressure column has a top condenser, PA1 there are means for sending at least part of the second oxygen enriched fluid to the top condenser of the intermediate pressure column, PA1 there are means for sending air to the intermediate pressure column.
oxygen enriched streams of differing purities are removed from the low pressure column, PA2 the low pressure column operates at above 2 bar, preferably above 3 bar and most preferably above 4 bar, PA2 the intermediate pressure column has a top condenser and the process comprises sending at least part of the second oxygen enriched fluid to the top condenser, PA2 air is sent to the intermediate pressure column.
According to a further aspect of the invention, there is provided an apparatus for separating air by cryogenic distillation comprising a high pressure column, an intermediate pressure column, a low pressure column having a bottom reboiler and an argon column having a top condenser, a conduit for sending air to the high pressure column, a conduit for sending at least part of a first oxygen enriched liquid from the high pressure column to the intermediate pressure column, a conduit for sending a second oxygen enriched fluid from the bottom of the intermediate pressure column to the low pressure column, a conduit for sending a second nitrogen enriched fluid from the top of the intermediate pressure column to the low pressure column or to a top condenser of the argon column, a conduit for sending a heating gas to the bottom reboiler of the low pressure column, a conduit for removing a third oxygen enriched fluid from the low pressure column, a conduit for sending a nitrogen enriched liquid from the high pressure column to the low pressure column, a conduit for sending a first argon enriched stream from the low pressure column to the argon column, a conduit for withdrawing a second argon enriched stream containing at least 50% argon from the argon column, a conduit for withdrawing a fourth oxygen enriched stream from the argon column and means for expanding the first argon enriched stream sent from the low pressure column to the argon column, preferably constituted by a valve.
According to further options:
The new invention addresses this aspect by adding a argon column operated at relatively lower pressure to the elevated pressure triple-column column process to perform an efficient separation of argon and oxygen which is a necessity for the production of high purity oxygen and/or argon production.
In one embodiment (FIG. 1) the process can be described as follows:
Air free of impurities such as moisture and CO2 is fed to a high pressure column where it is separated into a nitrogen rich stream at the top and an oxygen rich stream at the bottom.
Feed at least a portion of the oxygen rich stream to a side column to yield a second nitrogen rich stream at the top and a second oxygen rich stream at the bottom. This side column has a reboiler which exchanges heat with the nitrogen rich gas at or near the top of the high pressure column. Recover a portion of the second nitrogen rich stream as liquid reflux and feed it to the low pressure column.
At least partially vaporize at least a portion of the second oxygen rich stream in the overhead condenser of the side column and feed this vaporized stream and the non-vaporized portion to the low pressure column.
The low pressure column separates its feeds into a third oxygen rich stream at the bottom and a third nitrogen rich stream at the top. The bottom of the low pressure column exchanges heat with the top of the high pressure column. Recover at least a portion of the 3.sup.rd oxygen rich stream as oxygen product.
Extract an oxygen-argon stream above the 3.sup.rd oxygen rich stream. Feed this oxygen-argon stream to the argon column. Recover an argon stream at the top of the argon column and a 4.sup.th oxygen rich stream at the bottom of the argon column.

Cryogenic distillation system for air separation

Air Liquide Process and Construction, Inc.

L'Air Liquide, Societe Anonyme pour l'Etude et, l'Exploitation des Procedes Georges Claude


A wall straightening apparatus provides multiple independently controllable jacking members pressing outward on diagonal braces to push those braces against the wall to move the wall into a vertical alignment. Feedback control of the jacking members provides coordinated straightening of large wall sections with lessened cracking and distortion.

Below ground walls, such as those which provide for the walls of the basement, must be able to support the weight of a structure resting thereon and to resist lateral forces associated with the surrounding soil and hydrostatic pressure from water in the soil.
Particularly when a basement wall is constructed of masonry block, lateral pressure may cause the wall to deflect inwardly and cracks to appear on the inner surface of the wall as mortar joints yield to a tensile force component. If such deflection continues unabated, the entire wall may buckle and collapse with damage to the supporting structure.
A number of methods of straightening walls experiencing initial stages of deflection employ applying a counterbalancing force on the inner surface of the basement wall by means of cables or a threaded rod passing from a plate on the inner surface of the basement wall through the wall and anchored at a position outside the wall, for example, in a trench. Tightening the cable or threaded rod may then pull the wall back into alignment. A system of this type is taught by U.S. Pat. No. 4,189,891.
In a different approach, U.S. Pat. No. 4,353,194 teaches applying force by means of an ellis jack braced between the floor of the basement and the wall suffering from deflection.

Method of straightening foundational walls


A semiconductor memory device is described in which wordline redundancy is implemented without impacting the access time. A redundant decoder circuit generates a wordline drive inhibit signal which inhibits the generation of a normal wordline signal. Deselection also deselects the normally accessed reference cells, requiring that the redundant cells provide their own reference signal. This last requirement is accomplished by utilization of twin cells for the redundant memory. Placing the redundant memory cells on the sense node side of the bit line isolators enables the effective doubling of the number of redundant cells available each of a plurality of sub-arrays of normal memory.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates to semiconductor memory systems and techniques for increasing effective production yield by the implementation of redundant memory cells, and particularly to the implementation of wordline redundancy.
2. Prior Art
The application of memory cell redundancy to enhance the yield of semiconductor memory arrays during the early stages of mass production is extensively practiced throughout the semiconductor industry. The classic problem encountered when implementing wordline redundancy is that of containing the address detection and word drive steering functions without increasing the time interval between word address generation and wordline drive. In high performance DRAM architecture there are normally four clock phases between the application of word address signals to the memory and the actual wordline drive phase. The first phase begins with the application of the word addresses to an input buffer circuit. The second is that of the address drive signal. The third phase drives both true and complement word address signals to the word decoders distributed across the memory chip. The fourth is that of the actual wordline drive phase which can be applied only after all of the unselected word decoders have responded to the true/complement address signals. The critical time during which the determination of whether to activate normal or redundant word lines lies between phases three and four, since the selection cannot be made until after the true/complement address signals have been evaluated. Except in those few instances described below, prior art techniques for implementing wordline redundancy require that the timing between these critical phases be increased considerably. Other techniques for obtaining wordline redundancy, although not presenting the same problem, have problems of their own.
Previous designs of wordline redundancy have been proposed at the expense of:
Increased chip area and circuit complexity caused by the use of independent columns of sense amplifiers and data line steering circuits operating in parallel with the normal array circuitry, and E. P. Thoma, "Circuit Implementation of Fusible Redundant Addresses on RAMs for Productivity Enhancement", IBM Journal of Research and Development, Vol. 24, No. 3, pp. 291-295, May, 1980. Here wordline redundancy is implemented without an access time penalty by adding separate sense amplifier columns for the redundant wordlines. No access penalty is incurred because the redundant wordline and the defective wordline operate in parallel, and the selection of the redundant, versus the normal sense amplifiers, occurs during the sensing operation. This approach is disadvantageous in that chip size is significantly increased due to the need for additional latches for each bitline along the redundant wordline.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,365,319, issued to Takemae on Dec. 21, 1982, implements redundancy by utilizing two kinds of decoders and drivers, i.e., a PROM decoder for determining whether an incoming address is a defective address, a redundancy driver for driving a redundancy array, and row address decoders and drivers for driving a main memory cell matrix. A first embodiment of the Takemae teachings (FIG. 1) is disadvantageous in that the switch 7 results in an access time penalty, and results in a semiconductor space penalty because the switch must be large to handle high currents. In a second embodiment (FIGS. 2-4), multiple AND gates D.sub.0 -D.sub.63 replace the large switch 7 (FIG. 1); however, this is not much of an improvement because the memory device still suffers from both an access time (i.e., an AND-gate) penalty, and also a semiconductor space penalty as the collective area of the AND gates D.sub.0 -D.sub.63 is still large. A third embodiment (FIGS. 5-10) suffers an access time penalty due to AND-gate delays introduced by the incorporation of AND gates D.sub.91 -D.sub.94 (FIG. 6) and AND gates D.sub.0 -D.sub.3 (FIG. 8A) to control the activation of the decoders and drivers 9 and 10, respectively.
The Intel 2164A 64K DRAM represents a memory device where access time is the same whether it is the normal wordlines or the redundancy wordlines which are being used; however, this product is always affected by an access time penalty, whether repaired with wordline redundancy or not, because chip timing is set up to allow for redundancy repairs. More specifically, chip performance is slowed due to the need to deselect a faulty wordline's word decoder after the redundant word decoders sense a match with an incoming address Once the match is sensed, a deselect generator is fired or triggered to deselect the entire row of normal word decoders. After the faulty wordline word decoder is deselected, then the wordline drive is enabled. Further discussions concerning the 2164A can be seen in the Intel Application Description AP-131, pp. 14-16, and "An Analysis of the i2164A," Mosaid Incorporated, p. 5, 41-52, April, 1982.
The 64K DRAM (described by R. T. Smith, J. D. Chlipala, J. F. M. Bindels, R. G. Nelson, F. H. Fischer and T. F. Mantz, in "Laser Programmable Redundancy and Yield Improvement in a 64K DRAM," IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, Vol, SC-16, No. 5, pp. 506-514, October, 1981), and the 256K DRAM (described by C. A. Benevit, J. M. Cassard, K. J. Dimmler, A. C. Dumbri, M. G. Mound, F. J. Procyk, W. R. Rosenzweig and A. W. Yanof, in "A 256K Dynamic Random Access Memory," IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, Vol. SC-17, No. 5, pp. 857-861, October, 1982), implement wordline redundancy without an access time impact by using laser-fused redundancy on the wordline pitch. No access time penalty is incurred because the defective wordline is permanently disconnected by an exploding programmable link provided in each of the wordline drive circuits. This method of redundancy is disadvantageous because the tighter design rules of present and future high density memory products are causing a shrinkage in the wordline pitch. The result is a requirement for a laser spot size and laser beam position accuracy beyond what is available from laser programming systems today. Thus, laser-fused redundancy is disadvantageous in that the current level of laser technology requires an off wordline pitch method or an increase in memory chip size due to the need for an increased wordline pitch.
Our copending U.S. application Ser. No. 176,473 filed Apr. 1, 1988, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,885,720, teaches a circuit and method of providing wordline redundancy without impact on access time at the expense of providing separate wordline driver circuits for the normal and redundant array cells. This design also requires excess power and complex circuitry to implement effectively.
Additional designs have also been described which include design trade-offs such as:
increased access time caused by driving both true and complement addresses signals high after redundant address compare circuitry has completed its function, see Eaton et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,389,715, issued June 21, 1983;
reduced array signal margin due to wordline signal glitches caused by partial selection and then deselection of normal wordline drive phase, see Nakano et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,392,211, issued July 5, 1983; and
complex timing considerations caused by introducing an extra timing phase between word address drive time and wordline decode drive, see Murotani U.S. Pat. No. 4,723,277, issued Feb. 2, 1988.
While the above approaches represent important advances in semiconductor manufacturing technology, there still exists a need for a memory design approach which is capable of providing wordline redundancy without the disadvantages cited above, i.e., without any access time penalty, and without any significant impact on chip size and power requirements.

Semiconductor memory having bit lines with isolation circuits connected between redundant and normal memory cells

International Business Machines Corporation


A device to aid in the laying of pipes in a ditch in a position above the bottom thereof while gravel is partially put into the ditch. Then with gravel in the ditch supporting the pipe, the device is conveniently removed.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the laying of sections of pipe and especially laying the sections in a dug trench on a bed of particle material such as gravel. More particularly the field of the invention relates to laying sewer pipe or septic drain pipe in a trench in which it is necessary to align the sections of pipe on a bed of gravel or crushed rock.
2. Description of the Prior Art
When laying sections of pipe in a trench, it is first necessary to dig the trench to a depth below the level designed for the length of pipe. The gravel or crushed rock that provides a bed for the pipe is then filled in the bottom of the trench and the pipe sections are laid upon the gravel. It is understood that the sections must be aligned and often sloped at a fixed angle to provide running of the liquid through the pipe. The process of doing this is quite tedious in that first the gravel is filled into a portion of the trench and a section of pipe is laid on top of it so that the section is aligned with the preceding section. Often additional gravel must be filled in and it is a matter of placement and replacement of a section until the proper amount of gravel is underneath the section to support it in alignment with adjacent sections.
The problem of aligning sections of pipe in a bed of gravel on an individual basis as above described is long recognized and tools have been designed to place and hold the sections of pipe in a fixed predetermined position prior to filling in the bed of gravel or crushed stone. With the sections held in their correct positions the gravel material can then be filled into the ditch below and around the positioned pipe sections while they are being held in place. Examples of such pipe positioning tools are shown in McLaughlin U.S. Pat. No. 3,568,455 and Scott U.S. Pat. No. 4,043,139. The tools of these prior art patents have particular disadvantages that the present invention is designed to conveniently overcome. Both patents disclose pipe positioning tools that are driven into the ground at the bottom of the trench prior to the filling of gravel or other material. A pipe holder is provided that can hold the sections of pipe in a predetermined position for back filling of the gravel. Thereafter it is necessary to release the positioning tool from the pipe and pull it out of the ground for subsequent use. One problem arises from the fact that the tool in the ground must be pulled up through the bed of gravel which is a difficult and inconvenient process. In addition, these pipe positioning tools of the prior art cannot conveniently release the sections of pipe to permit the tool to be withdrawn. The present invention overcomes these and other disadvantages of the prior art pipe positioning tools.


A method of making a skin composition that includes an effective amount of skin care agent selected to inhibit HMGB1 stimulation of human melanocytes. The method includes determining the level of high-mobility group protein B1 (HMGB1), messenger RNA associated with the expression and/or regulation of HMGB1 (HMGB1 mRNA), and/or micro-RNA associated with the expression and/or regulation of HMGB1 (HMGB1 miRNA) present in the test sample, and identifying the test agent as a skin tone agent when there is no increase in HMGB1 level, a downregulation in transcription of HMGB1 mRNA, and/or an upregulation of HMGB1 miRNA. The method also includes identifying a test agent as a skin tone agent when the test agent inhibits or prevents an increase in melanocyte dendricity and/or body size caused by HMGB1, and incorporating the skin tone agent in a dermatologically acceptable carrier.

Melanin is fundamental compound in skin pigmentation, and much of the skin pigmentation observed is dependent upon the loading and retention of melanosomes in the keratinocytes. Melanin is produced by a complex set of reactions within a melanocyte involving, at a basic level, the enzyme tyrosinase and L-tyrosine as a substrate. Melanogenesis can be stimulated by paracrine factors originating from keratinocytes such as stem cell factor and endothelin-1 in response to UV stress. During melanogenesis, tyrosinase catalyzes the conversion of L-tyrosine to DOPA (L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine) and of DOPA to dopaquinone. Dopaquinone undergoes further conversion to form melanin. Melanin aggregates in organelles known as the melanosomes which are transferred to keratinocytes along slender filaments of the melanocyte known as dendrites. Since there are approximately 36 keratinocytes for each melanocyte in the epidermis, the melanocytes rely on these dendritic structures to "reach" neighboring keratinocytes for melanosome transfer. Melanin carrying keratinocytes then migrate upward toward the skin surface in a constant renewal process.
There are approximately 1500 gene products expressed in a melanosome, with 600 of them being expressed at any given time, and 100 of them believed to be unique to the melanosome. In addition, there are many regulatory elements involved in signaling, in the transport of melanosomes within the melanocyte, and in the transfer of melanosomes to the keratinocytes. Some pathways are relatively well elucidated, while others are not. Identifying and better understanding the biochemical pathways involved in melanin transfer can help identify skin tone agents for regulating hyperpigmentation and melanin overproduction.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to identify skin care actives that inhibit the transfer of melanin from melanocytes to keratinocyes. It would also be desirable to formulate cosmetic compositions for improving the appearance of hyperpigmented skin that include such actives. It would further be desirable to treat skin pigmentation conditions using such compositions.

Method of making a skin care composition


A vehicle occupant safety system helps protect front seat occupants of a vehicle in the event of a collision that results in oblique forward occupant movement. The safety system includes a frontal air bag inflatable between on instrument panel end the front seat vehicle occupant, and a central air bag inflatable adjacent and inboard of the frontal air bag. The frontal air bag can be configured and positioned to receive and cushion the vehicle occupant moving in an oblique direction in the vehicle as the result of a vehicle collision. The central air bag can be configured and positioned to support an inboard portion of the frontal airbag against flattening out in response to receiving the obliquely moving occupant, and to engage the obliquely moving occupant's head and resist rotation of the vehicle occupant's head resulting from moving obliquely into engagement with the frontal air bag.

It is known to provide an inflatable vehicle occupant protection device, such as an air bag, for helping to protect an occupant of a vehicle. One particular type of air bag is a frontal air bag inflatable between an occupant of a front seat of the vehicle and an instrument panel of the vehicle. Such air bags may be driver air bags or passenger air bags. When inflated, the driver and passenger air bags help protect the occupant from impacts with parts of the vehicle such as the instrument panel and/or a steering wheel of the vehicle.
Passenger air bags are typically stored in a deflated condition in a housing that is mounted to the vehicle instrument panel. An air bag door is connectable with the housing and/or instrument panel to help enclose and conceal the air bag in a stored condition. Upon deployment of the passenger air bag, the air bag door opens to permit the air bag to move to an inflated condition. The air bag door opens as a result of forces exerted on the door by the inflating air bag.
Driver air bags are typically stored in a deflated condition in a housing that is mounted on the vehicle steering wheel. An air bag cover is connectable with the housing and/or steering wheel to help enclose and conceal the air bag in a stored condition. Upon deployment of the driver air bag, the air bag cover opens to permit the air bag to move to an inflated condition. The air bag cover opens as a result of forces exerted on the cover by the inflating driver air bag.
Referring to FIG. 1, a known vehicle occupant protection system 200 can include a steering wheel mounted driver frontal air bag 202 and an instrument panel mounted passenger frontal air bag 204. When the vehicle 206 is involved in oblique or small overlap crashes, the passenger side occupant, whose head is indicated generally at 208, tends to move toward the passenger frontal air bag 204 at an angle, indicated generally by the arrow 210. When the occupant's head engages the air bag 204, as shown at 208′, the head can tend to roll off inboard, as indicated generally by the arrow 212, thus incurring a significant amount of head rotation, which can be detrimental.


A catalyst undercoat (wash-coat) material comprising a plurality of stable, highly porous, co-precipitated agglomerated microcrystalline comprised of integral admixture of alumina and at least one lanthanide. The co-precipitated material may be converted to a slurry and used as an undercoat or wash-coat atop a prefabricated low surface area support. Alternatively, the co-precipitated material may be compressed or extruded into various geometric forms and these can be used as a support and as such serve both as the support and the undercoat.

1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to catalytic compositions and methods for their preparation and use. More particularly, this invention relates to a catalyst undercoat material useful for providing an undercoat or alternatively a support having a catalytically advantageous pore size distribution and high porosity.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
There are many types of wash-coats or undercoats (hereinafter referred to as coatings) as well as solid prefabricated catalyst foundations known in the art. It should be noted at the outset that the word support as used in this application applies primarily to low surface area structures which serve as catalyst foundations. To this low surface area support is applied an undercoat or wash-coat having relatively high surface area which serves as an anchor or base for the catalytic entity forming the outermost surface of the catalytic composite. Alternatively, the catalyst undercoat material may be compressed or extruded into various geometric forms and used directly to support a catalyst. Such a solid may be in a variety of forms including powders, granules, sheets, spheres, extrudates, honeycombs or monolith structures, cylinders or rings, saddles, stars and the like. An example of a material serving as both a wash-coat and a high surface area catalyst support is alumina which is used widely as an undercoat and equally widely in the form of spheres, cylinders and extrudates of various configurations as a high surface area support. The undercoat can be thought of as a film of high surface area applied to a low surface area support to attain high catalytic activity not otherwise attainable with low surface area supports.
A variety of high strength low pressure drop catalyst supports are known in the art. These supports characteristically have a smooth surface and are catalytically inert, non-porous and have a low surface area.
Before a catalyst can be applied to the surface of the support material a film or layer of high surface area material must first be applied Such multi-layer catalysts are frequently used in the chemical industry or in abatement processes for the disposal of combustible or toxic materials including reducing pollutants in waste gases. For example, these catalysts may be used for the oxidation of carbonaceous materials as well as the reduction of nitrogen oxides contained in automobile exhaust.
The current art can be illustrated by the typical catalytic composite comprising a sturdy foundation illustrated by a low surface area honeycomb or similar monolithic support. Because this foundation material typically has a smooth surface and is dense and non-porous, a film or coating of a strongly adherent, refractory, high surface area and porous nature is applied. It is to this coating that our invention is directed and will subsequently be fully described. Finally onto and into this film is applied by impregnation, immersion, spraying or other means the catalytic coating comprising oxidation catalysts from the precious or base metal groups.
Examples of such prior art catalytic composites include those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,993,572 wherein the catalyst component contains a platinum group metal, a rare earth metal and an alumina component. The rare earth metal oxides disclosed include cerium, samarium and praseodymium. The catalyst component may be prepared by co-precipitating the ingredients. Such co-precipitation is described as either surface absorption or precipitation of a liquid or solid. The impregnation of alumina powder with cerium salts is also disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,867,309 relates to the deposition of palladium and a metal selected from the group consisting of a rare earth, iron, manganese and zinc to high surface area gamma alumina spheres. An example of a rare earth or lanthanide is cerium nitrate. Similarly U.S. Pat. No. 3,903,020 describes the impregnation of cerium onto and into already formed alumina particles, generally in the form of spheres. The cerium salt is preferably cerium nitrate. After applying the cerium nitrate to the surface of the spheres, the entire composite is then calcined to decompose the lanthanide nitrate and introduce the interspersed oxide as a stabilizing agent into the alumina.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,867,312 and 3,899,444 disclose another procedure which includes preparing an aqueous solution of water soluble decomposable salts of a rare earth metal and a water soluble aluminum salt, evaporating the free water from the solution and then heating the resultant mixture of aluminum salt and rare earth metal salt. A uniform mixture of salts is obtained and subsequently decomposed to relatively low surface area oxides. The mixed oxides are cooled and a support material is thus produced. This procedure and slight variations have found wide application because the decomposition of the nitrate has the desirable result of producing a comparatively adhesive oxide or mixed oxide. However, the activity of such oxides is very poor because the decomposition procedure results in an oxide which as noted above is both dense and low in surface area. Further, these patents are primarily concerned with the adhesion of the film and only to a lesser extent, the other physical characteristics. U.S. Pat. No. 3,867,312 refers to the formation of a gel from the precipitation of lanthanum and aluminum hydroxide which gel is then processed into spheres. These spheres become the support material for the catalytic coating. No reference is made to the use of this product as an adhesive film.
While most of the activity in the design of chemical reactions or of catalytic abatement processes relates to the development of catalysts, it has become increasingly apparent that the catalytic support material is itself an important factor in the overall design of the catalyst and the operating facilities. The catalyst and catalyst bed must be prepared in such a manner as to minimize pressure drop. The current designers have recognized that in order to obtain maximum catalyst performance, the catalyst support or catalyst support surface must be among other things rugged and of such a design that the gases or liquids to be reacted will pass through and contact the catalyst deposited on the surface of the catalyst support material without allowing a substantial pressure drop.
Not only is it necessary that the contact be intimate, but it is also essential that the catalyst that is applied to the catalyst support has a high inherent activity, even when the catalyst is present as a thin film on the nonporous surface of a rugged support. This requirement translates into a catalytic film having a specific chemical composition with a catalytically advantageous pore size distribution, high stability, high porosity and firm adherence to the smooth surface low pressure drop support.
Thus, while the art has generally recognized the use of a lanthanide for the stabilization of alumina, there remains a need for highly stable catalytic support compositions with novel control of total pore volume, pore distribution and thermal stability assuring retention of these characteristics.
The above cited patents are generally representative of the state of the art. From these teachings, it becomes readily apparent that in general a water soluble lanthanide salt or salts are added to some form of particulate alumina which is later further processed and ultimately applied as a coating or made into a support in the form of spheres, cylinders, extruded rods and the like. In such preparations, the intimate mixture, high porosity and reproducible physical characteristics taught by the present invention are completely missed because either the particulate alumina or lanthanide defeats the need for co-precipitation herein taught. For example, it is impossible to derive an intimate or integral mixture in unit crystal to unit crystal relationships by the teachings of the prior art because the crystals in the particulate portion are massive relative to the truly co-precipitated materials formed by the practice of the instant invention.

Catalyst support material containing lanthanides


A control apparatus for a vehicle drive-force transmitting apparatus which includes a gear mechanism and a continuously-variable transmission mechanism and which establishes selectively a first state in which a drive force is transmitted by the gear mechanism and a second state in which the drive force is transmitted by the continuously-variable transmission mechanism. The control apparatus sets a shift-up-action permitted gear ratio of the continuously-variable transmission mechanism, which makes a state-switch-requiring shift-up action is permitted to be executed. When a running speed of the vehicle is not higher than a given value, a predetermined high gear ratio value is set as the shift-up-action permitted gear ratio. When the running speed is higher than the given value, a predetermined gear ratio range ranging from the predetermined high gear ratio value to a predetermined low gear ratio value is set as the shift-up-action permitted gear ratio.

There is known a control apparatus for a drive-force transmitting apparatus that is to be provided in a vehicle having a drive force source and drive wheels, wherein the drive-force transmitting apparatus includes: an input rotary member to which a drive force is to be transmitted from the drive force source; an output rotary member from which the drive three is to be outputted to the drive wheels; a continuously-variable transmission mechanism; and a gear mechanism configured to provide at least one gear ratio, and wherein the drive-force transmitting apparatus defines a plurality of drive-force transmitting paths that are provided in parallel with each other between the input rotary member and the output rotary member. The plurality of drive-force transmitting paths include a first drive-force transmitting path through which the drive force is to be transmitted by the gear mechanism and a second drive-force transmitting path through which the drive force is to be transmitted by the continuously-variable transmission mechanism, such that a selected one of the first and second drive-force transmitting paths is established. JP-2015-148281A discloses such a control apparatus for a drive-force transmitting apparatus that is to be provided in a vehicle. This publication of Japanese Patent Application discloses that, in the drive-force transmitting apparatus in which a gear mechanism and a continuously-variable transmission mechanism are provided to be parallel with each other, the continuously-variable transmission mechanism is a belt-type continuously-variable transmission including a primary pulley, a secondary pulley and a transmission belt that is looped over the two pulleys, and the continuously-variable transmission mechanism provides a continuously-variable gear ratio which is variable within a given range and which is lower than a gear ratio provided by the gear mechanism. The publication also discloses that a shift-up action requiring the selected drive-force transmitting path to be switched from the first drive-force transmitting path (through which the drive force is to be transmitted by the gear mechanism) to the second drive-force transmitting path (through which the drive force is to be transmitted by the continuously-variable transmission mechanism) is executed when the continuously-variable transmission mechanism establishes a highest gear ratio value that corresponds to a maximum value within the given range of the continuously-variable gear ratio. It is noted that the term "gear ratio" is defined as "rotational speed of input-side rotary member/rotational speed of output-side rotary member". For example, the gear ratio of the above-described drive-force transmitting apparatus is defined as "rotational speed of the input rotary member/rotational speed of the output rotary member", and the gear ratio of the above-described belt-type continuously-variable transmission is defined as "rotational speed of the primary pulley/rotational speed of the secondary pulley". It is also noted that the above-described expression that the continuously-variable gear ratio of the continuously-variable transmission mechanism is lower than the gear ratio provided by the gear mechanism, is interpreted to mean that the continuously-variable gear ratio of the continuously-variable transmission mechanism makes a vehicle running speed higher than the gear ratio of the gear mechanism, and that the highest gear ratio value of the continuously-variable transmission mechanism can be expressed also as a lowest-speed gear ratio.

Control apparatus for vehicle drive-force transmitting apparatus


The present application discloses an information observation method and an information observation apparatus, and relates to the field of multimedia information processing technologies. The method comprises: detecting a position of a sightline focusing point of an observer; in response to that it is detected that the sightline focusing point of the observer moves away from an observed object, judging whether the observer has observed all important information on the observed object; and in response to that it is judged that the observer has not observed all important information on the observed object, reminding the observer. For the method and the apparatus in embodiments of the present application, from the perspective of an actual observation behavior of an observer, a position of a sightline focusing point of the observer is detected to determine an observation behavior of the observer for important information, so as to radically prevent missing of important information.

Technical Field
The present application relates to the field of multimedia information processing technologies, and in particular, to an information observation method and an information observation apparatus.
Background
Researches show that when human eyes look at a certain object (comprising a person, a scenery, an article, a picture, an image displayed on a computer, and the like), even if there is sufficient time, in most cases, people will not notice every detail of the object and inevitably, often ignore important content. For example, in viewing a financial statement having a large quantity of data, it is not very easy for people to notice certain critical data from the large quantity of data.
To prevent an observer from missing important information, there is in the prior art a method of attracting the sight of an observer by extracting an important part from an image, highlighting the important part, and changing the color of an important area, and the like, thereby reducing a probability of missing of important information.
However, such a method only increases the probability of preventing missing of important information, but fails to radically prevent a possibility of missing of important information.

Information observation method and information observation device


A light adjusting device for adjusting the luminance of a light source is provided. The light adjusting device comprises a rectifier module, a first switch element, a second switch element and a control module. The rectifier module receives an AC signal from a first power node and a second power node, and rectifies the AC signal to output a driving signal to the light source. The first switch element is coupled to the first power node. The second switch element is coupled to the second power node. The control module outputs a control signal to the first and second switch elements to control the conduction states of the first and second switch elements. When the first and second switch elements are turned on, the driving signal provided to the light source is interrupted.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a light adjusting device, and more particularly to a light adjusting device incorporating a switch element to simplify circuit complexity.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional light source of lighting apparatus provides a steady light output at all times. However, the user can only control the light source to be either in a light state or a dark state by turning on or turning off the power, and cannot adjust the luminance of a lighting apparatus according to the scenarios of use. Most of the currently available light adjusting technologies require the use of a complicated circuit structure, not only increasing production cost but also making the installation of circuit more difficult.
Therefore, how to simplify circuit complexity and reduce production cost for light adjusting device has become a prominent task for the industries.

Light adjusting device with switching element


The invention relates to a single crystal CVD diamond material, wherein the extended defect density as characterized by X-ray topography is less than 400/cm2 over an area of greater than 0.014 cm2. The invention further relates to a method for producing a CVD single crystal diamond material according to any preceding claim comprising the step of selecting a substrate on which to grow the CVD single crystal diamond, wherein the substrate has at least one of a density of extended defects as characterized by X-ray topography of less than 400/cm2 over an area greater than 0.014 cm2; an optical isotropy of less than 1×10-5 over a volume greater than 0.1 mm3; and a FWHM X-ray rocking curve width for the (004) reflection of less than 20 arc seconds.

The synthesis of diamond by various methods is well known and well established. One such example is the synthesis of diamond under high temperature and high pressure (HPHT). There are two principal methods employed for HPHT synthesis of diamond and both are from solution. The one method is a temperature gradient method and the other is an allotropic change method. In the temperature gradient method, the driving force for crystal growth is the supersaturation due to the difference in solubilities of the carbon source material and the growing crystal as a result of a temperature difference between the two. The carbon that is present in the higher temperature region migrates to the seed crystal, which is positioned in the lower temperature region, via a solvent/catalyst material that separates the source material and seed crystal. Such a temperature gradient method is described generally in U.S. Pat. No. 4,034,066.
Almost all diamond synthesised from solution contains nitrogen and is diamond of type Ib. When growing type IIa diamond material which has a nitrogen content generally lower than 1 ppm (parts per million), removal of nitrogen from the starting materials is necessary. This is typically achieved by using a nitrogen getter. The nitrogen getter or agent is added to the solvent/catalyst, which is typically a molten alloy of the transition metals cobalt, iron and nickel. This agent has the effect of preferentially sequestering the nitrogen in the metallic melt, either as a solute or as a precipitated nitride or carbo-nitride. Such agents are typically elements like titanium, zirconium and aluminium.
The applicant's pending South African patent application Nos. 2004/9975 and 2005/04019 teach that type IIa diamond substrates can be grown in which the crystalline perfection in the {100}, {113} and {115} growth sectors approaches that of a perfect extended diamond cubic lattice and where the extended defect density is minimized. Such material has many potential applications, including use as a substrate in a subsequent chemical vapour deposition (CVD) growth process.
However, there remain four key limitations with the diamond synthesis techniques as taught in the above pending applications:                a) Cost. Using getters to control the incorporation of nitrogen is well known to reduce the growth rate of HPHT material. Although this invention still requires the growth of HPHT IIa material, using this as substrate material in a chemical vapour deposition (CVD) diamond synthesis process means that one plate might be used several times over, i.e. following the CVD growth the substrate might be reclaimed and grown on again. In addition the CVD process might be compatible with higher linear growth rates as well as replicating additional diamond plates of high crystal perfection from the first HPHT plate.        b) Although the growth sectors of HPHT synthesis can be controlled by parameters such as temperature and pressure, there are always {111} growth sectors which have a higher concentration of extended defects.        c) It is very difficult to controllably dope HPHT material with dopants such as P, B, N, Li, Na, Al, Si, S, etc. which might be needed in some applications which, for example, use the electronic properties of diamond.        d) Producing multilayer samples, where within one diamond there might be two or more layers which differ in the point defect density, such that there is a sharp interface both in space and doping concentration, is very difficult using HPHT techniques.
In addition, using HPHT synthesis methods it is very hard to eliminate impurities such as boron to the extent required in some applications that require material with the intrinsic properties of undoped diamond. Although to some extent these disadvantages can be overcome, the parameter space for growing high crystalline quality diamond makes it very difficult to control all these issues within a single high pressure-high temperature growth run.
Annealing is a method well known in the field of materials science to improve the crystal domain size and perfection of the domains generally. Usually annealing is performed at an elevated temperature with or without an increased pressure depending largely on what part of the diamond-graphite phase space the annealing is performed in. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,908,503 discusses the use of a high temperature furnacing stage, typically using temperatures of 1100° C. to 1600° C. and low pressures, using a non-oxidising atmosphere to improve the crystalline perfection of diamond. The non-oxidising atmosphere is a requirement to prevent the oxidation and loss of the diamond crystal during treatment.
Annealing of extended lattice defects in diamond requires diffusion of carbon atoms. The diamond lattice is a very tightly bonded lattice and diffusion is restricted except under certain conditions. Increasing temperature increases diffusion, but increasing pressure generally reduces it. In type Ib diamond the presence of significant levels of nitrogen in the diamond significantly enhances diffusion. Although some prior art (V. D. Antsygin's article in Optoelectronics Instrumentation and Data Processing (1998) No. 1 p9) have shown an improvement on the crystalline perfection in BARS grown type Ib diamond on annealing at 2100° C., the extended defects and annealing mechanism in type Ib and IIa are quite different and the prior art teaches that it is very difficult to remove structural defects in diamond containing a low nitrogen concentration.
'BARS' is the acronym for a Russian-developed type of apparatus used for applying high pressures and high temperatures that is also referred to as the 'split-sphere' technique by those skilled in the art.
Methods of depositing or growing material such as diamond on a substrate by chemical vapour deposition (CVD) are now well established and have been described extensively in the patent and other literature. Where diamond is being deposited on a substrate, the method generally involves providing a gas mixture which, on dissociation, can provide hydrogen or a halogen (e.g. F, Cl) in atomic form and C or carbon-containing radicals and other reactive species, e.g. CHx, CFx wherein x can be 1 to 4. In addition, oxygen containing sources may be present, as may sources for nitrogen and for boron. In many processes inert gases such as helium, neon or argon are also present. Thus, a typical source gas mixture will contain hydrocarbons CxHy wherein x and y can each be 1 to 10 or halocarbons CxHyHalz wherein x and z can each be 1 to 10 and y can be 0 to 10 and optionally one or more of the following: COx, wherein x can be 0.5 to 2, O2, H2 and an inert gas. Each gas may be present in its natural isotopic ratio, or the relative isotopic ratios may be artificially controlled; for example hydrogen may be present as deuterium or tritium, and carbon may be present as 12C or 13C. Dissociation of the source gas mixture is brought about by an energy source such as microwaves, RF (radio frequency) energy, a flame, a hot filament or jet based technique and the reactive gas species so produced are allowed to deposit onto a substrate and form diamond.
The prior art teaches that dislocations in CVD diamond arise from three sources: continuing from dislocations in the surface upon which CVD growth takes place, nucleation of new dislocations at the interface, and by dislocation multiplication during growth, particularly where the dislocation density is already high.
CVD diamond may be produced on a variety of substrates. Depending on the nature of the substrate and details of the process chemistry, polycrystalline or single crystal CVD diamond (the object of this invention) may be produced. A need exists for single crystal diamond material having exceptional crystalline quality and controlled point defect concentrations. A further need exists for a method for creating such diamond.

High crystalline quality synthetic diamond


Methods for etching a semiconductor structure and for conditioning a processing reactor in which a single semiconductor structure is treated are disclosed. An engineered polycrystalline silicon surface layer is deposited on a susceptor which supports the semiconductor structure. The polycrystalline silicon surface layer may be engineered by controlling the temperature at which the layer is deposited, by grooving the polycrystalline silicon surface layer or by controlling the thickness of the polycrystalline silicon surface layer.

In a single-wafer thermal process chamber, a semiconductor structure is supported by a susceptor. In some instances, it is desirable to etch the top surface of the structure. For example, silicon-on-insulator structures may be smoothed by etching to achieve a top silicon layer thickness target and a surface roughness target. Such structures may undergo edge boundary effects in which the chemical processes toward the edge of the semiconductor structure become disrupted. Such effects may result from disruption in heat transfer, momentum transport, mass transport or combinations thereof. Edge boundary effect may cause edge roll-off to occur toward the edge of the semiconductor structure. There is increased demand for semiconductor structures with across-wafer uniformity in thickness and flatness, particularly in advanced (e.g., 10 nm technology and beyond) CMOS device fabrication.
Conventional methods for reducing the localized edge boundary effects are limited. For example, varying the pressure in the process chamber is limited by throughput and reactor configuration. The gap between the wafer edge and the susceptor is limited by manufacturing tolerances and thermal expansion. Increasing the height of the pocket in which the semiconductor structure sits in the susceptor extends the affected region toward the inner region of the semiconductor structure. Further, varying the gap and pocket depth does not improve azimuthal thickness uniformity which is determined by centering the semiconductor structure in the susceptor.
A need exists for methods for mitigating edge loading effects during etching of a semiconductor structure to improve thickness uniformity of the etched semiconductor structure.
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the disclosure, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.

Methods for conditioning a processing reactor


A method of forming a composite material involves feeding materials to a kneader, kneading the materials, and injecting them from the kneader into a mold. The kneader is formed by a screw-type extruder having an ejection outlet at one end for extrusion into the mold. Various input ports are located axially along the extruder. Materials are fed into the kneader beginning at the inlet port most remote from the outlet end and proceeding successively to the inlet port nearest the outlet end. The materials are fed in successive order from those with the highest viscosity and lowest reactivity relative to the materials with the highest reactivity and lowest viscosity. For example, thermoplastic is fed to the inlet most remote from the outlet, and thermosetting resin is fed to the inlet nearest the outlet. In another aspect of the invention, in which thermoplastic and thermosetting resins are employed in roughly comparable amounts, an "island-in-sea" structure is desired. This structure is achieved by agglomerating thermoplastic material having a particle diameter of 0.05-0.5 .mu.m into particles of 10-1000 .mu.m diameter prior to kneading, then introducing the thermoplastic material into the kneader. The thermoset material is then added from least reactive and most viscous to most reactive and least viscous.

The present invention relates to a method of producing a molded resin article. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method of producing a molded resin article composed of a mixture of thermoplastic and thermosetting materials.
In addition, the present invention relates to a method of fabricating a molded article from a composite material created by melting a thermosetting resin component and a thermoplastic resin component, kneading the components and immediately injecting the resultant composite material into a mold where the kneaded melt is given a desired shape.
Resins can be molded by various methods depending upon such factors as the physical properties of feed materials and those of the finished article. Thermoplastic resins are in most cases shaped by injection molding, in which a molten resin is injected at high pressure into a cavity between closed mold parts and given a desired shape. The injection molding process has a high production rate and great latitude in the selection of the shapes of molded articles.
The injection molding technique, however, has the following disadvantages: (1) a large clamping force must be used during molding and thus a bulky molding machine is required; (2) it is practically impossible to fabricate thin-Walled and large parts; and (3) the molten resin must have high temperature and pressure when it is injected into the mold cavity, such that simultaneous lamination of skin members such as fabrics and PVC leather cannot be achieved without high risk of damage to the texture of the skin members. The third problem is particularly pronounced in the case where napped fabrics are to be simultaneously laminated and flattening of naps is unavoidable. Electronic parts are often required to be sealed with resins. However, if injection molding is adopted to encapsulate the parts, displacement of parts, breaking of lead wires and other problems can occur owing to the high injection pressure employed. Furthermore, when molding resins are used as sealants of electronic parts, the resins are generally required to be fire-retardant. However, many of the fire-retardant resins available today have a tendency to decompose or deteriorate at elevated temperatures required for injection. Therefore, simultaneous lamination of skin members and resin molding of electronic parts are very difficult to accomplish by customary injection molding techniques. A fourth problem with the injection molding process is that since the resin material will pass through the whole length of the cylinder of a kneader at high speed under high pressure, long glass fibers cannot be incorporated without breaking into short lengths. In addition, use of a relatively high amount of glass fibers or inorganic fillers is difficult.
In order to cope with these problems, one needs to employ resin materials having a high melt index and inject them while in molten state into the mold cavity at low temperature and pressure, with the viscosity of the melt being reduced at the time of injection. In the case of thermoplastic resins, materials of high melt index are polymers of low molecular weights but articles molded from such low-molecular weight polymers are not satisfactory in many aspects including impact strength, fatigue strength, creep resistance, chemical and solvent resistance, and resistance to environmental stress cracking. In other words, in order to ensure that a resin feed solely composed of thermoplastic materials is injection molded at low temperature and pressure, the strength of the shaped article has to be sacrificed but such a sacrifice is not desired from a practical viewpoint.
Compared to thermoplastics, thermosets are low in viscosity when they are in a molten state but as a thermosetting reaction proceeds, they will cure and thus increase in viscosity. Therefore, to perform injection molding with an in-line machine, one of the following methods must be used: i) curing the resin by heating it after it has been injected into the mold cavity rather than in the injection cylinder; or ii) using a so-called "premix" prepared by compounding the ingredients after they have passed through a certain degree of reaction. However, the first method in which the resin is cured by heating in the mold cavity suffers from the disadvantage of extended molding cycles. The second method which involves the use of a premix is subject to significant limitations on such factors as the compounding formulation and the choice of starting materials.
A method that is commonly adopted in molding thermosetting resin materials having the problems described above includes first preparing a sheet molding compound (SMC) or bulk molding compound (BMC) which has a thermoset of interest, say, an unsaturated polyester impregnated in a glass mat or glass fibers, and then molding SMC or BMC by compression or with matched dies. However, this method is not suitable for high-volume production since the metering and supply of materials is not easily adaptable for automation or continuous processes.
Thermoplastic resins, typically polyurethanes, are often molded by reaction-injection molding (RIM) processes in which two liquid streams are pumped under high pressure into an impingement chamber where they are mixed intimately and then are immediately forced into a mold cavity where a rapid polymerization reaction occurs. However, the major disadvantage of the RIM process is a small freedom in the choice of compounding formulas because the materials that can be used are limited to those which are low in viscosity and high in reactivity. Furthermore, the viscosity of the resin is so low at the time of injection as to cause various troubles such as an increased chance of burring and formation of voids on account of bubble trapping, extensive bleeding in the bulk of fabrics to be laminated simultaneously, and difficulty in relatively highly loading reinforcements or fillers on account of the great tendency toward solid-liquid separation.
A possible alternative to injection molding of thermoplastics is stamping, in which a molten material is deposited onto an open matched mold and stamped by closing the mold. During stamping, the material flows, filling the mold cavity. Compared to injection molding, this method tolerates the use of low pressures and is suitable for fabricating large and thin-walled parts. However, so long as thermoplastics are used, there are limits on the effort toward temperature and viscosity reduction and the stamping method is still insufficient to completely eliminate the defects of the injection molding process.
As described above, all conventional methods for molding thermoplastic or thermosetting resins have their own problems and generally speaking, thermoplastics are adapted for high production processes. Another advantage of thermoplastics is that they can be molded into articles having a higher degree of toughness. In contrast, articles molded from thermosetting resins are almost brittle and prone to chipping but they are excellent in such properties as stiffness, heat resistance, stress cracking resistance and creep resistance. It is therefore expected that a molded article that is superior in production rate and physical properties will be obtained from thermoplastic and thermosetting resin materials that are blended in an appropriate composite form.
However, none of the molding methods currently in commercial use are capable of producing composites of desired thermoplastic and thermosetting resin materials in desired proportions. One of the practices that has been adapted extensively is to incorporate thermoplastic components as modifiers in SMC or BMC of unsaturated polyesters but the thermoplastic components that can be added have been limited to those which are soluble in the principal components of thermosets such as alkyds and styrene monomers. Besides this restricts compounding formulation, i.e. the contents of thermoplastic components that can be incorporated have been limited.
An attempt has also been made to fabricate thermoplastic resins by injection molding on an in-line machine after thermosetting components have been added. But in this case, too, the contents of thermosetting components that can be added are limited to low levels because if they are excessive, they undergo a curing reaction and the resulting mix becomes too viscous to be efficiently injected into the mold cavity.
As will be understood from the foregoing discussion, when thermoplastic and thermosetting resin materials are to be mixed and molded by previously known methods, either one type of resin serves as the principal component with the other being used merely as an additive, and it has been impossible for the two types of resins to be mixed in more or less comparable amounts, e.g. from 25:75 to 75:25, and directly subjected to a molding step.
In order to realize fabrication of large and thin-walled parts, simultaneous lamination of skin members, resin molding of electronic parts, high loading of glass fibers, or incorporation of long fibers, the molten material must be injected into a mold cavity not only at an optimum viscosity (e.g. lower than the viscosity encountered in ordinary injection molding of thermoplastics but higher than the viscosity encountered in RIM but also at low temperature and pressure. However, it has been impossible with conventional molding processes to accomplish the necessary adjustment or control of resin viscosity and temperature.
It is further noted that in order to attain a balance of high-level physical properties in a composite material, one of the ideal structures is a micro dispersion in which islands of a toughness imparting component are dispersed in a sea of a stiff and heat-resistant matrix. This ideal structure would be obtained by using a thermosetting resin as a component for stiffness and heat resistance of the matrix, and employing a thermoplastic resin as a component for toughness of the islands. It is desirable to use a rubber-like material as the thermoplastic resin component.
Conventional composite materials that are prepared by kneading two types of resin components, thermosets and thermoplastics, are characterized in that the thermoplastic resin component or rubber component is dispersed in a minor proportion in the thermosetting resin component. The rubber component is dissolved in the thermosetting resin component and when the solution changes from a fluid to a solid state upon reaction, the dissolved rubber component undergoes phase separation to form an emulsion in which the islands of the rubber component are microscopically dispersed in the sea of the thermosetting resin component. However, with conventional composite materials, the solubility of the rubber component is limited and it cannot be dissolved in an increased amount in the thermosetting resin component. Furthermore, the viscosity of the thermosetting resin component cannot be controlled with sufficient ease to enable efficient molding with customary machines including injection molding and extrusion machines. Even if a composite material in which the thermoplastic resin component and the thermosetting resin component are mixed in more or less comparable proportions is successfully molded, the islands of the thermoplastic resin component are not sufficiently dispersed microscopically in the sea of the thermosetting resin component to produce a molded article that attains a balance between stiffness, heat resistance and toughness at high levels. The following three principal reasons are offered to explain this problem: first, because of the nature of rubbery materials which form islands and are responsible for the toughness of the composite, considerable difficulty is involved in comminuting (pulverizing) the rubbery material into fine particles. Even if this is possible, the particles are so sticky as to experience frequent blocking, which makes it difficult to attain a particle size that is ideal for the formation of a desired dispersion; second, the island phase should generally be composed of particles on the submicron order but such fine particles tend to scatter as dust particles and this is detrimental not only to handling but also to the consistency of the supply of the rubber component through a feeder, etc.; and third, the rubber-like particles dispersed in the sea of the matrix resin will re-fuse during melt mixing under thermal effects, making it impossible to obtain an ideal dispersion.

Method of producing molded resin article


A storage system may include a plurality of storage devices each having a plurality of addressable locations for storing data. A storage controller may be coupled to the storage devices and configured to store and retrieve data from the storage devices. An indirection map may be stored within the system having a plurality of map entries each configured to map a virtual address to a physical address on the storage devices. Each map entry may also store a checksum for data stored at the physical address indicated by the map entry. The storage controller may receive storage requests specifying a virtual address and may access the indirection map for each storage request to obtain the corresponding physical address and checksum. Dynamic striping may be employed so that new writes form new parity groups. Thus, stripes of various sizes may be supported by the storage system.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to computer data storage systems, and more particularly, to Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID) systems and data striping techniques.
2. Description of the Related Art
A continuing desire exists in the computer industry to consistently improve the performance and reliability of computer systems over time. For the most part, the desire for improved performance has been achieved for the processing or microprocessor components of computer systems. Microprocessor performance has steadily improved over the years. However, the performance of the microprocessor or processors in a computer system is only one component of the overall performance of the computer system. For example, the computer memory system must be able to keep up with the demands of the processor or the processor will become stalled waiting for data from the memory system. Generally computer memory systems have been able to keep up with processor performance through increased capacities, lower access times, new memory architectures, caching, interleaving and other techniques.
Another critical component to the overall performance of a computer system is the I/O system performance. For most applications the performance of the mass storage system or disk storage system is the critical performance component of a computer""s I/O system. For example, when an application requires access to more data or information than it has room in allocated system memory, the data may be paged in/out of disk storage to/from the system memory. A page may be a unit (e.g. fixed number of bytes) of data that is brought into system memory from disk storage when a requested item of data is not already in system memory. Typically the computer system""s operating system copies one or more pages from the disk storage system to system memory. A page may be a fixed number of bytes recognized by the operating system. When a program needs a page that is not in main memory, the operating system copies the required page into main memory and copies another page back to the disk system. Processing may be stalled while the program is waiting for the page to be copied. If storage system performance does not keep pace with performance gains in other components of a computer system, then delays in storage system accesses may overshadow performance gains elsewhere. Computer storage systems must also reliably store data. Many computer applications cannot tolerate data storage errors. Even if data errors are recoverable, data recovery operations may have a negative impact on performance.
One method that has been employed to increase the capacity, performance and reliability of disk storage systems is to employ an array of storage devices. An example of such an array of storage devices is a Redundant Array of Independent (or Inexpensive) Disks (RAID). A RAID system improves storage performance by providing parallel data paths to read and write information over an array of disks. By reading and writing multiple disks simultaneously, the storage system performance may be greatly improved. For example, an array of four disks that can be read and written simultaneously may provide a data rate almost four times that of a single disk. However, using arrays of multiple disks comes with the disadvantage of increasing failure rates. In the example of a four disk array above, the mean time between failure (MTBF) for the array will be one-fourth that of a single disk. It is not uncommon for storage device arrays to include many more than four disks, shortening the mean time between failure from years to months or even weeks. RAID systems may address this reliability issue by employing parity or redundancy so that data lost from a device failure may be recovered.
One common RAID technique or algorithm is referred to as RAID 0. RAID 0 is an example of a RAID algorithm used to improve performance by attempting to balance the storage system load over as many of the disks as possible. RAID 0 implements a striped disk array in which data is broken down into blocks and each block is written to a separate disk drive. Thus, this technique may be referred to as striping. I/O performance may be improved by spreading the I/O load across multiple drives since blocks of data will not be concentrated on any one particular drive. However, a disadvantage of RAID 0 systems is that they do not provide for any data redundancy and are thus not fault tolerant.
RAID 5 is an example of a RAID algorithm that provides some fault tolerance and load balancing. FIG. 1 illustrates a RAID 5 system, in which both data and parity information are striped across the storage device array. In a RAID 5 system, the parity information is computed over fixed size and fixed location stripes of data that span all the disks of the array. Together, each such stripe of data and its parity block form a fixed size, fixed location parity group. When a subset of the data blocks within a parity group is updated, the parity must also be updated. The parity may be updated in either of two ways. The parity may be updated by reading the remaining unchanged data blocks and computing a new parity in conjunction with the new blocks, or reading the old version of the changed data blocks, comparing them with the new data blocks, and applying the difference to the parity. However, in either case, the additional read and write operations can limit performance. This limitation is known as a small-write penalty problem. RAID 5 systems can withstand a single device failure by using the parity information to rebuild a failed disk.
Additionally, a further enhancement to the several levels of RAID architecture is a an algorithm known as write-anywhere. As noted above in the RAID 5 system, once the data striping is performed, that data stays in the same fixed, physical location on the disks. Thus, the parity information as well as the data is read from and written to the same place. In systems that employ the write-anywhere algorithm, when an update occurs, the new data is not immediately merged with the old data. The new data is cached and the system reads the unmodified data. The unmodified data and the new data are merged, the new parity is calculated and the new data and parity are written to new locations on the disks within the array group. The write-anywhere technique may reduce overhead associated with head seek and disk rotational latencies caused by having to wait for the head to get to the location of the data and parity stripes on the disks in the arrays. Although the write-anywhere technique may alleviate some of the efficiency overhead mentioned above, it is desirable to make further improvements to the system efficiency.
Another problem encountered with disk storage systems is that disk drives may occasionally corrupt data. The corruptions may occur for various different reasons. For example, firmware bugs in the disk drive controller""s firmware may cause bits in a sector to be modified or may cause blocks to be written to the wrong address. Such bugs may cause storage drives to write the wrong data, write the correct data to the wrong place, or not write at all. Another source of errors may be a drive""s write cache. Many disk drives employ write caches to quickly accept writes so that the host or array controller can continue with other commands. The data is later copied from the write cache to the disk media. However, write cache errors may cause some acknowledged writes to never reach the disk media. The end result of such bugs or errors is that the data at a given block may be corrupted or stale (e.g. not the current version). These types of errors may be xe2x80x9csilentxe2x80x9d because the drive may not realize that it has erred. If left undetected, such errors may have detrimental consequences, such as undetected long term data corruption. Depending on how long backup copies are kept, or if they are even kept at all, such undetected errors may not even be fixable via backup.
Conventional RAID organizations do not offer protection for such silent errors. Typical RAID systems may recover well from an xe2x80x9cidentifiable failurexe2x80x9d, such as a broken disk drive (e.g. a disk drive not responding to commands). However, typical RAID systems may not be able to easily or efficiently recover from silent disk drive errors. A RAID stripe""s integrity could be checked upon each read or update to check for such errors. However, this option would generate a great deal of I/O operations. For example, if only a single block was read or updated, all blocks of the stripe including the parity block would have to be read, parity calculated, and then checked against the old parity. Also, if the stripe is incorrect (e.g. the XOR of all data blocks do not match the parity block), there is no way to know which block or blocks are wrong.
In a system in which a host computer interacts with a storage array via virtual address, each data block may have a virtual block address. When a data block is written to the storage system, a physical location may be chosen by the storage system at which the data block is stored within the storage system. An indirection map may be maintained which matches virtual block address (used by the host system or file system) to physical block address (e.g. address of the actual location on a storage device of the storage array where a data block is stored). Data blocks may be organized within the storage system as stripes in which the blocks of a stripe are stored across multiple different storage devices of a storage array. A stripe may be a parity group in which multiple data blocks and a parity block for the data blocks are stored as a stripe across the storage devices. Dynamic striping may be employed so that new writes form new parity groups. Thus, stripes of various sizes may be supported by the storage system. For example, if a subset of data blocks of a current parity group are modified by a write transaction, instead of recalculating the parity for the current stripe and rewriting the modified data blocks and parity block of the current strip, a new parity group is created of only the modified blocks and a new parity block may be calculated and stored for the new parity group.
An indirection map is maintained for mapping virtual addresses to physical addresses. The indirection map may also include a parity group pointer for each data block that points to a next member of that parity group, thus linking all the blocks of a particular stripe together. With dynamic striping if a particular stripe is written and then later a part of that strip is updated, there""s no need to perform a partial stripe write and recalculation of parity that is so inefficient in conventional systems. Instead, the newly written blocks become part of a new stripe. The unmodified blocks in the original stripe and the newly modified blocks may later be coalesced into a new stripe having a default size number of blocks. The recoalescing of different size stripes may be accomplished via pointer adjustment in the indirection map.
Each blocks entry in the indirection map may also include a checksum for that block. In some embodiments the checksum may be relatively small, e.g. only a few bytes. Thus, it""s inclusion in the indirection map does not significantly change the size of the map. Furthermore, no extra I/O operations are needed to read the checksum since checksum lookup may be combined with the physical address lookup. When a block is read, its indirection map entry is read to find the block""s physical address and retrieve the block""s checksum. If a block is written, its indirection map entry is updated to indicate the new physical address for the block and the new checksum is also written to the indirection map entry. Any mechanism used to cache and manage indirection map entries will also cache and manage the checksums.
A storage system may include a plurality of storage devices each having a plurality of addressable locations for storing data. A storage controller may be coupled to the storage devices and configured to store and retrieve data from the storage devices. An indirection map may be stored within the system having a plurality of map entries each configured to map a virtual address to a physical address on the storage devices. Each map entry may also store a checksum for data stored at the physical address indicated by the map entry. The storage controller may receive storage requests specifying a virtual address and may access the indirection map for each storage request to obtain the corresponding physical address and checksum.
In one embodiment, a storage controller or array controller may be configured to store a stripe of data as a parity group across a number of the storage devices. The parity group includes a plurality of data blocks and a parity block calculated for the data blocks. The storage controller may receive a write transaction modifying a subset of the data blocks. The controller may calculate a new parity block for the subset of data blocks and store the modified subset of blocks and new parity block as a new parity group at new physical addresses striped across the storage devices. The controller also stores checksums for each block of the parity groups.
A method for storing data in a storage system may include storing a stripe of data across a plurality of storage devices. The data stripe includes a plurality of data blocks and a parity block calculated for the data blocks. The method may further include storing entries in an indirection map for each data stripe unit, and each entry may map a virtual address to a physical address for one of the data stripe units and store a checksum for that data stripe unit. The method may further include receiving a write transaction specifying the virtual addresses of a subset of the data blocks of a data stripe. A new parity block may be calculated for the subset of the data blocks, and the method may include storing only that subset of data blocks and the new parity block as a new parity group to new physical addresses striped across the storage devices. The method may also include updating the entries in the indirection map for the data blocks modified by the write transaction to indicate the new physical address and checksum for each modified data block.
A method for storing data in a storage system may include storing data stripe units across a plurality of storage devices and storing entries in an indirection map for each data stripe unit. Each indirection map entry maps a virtual address to a physical address and further stores a checksum for the stripe unit corresponding to that entry. A read request may be received specifying the virtual address of one of the stripe units and the indirection map entry corresponding to the virtual address may be accessed to obtain the physical address and corresponding checksum. In response to the read request the stripe unit at the physical address mapped to the virtual address indicated by the read request and the corresponding checksum may be returned.

Data storage array employing block checksums and dynamic striping


A propane injection system for supplementing gasoline or diesel engines in vehicles such as automobiles and marine vessels. The invention would also be appropriate for use in turbines and jet engines by providing a secondary fuel source for improved fuel economy. A propane tank is mounted into the vehicle, such as within a cavity within the trunk of an automobile, and is connected to the air intake, exhaust, and turbo charger of the vehicle's stock engine system. A switch is used to activate the injection of propane directly into the engine cycle at two points to increase engine performance. The switch could be incorporated into an existing switch, such as the cruise control of an automobile, and may be canceled by depressing the brake pedal of the vehicle.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a fuel supplement system and method for use thereof, and more specifically to a controllable propane injection system for a gasoline or diesel engine to improve the fuel efficiency performance thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Despite recent trends in developing alternatives to increase the fuel performance of standard combustion engines in vehicles, gasoline and diesel engines remain the primary source to power automobiles. This is even more evident for large delivery and transport vehicles. What is needed is a simple system which can be retrofitted into any gasoline or diesel powered automobile, marine craft, or other vehicle, which provides increased fuel performance.
Heretofore there has not been available a system or method for injecting propane into a gasoline or diesel engine system with the advantages and features of the present invention.

Propane fuel supplement system and method


A liquid mixture is assayed for a biologically active component that undergoes a reduction or oxidation reaction within a specific voltage range by immobilizing at an electrically conductive surface, a binding partner for the component, exposing the surface to the component to permit complexing to occur, applying a voltage to the surface in a range which will cause the component to undergo an oxidation or reduction reaction, and measuring the resulting current as an indication of the presence of the component.

This invention relates to assaying a liquid mixture for a particular biologically active component.
The component may be present only in minute quantities in a complex mixture such as blood or urine, which may also contain molecules of similar structure to the component of interest.
In one method for determining the concentration of such a component (for example, the method disclosed in Lane et al., J. Electroanal. Chem. 95: 117-122 (1979)), a voltage sweep is applied between a reference electrode and a working electrode to oxidize or reduce the component. The resulting current, which flows between the working electrode and a counter electrode, is measured as an indication of the concentration of the component in the liquid mixture.
In another method, disclosed in Yamamoto et al., J. Immuno. Methods 22: 309-317 (1978), the presence of an antigen component is determined by immobilizing on the working electrode antibodies which are binding partners to the antigen component, and allowing the antigen component molecules to bind to the antibodies to form a charged layer. The presence of the charged layer is detected as an indication of the presence of the antigen component.
In a third method, disclosed in Aizawa et al. Anal. Biochem. 94: 22-28 (1979), the concentration of an antigen component is measured by a series of steps which include adding to the liquid mixture an additional amount of the antigen component labeled with an enzyme, allowing both the labeled and non labeled antigens to compete for antibody binding sites, providing a substance which is acted upon by the enzyme associated with the bound labeled antigens to cause the release of a reporter substance, and measuring the reporter substance as an indication of concentration.

Assaying for a biologically active component