A beverage bottling plant and method for filling bottles with a liquid beverage material having a bottle filling machine with a filling valve for filling bottles with a liquid beverage. The filling valve having a gas cutoff element comprising a plurality of channels being configured and disposed to permit flow of a liquid into a container disposed at some distance beneath said filling element; each of the plurality of channels having a length, a width, and a height, wherein the width is substantially smaller than at least one of the height and the length, and the height is the distance from said liquid beverage inlet to the liquid beverage outlet.

1. Technical Field
The present application relates to a beverage bottling plant for filling bottles with a liquid beverage material having a bottle filling machine with a filling valve for bottling liquids in containers such as bottles, cans and similar vessels.
2. Background Information
A beverage bottling plant for filling bottles with a liquid beverage filling material can possibly comprise a beverage filling machine with a plurality of beverage filling positions, each beverage filling position having a beverage filling device for filling bottles with liquid beverage filling material. The filling devices may have an apparatus designed to introduce a predetermined volume of liquid beverage filling material into the interior of bottles to a substantially predetermined level of liquid beverage filling material. The apparatus designed to introduce a predetermined flow of liquid beverage filling material further comprises an apparatus that is designed to terminate the filling of the beverage bottles upon the liquid beverage filling material reaching the predetermined level in bottles. There may also be provided a conveyer arrangement that is designed to move bottles, for example, from an inspecting machine to the filling machine. Upon filling, a closing station closes the filled bottles. There may further be provided a conveyer arrangement configured to transfer filled bottles from the filling machine to the closing station. Bottles may be labeled in a labeling station, the labeling station having a conveyer arrangement to receive bottles and to output bottles. The closing station and the labeling station may be connected by a corresponding conveyer arrangement.
The present application relates in particular to the bottling of liquids that contain solid matter, such as beverages that contain fruit pulp and similar substances, such as pulp, cells, fibers or other types of solid matter, for example. These beverages can be bottled using open-jet bottling and without pressing the container against the sealing elements of the filling valve, preferably without counter-pressure.
Filling valves with gas cutoffs or gas locks are used primarily for the bottling of carbonated liquids that are to be transferred from a pressure vessel into a bottle that is connected to the filling mechanism. Before the actual filling begins, the pressure between the bottle and the pressure vessel must be equalized so that the liquid can flow into the bottle on account of the geodetic gradient. During this process, the counterpressure gas in the bottle is displaced into the actual gas headspace as it is replaced by the fluid. For this purpose a return gas tube is used which defines the limit of the actual filling process by means of its bottom end surface, as soon as the level of the fluid reaches said end surface.
An exchange of the gas back into the pressure vessel is thereby no longer possible. On such filling mechanisms, however, there is a danger that the quantity of gas above the surface of the liquid will bubble up through the still open liquid channel, thereby causing an after-running of the liquid that is below the valve seat. To remedy this defect, the prior art has taught that the valve seat can be realized in the form of a siphon and that the valve body can be provided with a cutoff cap which is immersed with its lower edge in the sealing fluid. Apart from the resulting slight reduction in output or capacity or efficiency, this realization of the prior art has the disadvantage that both the groove that forms the siphon channel and the cutoff cap ring must be placed very far down. That is because the cutoff cap is constantly being moved with the valve body of the liquid valve in the closing and opening direction. Because a siphon effect is necessary primarily in the open position, the ring must therefore be at least long enough so that in this position it is immersed to a sufficient depth in the sealing liquid. An additional disadvantage of the configuration of the prior art results from the position of the lower cutoff ring, which differs depending on the open position, which causes constantly changing ratios or conditions of the flow cross sections for the liquid being bottled. That in turn results in different fill levels of the bottles being filled. In addition, special constructive measures that could allow a larger flow cross section taking into consideration the surface tension of the individual liquid being bottled, cannot be introduced as a result of the constantly changing position and the resulting change in the boundary layer of the liquid.
In an additional realization of the prior art, holes are provided at the beginning or on the edge of the cutoff cap to increase the flow cross sections for the liquid being bottled. However, if they are to be perform the desired function, these holes must be raised up from the actual siphon area in the vicinity of the bottling channel, so that it is necessary to provide a siphoning area that can be moved in the axial direction (DE-PS 11 62 711).
DE-AS 1 122 394 also discloses a filling valve for the bottling of liquids in which, in the vicinity of the outlet cross section there is also a disc that has opening slots that run radially. A disc of this type significantly reduces the average open flow cross section. In spite of the radial slots, to the extent that these slots are to perform their intended effect, the flow section cannot be significantly increased.
DE-AS 14 32 312 discloses a construction without a sealing cap which forms the gas cutoff with a backpressure mechanism that incorporates an annular gap and is mounted so that it can move vertically under the action of a spring.
DE-PS 27 27 723 also discloses a construction in which the cap is fastened in a stationary manner to the filling mechanism. The unconventional construction also has disadvantages, however, such as the fact that the cap can no longer be mounted or installed with the valve body, for example.
On filling elements in which the liquid is transported to the bottom of the bottle through a small tube, the rising liquid in the bottle closes the opening of the gas channel for the return gas. It is therefore possible to define the fill level in the bottle by the vertical position of this opening of the gas channel.
When the filling element is realized without a filling tube, in which case the liquid exits the filling element without restriction on the bottle, this type of restriction is not present, because the gas in the neck of the bottle is not prevented from escaping from the bottle. Because of the liquid column that is in the filling element, both the gas that escapes the bottle as well as the surrounding air can rise into the gas headspace of the filler. The bottle would therefore be overfilled, as described above.
To prevent this overfilling, it is possible, for example, to place a narrow-mesh wire screen in the flow path of the liquid, for example, which results in an absolutely secure separation between liquid and gas. The gas—on account of the surface tension that exists between the individual wires—cannot bubble up upward through this wire screen.
The installation of such a narrow-mesh wire screen has the disadvantage that only clear liquids can be bottled, because any fruit particles, fibers, pulp, cells and similar solid matter contained in the beverage will quickly clog the surface of the wire screen and thus interfere with the correct operation of the bottling machine.

Beverage bottling plant for filling bottles with a liquid beverage material having a bottle filling machine with a filling valve for filling bottles with a liquid beverage


In a discharge lamp having a discharge vessel and external electrodes, at least one electrode similar to a conductor track is an integral part of a laminate (5) which is adhesively bonded to the outer side of the discharge vessel and includes a carrier film made of electric insulating material.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,994,849 discloses a flat lamp having external electrodes. The discharge vessel comprises a flat baseplate and a trough-shaped front plate with a planar central region, the two plates being sealed to each other in a gas tight manner in the circumferential edge region. Adhesively bonded to the outer side of the baseplate are strip-like aluminum electrodes. This is not practicable in particular in large-area flat lamps having numerous strip-like electrodes, for example typically 42 items in a 17″ flat lamp. One further possibility is to print electrode tracks made of conductive silver paste onto the outer side of the baseplate by means of a screen-printing technique, as is similarly also done in flat lamps having electrodes applied to the inner side of the discharge vessel wall (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,034,470). As compared with the previous technique, this technique has the advantage that even relatively filigree electrode tracks can be applied easily. However, the relatively high complexity is disadvantageous, particularly since, after the application of the initially pasty electrode tracks, a drying and subsequent baking step are additionally required, the baking generally additionally leading to embrittlement of the discharge vessel consisting of glass. Moreover, in both techniques, an additional measure has to be taken to cover the electrode tracks, in order to ensure the protection against contact and protection against further external influences. Otherwise, in the course of time, undesired changes can occur in the electrode tracks with the result of operational disruption as far as early failures of these lamps.

Discharge lamp having at least one external electrode, adhesive layer, and carrier film

Patent - Treuhand - Gesellschaft fuer Elektrische Gluehlampen mbH


It is an object of the present invention to provide an epitaxial wafer with fewer pit defects in the epitaxial layer of a silicon monocrystalline wafer that has been doped with arsenic. Pit defects tend to occur when gas etching is performed prior to epitaxial film formation, but this tendency is reversed and a sound epitaxial layer is obtained by setting the crystal plane orientation to (100) and specifying the range of the tilt angle for the angle θ in the [001] direction or [001] direction or the angle φ in the [010] direction or [010] direction with respect to the [100] axis.

In the past, the off-angle (that is, the tilt angle) of a (100) plane substrate in the manufacture of silicon epitaxial wafers has been specified in SEMI (Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International) standards to be no more than 2° (SEMI M2-87).
More recently, substrates with a tilt angle of 1° or less have come into mainstream use through increases in substrate machining precision.
For example, Japanese Patent Publication H3-61634 discloses a technique aimed at reducing microscopic defects (teardrops) during epitaxial growth, in which the angle θ in the [011] direction or [011] direction or the angle θ in the [011] direction or [011] direction with respect to the [100] axis was 5′≦θ≦2° and φ≦10′, or 5′≦φ≦2° and θ≦10′.
The underlines of the numbers indicating direction refer to the lines that ordinarily go over the numbers in crystallographic notation, but underlines will be used herein for the sake of convenience.
However, when a silicon (100) substrate wafer was epitaxially grown within these numerical ranges, the epitaxial wafer surface was sometimes rougher than the substrate wafer surface, which made it difficult to control the micro-roughness of the epitaxial wafer surface.
In view of this, Japanese Patent 3,081,706 discloses a method for improving the above-mentioned micro-roughness, in which the above-mentioned angle ranges for the slicing orientation are specified to be 30′≦θ≦2° and 30′≦φ≦2°.

Epitaxial wafer and method for manufacturing method


A material handling feed table having a driven conveyor mechanism to move a work piece. A reciprocating shuttle mechanism clamps and moves the work piece. A mechanism is provided to coordinate and operate movement of the driven conveyor mechanism in conjunction with the movement of the reciprocating shuttle mechanism.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for a material handling feed table wherein movement of a reciprocating shuttle device is coordinated with movement of driven rollers.
2. Prior Art
Many industries require solid materials to be delivered to or taken from a process machine or equipment. One example would be a machine operation such as cutting a length of material on a band saw. The material may be a single piece, such as a large ingot, or a bundle of pieces weighing up to 20,000 lbs. This work is often accomplished by the use of some type of conveyor, a mechanism that moves materials with the aid of rollers, bearings, or other anti-friction devices built into its structure. A conveyor saves energy as those anti-friction devices help move the mass of the material, while more or less rigid structure supports the material's weight.
A conveyor is often called by a descriptive name. For instance, a conveyor used to carry away the results of a process might be called a discharge conveyor, product conveyor, or the like. Similarly, a conveyor used to carry material towards a process might be called an input or in-feed conveyor.
It is also common to add a descriptive term regarding the construction to the name of the conveyor. One example of a descriptive name is the so-called feeding table, or feed table.
The present invention is directed to a feed table conveyor. This device is called a table because, in the simplest form, it has a more or less horizontal top surface that the supports the material placed upon it. Once the table has been loaded, the material can be translated or moved over the table's surface towards the process.
One of the simplest types of feeding tables is known as a roller table. Rollers are cylindrical structures, having a main axis running concentric to the curved outer shell and through the centers of the circular ends. The construction may vary but the strength of the roller must support the load that it is to move. The weight of the material on a roller is supported by surface of the rollers pushing up at the points of contact. This roller is most often mounted on an axle or shaft coaxial to the main axis and the curved outer shell. It is around this axle that the shell revolves during use. The axles transfer the forces applied roller to the supporting structure through bearings, which not only anchor the roller in place but also permit the shell to rotate.
A roller table is an array of rollers with their axles parallel to each other. The rollers are positioned so that the top of each roller is coplanar, that is to say that they are tangent to a single plane. This upper tangent plane between the rollers defines the top of the table and is more or less horizontal. Material placed on this conveyor can translated freely in only one direction, parallel to the top plane and transverse to the roll axis. The material is moved while the supporting rollers rotate about their axles.
One example of a roller table is seen in Assignee's U.S. Pat. No. 5,353,910 for a Shuttle Vise Assembly for a Feed Table Apparatus.
Movement is made easier if the material to be processed has at least one more or less planar surface. In use, the material is turned to place the planar surface against the feed table's top surface, or if there is no suitable planar surface, the material can be placed on or anchored to a carrier, which provides a smoother surface to help the material pass over the table. The carrier can be modular, like a machining jig, or continuous, like a conveyor belt.
The roller table is particularly suited for moving material of undefined length and a more or less constant width or cross-section, such as a beam. The material can be translated axially down any length of table, while the length of the main axis of the rollers need only to be just longer than the width of the material, so it is completely supported. The roller array forming the top of the table can extend as far as needed to carry the material through the process. The conveyor can be built as a single roller array supported by one continuous structure or a collection of roller arrays, aligned to be collinear and coplanar, and supported by independent structures. Because of the linear configuration of this roller array, it is often called a line and is often constructed as a series of smaller roller tables.
The material may be pushed or pulled down the length of a roller table, with idling rollers only turned by the passing contact of the material. In this manner, the rollers are only used to support the weight of the material and to reduce the moving force by reducing friction and nothing else.
Alternatively, it is often convenient to use the rollers themselves to drive the material by using a powered drive system to turn one or more rollers. The force to translate the material comes from traction derived from the friction between the rollers and the material surfaces. This method requires no special connection between the work pieces. The material is simply placed on the conveyor and held against the rollers by gravity. The location or number of pieces of material on the table does not affect the movement. Work pieces can be advanced into one process and the product carried away to another process on a continuation of the same line. The speeds of segments or zones along the length of the table can change independent of the speeds in other zones.
The main advantages of using a power roller conveyor as a feed table include ease of use and speed to load and unload. They can move material relatively quickly as the motion is continuous. The load is distributed along the length of the conveyor. If a more or less constant weight per unit length is maintained, so that a greater material mass results in a greater length, then weight is spread over more rollers and the local supporting load, the stress on any structural section remains more or less constant. Movement is limited by the power to overcome inertia and friction.
One drawback of roller conveyors is that they have limited control over the exact position of the material. Many processes require that the feeding tables deliver material to a specific working zone in precisely measured increments or to an exact position. As only the friction between the work piece and the powered rollers drives the material and that friction varies with surface condition, there is no sure relationship between the movement of the rollers and the movement of the material. This is partly because, the material travels along a more or less linear path, while the roller surface follows a circular path.
As a single point on the surface of the roller revolves about the center axis, its lateral velocity changes. When the point is near the top tangent point, the velocity is approximately the same as the passing material. When the point rolls towards the side, the lateral velocity decreases to zero. Then as the point passes the side and rolls towards the bottom its speed increases to equal its speed at the top but it is traveling in the opposite direction. The point then decelerates again and reverses direction to accelerate back to the material speed as it reaches the top of the roll.
In theory, the material velocity and the surface speed of the roller will be equal where they touch at a single tangent point. In practice, the exact speed and point of contact is uncertain. There are always some surface distortions that result from the contact forces, so the material surface is never plane and the roller surface is not truly cylindrical where they meet. The resulting variations in surface velocities cause the distorted surfaces at the interface to creep, first one way, then the other, as they pass. Also, at any time, there are small variations in speeds between different rollers, due to manufacturing tolerances of the drive components. Since the contact points of the transported material are linked together as a single more or less rigid body and there is some elasticity in all components, the velocity of the work piece becomes a rough average of the tangential velocities of all rollers in contact at the movement and the absolute position of the work piece uncertain.
One solution to the positioning problem is to employ a secondary measurement device, driven by the motion of the work piece. This, however, adds complexity and may be subject to some of the slippage issues previously described.
A more common method is to abandon the driven rollers and directly drive the material. Free rollers are still used to support the weight with the rollers turning passively as the material travel over them. This is often accomplished by using a traveling clamping device to anchor a driving mechanism to the work piece. This clamp is often called a shuttle vise as in practice, its traveling distance is limited and the vise must be repositioned, recycling back along the length toward its starting position when the clamp reaches the limits of its travel. The work piece must be held in position as the clamp moves to a new position before re-engaging.
One non-limiting example would be a band saw for cutting material into desired lengths. While the saw blade is cutting, the shuttle vise is released from the material and is moved back to the desired clamping position.
The vise firmly anchors the work piece to the drive mechanism, making its actual position more certain. The main disadvantage of the shuttle vise is that its motion cannot be continuous. If only one shuttle vise is used then the vise and the material must accelerate and decelerate, repeatedly, if the length of the piece to be fed exceeds the remaining travel length of the shuttle. The constant starting and stopping and the force of dragging material over rollers puts extra stress on the drive mechanism. If the work piece is heavy enough, these forces may create measurement inaccuracies or require additional materials and structures to re-enforce the shuttle.
The use of a single shuttle vise also slows the movement of long pieces of material as it requires a dwell time where the material stops and waits while the vise recycles. The motion control is complicated, but multiple shuttles can be used, by coordinating their movements, to allow any length material to pass without stopping. This is accomplished by working the vises in a hand-after-hand fashion, with one vise recycling while another continues to pull.
A problem, from an operational point of view, is that the material to be fed must be placed within reach of the shuttle system. Often a powered roller table can be used to bring new material to a point where the vise can clamp on to the piece. The problem is that as the shuttle clamps on and starts to pull the material forward, the rollers of the powered roller table tend to drag on the portion of the material that they still support.
The usual solutions to these problems have not always been satisfactory. Clutches can decouple the drive motors from the roller mechanisms, but the remaining component often will produce considerable drag. It is common that the tangential force that is required to turn the rollers may exceed the friction developed from the weight of the material applied to the surface of the rollers. In this state, the material will slide and drag over the rollers rather than be carried by turning rollers. Even when the rollers turn, the force of turning adds a considerable load to the shuttle while the material is in motion. They can be viewed as a series of small flywheels. Their rotational inertia causes them to resist acceleration and deceleration, effectively adding to the mass that the shuttle must move.
In addition, a traditional power roller system may contain a section that includes a common shuttle vise conveyor. An operator might wish to drive material quickly though this section without using the shuttle. Then, the un-powered section of rollers will not help move the material. In fact, the un-powered rollers can cause the material to stall if the traction force of the portion of the material supported by the powered rollers is not enough to drive it over the un-powered rollers. This often happens if the transported piece is short enough that it touches few or no powered rollers, or too few rollers to drive it. A cambered piece that does not set flat on the roller table can cause the same problem. The only way to continue to move the material is to stop using the powered rollers, and instead use the shuttle vise to move the piece.
Accordingly, it is an object and purpose of the present invention to provide a material handling feed table having both a series of driven rollers and a powered shuttle vise.
It is a further object and purpose of the present invention to provide a method or process to coordinate movement of a series of driven rollers with movement of a powered shuttle vise.
The present invention describes a feed table that includes the elements of both a powered roller table and at least one shuttling vise. All of the rollers, including the section where the shuttle vise or vises reciprocates, are powered. The roller conveyor can carry material quickly to the process equipment, when the clamping elements of the vises are withdrawn, since the roller array extends throughout the entire feed table.
When greater precision is required, the roller table can carry the work piece to the waiting shuttle vise system, but once the shuttle has clamped, the roller table mode changes to follow the motion of the shuttle. Instead of supporting the material on un-power rollers that passively follow the motion of the material, or require the material to simply slide if they don't turn free enough, these rollers are actively driven to follow the motion of the shuttle. This uses the ordinarily idle roller drive to eliminate the friction experienced by the shuttle vise, which in turn reduces the stress on the shuttle.
Additionally, the actively turning rollers would help lift the material as surface irregularities contact the rollers. When the contact surface of the material being moved is not smooth, these irregularities may drop below the tangent line of the rollers and into the void or voids between the rollers. As the material moves, these irregularities will sooner or later meet a roller surface. Once in contact, the roller will force this material back to the tangent line as the motion continues. Since the material is more or less rigid, this requires the roller to lift at least part of the material's weight. As the irregularity passes over the roller and continues on, the irregularity will drop into the next void. In shuttle systems without powered rollers, the extra power needed to lift an irregularity over a roller results in additional load retarding the motion of the shuttle. Conversely, as the irregularity drops into the void, the previously lifted weight tries to push the shuttle ahead. Irregularities occur randomly of any real surface, and these random loads are added to the existing friction and inertial loads to increase uncertainty.
It is a further object and purpose of the present invention to provide a material handling feed table wherein the speed of driven rollers is matched to the speed of a reciprocating shuttle.
An initial goal would be to match the shuttle speed, to minimize the difference between the speed of the transported material and the tangential surface speed of the roller. This should reduce and virtually eliminate the rolling friction, roller inertia, and reduce the effects of surface irregularities.
A motion control algorithm for the shuttle minimizes the pulling loads by smoothly accelerating and decelerating the shuttle and the load. The roller velocity should follow this same pattern. Once the motion program is determined then, as the shuttle starts to move, the actual position and velocity from the measurement system is used as feedback to insure that the program is accurately followed. This operation of error measurement and correction is continued throughout the motion program. If at any time the shuttle is moving too fast or too slow, the control will adjust the power to the drive powering the shuttle, to keep the motion on the program and deliver the work piece to its new position.
The roller drive will follow the commands of the shuttle but will also watch the actual speed of the rollers for any error between that and the shuttle's speed and adjust its output to match the speed and minimize slippage between the rollers and the material. The roller table will carry part of the load that results from surface irregularities. The traction between the material and a roller surface will help pull and lift the material, to ease their passage.
Since the roller conveyor drive is powerful enough to move the material by itself, when combined with the shuttle there is an excess of power available to move the material. The roller table can then share the work of moving the work piece, reducing the stress on and deformation of the shuttle vise and its associated measuring system, and reducing the uncertainty as the material is positioned in the processes work zone. The shuttle directly controls the motion of the material being moved by the roller table, providing only enough force to correct the motion, to improve the conveyors accuracy.


A semiconductor component having improved thermomechanical durability has in a semiconductor substrate at least one cell comprising a first main electrode zone, a second main electrode zone and a control electrode zone lying in between. For making contact with the main electrode zone, at least one metallization layer composed of copper or a copper alloy is provided which is connected to at least one bonding electrode which likewise comprises copper or a copper alloy.

Semiconductor components, in particular for power applications, are often constructed in the form of cells which can be used to form a multiplicity of, in particular, semiconductor structures of identical type in a semiconductor component. This structure is used in particular for switches for controlling high currents, such as, for example, field-effect transistors, bipolar transistors, IGBTs or thyristors.
In this case, an evolution of heat occurs in the semiconductor component on account of the current loading, which evolution of heat thermally loads the various parts of the semiconductor component and can lead to damage to the semiconductor component.
Furthermore, in power semiconductors a low electrical resistance is advantageous in order that the electrical losses in the semiconductor component and thus also the evolution of heat are kept small. This can be achieved by using conductor structures having a high cross section, although conductor structures having a high cross section lead to problems upon thermal loading on account of the thermal expansion.

Semiconductor component comprising copper metallizations


Provided is an on-vehicle communication device that includes a vehicle information acquiring unit that acquires vehicle speed information on a vehicle capable of performing self-driving and/or current location information on the vehicle. The on-vehicle communication device also includes a self-driving level acquiring unit that acquires self-driving level information indicating a self-driving level of the vehicle. Further, the on-vehicle communication device includes a controller that determines whether to enable or disable a connection to a high-confidential communication channel based on the self-driving level information and the vehicle speed information and/or the current location information.

A technology for connecting an on-vehicle device to Internet has been known (for example, see Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2003-139544). In the technology described in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2003-139544, a connection to Internet is established when a state in which a travel speed of a vehicle is lower than a predetermined value is continued for a predetermined time, and an Internet disconnection process is performed when a state in which the travel speed is equal to or higher than a certain value is continued for a predetermined time.
If a vehicle is configured to perform self-driving, it becomes possible for a driver to perform various kinds of operation with communicating with devices located outside the vehicle by using an electronic device. A degree of driver's involvement in driving of the vehicle varies depending on a self-driving level of the vehicle. Therefore, it is desired to appropriately control communication with the devices located outside the vehicle depending on the self-driving level of the vehicle.

On-vehicle communication device controlled based on self-driving level, communication control method controlled based on self-driving level, and non-transitory storage medium


Problem To recover data of a virtual volume to which an external volume was assigned even if an unusual status occurs in the first storage apparatus.

A storage apparatus connected to a host computer via a network, as a storage device storing data, for example, comprises multiple magnetic disks. The storage apparatus, by the technology of RAID (Redundant Array of Independent (or Inexpensive) Disks), makes the storage areas of the multiple storage devices redundant and configures a RAID group. Furthermore, the storage apparatus, to the host computer, provides the storage area of the capacity required by the host computer from a part of the RAID group in the form of logical volumes. Generally, logical volumes of the storage apparatus are configured of high-performance and expensive storage devices, configured of low-performance and inexpensive storage devices, or configured of different degrees of redundancy of the RAID configuration, and are used differently depending on usage.
Furthermore, for the storage apparatus, the technology of Thin Provisioning exists. Thin Provisioning is the technology in which [the storage apparatus], instead of providing logical volumes as a storage area in a fixed capacity to the host computer, provides virtual logical volumes (virtual volumes) to the host computer and, in accordance with the data write processing and others from the host computer to the storage apparatus, from a storage area (pool) created of multiple logical volumes, by assignment units of the storage area called pages, assigns storage areas to the virtual volumes. By using the Thin Provisioning technology, the storage capacity to be provided to the host computer can be dynamically extended.
Here, a page is a storage area created by splitting a logical volume configuring the pool (pool volume) by the appropriate capacity with a logical block address (LBA (Logical Block Address)). A page may also be referred to as a segment. Meanwhile, an LBA is the address used, when the host computer reads/writes data from/to the storage apparatus, for specifying the data read/write location in the logical volume provided to the host.
A technology of performing efficient operations in a pool configured of pool volume groups of different performances is proposed (refer to Patent Literature 1). In this technology, the management server or the storage apparatus monitors the access status (e.g. the number of times of read/write per unit of time (IOPS) and others) of each page assigned to the virtual volumes. With reference to the access status of the monitored pages, the pages of high frequencies of use are dynamically migrated to the storage area in the pool volume configured of expensive and highly-reliable storage devices, and the pages of low frequencies of use are dynamically migrated to the storage area in the pool volume configured of low-cost storage devices. By this method, the deterioration of the performance and reliability of the virtual volume and the increase of the operation cost of the storage apparatus can be prevented.
Meanwhile, a storage system wherein, for example, in addition to a first storage apparatus comprising a first storage device storing data whose access frequency is high and others, a second storage apparatus comprising a second storage device storing data whose access frequency is low and others is installed, the first storage apparatus and the second storage apparatus are connected via the communication network and, if the first storage apparatus receives a first data input/output request from the host computer and determines that the first data input/output request is not assigned to the same, [the first storage apparatus] converts the first data input/output request into a second data input/output request and sends the converted second data input/output request to the second storage apparatus via the communication network, and the second storage apparatus, in accordance with the second data input/output request, performs the data input/output processing for the second storage device is proposed (refer to Patent Literature 2).
By using the technology described in Patent Literature 2, what is called an externally connected function, even in the cases where a new storage apparatus is installed in [addition to] an existing storage apparatus, the old storage apparatus can be efficiently utilized without any specification change or modification.
Here, in configuring a storage system including the first storage apparatus and the second storage apparatus, by registering the logical volumes configured of the first storage devices belonging to the first storage apparatus in the pool as internal logical volumes and registering the logical volumes configured of the second storage devices belonging to the second storage apparatus in the pool as external logical volumes, the pool in which the internal logical volumes and the external logical volumes are mixed can be configured.
That is, in configuring the storage system including the first storage apparatus and the second storage apparatus, by combining the technology described in Patent Literature 1 and the technology described in Patent Literature 2, to each page to which an internal logical volume or an external logical volume is assigned, it is possible to assign the storage area of the same to the virtual volumes, and it is also possible to perform the appropriate page allocation complying with the characteristic of the media.

Computer system and control method of the same

Abstract: Solution The controller of the storage apparatus, to the respective pages of the pool corresponding to the virtual volumes, assigns the internal pool volumes configured of storage devices of the storage apparatus or the external pool volumes configured of storage devices of the storage apparatus, and the management server stores the configuration information indicating the correspondence relationship between the external pool volumes assigned to the respective pages of the pool and the virtual volumes, in the case of a total functional shutdown of the storage apparatus, creates a virtual volume and a pool in the storage apparatus, associates the virtual volume with the external pool volume in accordance with the stored configuration information, provides the virtual volume to the host computer and instructs path switching.


A power supply control device includes a monitoring controller, a moving body detector, and a power supply controller. The monitoring controller controls a processor, an interface part, and an identification information acquisition part. The moving body detector detects whether or not a moving body including a user who intends to use the processor exists within a specific region. The power supply controller individually allows objects to be controlled including the processor, the interface part, the identification information acquisition part, and the monitoring controller to enter a power supply state or a power interruption state in an independent manner, in accordance with detection information by the moving body detector, and first controls the identification information acquisition part to be shifted from the power interruption state to the power supply state in a case where all the objects to be controlled are in the power interruption state.

(i) Technical Field
The present invention relates to a power supply control device, an image processing apparatus, a power supply control method, and a computer readable medium.
(ii) Related Art
For example, an image processing apparatus in a power-saving state may be returned to a normal state on the basis of authentication medium information detected when a user who intends to use the image processing apparatus holds an authentication medium (hereinafter, may be referred to as an "IC card") over an authentication medium reader/writer (hereinafter, may be referred to as an "IC card reader"), which is connected to the image processing apparatus.

Power supply control device, image processing apparatus, power supply control method, and computer readable medium for power control of objects included in the image processing apparatus


A hingeless rotor, in particular for a rotorcraft, comprising: a rotor head, a rotor mast having a rotor axis, a torque-transmission element nonrotatably joined to the rotor mast, at least one rotor blade, and a rotor-head-side rotor-blade connector having a centrifugal-force-discharging blade connector loop, which loop encircles the rotor axis or the rotor mast and is nonrotatably joined to the torque-transmission element.

Lift-generating rotor blades of a hingeless rotor for a rotorcraft are manufactured predominantly from fiber composite material. During continuous rotor operation, the rotor blades are deflected in various directions and heavily stressed as a result. The rotor blade usually possesses, at its end pointing toward a rotor head, a structural element having a flapwise-soft and lead-lag-soft region that allows motions of the rotor blade in a flapwise direction and a lead-lag direction. The structural element is also referred to as a flex beam. The flapwise-soft and/or lead-lag-soft region of the structural element is referred to overall as a flexurally soft region. In the direction of the longitudinal rotor-blade axis, the structural element is usually configured at its end pointing toward the rotor head with a blade connector that enables a connection to the rotor head or to a rotor-head plate.
The transition from the blade connector into the flexurally soft region is embodied to form a rotor-blade neck. The structural element on the one hand transfers drive torque from the rotor head to the rotor blade, and on the other hand transfers the centrifugal forces, acting on the rotor blade during rotor operation, to the rotor head. A disconnect point is often incorporated between the structural element and the rotor blade so that the structural element can be separately fabricated and more easily replaced in the event of damage. The lift-generating rotor blade region extends from this disconnect point to the outermost end of the rotor blade, i.e. to the rotor-blade tip.
The blade neck of the structural element generally possesses the flapwise-soft region, which constitutes a fictitious horizontally oriented axis (also called a fictitious or virtual flapping hinge) about which the rotor blade executes flapping motions. The distance between the fictitious flapping hinge and the rotor axis is referred to as the flapping hinge distance. In conventional hingeless rotors, the so-called fictitious or virtual flapping hinge distance is relatively large, constituting approx. 8 to 12% of the length of the rotor disc radius (measured from the rotor axis radially outward to the blade tip).
A large flapping hinge distance in a hingeless rotor results, during operation, on the one hand in good helicopter control response and maneuverability, but on the other hand, in particular, in a high natural flapping frequency. This relative high natural flapping frequency, and the vibrations that result therefrom in the case of a bearingless rotor, are disadvantageous in terms of the helicopter's flying characteristics, and lead to large stresses on the blade connector and blade neck. The blade connector and blade neck must therefore have correspondingly large dimensions in order to withstand the stress that occurs. In conventional helicopter rotors, a low natural flapping and lead-lag frequency is desirable for these reasons.
Because of the large stresses on the rotor blade and blade connector in a bearingless rotor, and the strength of those components that must be ensured in that context, it is extremely difficult to reduce the flapping hinge distance or decrease it below a specific value. In conventional bearingless rotors, a small flapping hinge distance would considerably reduce the durability and service life of the rotor blade in question, which is disadvantageous or even hazardous. On the other hand, however, a small flapping hinge distance would be desirable for a variety of applications, since helicopters having such a rotor are generally perceived by pilots, crew members, and passengers as being more comfortable.
A large flapping hinge distance can also be disadvantageous from an aerodynamic standpoint, since the total air resistance of the rotor elements extending from the rotor axis to the fictitious flapping hinge, in particular that of the aforesaid structural element, is quite high; and in addition, this region, which accounts for a relatively large proportion of the rotor radius, cannot be used for an aerodynamically effective region of the rotor blade.
DE 198 37 802 C1 discloses a hingeless rotor for a rotorcraft, encompassing a rotor head, a rotor mast having a rotor axis, a torque-transmission element nonrotatably joined to the rotor mast, at least one lift-generating rotor blade, and a rotor-head-side rotor-blade connector. In rotors of the aforesaid kind, the rotor-head-side rotor-blade connector usually encompasses, in addition to the structural element already described above, at least two bolts that are disposed substantially radially with respect to the rotation axis of the rotor and of the rotor blade. The flapping torque and lead-lag torque are transferred via these bolts. The structural element can be braced on the rotor-head plate by way of upper and lower support surfaces. The disadvantages explained previously exist with this design as well.
In conventional hingeless rotors for conventional helicopters, a low natural flap and lead-lag frequency is desirable, and is achieved by way of flapwise-soft and lead-lag-soft rotor-blade attachments. In special rotors, for example tilting rotors (also called tiltrotors) of tiltrotor helicopters or aircraft, however, a different design should be aimed at, for the following reasons: If the rotor is designed so that the natural lead-lag frequency of the rotor is less than the so-called excitation frequency, there is an elevated potential for the excitation of ground and air resonances. In conventional rotors, these resonance phenomena are controlled with dampers. The soft suspension of the tilting rotors on the wing of a tiltrotor helicopter, however, in contrast to a stiff cell of a conventional helicopter, causes undesired couplings between the natural wing frequency and the lead-lag frequency if the design falls below the excitation frequency. For these reasons, a more lead-lag-stiff rotor is necessary for tilting rotors. Conventional hingeless rotors are therefore not suitable for tiltrotor applications, and would result in strength and safety problems.

Non-articulated rotor and rotorcraft comprising a rotor of this type


A microprocessor includes a bus interface unit that interfaces the microprocessor to a bus that includes a signal that, when asserted, instructs all bus agents to refrain from initiating bus transactions. Microcode causes the bus interface unit to assert the signal in response to detecting an event and resets the microprocessor, but does not reset a portion of the bus interface unit that asserts the signal on the bus. After the reset, the microcode causes the bus interface unit to deassert the signal on the bus. Additionally, the microcode sets a flag and saves the microprocessor state to memory before resetting itself, but does not reset the interrupt controller. After the reset, the microcode reloads the state of the microprocessor from the memory. However, if the microcode determines that the flag is set, it forgoes reloading the state of the interrupt controller.

Debugging a modern microprocessor can be a very difficult enterprise. Microprocessor developers employ various techniques to attempt to reproduce bugs and obtain information to gain insight into their causes. The techniques may include features of the microprocessor that alter its operation from a normal mode, which may result in interactions between the microprocessor and other system components that vary from normal operation and which are unexpected by the other system components. These abnormal interactions may have unintended consequences that prevent effect debugging.

Microprocessor with system-robust self-reset capability


When an immunochromatography reagent composition containing a nonionic surfactant, an N,N-bis(2-hydroxyethyl)glycine buffer, and casein is used as a specimen treatment solution or developing solution in detecting a detection object in a specimen according to an immunochromatographic method, an immunochromatography reagent composition which suppresses a non-specific reaction; does not cause aggregation of antibody-immobilized colloidal gold; and has a high developing rate, in comparison with conventional technology which detects a detection object by using an immunochromatographic device; and a high-performance and highly-sensitivity immunochromatographic method and a detection kit capable of rapid, simple and easy virus detection, which use the immunochromatography reagent composition are provided.

In recent years, immunochromatographic strip type immunoassay has become increasingly important as a simple and easy in-vitro diagnostic kit or mobile diagnostic device for detecting an antigen in a sample solution by making use of the specific reactivity of an antibody. In particular, a pregnancy test kit is a familiar immunochromatographic device commercially available also as a nonprescription drug. Recently, simple and easy test tools based on the immunochromatographic method have been under development in order to determine the presence or absence of infection with a pathogen such as influenza virus or bacteria.
A test drug of the immunochromatographic method having an antibody labeled with an insoluble carrier has been used generally because it requires only a simple and easy operation and the test using it needs only a short time. However, in comparison with EIA, there has been a problem that it has generally low sensitivity and the line observed when the result is positive is not clear.
With a view to overcoming such a problem, a method of allowing sugar or a water-soluble high-molecular compound to exist in a developing solvent as in Patent Document 1 is proposed. However, even if this method is applied to the immunochromatographic method using an antibody labeled with an insoluble carrier, aggregation of the insoluble carrier may occur and a non-specific reaction may be caused. Problems such as low developing rate has not been able to be overcome (refer to Patent Document 1).
Therefore, there is an eager demand for the development of a test drug which does not cause aggregation of an insoluble carrier; does not cause a non-specific reaction; and has a high developing rate even if it is applied to the immunochromatographic method using an antibody labeled with an insoluble carrier.
For example, a method of easily analyzing a plurality of detection targets in a specimen by the membrane assay method using colored latex particles, wherein the colored latex particles have respectively different colors for two or more detection targets is proposed. The method is particularly effective for a detection object which is prone to false positive and more effective when two or more detection targets are selected from Influenza A virus, Influenza B virus, and RS virus (refer to Patent Document 2).
In a simple and easy testing method of a specimen by using the membrane assay method, a filtration method of a specimen sample capable of preventing a false positive result or clogging with keeping high sensitivity is provided (refer to Patent Document 3).
In Patent Documents 2 and 3, when the detection is conducted by the membrane assay method wherein a biological sample such as a swab from the nasal cavity or pharynx or an aspirate fluid from the nasal cavity is used, a suspension containing an MES buffer (Good's buffer), Triton X-100 (nonionic surfactant), protein such as bovine serum albumin or casein, and the like is used as a specimen suspension for suspending a specimen therein.
In Patent Document 4, in a testing method of respiratory infections by using a test tool based on the immunochromatographic method, a treatment solution containing a surfactant (NP40, or the like), a reducing agent (2-mercaptoethylamine hydrochloride, or the like), a thiocyanic acid compound, a chelating agent, a Good's buffers (PIPES, etc.), and the like is used as a specimen treatment solution for treating a specimen selected from a swab from the nasal cavity or pharynx and an aspirate fluid from the nasal cavity (Patent Document 4).
In the inventions described in Patent Documents 2 to 4, however, colored latex particles are used mainly as a labeling reagent and as a specimen treatment solution, conventionally employed ones are use since they do not take a particular attention to the specimen treatment solution.
Patent Document 5 takes an attention to a specimen treatment solution, which is used for the detection according to the membrane assay method. The treatment solution containing a nonionic surfactant (Nonion MN-811, or the like), bovine serum albumin, and a Tris-HCl buffer is used as a specimen treatment reagent composition to suppress a non-specific reaction (refer to Patent Document 5).
In Patent Document 6, as a specimen suspension composition, by using a treatment solution containing a nonionic surfactant (Triton X-100 or the like), a basic amino acid, a protein (bovine serum albumin, or the like) for stabilizing a substance to be measured, and a buffer (Tris-HCl, or the like) for keeping the pH at from 3 to 8, occurrence of a false positive result is prevented (refer to Patent Document 6).
However, the specimen treatment solution or developing solvent described in Patent Documents 2 to 6 has still the problem that it cannot fully suppress the aggregation of an insoluble carrier or induction of a non-specific reaction. Therefore, they are not fully satisfactory as a test drug having a high developing rate and there is an eager demand for further improvement.

Immunochromatography reagent comprising a nonionic surfactant, bicine, and casein, and measurement method using the same


A fractional caching method and an adaptive contents transmitting method using the same are provided. The fractional caching method includes the steps of setting up a divided location for dividing a certain object into two parts, receiving an evict request for acquiring a space in the inside of the cache, when the evict request is transmitted, dividing a plurality of objects stored in the cache into a prefix-Object located in the head of the object and a suffix-Object located in the tail of the object from the divided location, and removing only the suffix-Object of each object, wherein the divided location is set up at a size rate that a size of the prefix-Object is in inverse proportion to the number of the destination types.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fractional caching method and an adaptive contents transmitting method using the same, and more particularly, to a fractional caching method, which is applied to a transcoding streaming server to transmit adaptive contents, and an adaptive contents transmitting method using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Applications of Internet, which is a computer communication network for connecting all nations in the world, are increasing as network performance and computing performance are improved. Accordingly, request for receiving a real-time service of media contents seamlessly at high speed is increasing.
As a digital expressing method of the media contents is diversified and sophisticated, an adaptive contents transmitting technology for transforming and providing media contents of a certain type into media contents of other type is increasingly required.
That is, the most important thing is to transmit the media contents seamlessly at high speed and provide media contents of a type which is proper to an environment of a user terminal such as a network bandwidth, a file format, and a compression technology.
A conventional adaptive contents transmitting method adopted an offline method of selecting and providing proper media content according to a user terminal type and a network bandwidth type in a state that diverse types of destination are formed and stored through a transcoder in advance with respect to one source type. However, since the types of the user terminals determining the destination type have been changed very fast, an on-the-fly method is also adopted to support diverse types of user terminals. In the on-the-fly method, the media contents are provided to the user terminal by performing transcoding in real time when the user requests streaming.
A server for performing transcoding and streaming in conformity with the types of the user terminal and the network bandwidth in real time upon request of the user is called a transcoding proxy streaming server. Since a proxy extension model having a transcoding function of the on-the-fly method requires a quantity of Central Processing Unit (CPU) loads due to characteristics of the transcoding, the proxy extension model is realized as a proxy cluster method for connecting a plurality of servers.
In the streaming server and the proxy cluster including the transcoding function, it is necessary to instantly change a destination type through caching of an original media content of a source type to provide a fast service. Therefore, a new caching policy for supporting diverse destination types by efficiently using a limited caching space and providing a seamless service at high speed is required.

Fractional caching method and adaptive contents transmitting method using the same

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


A rotary tablet press comprises a rotor comprising a rotary drive configured to rotate the rotor and a die plate that rotates with the rotor and comprises a plurality of cavities and a plurality of upper and lower punches. A rotational speed governor is configured to drive the rotary drive of the rotor by comparing a measured rotor rotational speed with a target rotational speed value. A pilot control apparatus is configured to provide an additional target torque for driving the rotary drive. The additional target torque is based on values of a pressing force of at least one of the upper and lower punches input into the pilot control apparatus.

The invention relates to a method for controlling the rotor rotational speed of a rotor of a rotary tablet press, wherein the rotor has a rotary drive for rotating the rotor, a die plate that rotates with the rotor and has a plurality of cavities as well as a plurality of upper and lower punches that also rotate with the rotor and are assigned in pairs to a cavity in the die plate for pressing filling material in the cavity into a pellet, wherein a rotational speed governor drives the rotary drive of the rotor by comparing a measured rotor rotational speed with a target rotational speed value.
The invention moreover relates to a rotary tablet press, comprising a rotor with a rotary drive for rotating the rotor, a die plate that rotates with the rotor and has a plurality of cavities as well as a plurality of upper and lower punches that also rotate with the rotor and are assigned in pairs to a cavity in the die plate for pressing filling material in the cavity into a pellet, moreover comprising a rotational speed governor that is designed to drive the rotary drive of the rotor by comparing a measured rotor rotational speed with a target rotational speed value.
The rotational speed governor reliably offers a constant rotor rotational speed in the standard operating mode of a rotary tablet press at rotor rotational speeds of, for example, more than 60 RPM. In practice, it has been revealed that with low rotational speeds that are desired or necessary due to the process in many applications of rotary tablet presses such as in galenics, uneven rotational speeds occur along with an associated strong shaking, or respectively vibration of the rotary tablet press. In addition to a significant development of noise, this has an undesirable influence on the process results, in particular the produced tablets. Accordingly, the shaking can cause the cavities to be unevenly filled with filling material and hence can cause uneven tablet results.
On the basis of the explained prior art, the object of the invention is therefore to provide a method and a rotary tablet press of the aforementioned type with which constantly reliable operation with consistent processing results without undesirable noise development is possible, even at low rotor rotational speeds.

Method for controlling the rotor rotational speed of a rotor of a rotary tablet press, as well as a rotary tablet press


A zirconium-free aluminum salt which: (a) has an aluminum to chloride molar ratio in the range of 0.5-2.5:1; (b) comprises a nitrogen containing buffering material in an amount such that the ratio of nitrogen containing material to aluminum is the range of 0.05-0.26:1, and which nitrogen containing material is selected from the group consisting of a nitrogen containing buffering material of formula

A variety of art is available that describes various salts and methods of making them.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,331,609 to Orr teaches an antiperspirant active comprising aluminum and zirconium made with separate aluminum and zirconium compounds as well as a neutral amino acid wherein the molar ratio of neutral amino acid to total metal is from about 0.90 to about 0.24. The total metal:chlorine ratio in the complex that is formed is less than 1.30.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,499,069 to Krafton describes a stable antiperspirant emulsion comprising an aluminum salt, volatile cyclic silicone, water, and a low pH-stable emulsifier mixture of polyethylene glycol (21) stearyl ether and a lipophilic co-emulsifier such that the HLB of the emulsifier mixture is greater than 7.5 and less than 9.9.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,675,177 to Geary teaches aluminum salts comprising particular lactate, citrate, tartrate or adipate esters for enhanced efficacy.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,871,525 to Giovanniello et al describes a solid powder of aluminum zirconium hydroxyl halide glycinate complex having improved antiperspirant activity wherein the glycine is used to prevent gel formation. The ratio of Zr to glycine is less than 1:1.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,234,677 to Murray et al teaches a method for making enhanced aluminum chlorides with increased efficacy.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,384,117 to Vu et al teaches a substantially clear anhydrous antiperspirant compositions that can me made with an aluminum chlorohydrate salt in solid particulate form suspended in an essentially anhydrous vehicle, wherein the salt is free of opacifying contaminants and the salt and vehicle have refractive indices in selective ranges.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,393,518 to Kwass teaches a stable and substantially clear antiperspirant composition comprising a stable water-in-oil emulsion, wherein the oil phase is at lest 30% of ht e product.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,356,612 to Curtin, et al describes an antiperspirant comprising a basic aluminum salt mixed with monosilicic acid in aqueous solution.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,718,876 and 5,908,616 to Parekh describes a method for making enhanced aluminum halides with increased efficacy.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,599,533 to Stepniewski et al describes a stable water-in-oil emulsion system formed of an organopolysiloxane elastomer, a vehicle in which the elastomer is dispersed or dispersible, a stabilizing agent (such as a selected electrolyte), a surfactant and an aqueous component and a process for forming the stable water-in-oil emulsion. Possible choices for electrolytes are alkali metal salts and alkaline earth salts, as well as aluminum chlorohydrate, and polyelectrolytes. When the stabilizing agent is, or includes, an electrolyte, it amounts to about 0.1 to 5 wt.-% and more preferably 0.5 to 3 wt. % of the total composition.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,024,945 to Parekh describes aerosol products comprising an aluminum salt, 1,1-difluoroethane in combinations with selected additives to prevent the formation of toxic compounds. These additives include, for example, and an amino acid (such as glycine) selected salts thereof, or metal glycinates.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,066,314 to Tang describes the use of post added glycine to aluminum zirconium salts in an amount in the range of 1:1.2-1:5 of zirconium:amino acid on a weight:weight basis.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,126,928 to Swaile describes antiperspirant compositions wherein the molar ratio of neutral amino acid to total metal (aluminum+zirconium) is from about 0.90 to about 0.24, and the mole ratio of (aluminum+zirconium):chlorine is less than about 1.30:1.
EP publication number 0 047 650 describes aqueous solution-stable antiperspirant complexes comprising an aluminum compound, a zirconium or hafnium compound, a water soluble neutral amino acid and an inorganic acid. The molar ratio of neutral amino acid to total metal is from about 0.90 to about 0.24 in an aqueous system, and the molar ratio of neutral amino acid to total metal is from about 0.90 to about 0.75 in a non-aqueous system. The total metal:chlorine ratio in the complex that is formed is less than 1.30.
United Kingdom Patent Application GB 2,076,289 describes an antiperspirant compositions comprising a combination of an aluminum chloride and an aluminum zirconium hydroxychloride in a synergistic mixture. The metal:chloride ratio is less than 0.9.
Canadian Patent 1,153,313 describes an antiperspirant composition which contains a buffering agent such as glycine with a synergistic mixture of aluminum chlorohydrate, aluminum chloride or aluminum zirconium polychlorohydrate complex. The molar ratio of aluminum to chloride is in the range of 0.78:1 to abut 1.95:1. Various salts are described which have a metal:halide ratio of 2.1:1-0.9:1. The glycine:zirconium ratio is much less than 1:1.
None of the above cases described the combination of metal to chloride in combination with the glycine to zirconium ratio as found in the instant invention. Thus, it is surprising that the antiperspirant actives described in this invention provide more efficacious cosmetic products.
While a great deal of work has been done on Al/Zr salts, there is still a need to have aluminum salts to use in a variety of products (including non-aerosol sprays for antiperspirants and/or deodorants where zirconium cannot be used) that are capable of being formulated into products with reduced irritation and better fragrance stability.

High efficacy, low irritation aluminum salts and related products

Abstract: where n is a number in the range of 1-20, and each of R1, R2, and R3 is independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, methyl and ethyl; and (c) the salt has a pH in the range of 2-4 at a concentration of 15%; wherein the salt is free of any other halide scavenging material and has a value of at least 0.50 for the ratio calculated as:    area of Peak 5/total area under Peak 2+Peak 3+Peak 4+Peak 5.


A corona ignition system 20 includes a corona drive circuit 26 and an auxiliary energy circuit 28. The energy circuit 28 stores energy during a standard corona ignition cycle. When arc discharge occurs or corona discharge switches to an arc discharge, the energy circuit 28 discharges the stored energy to the electrode 30 to intentionally maintain a robust arc discharge 29 and thus provide reliable ignition. The stored energy is transmitted to the electrode 30 over a predetermined period of time. The arc discharge is detected and an arc control signal 60 is transmitted to the energy circuit 28, triggering discharge of the stored energy to the electrode 30. The stored energy can be transmitted to the electrode 30 along a variety of different paths. The voltage of the stored energy is typically increased by an energy transformer 70 before being transmitted to the electrode 30.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a corona ignition system and method for igniting a mixture of fuel and air of a combustion chamber.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Corona ignition systems are often preferred for providing robust ignition without the high temperatures and related consequences of conventional spark ignition systems. The corona ignition system includes an igniter having an electrode extending into a combustion chamber. The ground is provided by walls of the combustion chamber or a piston reciprocating in the combustion chamber. The igniter does not include a ground electrode. The electrode of the igniter receives energy from an energy supply and emits an electrical discharge, preferably in the form of a corona discharge. A corona discharge is an electrical field including a plurality of ionized streamers having high electrical impedance from the electrode to the ground. When fuel is supplied to the combustion chamber, the electrical field ignites the mixture of fuel and air in the combustion chamber. An example of a corona ignition system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,883,507 to Freen.
As energy is supplied the electrode, the concentration of ions in the electrical field increases. A high voltage is preferred to provide a robust corona discharge. However, if the voltages increases beyond a certain threshold, the increasing ion concentration results in a cascading process typically causing the corona discharge to transform into an arc discharge. An arc discharge is an electrical field including a single streamer providing a conductive path from the electrode to the ground. In typically corona ignition systems, when arc discharge occurs, all of the stored energy of the system is immediately discharged and depleted. The arc discharge may be of short duration and thus not capable of providing reliable ignition. Accordingly, the energy level provided to the electrode is typically at the highest voltage that can provide a corona discharge without switching to an arc discharge.
Oftentimes the voltage passes the corona discharge threshold and the arc discharge occurs. In addition, other situations or engine conditions can cause arc discharge. The arc discharge may also occur when the igniter is fouled by fuel of carbon deposits, or when the piston is too close to the igniter, or during other situations where there is low electrical resistance between the electrode and ground. The arc discharge is typically unintentionally formed and undesirable, but there are certain situations where arc discharge is intentionally formed. In attempt to stop the arc discharge and restore corona discharge, when arc discharge is undesirable, the voltage supplied to the electrode is immediately decreased. However, reducing the voltage is oftentimes not practical or not effective in returning to corona discharge and providing reliable ignition.

Electrical arrangement of hybrid ignition device


The invention relates to the field of furniture, and in particular to a cushion or mattress suspension element 101, 201, . . . , 901 comprising a compressible core 102, 202, . . . , 902 of flexible material and presenting at least one compression axis Z, and also comprising two bearing parts 103, 203, . . . , 903 of material that is substantially more rigid than the material of the compressible core 102, 202, . . . , 902, with at least a first bearing part being connected to one end of the compressible core 102, 202, . . . , 902 and at least one second bearing part being connected to an end of the compressible core 102, 202, . . . , 902 that is opposite along the compression axis Z, and with each bearing part presenting an outer bearing area 103a, 203a, . . . , 903a that is substantially perpendicular to said compression axis Z and, in at least one direction perpendicular to the compression axis Z, that is substantially larger than the compressible core 102, 202, . . . , 902 in its relaxed position.

In order to improve user comfort, novel materials, and in particular foams such as latex foams or high or low resilience foams, are being used in the field of stuffing mattresses and cushions. Nevertheless, such materials present certain drawbacks. In particular, in order to provide support that is sufficiently firm, it is preferable to use foams of relatively high density. That has negative repercussions both on the cost and on the weight of the cushion or mattress. Furthermore, such materials, and in particular closed-cell foams, do not provide significant ventilation.
In order to increase the sensation of firmness provided by a cushion or mattress, the person skilled in the art knows that a plurality of stiffener elements or inserts may be incorporated therein. Nevertheless, those elements are normally elastic elements that do not present the damping characteristics of foams.


A novel methodology for detecting cloud particles is disclosed herein. This methodology exploits the optical glory phenomenon. According to one embodiment, a method for detecting clouds includes receiving data from a sensor which is configured to measure polarization of scattered light in a direction substantially opposite to the direction of incident light, and identifying, from the received sensor data, a cloud based on the polarization of the scattered light.

Field
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to meteorology and weather detection, and more specifically, to detecting clouds using polarized sunlight.
Description of Related Art
Super-thin cirrus clouds with optical depths smaller than approximately 0.3 exist globally. These clouds are important to the radiation energy balance of the Earth. They also can affect the remote sensing of aerosols, surface temperature, and atmospheric gases. For example, the aerosol optical depth (AOD) from NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data could be overestimated by about 100% when these clouds exist. Failing to detect these clouds, the sea surface temperature (SST) retrieved from NASA's Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) satellite data is about 5K lower at tropical and mid-latitude regions, where occurrence frequency of these clouds is high. Climate models must incorporate these clouds correctly in order to account for the Earth's radiation energy budget. To inter-calibrate other satellite sensors with NASA's future Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO) measurements, knowledge of these clouds is necessary for correcting these sensors' measurement errors due to light's polarization.
Due to uncertainties in surface reflectance, transparent super-thin clouds generally cannot be detected by satellite imagers, like the MODIS and the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer that only measure the total radiance of the reflected solar light. The resulting data products of many satellite and ground measurements are biased by these undetected clouds. Using a strong water vapor absorption channel such as the 1.38 μm radiance to exclude the surface and low-layer effects can be effective on high cirrus, but may encounter difficulties for atmospheres with low water vapor. The reliability of this method is also questionable if the clouds' optical depth is smaller than about 0.5, when their backscattered intensity is low. In addition, super-thin clouds may also exist in the lower layers of the atmosphere where there is ample water vapor. The sensitivity of the 1.38 μm channel is weak in this region, hampering detection capabilities.
NOAA's polar orbiting High Resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder multispectral infrared data are usually used with the CO2-slicing method for detecting thin cirrus clouds. However, for super-thin clouds, this requires the radiance of their background atmosphere and surface to be very close to that of the reference clear sky environment, which can be difficult as the terrestrial background changes on spatial and temporal scales. In addition, this method is problematic when the difference between clear-sky and cloudy radiance for a spectral band is less than the instrument noise, as for super-thin clouds.
Currently, NASA's Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) satellite is the only instrument in orbit that can detect super-thin clouds. The lidar fires a laser through the atmosphere and detects the signal returning. The time and strength of the returning signal is analyzed to determine where in the atmosphere particles are located and how many there are. While this instrument is effective, it is extremely expensive to operate and can only measure a small region (i.e., due to the narrow thickness of the laser beam).
Improvements in cloud detection would be useful, as they would improve weather predictions and calculations of the energy budget.

Detecting clouds using polarized sunlight

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army


Example implementations relate to using an alternative memory (AltMem) to reduce read latency of a memory module having a dynamic random-access memory (DRAM). In example implementations, write data may be written to the DRAM and to the AltMem. A read command may be issued to the AltMem if a DRAM read latency time for executing the read command is greater than an AltMem read latency time for executing the read command. Data read from the AltMem in response to the read command may be received.

Dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) devices may be used to store data. Multiple pages on a DRAM may be open at the same time. If a DRAM read command is directed at an address that is not on an open page, an open page on the DRAM may be closed before a page having the desired address is opened.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP


A process for making a preform of fiber reinforced thermoplastic material, debulking the preform, subjecting the preform to heat and pressure to form a molded article, then subjecting the article to a predetermined quenching cycle that centralizes void location in the molded article.

This invention relates to a process for shaping fiber reinforced thermoplastic articles in a molding or stamping operation. More particularly, it relates to shaping such an article wherein a preshaped preform of the final article is preheated in an oven, then transferred to a substantially unheated mold where the preform is compression-consolidated followed by tempering the molded article in an oven to provide predetermined structural integrity.
The rapid molding of thermoplastic resins with or without reinforcement into shaped articles is known in the art.
Nairn and Zoller discussed the effects of matrix crystallization in composites (JJA Nairn and P. Zoller, V International Conference on Composite Materials ICCMV and J Matl. Science, 1985 (20)). The analysis centered on the large dimensional changes involved in cooling semi-crystalline matrices from high temperature melts to room temperature and the associated strains imposed by shrinkage and constraint of reinforcing fibers. FIG. 1 is a plot of the magnitude of the shrinkage for several polymers derived from PVT (pressure-volume-temperature) measurement. Nairn measured the strain optically on an amorphous matrix resin where the retardation at the fiber matrix interface could be followed, and the results showed substantial stress build-up at the interfaces.
The conclusion was that thermoplastic materials, with a large temperature difference between forming temperature and room temperature, will show substantial internal strain. When crystallization of the matrix is superimposed in a heat-crystallize-cool cycle, resulting strain levels may be above those the matrix can tolerate and result in actual fraction of the sample. It is clearly important to minimize the strain effects on temperature cycling discussed by Zoller and Nairn.
The levels of strain which may be encountered in a semi-crystalline polymer on cooling from the melt to room temperature can be seen directly on a PVT curve where specific volume is plotted against temperature. The increase in specific volume (=1/density) measures the thermal expansion on heating a sample from room temperature into the melt. A cooling curve will normally follow a different path, but the melt and room temperature specific volumes will be similar to the heating values.
P. Aoller and P. Bolli, J. Macromol. Sci. Phys., B18, 555 (1980) disclose heating and cooling curves for polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Nylon 6,6, polypropylene (PP), polyether ketone ketone (PEKK), polyarylate (PAR), amorphous copolyamide (J-2) and an amorphous polyester (PETG). These data can be helpful in the task of minimizing strain related flaws in composites.
If crystallizable polymers are cooled slowly from the melt, they will in general crystallize. PE and PP will crystallize rapidly at only moderate supercooling below the normal melting points. PET will crystallize slowly at a higher (30.degree.-40.degree. C.) supercooling while a PAR such as DPPG-I may not crystallize in a reasonable time. If the polymers are cooled rapidly from the melt, the differences are more striking. PE and PP will crystallize. Polymers such as PET, PAR or PEKK can be obtained as an amorphous glass below their glass transition temperatures. These amorphous polymers are less dense than their crystalline counterparts and tend to have much higher elongations than the crystalline counterparts. On reheating above Tg, these amorphous materials can relax (and relieve stress) and crystallize.
In general, there is a second temperature at which strain relaxation can occur in crystalline polymers. This is the zone where the specific volume curve begins to increase before melting. Heating into this zone can relieve strain but in some polymers can lead to formation of large spherelites.
In usual forming operations of composites, a relatively standard cycle occurs. The system is heated to the melt, compressed to shape and then cooled, frequently at a leisurely pace. Since cooling is at the face, freezing/ crystallization occurs there first, while the bulk of the matrix resin is still liquid. As cooling continues, the crystallization front moves inward with concomittant shrinkage. This, in combination with the interfacial strain, imposes large stresses on the already crystallized material. For crystalline polymers with high elongation, such as PE and PP, the stress can be accommodated. For crystalline polymers which have low elongations to break, this can impose stresses leading to failure (flaw formation) or a state where relatively small additional strains can lead to failure. The effects can be quite significant in thick cross sections and show up as lowered strength and toughness.
The effects of a crystallization wave can be illustrated by following events in a thick rod of PET. When the molten polymer is formed, the rod diameter conforming to the mold will be made up of liquid with a specific volume .gtoreq.0.83 cc/g. As the surface layer crystallizes, its specific volume will decrease while that of the liquid core remains essentially unchanged. As the crystallization wave moves inward (heat flows out to the mold) the surface, already under compression from the mold and its own shrinkage, experiences further stress from shrinkage of the inner crystallizing layers. Some compressive failure occurs until the crystallizing cylinder becomes thick enough to support the compressive load. At this point, further crystallization occurs and is associated with a large negative pressure of the order of 200 MPa is we assume symmetry of the shrinkage and compressive forces.
Experimentally, these effects can be seen in two ways. Polishing a cut cross section shows cracks throughout the cross section. The largest occur off center in the high negative pressure zone and proceed to the surface at an angle to the glass fiber direction. If the polishing is done by hand, it will be observed that the outer layer--the surface layer--of the cylinder is soft and easily abraded. Proceeding inward, a harder section is seen followed by another soft section and another hard section at the core. However, the problems involved in the rapid molding of thick sectioned fiber reinforced resin parts, especially those with high loading of reinforcement (>40% volume), for use in applications requiring high rigidity, structural integrity and geometric accuracy has not been addressed in the art.

Process for shaping fiber reinforced thermoplastic articles