Method and apparatus includes determining the actual outer diameter of a bobbin or empty casing in the axial region thereof upon which a thread is being taken up. The drive velocity of the bobbin or empty casing is then changed relative to operating velocity as a function of the determined actual outer diameter of the bobbin or empty casing. Such adjustment corrects the circumferential velocity of the bobbin or empty casing in the take-up region of the thread for correspondence with the thread supply velocity. Otherwise, the circumferential velocity in such take-up region would deviate from the thread supply velocity on account of the conicity of the bobbin or empty casing.

The invention relates to an improved method for winding conical cross-wound bobbins and a device for carrying out said method.
In a known method according to DE-OS-3 123 494, which corresponds with U.S. Pat. No. 4,501,116, a centering spindle is used during thread attachment, which spindle displaces the thread supplied with the aid of draw-off rollers to the end of the bobbin with the larger diameter, the bobbin being driven during thread attachment by means of an auxiliary drive roller. Since there is a marked difference between the circumferential velocity at each bobbin end and the circumferential velocity in the longitudinal center of the bobbin where the bobbin or empty casing is driven, in particular on account of the conicity of the bobbin or empty casing, it is customary to reduce the drive velocity of the bobbin or empty casing during thread attachment by an average of 2%. In this respect it is assumed that the thread is wound onto the end of the empty casing with the larger diameter. However, this general reduction in the bobbin drive velocity does not correspond to the differences in velocity which actually occur, so that thread breaks or rough handling of the thread will take place. The same applies to a thread attachment phase in which the thread can also be selectively wound onto the end of the bobbin or empty casing with the smaller diameter, the circumferential velocity then being too slow for a perfect thread uptake.
According to DE-OS-2 242 151, which corresponds with U.S. Pat. No. 3,938,306, an intermediate store is provided for the thread, which store compensates differences in velocity the size of the thread length stored being controlled by driving the bobbin or empty casing at varying speeds.
In DE-OS-2 458 853, which corresponds with U.S. Pat. No. 4,0899,480, the use of a plurality of drive rollers is proposed, which are distributed axially along the length of the bobbin and which are driven in succession synchronously with the movement of the shifting thread guide so as to wind the thread with substantially constant tension.
However, the methods mentioned above do not take into account the actual circumstances which result during thread attachment in the case of different bobbin conicities and different bobbin outer diameters.
It is the object of the invention to provide a method and a device in order to rule out the possibility of thread breaks or unevenness during winding in connection with thread attachment.
According to the invention, this object is attained through practice of the presently disclosed method and devices.
When reference is made to the conicity or the velocity of the bobbin, then according to the invention this is also understood to include the empty casing, onto which no thread has yet been wound.
The actual outer diameter of the bobbin is the value from which it is possible, provided that the conicity of the bobbin is known, to precisely determine the differences in circumferential velocity occuring between the longitudinal center of the bobbin and the bobbin ends during bobbin change-overs or thread attachments. In this connection, said actual outer diameter can be selectively determined at the large or small diameter or centrally between the two bobbin ends. As a result of the fact that the drive velocity of the bobbin is altered relative to the operating velocity as a strict function of the determined actual outer diameter, the thread approaching with the predetermined supply velocity runs correctly onto the bobbin, so that on the one hand thread breaks as a result of excessive thread tension and on the other hand uneveness in the winding pattern as a result of the low thread tension are reliably avoided. In this connection, it is advantageous during bobbin change-overs or thread attachments for the thread to be wound on unchanged with the respective adjustment supply velocity, so that the spinning process does not have to be unnecessarily interrupted or changed over.
In this respect, the present exemplary method of throttling operation is expedient, since the throttling of the drive velocity relative to the operating velocity as a function of the actual outer diameter of the bobbin corresponds exactly to the actual conditions, which leads to a considerably improved winding quality as compared with the known method with a general reduction of the drive velocity. The changes in the drive velocity effected strictly as a function of the determined actual outer diameter of the bobbin or empty casing allow thread attachments at high thread speeds. In such throttling operations, preferably the drive velocity during the winding of the thread at the end of the bobbin with the larger diameter is throttled relative to the operating speed as a function of the actual outer diameter.
In practice, the present exemplary method of operation of changing the drive velocity by up to 15 percent relative to the operating velocity has proved particularly expedient. The change in the drive velocity is carried out within this defined range of up to 15%. The change becomes smaller the larger the outer diameter of the bobbin and the slighter the conicity of the bobbin.
A further important present measure is that the actual central outer diameter of the diameter of the bobbin or empty casing is determined, transmitted by data transfer to the control unit, and evaluated there to determine the degree of required change in the drive velocity. The actual central outer diameter is the easiest value to determine using the method and device according to the invention. From the value of the actual central outer diameter it is possible to precisely determine the differences in velocity which result over the length of the bobbin between the bobbin ends. Data transmission is an error-free, sufficiently quick and therefore extraordinarily precise method, which is particularly suited to this type of problem. The evaluation and conversion of the determined values into the change in drive velocity is carried out in conventional manner using one or more microprocessors.
A further expedient method of operation is presently disclosed, in which, for the thread attachment, the bobbin held by bobbin carrier arms is swung out of the operating position into a predetermined bobbin release position. From the degree to which the bobbin is swung out or the time taken for the pivoting movement of the bobbin carrier arms from the operating position into the bobbin release position, the actual outer diameter can be precisely determined, components advantageously being used which are necessary anyway for the operation of the device.
A further expedient method of operation is presently disclosed, in which, for the thread attachment, an auxiliary drive roller can be moved from a passive position to abut against the circumference of the bobbin or empty casing. Here too, the degree of or time taken for the movement of the auxiliary drive roller between the predetermined passive position and its abutment against the bobbin or empty casing circumference allows for a precise determination of the actual outer diameter of the bobbin or empty casing.
Another variation of the method, in which the thread spinning length is constantly determined and stored, is presently disclosed. The respective thread spinning length of each spinning station is stored in a control unit in the machine control room. Deviations caused by the material of the thread only have an effect in the case of larger bobbin outer diameters. However, since in the case of larger bobbin outer diameters the differences between the circumferential velocity at the longitudinal center of the bobbin and the bobbin ends become smaller, the material-related deviations are then also compensated for.
Presently disclosed devices are particularly suitable for carrying out the present method, in which are provided a bobbin, which is driven by a drive device, and a control unit, which is connected in respect of velocity control with the drive device for the bobbin. Sensors or light barriers are actuated successively over the increasing outer diameter of the bobbin, so that they are in a position to precisely inform the control unit of the actual outer diameter. Sensors or light barriers of this type are operationally reliable and can be accommodated in a space-saving manner.
Another embodiment of the device is presently disclosed, which device comprises a bobbin and the pivotable bobbin carrier arms, which support the bobbin and which can be pivoted during thread attachment to a degree related to the actual outer diameter of the bobbin into a bobbin release position. In an advantageous manner, components which are already contained in the device are used for determining the actual outer diameter. In this connection, it is not necessary in order to determine the actual outer diameter to enter into the direct area of movement of the bobbin. The actual outer diameter is precisely determined at a point at a distance from the bobbin. In this respect, a potentiometer-based embodiment of the device as presently disclosed has proved expedient in practice. A potentiometer or a timing circuit are components which operate reliably, are dirt-resistant, are compact and produce good, usable signals.
A further, alternative embodiment of the device is also presently disclosed, in which an auxiliary drive roller is provided for driving the bobbin during thread attachment, which roller can be pivoted between a predetermined passive position and a drive position on the bobbin circumference dependent upon the actual outer diameter, the auxiliary drive roller being connected with a drive device controlled by the control unit. In this case too, the measuring device is used which is at a distance from the area of movement of the bobbin, so that the respective actual outer diameter can be determined and transmitted to the control unit using components which are necessary anyway for the operation of the device.
Finally, another presently disclosed embodiment of the device according to this invention is also expedient, in which a control unit is provided, which is in connection with draw-off rollers supplying the thread and with a drive device for the bobbin and comprises a computer component which constantly determines and stores the thread spinning length. Since the control unit is informed of the thread spinning length anyway, it requires no significant additional cost to extend the computer component so that it determines the actual outer diameter of the bobbin during thread attachment from predetermined and stored values relating to the thread spinning length and places the control unit in a position to impart the necessary change in velocity for the drive device.

Method and device for winding cross-wound bobbins

Schubert & Salzer, Maschinenfabrik Aktiengesellschaft


A skylight or other like panel comprising a dual glazed framing system is provided. The dual glazed framing system includes opposing glazing panels, a frame with supporting ledges, and translucent insulating particulate material is encapsulated in a insulating cavity defined by the frame and the opposing panes. A movable fill guide is provided and allows for the compression of the translucent insulating particulate material. A method of creating a dual glazed framing system filled with translucent insulating particulate material is also provided.

It is often desirable to use skylights or other like panels in the construction of structures that have an interior space that will be heated or cooled, depending on the season, and an exterior surface that is exposed to the elements. While such skylights can provide light to interior space without the use of any other energy source, or provide desirable aesthetics, they typically lack the insulating value of the other building materials found in the ceilings, roofs, or walls of a structure. Therefore, while skylights or other like panels may provide desirable aesthetic qualities and energy savings with regard to the consumption of energy for the production, they are often an energy drain as to the heat that passes through the panels.
For example, it is typical to construct a skylight or other like panels with more than one glazing in order to utilize the insulating properties of the air trapped between the panes, while still creating a substantially translucent, if not transparent system. However, during cold weather, for example, warm air between the panes of such skylights and panels rises upward, typically the same direction as the primary heat flow through the skylight. The warm air adjacent to the colder upper glazing is cooled and falls, to be replaced repeatedly by more warm air from below. This circulation cycle tends to considerably amplify unwanted heat loss by convection. Additionally, due to typical orientation of skylights, there is often significant unwanted heat loss in the form of radiation to the night sky.
Consequently, there is a need for a skylight system that, while still allowing light to pass through, provides for an increased insulating value so as to also conserve the energy that is otherwise required to heat or cool an interior room or space. It is particularly desirable to increase the insulating value of such a system with minimal reduction to amount of light that passes through the system.

Dual glazed framing system for encapsulating translucent insulating particulate material and method of making same


A shower stall door hinge has two members connected by a pintle and having axially aligned sleeves. The sleeves of one member with one notch at one end which can be engaged by a radial pin in a radial bore of the pintle. In one of the other sleeves, a radial throughbore is provided to allow an anchoring pin to be inserted to lock that sleeve and its hinge member to the pintle when a fixed rest position for the door is to be defined by engagement of the pin in the notch. In the absence of the stop pin, a pair of washers flank the intermediate sleeve can be provided to allow free swinging of the hinge members.

A hinge for a shower stall can comprise two hinge members, one of which has a pair of coaxial hinge sleeves between which the hinge sleeves of the other member is disposed, the sleeves being axially aligned and registering with one another and transversed by a hinge pin or pintle.
A hinge of this type is described in EP 02 77 513.
Between the neighboring sleeves in the space between them, a coil spring which surrounds the hinge pin can be disposed and can have its opposite ends affixed to one of the hinge sleeves. As a consequence, when the shower stall door mounted upon one of the hinge members is swung out of a normal rest position, the spring is stressed and automatically biases the door into its rest position.
Usually, therefore, the spring operates to close the door and, since the hinge is originally equipped with the spring on fabrication, the normal rest position into which the spring urges the door is fixed and cannot be altered as may be desired on mounting of the hinge or mounting of the door. In many cases, however, it is desirable to select the rest position of a shower stall door with respect to the hinge of a structure upon which the hinge is mounted.


A dispenser package for dispensing flexible sheets from a plurality of stacks of releasably adhered sheets. A carrier member supports the plurality of stacks, and a lowermost sheet of each of the plurality of stacks is adhered to the carrier member. The carrier member and stacks thereon are positioned within an enclosure having a bottom wall, a top wall, and transverse side walls. The top wall defines a transverse slot, with a first end of an uppermost sheet of each of the plurality of stacks projecting through the slot. The transverse side walls of the enclosure are spaced from transverse side edges of the carrier member to afford end-to-end movement of the carrier member and stacks of sheets thereon within the chamber as sheets are dispensed.

The present invention relates to dispensers for supplying sheets of material, such as tape flags and/or paper notes, from coherent stacks of such sheets. The invention is particularly related to such dispensers that hold and supply sheets from a plurality of stacks of flexible sheets.
The art is replete with dispensers for supplying sheets of material that are adapted to mark portions of substrates such as written documents. Sheets from Post-it® brand flag and note pads available from 3M Company are used extensively as such sheets, and are particularly useful for that purpose because a repositionable pressure sensitive adhesive with which they are coated allows them to be placed on and removed from a document without damage to the document. A wide variety of such sheets are available to suit various needs and purposes of the user. For example, in addition to having different sizes and colors, some sheets are made of paper, while other sheets are made of a polymeric material; some sheets are opaque, so as to allow the user to write a message on the sheet, while other sheets are substantially transparent to allow easy viewing of the document to which the sheet is attached; and some sheets have a large percentage of the surface coated with adhesive, while other sheets have only a small percentage of the surface coated with adhesive.
The variety of such sheets has resulted in a similar variety of dispensers, because the dispensing characteristics of the sheets also vary with, for example, sheet size or shape, type of sheet material, amount and location of adhesive on the sheet, and so on. The dispensers are typically optimized for dispensing a particular type of sheet (for example, polymeric sheets having a majority of one surface coated with adhesive, or paper sheets having only a narrow strip of adhesive on one surface). Dispensers tend to be either (1) of the type in which the bottom sheet of the stack of sheets is attached to the bottom of the housing or the stack is otherwise restricted from significant movement in the housing, and the sheets are dispensed through a fairly wide slot as is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,769,270 Fujisawa et al., or (2) of the type in which the stack of sheets is free to reciprocate or shuttle in the housing as the sheets are dispensed, and the sheets are dispensed through a rather narrow slot as is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,907,825 to Miles et al.
A user may desire or have need to use sheets of more than one type (e.g., sheets of different colors, sizes, and/or materials). Accordingly, dispensers for use with multiple stacks of sheets are known. However, presently available multi-stack dispensers have deficiencies. For example, multi-stack dispensers using a "shuttling" action to dispense individual sheets are segmented into multiple slots or compartments with each slot or compartment containing a single stack of sheets to allow independent movement and maintain lateral spacing of the stacks. Such dispensers are complex to form and do not lend themselves well to automated assembly. In addition, multi-stack dispensers are typically designed for stacks having sheets with a common construction (e.g., the same sheet material, amounts of adhesive, sizes, etc.) and use the same method of dispensing (e.g., shuttling movement or restricted movement), and are not suitable for use with stacks having sheets with different constructions or requiring different methods of dispensing.


An expandable stent for use within a body passageway having a body member with two ends and a wall surface disposed between the ends. The body member has a first diameter to permit delivery of the body member into a body passageway and a second expanded diameter. The surface of the stent is coated with a biological agent and a polymer which controls the release of the biological agent.

Heart disease is still one of the most prevalent medical ailments in the world. Intraluminal endovascular grafting, a type of angioplasty procedure, has been demonstrated by experimentation to present a possible alternative to conventional vascular surgery and is used to treat heart disease. Intraluminal endovascular grafting involves a tubular prosthetic graft or stent and delivery within the vascular system. As defined herein, the terms "graft" and "stent" are used interchangeably. Advantages of this method over conventional vascular surgery include obviating the need for surgically exposing, incising, removing, replacing, or bypassing the defective blood vessel. Over 20 million angioplasty or related procedures involving occluded vasculature have been preformed worldwide. About 30% of these angioplasties fail within 30 days. These failures typically require the procedure to be repeated.
Several years ago, a product called a stent, named after Charles Stent, was introduced for use in angioplasty procedures. The stent reduced the angioplasty failure rate to about 15 percent. A stent is an expandable metal tubular device that is mounted over an angioplasty balloon and deployed at the site of coronary narrowing. The balloon is inflated to expand the stent to physically open and return patency to the body passageway. After the stent is expanded, the balloon is deflated and removed and the stent is permanently disposed to retain the opened body passageway. The first generation of expandable stents did not offer a controllable radial expansion. An improved stent disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,733,665 overcame the problem associated with controlled stent expansion. However, prior art stents still do not provide control over the final, expanded configuration of the stent. For instance, the expansion of a particular coiled, spring-type stent is predetermined by the method of manufacturing, material and delivery system. In the case of self-expanding intraluminal stents, or prostheses, formed of a heat sensitive material which expands upon exposure to core body temperature, the amount of expansion is predetermined by the heat expansion properties of the particular alloy utilized in the manufacture of the intraluminal stent. Consequently, once the foregoing types of intraluminal stents were expanded at the desired location within a body passageway, the expanded size of the stent could not be increased. If the proposed expanded diameter of the narrow body passageway was not determined correctly, the stent might not expand enough to contact the interior surface of the body passageway so as to be secured thereto and/or not expand the body passageway to the desired diameter. The stent disclosed in the '665 patent overcame the problems associated with these past stent designs.
The stent based upon the '665 patent is currently being used in angioplasty procedures. Stents, including the stent of the '665 patent, are presently used in approximately 30-60 percent of all angioplasty procedures. However, these stents have several shortcomings which contribute to procedural failure rates. The currently used stents are not readily visible under fluoroscopic guidance procedures. Stent placement is hindered as a result of poor visibility. As a result, precise positioning of the stent during the insertion procedure was difficult to achieve. Consequently, the stent could be inadvertently positioned in the wrong or non-optimal location in the body passageway. These stents also shorten longitudinally after radial expansion, which is not desirable for their intended use. The shortening of the stent resulted in longitudinal movement of the stent during expansion, which sometimes resulted in the stent being fully expanded in the wrong or non-optional position. One stent design was proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,853,419. The stent included a hexagon in the side wall of the stent which theoretically resulted in the stent retaining its longitudinal length during expansion. The stent also included ends that flared outwardly. However, in practice, the stent does not expand as described in the '419 patent. Due to the hexagonal configuration of the openings in the stent, the struts that form the hexagonal configuration cause the ribs of the hexagonal configuration to bend, buckle or twist when the struts are being expanded, thus resulting in a reduction in the longitudinal length of the stent. The bending, buckling or twisting of the ribs can only be avoided if the struts are made of a very flexible or bendable material; however, the use of such material compromises the strength of the stent. Not only does the stent not retain its longitudinal length, the complex stent design is both difficult to manufacture and uniformly expand in a body passageway.
The improved stent disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/273,736 filed Mar. 22, 1999, which is incorporated herein by reference, overcomes these past problems with stents. The patent application discloses an improved stent that can be coated with one or more substances in various regions of the stent to improve the visibility of the stent by various techniques (e.g. fluoroscopy) during the insertion procedure, thereby improving the positional accuracy of the stent in the body passageway. The improved stent also incorporates a unique design which enables the stent to retain its original longitudinal length during expansion. The improved stent also is easier to manufacture and substantially uniformly expands in the body passageway.
Although the improved stent overcomes the deficiencies of prior art stents with respect to accurate stent positioning, problems can still exist with respect to tissue damage by the stent during insertion and/or expansion of the stent. The two ends of prior art stents typically include one or more rough, sharp and/or pointed surfaces. These surfaces can cause irritation and/or damage to surrounding tissue as the stent is moved within the body passageways. Such irritation or damage to the surrounding tissue can create various types of complications during the surgical procedure. These surfaces can also cause damage to surrounding tissue during the expansion of the stent. During stent expansion, the middle of the stent is first expanded by the angioplasty balloon. As the middle of the stent expands, the ends of the stent move toward one another. This movement of the ends can result in the stent ends digging into and/or penetrating the surrounding tissue. Furthermore, tissue damage can result when the end portions of the stent are eventually expanded by the angioplasty balloon. Stent designs that have flared out ends can also cause damage to tissue during insertion of the stent and expansion of the stent. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/771,073 filed Jan. 29, 2001, which is incorporated herein by reference, includes a stent design that overcomes or minimizes tissue damage by the stent during stent insertion and stent expansion. The stent includes rounded and/or smooth edges for the end portions of the stent.
Several problems can develop after the stent is inserted into a body passageway. One problem is known as in-stent restenosis wherein the body passageway, which has been previously treated with a stent, renarrows or closes within the stented segment. The renarrowing or closure of the body passageway can be caused by a structural failure of the stent due to contractive forces by the body passageway on the stent and/or by the body passageway growing into the openings in the stent. Other problems can include vascular narrowing and restenosis. Vascular narrowing is defined as a vascular segment that has not been previously treated by any interventional means and eventually closes, thereby preventing fluid body passageway. Restenosis is the renarrowing of a previously treated vascular segment not involving a stent. Both of these problems are the result of a body passageway that was not treated with an invasive angioplasty, narrowing or closing, and from the insertion of a stent in one portion of the body passageway causing vascular narrowing or restenosis in another part of the body passageway. Vascular narrowing, restenosis and in-stent restenosis are caused by biological factors causing the premature closing of the body passageways. One such biological factor is platelet derived growth factor, referred to as PDGF. PDGF is an intercellular messenger capable of stimulating proliferation of smooth muscle cells. Smooth muscle cells are known to migrate within body passageways such as arteries and cause a restenotic reaction.
The problems with vascular narrowing, restenosis and in-stent restenosis are significantly overcome by the use of one or more drugs. U.S. Pat. No. 6,206,916 entitled "Coated Intraluminal Graft," which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses the use of a drug coated on at least a portion of the stent to inhibit or prevent the occurrence of in-stent restenosis, vascular narrowing and/or restenosis. Although the intravenous use of drugs and/or the coating of the stent with drugs can inhibit or prevent the occurrence of in-stent restenosis, vascular narrowing and/or restenosis, the continued need for the drugs after the stent has been inserted can require the patient to be retained in the hospital for extended periods of time. Alternatively, in-stent restenosis, vascular narrowing and/or restenosis may occur days or weeks after the stent insertion procedure and after intravenous use of drugs has terminated and/or the drug coating on the stent has been dissolved off the stent. Several other United States patents disclose the use of various drugs coated on stents. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,716,981, which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses the use of paclitaxel or an analog or derivative thereof for use on a stent. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,733,925 and 5,981,568, which are incorporated herein by reference, disclose the use of taxol or a water soluble taxol derivative; cytochalasin or analog thereof; or other type of cytoskeletal inhibitor for use on a stent. Several United States patents also disclose the use of polymers to bind the various drugs to the surface of the stent. Several of these polymers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,578,075 and 5,679,400, which are incorporated herein by reference. U.S. Pat. No. 5,464,650, which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses the method of applying several coatings of a polymer that has been mixed with a drug so as to control the delivery of the drug in a body over a period of time. The method of coating the stent involves a series of steps that significant increases the cost, complexity and time for the manufacture of the stent.
In view of the present stent technology, there is a need and demand for a stent that has improved procedural success rates, has higher viability under fluoroscopy in vivo, retains its longitudinal dimensions from its original pre-expanded configuration to its expanded configuration, minimizes damage to tissue during insertion and expansion of the stent, inhibits or prevents the occurrence of in-stent restenosis, vascular narrowing and/or restenosis long after the stent has been inserted into a body passageway, and is simple and cost effective to manufacture.


The invention relates to a contactless safety switch for detecting the shut position of a shutting part in relation to a closeable part, with a switch unit, supplied with current by an electrical supply source on one of the parts and with a trip arranged on the other part and comprising a magnet. In this case, the switch unit comprises a transmission circuit with a clock-signal generator and with a transmission coil, a receiver circuit connected to an evaluation unit and having at least one receiver coil and also a Hall sensor responding to the magnet, and the trip comprises a trip coil which is capable, in the shut position, of being excited inductively by the transmission coil and exciting the receiver coil, while, in the shut position, the evaluation unit triggers a clearance path when the Hall sensor is activated via the magnet.

Safety switches or safety sensors serve for detecting the shut position of shutting parts, for example of doors or hinged covers, in relation to closeable parts, for example boundary walls, housing walls and the like provided with corresponding access orifices, and, for safety reasons, cooperate with a special actuator, so that their tripping position cannot be manipulated by means of simple tools or the like. Such safety switches comprise, in general, a switch unit and a trip, in each case one of these components being arranged on the closeable part and the other on the shutable part. In this context, safety switches with mechanical or magnetic, that is to say non-contact coupling between the switch unit and trip are known.
As regards mechanical coupling, exact alignment, along with low tolerances, are necessary, with the result that adjustment becomes more difficult. Since mechanical devices do not operate without contact, it is difficult to keep them free of germs, this being important, for example, for areas of use in the food sector.
Contactless safety switches based on interconnected Reed contacts are known. However, since Reed contacts weld together under relatively high currents or capacitive loads, the reliability of such safety switches is often inadequate, and, moreover, they require special evaluation units.
German Patent 4 112 064 discloses an alarm indicator arrangement with a switch unit which has a transmission circuit with an oscillator and with a transmission coil and a receiver circuit connected to a discriminator circuit and having at least one receiver coil. Here, continuous power transmission, even when signal transmission is taking place, is ensured. However, an arrangement of this kind does not always afford the required safety standard.
It is known from German Patent 3 029 543, in the field of signalling and monitoring technology, to use a primary unit in the form of a switch unit which possesses a transmission circuit with an oscillator and with a transmission coil and the receiver circuit connected to an evaluation unit and having at least one receiver coil and which cooperates with a secondary unit, a trip. The secondary unit comprises a receiver coil and a trip coil which is controlled by the transmission coil of the primary unit and which triggers an indicator signal in the shut position. In this case, a first frequency is transmitted from the primary unit to the secondary unit and a second frequency is transmitted in the reverse direction. However, an arrangement of this kind does not always afford the required safety standard, either.
German Laid-Open Patent Application 2 033 682 discloses a connecting device for electrical appliances, by means of which device a battery-powered appliance is brought into mutual bearing contact with a mains-powered appliance for signal or power transmission. Here, in each case a permanent magnet in one appliance closes a sealed-armature contact in the other appliance. A special coil with a U-shaped core is provided in each appliance for signal transmission and for power transmission in each case.
German Laid-Open Patent Application 4 113 665 discloses an external-field-safe contact arrangement of magnetically actuated switching elements for monitoring the shut state of windows and doors, a permanent magnet being mounted on a window wing or a door and at least two magnetic-field actuated switching elements being mounted on the window frame or door frame. The abovementioned problem of the welding together of contacts of the magnetically actuated switching elements arises here.


A portable thermal-control system adapted to support space-related research and exploration. Embodiments of the present invention assist in preventing overheating of small payloads being transported from an orbiting space vehicle to a planetary surface by small atmospheric-entry vehicles. Other embodiments of the present invention provide thermal control within an extra-vehicular activity (EVA) suit. Each embodiment utilizes at least one phase-change material, cooled significantly below the freezing temperature, to absorb heat.

This invention relates to cooling systems. More particularly, this invention relates to portable thermal-control systems adapted to support space-related research, space exploration, and operations in thermally-demanding earth environments.
The need for thermal control has been apparent from the beginning of space research and exploration. From the early Gemini program through the interplanetary missions currently in design, thermal-control hardware has existed as a primary subsystem in space-operated technologies. Space vehicles must be engineered to withstand the demanding environment of space, and depending on mission profile, reentry through a planetary atmosphere. Such space vehicles are comprised of an array of components, which operate effectively and reliably only when maintained within specified thermal design limits. Furthermore, space vehicles often function to transport human crew and other thermally-sensitive payload.
The establishment of a long-term space presence is an important human endeavor and represents a significant investment of resources. To maximize the return on such an investment, it is important to develop efficient means for implementing relatively frequent return of scientific materials and other payloads from on-orbit stations to Earth. The development of small down-mass re-entry vehicles, to provide for the quick return of payloads from space, would be one viable solution, if an effective means for thermal control during the return procedure were to exist for such hardware.
Similar technical challenges exist in other space-deployed systems, including, thermal control of extra-vehicular activity (EVA) suits worn during on-orbit operations and during surface missions on other space bodies (for example, the Moon and Mars). Clearly, the development of more efficient portable thermal-control subsystems, especially those adapted to support space-related research, space exploration, and similar applications would be of great benefit to many.


A device for pressurizing an aerosol can (11) in order to refill it with propellant gas (10) comprises a housing (12) containing an air compressor (14) which consists of a cylinder (15), a driving motor (16) and a plunger, a filling nozzle (18) for injecting pressurized air into the aerosol can, a mechanism for activating said compressor when a can is fitted to the filling nozzle, and a mechanism for deactivating said compressor when the air injected into the can reaches a predetermined pressure. A coupling member is provided for coupling the device and the aerosol can when the latter is positioned in a seating (17).

The problem of aerosols and gas propellants causing harm to the ozone layer has been widely debated in science and industry and many attempts have been made to find effective, economical alternatives.
The propellant gas which causes no atmospheric pollution and which would therefore provide the ideal solution, namely, air, cannot be maintained under sufficient pressure in an aerosol can during storage and use. Thus, other solutions have been proposed which resolve the user's immediate problems, but are far less satisfactory from the point of view of economics and ecology. The problem to be overcome is that of maintaining a reserve of pressure in a can which is sufficient to allow the entire can contents to be sprayed out and used. Propellant gases presently in use are methane, propane, etc. These gases are flammable or even explosive when mixed with a certain proportion of air and can therefore be dangerous to use.
Furthermore, from an economic point of view, such use wastes energy, since it is certainly preferable to utilize these combustible gases as energy sources rather than as propellants freed into the atmosphere. Finally, these gases generally cannot be mixed with the can contents and must be sealed into flexible pouches made of aluminum, synthetic material or a very thin film of composite material.
A more satisfactory solution is to recharge the aerosol can with compressed air when pressure in the can is no longer adequate to propel the substance from the can.
Various devices are known for pressurizing aerosol cans, specifically in German Publication No. DE-A-3 800 194 and Utility Model DE-U-8 808 407.
German Publication DE-A-3 800 194 describes an aerosol can pressurizing device using a compressor consisting of a fill nozzle and a switch. The problem with this device is that it provides neither a means for attaching it to the aerosol can nor a means for controlling pressure inside the can. The user must hold the can in place manually by pressing it downward to engage the fill nozzle with the flow control valve on the aerosol can and thus keep the valve open during the filling process. The user must then remove the aerosol can when he or she estimates that there is adequate interior pressure in the can to spray out the contents, that is, neither too high nor too low, which can be dangerous.
The device described in Utility Model DE-U-8 808 407 consists of a frame with a compressor which has a reservoir of compressed air, a fill nozzle and an upper arm. When the aerosol can is engaged with the housing provided in the frame, the upper arm presses the can downward. This causes the flow control valve located in the can base and engaging the fill nozzle to open, which places the compressed air reservoir in contact with the inside of the can. Pressure in the air reservoir and inside the can reach an equilibrium. This can has several flaws. It is particularly large and therefore impractical. In addition, because of the fact that it has an upper arm and the way this functions, only cans of a certain height can be used. Another problem with this device arises because the inside of the can remains in contact with the reservoir of compressed air as long as the can remains on the support. Here again, the user must remove the can from the support when he or she estimates that the desired interior pressure has been attained.
In sum, these present solutions are dangerous, expensive, polluting and impractical, and thus wholly unsatisfactory.

Aerosol can pressurizing device and aerosol can therefor


An ultrasound diagnostic apparatus according to an embodiment includes a processing circuitry. The processing circuitry acquires first image data that is image data obtained during the ultrasound scan executed on the object and that is image data before the coordinate conversion corresponding to the format of the ultrasound scan. The processing circuitry uses the trained model generated through the learning using the first image data obtained during the previously executed ultrasound scan and the area including the object in the first image data to estimate the area in the acquired first image data.

For example, there is a known method for estimating the area including the object (e.g., a fetus within the uterus of a pregnant woman) in the currently generated volume data through the learning using the previously generated volume data and the area including the object (fetus) in the volume data. However, in ultrasound image data before coordinate conversion (scan conversion) is executed, in principle, the number of pixels and the resolution vary with a scan direction. Therefore, in post-coordinate conversion ultrasound image data, as the resolution varies with a direction, the variation in the resolution may affect the accuracy of learning and estimation processing.

Apparatus and trained-model generation device


Generating a high definition projected illumination pattern from a substantially lower resolution digital projector array involves: selectively illuminating a connected set of pixels to produce a pixellated, high contrast edge feature, and positioning an anisotropically blurring optical element (ABOE) between a light source of the projector array and the projection. The ABOE applies an anisotropic blur pattern to pixels of the at least one connected set, to locally preferentially blur the pixel more (and preferably substantially only) in a direction of equally or more strongly illuminated pixels, and not in directions of less illuminated pixels. Preferably a contour of the connected set has no beginning or end within a periphery of the illumination plane, and has bounded curvature, permitting simple ABOEs to be used. Several images each having several or many edges can be produced using a same ABOE. The ABOE may alleviate interpixel gap effects for non-edge pixels too.

There are various systems that project patterns of light. Special purpose projectors are designed to generate a relatively small number of light patterns, but to provide a quality of illumination that is higher than general purpose projectors, which are designed to project any image. Such projectors may have application in structured light (fringe) projection systems, macroscopic photoresist exposure systems, or thermal pattern deposition systems for example, where the projection is applied to a surface, and the pattern defines a high contrast edge, which may be designed to be as abrupt as possible, or may have a prescribed, smoothly graduated, profile. While the pattern may be projected onto a surface, it could be used within an optical medium to selectively illuminate parts of the medium while keeping other parts dark. Various applications from structured light (fringe) projection systems, to depth-from-focus confocal microscopy illumination (e.g. see EP0943950) are suggested.
Various techniques are known for producing such patterns, including: analogue white light projectors; digital white light projectors; and laser tracing of the pattern.
The highest quality structured light (fringe) projection systems currently available are analogue white light projectors. US20090238449 teaches an optical grating component between light source and a projection lens. There are other patterning elements that could be used to generate lines of high intensity contrast. While such techniques can produce excellent quality patterns, the costs of such systems are relatively high, especially if a projector having small dimensions is desired. The flexibility of such systems is generally limited to the number and arrangements of the patterning elements. Thus where several patterns are desired, the complexity of the projector is increased. In some systems, it is desired to ensure precise positioning of the pattern with respect to a centre of the projection, which requires registration of the patterning element(s) with precision. When fast switching between the patterns is desired, this further increases a cost and expense of the system.
It is known to use lasers as coherent light sources having naturally high intensity contrast. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,446,822 teaches a high resolution pattern projection using a laser that produces an image that is in-focus over a large distance interval. Unfortunately the speed with which lasers can scan and the precision with which they are controlled limit the speed with which patterns can be formed and the faster the laser beam scans, the lower the energy applied, and therefore the lower the contrast. Furthermore, coherent light sources, such as most lasers, suffer from speckle which affects imaging.
It is known to use digital white light projectors. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,545,516 teaches a digital micro-mirror (DMD) based projector with a typical projector lens. A major advantage of this technology over analog and laser-based pattern forming is that there is no need to move a laser or patterning element into precise registration at a high rate. The micro-mirrors can be independently tilted to form arbitrary pixel maps, and these can be switched at a desired rate (see U.S. Pat. No. 6,369,899). Another advantage is the low cost of these systems. A disadvantage of the digital projector array technology, that almost completely nullifies the advantages for certain applications however, is its resolution (pixel density), which discretizes any projected image. Other image defects can also be a nuisance when imaged at a high resolution, such as a non-uniformity of illumination across a single pixel, although these defects are less significant Using this technology to generate a pattern to cover a small area will produce regular patterns, but it is generally desirable to produce larger, higher quality edge patterns, to improve coverage and resolution. Furthermore, for applications that involve selectively illuminating a surface or volume, commercially available digital cameras typically resolve pixels that are many times smaller than the display pixels of DMDs. Thus one could, in principle, use several DMD projectors to cover a FOV of a digital camera, to improve the utilization. Unfortunately this would require onerous alignment of the DMD projectors, and would make for an unwieldy system.
Typically interpixel gaps are removed by blurring (defocusing) the projector. This works, but at the expense of the sharpness of the edges (contrast), which results in an increase in the noise of the image. When camera pixel density/projector pixel density ratio is very high, the regular blurring needs to be so large that fine black and white edge features become ill defined gray patches before the interpixel gaps are smoothed out.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,659,946 teaches an anisotropic device in a liquid crystal projection device to delay the polarisation of light along one axis so that the polarization is aligned with the liquid crystal device, to improve its black & white contrast. Specifically, a tilted phase plate compensates for the wavelength dependence of the ellipticity of the polarized light passing through the liquid crystal layer in the black display state. This anisotropic device does not change a geometrical divergence or beam focus of the light as a function of angle (in a plane of projection).
There remains a need for a technique for improving defects like interpixel gaps, discretization, and low contrast, at edges in projected patterns, in order to generate smooth, continuous edges having desired profiles, from pixellated, lower resolution digital projectors, for special purpose pattern formation.

High resolution high contrast edge projection


When the internal combustion engine is in an injection-free operating mode, a selected injector is open for injecting a small fuel amount, whereby at least one working cycle with injector control follows or precedes one cycle without control, a differential of two subsequent segment times of the cylinder associated with the selected injector or another variable, that reproduces a temporal crankshaft angle speed modification, is determined as a measurement value respectively for the cycle with and without control, and a relation is formed between the values of the cycles with or without control and used to correct the injection characteristic curve. The engine operates with active ignition and the value for the cycle with control is tested by taking into account ignition faults and the relation is only used to correct the curve if the value in the cycle with control significantly deviates from the one without control.

Many internal combustion engines comprise an injection device having injectors that inject fuel into the combustion chambers. The injectors or injection valves are controlled by a suitable control device in order to optimally proportion the fuel amounts. The fuel amounts are generally proportioned in a time-controlled manner, i.e. the injector is opened for a precisely determined period of time and is then closed again. This period of time is referred to in this instance as the control period of the injector.
A characteristic map is normally present in a control device of the internal combustion engine and this determines a desired injection characteristic curve, i.e. a correlation between injected fuel amounts and the control period. It is important to be able to adjust the injected fuel amounts accurately, so the internal combustion engine can function at its optimal working point.
An actual injection characteristic curve may deviate from the desired injection characteristic curve owing to production-related variations or age-related changes of the injectors or internal combustion engine. This means that the correlation between the control period and the injected fuel amount in the actual state may deviate from the desired state. Since the changes are normally very slight changes to the injection amounts, the absolute value of which is largely independent of the control period or injection amount, a minimum amount is often adapted in order to adapt the injection characteristic curve.
Adaptation of a minimum amount of this type is disclosed in greater detail in document DE 102 57 686 A1. In this case an injection valve characteristic curve of a controlled injector of an internal combustion engine reproducing a single-reference injection behavior is adapted to age-related changes of an actual injection behavior in that the injection valve is controlled intermittently in accordance with a control period during an operating mode of the internal combustion engine that does not require fuel injection, whilst otherwise no fuel is injected so at least one working cycle of the internal combustion engine with control follows or precedes at least one working cycle without injection valve control and in each case a speed value or a value of a speed-dependent variable of the internal combustion engine is detected for the working cycle with control and for at least one of the working cycles without control and a differential between the detected values is formed and therefore the injection characteristic curve is corrected.
The method from the aforementioned document thus yields satisfactory results if the internal combustion engine is a diesel engine. A drawback of this method is therefore linked to the fact that, in order to take into account the value measured during the working cycle with control, it is merely assumed that an injection has taken place. Since with petrol engines or internal combustion engines with active ignition an injected minimum amount of fuel does not necessarily have to be ignited, the method disclosed in the referenced document is not suitable for internal combustion engines with active ignition.

Method and device for adapting an injection characteristic curve


The present invention provides a cartridge assembly for a faucet that provides improved flow rate, flow modulation, and particulate passage.

In a faucet, disks are installed in a cartridge assembly for the faucet. The size and shape of the openings in the disks determine the flow rate, the flow modulation, and the particulate passage through the cartridge assembly. Prior disks typically optimize one of these features while compromising the other features.


A bonding tool has a head portion made essentially of vapor-deposited diamond, wherein a principal diamond crystal plane forming a head face is a (111) plane. Such a head face has high hardness and a good wear resistance. In order to improve the toughness of a bonding head which is mainly made of vapor-deposited diamond, a portion or ply forming the head face consists essentially of high-purity diamond, and another portion or ply supporting the head face consists essentially of low-purity diamond. The head face has a high rigidity, while the portion supporting the head face has a high toughness. In order to provide a bonding head portion which is mainly made of vapor-deposited diamond with electrical conductivity, a first portion or ply forming a head face consists essentially of polycrystalline diamond containing a relatively small amount of dopant, and another portion or ply supporting the first portion or ply contains a large amount of dopant. The head portion having electrical conductivity can be heated by energization. In a tool employing a coating containing vapor-deposited diamond as a bonding head portion, the coating is formed by a compound of a metal or ceramics and vapor-deposited diamond, in order to improve the strength of the coating and adhesion to a tool substrate.

TAB system LSI packaging, which can cope with a reduction in the interconnection pitch as well as a reduction of the target apparatus in thickness and weight, has been increasingly employed for packaging LSI packages for example in a liquid crystal television, an electronic notebook, a laptop personal computer, a liquid crystal driver IC for a word processor, ICs for a watch and a hand-held calculator, and the like. The term TAB system refers to a method of batch-bonding a plurality of electrodes which are formed on an LSI chip with lead wires provided on a film carrier tape.
FIG. 1 typically illustrates LSI packaging in such a TAB system which is adapted to batch-bond hundreds of electrodes (Au) 2 which are provided on each LSI chip 1 at pitches of 70 to 200 .mu.m with lead wires 4 which are formed on each film carrier tape 3 by etching with a bonding tool 10 which is heated to a temperature of 500.degree. to 600.degree. C. In such bonding, the bonding tool 10 presses the lead wires 4 against the electrodes 2 by a heated head face 10A. According to such a TAB system, it is possible to package a relatively large number of electrodes in a short time as compared with a system employing a wire bonding tool.
FIG. 2 illustrates the shape of a general bonding tool 20 which is employed in the TAB system. In this bonding tool 20, a head portion forming a head face 20A for bonding is supported by a shank 21 which is made essentially of a thermally unexpandable alloy. Such a bonding tool must have a high reliability for withstanding repeated use under a high temperature for a long time, and hence it is necessary to employ a material which is excellent in heat resistance and wear resistance particularly for the head portion.
In order to satisfy such requirement, the head of a conventional bonding tool is made of a synthetic or natural diamond single crystal, a binderless cBN sintered body or a diamond sintered body. However, a natural diamond single crystal has a large performance dispersion due to a large content of impurities, irregular crystal orientation and the like. Further, it is difficult to grow a large-sized single crystal of at least 7 to 8 mm square. A synthesized diamond single crystal, which is one of the materials having a most excellent performance, can be applied to only limited use since the same is extremely high-priced as compared with other materials. On the other hand, a binderless cBN sintered body is inferior in wear resistance to a material which is mainly composed of diamond. Further, a head face of a diamond sintered body cannot uniformly pressurize lead wires under a high temperature due to an extreme warp caused by a binder contained therein. Thus, none of the aforementioned materials is satisfactory for the user.
On the other hand, vapor-deposited polycrystalline diamond can sufficiently provide the required characteristics of diamond since the same contains no binder. Further, it is possible to reliably supply large-sized vapor-deposited diamond at a low cost. Thus, such vapor-deposited diamond has recently been employed as a material which is suitable for a bonding tool. For practical reasons vapor-deposited diamond is prepared by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of decomposing and exciting a raw material gas which is mainly composed of hydrocarbon such as methane and hydrogen under a low pressure.
Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2-224349 (1990) in the name of the present assignee discloses vapor deposition of diamond on a base material of a sintered body essentially made of Si.sub.3 N.sub.4, a sintered body essentially made of SiC, a sintered body essentially made of AlN, or Si, and brazing of the base material provided with such vapor-deposited diamond to a tool substrate essentially made of a metal. In a bonding tool according to this technique, a head portion essentially made of vapor-deposited diamond is connected to the tool substrate through the base material essentially made of the aforementioned sintered body or Si. Further, a head face for bonding is made of a (100) crystal plane and/or a (110) crystal plane of diamond.
Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 64-5026 (1989) discloses a tool having a shank whose head portion is coated with vapor-deposited diamond. More specifically, the shank is essentially made of a stainless steel material, and diamond is deposited on its head portion by CVD in a thickness of about 5 .mu.m. The foregoing literature discloses that tool warping due to a difference in the thermal expansion coefficients between the stainless steel material and the diamond, if the diamond coating exceeds 10 .mu.m in thickness, remarkably reduces the bonding yield. The literature also discloses that durability of the tool is reduced if the diamond coating is not more than 1 .mu.m in thickness.
In such a bonding tool, the head face is preferably as flat as possible. Immediately after vapor deposition, however, the diamond surface is so coarse that the same must be polished to define the head face. In order to facilitate such polishing, the diamond is so vapor-deposited that the (100) crystal plane and/or the (110) crystal plane thereof is oriented substantially in parallel with the head face surface. However, such a head face formed by the (100) plane and/or the (110) plane cannot be regarded as optimum with regard to the wear resistance of the bonding tool, although this orientation is preferable for the polishing. Thus, a bonding tool having a diamond head face which is flat and hard to wear is needed.
The above first mentioned literature discloses conventional bonding tools with a head portion which is essentially made of diamond having a thickness of 5 to 300 .mu.m. The above further mentioned literature suggests a head portion which is essentially made of a diamond film having a thickness of 1 to 10 .mu.m. The diamond forming such a head portion has a high purity. In general, high-purity diamond has a high rigidity.
Conventional bonding tools include a constant heating type tool and a pulse heating type tool. In the constant heating type tool having a heater which is mounted in a tool substrate, constant heat is transmitted from the heater to a head portion through the tool substrate. In the pulse heating type tool, on the other hand, a substrate consisting essentially of stainless steel, inconel or Mo is heated by instantaneous pulsed energization. The aforementioned conventional diamond bonding tool is suitable for constant heating but rather unsuitable for pulse heating, because a tool having a diamond head has an inferior thermal responsiveness compared to a tool made of a metal, since the diamond head face is heated by heat transmission from the tool substrate. In order to heat the head face of such a conventional diamond tool to a prescribed temperature in response to a current pulse and cool the same, a longer time is required as compared to a tool made of a metal. Thus, it is difficult to reduce a time required for single bonding. Thus, a diamond bonding tool suitable for pulse heating is desirable.
The tool having a shank whose head portion is coated with diamond can be manufactured through a small number of steps at a low cost. However, a vapor-deposited diamond film directly coating such a shank is inferior in adhesion strength to the shank.
Therefore, the conventional diamond-coated tool is inferior in durability since the diamond coating is easily separated or cracked during use. Thus, a diamond-coated tool which is superior in durability is desirable.

Bonding tool having diamond head and method of manufacturing the same


A rotatable separator drum includes a vertical rotating axis of rotation and at least one flow channel having an inlet opening and an outlet opening. Also included is at least one retaining dam arranged in the at least one flow channel in a region between the inlet opening and the outlet opening. The at least one retaining dam is configured to allow an overflow of liquid over the at least one dam and to provide for an accumulation of solids in front of the at least one dam. The at least one dam includes at least one rib arranged in a transitional region between opposing wall sections and a distributor base cover and the at least one rib includes portions having differing heights.

The present relates to a rotatable separator drum with a vertical rotating axis. The separator drum includes at least one flow channel having an inlet opening and an outlet opening and may include a disk-shaped component located in at least one surface of the drum.
A generic separator drum is known, for example, from DE 19519693 C1 or DE 10 2006 047478 A1, with the disk-shaped component being the distributor base, which on its bottom side has a substantially conical shape and thus a respectively exemplary disk-like shape.
DE 18 96 480 U, DE 14 32 794 A, U.S. Pat. No. 2,645,415 A, DE 10 2006 047 478 A1 and DE 30 42 948 A1 are referenced with regard to the state of the art.
Distributors are used for guiding the product to be processed from a feed pipe through the flow channels, which are also known as distributor conduits, into the drum. This construction has proven its worth. It is problematic, however, that the flow channels are subjected to a higher amount of wear and tear, especially in processing products which contain abrasively acting solid matter. Such wear and tear can have a disadvantageous effect on the service life of the distributor. Similar problems can occur in other elements of the separator drum, especially the disk-shaped components, such as separator disks, drum parts or plates which are attached to the inside surfaces of the drum parts. For example, the flow progresses from the outside to the inside on the separator disks, whereas it progresses from the inside to the outside otherwise.
The present disclosure relates to solving this problem.
The present disclosure thus relates to a rotatable separator drum having a vertical axis of rotation and at least one flow channel having an inlet opening and an outlet opening. Further included is at least one retaining dam arranged in the at least one flow channel in a region between the inlet opening and the outlet opening. In front of which at least one retaining dam, an accumulation of solid matter forms during an operation of a processing of a solid-matter-containing product by the rotatable separator drum. A disk-shaped component may be located on at least one surface of the drum and at least one flow channel may be formed on the disk-shaped component.
Accordingly, at least one retaining dam is arranged in the at least one flow channel between the inlet opening and the outlet opening, wherein solid matter accumulates during operation in front of the retaining dam while the product containing solid matter is processed.
The component, which is disk-shaped in at least one surface, is a base section of a distributor which is connected with the drum in a torsion-proof manner. The base section is provided with at least one or several of the flow channels which extend at an angle in relation to the rotational axis, for example, radially to the outside. At least one of the retaining dams is arranged in the at least one flow channel in the region between the inlet opening and the outlet opening.
The retaining dam is arranged in such a way that solid matter will accumulate in front of the retaining dam in operation during the processing of a solid-containing product in the direction of flow from the inside to the outside. Such an accumulation or accumulations of material act, in the operation of the separator, like a wearing protection for the disk-shaped part, especially for the cover of the distributor base. The present disclosure relates to a separator drum that achieves this processing in a simple comprehensive way.
At least one embodiment, according to the present disclosure, is disclosed and described herein.
Other aspects of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following descriptions when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Separator drum having a distributor flow channel with a dam


An apparatus for estimating a parameter of interest includes a conduit and a reactive media in the conduit. The reactive media interacts with a selected fluid component to control a flow parameter of the conduit. The apparatus also includes at least one sensor responsive to the flow parameter. The apparatus may be used for estimating a water content of a fluid flowing from a subterranean formation. The apparatus may include a flow path configured to convey fluid from the formation. The at least one sensor may be responsive to a pressure change in the flow path caused by interaction of the reactive media with water.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The disclosure relates generally to systems and methods for estimating water content in a fluid.
2. Description of the Related Art
Determining the amount or quantity of water or another component of a fluid may be desirable in a variety of situations. For example, hydrocarbons such as oil recovered from a subterranean formation may include a water component. Excessive amounts of water in oil flowing from a given formation may make production uneconomical or may lead to undesirable conditions in an oil bearing reservoir. Therefore, it may be desirable to quantify the amount of water in an inflowing oil in order to assess production effectiveness and to take corrective action, if needed.
The present disclosure addresses the need to estimate water content in these and other situations.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


The present disclosure relates to a method of aligning a set of objects, the method comprising the steps of: providing each object with at least one resonant circuit, the resonant circuits having at least one resonance frequency, and aligning the objects until a field coupling between the resonant circuits reaches a predetermined value. The disclosure further relates to an electronic alignment system.

Conventional mechanical alignment requires fitting pins and grooves. Only two dimensional alignment is possible. The achieved accuracy is not sufficient for optical systems.
As an alternative optical alignment is possible, However, such procedures require optical transparent materials.
Furthermore resonant coupling technologies are known, e.g. from U.S. Pat. No. 645,576 A (Tesla, 1900).
U.S. Pat. No. 7,825,543 (Karalis, 2010) discloses wireless power transfer coupling to be maximum at certain predetermined relative positions, usage of non-radiating fields.
WO2014099737 A1 (Lafontaine, 2014) discloses method to optimize wireless power transfer i.e. resonant coupling using signal modulation.
US20150371771 A1 (Abu Jahouq, 2015) discloses a mechanical adjustment of the resonant circuit to optimize the power transfer efficiency.

Method of aligning electronic circuits and electronic alignment system


Manipulation and regulation of power provided by a time-varying power source to continuously provide power to a load by insuring that any minimum voltage or current requirements of the load are met even when the power provided by the time-varying power source itself does not satisfy the load""s minimum voltage or current requirements. For a load having a minimum voltage requirement, power from a time varying source will be boosted as necessary to insure that the minimum voltage is maintained.

This invention relates generally to power regulation and conversion.
Electrical power may be obtained by converting energy from a non-electrical form into electricity. As examples, electricity can be obtained from light through the use of photovoltaic cells, and from wind through the use of wind generators. Power generated through such conversion systems tends to fluctuate when the source of energy provided to the system for conversion fluctuates. Thus, as the amount of light a solar panel or array is exposed to decreases, the amount of electrical power put out by the panel or array decreases. Similarly, wind generators generate less power as the amount of wind decreases. Such systems may be referred to as time-varying power systems as their power varies over time. It should be noted that the current output of such systems could be either DC or AC, and the variances in power could be in voltage and/or current.
Unfortunately, in many systems minimum voltage, current and/or power requirements need to be satisfied for proper operation of the system. Using a battery charging system as an example, if the voltage being applied to a battery being charged drops below a threshold value, charging does not occur.
The present invention is directed to the manipulation and regulation of power provided by a time-varying power source to continuously provide power to a load by insuring that any minimum voltage or current requirements of the load are met even when the power provided by the time-varying power source itself does not satisfy the load""s minimum voltage or current requirements. For a load having a minimum voltage requirement, power from a time varying source will be boosted as necessary to insure that the minimum voltage is maintained.
It is contemplated that the methods and apparatus disclosed herein are particularly suited for use in a system in which a solar array is used to charge a battery array to insure that the voltage provided to the battery array is maintained above a minimum value even when the voltage produced by the solar array falls below the minimum value.
It is also contemplated that the methods and apparatus of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/814077, filed Mar. 19, 2002, U.S. application Ser. No. 09/499097 (currently allowed), filed Feb. 4, 2000, (U.S. Pat. No. 6,204,630), and U.S. application Ser. No. 08/518638, filed Apr. 3, 1998, each of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety, are particularly well suited for use, or to be adapted for use, in regulating power obtained from time-varying sources, particularly solar panels and arrays. Such a regulated power system may have a boost pre-regulator receiving power from a time-varying power source such as a solar array providing an input voltage and an input current, and having compensation networks which are dynamically adjusted for power level; and a forward converter receiving control from a current-mode controller which is in turn under the control of the boost pre-regulator, in order to achieve substantially constant duty cycle of the forward converter over the entire range of power levels. Additionally, for AC devices such as Wind Generators and Water Turbines, the pre-regulator would provide power factor correction to maintain a total harmonic distortion of the input current of 2-3% at full power, and less than 5% at all power levels. For simplicity, regulators/controllers having the characteristics described in the cited applications will be referred to as xe2x80x9cE J Controllersxe2x80x9d as all the applications have Ellen James as a common inventor. Although described in the cited applications as battery chargers, E J Controllers are applicable to loads other than batteries.
In preferred embodiments, a power system will comprise a power source providing power that varies over time; a power controller receiving varying power from the power source; and a load that receives power from the power controller; wherein power is provided constantly to the load for periods during which the power provided by the power source varies. The phrase xe2x80x9cwherein power is provided constantly to the loadxe2x80x9d is intended to indicate that the power controller manipulates the relationship between the voltage and current it provides to the load in order to meet any voltage or current requirements of the load, while staying within the limits imposed by the power provided to it. It should be readily apparent that constant provision of power to a load occurs only during operation of the system and does not occur when the system is switched off. The system will preferably provide constant power to a load, even if the impedance of the load varies, particularly if the load is a battery array and the varying impedance is caused by charging the battery array. In some such embodiments, the power output by the controller is stepped down in accordance with a charging algorithm, and in relation to the current charge of the battery array.
Some preferred systems will embody a method of charging a battery array comprising the following steps: providing a battery array to be charged; providing a solar array to be used to charge the battery array, the solar array providing power comprising a voltage; controlling the power provided to the battery array from the solar array so as to provide at least a minimum voltage to the battery array at times when the voltage provided by the solar array falls below the minimum voltage; and at all other times providing a constant power level to the battery array when the power provided by the solar array varies.
Various objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention, along with the accompanying drawings in which like numerals represent like components.

Power system for converting variable source power to constant load power


The present disclosure provides a method and apparatus for subband-coding a frequency conversion unit and a video encoding/decoding method a video encoding/decoding apparatus using the same. The method and the apparatus for subband-coding the frequency conversion unit include generating an encoding stream by splitting the frequency conversion unit into one or more frequency domains, generating frequency domain encoding information according to whether there is a non-zero frequency coefficient in each frequency domain, scanning the frequency coefficient of each frequency domain to generate a frequency domain frequency coefficient stream, and binarizing and encoding the frequency domain encoding information and the scanned frequency domain frequency coefficient stream.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) and Video Coding Experts Group (VCEG) together stepped ahead of the existing MPEG-4 Part 2 and H.263 standard methods to develop a better and more excellent video compression technology. The new standard is called H.264/AVC (Advanced Video Coding) and was released simultaneously as MPEG-4 Part 10 AVC and ITU-T Recommendation H.264.
H.264/AVC (hereinafter referred to as 'H.264') standard performs an intra/inter prediction process by the unit of macroblock having different shapes of subblocks to generate a residual signal. A 4×4 subblock level frequency conversion unit of the generated residual signal is then encoded through processes including a frequency transform, quantization, entropy encoding.
Recent video compression technologies are under development to meet the demand for ultra high resolution videos, and the international standard organizations of MPEG and VCEG are jointly developing an HEVC video encoding standard by the name of JCT. It has been empirically proven that, other than typical 4×4 and 8×8 frequency units often used in conventional video compression technologies, larger frequency conversion units such as 16×16 are of great help to improve the video compression efficiency. However, a single complete scanning over such a 16×16 block by the conventional method causes difficulty in devising and implementing an efficient frequency coefficient encoding method and apparatus depending on the video characteristics.

Method and device for subband coding frequency conversion unit, and method and device for image encoding/decoding using same