A printer on a networked gaming device can be controlled by the network to generate awards. The printer can operate as both a typical printer in a gaming device and as a printer for the gaming network, or separate printers can be installed in the gaming device. If the particular player has identified himself or herself to the gaming network, then the gaming system has a very high probability that it is communicating to a known player. Therefore, the printer operates as a direct communication conduit to a player. Additionally, previously issued awards can be redeemed by a validator coupled to the gaming network.

Gaming machines are popular entertainment devices. Present gaming machines provide an opportunity for a user to play a variety of popular games on the machines, such as fruit machines or slot-type games, video adaptations of standard card games like poker and blackjack, and many other types of games.
Modem gaming machines are coupled to a gaming network that performs many management type functions, such as accounting, game tracking, player tracking, and bonusing. Players who identify themselves to the gaming network accumulate bonus points by playing the games. Accumulated bonus points can be later converted into machine credits or cash, thus providing bonusing systems encourages players to identify themselves to the gaming network.
Present gaming networks communicate directly with either an identified or non-identified player by displaying messages on a video display mounted to the gaming machine itself. The player can input text and answer network-generated questions by using a keyboard that is mounted to the gaming machine near the display, or by making selections on a touchscreen display.
Additionally, a player can retrieve information about his or her bonus account by communicating with a casino employee, who in turn can access the gaming network. Generally, the employee can access portions of the gaming network quickly by using a computer terminal that has a secure login. For security, players cannot access the gaming network directly, other than at the game itself.
Although casinos try to staff customer service booths with enough employees to attend to all players' needs, it is difficult to accurately project how many employees will be needed at any given time. Having too many employees causes a casino to incur high labor costs, and reduces casino profits. Having too few employees can lead to customer frustration by having to wait for available employees to help the player. This can lead to the player not returning to the casino, also reducing casino profits.
Another way casinos lose business is by not being able to monitor and interact with players as they are playing. For instance, casinos generally have a slow period between 4:00 and 6:00 pm, that is, over the period when many people eat dinner. During these times casino patrons are preparing for or are eating dinner, and consequently, fewer players are playing the machines in the casino. Sometimes, as players are readying to leave for dinner, casino employees walk around the casino floor and offer food coupons to the players that are only valid beginning several hours from the present time. The casino offers the coupons in an effort to entice the player to remain at the game through the typically slow period. Again, because making such offers requires personnel actively monitoring players and then issuing the coupons to players, labor costs tend to limit the ability of casinos to provide such services.
Embodiments of the invention address these and other deficiencies in casino gaming systems.


A ridge vent with powered forced air ventilation is configured to be installed along the ridge of a roof covering an elongated ridge slot on either side of the ridge. A blower is mounted in a blower opening formed at a predetermined location along the ridge vent on one side of the ridge and includes a blower housing forming an inlet within the attic and an outlet oriented to force air upwardly through the vent slot to be expelled through the ridge vent. A pair of baffles are hingedly secured to the blower housing adjacent its outlet and can be attached to a roof deck to secure the blower and help to isolate its outlet from the attic space below. An impeller is disposed in the housing and is driven by an electric motor.

Attic ventilation has improved significantly over time. Many types of attic vents are used for attic ventilation such as, for instance, attic fans, attic vents, and gable vents. One type of attic vent that has proven successful, particularly for gable roofs with one or more roof ridges, is the ridge vent. Ridge vents are available in many configurations. Generally, however, a ridge vent covers an open ridge slot along the apex or ridge of a gable roof. The ridge vent is configured to define a flow path for hot and/or humid attic air to exit the attic through the ridge slot and ridge vent, while preventing rainwater, snow, and insects from entering the attic. Ridge vents may be configured, for example, as an open weave mat material that is applied over the ridge slot and covered with ridge cap shingles. Cobra® ridge vent available from GAF Materials Corporation of Wayne, NJ is an example of such a ridge vent. Other ridge vents are configured with a flexible central panel that overlies the ridge slot and conforms to the shape of the ridge. The panel is spaced from the roof deck and vents are defined along the outboard edges of the panel. Hot attic air flows by convection through the ridge slot, through the space between the panel and the roof deck, and is expelled through the vents. This type of ridge vent may or may not be covered with ridge cap shingles. In general, ridge vents of all types are coupled with soffit or eave vents that compliment in net free ventilating area that of the ridge vents so that hot air exiting through the ridge vent is replaced by cool ambient air drawn in through the soffit or eave vents.
Ridge vents are efficient attic ventilators when the air in the attic is sufficiently hot to drive robust convection. There are times, however, when this is not the case, but it nevertheless is desirable that the attic be fully ventilated. For example, the temperature of the attic air may be too low to drive robust ventilation, but the humidity in the attic may be undesirably high such that attic ventilation is needed anyway. Under these and other circumstances, some other mechanism for expelling air out of the attic and drawing in fresh air through the soffit or eave vents is required. It has been proposed to mount a powered fan or blower beneath a section or sections of a ridge vent to force attic air through the ridge vent and out of the attic. Several configurations of this proposal are extant. However, most have inherent shortcomings such as expense, difficulty of installation, requirement for a specially designed ridge vent, or inapplicability to roofs with a central ridge beam along the ridge. Accordingly, there remains a need for a powered forced air ventilation system for use with ridge vents that, among other things, is easily installed by common roofers or carpenters, that operates efficiently and provides superior air flow in cubic feet per minute (Cfm), that consumes minimum electrical power, that may be installed in roofs with or without central ridge beams, and that is reliable and affordable as a roofing accessory. It is to the provision of such a powered ventilation system that the present disclosure is primarily directed.

Ridge vent with powered forced air ventilation

Building Materials Investment Corporation


A flat fluorescent light (1), comprises a discharge vessel that is composed of a based plate (3), face plate (4) and frame (5). A contact system (2) for connecting an electric power supply device by connection lines is integrated into the narrow side of the flat fluorescent light. An insulation body, provided with U-shaped contact sections is located between a section of the base plate (3) and face plate (4), the section acting as a receptacle and projecting beyond the frame (5) of the discharge vessel. The contact surface of the contact sections are connected to the electrodes of the flat florescent light by connection surfaces of the receptacle. The connection parts of the contact sections are connected to the connection lines.

The present invention relates to a flat radiator.
In the present context, the term flat radiator is intended to mean radiators which are based on electric gas discharges, in particular are based on dielectric barrier gas discharges, with a sheet-like geometry, which emit electromagnetic radiation both in the invisible region, for example ultraviolet (UV) or infrared (IR) radiation, and also in the visible region, i.e. light. In the latter case, the term xe2x80x9cflat lampxe2x80x9d is also in widespread use. The light can also be generated by conversion of UV radiation by means of phosphors.
In the case of the flat radiators which are designed for dielectric barrier discharges, either the electrodes, which are usually in strip form, of at least one polarity (for unipolar operation) or all the electrodes, i.e. the electrodes of both polarities (for bipolar operation), are separated from the gas fill, which is used as discharge medium, by means of a dielectric layer (one-sided or two-sided dielectric barrier discharge). Electrodes of this type are also referred to below as xe2x80x9cdielectric electrodesxe2x80x9d for short.
The document WO98/43277 has already disclosed a flat radiator for the background illumination of liquid crystal displays (LCDs). This flat radiator has a baseplate, a cover plate and a frame, which are connected to one another in a gastight manner by means of solder to form a discharge vessel. Structures which are similar to conductor tracks function as electrodes in the interior of the discharge vessel, as lead-throughs in the lead-through region and as external power supply conductors in the outer region. The flat radiator is connected to a pulsed voltage source, which acts as an electrical power supply unit, via the power supply conductors.
The direct connection between flat radiator and supply unit, which is less suitable for flexible and automated manufacture of the system, represents a drawback.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved contact system for a flat radiator, which is used for connection to an electrical supply unit.
This object is achieved by the features of claim 1. Particularly advantageous configurations are given in the dependent claims which refer back to claim 1.
In addition, a flat radiator having the contact system according to the invention, in accordance with claims 9 to 13, and a system having a flat radiator of this type and an electrical supply unit in accordance with claim 14 are claimed.
The electrical contact system according to the invention comprises a contact part with a U-shaped section, an insulating body, on which the U-shaped section of the contact part is mounted, and a receptacle for the insulating body with the mounted contact part. The U-shaped section of the contact part has two side walls and a connecting wall which connects these two side walls, the outer side of the connecting wall forming a contact surface. The U-shaped section of the contact part partially engages around at least a partial region of the insulating body. The contact part also comprises a connection part for an electrical connection line. For its part, the receptacle comprises two plates or at least a partial region of two plates, which are arranged at a distance from one another and, at least in sections, parallel to one another, which is suitable for this purpose, as well as an electrical connection face, which is arranged on one of the two mutually facing surfaces of the two plates. The insulating body is arranged with the mounted contact part between the two plates, in such a manner that the contact surface of the contact part is in electrically conductive contact with the connection face of the receptacle.
To increase the compressive force between the contact surface of the contact part and the connection face of the receptacle, a spring element is preferably arranged between the insulating body and that side of the U-shaped section of the contact part which is at the rear with respect to the contact surface. To allow contact part and insulating body to press onto the two plates (plate partial regions) of the receptacle by means of the force of this spring element, it is expedient, at least during mounting, for the contact part to be fitted only relatively loosely onto the body. Before being fitted into the receptacle, the insulating body and the contact part mounted thereon are pressed together, counter to the spring force of the spring element, until both components can be inserted into the receptacle. After the insertion has taken place, the load on the compressed spring element can be relieved, and the latter can build up the compressive force mentioned above. The spring element may either be formed separately from the contact part, for example in the form of a coil spring, or may be integrated in the contact part, for example in the form of a spring tongue, optionally even in single-piece form.
To prevent the two components from unintentionally becoming detached from one another, it is advantageous to provide the relevant region of the insulating body with at least one latching lug, preferably with one or two latching lugs on each side wall of this region. Accordingly, one or, if appropriate, both of the side walls of the U-shaped section of the contact part is/are provided with corresponding apertures for the associated latching lugs of the insulating body to latch into.
A further advantage of the use of one or more spring elements in the manner described above consists in the fact that in this way it is possible to compensate for tolerances in the distance between the partial regions of the plates which form the receptacle. Specifically, the application of pressure and consequently contact-making between the contact surface of the contact part and the connection face of the receptacle is ensured over the spring excursion of the spring element.
To facilitate sliding mounting of the U-shaped contact part, it is also advantageous for the corresponding edges of the insulating body to be provided with a bevel.
To improve the contact, the contact surface of the contact part may be soldered to the connection face of the receptacle, for example by means of HF soldering. To assist the soldering operation, it may be of assistance for the contact surface to have at least one bore in which solder is deposited.
The contact system is preferably equipped with more than one contact part, specifically with the same number of contact parts as there are corresponding connection surfaces on the receptacle or as there are electrical connection lines provided. By way of example, for two connection lines two contact parts are mounted on an insulating body in the manner described above.
One or more of the contact systems according to the invention explained above are integrated in a narrow side of a flat radiator of the type described in the introduction. In this way it is also possible, for example, for a plurality of groups of electrodes to be actuated independently of one another within the flat radiator, instead of a single electrode system. Moreover, in particular for large flat radiators, for example those with a diagonal of 20 inches or more, it may be advantageous to use more than one group of electrodes. This is because in this way it is possible to make the electrical supply to large radiators modular, by ensuring the total electric power uptake with the aid of a plurality of relatively low-power ballasts, in which case each individual ballast supplies a group of electrodes provided for this purpose. This has the advantage, inter alia, that the electrical ballasts belonging to smaller flat radiators can be used for large flat radiators. For details in connection with flat radiators with groups of electrodes, reference should be made, in addition, to EP-A 0 926 705.
It is preferable for one or each contact system to be integrated in a flat radiator in such a manner that a receptacle for the corresponding contact system is formed by an associated part of baseplate and front plate which projects beyond the frame of the discharge vessel.
Typically, two electrodes or bus conductor tracks which connect a plurality of electrodes from the electrode system or, if appropriate, each group of electrodes are led to the outside from inside the discharge vessel. The end piece of each electrode or bus conductor track there serves as a connection face for the receptacle and is preferably matched to the shape of the contact surface of the contact part.
The insulating body on which the contact part or contact parts has/have been mounted is inserted in the partial region between baseplate and front plate which serves as a receptacle, in such a manner that the or each contact surface is arranged, in an electrically connecting manner, above the corresponding end piece, which serves as a connection face. It is preferable for the components of the contact system to be designed and dimensioned in such a manner that there is space for the entire contact system in the narrow side of the flat radiator within the receptacle provided for this purpose. This has the advantage that this narrow side of the flat radiator can be covered with a diaphragm to protect against contact or for esthetic reasons.
In addition, the entire illumination system also has at least one electrical ballast, which is/are connected to the corresponding connection parts of the (respective) contact system by means of electrical connection lines.

Flat fluorescent light comprising a contact system

Patent-Treuhand-Gesellschaft fuer Elektrische Gluehlampen mbH


Systems and methods to enable on-the-fly modification of running processes on a webserver more quickly and efficiently are discussed herein. A code vault is used to store binaries for use in production code running on a server, which are downloaded and implemented in the running process when authorized by developers. The process retrieves the binaries from the code vault to deploy the modifications to a specified audience without having to re-instantiate or run a parallel process with the new binaries. Binaries for different audiences or subsequent experiments may be downloaded onto the same machine, but remain isolated. Control of the deployments may require multi-factor or multi-user authentication and are logged for change control.

Web servers provide computing resources for users to run their software on as part of the "cloud." These servers may be offered as part of a service from the cloud provider to the users, which may be classified as: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), where the user provides the operating system and software; Platform as a Service (PaaS), where the user provides the software and the cloud host provides the operation system; or Software as a Service (SaaS), where the cloud host provides both operating system and software to the user. Due to the nature of the cloud, updating any of the software provided to a given server may require software or services to be taken offline temporarily or to be substituted by a second process, and for the modified code to be heavily tested before deployment, as any change to the software to benefit one user may interfere with operations for another user. This leads to a slow and methodical update policy for web servers, which prevents the cloud host and the users from applying patches and updates to software quickly and efficiently.

Binary experimentation on running web servers


Disclosed are systems and methods for providing transport layer encryption with an intermediate electronic message managing service interposed in a message path of an electronic message to be sent from a sending server to an intended receiving server across a computer network. To implement TLS in such a managed e-mail services context, given that a managed e-mail service is inserted into the message delivery path, the transport layer security protocols are simultaneously established along both the link from the sending server to the managed e-mail service and from the receiving server to the managed e-mail service, with the managed e-mail service providing a “proxy” connection for communication between the sending server and the receiving server.

The protocol for delivery of e-mail over the Internet is the Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP). The specifics for these types of communications—as with other Internet protocols—are established through a Request For Comment [RFC] procedure, where the applicable RFC number for normal e-mail communications today is RFC-821, which essentially establishes the de facto protocols by which servers and clients send e-mail communications "in the clear" or unencrypted over the Internet. In many cases, these unencrypted communications go through one or more routers that are not controlled or trusted by either the sender or recipient of e-mail. Such an untrusted router might allow a third party to monitor or alter the communications between the server and clients, thereby compromising security.
There is often a desire, therefore, for two SMTP agents to be able to authenticate each other's identity. For example, a secure SMTP server might only allow communications from other SMTP agents it knows, or it might act differently for messages received from an agent it knows than from one it doesn't know.
Encryption is becoming increasingly important to corporate users, particularly in industries that regularly exchange confidential information via the Internet, such as health care, legal and financial services. Transport Layer Security ("TLS") is an encryption standard designed to secure data where it is most vulnerable, in transit over the public Internet. As its name implies, TLS operates at the OSI (Open Systems Interconnect) Transport Layer. Operating at the transport layer, the standard is accordingly independent of the application protocol, and provides server authentication with optional client authentication.
The TLS encryption standard uses a key exchange protocol, such as an RSA (Rivest-Shamir-Adleman) asymmetric key system to establish a transport layer session. Another example of a key exchange protocol found in conventional systems is the Diffie-Hellman protocol. Upon establishing the transport layer session, the standard thereafter uses symmetric key encryption techniques, such as, for example, the IDEA (International Data Encryption Algorithm), DES (Data Encryptions Standard), and 3DES (Triple-DES) standards.
The TLS protocol exchanges records, and each record can be optionally compressed, encrypted and packed with a Message Authentication Code (MAC). Each record has a content_type field that specifies which upper level protocol is being used. When the connection starts, the record level encapsulates another protocol, the handshake protocol, which has content_type 22. The client sends and receives several handshake structures to and from the server. The client sends a "ClientHello" message, specifying the list of cipher suites, compression methods, and the highest protocol version it supports. The client also sends random bytes, which will be used later. The server then returns a "ServerHello," in which it selects the connection parameters from among the choices offered by the client. Once these connection parameters are agreed upon as described above, the client and server exchange certificates using the selected public key cipher.
Encryption is a part of the task, but in particular, the sender is also concerned with validating the certificate of the receiver to ensure that no unauthorized receiver is enabled to receive the sender's e-mail communications.

TLS encryption in a managed e-mail service environment


A system may receive a request for a business listing, and search a database to identify a set of business listings based on the request. The system may also identify at least one previously requested business or residential listing, and select and/or present one or more of the business listings based on a geographic location associated with the at least one previously requested business or residential listing.

Interactive voice response (IVR) systems permit a person to interact with a computer system. Oftentimes, a person contacts an IVR system by calling a telephone number associated with the IVR system. The IVR system provides a series of prompts to the person and receives a number of responses to the prompts from the person. The IVR system may permit the person to speak his responses, in which case, the IVR system may use voice recognition techniques to determine what the person said.
One embodiment of an IVR system includes a directory assistance system that receives calls requesting business listings, performs searches for business listings based on the received calls, and provides business listings as search results. One problem with existing directory assistance systems is that these systems treat each call as an independent call—independent of any previously received calls.

Providing business listings based on locations of previously provided listings


A compound of the formula: ##STR1##. wherein. R.sub.1 is hydrogen, lower alkyl, or optionally substituted arylsulfonyl, or the like, PA1 R.sup.2 is hydrogen, lower alkyl, or optionally substituted aralklyl, or the like, PA1 R.sup.3, R.sup.4, R.sup.5, and R.sup.6 each is independently hydrogen, halogen, trihalogenated lower alkyl, or the like, PA1 X is hydroxy or optionally substituted amino, PA1 Y is COOR R is hydrogen or an ester residue), optionally substituted aryl, or optionally substituted heteroaryl,. has integrase inhibition activity, and is useful as an anti-HIV drug.

Among viruses, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a kind of retrovirus, is known to cause acquired immunodleficiency syndrome (AIDS). The drug for treatment of AIDS is mainly selected from the group of reverse transcriptase inhibitors (AZT, 3TC, and the like) and protease inhibitors (Indinavir and the like), but they are proved to be accompanied by side effects such as nephropathy and the emergence of resistant virus. Thus, the development of anti-HIV drugs having the other mechanism of action has been desired.
In the above circumstance, integrase has recently been thought to be noteworthy, which is an enzyme relating to the site-specific insertion of viral DNA into chromosome in animal cells, and the research for anti-HIV drugs based on said enzyme inhibition activity is performed ((1) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 61 (3), 1013-1020 (1968), KOURILSKY P et al.; (2) J. VIROL. METHODS (NETHERLANDS), 17/1-2(55-61) (1987), F Barin et al.; (3) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 90: 2399 (1993), Fesen. MR (1993); (4) CDC AIDS Weekly Pagination:P2 (1990). DeNoon, D J). Some integrase inhibitors has recently been reported, for example, peptide derivatives described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,578,573, tetrahydronaphthyl derivatives described in GB 2306476A, and acrydone derivatives described in WO 97/38999.
Additionally, in the literature, Khim. Geterotsikl. Soedin. 1973, (11), 1519, some kind of indole derivatives are described, but their therapeutic activity is not described. Moreover, in U.S. Pat. No. 5.475,109, non-condensed heterocyclic compounds substituted with dioxobutanoic acid are described to be useful as an anti influenza viral drug, whose mechanism of the action is the inhibition of cap-dependent endonuclease.

Indole derivatives with antiviral activity


A pre-vegetated vegetation element for greening artificial or natural surfaces is provided which retains sufficient strength over a prolonged period of time and which is bio-compostable at the end of the lifetime of the vegetation element includes a three-dimensional entangled mat of extruded filaments having an open space of at least 50%, a two-dimensional material layer, oriented plane parallel to the three-dimensional entangled mat of extruded filaments and connected to the three-dimensional entangled mat of extruded filaments, wherein the three-dimensional entangled mat of extruded filaments is filled with a substrate and a vegetation is grown on it to form a pre-vegetated vegetation mat, wherein the three-dimensional entangled mat of extruded filaments and the two-dimensional material layer include synthetic polymeric material selected such that the pre-vegetated vegetation element is bio-compostable according to EN 13432.

Described herein is a pre-vegetated vegetation element for greening of artificial or natural surfaces.
Vegetation elements are used for greening of artificial or natural surfaces such as, for example, roofs of buildings and tramways. Vegetation elements may comprise a vegetation carrier consisting of natural fibers such as coconut. However, the vegetation carrier of natural fibers will rot quickly, generally even before the vegetation has grown sufficiently to the level that the pre-vegetated vegetation element can be harvested and transported to the surface to be greened.
Therefore, the use of such vegetation elements comprising a vegetation carrier of natural fibers is therefore limited to applications where the vegetation is allowed to grow at the surface to be greened. However, growing of vegetation requires a considerable amount of care-taking such as, for example, watering and fertilizing, which is preferably performed in a greenery to achieve higher production efficiency. Considerable costs are involved when personnel of the greenery has to visit each separate surface to be greened, such as roofs of high-rise buildings. When the surface to be greened is a tramway, not only high costs are involved for care-taking during growing of the vegetation element, but there is also an increased risk of collision of personnel with a tram.
When the vegetation element is to be applied on an inclined surface, such as, for example, an inclined roof or an inclined wall of a building, the vegetation carrier of natural fibers will lose its mechanical strength due to rotting before the vegetation has grown sufficiently to give some integrity to the vegetation element, and as a consequence, there is high risk that the vegetation element loses its integrity and (part of the) material of the vegetation element will slide down on the inclined surface, or will even fall off the roof or wall of the building.
Vegetation elements may also comprise a vegetation carrier consisting of synthetic fibers such as polyamide-6. However, these vegetation carriers are not bio-compostable, which means that at the end of the lifetime of the vegetation element, the vegetation element has to be disposed of, for example by dumping the vegetation element in a landfill, which is not only expensive, but also a waste of valuable material. Alternatively, the grown vegetation and the substrate may be separated from the vegetation carrier, for example in an additional mechanical process, and be disposed separately, resulting in considerable costs at the end of the lifetime of the vegetation element.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,219,965 B1 discloses a plant growth sheet structure provided with plant protection projections to protect the growing vegetation, the structure being made from polyamide, polypropylene or polyvinyl chloride.
DE 102010007552 A1 discloses a vegetation element comprising a quickly biological degrading film which is already decomposed at the time of harvesting of the pre-vegetated vegetation element.


Luggage tag has a body with one bistable electronic visual display assembly and one screen, a radio receiver and a processor configured to convert short range command signals detected by the receiver into signals suitable to modify the image on the display screen. A manually operated switch activates the receiver and processor with a battery for a short time period sufficient to receive the command signals and modify the display. The electric components are encapsulated with an RFID transponder assembly in one resiliently flexible, plastic laminate body or the transponder assembly is encapsulated in a planar, plastic laminate flap permanently attached to a separate rigid protective case housing the remaining electric components. The tag is secured to a bag with a flexible connector, under tension, to retain the tag in a fixed position always exposing the sole display screen.

The present invention relates to electronic luggage tags, which are reusable.
Travelers are encouraged to tag their suitcases and other luggage to assist in owner identification. Many travelers use permanent tags with personal information printed or hand written. Some bags are equipped with viewing compartments configured to receive a conventional business card carrying the same information. Virtually all airlines request if not require travelers to mark their bags. Most airlines will even provide travelers with disposable tags on which the traveler can provide personal identification and contact information if the traveler's bags do not include their own tags.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,052,061 discloses several forms of programmable luggage tags with radio frequency transponders. However, these forms of tags have, for various reasons, not been found adequate to meet the needs or desires of the airline industry.
It would be beneficial to provide a permanent luggage tag that could be used repeatedly by travelers and further be capable of integration into carriers' baggage handling/management systems in place of single use, printed airline tags.

Smart device programmable electronic luggage tag and bag mountings therefore


The invention relates to a light-bulb holder for household appliances in general, and refrigerators and freezers in particular, comprising a board structure fabricated from an electrically insulating material and bounded by a peripheral edge and a pair of oppositely disposed lateral surfaces, and an electrically conductive plate divided into sections so as to define an electrical circuit and disposed inside the board structure. The board structure is equipped with an integrally formed and peripherally projecting sleeve for holding a light bulb, and from which respective electrical supply terminals project sideways, and the board also supports a pivotable lever, pivoted freely against the action of a spring, and disposed at right angles with respect to the plane of the board structure, and supported by means of a pin disposed parallel to the lateral surfaces and equipped at one end with a transverse electrically conductive pin adapted, at a travel end position at which the lever is held by means of the spring, to come into contact with a pair of electrical contacts housed transversely within a hole passing through the structure, so as to close the circuit.

Internal illumination of household appliances, such as, for example refrigerators, by means of light bulbs disposed within light-bulb holders the only function of which is to support the light bulb and which thus require, during installation upon the household appliance, a set of other accessories, such as, for example a door-switch for switching off the light when the refrigerator door is closed, are of course known; and while this type of light-bulb holder has a low cost and occupies little space it requires complex assembly and cabling procedures because it must be functionally and electrically connected to the accessories.
Built-in light-bulb holders which incorporate a door switch and perform additional functions, such as, for example, providing a support for thermostats and terminal boards, are also known. These built-in light-bulb holders have a high cost and/or are too complex for use upon basic household appliances.

Light-bulb holder for household appliances


A module for a vacuum pumping and/or abatement system includes a top side, a bottom side, a front side, a rear side, and two opposing lateral sides, which together define a space. The module comprises an apparatus located wholly within the space and one or more connection points coupled to the apparatus. Each of the connection points is for receiving an input for the apparatus or receiving an output from the apparatus. The one or more connection points are located at the top side. The module has a maximum size in a first system dimension that is equal to a first integer multiple of a fixed system value, the first system dimension being a dimension between the lateral sides. For each connection point, a distance between that connection point and each lateral side in the first system dimension is a respective second integer multiple of the fixed system value.

Vacuum pumping and abatement systems are used in varied and different technological fields, for example semiconductor fabrication. Typically, in said systems, vacuum pumping equipment is used to pump gas (e.g. gas from an industrial process) out of a particular location, and abatement equipment is used to abate (e.g. destroy or dispose of) undesirable substances (e.g. exhaust gas) which have been produced.
Depending on the processes involved, there may be different criteria for vacuum pumping and abatement. For example, it is typically desirable to use different vacuum pumping equipment and/or different abatement equipment for different processes involving different process gases, different gas pressures, and different gas flow. Also, it is typically desirable to use different abatement equipment to destroy or dispose of different undesirable substances.
Vacuum pumping and abatement systems are typically designed bespoke according to the particular processes with which they will be used. However, the amount of time spent designing, manufacturing and installing such a bespoke system is typically prolonged because different processes require different vacuum pumping and abatement system solutions.

Module for a vacuum pumping and/or abatement system


An object of the present invention is to allow a vehicle to run in the case where an air compressor connected to an input port fails so as to cause air leakage from the location of the failure, by preventing air in a parking brake circuit from leaking from the failure location through a bleed air flow path. In order to achieve the object, a multi-protection valve includes: a communication passage for communicating between an input chamber and a service output port so as to bypass a pressure control valve provided in correspondence with the service output port, the communication passage having a check valve for preventing air from flowing from the service output port into the input chamber and a throttle for restricting the air flow rate; and a bleed air flow path for communicating between the input chamber and the parking output port so as to bypass pressure control valves, the bleed air flow path having a second check valve for preventing air from flowing from the input chamber to the parking output port. The multi-protection valve further includes a third check valve provided between the input chamber and an input port to prevent air from flowing from the input chamber to the input port.

Patent Document 1 discloses a multi-protection valve including an inlet port connected to a pneumatic device as a compressed air source, a parking brake circuit outlet port (referred to as "spring brake circuit outlet port" in Patent Document 1) connected to a parking brake circuit (referred to as "spring brake circuit" in Patent Document 1), and a connection passage connecting the inlet port and the parking brake circuit outlet port. The connection passage includes a check valve for preventing air from flowing from the inlet port into the parking brake circuit outlet port and a throttle for regulating the flow rate of exhaust air flowing in from the parking brake circuit through the parking brake circuit outlet port, the check valve and the throttle being disposed in series.
The connection passage allows air in the parking brake circuit to be discharged to the outside when air leakage occurs in a first main brake circuit or a second main brake circuit suffers to make the first main brake circuit or the second main brake circuit inoperable. When the air in the parking brake circuit is discharged to the outside, the parking brake cannot be disengaged, that is, the engagement of the parking brake can be maintained, which prevents unprepared starting of a vehicle during a period from engine start until the first main brake circuit or the second main brake circuit becomes operable. The configuration also prevents the residual air pressure in the parking brake circuit from exceeding the residual air pressure in the first main brake circuit or the second main brake circuit.    Patent Document 1: JP-A-Hei 10-100888


An optical film is provided and includes a cellulose ester and an acrylic resin. The mass ratio of the cellulose ester to the acrylic resin is 70/30 to 5/95, the total haze value of the optical film is 0.80 or less, the internal haze value of the optical film is 0.01 to 0.28, and the modulus of elasticity in the transverse direction of the optical film is 2,700 to 7,000 MPa.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical film and a method for manufacturing the same.
2. Background Art
In recent years, liquid crystal displays are widely used in uses such as liquid crystal panels and the like, e.g., liquid crystal televisions, personal computers, portable telephones and digital cameras. In general, a liquid crystal display has a liquid crystal member having provided polarizing plates on both sides of a liquid crystal cell, and display is performed by controlling the light from the backlight member at the liquid crystal member. Here, the polarizing plate comprises a polarizer and the protective films on both sides of the polarizer. Ordinary polarizer can be obtained by dyeing a stretched polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) film with iodine or a dichroic dye, and a cellulose ester film or the like is used as the protective film. Cellulose ester films are high in transparency and optical isotropy, so that they are excellent as optical films.
Large-sizing and thinning of liquid crystal displays are progressing in recent years and uses are also diversifying, so that requirement for durability has been made rigorous.
For example, with the progress of thinning of liquid crystal displays, there arises a problem such that light unevenness, which seems like a circle or an ellipsoid occurs on the screen, and the improvement thereof is required. As a cause of generation of such light unevenness, it is indicated that the contact of a backlight member and a polarizing plate on the backlight side of a liquid crystal panel member is liable to occur due to thinning of a liquid crystal display. It is thought that when a liquid crystal display is used for a long period of term in the state of a backlight member and a polarizing plate on the backlight side being in contact with each other or a liquid crystal display is used under high temperature high humidity environment, water content is liable to gather at the contact area and the water content penetrates through to the polarizer, as a result the performance of the polarizing plate deteriorates to thereby cause light unevenness. As one measure to prevent such light unevenness, improvement of the moisture resisting property of the protective film of a polarizing plate is exemplified.
For the purpose of improving the moisture resisting property of the protective film of a polarizing plate, optical films in which a great amount of an acrylic resin such as polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) is added to a cellulose ester resin are disclosed in WO 09/047,924 and WO 09/081,607. However, it has been found that liquid crystal displays having sufficient contrast ratio cannot be obtained with the optical films disclosed in Patent WO 09/047,924 and WO 09/081,607.
Further, in the manufacture of an optical film, retardation control of a film and stretching for widening the width are generally carried out. However, it has been found that a film itself is softened by the addition of a large amount of an acrylic resin such as PMMA and a problem arises such that the film ruptures by stretching in high magnification.

Optical film and method for manufacturing the same


In a drive system, there is provided a waste heat recovering device forming a Rankine cycle by an evaporator for heating water with waste heat of an internal combustion engine to generate high-pressure vapor, the internal combustion engine being connected to a transmission, a displacement-type expander for converting high-pressure vapor generated by the evaporator to an output with constant torque, a condenser for liquefying low-pressure vapor discharged from the expander, and a feed pump for supplying water liquefied by the condenser to the evaporator. The expander is connected to a power generator/motor via a planetary gear mechanism, and the expander is connected to an output shaft of the internal combustion engine via the planetary gear mechanism and a belt-type continuously variable transmission. A change gear ratio of the belt-type continuously variable transmission is controlled such that a rotational speed of the internal combustion engine and a rotational speed of the expander are matched with each other and are transmitted to the transmission. Hence, it is possible to effectively drive the driven portion by using the output of the expander of the waste heat recovering device.

The present invention relates to a drive system which is comprised of a waste heat recovering device including a displacement-type expander and a power transmission system for transmitting the output of the expander to a driven portion.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 7-35846 discloses an exhaust energy recovery apparatus which is comprised of a turbine driven by exhaust gas of an internal combustion engine, a power generator driven by the turbine, a motor driven by power generated by the power generator, and a planetary gear mechanism for combining the shaft output of the motor with the shaft output of the internal combustion engine. According to the exhaust energy recovery apparatus, it is possible to recover a part of energy of exhaust gas that has been conventionally discarded without being effectively used so as to assist the shaft output of the internal combustion engine, thereby contributing to a reduction in consumption of fuel.
It should be noted here that the above conventional device suffers from a problem that kinetic energy of exhaust gas is used to drive the turbine and hence, thermal energy of high-temperature exhaust gas cannot be effectively used, resulting in low efficiency of recovering energy. Thus, it has been considered that exhaust energy is recovered by a Rankine cycle comprised of an evaporator for heating water by using thermal energy of exhaust gas to generate high-pressure vapor, an expander for conversing high-pressure vapor, which is supplied from the evaporator, to shaft output with constant torque, a condenser for liquefying low-pressure vapor discharged from the expander, and a feed pump for supplying water liquefied by the condenser to the evaporator. In this case, a displacement-type expander is adopted, so that it is possible to obtain high efficiency in a wide rotational speed region of the expander, thereby more effectively recovering energy of exhaust gas.
When a displacement-type expander is adopted in an waste heat recovering device of a Rankine cycle type, the shaft output of the expander has time delay relative to the shaft output of the internal combustion engine. In addition, the expander is characterized by shaft output with constant torque and a rotational speed determined by shaft output of the internal combustion engine. Therefore, in order to effectively use the shaft output of the expander, it is necessary to provide a special power transmission system, which is suitable for the above described characteristics, between the expander and a driven portion driven by the expander.
The present invention is achieved in view of the above described circumstances and an object thereof is to effectively drive a driven portion by using an output of an expander of a waste heat recovering device forming a Rankine cycle.
In order to attain the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a drive system which comprises a waste heat recovering device forming a Rankine cycle by an evaporator for heating a working medium with a waste heat of a prime mover to generate a high-pressure vapor, a displacement-type expander for converting high-pressure vapor generated by the evaporator to output with constant torque, a condenser for liquefying low-pressure vapor discharged from the expander, and a pump for supplying a working medium liquefied by the condenser to the evaporator; and a power transmission system for transmitting the output of the expander to a driven portion, the power transmission system driving the driven portion according to the output characteristics of the expander.
With the above arrangement, regarding the expander of the Rankine cycle using a waste heat of the prime mover as a heat source, the output characteristics include time delay relative to the output of the prime mover, and changes in rotational speed with constant torque relative to changes in output of the prime mover. The power transmission system disposed between the expander and the driven portion drives the driven portion according to the above output characteristics of the expander, so that the output of the expander can be effectively used.
Further, in addition to the above arrangement, there is provided a drive system, wherein the power transmission system drives the driven portion within a range of the output characteristics of the expander.
With the above arrangement, since the power transmission system drives the driven portion within a range of the output characteristics of the expander, it is possible to prevent the expander from operating beyond the range of the output characteristics and reducing efficiency.
Moreover, in addition to the above arrangement, there is provided a drive system, wherein the power transmission system can distribute the output of the expander to a plurality of driven portions in an arbitrary ratio.
With the above arrangement, since the power transmission system distributes the output of the expander to a plurality of driven portions in an arbitrary ratio, the output of the expander can be applied for a variety of uses to enhance general-purpose utility.
Moreover, in addition to the above arrangement, there is provided a drive system, wherein the power transmission system comprises at least a planetary gear mechanism.
With the above arrangement, since the power transmission system comprises the planetary gear mechanism, the output of the expander can be properly distributed to a plurality of driven portions.
Besides, an internal combustion engine 1 of an embodiment corresponds to the prime mover of the present invention, and a power generator/motor 124 and a transmission 143 correspond to the driven portions of the present invention.


This turbocharger (10A) is provided with: a nozzle flow passage (35) for radially inwardly guiding gas from a scroll flow passage (34) and supplying the gas to a turbine wheel (12); and a nozzle mount (51) provided on the bearing housing (16) side of the nozzle flow passage (35). The turbocharger (10A) is further provided with: a vane (53) for adjusting the amount of introduced gas in the nozzle flow passage (35); and a heat shielding part (80) for minimizing heat transfer across the nozzle mount (51) from the turbine housing (31) side to the bearing housing (16) side.

A turbocharger includes a turbocharger body, a compressor, and a turbine. The turbocharger body includes a rotating shaft and a bearing housing which rotatably supports the rotating shaft via a bearing. The rotating shaft includes a turbine wheel on a first end portion side and a compressor wheel on a second end portion side. The turbine wheel is accommodated in a turbine housing which is connected to the bearing housing. The compressor wheel is accommodated in a compressor housing which is connected to the bearing housing.
In the turbocharger, the turbine wheel is rotated by a flow of an exhaust gas supplied from an engine into the turbine housing. The compressor wheel provided in the compressor housing is rotated according to the rotation of the turbine wheel, and thus, air is compressed. The air compressed by the compressor is supplied to the engine.
During an operation of the turbocharger, a high-temperature exhaust gas flows to the turbine, and thus, a temperature of the turbine housing increases. If thermal energy of the turbine escapes to the bearing housing side, energy loss occurs in the turbine.
In order to prevent the bearing housing side from being damaged by a heat input from the turbine side, it is preferable to suppress the heat input from the turbine side to the bearing housing side.
PTL 1 discloses a configuration in which a heat insulating material is interposed between a turbine housing and a bearing housing in order to suppress a heat input from a turbine to the bearing housing.

MITSUBISHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES ENGINE & TURBOCHARGER, LTD.


Systems, methods, computing platforms, and storage media for administering a distributed edge computing system utilizing an adaptive edge engine based on a finite state machine behavioral model are disclosed. Exemplary implementations may: select a first workload from one or more workloads; access, for the selected workload, one or more location optimization strategies from a plurality of location optimization strategies; and optimize an objective function across a portion of the one or more endpoints; select one or more endpoints; deploy the workload on at least one selected endpoint; monitor the health of the endpoint-workload deployment; and direct network traffic to the appropriate endpoint.

The recent era of computing has been referred to as cloud computing. Cloud computing refers to the use of commercial data centers to host applications. The commercial "cloud" data centers largely replaced on-premises data centers as previously built and maintained by larger companies. Cloud computing offers greater efficiency through specialization and economies of scale, and presents application owners, large and small, with a variety of economical options for hosting applications. Owners of applications can focus on the development, functioning, and deployment of their applications and defer operational aspects of the data center to specialists by purchasing the hosting services from cloud computing providers.
Content Delivery Networks (CDN) are geographically distributed networks of proxy servers, which were an early adaptation to the limitations of data center architecture and cloud computing. While CDNs enhance application performance, for instance, by storing copies of frequently-requested information (e.g., via caching) at nodes close to replicas of the application, they are simply a form of static deployment in the same manner as a typical cloud-hosted application.
Current trends in application hosting reflect a continued progression from cloud computing to edge computing. Edge computing is so named because the locations for hosting include many locations at the network "edge", close to end users. Edge locations include traditional "hyper-scale" cloud facilities, small "micro" data facilities, which might be attached to telecommunications transceivers, and everything in-between. Distributing applications across a dynamic and diverse set of network nodes introduces new issues and complexities to application management. Current systems and methods for distributed edge computing systems lack scalability and flexibility in allowing developers to run workloads anywhere along the edge. Thus, there is a need for a refined distributed edge computing system that alleviates some of the challenges faced with legacy edge or CDN solutions.


Disclosed is a rescue device for adjusting the direction of an automobile falling into water through buoyancy. The rescue device comprises an automobile body, wherein storage cavities are formed in the automobile head and the automobile tail of the automobile body, a first high-pressure quick inflation pump is embedded in the inner wall of the storage cavity, a square buoyancy air bag is folded and stored in the storage cavity, an annular storage box body is embedded in a shell of the automobile body, meanwhile, the annular storage box body is located on the side close to the driving position of the automobile body, and an annular buoyancy air bag is folded and stored in the annular storage box body.

Along with the development of science and technology, automobiles have been rapidly developed to a high level, existing automobiles not only have the function of riding instead of walking, but also have a powerful function in the aspect of safety performance, generally, a common safety protection device of the automobile is a safety air bag which is popped up when the automobile is collided, and a driver is protected to a certain degree; however, the safety air bag only aims at the situation that collision happens when the automobile runs on the road surface, once the automobile falls into water, people in the automobile are difficult to open automobile doors to escape due to the action of water pressure, and particularly when the automobile is completely overturned and falls into the water with the bottom facing upwards, people in the automobile are more difficult to escape.
Disclosed are a water-falling anti-sinking protection device and an automobile with the publication number of CN106740629 A. The water-falling anti-sinking protection device comprises an air storage tank and a plurality of air bags, wherein the air bags are arranged on a chassis, the top and the positions between front tires and rear tires on the two sides of the automobile respectively, and each air bag communicates with the air storage tank through an air guide pipe; an inflation control valve is installed at the position, close to an air outlet of the air storage tank, of the air guide pipe and electrically connected with an automobile controller, and a water detection element is installed on the chassis of the automobile and electrically connected with the automobile controller; when the automobile runs normally, all the air bags are not inflated and are arranged at the chassis, the top and the two sides of the automobile; furthermore, an air pump is arranged at the position close to the head of the automobile and is in transmission connection with an automobile engine through an electromagnetic clutch. Triggering of the air bags at all positions is started through the water detection elements installed on the chassis, the air bags at all positions can be directly triggered only when the chassis of the automobile is in contact with the water surface, but once the chassis of the automobile falls into the water upwards, the water detection elements of the chassis cannot be in contact with the water immediately, so that the air bags cannot be rapidly triggered and started; and although the air bag is arranged on the roof, when the chassis is upward and falls into water, the air bag on the roof can only generate buoyancy to the automobile, but the automobile is still in the posture that the chassis is upward, the automobile doors on the two sides of the automobile are likely to be in contact with the water surface or immersed into the water, and the head of a driver in the automobile is downward, so that escape of people in the automobile cannot be guaranteed. Meanwhile, the air pump is electrically connected with a power supply element of the automobile, that is, before the automobile collides and rushes into water, when the power supply element of the automobile is damaged due to collision, the air pump is completely impossible to be started, and the automobile cannot be driven by the air bag to float upwards.

Rescue device for adjusting direction of automobile falling into water through buoyancy

Shaanxi University of Science & Technology


A process for the partial purification of contaminated phosphoric acid plant pond water is described, in which the pond water is treated sequentially, with two basic compounds, clarified, aged, clarified again and re-acidified. The thus treated pond water, still containing the majority of the phosphate originally present, can then be concentrated via the removal of essentially pure water, using any conventional means of concentration, without the formation of solid precipitates.

Production of phosphoric acid by what is commonly know as the xe2x80x9cwet processxe2x80x9d involves the reaction of finely ground phosphate rock with sulfuric acid. As a result of the various reactions, a slurry is produced containing phosphoric acid, calcium sulfate and various impurities derived from the phosphate rock. This slurry is normally filtered to separate the phosphoric acid product from the byproduct calcium sulfate. The phosphoric acid thus obtained is then used in the production of various phosphate fertilizers that are used in agriculture. Water is normally used to wash the calcium sulfate filter cake and thereby increase the recovery of the phosphoric acid product. Most of this wash water is fed back into the phosphoric acid production process as make-up water. However, a portion of this water remains trapped in the calcium sulfate filter cake and is discharged from the filter with the filter cake. This trapped water contains small amounts of phosphoric acid and small amounts of all other impurities that were present in the phosphoric acid product. Additional water is normally used to wash the calcium sulfate filter cake off of the filter and transport it, by pumping as a slurry, to a storage or disposal area.
At the storage or disposal area the calcium sulfate will settle and the excess water will be liberated. This liberated water will normally be collected in a system of channels and ponds and recycled to the phosphoric acid production plant for reuse (i.e., washing the calcium sulfate filter cake). These channels and ponds also serve as a collection means for other water that is used in and around the phosphoric acid plant, such as for cleaning or washing, fresh water fume scrubbers, and as a collection means for phosphoric acid spills or leaks within the plant. Also, since these channels and ponds are located outside, they collect rain water.
Since all of the water contained within these channels and ponds contains small amounts of phosphoric acid and other impurities normally present in the phosphoric acid, it is considered contaminated. Thus, before this water can be released to the environment, it must be treated or purified to remove the phosphoric acid and other impurities. In some cases, in an efficiently operated phosphoric acid plant, in the absence of severe weather conditions, a balance will exist between water input to the pond system and water evaporation such that virtually all of this contaminated water can be recycled and used within the plant. In this case, treatment and discharge of the contaminated water, commonly known as pond water, is not necessary.
However, there are circumstances under which treatment and discharge of the contaminated pond water is necessary. One such circumstance could be an extended period of abnormally heavy rainfall. Another such circumstance would be when the phosphoric acid plant has ceased operation ether for an extended period of time or permanently.
Many factors influence the specific components and their concentrations in this contaminated pond water. Thus, there is no typical composition for the pond water other than the fact that it will contain some phosphate. However, some of the chemical components that could be found in pond water, and an example of their range of concentrations, are as follows:
One method of treating or purifying this pond water well known in the art is double liming. This method consists of adding a calcium compound (such as CaCO3, Ca(OH)2 or CaO) to the pond water, in two stages, such that the phosphate and other impurities form solid precipitates that settle and are separated from the thus purified water. This method is described in Francis T. Nielsson, ed., Manual of Fertilizer Processing, Marcel Dekker, Inc. (1987), pp. 480 to 482; G. A. Mooney, et al., Removal of Fluoride and Phosphorus from Phosphoric Acid Wastes with Two Stage Line Treatment, Proceedings of the 33rd Industrial Waste Conference, Purdue Univ. (1978); G. A. Mooney et al., Laboratory and Pilot Treatment of phosphoric Acid Wastewaters, presented at the Joint Meeting of Central Florida and Peninsular, Fla. A.I.Ch.E. (1977); and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,112,499; 4,698,163; 4,320,012; 4,171,342; 3,725,265 and 3,551,332. However, there are several problems associated with this method. One problem is the large volume of sludge produced. Sludge (i.e., a mixture of the precipitated impurities, un-reacted calcium compound and water) is produced in both the first and second stages of this process. These sludge materials are normally deposited in settling ponds that require large land areas. While it is possible to reclaim and recycle some of the sludge from the first stage of this process, the sludge from the second stage tends to be very voluminous, extremely difficult to de-water and of little economic value. Thus, large impoundment ponds are required to permanently store this sludge. Another problem with this method of pond water treatment is that, because of the large quantity of water tied up with the sludge, only about 50% to 60% of the pond water fed to the process can be discharged. Thus, the process equipment must be significantly larger than would otherwise be needed. A third problem with this process is that virtually all of the economically valuable phosphate contained in the pond water is converted to a form that renders it unsuitable for use as a fertilizer without significant re-processing at added cost. Finally, a fourth problem with this treatment process is that the purified pond water often just barely meets the criteria for discharge and cannot be used as a substitute for the fresh water that would normally be required in a phosphoric acid plant, such as for steam production.
Another general method of water purification is reverse osmosis. This process is based on the application of external pressure on an aqueous salt solution in contact with a semi permeable membrane, such that the applied pressure exceeds the osmotic pressure of the water component of the solution in contact with the membrane. Thus, some of the water is forced through the membrane in the reverse direction, while the other components in the solution (i.e., soluble salts) do not pass through the membrane. This results in a stream of purified water, known as permeate, and a stream of increased salt content, known as the reject or concentrate. Reverse osmosis is well known in the art and is described in Douglas M. Ruthven, ed., Encyclopedia of Separation Technology, Volume 2, pp. 1398-1430, John Wiley and Sons, Inc. (1997); S. Sourirajan and T. Matssuura, Reverse Osmosis/Ultrafiltration Principles, National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, Canada (1985); B. Parekh, ed., Reverse Osmosis Technology, Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York (1988); R. Rautenbach and R. Albrecht, Membrane Processes, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York (1989) and other publications. Reverse osmosis is also described in a variety of U.S. Patents, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,110,219; 4,574,049; 4,876,002; 5,006,234; 5,133,958 and 6,190,558.
Several attempts have been made to use reverse osmosis for the purification of contaminated phosphoric acid plant pond water. However, these attempts have generally failed due to the fact that the pond water is a saturated solution. Thus, as soon as any water is removed from the pond water the solution becomes supersaturated and salts precipitate that quickly clog the membranes used in reverse osmosis and prevent additional pure water from flowing through them.
However, if reverse osmosis could be made to function in the treatment of contaminated phosphoric acid plant pond water, many economic and enviromnental benefits would result. One benefit is that the phosphate values contained in the pond water would be recovered in an economically useful form (i.e., as a concentrated liquid phosphate solution). Another benefit is that vast land areas required for the settling ponds needed in the double liming process will be greatly reduced and the large impoundment ponds needed for permanent sludge storage will be eliminated. A third benefit is that the purified water obtained from the reverse osmosis system is of sufficient purity such that it can be used in place of fresh water in places where fresh water is required (i.e., certain fume scrubbers, steam boiler feed systems, etc.). Still other benefits will be obvious to those skilled in the art.
It is an object of this invention to provide a process for the pretreatment of contaminated phosphoric acid plant pond water (hereinafter called xe2x80x9cpond waterxe2x80x9d) such that the pre-treated pond water can be purified using conventional reverse osmosis technology.
It is another object of this invention to provide a process for the pre-treatment or partial purification of pond water such that the pre-treated pond water can be concentrated by the removal of pure water, using any suitable apparatus, without the formation of solid precipitates in the solution thus concentrated.
It is another object of this invention to provide a process for the partial purification of pond water such that the partially purified pond water can be processed by a conventional reverse osmosis system continuously without the precipitation of compounds within the reverse osmosis system that would clog the membranes employed within the system rendering them inoperative.
It is another object of this invention to provide a process for the selective removal of specific ions and compounds from pond water to an extent such that the thus processed pond water can be further processed by a conventional reverse osmosis system to produce a permeate stream composed of essentially pure water and a reject or concentrate stream composed of the phosphate component and other impurities present in the processed pond water fed to the reverse osmosis system.
It is also an object of this invention to provide a process for the purification of pond water that will significantly reduce the quantity of undesirable sludge that is generated.
These and other objects are achieved by the present invention which provides a process for partial purification pre-treatment of pond water comprising the steps of adding a first compound that will react with the fluorides in the pond water and form an essentially insoluble fluoride salt, adding a second compound that is either basic or will form a base when water is present, the cationic portion of said second compound being such that the phosphate salts thereof remain soluble, allowing the precipitates thus formed to settle, decanting or otherwise separating the clarified liquid portion of the mixture, holding the liquid portion of the mixture for a time period sufficient to allow the silicic acid present to decompose into hydrated silicon dioxide, separating the hydrated silicon dioxide and adding an acid to the liquid solution thus obtained, such that the solubility of the ions remaining in solution are increased and are greater than or equal to their concentrations that are expected in the thus treated solution when the solution is concentrated via the removal of essentially pure water.
The present invention provides a process for partially purifying contaminated phosphoric acid plant pond water such that the partially purified or pre-treated pond water can be concentrated by the removal of pure water without the formation of precipitated solids or scale that would otherwise impede or render inoperable the concentrating means or apparatus. Thus, for example, the pre-treated pond water could be processed through a conventional reverse osmosis system comprising one or more stages to obtain a purified water stream and a stream of concentrated pond water. The term xe2x80x9cpond water,xe2x80x9d as used herein, is defined as a dilute solution of phosphoric acid, also containing sulfuric acid, silicic acid, fluoride ions, calcium ions, sodium ions, ammonium ions, and other ionic and non-ionic species, that is normally present in and around phosphate fertilizer plants that employ the so-called wet process for the production of phosphoric acid.
In the process of the present invention, a first compound is added to the pond water that will react with the fluorides in the pond water and form an essentially insoluble fluoride salt. Several compounds of this type include magnesium containing compounds, calcium containing compounds, strontium containing compounds and barium containing compounds. Of particular utility, due to their low cost, are the calcium containing compounds including calcium carbonate, calcium hydroxide and calcium oxide. The quantity of said compound added to the pond water is based on the fluorine concentration in the pond water such that the molar ratio of the cationic portion of the compound to the fluorine in the pond water is within the range of 0.45 to 0.80, or more preferably within the range of 0.50 to 0.70, or still more preferably within the range of 0.55 to 0.65. Thus, if the quantity of fluorine contained in the pond water to be treated were 19 pounds and the compound to be added were calcium oxide, the quantities of calcium oxide corresponding to the three ranges stated above would be about 25.2-44.9 pounds, 28.0-39.2 pounds and 30.8-36.4 pounds. This first compound can be added to the pond, water either in dry form, as a paste or as a liquid slurry, and still be within the scope of the present invention. Furthermore, this first compound can be added to the pond water either on a batch basis or on a continuous basis and still be within the scope of the present invention. This first compound is mixed with the pond water for a time period sufficient for the compound to react with the fluorine in the pond water. Typically, this time period will be from 1 minute to 30 minutes, depending on the form in which the compound is added to the pond water and the configuration of the mixing apparatus.
After the first compound has been mixed with the pond water for a sufficient time, the mixture can be clarified and the solids formed as a result of reactions of the first compound with the pond water can be removed. In practice slightly better results are obtained if the solids formed as a result of reactions of the first compound with the pond water are left in the pond water. However, removal of these solids at this point is still considered within the scope of the present invention.
A second compound is now added to the pond water. If the pond water is being treated on a batch basis and the solids produced as a result of the reactions of the first compound with the pond water are not removed, this second compound can be added in the same vessel. If the pond water is being treated on a continuous basis, the pond water, with or without the reaction products from the first compound addition, must be transferred to a second tank or vessel. The second compound must be a strong base or a compound that will form a strong base when water is present. Furthermore, the cationic component of the second compound must be such that the phosphate salts formed thereof remain soluble in the pond water. Examples of strongly basic compounds that form soluble phosphate salts include sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide. An example of a compound that will form a strong base when water is present and whose phosphate salt is soluble is ammonia. Other compounds meeting the above two criteria may also be used and are still considered within the scope of the present invention. The second compound is added to and mixed with the pond water, either in pure form or as a solution, in sufficient quantity to increase the pH of the resulting pond water solution to a value within the range of 4.2 to 8.0, or more preferably within the range of 5.0 to 6.5, or still more preferably within the range of 5.5 to 6.0. The term xe2x80x9cpure form,xe2x80x9d as used above, refers to the physical state of the compound (i.e., a solid for sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide, or a gas or pressurized liquid for anhydrous ammonia) and not the chemical purity of the compound. In terms of chemical purity, ordinary technical grade purity is acceptable for both the first compound and the second compound.
The pH, as used above and elsewhere, is defined as the negative power to which 10 must be raised to equal the molar hydrogen ion concentration in solution.
As a result of the addition of the first compound and second compound to the pond water and the resulting chemical reactions, solid precipitates will form in the solution. These solid precipitates are now removed from the solution either by settling the solids and decanting the liquid, centrifuging the solution, filtering the solution, or any other means that will result in a separation of a clear liquid from the solid precipitates. Furthermore, it is not necessary that all of the liquid be removed from the solids. Thus, the solids can be removed as a slurry containing, for example, 50% by weight solids and 50% by weight liquid. Also, it is not essential that all of the solids be removed from the liquid, although it is preferred that the suspended solids concentration in the liquid be no greater than 0.5% by weight.
If the clear liquid thus obtained is subjected to chemical analysis, it will be found that the calcium and fluorine concentrations have been significantly reduced, as compared to the starting pond water, while the phosphate concentration has only been reduced by a comparatively minor amount.
The clear liquid is now allowed to age. The purpose of the aging is to allow silicic acid present in the liquid to decompose into hydrated silicon dioxide. The aging time should be at least 2 hours and preferably at least 16 hours. While there is no upper limit to the aging time, and longer aging times have been found to be beneficial, practicality and economics dictate that the maximum aging time would normally be limited to about 10 days or less.
After the aging period, the hydrated silicon dioxide formed as a result of the aging process must be removed from the liquid. This can be done by any conventional solid liquid separation technique including centrifuging, filtering or settling. Of particular utility is the use of a flocculent, specifically a cationic flocculent, followed by settling of the flocculated silicon dioxide and decantation of the liquid. The quantity of flocculent required and the method of addition will depend, among other factors, on the concentration of hydrated silicon dioxide in the liquid and the specific flocculent used. Thus, laboratory tests, by techniques well known in the art, would be required to determine the flocculent addition parameters. The use of a flocculent for hydrated silicon dioxide removal is not considered a part of the present invention and is presented only to illustrate a useful means of accomplishing the part of the present invention comprising silica removal from the partially pre-treated pond water. The use of flocculants for silica removal is taught in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,595,717; 5,453,206; 5,409,614 and 5,200,165.
At this point in the process, the majority of the calcium, fluorine and silica, originally present in the pond water have been removed. Thus, the pond water has been partially purified.
After the removal of the hydrated silicon dioxide, a clear liquid is obtained that is essentially saturated with respect to various ions and salts thereof. To permit the removal of pure water from this liquid solution, without causing precipitation of these salts, the solubility relationships of these salts within the solution must be adjusted. This is accomplished be adding an acid to the solution, or a compound that will form an acid when water is present, so as to cause a decrease in the pH. A method of decreasing the pH by the addition of an acid is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,338,456. However, in the process described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,338,456 the acid is added to convert carbonates (for example calcium carbonate) to carbon dioxide such that the carbon dioxide can be removed from the water in the forced draft and vacuum degasifiers. Thus, the net effect of the acid addition in U.S. Pat. No. 5,338,456 is to decrease the solubility of the carbon compounds in solution and not to increase the solubility of the various ions and salts present, as is the purpose of the acid addition in the pond water of the present invention. Examples of acids that may be used include sulfuric acid, sulfurous acid, phosphoric acid, hydrochloric acid and nitric acid. Examples of compounds that may be used that will form an acid when water is present include sulfur trioxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen chloride and nitrogen dioxide. Other acids, or compounds that will form acids in the presence of water, may be used and are still considered within the scope of the present invention. Acids that should not be used for pH adjustment include hydrofluoric acid and hydroflurosilicic acid. The acid or the compound that will form an acid in the presence of water should be added to the liquid in sufficient quantity to decrease the pH of the resulting solution to a value within the range of 2.0 to 4.0, or more preferably within the range of 2.5 to 3.5, or still more preferably within the range of 2.9 to 3.1.
The liquid solution thus obtained will be essentially clear and stable with respect to post precipitation. In addition, pure water may now be removed from the liquid solution by any of several methods including reverse osmosis, evaporation, or other means, without the formation of solid precipitates.
The process of this invention will be better understood with reference to the following examples. It is understood, however, that these examples are intended only to illustrate the invention and are not intended to limit the invention. All percentages used in the following examples, unless noted otherwise, are understood to mean percent by weight.

Purification of phosphoric acid plant pond water


A method includes detecting a channel path error event on an identified channel path; recording channel path error data associated with the detected channel path error event; identifying an scope of the channel path error associated with the identified channel path; determining if the identified channel path is a defective channel path based on the scope of the channel path error; and removing the defective channel path from one or more devices.

The present disclosure relates to detecting and removing channel paths from use when errors are detected, and more specifically, to proactively removing channel paths from a variable scope of I/O devices.
Input/Output, or I/O devices, are generally connected to a processor via multiple channel paths. These I/O devices are designed such that they will remain functional as long as at least one channel path between the processor and the device is operational.
Typically, when an I/O operation is executed and an error is detected on a specific channel path, the operating system tests the channel path by issuing one or more recovery related I/O operations. During this process, applications wait to use the I/O device. If the recovery I/O operation is unsuccessful, the channel path is removed from the device, the application I/O is resumed and the original I/O operation is retried. This error recovery processing occurs on a device by device basis, so if the channel path error is associated with a hardware component that is shared by multiple devices (e.g., channel, channel card, switch, control unit port, control unit adapter card, fiber optic cables, etc.), each device using that hardware component will have to encounter the error before removing the defective channel path from the device.
The channel path error recovery process negatively affects application performance by delaying the application while the operating system performs recovery and then retrying the original I/O request. Furthermore, if an application uses multiple I/O devices that share the failing channel path, additional errors will be encountered as each device attempts to use the failing channel path causing further delays.
Additionally, certain types of channel path errors are intermittent in nature, that is, the application I/O may encounter an error but the recovery I/O used to test the channel path is successful and the channel path is therefore not removed from the device. Intermittent channel path errors negatively affect performance because applications may encounter errors multiple times. Typically when intermittent channel path errors occur, the channel path must be manually removed from the affected devices to stop errors from occurring.

Proactively removing channel paths in error from a variable scope of I/O devices

International Business Machines Corporation


A multilayer insulated wire includes a conductor, an inner insulation layer, and an outer insulation layer. A gel fraction of the inner insulation layer defined below is not less than 80%. A gel fraction of the outer insulation layer defined below is less than the gel fraction of the inner insulation layer and not less than 75%. An insulation covering layer including the inner and outer insulation layers is cross-linked and has a tensile modulus of not less than 500 MPa in a tensile test conducted at a tensile rate of 200 mm/min. Gel fraction (%)=(mass of inner or outer insulation layer after being immersed in xylene at 110° C. for 24 hours, then left at 20° C. and atmospheric pressure for 3 hours and vacuum-dried at 80° C. for 4 hours/mass of inner or outer insulation layer before immersion in xylene)×100

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a multilayer insulated wire and a multilayer insulated cable.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electric wires and cables used in railroad vehicles, automobiles and machines etc. are required to have, if necessary, high abrasion resistance, anti-cut-through property, low-temperature performance and flame retardancy etc.
Among these properties, the anti-cut-through property is a property that a wire covering material is not damaged even when a wire is strongly pressed against a metal edge etc. of a distribution board etc. at the time of wiring, and it is essential in the application mentioned above.
In order to increase the anti-cut-through property, it is necessary to select a highly crystalline material having a high elastic modulus such as engineering plastic (see JP-A-2012-119087).

Multilayer insulated wire and multilayer insulated cable


A thyristor includes a semiconductor body having an anode-side base zone of a first conductance type, and having a cathode-side base zone of the second, opposite conductance type, and has cathode-side and anode-side emitter zones. An anode-side defect zone is included within the anode-side base zone, in which the free charge carriers have a reduced life, with a predetermined thickness of at least 20 xcexcm. The defect zone may be produced by anode-side irradiation of predetermined regions of the semiconductor body with charged particles, and with heat treatment of the semiconductor body in order to stabilize the defect zone.

The invention generally relates to thyristors which include a semiconductor body having an anode-side base zone of a first conductance type and having a cathode-side base zone of the second, opposite conductance type, with cathode-side and anode-side emitter zones, and to a method for producing such thyristors.
Despite the high power levels which thyristors can handle, they are sensitive, especially when they are connected deliberately or in an unmonitored manner to high voltage. The breakdown triggering which occurs then can lead to destruction of the thyristor. Light-triggerable thyristors are particularly at risk, since the triggering power that is supplied is very low in this case and, in some circumstances, is not sufficient to switch on the thyristor correctly. Improved light-Triggerable high-power thyristors for voltages of up to 8 kV are described by H.-J, Schulze, M. Ruff, B. Baur, H. Kabza, F. Pfirsch, U. Kellner in xe2x80x9cLight-triggered 8 kV Thyristors with a New Type of Integrated Breakover Diodexe2x80x9d in the Proceedings of the xe2x80x9cInternational Symposium for Semiconductor Power Devicesxe2x80x9d, May (1996).
DE 196 50 762 specifies an improved light-triggerable high-power thyristor with a predetermined carrier life profile and proposes a method for producing such a thyristor, by means of which the breakdown triggering of the thyristor in the thyristor operating temperature range is made largely independent of the temperature. To this end, in a thyristor composed of a semiconductor with an anode-side base zone of a first conductance type and a cathode-side base zone of a second conductance type, with anode-side and cathode-side emitter zones, with a region in the cathode-side base zone which, by virtue of its geometry, has a breakdown voltage which is less than that in the other regions in the cathode-side base zone and in the edge of the semiconductor body, a defect zone in which the life of the free charge carriers is reduced is provided on the anode side underneath the region where the breakdown voltage is reduced. This measure governs the breakover voltage of the thyristor in the forward direction. The position of the minimum in the carrier life profile is used to determine whether the space charge zone, which propagates from the cathode side, does or does not overlap the zone of reduced carrier life when the forward voltages are sufficiently high. An additional generation current is produced if the zones overlap.
However, the thyristors according to the above prior art cannot be loaded again with a surge voltage until after a specific recovery time. Should a voltage surge occur before this time has elapsed, however, then there is a risk of the thyristor being destroyed by the current filamentation that occurs in the cathode surface.
An object of the present invention is to provide a thyristor with integrated recovery time protection, which may be loaded with a voltage surface once again even within the recovery time without in the process being destroyed by current filamentation occurring in the cathode surface, and to specify a method for producing such a thyristor.
The object is preferably achieved by a thyristor having the features of claim 1, and by a method for producing such a thyristor having the steps in claim 4. Preferred embodiments of the invention are the subject matter of the dependent claims.
The integrated voltage surge protection is achieved, according to the invention, by raising the concentration of free charge carriers in the central region of the component when the thyristor is connected in the blocking direction. The blocking current is thus increased when a blocking voltage load is applied to the thyristor. The increased concentration of free charge carriers is produced by particle irradiation of a zone in the anode-side base of the thyristor. This results in lattice faults in the crystal, which act as recombination and generation centers for charge carriers. This defect zone with a reduced carrier life is in this case arranged in the anode-side base such that, when the thyristor is connected in the blocking direction, it overlaps the space charge zone propagating from the anode side, and the minimum carrier life in the component occurs underneath the emitter. In the forward direction (in the blocking region) of the thyristor, the defect zone with the reduced carrier life is, in contrast, located inside the neutral anode-side base. This means that the blocking current in the forward direction (leakage current) is not increased. The defect zone extends over an area in the thyristor which depends on the desired reduction in the carrier life in the defect zone.
The thyristor according to the invention, which includes a semiconductor body having an anode-side base zone of a first conductance type and having a cathode-side base zone of the second, opposite conductance type, having cathode-side and having anode-side emitter zones, where a defect zone is arranged within the anode-side base zone on the anode side, in which the free charge carriers have a reduced life, with a predetermined thickness of at least 20 xcexcm.
The defect zone preferably essentially has defects in the crystal lattice, which are produced by irradiation with high-energy particles. In general, the thickness of the defect zone can be selected as a function of the generation current, such that the desired generation current is produced.
In order to produce a thyristor according to the invention, the semiconductor is irradiated such that this results in a region with reduced charge carrier life within the base of the thyristor. The production method for a thyristor is characterized in that, in order to produce the defect zone, anode-side irradiation of predetermined regions of the semiconductor body with charged particles is carried out, followed by heat-treatment of the semiconductor body in order to stabilize the defect zone.
Protons or xcex1-particles are preferably used for irradiation of the predetermined regions. A dose of approximately 5xc2x7109 to 1012 cmxe2x88x922 for xcex1-particles and from 1011 to 1013 cmxe2x88x922 for protons is selected for irradiation of the predetermined regions.

Thyristor provided with integrated circuit-commutated recovery time protection and production method therefor