The present invention provides a non-oriented electrical steel sheet having ultra-high magnetic flux density and low core loss, characterized by: comprising a steel containing, in terms of wt %,

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a non-oriented electrical steel sheet, which is used as an iron core material of an electrical apparatus, having unprecedentedly excellent magnetic properties such as exceedingly high magnetic flux density and low core loss, excellent formability such as excellent punching property, and excellent rust resistance to a product manufactured by using said non-oriented electrical steel sheet and to a production method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, movements for improving efficiency are rapidly spreading in the field of electrical machinery and apparatuses, specifically rotating machinery and medium- and small-sized transformers, where non-oriented electrical steel sheets are used as iron core materials, amid the worldwide movement for the global environmental preservation, including the saving of electric power and energy and regulations against freon gas emission. For this reason, demands for improving the properties of non-oriented electrical steel sheets, namely, for higher magnetic flux density and lower core loss, are growing stronger.
The core loss reduction of a non-oriented electrical steel sheet has been carried out mainly by increasing the electrical resistivity through the addition of Si and Al and, by doing so, reducing the Joule heat loss caused by the loss of the eddy current that flows through each steel sheet constituting an iron core during its service.
However, among the energy losses of a rotating machine or an apparatus containing an iron core, the energy loss shared by copper loss, which is the Joule heat loss caused by the electric current flowing through a coiled wire wound round the core, cannot be neglected. In order to reduce the copper loss, it is effective to reduce the current density required to excite a core to a certain magnetic field strength, and therefore, the development of a material that exhibits a higher magnetic flux density with a same exciting current cannot be avoided. Namely, the development of a non-oriented electrical steel sheet having ultra-high magnetic flux density is essential.
By realizing a non-oriented electrical steel sheet having ultra-high magnetic flux density, it becomes possible to miniaturize both a rotating machine and an iron core and, for a movable body like an automobile or an electric car where a rotating machine and an iron core are mounted, it also becomes possible to reduce the energy loss during operation by the weight reduction of the whole body. Further, in case of a rotating machine, the torque is increased and a smaller-sized and higher-power rotating machine can be realized.
Thus, if a non-oriented electrical steel sheet having ultra-high magnetic flux density can be realized, not only the energy loss of an iron core and a rotating machine during their operation can be reduced, but also the pervasive effect inestimably extends to the entire equipment system incorporating them.
Conventional production methods of non-oriented electrical steel sheets having high magnetic flux density will be outlined. In Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. S62-61644, disclosed is a method of coarsening a crystal structure after hot-rolling by controlling the hot-rolling finishing temperature to 1000xc2x0 C. or more, and also coarsening the crystal structure before cold-rolling while eliminating a finish-annealing process. However, in an actual finish hot rolling mill, there is a disadvantage of the difficulty in eliminating the uneven temperature distribution along the longitudinal direction of a steel coil and thus the magnetic properties varying along the longitudinal direction thereof, because the rolling speed at the time when rolls bite the tip of the steel coil is different from the one under a steady rolling state.
In the mean time, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Nos. S54-76422 and S58-136718, disclosed is a method of self-annealing by coiling a hot-rolled steel sheet at a high temperature between 700xc2x0 C. and 1000xc2x0 C. and annealing the coil itself with the heat retained therein as a means to suppress a cost increase caused by the addition of a process for annealing the hot-rolled steel sheet and to coarsen the crystal structure before cold-rolling. In the embodiments of these patent publications, however, all of the self-annealing are carried out in the xcex1-phase region for an identical reason, and the coarsening of the crystal structure before cold-rolling is limited.
Further, in Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. H8-32927, disclosed is a technology of pickling a hot-rolled steel sheet consisting of a steel material containing less than 0.01% of C, 0.5% to 3.0% of Si, 0.1% to 1.5% of Mn, 0.1% to 1.0% of Al, 0.005% to 0.016% of P and less than 0.005% of S, thereafter cold-rolling the pickled sheet at a cold reduction ratio of 5% to 20%, annealing the cold-rolled sheet for 0.5 to 10 minutes at a temperature between 850xc2x0 C. and 1000xc2x0 C., or for 1 to 10 hours at a temperature between 750xc2x0 C. and 850xc2x0 C., and then applying finish-annealing. This method is insufficient in improving magnetic flux density as compared to the conventional hot-rolled steel sheet annealing method and cannot meet the customers"" demands for improving the magnetic properties of a non-oriented electrical steel sheet.
In addition, as the methods of improving the magnetic properties of non-oriented electrical steel sheets by improving the primarily re-crystallized texture, disclosed are the methods of manufacturing non-oriented electrical steel sheets excellent in magnetic properties by improving the texture with the addition of Sn in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. S55-158252, Sn and Cu in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. S62-180014, or Sb in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. S59-100217.
However, even the addition of these texture controlling elements, like Sn, Cu or Sb, cannot satisfy the customers demands for a non-oriented electrical steel sheet having ultra-high magnetic flux density and low core loss.
As another method, the improvement in the production process such as devising a finish-annealing heat cycle is implemented as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication S57-35626. However, the attempts reveal little effect on the magnetic flux density improvement, though core loss improvement is seen.
There are three known technologies for obtaining high magnetic flux density by adding Ni, as described below.
In Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H6-271996, disclosed is a method of obtaining high magnetic flux density and low core loss by adding the elements of Sn, Sb, Cu and the like in addition to Ni. However, in actual production, there is a problem of increasing production cost since it is required to control the cooling rate in the two-phase region from the Ar3 point to the Ar1 point either after solidification by rapid cooling or by heating the material again to a temperature not less than the AC3 transformation temperature after the rapid cooling. Further, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H8-246108, disclosed is a material having high magnetic flux density and low anisotropy realized by the addition of Ni. However, in actual production, it is required to finish-anneal the material by heating it to a temperature not less than the AC3 temperature, and therefore, there is a problem of easily deteriorating the core loss on account of the internal oxidation of the Ni-added steel. In addition, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H8-109449, disclosed are a material claiming to have high magnetic flux density and low anisotropy by adding Ni and its production method. However, in the actual production method, the annealing of a hot-rolled steel sheet or the self annealing of the same is essential, and the problem of easily deteriorating the core loss on account of the occurrence of the internal oxidization of Ni during the annealing cannot be solved.
As described above, the conventional technologies can not produce a non-oriented electrical steel sheet having not only low core loss but also ultra-high magnetic flux density, and therefore can not satisfy the above-described demands for a non-oriented electrical steel sheet.
The present invention is characterized not only by furnishing an Ni-added steel with ultra-high magnetic flux density, but also by offering a low cost process capable of achieving ultra-high magnetic flux density and low anisotropy without requiring any particular heat treatment, and this feature can be attained by reducing the amounts of added alloys except Ni and adding P. Further, the internal oxidization of Ni can be prevented by applying finish-annealing at a low temperature in the xcex1-phase region, and by doing so, it becomes possible to make B25, which is the magnetic flux density at the magnetic field strength of 2500 A/m and is lower than B50, to 1.70T or higher, and at the same time, to make B25R, which is the magnetic flux density calculated by the equation (2), to 1.65T or higher for the first time.
In the present invention, the addition of Ni and the control of the addition of Si, Al and Mn can remarkably enhance the marine weather resistance against sodium chloride and the like, in particular, by making dense the inner layer portions of the rust layers in the steel sheet surface layers and thus by suppressing the intrusion of chloride ions. Further, it has also become clear that the addition of P in an appropriate amount can further enhance the rust resistance which has been brought forth by the addition of Ni.
In addition, in the present invention, it is newly found that Nb which has been added in the conventional weather resistant steel remarkably deteriorates the magnetic flux density of a non-oriented electrical steel sheet, and by controlling the addition amount of Nb, a non-oriented electrical steel sheet with ultra-high magnetic flux density having rust resistance, weather resistance and magnetic properties together can be successfully developed.
Thanks to the above development, a non-oriented electrical steel sheet having ultra-high magnetic flux density according to the present invention can be processed and stored even in a plant and the like located in the environments near a seashore which have been inappropriate for the processing of a conventional non-oriented electrical steel sheet. At the same time, rusting during transportation can also be prevented and that is an advantage in simplifying the packaging.
Furthermore, in case of a magnetic switch core, the rust resistance of the bare surface of a metal is important since the end face of a switch is subject to an impact every time the switch operates, and therefore, required is a measure such as enclosing the switch itself in a special casing in the environment where the switch is likely to be exposed to sodium chloride and the like. However, by employing a non-oriented electrical steel sheet having ultra-high magnetic density and rust resistance according to the present invention, it becomes possible to use a magnetic switch in a corrosive environment where it has hardly been used so far.
Further, by employing a non-oriented electrical steel having ultra-high magnetic flux density and rust resistance according to the present invention, a magnetic switch can be miniaturized and the attractive force is also enhanced since a strong attractive force can be obtained by the effect of the ultra-high magnetic flux density even if the exciting current or the number of the windings of a wire is reduced.
The object of the present invention is to solve the problems of the conventional technologies and to provide a non-oriented electrical steel sheet having ultra-high magnetic flux density and low core loss.
The gist of the present invention is as follows:
(1) A non-oriented electrical steel sheet having ultra-high magnetic flux density, characterized by:
comprising a steel containing, in terms of wt %,
Si: 0.4% or less,
Ni: 2.0% to 6.0%,
Mn: 0.5% or less, and
P: 0.01% to 0.2%,
with the balance consisting of Fe and unavoidable impurities; and having a magnetic flux density B25 of 1.70T or higher and a magnetic flux density B50 of 1.80T or higher.
(2) A non-oriented electrical steel sheet having ultra-high magnetic flux density and low magnetic anisotropy, characterized by:
comprising a steel containing, in terms of wt %,
Si: 0.4% or less,
Ni: 2.0% to 6.0%,
Mn: 0.5% or less, and
P: 0.01% to 0.2%,
with the balance consisting of Fe and unavoidable impurities; having a magnetic flux density B25 of 1.70T or higher and a magnetic flux density B50 of 1.80T or higher; and the difference between the magnetic flux density B50L measured merely for a sample in the longitudinal direction and the magnetic flux density B50C measured merely for a sample in the cross direction being 350 Gauss or less.
(3) A non-oriented electrical steel sheet having ultra-high magnetic flux density and low core loss, characterized by:
comprising a steel containing, in terms of wt %,
Si: 0.4% or less,
Ni: 2.0% to 6.0%,
Mn: 0.5% or less,
P: 0.01% to 0.2%,
and further,
C: 0.003% or less,
S: 0.003% or less,
N: 0.003% or less, and
Ti+S+N: 0.005% or less,
with the balance consisting of Fe and unavoidable impurities; and having a magnetic flux density B25 of 1.70T or higher, a magnetic flux density B50 of 1.80T or higher, and a core loss W15/50 after pickling, cold-rolling and annealing of 8W/kg or less.
(4) A non-oriented electrical steel sheet having ultra-high magnetic flux density according to any one of the items (1) to (3), characterized by having a magnetic flux density B50 of 1.82T or higher.
(5) A non-oriented electrical steel sheet having ultra-high magnetic flux density, characterized by:
comprising a steel containing, in terms of wt %,
Si: 0.4% or less,
Al: 0.5% or less,
Ni: 2.0% to 6.0%,
Mn: 0.5% or less, and
P: 0.01% to 0.2%,
with the balance consisting of Fe and unavoidable impurities; and having a magnetic flux density B25R, defined by the undermentioned equation (1) of 1.65T or higher and a magnetic flux density B50R defined by the undermentioned equation (2) of 1.75T or higher,
B25R=(B25-L+2xc3x97B25-22.5+2xc3x97B25-45+2xc3x97B25-67.5+B25-C)/8xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(1),
where
B25-L: magnetic flux density under the magnetic field strength of 2500 A/m, measured for a sample cut out in the direction of rolling.
B25-22.5: magnetic flux density under the magnetic field strength of 2500 A/m, measured for a sample cut out in the direction inclining at an angle of 22.5 degrees from the direction of rolling on a steel sheet surface.
B25-45: magnetic flux density under the magnetic field strength of 2500 A/m, measured for a sample cut out in the direction inclining at an angle of 45 degrees from the direction of rolling on a steel sheet surface.
B25-67.5: magnetic flux density under the magnetic field strength of 2500 A/m, measured for a sample cut out in the direction inclining at an angle of 67.5 degrees from the direction of rolling on a steel sheet surface.
B25-C: magnetic flux density under the magnetic field strength of 2500 A/m, measured for a sample cut out in the direction perpendicular to the direction of rolling on a steel sheet surface,
B50R=(B50-L+2xc3x97B50-22.5+2xc3x97B50-45+2xc3x97B50-67.5+B50-C)/8xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(2)
where
B50-L: magnetic flux density under the magnetic field strength of 5000 A/m, measured for a sample cut out in the direction of rolling.
B50-22.5: magnetic flux density under the magnetic field strength of 5000 A/m, measured for a sample cut out in the direction inclining at an angle of 22.5 degrees from the direction of rolling on a steel sheet surface.
B50-45: magnetic flux density under the magnetic field strength of 5000 A/m, measured for a sample cut out in the direction inclining at an angle of 45 degrees from the direction of rolling on a steel sheet surface.
B50-67.5: magnetic flux density under the magnetic field strength of 5000 A/m, measured for a sample cut out in the direction inclining at an angle of 67.5 degrees from the direction of rolling on a steel sheet surface.
B50-C: magnetic flux density under the magnetic field strength of 5000 A/m, measured for a sample cut out in the direction perpendicular to the direction of rolling on a steel sheet surface.
(6) A non-oriented electrical steel sheet having ultra-high magnetic flux density and low core loss, characterized by:
comprising a steel containing, in terms of wt %,
Si: 0.4% or less,
Al: 0.5% or less,
Ni: 2.0% to 6.0%,
Mn: 0.5% or less,
P: 0.01% to 0.2%,
and further,
C: 0.003% or less,
S: 0.003% or less,
N: 0.003% or less, and
Ti+S+N: 0.005% or less,
with the balance consisting of Fe and unavoidable impurities; and having a magnetic flux density B25R defined by the undermentioned equation (1) of 1.65T or higher, a magnetic flux density B50R defined by the undermentioned equation (2) of 1.75T or higher, and a core loss W15/50 after pickling, cold-rolling and annealing of 8W/kg or less,
B25R=(B25-L+2xc3x97B25-22.5+2xc3x97B25-45+2xc3x97B25-67.5+B25-C)/8xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(1),
where
B25-L: magnetic flux density under the magnetic field strength of 2500 A/m, measured for a sample cut out in the direction of rolling.
B25-22.5: magnetic flux density under the magnetic field strength of 2500 A/m, measured for a sample cut out in the direction inclining at an angle of 22.5 degrees from the direction of rolling on a steel sheet surface.
B25-45: magnetic flux density under the magnetic field strength of 2500 A/m, measured for a sample cut out in the direction inclining at an angle of 45 degrees from the direction of rolling on a steel sheet surface.
B25-67.5: magnetic flux density under the magnetic field strength of 2500 A/m, measured for a sample cut out in the direction inclining at an angle of 67.5 degrees from the direction of rolling on a steel sheet surface.
B25-C: magnetic flux density under the magnetic field strength of 2500 A/m, measured for a sample cut out in the direction perpendicular to the direction of rolling on a steel sheet surface,
B50R=(B50-L+2xc3x97B50-22.5+2xc3x97B50-45+2xc3x97B50-67.5+B50-C)/8xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(2),
where
B50-L: magnetic flux density under the magnetic field strength of 5000 A/m, measured for a sample cut out in the direction of rolling.
B50-22.5: magnetic flux density under the magnetic field strength of 5000 A/m, measured for a sample cut out in the direction inclining at an angle of 22.5 degrees from the direction of rolling on a steel sheet surface.
B50-45: magnetic flux density under the magnetic field strength of 5000 A/m, measured for a sample cut out in the direction inclining at an angle of 45 degrees from the direction of rolling on a steel sheet surface.
B50-67.5: magnetic flux density under the magnetic field strength of 5000 A/m, measured for a sample cut out in the direction inclining at an angle of 67.5 degrees from the direction of rolling on a steel sheet surface.
B50-C: magnetic flux density under the magnetic field strength of 5000 A/m, measured for a sample cut out in the direction perpendicular to the direction of rolling on a steel sheet surface.
(7) A non-oriented electrical steel sheet having ultra-high magnetic flux density and low core loss according to the item (5) or (6), characterized by having the magnetic flux density B50R of 1.79T or higher.
(8) An iron core excellent in punching property used for any one of; a rotator and a stator of a rotating machine, a reactor, a ballast, a choke coil, an EI core and a transformer: characterized by manufactured using a non-oriented electrical steel sheet according to any one of the items (1) to (7).
(9) A magnetic shielding apparatus characterized by manufactured using a non-oriented electrical steel sheet according to any one of the items (1) to (7).
(10) A non-oriented electrical steel sheet having ultra-high magnetic flux density and composed of a just cubic texture, characterized in that the strength standardized at the locations of xcex1=90xc2x0, xcex2=90xc2x0 and 270xc2x0 in the (100) complete pole figure of the layer located in the center of the sheet thickness is 0.5 or higher.
(11) A non-oriented electrical steel sheet having ultra-high magnetic flux density and composed of just a cubic texture, characterized in that the strength standardized at the locations of xcex1=90xc2x0, xcex2=90xc2x0 and 270xc2x0 in the (100) complete pole figure of the layer located at the depth of one fifth of the sheet thickness from the surface is 0.5 or higher.
(12) A production method of a non-oriented electrical steel sheet having ultra-high magnetic flux density characterized by: using a slab containing chemical components specified in any one of the items (1), (2), (3), (5) and (6), with the balance consisting of Fe and unavoidable impurities; hot-rolling said slab to a hot-rolled steel sheet; cold-rolling said steel sheet once after pickling; and then applying finish-annealing.
(13) A production method of a non-oriented electrical steel sheet having ultra-high magnetic flux density according to the item (12), characterized by applying the finish-annealing in the xcex1-phase region.
(14) A non-oriented electrical steel sheet having ultra-high magnetic flux density, excellent rust resistance and excellent weather resistance according to any one of the items (1) to (7), characterized in that the content of Nb is less than 0.005 wt %.
(15) An iron core for a magnet switch excellent in rust resistance and weather resistance, characterized by manufactured using either a non-oriented electrical steel sheet according to the item (10) or (11) having the Nb content of less than 0.005 wt % or a non-oriented electrical steel sheet according to the item (14).

Non-oriented electrical steel sheet with ultra-high magnetic flux density and production method thereof

Abstract: Si: 0.4% or less,

Abstract: Ni: 2.0% to 6.0%, and

Abstract: Mn: 0.5% or less,

Abstract: with the balance consisting of Fe and unavoidable impurities; and having B25, the magnetic flux density under the magnetic field strength of 2500 A/m, of 1.70T or higher and B50, the magnetic flux density under the magnetic field strength of 5000 A/m, of 1.80T or higher.


In a hydraulic relief valve having a main poppet draining into a pressure-oil tank hydraulic fluid flowing into a sleeve from a hydraulic pump and a pilot poppet draining into the oil tank the hydraulic fluid upon the occurrence of a high pressure over a pressure value set in a back-pressure chamber of the sleeve, an annular interference-preventing projection is provided to be formed in an outer periphery of the sleeve to be placed at boundary portions of feedback paths of feedback fluid on the side of the main poppet which is drained past a throttle of the sleeve and feedback fluid on the side of the pilot poppet which is drained past a feedback fluid path formed outside the sleeve.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hydraulic relief valve capable of preventing mutual interferences due to the direct collisions of feedback fluid when draining a high-pressure hydraulic fluid into a pressure-oil tank in order to protect a hydraulic circuit in case that the hydraulic fluid discharged from a hydraulic pump mounted in construction equipment and the like reaches a pressure value set in the hydraulic circuit.
2. Description of Prior Art
In general, the heavy construction equipment such as an excavator drives an actuator such as a hydraulic cylinder mounted to the excavator by means of a hydraulic fluid discharged from a hydraulic pump for work, the hydraulic fluid from the hydraulic pump is supplied to various actuators via a control valve controlling flow directions thereof, so that, in case that a high pressure excessive of a working pressure set in the hydraulic circuit occurs, a relief valve is mounted in the control valve to constantly maintain the working pressure by draining the working fluid into the pressure-oil tank.
Accordingly, if the performance of the relief valve is deteriorated, the working performance of a corresponding actuator is deteriorated as well as high-frequency coupling and chattering phenomena occur during the drain of the high-pressure fluid, to thereby make worse the workability and reliability on the equipment due to noisy sounds tormenting drivers.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectioned view of a conventional hydraulic relief value.
As shown in FIG. 1, the hydraulic relief valve comprises a sleeve 5, a main poppet 1 controlling a feedback fluid v on the side of the main poppet which is drained into a pressure-oil tank T by opening and closing a throttle d of the sleeve 5, and a feedback fluid path c on the side of a pilot poppet which drains a high-pressure working fluid in case that a high pressure over a set value in a back-pressure chamber b formed in the sleeve 5 occurs.
Further, comprised is a valve seat 7 centered with a through-hole 7a and supported at the outlet of the sleeve 5, and a pilot poppet 2 supported to open and close the through-hole 7a of the valve seat 7 and for opening the through-hole 7a when a high pressure over a set value in the back-pressure chamber b occurs and draining into the pressure-oil tank T a feedback fluid w on the side of the pilot poppet via the feedback fluid path c.
A reference numeral 3 not described in the drawing denotes an elastic member pressure-supporting the pilot poppet 2 and elastically biasing the closed through-hole 7a in an initial state, and 8 an elastic member pressure-supporting the main poppet 1 and elastically biasing the closed throttle d in an initial state.
Accordingly, a working fluid discharged from a hydraulic pump P have the same pressure as an internal pressure of the back-pressure chamber b past the throttle a of the main poppet 1, and the main poppet 1 maintains the closed throttle d of the sleeve 5 in an initial state by a pressure difference at both ends thereof due to a difference of diameters D1 and D2(D1 less than D2) thereof, so the feedback fluid v on the main poppet side is not drained into the oil tank T.
If the pressure of the working fluid flowing into the back-pressure chamber b discharged from the hydraulic pump P becomes excessive of the elastic coefficient of the elastic member 3 pressure-supporting the pilot poppet 2, and the pilot poppet 2 overcomes an elastic force of the elastic member 3 and is shifted to the right direction of the drawing, so the high-pressure hydraulic fluid in the back-pressure chamber b passes the throttle e of the valve seat 7 and the feedback fluid path c on the pilot poppet side in order and drains into the oil tank T and the working pressure in the back-pressure chamber b becomes less than that of the hydraulic fluid discharged from the hydraulic pump P.
As such, upon shifting the main poppet 1 to the right direction of the drawing, the feedback fluid v on the main poppet side, which is discharged from the hydraulic pump P, is drained to the oil tank T through the throttle d of the sleeve 5 and a drain hole 5d of the sleeve 5 which are opened, so the pressure of hydraulic fluid discharged from the hydraulic pump P does not increase any further.
In the meantime, upon shifting the pilot poppet 2 to the left direction of the drawing by a restoration force of the elastic member 3 pressure-supporting the pilot poppet 2 with a fallen pressure inside the back-pressure chamber b, the through-hole 7a of the valve seat 7 is closed and the pressure inside the back-pressure chamber c increases again, so the main poppet 1 shifts to the left direction of the drawing due to a pressure difference of both ends caused by a difference of the diameters D1 and D2 thereof and then the pressure set in the hydraulic circuit can be maintained.
However, if the hydraulic fluid discharged from the hydraulic pump P reaches a set pressure value, for the hydraulic fluid of the back-pressure fluid chamber b, the feedback fluid w on the pilot poppet side which is drained into the hydraulic tank T through the throttle e and the feedback fluid path c on the pilot poppet side, and the feedback fluid v on the main poppet which is discharged from the hydraulic pump P and drained into the hydraulic tank T through the throttle d of the sleeve 5 and a drain hole 5d are collided to each other and collected into the hydraulic tank T, so a noise problem producing fluid-current sounds in the collisions occurs as well as another problem rises in which the inherent working performance of the hydraulic relief valve is deteriorated due to hydraulic mutual interferences.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a hydraulic relief valve capable of preventing a feedback fluid on a pilot poppet side and a feedback fluid on a main poppet side from collisions when drained into a hydraulic tank by relief valve operations to minimize the occurrence of fluid-current sounds and of securing a smooth operation performance of the relief valve due to hydraulic interferences.
In order to achieve the above object, in a hydraulic relief valve having a sleeve, a main poppet shiftably coupled inside the sleeve and for opening and closing a throttle of the sleeve, a feedback fluid paths formed inside the sleeve for draining hydraulic fluid into a pressure-oil tank upon occurrence of a high pressure over a pressure value set in a back-pressure chamber formed inside the sleeve, a valve seat supported at an outlet of the sleeve and having through-holes, and a pilot poppet supported to open and close the through-holes and for draining the hydraulic fluid into the oil tank through the feedback fluid paths upon the occurrence of the high pressure of the back-pressure chamber, a preferred embodiment of the present invention provides an annular interference-preventing projection formed on an outer periphery of the sleeve and placed at boundary portions of the feedback paths of the feedback fluid on the main poppet side through the throttle of the sleeve and the feedback fluid on the pilot poppet side which passes a feedback fluid path formed inside the sleeve, to thereby prevent the feedback fluid on the main poppet side and the feedback fluid on the pilot poppet side from direct collisions when the feedback fluids are respectively drained into the oil tank.
Preferably, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the annular interference-preventing projection is formed in one body on the outer periphery of the sleeve.
Further, the annular interference-preventing projection is machined as a part separated from the sleeve and fixedly coupled to the outer periphery of the sleeve.
Yet further, the annular interference-preventing projection is screw-coupled to a screw part formed in the outer periphery of the sleeve.
Furthermore, the annular interference-preventing projection is fixedly welded to the outer periphery of the sleeve.

Volvo Construction Equipment Holding Sweden AB


A miniature cryosorption vacuum pump capable of producing intermediate vacuums on the order of about 10.sup.-2 to 10.sup.-4 torr is provided which includes a closed cycle Stirling cycle refrigerator. The overall weight of the miniature cryosorption vacuum pump (including the refrigerator) is less than about 2.5 kg, making the miniature cryosorption vacuum pump particularly suitable for portable or field use. The miniature cryosorption vacuum pump may be used as a roughing pump in various applications which require intermediate vacuum rough pumping or as a high vacuum pump where low pumping rates are required at pressures down to 5.times.10.sup.-5 torr.

Cryosorption pumps, whether cooled by open or closed cryogenic cycles, generally follow the same design concept. A low temperature array, usually operating in the range of 4.degree. to 25.degree. K, is the primary pumping surface. This surface is surrounded by a higher temperature radiation shield, usually operated in the temperature range of 70.degree. to 130.degree. K, which provides radiation shielding to the lower temperature array. The radiation shield generally includes a housing which is closed except at a frontal array positioned between the primary pumping surface and the chamber to be evacuated. This higher temperature, first stage frontal array serves as a pumping site for higher boiling gases such as water vapor or carbon dioxide. Cryosorption pumps are conventionally quite bulky and cumbersome due to the refrigeration equipment necessary to produce the requisite cryogenic cooling.
Heretofore, mechanical rotary vane and piston type pumps capable of producing intermediate pressures (0.01 to 10 torr) have been used as backing pumps for oil diffusion and turbomolecular pumps as well as roughing pumps for starting ion pumps and cryogenic pumps. These pumps are generally quite heavy, bulky and usually produce oil vapors which can contaminate a vacuum system. Such pumps also are quite energy inefficient.
Molecular sieve materials have been used to both produce high vacuums when cooled to very low temperatures (less than 20.degree. K) and have been used in intermediate vacuum applications (when cooled to approximately 70.degree. K, or at room temperature under special conditions).
Previous use of molecular sieve materials for intermediate pressure sorption pumping have relied on either the use of a replaceable cold material such as liquid nitrogen or a very bulky and heavy closed cycle refrigerator to cool the molecular sieve material down to the necessary pumping temperatures. The use of such molecular sieve materials for achieving intermediate pressure sorption pumping has generally been reserved for very clean vacuum roughing applications.
Portable instrumentation requiring the use of intermediate pressure vacuum pumping has generally relied upon the use of heavy and bulky mechanical pumps, due to the difficulty involved in obtaining liquid nitrogen for cryosorption pumps under field conditions, and also due to the size and weight of room temperature sorption pumps.
The present invention relates to a miniature cryosorption pump which is an improvement over prior art cryosorption pumps.

The United States of America as represented by the Department of Health and Human Services


A process for forming a three-dimensional structure etched in a substrate with perfect convex corners includes partitioning the structure into two features such that the exterior corners are formed by the intersection of the two features; etching the first feature; forming an etch mask on the surface and on the substrate of the etched first feature; opening a window in the etch mask on the substrate to define the second feature; and etching the second feature, thereby obtaining the desired structure.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of forming three-dimensional structures in an etchable crystalline substrate material, in particular to the formation of perfect exterior corners intersected by features formed in the material using micromachining.
2. Description of Prior Art
The ability to fabricate precise, three-dimensional structures in an etchable substrate material, particularly in silicon, relies to a large degree on the ability to perform so-called anisotropic etching of the single crystal silicon substrate. Anisotropic etches have the property of etching certain crystallographic planes of silicon much more rapidly than others by using some etchants such as mixtures of KOH and water or mixtures of ethylene diamine, pyrocatechol, and water. All of these etches etch the {111} silicon plane much more slowly than the other low order {100} or {110} planes.
The two most common surface orientations of silicon wafers are (100) and (111). Since the etch rate of {111} planes is so low, (100) silicon is the preferred orientation for device fabrication. In (100) silicon, a flat is provided on each wafer along a <110> direction. In this orientation, the {111} planes intersect the (100) surface parallel and perpendicular to the wafer flat, at an angle of 54.74.degree. with respect to the surface as shown in FIG. 1A in cross section.
If an opening in an etch mask is opened to form a rectangle, an anisotropic etchant will etch down exposing the {111} planes, to form a V-grove as shown in FIG. 1A and 1B in a plan view.
If a window in an etch mask is formed which is more complicated in shape than a rectangle, any convex protrusion will etch back to the "farthest" {111} plane given enough time, as shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B.
If one wants a convex corner, for example, at point A shown in FIG. 2B, use this exact L-shape as the etch mask, and put the substrate in KOH and water, the corner is etched back as shown in FIG. 3A and the protruding mask feature breaks off. So if it is desirable to have a convex corner which is not etched back, a so-called corner compensation technique may be used, in which an additional mask feature is added to the corner, which etches back just the right amount to leave the desired three-dimension feature at the exterior corner. One such corner compensation pattern is to add a square protrusion at the exterior corner as shown in FIG. 3B. As the etch proceeds downward, this additional feature etches back at the correct rate to leave the desired corner feature. This type of corner compensation has been long known.
However, with such corner compensation, the perfect intersection can only happen at a particular depth, which is the depth for which the correct corner compensation has been provided. In other words, the depth has to exactly match this additional mask feature, and the moment of perfect intersection (depth) is very short and hard to control. Furthermore, one may sometimes want a groove A to be very shallow and intersect a much deeper groove B as shown in FIG. 3C. For example, groove A is 10 microns wide and about 7 microns deep, and groove B can be 100 microns deep and 140 microns wide. In such a case, with the corner compensation scheme one would have to add a very large corner compensator feature to the corner, but normally there is no room for this. The corner compensation therefore cannot be used in some circumstances.
Another related problematic situation is when it is desired to form a through hole in a wafer by etching simultaneously from the back and front sides of the wafer, simultaneously as shown in FIG. 4A. Just after the two grooves 1 and 2 meet, the features begin etching back from the point of intersection of the {111} planes at a rapid rate. If left long enough, the sidewalls etch back to meet the other set of {111} planes forming a large cavity in the silicon, as shown in FIG. 4B; this is undesirable if a hole having a well defined diameter is needed.

Micromachining process for making perfect exterior corner in an etchable substrate


A furniture member providing powered occupant lift includes a mechanism having a mechanism support base, a support base side movably connected to the mechanism support base, and a mechanism inner portion connected to the support base side. The mechanism inner portion includes a seat back portion; a leg rest portion; and a first drive assembly connected to the mechanism inner portion sequentially operating to extend the leg rest portion from a stowed to a fully extended position followed by seat back portion rotation from an upright to a fully reclined position. A second drive assembly connected between the mechanism support base and the support base side displaces the support base side and the mechanism inner portion with respect to the mechanism support base. A frame structure connected to the support base side is moved to at least a forward fully raised position by operation of the lift/drive mechanism.

This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Furniture members including chairs have included power operators to move the seating surface forward and angle it downward such that an occupant of the furniture member can move from a seated position to a standing position with reduced effort. Such furniture members are commonly known as powered lift chairs or lift-recliners.
Problems with known lift-recliner members include reduced comfort due to limited seating positions, awkward lift position angles that do not maximize the transition from a seated position to a standing position, and cost due to mechanism complexity including the use of 3 motor/operators with one each for seat back rotation, leg rest extension/retraction, and lift rotation.

Furniture member with mechanism for powered occupant lift


Provided herein is a pet carrier system for providing a defined area on a kayak for safe travel of a pet. In some embodiments, the pet carrier system includes a corral made of at least three vertical posts securable to the kayak, at least two railing bars connecting the three vertical posts, and at least three connectors for securing the vertical posts to the kayak. The corral provides a fenced structure from the front end of the kayak up to the area in front of the cockpit of the kayak. The system would dissuade a pet from moving transversely relative to the longitudinal axis of the kayak and would persuade the pet to either remain in the defined space or to move relatively aligned with the longitudinal axis of the kayak. This way, the pet is less likely to overstep onto either side of the kayak and cause the kayak to capsize.

Surface cargo railing systems for securing cargo to the kayak deck has been known. For example, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,243,928. These surface cargo railings systems are conventionally fixed to the deck areas immediately in front of or behind the cockpit. The purpose of these railings is to allow kayakers to have easy access to the cargo during the voyage. For example, a kayaker on a fishing trip may place his or her fish baits, ice buckets, and lunch box in the areas surrounded by the cargo railings for easy access. These railings are designed for tying or securing the cargo against the deck to prevent the cargo from slipping off the kayak. These cargo railing systems are also closer to the cockpit to reduce the cargo's exposure to water, as compared for example to having the cargo at the bow of the kayak. Overall, the cargo railing systems are not suitable for keeping a pet safe during a voyage; therefore, a new system is needed.


A valve comprising a stationary shell and a rotatable annular core is designed for installation on the block deck of a spark-ignition piston engine, with there being one valve installed on the engine's block for every cylinder in the block. Rotation of the annular core cyclically opens and closes the ignition pathway(s) extending between the internal volume of the valve's associated cylinder and the spark plug(s) initiating combustion within the cylinder, with the pathway(s) only being open during time intervals wherein the spark plug(s) are electrically activated as part of the engine's normal operating cycle. Control of the open-closed status of the ignition pathway(s) eliminates engine pre-fire events caused by hot points on the spark plug(s). The valve also provides improved technology for directing and regulating the flow of fuel, oxidant, and exhaust gases as they are transferred into and out of the valve's associated cylinder.

This invention relates generally to a valve that installs on the block deck of a spark-ignition piston engine, with there being one valve installed on the engine's block for each cylinder in the block. Specifically, this invention relates to a valve comprising an annular core whose rotation cyclically opens and closes the ignition pathway(s) extending between the internal volume of the valve's associated cylinder and the spark plug(s) initiating combustion within the cylinder. (An "ignition pathway" is a channel wherein a combustion flame front may propagate unimpeded by physical barriers.)
The preferred embodiment of the present invention is a valve that can be installed on, and operated with, an engine wherein the combustion process in each cylinder is initiated by multiple spark plugs. An alternative embodiment of the invention is a valve that operates with an engine whose cylinders have only one associated spark plug. This specification discloses the present invention primarily in terms of a valve design that is compatible with the preferred embodiment. The above-mentioned alternative embodiment is disclosed as a limiting case of the preferred embodiment.
The present valve opens and closes ignition pathways that connect the internal volume of a cylinder to its associated spark plugs. The pathways transition from closed-to-open immediately before the spark plugs are electrically activated as part of the engine's normal operating cycle; the pathways transition from open-to-closed after combustion of the fuel-oxidant charge in the cylinder is underway. This type of control of the open-closed status of ignition pathways prevents engine pre-fire events caused by hot points on the spark plugs' electrodes. Pre-fire events are especially problematic when the engine's fuel has a low ignition energy, as is the case with gaseous hydrogen, which is an important renewable energy carrier. In addition to eliminating engine pre-fire events, the present valve also provides improved technology for guiding, regulating, and temporally controlling the flow of fuel, oxidant, and exhaust gases as they are transferred into and out of the cylinders of a piston engine.
In this specification, the engine on which a valve is installed is referred to as the "valve's associated engine." The cylinder with which a valve interacts is referred to as the "valve's associated cylinder." A piston which moves within a cylinder is referred to as the "cylinder's associated piston," and vice versa. The spark plugs that initiate combustion within a cylinder are referred to as the "cylinder's associated spark plugs," and vice versa.
By way of background, it is noted that all internal combustion engines brought into service during the past 150 years or so have had operating cycles that include an oxidant or a fuel-oxidant compression process. Compression of a gaseous oxidant or a gaseous fuel-oxidant mixture prior to combustion provides the capability for large expansion ratios for the combustion products, and larger expansion ratios are directly associated with more efficient engines. However, the high temperatures produced by these near-adiabatic compression processes impose severe constraints on engine design. For example, compression ratios in spark-ignition engines are constrained to be less than the auto-ignition limit of roughly 9:1 to 11:1, depending on fuel type. This limit exists because in-engine (near adiabatic) compression ratios greater than the auto-ignition limit can result in engine knocking. Similarly, compression ratios in compression-ignition engines are constrained to be less than the diesel-compression limit of roughly 20:1 to 23:1. This limit exists because in-engine compression ratios greater than the diesel-compression limit can produce extremely high thermal and mechanical stresses in engine components, and they can also produce unacceptably high levels of NOx emissions. These thermal, mechanical, and thermochemical design constraints limit the compression and expansion ratios which can be practicably realized, and this in turn limits the efficiency of engines utilizing the near-adiabatic in-engine compression processes that are executed concurrently with engine operation.
As a solution to compression-related problems in piston engines, U.S. Pat. No. 10,352,233 (Ganley, July 2019) reveals a high-efficiency two-stroke engine which does not have a compression process in its operating cycle, and is therefore not performance-limited by the in constraints mentioned the previous paragraph. The engine revealed in the referenced patent relies on supplies of high-pressure fuel and oxidant gases that are delivered at ambient temperature from external reservoirs. Compression of the fuel and oxidant gases stored in the reservoirs is done in an isothermal or nearly isothermal manner in order to reduce the amount of energy used in the compression process. After compression, the gases are stored—perhaps for days, weeks, or even months—and then delivered to the engine at ambient temperature.
Best performance of the engine revealed in U.S. Pat. No. 10,352,233 is achieved when the cylinders' fuel and oxidant flow passages are capable of transitioning from a closed status to an open status and then back to a closed status during a crankshaft rotation of only a few degrees. Also, the relative timing of opening and closing fuel, oxidant, and exhaust flow passages must be coordinated to a precision of a few tenths of a degree of crankshaft rotation. Camshaft-driven poppet valves currently used in piston engines are incapable of this transition speed or this high level of precision.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/232,885 (Ganley, April 2021) reveals a valve capable of managing the demanding fuel, oxidant, and exhaust gas flow requirements of the engine disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 10,352,233. The valve has a stationary shell and an annular core which is rotatable within the shell. Both the shell and the annular core have through penetrations, with the penetrations being situated so that a 360-degree rotation of the annular core causes its penetrations to sequentially align with specific shell penetrations. This temporary alignment of shell and core penetrations creates, in a precisely ordered temporal sequence, high conductance flow passages that extend completely through the valve, thereby sequentially joining the upper ports of the valve's fuel, oxidant, and exhaust flow passages to the internal volume of the associated cylinder. (The word "penetration" is used in the referenced application—and in this specification—to refer to a hole which passes completely through a solid object, with the cross-sectional area of the hole being in the shape of an annulus sector.)
In the above-referenced application, and in the present specification, the word "upper" is used to designate a valve feature that is farther from the block deck of the valve's associated engine than some related feature. Similarly, word "lower" refers to a valve feature that is closer to the block deck of the valve's associated engine than a related feature. For example, in the present specification, the upper ports of the valve's flow passages are said to be farther from the associated engine's block deck than the lower ports. Also, in the present specification the words "up" and "upward" and the words "down" and "downward" refer, respectively, to directions that are away from or towards the block deck of the valve's associated engine.
Because the shell and core penetrations in the valve of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/232,885 have the shape of annulus sectors, the closed-open-closed transitions executed by the valve can be accurately established for both very short and very long time intervals. This is because the dimensions and relative locations of the valve's penetrations can be machined with great precision, meaning that both the relative and absolute timing of the valve's closed-to-open and open-to-closed transitions can be controlled to within a few tenths of a degree of crankshaft rotation. This capability, which is carried forward to the design of the present valve, provides enabling technology for the two-stroke piston engine revealed in U.S. Pat. No. 10,352,233.
Even though the valve revealed in the above-referenced application provides enabling gas flow control for an important engine type, it does not address one other problem that is present to some degree in all spark-ignition piston engines, namely, the problem of engine pre-fire events caused by hot points on the electrodes of spark plugs. The valve in the referenced application has one centrally located hole which provides the mounting location for a spark plug that is continuously exposed to the internal volume of the associated cylinder. This continuous exposure of the cylinder's associated spark plug greatly increases the probability of engine pre-fire events.
The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a valve which eliminates engine pre-fire events that are caused by hot points on spark plug electrodes. The present valve achieves that objective by maintaining a mechanical barrier between a cylinder's fuel-oxidant charge and the spark plugs that initiate combustion of the charge, with the barrier only being removed during the time interval wherein the spark plugs are electrically activated as part of the engine's normal operating cycle. The valve also provides improvements to prior art technology for spatially directing and temporally regulating the flow of fuel, oxidant, and exhaust gases as they move into and out of the cylinders of piston engines.

Isolation valve for spark-ignition piston engines


A system and method for medical offices and other non-pharmacy providers using management systems or other billing systems based on the ASC X12 transaction standards to perform eligibility transactions, perform benefit predetermination transactions and to submit claims to pharmacy insurance companies or their pharmacy benefit managers that must receive the transactions as real-time transactions based on the NCPDP transaction standards are disclosed. Same medical offices and non-pharmacy providers can receive electronic remittance advice files from pharmacy insurance companies or their pharmacy benefit managers that contain data formatted and using identifiers that relate to the initial ASC X12 claims submitted.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to medical information management, and more particularly to a system and method for billing insurance companies or their pharmacy benefit managers for services performed by medical providers and other non-pharmacy providers for services covered under pharmacy benefits.
2. Related Art
The business processes and management systems for physician offices, medical insurance companies and other entities involved in providing services covered under medical benefits have developed and evolved separately from the business processes and systems for the pharmacy providers, pharmacy insurance companies and pharmacy benefit managers involved with processing claims for services covered under pharmacy benefits. Two completely different sets of business and transaction standards have been formed and have been entrenched in each of the two parts of the healthcare service market. As a result, two completely separate national data transaction processing infrastructures each with their own participants have been created in the country: one for pharmacy services, and the other for medical services. Recently, physician offices and other medical providers such as retail pharmacy clinics have begun to perform services for patients that are covered by the patient's pharmacy insurance coverage such as administering preventative vaccines or dispensing drug products. The dichotomy of claims processing infrastructures make it very difficult or impossible for medical providers to submit claims using their current medical billing systems to pharmacy insurance companies or their pharmacy benefit managers for services covered by pharmacy insurance benefits. This problem has severely inhibited the growth of the practice of medical providers to perform services such as vaccinations, which in addition to the loss of business to the medical providers, also limits access to patients for important medical services.
There are several notable problems that exist as a result of divergent healthcare markets and information processing relating thereto. The first problem is that medical billing systems use transactions standards developed and maintained by ASC (Accredited Standards Committee) X12, for eligibility determination and the submission of claims, whereas pharmacy systems use transaction standards developed and maintained by the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP) for these two purposes. The bifurcation was validated and strengthened by the HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) regulations, which mandate the use of the two separate standards in the two environments. This makes it impossible for a medical billing system to transmit a claim directly to a pharmacy insurance company or their pharmacy benefit manager. A further problem is that medical billing systems are developed assuming batch processing of claim transactions, whereas pharmacy insurance company claims processing systems are developed assuming real-time processing of claim transactions.
Billing systems used by medical service providers such as physicians gather data regarding services to patients over a period of time and then create a batch of claims transactions for these services. These batches are then transmitted as a file to a medical claim clearinghouse entity using a file transfer protocol. The medical claim clearinghouse gathers the data from many of these claim files over a period of time and then creates a batch file including all these claims and transmits the file to a medical insurance company via a file transfer protocol. The medical insurance company processes these claims over a period of time, sometimes extending as long as months. A claim acknowledgement or payment response transactions are created and gathered together based on the submitting medical claim clearinghouse. A file containing the responses to the claims previously transmitted from the specific clearinghouse is transmitted back to the medical claim clearinghouse. The medical claim clearinghouse then splits the response file into various response files to enable transmitting claim responses back to the submitting physician office.
On the other hand, pharmacy claims submitted from pharmacy systems to pharmacy benefit manager systems for adjudication are processed in real time. Pharmacy systems create a single NCPDP claim request transaction and then connect to a pharmacy transaction switch entity and transmit the claim request to the switch. With the connection still open between the pharmacy system and the switch, the claim request transaction is routed and transmitted thereby to a Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) that adjudicates the claim, creates a claim response with acceptance and payment information, and transmits the claim back to the switch. The switch then routes the claim response back to the submitting pharmacy using the still open connection. As a result, pharmacies can determine if a patient is eligible to receive a specific service, exactly how much the patient must pay for the service, and how much the pharmacy will be paid from the PBM within a few seconds.
A further problem is that medical billing systems and medical billing transaction standards are based on identifying products and their related services using a separate Current Procedure Terminology (CPT) code or Health Care Procedure Coding (HCPC) code for a drug product or other type of product being administered or dispensed, and an additional CPT or HCPC code for the related service of administering the drug or dispensing the product. Pharmacy insurance companies or pharmacy benefit managers use one National Drug Code (NDC) registered with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to identify both the product and the related service as one unit. An example is that pharmacy insurance companies or their pharmacy benefit managers identify the administration of a vaccine as one NDC code whereas a medical billing system would identify the vaccine product as one CPT code and the related administration service as a separate CPT code. The use of two different code sets for the identification of products and services creates additional barriers for medical providers to offer these pharmacy services and further restricts access for patients to the services.
Yet another problem is that pharmacy insurance company systems and PBMs use the prescription number as the primary identifier for a particular claim transaction, which consists of both the product and related administration fee for one drug. If there are two vaccines administered to a patient, then two prescription numbers are used to identify the claims. Medical Billing Systems do not generate prescription numbers at all, and use one Patient Control Number as the identifier for one claim that may contain multiple vaccine products and multiple administration fees. For example, when a PBM transmits an 835 remittance advice transaction, it uses the prescription number as the primary identifier for each claim consisting of one vaccine and one administration fee. If this 835 remittance advice transaction is received by a medical billing system, it will not know how to match the payments in the ERA to the initial submitted claims.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for improved systems and methods for billing pharmacy insurance companies or their pharmacy benefit managers for services performed by medical providers and other non-pharmacy providers.

System and method for medical billing systems to submit transactions for services covered under pharmacy benefits


A sewing machine includes a position acquisition device, a projection device, a processor, and a memory. The position acquisition device is configured to acquire information describing at least one designated position, each of the at least one designated position being a position on a sewing workpiece. The projection device is configured to project an image onto the sewing workpiece. The memory is configured to store non-transitory computer-readable instructions that instruct the processor to execute a step that includes specifying the at least one designated position on the sewing workpiece described by the information acquired by the position acquisition device. The memory is also configured to store non-transitory computer-readable instructions that instruct the processor to execute a step that includes causing the projection device to project a visually recognizable marker onto the sewing workpiece, based on the specified at least one designated position.

The present disclosure relates to a sewing machine and a non-transitory computer-readable medium.
A sewing machine is known that is capable of easily setting a sewing position and a sewing angle, at which a desired embroidery pattern is to be sewn, on a work cloth. For example, after a user affixes a marker to a specified position on the work cloth, the sewing machine uses an image capture device to capture an image of the marker. The sewing machine may automatically set the sewing position and the sewing angle of the embroidery pattern based on the captured image of the marker.

Sewing machine and non-transitory computer-readable medium


There is provided a system and method for a user interface for viewing video on demand (VOD) content organized by corresponding television broadcast schedules. There is provided a method comprising receiving a time period for navigation, retrieving VOD programming data and television broadcast schedule data, generating a plurality of program listings by matching the VOD programming data to the television broadcast schedule data within the time period, displaying the plurality of program listings on a display, and outputting, to the display, video corresponding to a first program listing selected from the plurality of program listings. Users are thereby enabled to quickly and optimally navigate to VOD content of interest using a familiar broadcast schedule format.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to user interfaces. More particularly, the present invention relates to user interfaces for media consumption.
2. Background Art
Conventionally, Video on Demand (VOD) content is searched or browsed by program name, genre, or date of recording. These search methods may provide a wide range of results, but may be difficult and/or time consuming to navigate due to the large number of results that may be provided. Users may be forced to drill down several hierarchical layers of navigation and menus to find a desired program episode. As a result, many users may refrain from using VOD services due to inconvenient navigation and discovery of VOD content.
At the same time, portable devices capable of media streaming such as tablet computers, mobile phones, and other handheld devices are continuing to grow in popularity, and demand for VOD on such devices is expected to grow in the future. To harness this nascent demand and to encourage future market growth, a new method of navigating and discovering VOD content that is user friendly and intuitive is needed.
Accordingly, there is a need to overcome the drawbacks and deficiencies in the art by providing a way to navigate and discover VOD content in a user friendly and intuitive manner.

Navigation and discovery of video on demand content via tv schedule on handheld devices


Some embodiments relate to a power management system. The power management system includes a generator that provides a voltage output to a bus. The bus is adapted to be connected to a load. The power management system further includes a battery charger that is adapted to charge a battery. A generator controller operates the generator and also adjusts operating conditions of the battery charger. In some embodiments, the generator includes an internal combustion engine that drives an alternator. Embodiments are contemplated where the battery charger is adapted to receive power from a primary power source. As an example, the primary power source may be utility power or some other form of generator power.

Power management systems are used to selectively provide power to various types of power consuming loads. Some power management systems include batteries that are used to start engines and/or generators within the power management system.
The batteries in such conventional power management systems are typically either charged by a primary power or a secondary power source (e.g., the generator) when the primary power source becomes unavailable. These types of systems typically include a battery charger that charges the batteries according to a variety of charging profiles.
One of drawbacks with some of the battery chargers in existing power management systems is that they operate independently of the rest of the power management system. Therefore, the battery chargers provide no feedback to other controls in the power management system limiting the ability of such power management system to operate efficiently and cooperatively.
Another drawback with existing power management systems is that users are unable to adequately monitor the status/health of any of the batteries that are connected to the battery charger. Therefore, the batteries may become unable to start the engine/generator over time due to battery neglect or wear. In addition, since the battery chargers operate independently, users are often unable to respond to situations when the battery has become unsuitable.
Therefore, a need exists for a power management system that is able to monitor and interact with the battery chargers that are included in the power management systems. In addition, the power management system should be able to adjust the charging profile of any battery chargers that are included in the power management system based on data received from other components in the power management system.

Power management system that changes the operating conditions of a battery charger


In the field of the production of very high frequencies, for example from 1 gigahertz to several terahertz, by beating the frequencies of two laser beams together, a device includes a resonant optical cavity having very stable dimensions receiving the beams, with for each beam, an interrogation device of the resonant cavity supplying an electrical signal representing the difference in frequency between the light frequency of the beam and a resonance frequency of the resonant cavity. The frequency of each beam is servo controlled to minimize the frequency difference observed. The laser beams are produced by a dual-frequency laser producing two beams of different frequencies and orthogonal polarizations. A polarization separator is used for separate servo control of the beams according to polarization, and a polarizer is placed behind a main output of the resonant cavity producing an electromagnetic beam mixing the two polarizations and amplitude-modulated at the beat frequency.

There are conventional electronic circuits that are used to produce electrical signals with frequencies up to the gigahertz range, but it is much more difficult to produce higher frequencies. This is achieved in the domain of microwaves with Gunn diodes or Impatt diodes, up to about 100 gigahertz but with powers that decrease as the frequency increases. Frequencies in the 'terahertz domain', i.e. frequencies from 100 gigahertz to 10 terahertz (at the limit of very far infrared) cannot be effectively obtained through purely electronic circuits.
Optical or electronic signals in the terahertz domain would, however, be useful, e.g. for imaging (infrared or visible opaque media imaging), or for broadband telecommunications through the atmosphere (at frequencies not undergoing too much atmospheric absorption), or for the spectrometry of certain molecules.
It has been suggested that very high frequencies may be produced through the difference between the frequencies of electromagnetic light waves. Here light waves will be understood to mean waves in a wavelength range covering not only visible, but also infrared and ultraviolet light. To give an idea of the order of magnitude: an infrared laser beam with a wavelength of 1 micron corresponds to a light frequency of approximately 300 terahertz (300×1012 hertz). If two light beams with frequencies of 300 and 301 terahertz are mixed together, a 1 terahertz subtractive beat is obtained. Thus a 1 terahertz amplitude-modulated light beam can be produced, and this beam can be used either in optical form or in the form of an electronic signal by conversion in a fast photodiode or a photoswitch.
But the difficulty is that the signal produced by beating two light frequencies has a frequency that is extremely dependent on the stability of these two starting frequencies. These frequencies are produced by monochromatic lasers, but the lasers are not naturally sufficiently stable. They have a significant frequency noise or phase noise.

Device for producing high frequencies by means of light frequency beating

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique


A safely disposable unit dose syringe is achieved by sealing the fluid to be administered into a plastic or otherwise inexpensive, deformable container such as a plastic baggie and attaching to the container a needle which can be moved from a protected compartment to an exposed position for administering the fluid. The needle is withdrawn to the protected position after use for safe disposal. After use the container cannot be refilled without the use of fairly elaborate and costly equipment. The syringes can be produced in the form of a bandoleer for administration by means of a gun-like device, the contents of each syringe being delivered in response to the squeezing of a trigger-like mechanism.

Disposable syringes are today in widespread use. Such a syringe is sold with an inexpensive plastic sleeve which covers the needle of the syringe and is sufficiently inexpensive to be thrown away. Unfortunately, syringes of this type are reusable and have become a source of serious contamination and spread of diseases such as AIDS.


An apparatus for continuously producing polybutylene terephthalate, which comprises a first reactor for reacting an aromatic dicarboxylic acid with a glycol, thereby producing an oligomer, a second reactor for polycondensating the oligomer, thereby preparing a low polymerization product, and a third reactor for further polycondensating the low polymerization product, thereby producing a high molecular weight polyester, where the second reactor is a vertical, cylindrical polymerization vessel having a plurality of concentrical partitioned reaction compartments therein, each of the reaction compartments being provided with stirring blades and a heater, and an outlet for volatile matters being provided at the upper part of the vessel. The second reactor contributes to efficient and continuous production of polybutylene terephthalate having a good quality.

1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process and an apparatus for continuously producing polyester type polymers such as polybutylene terephthalate and polyethylene terephthalate.
2) Related Art
Since polyethylene terephthalate (hereinafter referred to as PBT) resins are excellent in the crystallizing characteristic and also excellent in mechanical properties, electric characteristics and heat resistance, they have been used for applications such as electric machines, electronic parts, mechanical parts and automobiles and their demand has been increased steadily.
Heretofore, for the general PBT production process, a terephthalic acid alkyl ester comprising dimethyl terephthalate as a main ingredient and a glycol comprising 1,4-butanediol (hereinafter referred to as BD) as a main ingredient are placed at an appropriate ratio in a mixing vessel, a transesterification catalyst is added and conditioned and then they are sent to a transesterfication reaction vessel set to a predetermined reaction temperature by a pump. In the transesterification reaction, two or three stirring vessels with stirring blades are disposed in series and methanol formed as reaction by-products, and tetrahydrofuran (hereinafter referred to as THF) formed by decomposition of the methanol formed as reaction by-products and BD and water are separated in a distillation tower. Then, a polymerization catalyst is added and the process proceeds to the polymerizing reaction step. At first, vertical stirring vessels or horizontal stirring vessels are disposed in plurality for the prepolymerization step and, further, a horizontal stirring vessel is disposed as a final polymerization step.
For continuous polycondensation process for polyethylene terephthalate, etc. in a relatively low viscosity range, operated under subatmospheric pressure, a plurality multi-tray type, columnar reactors or a plurality of vertical complete mixing type stirring vessels are used in series as disclosed in JP-A-48-7090. Oligomers of low polymerization degrees formed by esterification reaction or transesterification reaction are continuously fed to one end of such reactors to successively proceed the polycondensation reaction down to the downstream tray or while transferring the oligomers from one stirring vessel to another.
In this connection, the present inventors proposed an apparatus for continuously producing polybutylene terephthalate, which comprises a first reactor for reacting an aromatic dicarboxylic acid comprising terephthalic acid as a main ingredient or a derivative thereof with a glycol comprising 1,4-butanediol as a main ingredient, thereby producing an oligomer with an average degree of polymerization of 2.2 to 5, a second reactor for polycondensating the oligomer from the first reactor, thereby preparing a low polymerization product with an average degree of polymerization of 25 to 40, and a third reactor for further polycondensating the low polymerization product from the second reactor, thereby producing a high molecular weight polyester with an average degree of polymerization of 70 to 130, or further a fourth reactor for further polycondensing the polyester from the third reactor to an average degree of polymerization of 150 to 200, thereby producing a high molecular weight polyester with good heat stability and excellent hydrolysis resistance, reactors without any stirrers by an external power source being used for the first and second reactors (U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/642587), parts of which are incorporated herein by reference.
In the apparatus, the second reactor is an approximately cylindrical vessel type, flow reactor in a double cylinder structure having an inner cylinder opening in the vessel and an inlet for the process solution at the lower part of the double cylinder structure, the process solution passing through tubes of a shell and tube type heat exchanger provided on the outside of the inner cylinder of the double cylinder structure and thereby heated to a predetermined temperature and passed upwardly to the level of the inner cylinder opening and then flowing down through the inner cylinder while the process solution is stirred with a plurality of doughnut-type trays provided on the inside wall of the outer cylinder, and the vessel is provided with an outlet for volatile matters and reaction by-products at the upper part thereof. The present inventors have found that short pass and thermal decomposition reaction of the process solution admit of improvement.
An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and a method for producing polybutylene terephthalate of good quality efficiently and continuously by providing a plurality of partitioned reaction compartments in the second reactor, each of the reaction compartments being stirred and heated to attain complete mixing, thereby eliminating short pass and thermal decomposition reaction of the process solution.
The object of the present invention can be attained by using, for the second reactor, a vertical cylindrical polymerization vessel having a plurality of concentrical partitioned reaction compartments therein, each of the reaction compartments being provided with stirring blades and a heater, and an outlet for volalite matters being provided at the upper part of the vessel, where polycondensation reaction is efficiently carried out, while the process solution to be treated in the reaction compartments is successively transferred radially and inwardly from the outer reaction compartment to the inner one, whereby preventing occurrence of thermal decomposition reaction and degradation of product quality.
(1) An apparatus for continuously producing polybutylene terephthalate, which comprises a first reactor for reacting an aromatic dicarboxylic acid comprising terephthalic acid as a main ingredient or a derivative thereof with a glycol comprising 1,4-butanediol as a main ingredient, thereby producing an oligomer with an average degree of polymerization of 2 to 5; a second reactor for polycondensating the oligomer from the first reactor, thereby preparing a low polymerization product with a low degree of polymerization; and a third reactor for further polycondensating the low polymerization product from the second reactor, thereby producing a high molecular weight polyester with an average degree polymerization of 70 to 180, or an apparatus for continuously producing polybutylene terephthalate, which comprises a first reactor for reacting an aromatic dicarboxylic acid comprising terephthalic acid as a main ingredient or a derivative thereof with a glycol comprising 1,4-butanediol as a main ingredient, thereby producing an oligomer with an average degree of polymerization of 2 to 5, a second reactor for polycondensating the oligomer from the first reactor, thereby preparing a low polymerization product with a low degree of polymerization; a third reactor for further polycondensating the low polymerization product from the second reactor, thereby producing a high molecular weight polyester with an average degree polymerization of 70 to 130; and a fourth reactor for further polycondensing the polyester from the third reactor to an average degree of polymerization of 150 to 200, thereby producing a high molecular weight polyester, characterized in that (i) the first reactor is an approximately cylindrical vessel type reactor having an inlet and an outlet for a process solution at lower parts, respectively, of the vessel proper and an outlet for volatile matters and reaction by-products at the upper part of the vessel proper, and having a calandria type heat exchanger formed in the longitudinal direction of the vessel proper and near the inside wall of the vessel proper and being immersed in the process solution, the process solution supplied into the vessel proper at the inlet at the lower part thereof is heated to a predetermined reaction temperature by the heat exchanger and is stirred and mixed by spontaneous convection due to a density difference caused by a temperature difference between the formed volatile by-product gas and the process solution, (ii) the second reactor is a vertical cylindrical polymerization vessel having a plurality of concentrated partitioned reaction compartments therein, each of the reaction compartments being provided with stirring blades and a heater, and an outlet for volatile matters being provided at the upper part of the vessel, (iii) the third reactor is a horizontal cylindrical vessel type reactor having an inlet and an outlet for a process solution at lower parts on one end and an another end in the longitudinal direction of the vessel proper, respectively, and an outlet for volatile matters at the upper part of the vessel proper, and a stirring rotor rotating in the proximity of the inside wall of the vessel proper is provided in the longitudinal direction of the vessel proper, the stirring rotor in the vessel proper is provided with a plurality of stirring blade blocks in accordance with the viscosity of the process solution and the stirring blades are without any rotating shaft along the center of the stirring rotor, and (iv) the fourth reactor is a horizontal, approximately cylindrical vessel type reactor having an inlet and an outlet for a process solution at lower parts an one end and an another end in the longitudinal direction of the vessel proper, respectively, and an outlet for volatile matters at the upper part of the vessel proper, the reactor has two stirring rotors rotating in the proximity of the inside wall of the vessel proper in the longitudinal direction of the vessel proper, and the rotors each have stirring blades.
In the second reactor, each of the stirring blades can be fixed to one common half-length rotating shaft.
The second reactor can be a vertical cylindrical polymerization vessel having two partitioned concentrical reaction compartments therein each of reaction compartments being provided with stirring blades and a heating coil, the stirring blades being fixed to one common half-length rotating shaft connected to a driving means mounted on the upper part of the vessel proper, and an outlet for volatile matters being provided at the upper part of the vessel, or can be a vertical cylindrical polymerization vessel having two partitioned concentrical reaction compartments therein, the stirring blades provided in the inner reaction compartment is without any counterpart rotating shaft along the rotation center.
The term xe2x80x9cone common, half-length rotating shaftxe2x80x9d herein used means a common rotating shaft whose lower end locates above the central reaction compartment without extending into the central reaction compartment. In other words, the stirring blades in the central reaction compartment are without any counterpart rotating shaft therein. Typical embodiments of the present invention are summarized below.
(2) A process for continuously producing polybutylene terephthalate, which comprises producing an oligomer with an average degree of polymerization of 2 to 5 by reaction of an aromatic dicarboxylic acid comprising terephthalic acid as a main ingredient or a derivative thereof with a glycol comprising 1,4-butanediol as a main ingredient and then polycondensing the oligomer in series of a plurality of reactors, thereby producing a polymer of a low degree of polymerization and a high molecular weight polyester, characterized in that production of polymer of a low degree of polymerization by polycondensation of the oligomer is carried out in a vertical cylindrical polymerization vessel (initial polymerization vessel) containing a plurality of partitioned concentrical reaction compartments therein, each of the reaction compartments being. provided with stirring blades and a heater, and an outlet for volatile matters being provided at the upper part of the vessel, the polycondensation reaction can be efficiently carried out, while a process solution (oligomer) to be treated in the reaction compartments is successively transferred radially and inwardly from the outer reaction compartment to the inner one, and more specifically, a process for continuously producing polybutylene terephthalate, which comprises a first step of reacting an aromatic dicarboxylic acid comprising terephthalic acid as a main ingredient or a derivative thereof with a glycol comprising 1,4-butanediol as a main ingredient in a first reactor, thereby producing an oligomer with an average degree of polymerization of 2 to 5, a second step of polycondensing the oligomer from the first step in a second reactor, thereby preparing a low polymerization product with an average degree of polymerization of 20 to 70, a third step of further polycondensing the low polymerization product from the second step in a third reactor, thereby producing a high molecular weight polyester with an average degree of polymerization of 70 to 180, or a process for continuously producing polybutylene terephthalate, which comprises a first step of reacting an aromatic dicarboxylic acid comprising terephthalic acid as a main ingredient or a derivative thereof with a glycol comprising 1,4-butanediol as a main ingredient in a first reactor, thereby producing an oligomer with an average degree of polymerization of 2 to 5, a second step of polycondensing the oligomer from the first step in a second reactor, thereby preparing a low polymerization product with an average degree of polymerization of 20 to 70, a third step of further polycondensing the low polymerization product from the second step in a third reactor, thereby producing a high molecular weight polyester with an average degree of polymerization of 70 to 130, and a fourth step of further polycondensing the polyester from the third step in a fourth reactor, thereby producing a high molecular weight polyester with an average degree of polymerization of 150 to 200, characterized in that reactors characterized by (i), (ii), (iii), and (iv) described in the foregoing (1) are used; the aromatic dicarboxylic acid comprising terephthalic acid as a main ingredient or a derivative thereof and the glycol comprising 1,4-butanediol as a main ingredient are supplied to the first step in a molar ratio of the former to the latter of 1:1.7 to 1:3.0, and the first step is carried out at 220xc2x0-250xc2x0 C. and 33 kPa-150 kPa, the second step at 230xc2x0-255xc2x0 C. and 0.5 kPa-20 kPa and the third and fourth step each at 230xc2x0-255xc2x0 C. and 0.665 kPa-0.067 kPa; the stirring blades of the second reactor is rotated in a range of 5 ppm-100 ppm; the stirring blades of the third and fourth reactors are rotated in a range of 0.5 rpm-10 rpm; total reaction time for the first to the third steps is in a range of 4-7.5 hours, or total reaction time for the first to the fourth step is in a range of 6 to 8.5 hours; a slurry of the aromatic dicarboxylic acid comprising terephthalic acid as a main ingredient or a derivative thereof and the glycol comprising 1,4-butanediol as a main ingredient prepared in a ratio of the former to the latter of 1:1.7 to 1:3.0 is supplied to the first step upon admixture of an esterifying catalyst or a polymerization reaction catalyst; and another third reactor or a plurality of third reactors is provided in parallel to the third reactor in the third step, thereby producing different kinds of polybutylene phthalate with different degrees of polymerization from that produced in the main line of the third and fourth reactors or adjusting operating conditions of each of a plurality of the third reactors to increase kinds, precise quality control and production rate of polybutylene terephthalate.

Production process and production apparatus for polybutylene terephthalate


Provided is a sleeve for glass tube molding, the sleeve being capable of: preventing the weakening of clamping force between a metal tip and a metal holding fixture even if the distance between the metal tip and the metal holding fixture increases due to the thermal expansion of a sleeve shaft; and ensuring the coaxiality, on the sleeve shaft, of the metal tip, the metal holding fixture and a refractory tube. This sleeve for glass tube molding comprises: a sleeve shaft; a refractory tube into which the sleeve shaft is inserted in a coaxial manner; a metal tip which is at one end of the refractory tube, and is fixed to the tip of the sleeve shaft; and a metal holding fixture which, at the other end of the refractory tube, is slidably inserted in the sleeve shaft, and clamps and holds the sleeve shaft together with the metal tip. A part of the inner circumferential surface of a through-hole, which is in the metal holding fixture and through which the sleeve shaft is inserted, is in close contact with the outer circumferential surface of the sleeve shaft.

Conventionally, the Danner process has been widely used as a method for mass-producing glass tubes and glass rods.
In the Danner process, glass tubes or glass rods are continuously shaped by letting molten glass flow on a sleeve that is supported with its tip inclining downward and is drivingly rotated about its axis, wrapping the flowing molten glass around the outer circumferential surface of the sleeve, and drawing the molten glass while blowing (or without blowing) air from the tip of the sleeve.
The sleeve used in the above Danner process includes, as main components, a sleeve shaft pivotally supported with its tip inclining downward and members into which the sleeve shaft is inserted in order in a coaxial manner, such as a metal tip, a refractory tube, and a metal holding fixture (for example, see "Patent Literature 1").
The metal tip is fixed to the tip of the sleeve shaft, and the metal holding fixture is disposed slidably along the axial direction and constantly urged toward the tip of the sleeve shaft by an urging member.
Hence, the refractory tube is constantly clamped between the metal tip and the metal holding fixture by the urging force of the urging member.
Accordingly, the arrangement posture of the metal tip, the refractory tube, and the metal holding fixture is firmly held, resulting in a structure that hardly cause large runout relative to the sleeve shaft that is drivingly rotated. Unevenness in the thickness of the molten glass drawn from the tip of the sleeve can be thus suppressed, and high-quality glass tubes or glass rods with a high dimensional accuracy can be continuously formed.
The temperature of the molten glass guided onto the sleeve is as high as about 1,000[° C.] or more, and the sleeve undergoes thermal expansion as a whole.
At this time, the amount of thermal expansion of the sleeve shaft in the axis direction is large, and the metal tip gradually moves relatively away from the metal holding fixture.


An optical disk read signal processing system for Blu-ray disc systems to ensure stable phase-locked locked operation even with a low signal-to-noise ratio. This system changes a loop configuration of a phase lock loop circuit according to the operating state, and utilizes a FIR equalizer for phase detection. This system attains a low error rate even when the signal-to-noise ratio of an input signal is low, and avoids pulse edges with low phase detection accuracy or signal pulse streams with a high possibility of being mistakenly detected as an edge in conventional methods, and also supports diverse types of input signals.

In recent years, the PRML (partial response most-likelihood) method is utilized in systems for processing read signals in optical disk drives such as for DVD (digital versatile disc). This read method is already widely used in the communications field and information recording devices such as magnetic tape units and hard disk drives and so is a convenient method for achieving low bit error rates even under conditions where there is strong inter-symbol interference. Therefore this PRML method is particularly effective for boosting the linear recording density.
The discussion for the present invention is mainly focused on signals whose minimum run length is 2 T, which is utilized in the Blu-ray disc; unless specified otherwise, the minimum run length is assumed as 2 T. A signal subjected to AD (analog-to-digital) signal conversion is mainly used. Therefore, from hereon unless specified otherwise, a signal referred to simply as a read signal indicates AD converted data. However, when not clearly indicated in the text, the read signal need not always be AD converted data.
The typical structure of a read circuit for an optical disk using PRML signal processing is shown in FIG. 2. This type of circuit is disclosed for example in JP-A No. 298514/2002. In this figure, the read signal acquired from the optical head is converted to a digital data stream by the AD converter 21, after being subjected AGC (automatic gain control), equalization, and elimination of DC components by an analog signal processor 10. A slicer 22 minimizes the DC components occurring due to pattern dependence. Next, after equalization performed as needed by a FIR (finite impulse response) equalizer 23, the signal is input to the Viterbi decoder 40 and is here binarized. The PRML signal processing system operates using a clock signal synchronized to the read signal clock as its reference, and therefore uses a PLL (phase-locked loop) to synchronize the signal processing system clock to the phase of the read signal. As shown in FIG. 2, a digital-PLL utilizing a phase detector 31 with the digital method, is generally utilized when inputting the signal to the PLL after conversion in the ADC (analog-to-digital converter). In the example in FIG. 2, a PLL 30 includes a phase detector 31, a loop filter 33, and a VCO (voltage controlled oscillator) 34. The phase detector 31 compares the input signal with the phase of the clock 52 generated by the VCO34, and generates a phase error.

Information read device and read signal processing circuit