A polymeric sheet having excellent cut-resistance contains: (A) a polymeric material, and (B) a hard filler distributed in the polymeric material, the hard filler having a Mohs hardness value of at least about 3.0, the hard filler being in the form of particles having an average diameter sufficient to provide cut-resistance properties to the polymeric material but which is no more than about 5 microns. The cut-resistant sheet may be in the form of a conventional sheet, a film, a coating, a composite and the like, and may be used to form cut-resistance articles such as, e.g., protective garments and tires. The cut-resistant sheet may also be laminated onto a textile fabric to form a composite from which articles, e.g., garments, can be formed.

This invention relates to polymeric sheets and articles formed therefrom. More particularly, this invention relates to polymeric sheets and articles formed therefrom, especially elastomeric sheets and articles, wherein the sheets and articles have improved resistance to cutting by a sharp edge.
Polymeric sheets, particularly elastomeric sheets, having improved resistance to cutting with a sharp edge have long been sought. Cut-resistant sheets are useful for providing cut resistance to products ranging from medical equipment to surgical gloves.
Cut-resistant textile articles are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,200,263; 5,119,512; 5,146,628; and 5,224,363.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,200,263 teaches a puncture- and cut-resistant composite material and articles, e.g., gloves, made therefrom, wherein the composite material is composed of at least one elastomer layer containing a plurality of platelets oriented substantially parallel to the plane of the elastomeric layer, each of the platelets being a small, thin element substantially impervious to normally encountered puncturing and/or cutting by sharp instruments. This patent teaches the use of particles having a relatively large diameter, e.g. from about 1.5 mm to about 4.0 mm.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,119,512 discloses cut-resistant yarn and fabrics and gloves made therefrom. The reference further teaches a cut-resistant article composed of a cut-resistant jacket surrounding a less cut-resistant member. The cut-resistant jacket contains a fabric made from a yarn containing at least one high strength, longitudinal strand wrapped with a fiber. The less cut-resistant member is a rope, webbing, strap, hose or inflatable structure. The reference further teaches a highly cut-resistant composite yarn composed of at least two fibrous materials, wherein at least one fibrous material is cut-resistant and at least one fibrous material has a high level of hardness.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,224,363 discloses cut resistant protective garments, e.g., gloves, which are formed from high strength composite strands. The composite strands contain a cut-resistant core material coated with a fluid impervious material. The cut-resistant core material may be Kevlar(copyright), aramid strands, stainless steel strands, or a combination of Kevlar(copyright) and stainless steel strands. The fluid impervious coating may be polyurethane or vinyl.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,146,628 discloses protective gloves coated with a polyurethane material. The polyurethane coating is abrasion-resistant, cut-resistant, flexible and soft and provides the glove with slip-resistance and gripping properties.
Puncture-resistant textile articles are also known in the art. Reference is made, e.g., to U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,363,930 and 5,087,499.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,363,930 teaches a thin elastomeric sheet material and protective clothing, e.g., gloves, made therefrom. The elastomeric sheet material has enhanced puncture-resistance and is prepared by embedding thin plate-like non-elastomeric particles in an elastomeric matrix. The preferred non-elastomeric particles have a hardness on the Mohs scale of at least 5 and include metals, ceramics and crystalline minerals. The particles used in this patent have a relatively large diameter, for example, about 3 mm.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,087,499 discloses puncture-resistant and medicinal treatment garments, e.g., gloves, formed from fibers such as Kevlar(copyright) or Spectra(copyright). The fibers may be coated with an abrasive material such as, e.g., a mixture of ceramic or metallic particles and a polymeric resin.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,051,301 discloses composites and textile articles made therefrom, wherein the composites have improved toughness and contain a ceramic matrix and a plurality of layers of boron nitride-coated fibrous material. The ceramic matrix may be used in combination with an organic binding material.
Copending, commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/752,297, filed Nov. 19, 1996, discloses the manufacture of cut-resistant garments such as gloves made from cut resistant fibers.
Although cut-resistant polymeric sheets are known in the art, it is continually desirable to provide polymeric sheets having improved cut-resistance.
Furthermore, it is desirable to impart improved cut-resistance to polymeric sheets by means of particles having relatively small diameters. Particles with relatively small diameters are easier to process than particles with relatively large diameters. Thus, small-diameter particles tend to produce smoother sheet surfaces than do large-diameter particles. However, particles which are too small, e.g., less than about 0.25 microns, tend to be less effective for providing cut-resistance. Larger-size particles provide better cut-resistance but also rougher sheet surfaces. Thus, it is desirable to use particles which provide both effective cut-resistance and relatively smooth sheet surfaces.
In addition, it would be desirable to provide cut-resistant polymeric sheets which form articles having improved flexibility and comfort as well as increased cut-resistance.
Accordingly, a primary object of this invention is to provide polymeric sheets, particularly elastomeric sheets, having improved cut-resistance.
A further object of this invention is to provide polymeric sheets having improved cut-resistance, wherein such sheets contain hard particles having relatively small diameters.
Another object of this invention is to provide cut-resistant polymeric sheets which form polymeric articles having improved cut-resistance, improved flexibility, and improved comfort.
These and other objects which are achieved according to the present invention can be discerned from the following description.
The present invention provides a polymeric sheet having excellent cut-resistance, containing:
(A) a polymeric material, and
(B) a hard filler distributed in the polymeric material, the hard filler having a Mohs Hardness value of at least about 3.0, the hard filler being in the form of particles having an average diameter which is sufficient to provide cut-resistant properties to said polymeric material but which is no larger than about 5 microns.
The present invention is further directed to cut-resistant articles formed from the cut-resistant polymeric sheet of this invention.
The present invention is also directed to composites containing the cut-resistant polymeric sheet of this invention laminated onto a cut-resistant or non-cut-resistant textile fabric. The present invention further includes articles composed of the aforementioned composite.
In preferred embodiments of the invention, the polymeric material is an elastomer, and the polymeric sheet is an elastomeric sheet.
An important advantage of the present invention is that improved cut-resistant properties are imparted to polymeric sheets by hard filler particles having relatively small diameters. Thus, articles formed from such polymeric sheets not only have excellent cut-resistance but also improved flexibility and comfort and relatively smooth surfaces.

Cut-resistant polymeric sheets and articles formed therefrom


An electric door strike for installation in residential wood frame door frames permits “hands-free” home access. An installation jig used to form an aperture in the door frame and a cavity in the underlying stud in which the door strike is mounted. A remote control circuit transmitter actuates the door strike to an unlatched position and a time delay circuit returns the door strike to a latched position after a predetermined delay time period. The transmitter can be used to interrupt the predetermined delay time period and immediately return the door strike to the latched position.

The present invention relates generally to electric door strikes and, in particular, to an electric door strike for use in residential buildings.
With regard to "electric door strike" prior art, the earliest reference found to this type of device is the U.S. Pat. No. 277,628 to Sullivan in May of 1883. Sullivan's patent claims to be an "improvement in electric locks", indicating that the electric door strike is even older than that. As you might expect from a device of this age, there are literally hundreds of patents on file promoting changes and improvements of every type.
Nearly all prior art patents utilize a "surface mount" design. Only two exceptions were found. The U.S. Pat. No. 4,056,276 to Jarvis describes a latch and strike arrangement, of which the strike is supported via a bored hole in the door frame. The U.S. Pat. No. 5,729,198 to Gorman (mentioned below) describes a solenoid mounted in a tube extending back into the door frame. With these two exceptions notwithstanding, the mounting arrangement according to the present invention and described in this patent application is unique.
With regard to router jigs, router and guide structures of various types have been used for many years to provide guidance of routers and their use in wood working procedures. Such apparatus may be found for example in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,825,920 to Evitts wherein a router structure utilizes a slotted guide plate mounted to a support base for mounting a router thereto.
The U.S. Pat. No. 3,985,168 to Lundquist shows an adjustable router table of rectangular configuration, wherein each of the legs is adjustable relative to one another.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,630,657 to Obradovich shows a router guide structure utilizing opposed clamping members to secure a workpiece and router structure thereof.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,552,193 to Armas describes a door frame shaper mounting a router thereto in a guide orientation for shaping door frames in predetermined patterns.
The U.S. Pat. No. 2,862,302 to Lucia describes an adhesive backed "paper-like" template designed to assist an installer in locating boring holes associated with strike installation.
Although each of the above patents provides for a specific need, no prior art has been found that addresses the need to provide fast mounting of an electric strike.
The advent of 'keyless entry' in the automotive world has created an interest in developing a similar product for the residential home market. Early efforts included remote controlled deadbolts (as shown in the U.S. Pat. No. D401,565 to Smith), and remote controlled locksets (as described in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,437,174 to Aydin). Though simple and inexpensive, these 'do-it-yourself' products were cheaply made and utilized battery power. Their success was short lived.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,729,198 shows a wireless residential door unlatch system having solenoid/strike plate assembly controlled by a receiver unit which in turn is controlled by RF or other signals. The system can be retrofit into existing residential structures with a single bore into the door jam into which the solenoid/strike plate assembly is mounted. The U.S. Pat. No. 5,729,198 is incorporated herein by reference.
The U.S. Pat. No. 6,005,306 shows a remote control door lock system for residential and commercial building pedestrian doors. The system includes an electrically powered striker plate assembly having a striker plate member moveable between positions for engagement and disengagement with a door latch member. The striker assembly is adapted to be connected to a control unit which supplies low voltage DC power to the striker assembly and includes a radio frequency range signal receiver and a circuit responsive to receiving signals from an operator controlled radio transmitter to effect indefinite or momentary operation of the striker assembly to unlock a door. The control unit circuit includes a first self-latching relay, a selector switch and a second relay for selecting an operating mode of the system wherein the door may be unlatched momentarily (for about 3.5 seconds, for example) or indefinitely until a second signal is transmitted by the transmitter to the receiver. This arrangement has three drawbacks:                1. Many electric strikes are equipped with "intermittent duty" solenoids or magnetic coils (as opposed to "continuous duty"). These coils are made to exert maximum magnetic force, at the expense of heat buildup in the coil. They are limited to 90 seconds of operation in the energized position. If energized longer than 90 seconds they will burn up. The option to leave the striker in the energized position for extended periods as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,005,306 could result in considerable maintenance to the striker mechanisms.        2. Since users may forget if they locked the door behind them, there should be a position indication of some type near the door (a light, or buzzer to indicate that the door is not locked). The design outlined in U.S. Pat. No. 6,005,306 has no provision for indication. Other than physically 'trying' the door, the user has no way to tell if the striker is in the latched or unlatched position.        3. U.S. Pat. No. 6,005,306 provides a maximum of 3.5 seconds of delay in the "momentary" mode. If the user is entering the house with an armload of groceries, it might be good to have more time than that.


A nebulizer with a press-type medicine cup is provided. The nebulizer includes a body, a medicine cup, an engagement structure, and a multi-directional resilient member. The engagement structure includes an inner protruding base and an outer protruding block disposed outside the inner protruding base. The inner protruding base and the outer protruding block extend from the body and the medicine cup. The inner protruding base includes a cavity inside and includes two through holes. The outer protruding block includes two engagement grooves. The multi-directional resilient member is installed in the cavity and includes a press element, two straight resilient arms extend from the press element, two oblique resilient arms are bent from the two straight resilient arms, and each oblique resilient arm has a block member. The two block members are inserted through the two through holes to be engaged with the two engagement grooves.

Due to development of medical technology, medical nebulizers are available to allow patients to take medicine effectively and conveniently. The nebulizer turns a medicinal liquid into medicinal aerosol and then delivers, via a passage or a port, the medicinal aerosol into the patient's mouth, thus providing treatment rapidly and effectively. Therefore, the nebulizers have been widely adopted nowadays.
Conventional nebulizers typically include ultrasonic nebulizers and pneumatic (compressed gas) nebulizers. The ultrasonic nebulizers utilize ultrasonic sound waves to turn the medicinal liquid into the aerosol. In the pneumatic medical nebulizers, a compressed gas passes through a small tube opening to generate a high-speed airflow, which causes a negative pressure. By means of the negative pressure, the liquid and/or other fluid are jetted to an obstruction object and impact it at high speed, and then the medicinal liquid is spattered to transform liquid drops into a fine spray to be discharged from a tube.
No matter it is an ultrasonic nebulizer or a pneumatic nebulizer, the medicine cup can be replaced by pushing. However, for the conventional nebulizer with a medicine cup changed by pushing, multiple springs are required to be installed inside in order to achieve bidirectional movement. Therefore, the conventional nebulizer has complicated components and requires high production costs. Industries desire to provide an improved nebulizer with simplified components and reduced springs.
In views of this, in order to solve the above disadvantages, the present inventor studied related technology and provided a reasonable and effective solution in the present disclosure.


Disclosed is a device that changes a bit in a string of bits representing a character in a sting of characters defining a reserved word associated with a record containing pieces of information in response to a request for changing a piece of information in the record, and a printer configured to exclude from printing a record associated with a reserved word that has been changed by the device.

A conventional flash memory, which is a type of non-volatile memory EEPROM, is provided in a NOR type and a NAND type. A NOR type flash memory in particular is used as a substitute memory for a ROM. In this flash memory, data rewriting is performed in units of predetermined areas (sectors, for example). The number of times rewriting can be performed in each area is limited. Therefore, a data storage (updating) method in which all areas are used as evenly as possible, without fixing areas in which rewriting occurs frequently and areas in which rewriting occurs rarely, has been proposed in Japanese unexamined patent application H6-124596 to extend the useful life of the flash memory as far as possible.
For example, record unit data (a database) described in XML (Extensible Markup Language) are updated in the following manner.
An XML description shown in FIG. 5 expresses record unit data constituted by the items "employee ID", "name", "section", "sex", and "age", and a description sandwiched between two tags (reserved words) <employee id= . . . > and </employee> corresponds to a record. These data (this database) express an employee list such as the following.    Employee ID: 001    Name: Ichirou Sato    Section: General Affairs    Sex: Male (M)    Age: 25    Employee ID: 015    Name: Jirou Sato    Section: Personnel    Sex: Male (M)    Age: 29    Employee ID: 100    Name: Saburou Sato    Section: General Affairs    Sex: Male (M)    Age: 35
For example, when the section of the employee identified by "Employee ID: 015, Name: Jirou Sato" is modified from "Personnel" to "Accounting", the data described in XML shown in FIG. 5 are modified as shown in FIG. 6. More specifically,
Personnel
, which is included in the description sandwiched between the reserved words <employee id=0015>, </employee>, is modified to
Accounting
. When data modification is performed in this manner on a flash memory, specific processing is executed as follows.
First, the parts of the sector in the description shown in FIG. 5 that are not to be modified (all parts other than "Personnel") are copied to another sector and "Accounting" is added to the other sector so as to be sandwiched between the reserved words
,
. Next, the data corresponding to the description in the original sector shown in FIG. 5 are deleted. Thus, data corresponding to the description shown in FIG. 6 remain in the other sector of the flash memory. As a result, the data corresponding to the description shown in FIG. 5 are updated to the data corresponding to the description shown in FIG. 6. Note that reserved words such as <employee id= . . . > and </employee> are control character strings determined according to the XML format, and cannot usually be modified in a similar manner to other variable data. Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication H6-124596
However, in the conventional data updating method described above, even when data stored in a predetermined area (sector) are modified only partially, new data must be written (or copied) in relation to the entire predetermined area (sector) and all of the data in the predetermined area (sector) must be deleted. As a result, a comparatively large amount of time is required to update the data. Furthermore, when partial modification is performed in a flash memory, an entire predetermined area (sector), which is limited in the number of possible deletions, must invariably be deleted once. Consequently, the lifespan of the flash memory is shortened every time data are updated.

Device that updates bits corresponding to a data record residing in a memory


A voltage indicating assembly for medium and high voltage systems includes a semiconductive cap configured for mounting on a test point, the test point including a test point terminal element configured to capacitively receive a voltage associated with a electrical component, where the electrical component is mounted in a first location. The semiconductive cap includes a contact element mounted therein configured to electrically communicate with the test point terminal element when the semiconductive cap is mounted on the test point. A cable is electrically coupled to the contact element. A remote test point assembly is electrically coupled to the cable in a second location remote from the first location, and the remote test point assembly includes a remote test point terminal element.

The present invention relates to electrical cable connectors, such as loadbreak connectors and deadbreak connectors. More particularly, aspects described herein relate to an electrical cable connector, such as a power cable elbow or tee connector, having a voltage detection point provided thereon.
Deadbreak cable connectors used in conjunction with 15, 25, and 35 Kilovolt (kV) switchgear generally include a power cable elbow connector having one end adapted for receiving a power cable and another end adapted for receiving a deadbreak bushing. The end adapted for receiving the bushing insert generally includes an elbow cuff for providing an interference fit with a molded flange on the bushing. This interference fit between the elbow cuff and the bushing insert provides a moisture and dust seal therebetween.
Deadbreak elbows typically comprise a conductor surrounded by a semiconducting layer and an insulating layer, all encased in a semiconductive outer shield. The elbow connector may further include a test point terminal embedded in the insulating sheath and exposed for contact from outside of the shield. A voltage on the conductor capacitively couples a first voltage on the test point terminal and a second voltage on the outer shield.
Service personnel commonly encounter difficulty in reliably determining whether a voltage is present on a deadbreak elbow. This is of considerable importance, since the safety of service personnel effecting service on such a system may depend upon the reliability of a status indicator correctly indicating the status of the connector to prevent electrical shock hazards.
A variety of indicating devices for such purpose are known. These devices must be carefully employed in order to avoid electrical shock and draw a current from the conductor being tested which can affect the voltage reading. Failure of the device could indicate a false voltage status which may lead service personnel to assume that there is no voltage on the conductor when a voltage is in fact present, which presents an obvious safety hazard. Electrical shock hazards can also arise when the test point terminal and the area surrounding the terminal are not carefully manufactured or are subject to debris and contaminants.
Electrical connectors generally operate by connecting ground and power terminals of respective connector elements together in a manner that facilitates electrical continuity between the respective elements. In some embodiments, for example, a male connector may be inserted into a corresponding female connector to effect the connection.
In high voltage environments, additional factors may arise, such as the possibility of arcing or flashover between conducting elements of an electrical connector during connection of disconnection of the connector. These flashover or arcing events may cause injury to users, may ignite flammable or combustible gases in the ambient environment, or may damage equipment.

Remote test point for electrical connector


A conveyance system (10) including: a conveyor having a frame (22) connectable to a drive unit; and a shipping container (12) having a base (16), a top wall (14), two opposing side walls (18) and two opposing end walls (20), wherein the conveyor is fixed within the shipping container (12) in an assembled state.

In the mining, extractive and other industries that produce bulk solids, it is necessary to move large amounts of material over long distances. Overland conveyors provide an effective means for transporting bulk material such as coal, iron ore, stone, sand, woodchips and the like. Typically, the conveyors are installed on site using concrete strip or pier or pile-style footings every 2-3 metres. Conveyors can reach total lengths of up to one hundred kilometres.
The conveyors are required to negotiate various terrain and surface features such as creeks, rivers, estuaries and open water, drainage channels, areas of archaeological and/or cultural sensitivity, variability in terrain and soil types, roads, and other services and infrastructure.
At present the conveyors are constructed on site. Parts are shipped in via train or truck and assembled on site. This is usually carried out manually and involves substantial amounts of manual handling and physical work. The construction is time consuming and costly, particularly in remote areas where personnel must be transported to and from the site and accommodated. Additionally, the conveyors are typically open to air, and are exposed to heat, dust and other weather elements thus causing deterioration of the conveyor structure itself, and also idlers, rubber belting, communications and other services. Additionally, and depending on the material being conveyed, losses may occur due to wind blowing material from the conveyor. This not only leads to a loss of income, but also poses an environmental impact due to contamination of the surrounding landscape.
In colder climates, conveyors are subject to snow loads, ice build-up and the freezing of components. This can lead to premature wear, failure of components and deterioration of the material being conveyed. Colder climates, snow and ice, also can contaminate or adversely affect the product being conveyed. In extreme levels of cold, operation of the conveyor can require special insulation and heating to avoid freezing, which is unsuitable for operation.
Another problem with current conveyors is noise. Many overland conveyors are installed in areas that are within hearing distance of noise receptors. Harmonic noise and vibration can cause noise to be transmitted to nearby noise receptors and can often be the subject of noise complaints owing to the adverse impacts to people's quality of life.
Electro-mechanical drive units provide the required haulage effort to move the belting and load being carried. Powering these drive units is either electrical and/or mechanical power. This usually requires electrical mains to be connected to the driving end of the conveyance, and sometimes along the conveyances length for communications or other subsequent drive units. Often though, conveyors are employed in remote locations, and away from sources of mains electrical power. This requires mains conductors to be installed, sometimes over long distances, to power drive units. In other instances where it is either not possible or feasible to install electrical mains conductors, electrical power is generated on-site using generators fuelled by either diesel, gas or some other combustible fuel source, or combination thereof.
Generally, conveyances can consume significant amounts of electrical and/or mechanical power in order to move the combined mass of belting and/or loads being carried. As such, conveyances can be expensive to operate, owing to the cost of installing and using electrical power.

CONVEYOR MANUFACTURERS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD.


The present invention provides a rubber composition that can enhance the fuel economy, wet-grip performance, and abrasion resistance in a balanced manner, and a pneumatic tire using this rubber composition. The present invention relates to a rubber composition that contains a rubber component, silica, and a liquid resin having a softening point of −20 to 20° C., wherein the rubber component contains, based on 100% by mass of the rubber component, not less than 5% by mass of a conjugated diene polymer containing a constituent unit based on a conjugated diene and a constituent unit represented by formula (I) below, at least one terminal of the polymer being modified with a specific compound; and an amount of the silica is 5 to 150 parts by mass per 100 parts by mass of the rubber component.

The demands on automobiles for better fuel economy have been increasing in recent years as concern with environmental issues has been rising. Good fuel economy is also being required of the rubber compositions used for automotive tires. For example, rubber compositions containing a conjugated diene polymer (e.g., polybutadiene, butadiene-styrene copolymer) and a filler (e.g., carbon black, silica) are used for the rubber compositions for automotive tires.
Patent Literature 1 and Patent Literature 2, for example, propose methods for enhancing the fuel economy. The method of Patent Literature 1 uses a diene rubber that has been modified with an organosilicon compound containing an amino group and an alkoxy group. The method of Patent Literature 2 uses a specific silane coupling agent containing a mercapto group. These days, however, further enhancement of the fuel economy has been demanded.
Other methods for enhancing fuel economy are known, such as reduction of the amount of a reinforcing filler or use of a silane coupling agent containing a mercapto group. In the former method, however, the hardness of the rubber composition is reduced such that a tire containing the rubber composition softens. Thus, the handling property (handling stability) or wet-grip performance of vehicles may be reduced. Also, the reinforcing property is not sufficiently achieved so that the abrasion resistance tends to decrease. The latter method tends to reduce the scorch time to deteriorate, the processability.
Normal rubber compositions for tires contain oils like aromatic oil to enhance the processability or wet-grip performance. However, addition of such oils tends to increase the rolling resistance or reduce the fuel economy.
As mentioned earlier, fuel economy assumes an inverse relationship with such properties as wet-grip performance or abrasion resistance. Thus, it has been difficult to obtain these properties at high levels in a balanced manner.


In a method for operating a round baler, the harvested crop flow is controlled at any time of the bale forming process by time control with the control and governing device of the round baler, based on a stored theoretical minimum time for pressing a harvested crop bale defined by predetermined parameters and based on actually determined harvested crop parameters, such that the harvested crop bale defined by the predetermined parameters is produced at maximum baler utilization in a nominal press time determined for the harvested crop bale.

The invention relates to an agricultural round baler for forming round bales of harvested crop, the round baler comprising a press chamber that is provided with a rearward outlet for ejecting the completed round bale and with pressing devices that cause the harvested crop to rotate; a harvested crop pickup device; a cutting and/or conveying device; a storage chamber that adjoins the cutting and/or conveying device and reaches to an inlet area of the press chamber. The storage chamber, in storage phases of the pressing operation, receives and stores harvested crop. A control or governing device for controlling devices for interrupting or releasing crop transfer from the storage chamber to the press chamber is provided. A device for tying the completed round bale with tying material in the pressing chamber is provided.
The invention moreover concerns a method for controlling the flow of harvested crop in such an agricultural round baler.
Round balers are often employed for processing stalk crop. They are characterized by a relatively simple configuration and minimal drive output in comparison to large square balers. A disadvantage is however that upon processing with a round baler there is the problem that during the processing steps of tying and ejecting the completed bale, it is not possible to continue to supply harvested crop material. The method is carried out in a stepwise fashion. This means that in a first step the harvested crop, as the baler travels across the field, is picked up, shaped to a round bale, and compressed. In a second step, by stopping the tractor, the pickup of harvested crop is interrupted, the bale is compressed to the final state, and then is tied with yarn or a net and ejected from the press chamber. The tying process and the ejection require a significant amount of time that may even reach the duration of the preceding bale forming step. For a long time, there have been attempts to avoid these undesirable interruptions in operation in order to thus increase the baler performance significantly.
In order to eliminate the disadvantages of the stepwise method, a baler must be developed which is able to continuously pick up harvested crop. In order to achieve a continuous material supply, the harvested crop must be stored intermediately during the tying and ejecting interval. At the beginning of a new working cycle, within the shortest possible time, the intermediately stored material must be supplied to the press chamber while simultaneously newly picked-up material continues to flow. In the various proposals for solving this problem, two basic systems have been developed.
In the "multi-chamber" basic principle, as disclosed inter alia in the publication DE 27 04 982 A1 and DE 10 2005 020 777 A1, the main press chamber has upstream thereof a smaller pre-compression chamber in which during the tying process the harvested crop that is continuously being picked up is wound and compressed to a pre-bale. After the main press chamber has been emptied, this pre-bale is to be transferred from the antechamber into the main chamber, while simultaneously harvested crop continues to be supplied, in order to be completed in the main chamber. In particular the transfer of the pre-bale into the main chamber during which the pre-bale should not lose its shape and compression state is in practice very problematic and requires an extremely high constructive expenditure.
Continuously operating round balers operating based on the afore described basic principle of at least two pressing and winding chambers therefore have not yet surpassed the experimental stage, most likely because of these problems.
In the various proposals for continuous round balers that operate according to the "single-chamber" basic principle, the harvested crop that is picked up upon further travel during bale formation is supplied to a storage chamber that is positioned upstream of the press chamber. A problem in connection with such continuously operating bale presses, as disclosed inter alia in EP 0 350 514 A1 and DE 199 32 336 A1, is however the removal of the harvested crop that has been collected in the storage chamber. When removal from the storage chamber takes place too slowly while at the same time additional harvested crop is supplied as a result of continued travel of the baler, the performance limits of the baler are reached quickly and an uninterrupted continuous operation without reduction of the travel speed is not possible. A further disadvantage resides in that the crops that has been pre-compressed within the storage chamber to a limited extent after transfer into the empty press chamber will expand again and therefore desired bale densities will no be achieved.
Continuously operating round balers according to the single-chamber basic principle have reached marketability but, in particular because of the unsatisfactory performance, they have not found acceptance in practice.
Based on this, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved continuously operating round baler that eliminate the disadvantages of the prior art and further develops the prior art devices in an advantageous manner.


The present embodiment relates to a coil device and a wireless charging device including the same. The coil device according to the present embodiment includes: a coil wound to form a hollow portion; and a shielding housing including a flat part on which the coil is disposed, an inner wall corresponding to a shape of the hollow portion, and an outer wall corresponding to an outer circumferential shape of the coil. The inner wall protruding from the flat part on which the coil is disposed may have a height of 0 to 1.5 times a height of the coil. An inductance of the coil may have a range of 9.2 μH to 12.26 μH.

A portable terminal such as a mobile phone or a notebook computer includes a battery for storing electric power and a circuit for charging and discharging the battery. In order to charge the battery of such a terminal, electric power should be supplied from an external charger.
Generally, as an example of an electrical connection method between a battery and a charging device for charging electric power to the battery, there is a terminal supply method in which commercial power is supplied and converted into voltage and current corresponding to the battery to supply electric energy to the battery through a terminal of the battery. Such a terminal supply method requires use of a physical cable or an electric wire. Therefore, when a lot of devices of the terminal supply method are used, a lot of cables occupy a considerable work space and are difficult to organize, and are not good in appearance. Further, the terminal supply method may cause problems such as instantaneous discharge due to different electric potential differences between terminals, occurrence of burnout or fire due to foreign matters, spontaneous discharge, and deterioration in lifespan and performance of the battery, etc.
Recently, in order to solve such problems, a charging system (hereinafter referred to as "wireless charging system") using a method of transmitting power wirelessly and control methods have been proposed. In addition, in the past, wireless charging systems were not standard on some portable devices, and consumers had to purchase separate wireless charging receiver accessories, so that the demand for wireless charging systems was low. In the future, it is expected that the number of users using wireless charging will increase rapidly and terminal manufacturers will basically be equipped with a wireless charging function.
In general, a wireless charging system includes a wireless power transmitter that supplies electric energy by a wireless power transmission method, and a wireless power receiver that receives electric energy supplied from the wireless power transmitter and charges a battery.
Meanwhile, in order to transmit wireless power, the wireless power transmitter includes a transmission coil, and in order to receive wireless power, the wireless power receiver includes a reception coil. Such a transmission coil and a reception coil have high efficiency of wireless power transmission/reception limited to a specific region in which the coil is wound with a critical number of turns at a predetermined length.
In general, efficiency of power transmission and reception may be controlled by adjusting a frequency of a coil and fixing inductance in an impedance matching circuit according to a transmitter or a receiver. In such a case, a control configuration using another impedance matching circuit is required, and a heat generation problem due to inductance matching may occur.

Coil device and wireless charging device including same


A semiconductor memory device includes stacked memory strings in which at least some adjacent memory strings share a common source line. During a read operation for a selected memory string, a first current path is formed from a bit line of the selected memory string to the common source line through the selected memory string. A second current path is formed from the bit line of the selected memory string, through the common source line, to a bit line of an adjacent unselected memory string. This reduced path resistance enhances device reliability in read mode.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to a semiconductor memory device, and more particularly to a semiconductor memory device including memory cells stacked in a direction perpendicular to a substrate.
2. Related Art
One possible way to increase data storage capacity in a semiconductor memory device is to provide a larger number of memory cells within a predetermined area. The number of memory cells may be increased by reducing memory cell size, but there are limitations in memory cell size reduction.


An electron emission device includes a first electrode having a data signal applied thereto, a second electrode having a scan signal applied thereto, an electron emitter for emitting electrons in response to a voltage difference between the data signal and the scan signal, and a third electrode having a focusing signal for focusing the electrons emitted from the electron emitter. In the electron emission device, an off-voltage of the scan signal is set lower than an on-voltage of the data signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electron emission device. More specifically, the present invention relates to an electron emission device with improved image quality, a display device using the same, and/or a driving method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electron emission devices use a hot cathode or a cold cathode as an electron source. Known examples of electron emission devices using a cold cathode are field emitter array (FEA), surface conduction emitter (SCE), metal-insulator-metal (MIM), metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS), and ballistic electron surface emitting (BSE) electron emission devices.
The FEA electron emission device is a device based on the functional principle that when a material having a low work function and/or a high beta (β) function is used as an electron source, electrons are readily emitted from the material under a vacuum by an electric field difference. A tip structure of molybdenum (Mo) or silicon (Si), or a carbon material such as graphite or DLC (Diamond Like Carbon) has been used as an electron source for the FEA electron emission device. Recently, electron emission devices using nano-materials such as nano-tubes and/or nano-wires as an electron source have also been developed.
The SCE electron emission device has a conductive film formed between first and second electrodes arranged opposing each other on a first substrate. A minute gap (or crack) is provided in the conductive film to form an electron emitter. The SCE electron emission device is based on the principle that the minute gap, i.e., the electron emitter, emits electrons when a voltage is applied to the first and second electrodes to make a current flow to the surface of the conductive film.
The MIM electron emission device and the MIS electron emission device have as their electron emitters a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) structure and a metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) structure, respectively. These electron emission devices emit electrons based on the principle that a voltage applied between two metals or between a metal and a semiconductor, with an insulator interposed between them, moves or accelerates electrons from the metal or the semiconductor having the higher electron potential to the metal having the lower electron potential.
The BSE electron emission device includes an electron supply layer formed from a metal or a semiconductor on an ohmic electrode, and an insulating layer and a metal film formed on the electron supply layer. This electron emission device emits electrons by the power applied to the ohmic electrode and the metal film based on the principle that electrons can be moved without being scattered when the size of the semiconductor is reduced to a range smaller than the average free stroke of the electrons.
In general, an above-described electron emission device includes an anode electrode formed on a second substrate, to which the anode electrode is applied with a high voltage having a positive voltage level, so as to cause electrons emitted from the electron emitter to collide with a phosphor formed on the second substrate.
The conventional electron emission devices are, however, problematic in that unselected pixels emit a light by a high positive voltage applied to the anode electrode. Namely, an electric field (hereinafter also referred to as "anode field") formed around the electron emitter by the high positive voltage applied to the anode electrode causes the electron emitter to improperly emit electrons that collide with an unintended phosphor area, and hence causes a unwanted light emission on the second substrate. The unwanted light emission caused by the anode electrode can be referred to as a "diode emission."
Also, even if the electrons are properly emitted, the conventional electron emission devices are problematic in that the electrons of the electron emitter can collide with a phosphor in an undesired area without being properly concentrated (or focused), to thereby cause a distortion of the image with a deterioration of the image quality.

Electron emission device, display device using the same, and driving method thereof


A toy vehicle includes a chassis, wheels connected to an exterior of the chassis and configured to move on a surface, at least two propellers connected to an interior of the chassis independently from the plurality of wheels, the at least two propellers being configured to counterrotate relative to each other thereby generating airflow outwardly from the chassis in a first direction that is normal to a rotational plane of the at least two propellers whereby the chassis is urged in a second direction opposite the first direction against the surface, at least one first drive motor operatively connected to the plurality of wheels for driving the plurality of wheels, and at least one second drive motor operatively connected to the at least two propellers for driving the at least two propellers.

Radio-controlled motorized toy vehicles are driven by motors and steered in response to commands that are transmitted remotely. Conventional toy vehicles are limited to floor surfaces that are substantially horizontal due to gravity. Prior attempts to provide motorized toy vehicles that are able to climb vertical walls include implementing suction-adhering propulsion systems that use a vacuum pump to draw air from a sealed interior of the vehicle. The air pressure acting on the outer surface of the vehicle forces the vehicle against the wall. Accordingly, a seal must be formed between the periphery of the toy vehicle and the fixed surface, such as via a venturi duct. However, toy vehicles using suction-adhering propulsion have deficiencies in providing and maintaining a functional seal and in overcoming the friction between the sealing member and the wall that impedes the motion of the device.


The present invention relates to the preparation of a dispersion wherein a copolymer comprising an acrylic monomer containing a dialkylbenzylammonium group is dispersed in an aqueous solution of a salt as fine particle. Two cationic polymers are used in the polymerization of the above monomer in the aqueous solution of a salt. One of the cationic polymers is a (co)polymer comprising an acrylic monomer containing a trialkylammonium group which is soluble both in the aqueous solution of a salt and in water, while the other thereof is a copolymer comprising an acrylic monomer containing a dialkylbenzylammonium group which is soluble in water, but insoluble in the aqueous solution of a salt. The above aqueous solution of a salt is an aqueous solution of a polyvalent anion salt such as sulfate or phosphate. A dispersion of a water-soluble cationic polymer can be prepared by dissolving the above monomer in the aqueous solution and carrying out the polymerization in the presence of the above two polymers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for the preparation of a dispersion of a water-soluble cationic polymer which is useful as a flocculant or dehydrating agent for waste water disposal or as a papermakers chemical.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Known processes for the preparation of a water-soluble cationic polymer which is useful as a flocculant for waste water disposal or as a papermakers chemical include standing polymerization in an aqueous solution, water-in-oil emulsion polymerization (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 102388/1979), suspension polymerization in a hydrophobic solvent (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 69196/1979) and so on.
Further, there has been disclosed a process for preparing a water-soluble, nonionic or anionic polymer by precipitation polymerization in an aqueous solution of ammonium sulfate (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 70489/1975).
Also there have been disclosed a process for carrying out the polymerization in an aqueous solution of a salt in the presence of a polyhydric alcohol (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 20502/1987) and a process for carrying out the polymerization in an aqueous solution of a salt in the presence of a polyelectrolyte as a dispersant (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 123610/1986 and 20511/1987).
The standing polymerization in an aqueous solution, however, must be carried out with a monomer concentration of at least 10% by weight in order to obtain a high-molecular weight polymer. Therefor, the product is given in a state of water-containing gel, so that it is difficult to dissolve the product as such. Accordingly, the product must be put on the market in a state of a low-concentration solution obtained by further diluting a product or must be dried and powdered. With respect to the low-concentration solution, the transportion cost is disadvantageously enhanced, while with respect to the powdering of the product, much heat energy is necessitated for drying the product and the product disadvantageously causes three-dimensional crosslinking by heating to insolubilize a part thereof.
Meanwhile, the water-in-oil emulsion polymerization has a problem that a flammable and valuable organic solvent is consumed wastefully. Further, the suspension polymerization in a hydrophobic solvent has a problem that the production equipment costs a great deal, because a flammable material such as cyclohexane or toluene is used. The precipitation polymerization in an aqueous solution of ammonium sulfate has a problem that the formed polymers adhere to each other to form big lumps, resulting in difficult handling, though it is a preferable method with a low cost of equipment. Furthermore, it is difficult to prepare a polymer in a state of fine particle by using a conventional dispersant.

Process for the preparation of dispersion of water-soluble cationic polymer


Provided is a method of forming a silicon nitride film on a surface to be processed of a target object, which includes: repeating a first process a first predetermined number of times, the process including supplying a silicon source gas containing silicon toward the surface to be processed and supplying a decomposition accelerating gas containing a material for accelerating decomposition of the silicon source gas toward the surface to be processed; performing a second process of supplying a nitriding gas containing nitrogen toward the surface to be processed a second predetermine number of times; and performing one cycle a third predetermined number of times, the one cycle being a sequence including the repetition of the first process and the performance of the second process to form the silicon nitride film on the surface to be processed.

In a semiconductor integrated circuit device, a silicon nitride film has been widely used as a material of an etching stopper, a side wall spacer, a stress liner or the like, as well as an insulating material of a gate insulating film. In the related art, there are known methods of forming such a silicon nitride film.
There is a first conventional method of forming a silicon nitride film (SiBN film) containing boron (B) as a ternary thin film. In the first conventional method, dichlorosilane (DCS: SiH2Cl2) is used as a silicon source gas and boron trichloride (BCl3) is used as a boron source gas. Also, the first conventional method includes:
(1) simultaneously supplying the DCS gas and the BCl3 gas into a processing chamber to form a boron-containing silicon film;
(2) purging the interior of the processing chamber;
(3) supplying ammonia (NH3) as a nitriding gas into the processing chamber such that the boron-containing silicon film is nitrided to be changed to plasma, thereby forming the SiBN film; and
(4) purging the interior of the processing chamber.
By repeating the processes of (1) to (4), the SiBN film is formed on a surface to be processed of a target object.
The SiBN film formed as above provides the following effects:
a) Better step coverage than that formed using a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD);
b) A reactive ion etching (RIE)-based etching, that is easier than a typical silicon nitride film (SiNx film) or a typical boron nitride film (BN film);                Better wet etching resistance than the typical boron nitride film (BN film); and        Lower relative dielectric constant than the typical SiNx film.
Further, there is a second conventional method for forming a boron-containing silicon nitride film (SiBN). In the second method, like the first conventional method, DCS is used as a silicon source gas and BCl3 is used as a boron source gas. The second conventional method includes:
(1) supplying the DCS gas into a processing chamber to form a silicon film;
(2) purging the interior of the processing chamber;
(3) supplying NH3 as a nitriding gas into the processing chamber such that the silicon film is nitrided or is changed to plasma, thereby forming the silicon nitride film;
(4) purging the interior of the processing chamber;
(5) supplying BCl3 as the boron source gas into the processing chamber to add boron to the silicon nitride film, thereby forming the SiBN film;
(6) purging the interior of the processing chamber;
(7) supplying NH3 as a nitriding gas into the processing chamber such that the boron-containing silicon nitride film is further nitrided by NH3 activated by plasma and a residual Cl component derived from the BCl3 gas is removed from an SiBN film; and
(8) purging the interior of the processing chamber.
By repeating the processes of (1) to (8), the SiBN film is formed on a surface to be processed of a target object.
The SiBN film formed as above provides the following effects:                Better etching resistance by the NH3 activated by plasma, compared with a case where the silicon nitride film is not further plasma-nitirided; and        Lower relative dielectric constant than a typical SiNx film.
In the second method, diborane (B2H6) and trimethylboron (B(CH3)3) containing no halogen element, may be used as the boron source gas, in addition to the BCl3 gas.
Also, there is a third conventional method of forming a boron-containing silicon film (SiBN). In the third conventional method, monosilane (SiH4) is used as the silicon source gas and BCl3 is used as the boron source gas. In the third conventional method includes:
(1) supplying an SiH4 gas into a processing chamber to form a silicon film;
(2) purging the interior of the processing chamber;
(3) supplying the BCl3 gas into the processing chamber such that boron is adsorbed onto a surface of the silicon film, thereby forming the boron-containing silicon film; and
(4) purging the interior of the processing chamber.
By repeating the processes of (1) to (4), the boron-containing silicon film is formed on a surface to be processed of a target object.
The boron-containing silicon film formed as above provides the following effects:                The silicon film can be formed at lower temperature (e.g., about 350 degrees C.) due to the boron atom acting as a catalyst, compared with the formation of a silicon film using the SiH4 gas alone; and        It is obtained good step coverage even at the lower temperature.
Also, in the third conventional method, a B2H6 gas containing no halogen element may be used as the boron source gas, in addition to the BCl3 gas.
Recently, user's demand for a film forming apparatus has been impressively changed. Such a demand includes "enhancement of productivity of the film forming apparatus." The enhancement of productivity defines maintaining and enhancing the better step coverage, achieving the electrical and physical characteristics required for thin films, and obtaining both the better processability and the better etching resistance, which are imposed on the first and second conventional methods.
So far, the enhancement of productivity has mainly been focused on improving so-called hardware, such as an increase in speed of a transfer robot, an increase in control speed of a temperature in a heating device or a cooling device, and the like. Unfortunately, in recent years, the hardware improvement alone makes it difficult to meet the user's demand for productivity.

Method and apparatus of forming silicon nitride film


The invention concerns a method for the administration of a subscriber SIM card 3 inserted in the main smartcard reader of a mobile telephone of the type including a second smartcard reader, using an additional administrator smartcard temporarily inserted in this second reader. The administrator smartcard includes at least one specific loader (Ch) applet and one or more files (f1-fn) corresponding to the applets (A1-An) which can be loaded in the SIM card under the control of the loader (Ch). The administrator card complies with the Sim Toolkit standard. The method can also be used to carry out the deletion, modification and various operations on data or applets (A1-An) present in the SIM card: display, determination of the memory space, etc.

Generally, a computer (e.g. a traditional microcomputer) is used to load applets. The applet to be loaded is, for example, stored on a hard disk of the computer. A resident program in the computer, known as the "Loader" receives in input a file containing the applet and converts it into a set of commands that it sends to the SIM card.
These commands can be sent in two main ways:                locally, from a smartcard reader connected to the computer.        remotely, for example by using the technology known as Over The Air (O.T.A.) in GSM terminology.
These methods present several disadvantages.
Firstly, the SIM card is inserted in the smartcard reader of the computer used for loading. It can be seen immediately that this methods presents the disadvantage of requiring specific hardware. At least, the subscriber, holder of the SIM card, must physically go to a place where this type of hardware is available.
As regards the second method, it is worth pointing out that digital data is generally transmitted via the Short Message Service (SMS) technology (GSM-Data Service) in compliance with the two standards ETSI 03.40 and ETSI 03.48. Generally, the maximum length of useful in these messages is 160 septets or 140 octets, depending on the applications. Although with current technology, smartcards can only store programs requiring relatively a limited amount of memory, as is the case with the applets, they often come in the form of files occupying about 10 kB. Clearly, it would take about 80 messages to send a file of this length. It must also be pointed out that with transmissions implementing OTA technology, the security and/or reliability rates are not very high. In particular, especially when a set of SIM cards must be updated with data, even identical, the process has to be repeated for each mobile telephone, since the links between a remote server and a mobile telephone are "point to point". Consequently, the above-mentioned method is, in practice, extremely complicated and possibly even impossible to implement.
Since the mobile telephones concerned by the invention are dual slot type, as pointed out earlier, one possible method could have been to use the auxiliary reader to load applets in the SIM card inserted in the main reader. An obvious solution would in fact be to implement a loader program in the subscriber's SIM card. The code of the applet to be loaded could then be stored in another smartcard which could be inserted in the auxiliary reader.
The loader program in the SIM card could then transmit one or more proactive command(s) in order to read the code of the applet to be loaded. Once the program has read the applet code, it can then load it using a suitable means.
Initially, this method seems to offer advantages:
1) The loader program of the SIM card is compatible with the card itself since stored in it;
2) The auxiliary smartcard containing the applet code does not need to comply with the Sim Toolkit standard.
However, this method presents significant disadvantages:
1) Since the loader program takes up a non-negligible amount of space in the SIM card, there is less space for the applets which have to be stored there. Even though the capacity of the memories used on smartcards has significantly increased over the last few years, it remains relatively limited for this type of application.
2) This solution cannot be considered using the present technology, since:                It is impossible to send loading commands. The commands to be sent by the application to the operating system in the SIM card are in fact specified in the standard ETSI 03.19. Loading commands cannot be sent under this standard.        In addition, the applet cannot request the mobile telephone to send commands to the card it hosts.
The current standards would therefore have be modified in order to consider this type of operation.
It is known from the european patent application EP 0 869 691 a mobile phone in which the SIM card communicates with an external component. The SIM card behaves as a gateway between the external component and the GSM network and/or the mobile phone so that the external component controls completely the mobile phone. The modified functionalities are transferred through applets via the SIM card to the external component.
It is also known from the international patent application WO 00/154530 a system allowing to program a set of selectable optional features into the memory of a cellular telephone independtly of the main program. The systems is constituted of a programmer and a port. The programmer located outside the housing of the telephone sends the set of selectable optional features to the port for storage in the memory.
The invention aims to overcome the disadvantages of the methods and devices of the known state of the art, some of which have just been described.
The purpose of the invention, for a mobile device of type including two card readers, is to define a method for the administration of digital data, applications and/or simple data, stored on a first smartcard, called subscriber or SIM smartcard, inserted in a first smartcard reader, called the main reader, via a second smartcard, called administration card, inserted in a second smartcard reader, called auxiliary smartcard reader.
The method according to the invention can be used not only to add one or more applets in the SIM card, i.e. to load applets, but also provides
true management or administration of digital data, applications and/or simple data, stored in it. Apart from loading digital data in the SIM card, the method according to the invention can be used to delete digital data, display it on the screen of the mobile device and modify it. This method can also be used to obtain information concerning various parameters and/or attributes about the said digital data and/or the SIM card as such, for example by displaying the names or statuses of the applets already stored in the SIM card, the memory space available in the SIM card, etc.
The method according to the invention does not involve any modification of the hardware implemented (ordinary telephony equipment can be used) and remains fully compatible with current standards whether regarding the transmissions the smartcards (SIM Toolkit technology) or the communications between the smartcards and the circuits of the mobile device, which invoke APDU standards.

Method for the administration of a subscriber card for mobile telephony equipment of the type with auxiliary reader and embedded system for the implementation of the method

Abstract: The invention also concerns an embedded system, more particularly a smartcard, for the implementation of the method.


In a CD player, a connection tray is mounted in a cabinet in a shiftable manner among a retracted position, a first projected position, and a second projected position. The connection tray has an upper tray and a lower tray. The upper tray has a first connector, a second connector, and a stopper. The lower tray has an unlock button, a movable plate, and a lock plate. A lock bracket is formed with a lock depression into which a lock boss is inserted to lock the connection tray in the first projected position, in shifting the connection tray forward from the retracted position. In a front surface of the lock bracket, a lock projection is formed. The lock projection receives the lock boss to lock the connection tray in the second projected position.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connection tray unit for a portable terminal that is drawable from a cabinet of electronic equipment.
2. Description Related to the Prior Art
In recent years, enjoying music by a portable terminal including a portable player, a cellular phone, and the like has become pervasive. The portable terminal contains a memory for recording the music, a player for reproducing the music, and the like in a cabinet, and has an LCD (liquid crystal display) for displaying information related to music reproduction, an operation button, and the like provided in a front panel. By choosing desired music by operating the operation button, the chosen music is reproduced and heard through an earphone or headphones.
The portable terminal is used outdoors with the headphones or the like, but often used indoors, like home, while being connected to electronic equipment such as a CD player. Music data read out of the portable terminal is subjected to signal processing by the electronic equipment and sent to a speaker. Thus, the music is reproduced with powerful volume.
A videotape recorder described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 07-287972 is provided with a connection tray (referred to as a door portion), which is movable between a retracted position retracted into a cabinet of the videotape recorder (electronic equipment) and a projected position drawn out of the cabinet. This connection tray has a connector to which a video camera is connected. To connect the video camera, the connection tray is drawn to the projected position. Connecting the video camera to the connector allows dubbing from a video tape loaded in the video camera on another video tape loaded in the videotape recorder.
The portable terminal is redesigned by model changeover and a new product is released periodically. The new product sometimes adopts a connector of a new standard. To make both of the new and old products available, two types of connectors are necessary. In this case, an adapter is often prepared and connected to the old type connector, and the new type of portable terminal is connected to the adapter. However, using the adapter increases the height of the new type of portable terminal by the thickness of the adapter. Therefore, in using the electronic equipment in a state of being mounted on a rack, the rack hinders the loading of the new type of portable terminal.
For this reason, it is conceivable to provide a plurality of different types of connectors in parallel on a connection tray, so that various types of portable terminals are loadable thereon. In this case, reliable positioning operation of the connection tray is required such that each portable terminal is loaded in an appropriate position.

Connection tray unit for portable terminal


An optical microswitch comprising a support body and first and second output fibers carried by the body. A rotary electrostatic microactuator is carried by the body and extends in a plane. A micromirror is disposed out of the plane. The microactuator has a mirror holder coupled to the micromirror and at least one comb drive assembly coupled to the mirror holder for driving the micromirror about an axis of rotation extending perpendicular to the plane between a first position for reflecting a laser beam to the first output fiber and a second position for reflecting the laser beam to the second output fiber.

The present invention relates generally to optical microswitches and more particularly to optical microswitches utilizing electrostatic microactuators with comb drive assemblies.
Optical switches have heretofore been provided. Many of such switches use macroscopic rotators. Switches utilizing electromagnetic motors have been disclosed to move either an input optical fiber or a refractive or reflective element interspersed between input and output optical fibers. Examples of such designs that use piezoelectric elements to move refractive or reflective elements are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,647,033 to Laughlin, U.S. Pat. No. 5,748,813 to Buchin and U.S. Pat. No. 5,742,712 to Pan et al. All of switches are relatively large and expensive.
A micromachined optical switch is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,446,811 to Field et al. and uses a bimetallic element to displace an optical fiber into alignment with one or more optical fibers. Such switch, however, is not easily extendable to a switch having a relatively large number of output fibers and bimetallic actuators are relatively slow.
Micromachined devices to tilt or rotate mirrors are known in the prior art, but suffer from various limitations. A one dimensional or two dimensional mirror rotator that tilts about axes in the plane of the substrate used to fabricate the device is disclosed in Dhuler et al., xe2x80x9cA Novel Two Axis Actuator for High Speed Large Angular Rotationxe2x80x9d, Transducers ""97, Vol. 1, pp. 327-330. The actuator uses a variable gap parallel plate capacitor as the drive element, which suffers from non-linear response of force or angular displacement as a function of applied voltage. A similar type of tilting mirror is described in Kruth et al., xe2x80x9cSilicon Mirrors and Micromirror Arrays for Spatial Laser Beam Modulationxe2x80x9d, Sensors and Actuators A 66 (1998), pp. 76-82. Such mirrors are typically designed for use in projection displays or in scanners for bar code reading. A scanner using surface micromachining technology and having a mirror that is tilted out of the plane of the fabrication is described in Kiang et al., xe2x80x9cSurface-Micromachined Electrostatic-Comb Driven Scanning Micromirrors for Barcode Scannersxe2x80x9d, Ninth Annual Int. Workshop on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems, San Diego, 1996, pp. 192-19997. All of such devices tend to have difficulty in maintaining flatness and smoothness in the mirror elements and may have difficulty in precise static positioning of the mirror due to hysteresis in the coupling between the electrostatic comb drive actuator in the plane of the substrate and the mirror element out of the substrate plane.
In general, it is an object of the present invention to provide a relatively inexpensive optical microswitch having a small form factor.
Another object of the invention is to provide an optical microswitch of the above character in which the reflective face of a micromirror rotates in the focal plane of a focusing lens.
Another object of the invention is to provide an optical microswitch of the above character in which first and second micromirrors are closely packed and disposed in the focal plane of a focusing lens.
Another object of the invention is to provide an optical microswitch of the above character which is capable of coupling visible or infrared light into an optical fiber with low transmission losses.
Another object of the invention is to provide an optical microswitch of the above character which has relatively fast switching times.
Another object of the invention is to provide an optical microswitch of the above character in which the mirror is capable of angular rotations over a relatively large range.
The present invention provides an optical microswitch comprising a support body and first and second output fibers. A rotary electrostatic microactuator is carried by the body and extends in a plane. A micromirror is disposed out of the plane. The microactuator has a mirror holder coupled to the micromirror and at least one comb drive assembly coupled to the mirror holder for driving the micromirror about an axis of rotation extending perpendicular to the plane between a first position for reflecting a laser beam to the first output fiber and a second position for reflecting the laser beam to the second output fiber.

Optical microdevice with rotatable microactuator


A condenser microphone has a conductive diaphragm 3 having an earth electrode layer 31 formed of a conductive light metal; a conductor fixed electrode 5 arranged opposite to the conductive diaphragm 3 through an air layer; an organic dielectric layer 32 formed of the organic compound provided on the boundary surface 32C side between the air layer and the conductive diaphragm 3; and a permanent electric charge layer 32A composed of ions or electrons formed in the inner portion side receding from the air layer 8 side, from a middle position in the thickness direction of the organic dielectric layer 32 in the inside of the organic dielectric layer 32.

This invention relates to a condenser microphone which can be operated without feeding from the outside, in that electric charges are injected from the outside to electret (polarization), and production method thereof.
As is generally well known, the condenser microphone is structured in such a manner that it has a conductive diaphragm and a conductive fixed electrode (hereinafter, called conductor fixed electrode) oppositely arranged through the air layer in parallel with the conductive diaphragm, and the change of the capacitance between the conductive diaphragm and the conductor fixed electrode due to the vibration of the diaphragm is detected as the sound pressure on the diaphragm. In this case, in order to output the detection as an electric signal, between two conductors (conductive diaphragm and the conductor fixed electrode), the DC voltage is previously supplied to form the positive potential, and as its change, the change of the capacitance is detected as the electric signal. Further, it is well known that the magnitude of the output voltage to a unit sound pressure, that is, the sensitivity, is proportional to the applied DC voltage.
The positive potential is, although there is a case where it is supplied from the outside DC power source, recently, a method to use so-called electret (dielectric at least one portion of which is polarized) by which the dielectric film such as FEP (fluoro ethylene propylene) is attached to any opposing surface of, for example, the conductive diaphragm or conductor fixed electrode, and the electric charge is injected into and fixed onto the dielectric film, and from the electric field formed by the electric charge, the electric potential corresponding to the positive voltage is obtained, is developed, Thereby, the condenser microphone in which the outside DC power source is not necessary, is put to practical use.
Next, referring to FIG. 5, this electret type condenser microphone will be described.
In FIG. 5, in the inside of the housing 101, a diaphragm plate ring 102, electret forming-use dielectric 104 which is a portion of the diaphragm, spacer 105, fixed electrode 106, and insulation ring 107 are provided. This dielectric 104 is structured by a thin film such as FEP, and on the outer surface, the metal such as gold or nickel is attached by evaporation, and the film on which the function as the earth electrode 103 is given is provided. On the fixed electrode 106, a vent hole 106A is formed. Further, to this fixed electrode 106, the output terminal 108 is connected, and the potential difference (voltage) between the housing 101 and it, is obtained.
As the injection method of the electric charge into the dielectric 104 for the electret formation, each kind of method in which an electron beam is used or corona discharge is used, is proposed. Further, when the injection of the electric charge is conducted by these methods, there is some difference in the depth into which the electric charge is injected depending on the adopted method. For example, in the electron beam, although the injection can be conducted deeply to some degree, also by the method, the electric charge to be injected is fixed to very shallow portion of several tens xcexcm at the most from the surface.
That is, this is for the reason why, when dielectric film for forming the electret is used as the conductive diaphragm, generally, the conductor metal is formed on its outside as the above earth electrode by a method of the evaporation, the film thickness of about several tens xcexcm. In many case, as the conductor metal, the heavy metal such as nickel or gold is used. However, even when ion irradiation is conducted, of course, by the high temperature electric field method, or by the method of the electron beam, ion flow, or other method, the ion can not penetrate the film of the conductor metal for which such the heavy metal is used.
Accordingly, when the injection electric charge is fixed in very shallow portion in this manner, when, with this surface, the electrolyte such as, for example, the water, the conductor such as the metal, or non-insulating body such as the human skin is brought into contact, there is a possibility that it is easily discharged through the shallow distance, and the injected electric charge is dissipated, and the function as the microphone is destroyed or damaged.
Accordingly, as the conventional electric charge injection method, generally, it is conducted from the surface on the opposite side of the surface onto which this conductor metal is attached, that is, from the inner surface side of the dielectric 104 facing the air layer 109.
From such the conditions, conventionally, the electric charge injection is conducted before the product is assembled as the microphone, and the electret is previously formed as a part, and it is necessary that, by using this, the assembling is conducted. As the result, when the non-insulating body such as the human body is brought into contact with the formation surface of the electret, or it is exposed to the excessive humidity during the conservation as the part, the electric charge injected at no small pains is discharged, and there is a problem that the performance as the microphone after the assembly is spoiled.
Accordingly, in view of the above conditions, the object of the present invention is to provide a high reliable condenser microphone and its production method by which the injection of the electric charge can be conducted from the metal coating surface after the assembly of the microphone, not only the assembly becomes easy, but after the dielectric is sufficiently washed, it is maintained in the hermetically sealed condition, and is strong to the water or humidity, and even when the environmental condition such as the humidity or temperature is severe, the excellent electric sound conversion characteristic can also be maintained.
According to the first aspect of the invention, a condenser microphone comprises: a conductive diaphragm having an earth electrode layer formed of a conductive light metal; a conductor fixed electrode arranged opposite to the conductive diaphragm through an air layer; an organic dielectric layer formed of the organic compound provided on the boundary surface side between the air layer and the conductive diaphragm; and a permanent electric charge layer composed of ions or electrons formed on the earth electrode layer side from a middle position in the thickness direction of the organic dielectric layer in the inside of the organic dielectric layer.
Thereby, the electric field can be injected by penetrating the metallic surface of the earth electrode layer, for example, like that the corona discharge is generated in the air and ions are formed and accelerated by the electric field.
Further, in the present invention, the inside of the organic dielectric layer from the permanent electric charge layer to the inner end surface contacting with the air layer is made to the electret, and has the electric potential.
Thereby, without feeding the power from the outside, the condenser microphone can be operated.
Further, in the present invention, the organic dielectric layer has 1-50 xcexcm film thickness, and it is preferable that the earth electrode layer is formed by making the conductive light metal into the film of not larger than 0.1 xcexcm thickness on the organic dielectric layer.
Further, in this invention, the organic dielectric layer may be formed by using any one of FEP (fluoro ethylene.propylene), PFA (polyfluoro.acetal), and PTFE (polytetra.fluoroethylene)
According to the second aspect of the invention, a condenser microphone comprises: a conductive diaphragm having an earth electrode layer formed of a conductive light metal; a conductor fixed electrode arranged opposite to the conductive diaphragm through an air layer; an inorganic or organic dielectric layer formed of the inorganic oxide or the organic compound provided on the boundary surface side between the air layer and the conductor fixed electrode; and a permanent electric charge layer composed of ions or electrons formed on the conductor fixed electrode side from the middle in the thickness direction of the inorganic or organic dielectric layer in the inside of the inorganic or organic dielectric layer.
Thereby, the electric field can be injected by penetrating the metallic surface of the earth electrode layer, like that, for example, the corona discharge is generated in the air, and ions are formed and accelerated by the electric field.
Further, the present invention can be structured in such a manner that the inside of the inorganic or organic dielectric layer from the permanent electric charge layer to the inner end surface contacting with the air layer is made to the electret, and has the electric potential.
Thereby, without feeding the power from the outside, the condenser microphone can be operated.
Further, in this invention, the dielectric layer whose thickness is not larger than 4 xcexcm, formed of the organic compound is used for the conductive diaphragm, and it is preferable that the earth electrode layer is provided by making the conductive light metal into the film of not larger than 0.1 xcexcm thickness on the organic dielectric layer.
Further, in this invention, the silicon dioxide (SiO2) of not smaller than 1 xcexcm thickness can be used for the inorganic or organic dielectric layer.
Further, in this invention, it is preferable that a circular hole whose inner diameter is not smaller than 1.0 mm is formed on the outer surface of a housing which accommodates the conductive diaphragm and the conductive fixed electrode.
According to the third aspect of the invention, a production method of the condenser microphone which has the conductive diaphragm having the earth electrode layer formed of the conductive light metal, the conductor fixed electrode arranged opposite to the conductive diaphragm through the air layer, the organic dielectric layer formed of the organic compound provided on the boundary surface side between the air layer and the conductive diaphragm, and the permanent electric charge layer composed of ions or electrons formed in the inner portion receding from the air layer side to the middle position in the thickness direction of the organic dielectric layer in the inside of the organic dielectric layer, the production method of the condenser microphone comprises the steps of: after the condenser microphone is assembled, injecting ionized objects or electrons accelerated into the organic dielectric layer from the outside of the conductive diaphragm to form the permanent electric charge layer.
Thereby, not only the assembly becomes easy, but after the organic dielectric layer is sufficiently washed, it is maintained in the hermetically sealed condition, and is strong to the water or humidity, and even under the condition that the environmental condition such as the humidity or temperature is severe, the excellent electric sound conversion characteristic can also be maintained.
According to the fourth aspect of the invention, a production method of the condenser microphone which has the conductive diaphragm having the earth electrode layer formed of the conductive light metal, the conductor fixed electrode arranged opposite to the conductive diaphragm through the air layer, the inorganic or organic dielectric layer formed of the inorganic oxide or the organic compound provided on the boundary surface side between the air layer and the conductive diaphragm, and the permanent electric charge layer composed of ions or electrons formed in the inner portion receding from the air layer side, from the middle in the thickness direction of the inorganic or organic dielectric layer in the inside of the inorganic or organic dielectric layer, the production method of the condenser microphone comprises the steps of: after the condenser microphone is assembled, injecting ionized objects or electrons accelerated into the inorganic or organic dielectric layer from the outside of the conductive diaphragm to form the permanent electric charge layer.
Thereby, not only the assembly becomes easy, but after the inorganic dielectric layer is sufficiently washed, it is maintained in the hermetically sealed condition, and is strong to the water or humidity, and even under the condition that the environmental condition such as the humidity or temperature is severe, the excellent electric sound conversion characteristic can also be maintained.

Condenser microphone and production method thereof

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A clutch failure detector is provided for detecting failure of an automatic clutch system. The clutch failure detector can include a current value detector and a determination device. Upon turning ON a main switch, an operation to disengage and engage a clutch can be performed by a clutch actuator, and a totalized value of current supplied to a clutch actuator can be calculated for a specific period of time while the clutch is in the process of engaging in the operation to disengage and engage the clutch. The totalized value can be compared with a preset threshold, and if a difference between the totalized value and the threshold is equal to or greater than a given value, it is determined that an automatic clutch system has a failure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a clutch and, more specifically, to a clutch failure detection system.
2. Description of the Related Art
A two-wheeled motor vehicle, which has a friction clutch and a hydraulic automatic clutch system for automatically disengaging and engaging the friction clutch, is conventionally known. For example, in Japanese Patent Document JP-A-2003-329064, discloses a two-wheeled motor vehicle having an electric actuator and a hydraulic cylinder that together function as an automatic clutch system. In the disclosed system, the electric actuator is used to drive the hydraulic cylinder to disengage and engage the friction clutch. However, the hydraulic automatic clutch system can sometimes fail, which can result in potentially grievous consequences if the failure occurs undetected.
In order to meet such needs, a clutch failure system has been provided that includes a hydraulic sensor that can detect and monitor a pressure of hydraulic oil in order to detect a failure of the automatic clutch system.
However, the clutch failure system for detecting a failure of the automatic clutch system using a hydraulic sensor can result in a more complicated assembly process due to an additional step of installing the hydraulic sensor. Such a system can also require that sufficient space be available for installing the sensor. Oftentimes, a straddle-type vehicle, such as two-wheeled motor vehicle, can have severe spatial limitations for installing the hydraulic sensor and thereby render it difficult to secure an installation space. In addition, since the hydraulic sensor is physically installed, the installation area for the sensor must be sufficiently durable to permit such an installation.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a detection system for detecting failure of the automatic clutch system. Implementation of such a system in a vehicle can improve the reliability of the automatic clutch system. Further, there is a need in the art for a clutch failure detector that has a relatively simple assembly and installation process. In addition, there is a need in the art for a clutch failure detector that is able to be easily installed in a typically small installation space for such a device. Furthermore, there is a need in the art for a durable and reliable clutch failure detector.

Clutch failure detector, automatic clutch system and straddle-type vehicle


Hydrophilic glass fibers are formed by coating glass fibers with a blend of an amine-aldehyde with an acrylic. Evaporative cooler pads are produced by coating glass fibers with a blend of an acrylic and an amine-aldehyde during hot melt spinning of the glass fibers into a web, followed by drawing the web to expand the web or mat into a porous pad, and curing the pad to produce a dimensionally stable, hydrophilic, porous, glass fiber pad. Preferably, the glass fibers are coated with a binding/hydrophilic coating formed of a blend of a urea-formaldehyde with an acrylic. A method for cooling air using the hydrophilic, porous, glass fiber pads, and an improved evaporative cooler utilizing hydrophilic, porous, glass fiber pads is disclosed.

Evaporative cooler media utilize liquid evaporation to cool air by contacting warm air with a liquid, such as water, causing the liquid to evaporate, thereby cooling the air. Evaporative cooler media are especially useful in arid areas having high temperatures and low humidities. Typical evaporative cooling systems include a high volume blower and at least one cooler pad supplied with water. The pads are porous to allow air to flow through, and water is absorbed/adsorbed by the pads or distributed on the pads to increase the surface area available for evaporation, with the blower blowing warm air through the pad to cool the air.
Various materials have been used in the prior art to form the cooler pads used in evaporative coolers. For example, Baigas, Jr., in U.S. Pat. No. 4,556,521, discloses a high loft batt (pad) of hydrophobic textile fibers such as polyester fibers, which are pre-bonded together and then coated with a preformed hydrophilic foam, which coats the bonded synthetic fibers and bridges and spans random portions of the interstices and passageways of the batt to increase the available surface area for contact by water. Preferred foams are formed of vinyl acetate homopolymers and/or polymeric acrylic emulsions.
Hobbs, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,902,449, forms an evaporative cooler pad from natural cellulosic light weight elongate segments, such as aspen wood shavings, which are oriented in generally horizontal planes which extend substantially parallel to the opposing faces of the pad. The cellulosic segments are coated with a hydrophilic foam to provide a coating thickness substantially less than the thickness of the elongate segments. The hydrophilic foam coating and surface has a minute cellular structure which produces a capillary type effect when contacted with water to whisk the water through the pad. All patents and other printed materials referred to herein are incorporated by reference if reproduced in full hereinbelow. All information concerning chemicals used herein, trademarked or otherwise, is also incorporated by reference, such as but not limited to Material Safety Data Sheets discussing any chemicals mentioned herein.
Generally, evaporative cooler apparatus include an enclosure or housing in which an evaporative cooler pad is positioned so that water can be fed to the pad and air from a blower, located inside or adjacent to the enclosure, can be blown through the pad, thus cooling the air.
Unfortunately, prior art evaporative cooler media and evaporative cooler apparatus using the prior art media suffer from numerous deficiencies. For example, polyester fiber pads, which are formed of fibers coated with a hydrophilic coating, have too low a porosity and rapidly become clogged with dirt. Further, the polyester pads do not have sufficient dimensional stability or rigidity, and hence need greater reinforcement, such as by use of a reinforcement grid in the evaporative cooler apparatus housing. After several months of contact with water, the polyester fiber pads degenerate, and water causes them to collapse under their own weight if they are not replaced soon enough.
Prior art evaporative cooling pads formed from wood shavings also suffer from bacterial and fungal growth due to microorganisms carried by air circulated through the pads, which results in the pads giving off objectionable odors; further, bacterial action degrades the organic matter, causing the pads to sag, thus loosing the desired porosity for air passage, and reducing the surface area available for evaporation.
As the porosity of evaporative cooler pads decreases or as cooler pads become clogged in evaporative coolers, greater strain is placed on the blowers which draw or blow air through the cooler media; this results in increased energy consumption, increased wear on the blowers, or more frequent replacement of blowers. Therefore, there is a meed for an improved evaporative cooling media having improved dimensional stability, high porosity, and high hydrophilicity, yet the media should not be subject to rapid bacterial or fungal decay and should be capable of being produced at a cost comparable to a conventional evaporative cooler media. There is also a need for an improved evaporative cooler apparatus utilizing such an improved cooler media, so that the apparatus will last longer and be more efficient in cooling, and yet require less frequent pad replacement.
To overcome some of these shortcomings, attempts were made to produce evaporative cooler media from inert inorganic or mineral fibers, such as those made of silica, and in particular, attempts were undertaken to form evaporative cooler media from fiber glass. Fiber glass mats are produced by melting glass to form long thin fibers and then winding of the fibers on a drum to form a mat. (This is known as hot melt spinning.) The mats are subsequently pulled or drawn to expand the mats into porous pads. Since prior art cooler pads had been produced by coating polyester fibers with an acrylic emulsion (otherwise known as an acrylic, acrylic polymer mixture, acrylic polymer blend, acrylic latex, latex, or acrylic resin), glass fibers were coated with an acrylic resin in an attempt to produce a hydrophilic, porous, glass fiber cooler media. However, the acrylic resin coating jelled onto the fibers in the glass fiber mat, and the glass fiber mats would not expand well into a pad (hence the resulting pads had zero or almost zero porosity).
Porous fiber glass pads are known, and are generally used as air filters. In order to form expanded, dimensionally stable high loft fiber glass pads from mats, the glass fibers are often coated with a binder during spinning, such as a urea-formaldehyde blend (otherwise known as urea-formaldehyde copolymer, UF, or urea-formaldehyde); however, binders such as urea-formaldehyde co-polymers degrade in water. Hence, such urea-formaldehyde bonded pads could not be used as evaporative cooler media, since the water would rapidly degrade the urea-formaldehyde which binds the fibers into a 3-dimensional porous matrix. Thus, early experiments failed to produce a hydrophilic glass fiber or hydrophilic glass fiber pads. (See U.S. Pat. No. 4,904,522 for binding of glass fiber mats with aqueous polyisocyanate emulsions for more information on glass fiber binding.)
Nevertheless, if a hydrophilic glass fiber could be produced and formed into a dimensionally stable porous pad, such pads would be highly useful in evaporative coolers and for other filtration purposes.
Therefore, it is a primary object of the present invention to produce a hydrophilic glass fiber.
It is a further object of the present invention to produce a dimensionally stable porous glass fiber pad having hydrophilic properties.
It is yet another object of the present invention to develop a method for forming hydrophilic glass fibers and dimensionally stable porous glass fiber pads having hydrophilic properties.
It is still yet another object of the present invention to provide an evaporative cooler apparatus utilizing a hydrophilic glass fiber cooling media.

Glass fiber evaporative cooler media, method of forming same, use thereof in an evaporative cooling method, and an evaporative cooler apparatus utilizing glass fiber cooling media