A power turbine unit includes a turbine housing, an exhaust duct, a turbine wheel with blades positioned in the exhaust duct, a shaft rigidly connected to the turbine wheel and rotatably supported in the housing, and an oil sealing system. The oil sealing system includes a sealing arrangement positioned in the vicinity of the turbine wheel for preventing oil from escaping from the turbine housing along the shaft to the exhaust duct. The oil sealing system further includes a buffer gas duct that is arranged to supply exhaust gas from the exhaust duct to the sealing arrangement for pressurizing the sealing arrangement.

This invention relates to a power turbine unit comprising a turbine housing, an exhaust duct, a turbine wheel with blades positioned in said exhaust duct, a shaft rigidly connected to said turbine wheel and rotatably supported m said housing, and an oil sealing system comprising a sealing arrangement positioned in the vicinity of the turbine wheel for preventing oil from escaping from said turbine housing along said shaft to said exhaust duct. The invention also relates to an internal combustion engine comprising such a power turbine unit. The power turbine unit according to the invention can advantageously be provided to all types of internal combustion engines, in particular large combustion engines, such as in heavy trucks, buses and constructional vehicles.
It is known for example from document DE 10 2005 047 216 A1 to seal the turbine shaft by means of pressurised air. The pressurised air is supplied to a region of the shaft that is axially delimited by two sealing elements. This solution is relatively complex, and it requires reliable and constant supply of pressure controlled air from an air compressor, as well as two high performance sealing elements. There is thus a need for a simplified sealing arrangement fin a power turbine unit, where the above mentioned disadvantages are removed.
It is desirable to provide an inventive power turbine unit where the previously mentioned problems are at least partly avoided. The invention concerns, according to an aspect thereof, a power turbine unit comprising a turbine housing, an exhaust duct, a turbine wheel with blades positioned in said exhaust duct, a shaft rigidly connected to said turbine wheel and rotatably supported in said housing, and an oil sealing system comprising a sealing arrangement positioned in the vicinity of the turbine wheel for preventing oil from escaping from said turbine housing along said shaft to said exhaust duct.
An aspect of the invention is characterized in that said oil sealing system comprises a buffer gas duct that is arranged to supply exhaust gas from said exhaust duct to said sealing arrangement for pressurizing said sealing arrangement.
The inventive solution results, according to aspects thereof, in many advantages over the prior art. Most important, it does not require any pressurised air to be supplied from an external air compressor or the like. As a result, no active air flow and pressure control is required, no air supply tubes are required, and less pressurised air is required, thereby reducing fuel consumption and cost. The inventive solution, according to aspects thereof, is self-sustained and as such more reliable and allows simplified assembly of the engine.
Further advantages are achieved according to aspects thereof. For example, the buffer gas duct may be formed partly of an outer buffer gas duct wall separate from said housing. This design allows the outer buffer gas duct wall to operate at a higher temperature than the turbine housing temperature. The turbine housing has relatively good thermal connection to other parts of the engine in which the power turbine is arranged to be installed. For example, the turbine housing may be rigidly connected to a fluid coupling for transmitting the rotary power of the power turbine to for example an engine output shaft. This results in a cooling effect on the turbine housing. Furthermore, the lubricating oil within the engine also has a cooling effect on the turbine housing. When hot exhaust gas contacts the relatively cool turbine housing, soot and particles deposit on the cool surface and this may be a problem if the turbine housing forms a buffer gas duct wall. By forming the buffer gas duct partly of an outer buffer gas duct wall hat is separate from the turbine housing, the outer buffer gas duct wall may with proper installation attain a higher temperature than the turbine housing temperature such that less soot and particles of the exhaust flow will deposit on the surface of the outer buffer gas duct wall and more soot and particles will burn off when exhaust temperature is high.
Moreover, the buffer gas duct may be formed partly of an outer buffer gas duct wall and an inner buffer gas duct wall, each of which being separate from said housing. As described above, the separate inner and outer buffer gas duct walls allows higher duct wall temperature, thereby reducing soot and particles deposition on the inner walls of the buffer gas duct.
Furthermore, the buffer gas duct may be formed by at least an outer buffer as duct wall that is fastened to said housing by means of a fastener, or the buffer gas duct may be formed of said outer buffer gas duct wall and an inner buffer gas duct wall, each of which being fastened to said housing by means of a fastener. As described above, the inner and/or outer buffer gas ducts walls may result in higher temperature of the walls of the buffer gas duct, thereby reducing the trapped and contaminated inside of the buffer gas duct.
Furthermore, the outer buffer gas duct wall may form an inner wall of said exhaust duct. The dual function of the outer buffer has duct wall as buffer gas duct wall and exhaust gas wall results in a higher temperature of the outer buffer gas duct wall and allows simple and straightforward inlet of high pressure and high temperature exhaust has to the buffer gas duct for supply thereof to the sealing arrangement.
Furthermore, the inner and/or outer buffer gas duct wall may be formed of sheet metal. Sheet metal generally exhibits high thermal conductivity, high thermal form stability, and relatively cost-effective manufacturing processes.
Furthermore, the inner and/or outer buffer gas duct wall may be at least partly formed of an annular conical sleeve section that surrounds said shaft. The annular conical sleeve defines at least partly a buffer gas duct having a large flow area, such that internal fluid dynamic losses are reduced, and sufficient bailer gas flow is accomplished.
Furthermore, the buffer gas duct may be thermally insulated from said housing. Thereby the cooling effect of the housing, is reduced and the buffer gas duct walls may reach higher operating temperatures, and consequently reduced soot and particles deposition.
Furthermore, the thermal insulation may be partly formed by an air gap and/or insulation material having a low thermal conductivity, which thermal insulation is arranged between the buffer gas duct and said housing.
Furthermore, the thermal insulation may be partly realised by providing said fastener in at least one axial end region of said buffer gas duct, and specifically only in one axial end region of said buffer gas duct. The fasteners of the buffer gas duct potentially results in increased thermal coupling between the housing and buffer gas duct walls, thereby reducing the operating temperature of said walls. By providing fasteners in axial end regions, a minimum amount of fasteners is required to securely fasten the buffer gas duct walls to the housing.
Furthermore, said thermal insulation may be partly realised by insulation material provided between at least part of said fastener and said inner and/or outer buffer gas duct walls. This design further reduces the cooling effect of the housing.
Furthermore, said fastener may be engaged in a hole or recess in said inner and/or outer buffer gas duct walls. This design allows cost-effective manufacturing of the buffer gas duct walls.
Furthermore, said outer buffer gas duct wall may have a first section forming part of said exhaust duct, and a second section extending radially inwardly towards said shaft. This design allows the outer buffer gas duct wall itself to guide the exhaust gas directly to the sealing arrangement without the need for any intermediate gas guiding means, such as pipes etc.
Furthermore, said sealing arrangement may comprise a first sealing section and a second sealing section, said first sealing section being axially displaced from said second sealing section, and said buffer gas duct is arranged to supply exhaust gas to an annular cavity that is axially delimited by said first and second sealing sections. The first and second sealing sections are configured to deliver a flow of exhaust gas past the first sealing section and into the engine, but without feeding an excessive amount of high pressure exhaust into the engine. The flow of exhaust gas past the first sealing section and into the engine is caused by the pressure difference between the annular cavity of the sealing arrangement and the inside of the engine, i.e. the pressure within the crankcase housing, also referred to as engine blow-by pressure. When this pressure difference is positive, a flow of exhaust gas past the first sealing section will occur, thereby effectively preventing any leakage of oil out through the sealing arrangement. Too high flow is however negative since it requires increased crankcase ventilation. The second sealing section is preferably arranged to completely prevent exhaust gas from escaping the annular cavity past the second sealing section and out into the exhaust stream, but in practice such a flow of exhaust gas will nearly always occur.
Furthermore, said second sealing section is defined partly by said outer buffer gas duct wall.
Furthermore, said second sealing section is defined partly by at least one radial projection arranged on said shaft. A radial projection arranged on the shaft may in cooperation with an opposing counter-surface form a labyrinth seal that enables a sufficient sealing performance in a cost-effective and simple manner. Due to the lack additional separate external sealing rings, or the like, this solution is also particularly robust and maintenance-free.
Furthermore, at least one exhaust gas inlet may be provided in a wall of said exhaust duct for conveying exhaust gas from said exhaust duct into said buffer gas duct. This arrangement has the advantage of providing hot exhaust gas with sufficient pressure to the buffer gas duct without the need for additional components. Advantageously, the at least one exhaust gas inlet may be provided directly in the outer buffer gas duct wall. This simplifies manufacturing of the power turbine unit, and enables hot pressurised exhaust gas to directly enter the buffer gas duct upon passing through the exhaust gas inlet.
Furthermore, at least one exhaust gas inlet may be formed as a NACA inlet. This design allows good inlet flow of exhaust gas with low disturbance of the exhaust gas flow in the exhaust gas duct.
Furthermore, said exhaust duct may be a diffuser duct, and said at least one inlet may be arranged in a downstream region of said diffuser duct, where the exhaust gas static pressure is configured to be higher than in an upstream region of said diffuser duct. Increased exhaust gas static pressure means improved flow into the exhaust gas inlet in the exhaust gas duct, such that sufficient pressure may always be provided at the sealing arrangement to prevent oil leakage.
Furthermore, said at least one inlet may be arranged downstream of the turbine wheel in said exhaust duct. Arranging the inlet, downstream of the turbine wheel allows a shorter buffer gas duct; because the sealing arrangement is also arranged downstream the turbine wheel.
The invention also relates to an internal combustion engine comprising a turbo charger and a power turbine unit, wherein said power turbine unit is arranged downstream said turbo charger and connected to an engine crankshaft via fluid coupling and a gear train.

Pressurized seal system for a power turbine unit


A method for coherent detection and demodulation of a FDMA signal, that is a superposition of amplitude modulated carriers, is provided. An array of special digital phase-locked loops (PLLs) is implemented in a digital signal processor (DSP) for processing the received signal after it is digitized, and for extracting the envelopes corresponding to each carrier. Each PLL is deliberately made to slowly respond to error signals in order to allow the loop to preserve its phase while the amplitude value of the envelope flips sign. A down-decimation technique is employed in order to reduce the computational load. This is achieved by applying a finite impulse-response filter (FIR) only once per each frame, thereby only a single multiplication of the frame by the vector of filter""s taps is employed. A digital generation of sine and cosine sampled waveforms is employed inside a PLL by using a real-time solution of a difference equation. Implementation of the sine and cosine generation inside a PLL provides an automatic control of the sine and cosine phase.

The present invention relates to coherent detection and amplitude demodulation of frequency division multiple access (FDMA) electromagnetic signals. More specifically, it relates to the field of coherent detection of suppressed amplitude modulated carriers, particularly for determining position and orientation of a moving object.
The concept of transmitting and receiving electromagnetic signals for determining position and orientation of a moving object is known in the prior art (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,314,251, U.S. Pat. No. 4,742,356, U.S. Pat. No. 4,849,692, U.S. Pat. No. 5,646,525 and the references thereof). The systems based on this concept, typically, include a plurality of transmitters generating electromagnetic fields and a magnetometer that may be any transducer, or plurality of transducers. Each of these transducers is capable of producing an output that is an analog electric signal proportional to superposition of the received electromagnetic fields. For instance, the magnetometer may receive multiplicity of signals simultaneously using frequency division multiple access (FDMA). The foregoing prior art describes various techniques, wherein the output of the detector can be converted into the moving object position and orientation relative to a reference coordinate frame associated with a source having a plurality of the transmitters.
For example FIG. 1a illustrates a practical situation in which two electromagnetic field transmitters A and B, representing any number of transmitters, generate oscillating electromagnetic fields, which are received by a magnetometer C. Each of these electromagnetic waves may be distinguished by its unique oscillating frequency. The strength of each individual field, characterized by its amplitude, is a function of coordinates, which are determined by the reference coordinate frame. The strength of the signal produced by the magnetometer depends not only on its position but also on the angle between the magnetic field and the surface of the magnetometer. The transmitted electromagnetic fields, transmitted at high frequencies, serve as carriers whose amplitude is modulated by the motion. As the magnetometer C varies its location and orientation by changing its coordinates and angles in the space over time, the amplitude of the output electric signal produced by the magnetometer also changes, thus creating a time-dependant waveform. This waveform is a superposition of all carriers, each modulated according to the location and orientation of the magnetometer. Hence, the individual waveform for each carrier is thereby determines an envelope that is a function of the magnetometer location and orientation in time. A total analog electric signal produced by the magnetometer (referred to hereinafter as a received message) is proportional to the strength of the entire electromagnetic field whose value is proportional to the superposition of the field strength of individual modulated carriers of the all transmitters.
FIG. 1b illustrates the modulation of the carriers originated from transmitters A and B each by its own envelope. FIG. 1c depicts the analog electric signal V produced by the magnetometer over time in a multi-transmitter environment of transmitters A and B. In general, the received message is proportional to a superposition of the amplitude-modulated carriers of the all transmitters within reception limit. It is relevant to note that the received message also may include some noise (not shown).
Accordingly, since the envelope modulating the carrier is a function of the magnetometer location and orientation, then demodulation of the received message for the purpose of estimation of the individual envelop corresponding to each individual carrier is a very important task.
Commonly, a digitally implemented phased-locked loop (PLL), in a digital signal processor (DSP), is assigned to the task of demodulating the received message. PLL in general, is fairly known in the prior art (see, for example, Jacob Klapper and John T. Frankle, Phase-Locked and Frequency Feedback Systems, Academic Press, New York, 1972; Ch. 8), however these techniques were employed usually for carrier recovery rather than for processing the received message and envelope demodulation.
There is, accordingly, a need in the art to provide a method and a system for envelope extraction based on the PLL technique. The quality of the envelope estimate depends on the ability to overcome all sources of inaccuracies such as coupling between the individual carriers and harmonic distortions while preserving a spectral bandwidth covering the spectrum of the modulating signal. In addition, the demodulation process should be performed in real time and introduce only a short processing delay. This is relatively complicated computation task, which adversely effects the DSP performance and may interfere with real-time requirements. An application of the PLL technique in DSP may allow coping with these problems.
One has to bear in mind that the modulating signal may take either positive or negative value. Thus recovering the sign of the envelope is essential for unambiguous tracking. A specific design of PLL, namely tanlock may be used when the sign of the envelope is of importance as in the case for magnetic trackers. While implementation of tanlock design in PLL technique is known in the prior art (see, for example, xe2x80x9cPerformance Analysis of Digital Tanlock Loopxe2x80x9d, Jae Cohn Lee and Chong Kwan Un, IEEE Trans. Comm. 30:2398-2411; xe2x80x9cNoise Analysis of a Digital Tanlock Loopxe2x80x9d, Carlos A. Pomalza-Raez, IEEE Trans. AES 24:713-718; U.S. Pat. No. 4,068,210, U.S. Pat. No. 4,782,532, U.S. Pat. No. 4,872,207), it was not applied therein for envelope extraction.
Moreover, an ordinary PLL, including tanlock-type PLL, are both designed to respond as quickly as the signal-to-noise ratio permits. However, this is a drawback in the problem where a signed enveloped is needed. Rather, a slow response is desired such that the phase of the voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) of a phase locked loop would preserve its phase when the sign of the envelope flips.
It should be noted that during the process of envelope extraction, it is necessary to synthesize sine and cosine trigonometric functions. One common approach for the synthesis of the trigonometric functions is to build a lookup table. This method can be further enhanced by interpolation between table entries (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,905,177). Alternatively, sine and cosine waveforms can be synthesized using a real-time solution of a difference equation (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,888,719). Several enhancements to these methods were disclosed (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,113,361, U.S. Pat. No. 4,761,751, U.S. Pat. No. 5,631,586). Despite the apparent superiority of the difference equation method, due to the finite precision of the computer, implementation of difference equation solution in DSP may produce an accumulating error. The error may lead to both phase and amplitude drift (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,285,044) affecting the accuracy of the envelope calculation, and thus a control mechanism is required.
There is, accordingly, a need in the art to provide an improved method and system for coherent detection, and demodulation of a FDMA signal comprising a superposition of different carrier amplitude modulated signals. The improved method and system utilize a phase locked loop technique for the envelope extraction and might cope with the drawbacks of the hitherto known usage of the PLL technique. There is a further need in the art to provide a novel technique for generation of the sine and cosine trigonometric functions within a PLL.
According to the invention, a magnetometer in a multi-transmitter environment receives a signal originated from several transmitters and produces an s analog electric signal, which is the received message, that is proportional to superposition of amplitude-modulated carriers of the all transmitters. Further, this analog electric signal is digitized and all signal processing is performed digitally.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, an array of special digital phase-locked loops (PLLs) is implemented in a DSP for processing the received message after it is digitized and extracting the envelopes corresponding to each carrier. Each loop is tuned and locked on a single carrier. Thus, each member of the loop-array produces an estimate of the envelope of a single carrier.
In accordance with the invention, the PLL is implemented in a DSP and used for coherent envelope extraction is deliberately made to slowly respond to error signals. This mechanism allows the loop to preserve its phase while the amplitude value of the envelope flips sign.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a down-decimation technique is employed in order to reduce the computational load. This is achieved by applying a finite impulse-response filter (FIR) only once per each frame, thereby only a single multiplication of the frame by the vector of filter""s taps is employed.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the invention, a digital generation of sine and cosine sampled waveforms is employed inside a PLL by using a real-time solution of a difference equation. Implementation of the sine and cosine generation inside a PLL provides an automatic control of the sine and cosine phase.
In accordance with a broad aspect of the invention there is provided a method for coherent detection and demodulation of a FDMA signal being a superposition of amplitude modulated carriers, the method comprising the steps of:
(i) receiving said FDMA signal by a system for detection and demodulation of the signal; and
(ii) processing the signal by using a PLL technique and extracting an envelope of at least one carrier.
In accordance with another broad aspect of the invention there is provided a system for coherent detection and demodulation of a FDMA signal being a superposition of amplitude modulated carriers of said transmitters, the system comprising a digital coherent detector for receiving said FDMA signal, processing the signal and extracting a signed envelope of at least one amplitude modulated carrier, the detector comprising:
(i) a transducer for transforming said FDMA signal into analog electric signal,
(ii) a front-end electronics for receiving said analog electric signal and providing pre-amplification and pre-filtering of the input signal,
(iii) an analog to digital converter (ADC) for translating the electric signal coming after said front-end electronics into digitized signal data sampled at fixed ADC sampling intervals, and
(iv) a digital signal processor (DSP) for processing the digitized signal data and providing a real-time estimate of the signed envelope of at least one amplitude modulated carrier,
the detector synchronized by a synchronization signal delivering initial phase information to the DSP for estimation of the envelope sign.

Digital coherent envelope demodulation of FDMA signals


With the present invention the sheet shaped therapeutic substance can be accurately and easily affixed to the inside of the human body. As shown in FIG. 6A, the sheet shaped substance can be mounted on the head with wrinkles being formed. When this takes place, the sheet shaped substance is held in contact with the outer periphery of the head. Then, by making the pressure of the fluid inside the vent apertures positive, the sheet shaped substance can be blown off. The surface of the head is closely parallel to an inner surface of the esophagus wall for the sheet shaped substance to be affixed. Therefore, this particularly makes it possible to perform such applying step (FIG. 6B) in a more reliable fashion.

Therapeutic methods have been known in which a substance (a sheet shaped therapeutic substance), formed in a thin sheet shape, is affixed to an affected area of a patient. As part of a regenerative therapy conducted in recent years, in particular, the therapeutic methods have heretofore been conducted for application of a sheet (a cell sheet) made of an externally cultured cell. For the sake of executing such therapeutic methods, the cell sheet needs to be transferred to the affected area and accurately applied thereto. There is also likelihood in some cases that the affected area belongs to the inside (such as digestive organs) of a human body. In such likelihood, the cell sheet needs to be transferred toward the inside of the human body and carry out work for affixing the cell sheet to the affected area while observing the same from the outside. This results in need to use a dedicated device.
Patent Document 1 describes about an apparatus including a head, mounted on a distal end of a syringe, which has a distal end formed with a holding surface on which a sheet shaped substance is held in place. The holding surface has small apertures that are filled with liquid, which is depressurized such that the sheet shaped substance is adsorbed onto the holding surface. Manipulating the syringe enables controls to be performed for depressurizing or pressurizing liquid. Liquid may suffice to be depressurized for transfer of the sheet shaped substance and pressurized for affixing step.
Patent Document 2 describes about an apparatus including a sheet supporting body (head) available to be switched between two kinds of planar and cylindrical shapes. The sheet supporting body also includes an opening portion and depressurizing air in the opening portion allows a sheet shaped substance to be adsorbed. With the sheet supporting body made cylindrical in shape during transfer, further, the whole of the sheet can be accommodated in a tube for enabling the sheet shaped substance to be protected. Also, this makes it possible to easily transfer the sheet supporting body into the living body. When mounting the sheet shaped substance or when affixing the same, the sheet shaped substance is made planar in shape, resulting in a capability of easily performing such works.
Patent Document 3 describes about an apparatus in which a balloon, adapted to inflate with internal air being pressurized, is incorporated in a part of an outer tube to allow a sheet shaped substance to be adsorbed onto a surface of the balloon. With such a structure, the sheet shaped substance is adsorbed onto the surface of the balloon with the balloon being deflated, enabling the outer tube to be inserted to the human body. Subsequently, the balloon is moved to a location in close proximity to an affected area, under which the balloon is inflated. This allows the sheet shaped substance to move in a direction perpendicular to an extending direction of the outer tube, thereby enabling the sheet shaped substance to be affixed to the affected area. In this case, since an endoscope or the like can also be incorporated in the outer tube at the same time, it becomes possible to conduct work for application of the sheet shaped substance while observing such work with the endoscope.
By using such apparatuses, it is capable of accurately and safely perform works for transferring the sheet shaped substance, such as the cell sheet or the like, to the affected area and affixing the same thereto.

Sheet shaped therapeutic substance transfer apparatus and method of affixing sheet shaped therapeutic substance


Method of and apparatus for adapting slip threshold values for a propulsion slip and/or braking slip control system to the existing tires of a motor vehicle. Here, the instantaneously effective coefficient of friction between vehicle and road is determined from the measured values of the vehicle speed and vehicle longitudinal acceleration from a graph, and with the predetermined value or the predetermined function for the slip thresholds being substituted or corrected by the slip values measured at the driven wheels by use of an operational state defined by a measurement window of a performance graph.

The invention relates to a method and apparatus for adapting slip threshold values for a propulsion slip and/or braking slip control system to the type or condition of the tires of a motor vehicle.
German Offenlegungsschrift No. 3,545,652 discloses a device for controlling torque output in response to slip threshold value signals. In this device, a mean slip threshold is substituted by a lower value, when the vehicle travels faster than a predetermined speed in a curve and the vehicle longitudinal acceleration is within a specific range, for providing a propulsion slip control for the vehicle. Conversely, the means slip threshold is substituted by a higher value when the vehicle likewise travels in a curve and the vehicle longitudinal acceleration is above the above-mentioned range. An adaptation of the slip threshold to the stability required for travelling curves is therefore detectable in a sense when travelling curves. The coefficient of friction, i.e., the grip of the vehicle relative to the nature of the road just being traveled, is left out of consideration, so that a changeover is made to a lower slip threshold value in the case of dry gripping road, for example, although this is not actually necessary if the actual coefficient of friction of the road was considered.
A variation of slip threshold values has been known only in the case cf propulsion slip control systems adaptable to specific driving states and/or to improve traction and/or stability. No attention had been paid to different equipment of the vehicle as regards the tires, although vehicles with both propulsion slip and braking slip control systems react very differently to one and the same road, according to whether they are equipped with summer or winter tires, or with new or worn tires.
Constant slip values which had to be coordinated with the least favorable case, smooth ice, are used predominantly in known control systems. However, these slip thresholds are too low for a higher coefficient of friction, so that only slight accelerations are possible and the propulsion slip control system is switched on with unnecessary frequency. Different sets of tires and the vehicle reactions which they modify are not taken into consideration.
It is therefore the object of the invention to disclose a method which can better predetermine slip thresholds associated with the existing tires of a motor vehicle. This creates optimum control conditions in both propulsion slip and braking slip control systems. It is also the object of the invention to disclose an apparatus for performing this method.
The object of the invention concerns a method of adapting slip threshold values for a propulsion slip and/or braking slip control system to existing tires of a motor vehicle by utilizing a curve of the attainable vehicle acceleration (a.sub.x) of a specific vehicle at vehicle standstill (v.sub.F =0), as determined from the speeds of the non-driven wheels, determined as a function of the coefficient of friction (.mu.). This curve is extended into a graph of the coefficient of friction (.mu.) as a function of vehicle speed (v.sub.F) and of vehicle acceleration (a.sub.x), taking into consideration the resistances to motion which are a function of vehicle speed (v.sub.F). A measurement window associated with a specific coefficient of friction (.mu..sub.o) is established in this graph. Then, a basic slip threshold value (.mu..sub.o) to be associated with the specific coefficient of friction (.mu..sub.o) is substituted by the slip value (.mu..sub.l) occurring at the driven wheels, when the motor vehicle attains a driving state defined by the measurement window, with the vehicle travelling straight ahead (.beta.=0), the driven wheels of the vehicle exhibiting no speed differential (.DELTA..nu.H), the acceleration (a.sub.R) of the driven wheels corresponding to the vehicle acceleration (a.sub.x), and when no propulsion slip or braking slip control occurs. The respective slip threshold value (.lambda..sub.s) is thus obtained which corresponds to the corrected slip value (.lambda..sub.l) associated with the specific coefficient of friction (.mu..sub.o).
It is possible by this method to adapt the slip thresholds automatically to the respective tires during travel and thus to create optimum control conditions.

Method and apparatus for adapting slip threshold values for a propulsion slip and/or braking slip control system to the tires of a motor vehicle


A winding-up method for winding up a magnetic tape, includes: winding up the magnetic tape around a takeup reel by laying turns one on top of another while causing the magnetic tape to run; and performing a tension control of maintaining tension exerted on a wound-up magnetic tape for a predetermined time.

Magnetic tapes are used as recording media for backup of computer data. Among magnetic tapes are ones which are configured in such a manner that a primer layer and a magnetic layer are laid on a base film and a back coat layer is formed on the surface, opposite to the surface on which the magnetic layer is formed, of the base film.
A magnetic tape is used being housed in a magnetic tape cartridge. For example, the magnetic tape cartridge is composed of a tape reel around which the magnetic tape is wound and a cartridge body which houses the tape reel.
In assembling a magnetic tape cartridge, a magnetic tape raw roll which has been manufactured in advance is slit into magnetic tapes and each of those magnetic tapes is wound up around the tape reel of a magnetic tape cartridge by a winding-up apparatus.
When a magnetic tape has been wound up around a tape reel by the winding-up apparatus, an air layer (what is called an air film) may be formed between adjoining turns of the wound-up magnetic tape. An air layer is formed through mixing of air that exists in the vicinity of a running portion of a magnetic tape being wound. If air layers are formed, the tightness of winding of a wound-up magnetic tape may be reduced when the tension that has been exerted on the magnetic tape during the winding is released after the completion of wounding-up around the tape reel. In such an event, after the magnetic tape cartridge is inserted into a drive device, an error may occur in a loading operation of pulling the magnetic tape into the drive device out of the magnetic tape cartridge or a magnetic recording or reproducing operation of the drive device.
In the winding-up apparatus disclosed in JP-A-2004-307091, when a magnetic tape is wound, the surface of a winding subject portion of the magnetic tape is pressed inward against a tape reel by a pressing mechanism to prevent inclusion of air through association with a running portion of the magnetic tape.

Magnetic tape winding-up method, magnetic tape winding-up apparatus, manufacturing method of magnetic tape cartridge, and magnetic tape cartridge


MU-MIMO and CoMP have potentials to increase the cell capacity by many folds. Interferences and channel feedback overhead, however, severely limits such potentials. Method of reference signal-based grid of beams (RS-GOB) is described. RS-GOB distributes the effective antennas of a base station into multiple beams, thereby significantly reducing the feedback overhead of CoMP and making effective use of CoMP to turn the interferences into cooperating useful signals. RS-GOB also reduces the need for small HetNet cells, which mitigates the interferences of small HetNet cells on macro cells.

1. Field of Application
The following description relates generally to telecommunications systems and wireless communications systems.
2. Prior Art
Cell capacity is a key performance measure in wireless cellular networks. Next generation of cellular standard, long-term evolution, advanced (LTE-A), has adopted many capacity-enhancing technologies, including coordinated multi-point transmission/reception (CoMP), multi-user multi-input multi-output (MU-MIMO), and heterogeneous networks (HetNet). Together these technologies have the potential to improve the cell capacity by many folds.
Successful implementation of the capacity-enhancing technologies in cellular networks, however, faces tremendous challenges. There are strong interferences between standard macro cells and the small HetNet cells. Interferences can also be severe between beams in MU-MIMO. Existing means to overcome or mitigate these challenges may significantly offset the benefits of the capacity-enhancing technologies. For example, one way to reduce the interference is to schedule the interfering transmission antennas or base stations to transmit on different resources in the manners of time multiplexing and frequency multiplexing, etc. However, resource multiplexing reduces the cell capacity considerably. CoMP is another way to reduce the interferences, but the channel feedback overhead of CoMP may overwhelm the uplink due to more and more transmitting antennas deployed in a macro cell for MU-MIMO.
Small HetNet cells also need backhaul connections to communicate with the macro cell and the network, which increases the deployment cost. The distributive nature of small HetNet cells also makes the centralized control of the cellular networks more difficult.
Thus methods, apparatus, and systems are needed that overcome the implementation challenges and that fully realize the benefits of the capacity-enhancing technologies.

Coordinated multi-point transmission and multi-user MIMO


Disclosed is a method for fabricating nanofluidic channels having a height of from about 1 nm to about 10 nm. Generally, the method includes formation of doped silicon parallel strips in a silicon substrate, formation of a native oxide layer on the substrate, and etching of the native oxide layer at one of the strips to form a channel of a depth of between about 1 nm and about 10 nm. The method also includes bonding a second wafer to the surface, the second wafer including through etched windows to provide probe contacts to two of the parallel strips during use. These parallel strips provide high-frequency transmission lines in the device that can provide broadband dielectric spectroscopy measurement within the nanochannels.

Planar nanofluidic channels are powerful tools for the investigating of materials under confinement such as confined water, DNA and proteins. The channels are also essential components in nanofluidic systems.
Some materials naturally include nanochannels or a random network of pores. For example, carbon nanotubes, zeolites and polymers such as poly(vinyl methyl ether) (PVME) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) have nanochannels. However, many limitations with utilizing nanochannels in these materials exists, such as their randomness, the difficulty of controlling and modifying their pore surfaces uniformly and consistently, the difficulty of studying the effects of external electric fields, and the occurrence of parasitic signals that obscure test readings.
Various methods such as wet-etch and dry-etch of silicon and silicon dioxide thin films have been developed for the fabrication of nanochannels from about 20 nm to 100 nm. For example, techniques developed from traditional semiconductor processing such as patterning, thin film deposition, etching and wafer bonding have produced nanochannels from about 20 nm to 100 nm, mainly for nanofluidic research and bio-molecule separation and detection investigations.
Unfortunately, difficulties in producing nanofluidic channels having a height of from about 1 nm to about 10 nm remain. Channels having a height from about 1 nm to about 10 nm would be useful for many scientific and engineering investigations, including confinement effect research, tribology studies and biology studies. For example, nanofluidic channels have been used with dielectric spectrometers to measure the effects of an electric field on a liquid or gas. Dielectric spectrometers probe the interactions between a time-dependent electric field and molecules that are polarized and/or charged. The ability to form nanofluidic channels of a smaller height could greatly improve such devices.
Dielectric spectrometers having nanofluidic channels can be used to detect and analyze biological molecules, cells, their dynamic processes and surface interactions, such as protein and DNA analysis (including DNA folding-unfolding process analysis), cell detection and analysis, molecular structure analysis, and bimolecular surface interactions; analyze the dynamics of glass-forming liquids (such as glycerol) and supercooled liquids (compared with other experimental instruments, dielectric spectroscopy is proving to be an ideal tool to study the relaxation processes of these materials); study the molecular dynamics of polymers; in-situ sensing and monitoring; and investigate molecular dynamics in confined spaces. Examples of confined liquids include biological water between two membranes and liquid lubricants between two friction surfaces. Since both are only a few molecules thick, dielectric spectroscopy with nanofluidic channels enables the study of the dynamic interactions between surfaces and confined liquids.
While various methods for fabricating planar nanofluidic channels have been developed, room for improvement in the art exists.

Dielectric spectrometers with planar nanofluidic channels


A hinge, particularly for furniture doors, in which two fastening elements are connected via inner and outer link elements to form a linkage, the outer link element of which has a curved face and a vertex on which a longitudinally extending, active leg of a leg spring slides and holds the hinge both in its closed position and in its open position, when it presses on the vertex, but has no effect when it is seated against the curved face.

Furniture door hinges are known which comprise first and second fastening elements, connected to each other by inner and outer link elements, each of which is articulated at one of its ends to the first fastening element and at its other end to the second fastening element. The outer link element executes a swivelling movement in two opposite directions on each complete opening or closing movement of the hinge and has a curved face which is partially cylindrical concentric with and disposed at a spacing from its fixed articulation axis and a vertex being disposed at one end of the curved face. A spring element acting on said lank element remains inactive when it is seated against the curved face end pushes the hinge into its closed position when it leaves the curved face.
In this type of known hinge the first fastening element is fixed to the body of the piece of furniture and the second fastening element is fastened to a door, and both fastening elements are attached to each other via the link elements to form a four-bar linkage acting in such a way That the door not only swings about a vertical axis when opened, but also at the same time projects beyond the front face of the piece of furniture and is displaced laterally in relation to the side edge of the latter. By this means a door placed on the front face of a piece of furniture takes up no space at the side near the body of the piece end cannot bump into immediately adjacent doors or drawers when it is opened.
A hinge of this known type is discharged in DE-C2-25 39 197. The curved face is disposed on two projections which project approximately et right angles into the first fastening element in the region of the fixed hinge pin of the outer link element. Rollers roll on these projections, and ere mounted on the ends of a spring which is located in the first fastening element and which holds the hinge in its closed position when the rollers disposed at the ends of the spring roll over the vertex and press laterally against the projections. Using this known hinge, the door can only be held in its closed position by the hinge. As soon as the spring rollers have ridden over the vertex on the projections of the outer link element, the door leaf can swing freely to end fro into its fully open position. This has the disadvantage that even fully open doors of pieces of furniture which are not exactly vertical can close again by themselves.
The known hinge also requires much space, since the projections which extend into the first fastening element and the spring acting on these projections are disposed behind one another in the longitudinal direction of the fastening element. Moreover the spring, which only serves to hold the hinge in its closed position, is costly to manufacture and difficult to install. In addition, the rollers et the free ends of the spring require a free-swinging axial pin and a lateral guide if they are not to slide off the curved faces. Furthermore, if the spring is constructed as a coil spring, it requires an additional bearing pin in the first fastening element of the hinge.
A hinge is also already known (U.S. Pat. No. 4 114 237) in which the free active leg of a leg spring slides along the back of the inner link element, which has a partially cylindrical curved face and a stop face disposed approximately perpendicularly thereto. In the closed position of the hinge the spring leg presses against the stop face and produces a torsional moment, which pushes the inner link element, and thereby also the second fastening element which is fixed to the door, into its closed position, and in this manner holds the door in its closed position. On opening the door, the spring leg surmounts the vertex between the stop face and the curved face. It then makes contact with the curved face and acts radially in relation to the fixed hinge pin of the inner link element, whereby it cannot exert a torsional moment on the latter. The movable, second fastening element and the furniture door fastened thereto can then be swung their open position or closed position without the application of force. In order also to hold the door in its open position to a certain extent, a latching recess, into which the free spring leg can slide, is provided on the partially cylindrical curved face which is concentric with the fixed hinge pin.
With this known hinge there is a risk that the free spring leg will pass through the latching recess on opening the door, whereupon the hinge pins of the hinge together with the link elements mounted on it have to absorb the inertial forces due to the torsional moment of the opening door, which can be quite considerable under some circumstances, and they may easily be damaged under these circumstances. In particular, the known hinge is only capable of functioning if the free spring leg of the leg spring is provided with a roller, which rolls on the back of the inner guide lever when the movable, second fastening element swivels. Since the leg spring requires a high initial stress in order to fulfil its holding function when the hinge is closed, and the hinge is also of relatively complicated construction, there are difficulties associated with mounting and guiding the tracking roller. However, without a tracking roller such as this the free spring leg is subjected to a very high level of wear, as are the curved face and the stop face. This is because the spring leg covers a relatively long path on the stop face and on the curved face on opening and closing the door, and the contact surfaces ere only small, so that a high specific contact pressure is transmitted from the spring leg to the curved face and the stop face. This wear is so high that a hinge without a tracking roller may even become unserviceable after a short period of use.
A hinge is also already known U.S. Pat. No. 4 065 829) by means of which a door which is fitted with it is held by the force of a spring both in its closed position and in its open position. The spring force is produced by a C-shaped leaf spring or spiral spring, which can bear on the fixed hinge pin of the inner lank element, and which exerts a permanent effective pressure on a projection on the outer link element. By this means the known hinge is permanently pushed either into the fully closed position or into the fully open position. A door fitted with this known hinge therefore has no intermediate position, but permanently either opens or closes, which in general is undesirable.


A vascular closure device includes a carrier tube and a sleeve. The carrier tube includes at least first and second lumens, the first lumen being configured to hold a sealing member, the second lumen being configured to provide blood flow from a distal opening thereof to a proximal opening thereof. The sleeve is positioned on the carrier tube and movable from a first position wherein blood flow through the second lumen is unobstructed, and a second position covering the distal and proximal openings to block blood flow through the second lumen.

Various surgical procedures are routinely carried out intravascularly or intraluminally. For example, in the treatment of vascular disease, such as arteriosclerosis, it is a common practice to access the artery and insert an instrument (e.g., a balloon or other type of catheter) to carry out a procedure within the artery. Such procedures usually involve the percutaneous puncture of the artery so that an insertion sheath may be placed in the artery and thereafter instruments (e.g., catheters) may pass through the sheath to an operative position within the artery. Intravascular and intraluminal procedures unavoidably present the problem of stopping the bleeding at the percutaneous puncture after the procedure has been completed and after the instruments (and any insertion sheaths used therewith) have been removed. Bleeding from puncture sites, particularly in the case of femoral arterial punctures, is typically stopped by utilizing vascular closure devices.
Prior closure devices place an anchor inside the vessel to provide a backstop against which a sealing member that is positioned outside the vessel may be compressed. In some instances, a particular shaped insertion sheath is used to help position the anchor within the vessel and limit shuttling (return movement) of the anchor back into the insertion sheath. This insertion sheath may be structured differently from the insertion sheath that is used for procedures related to treating the patient prior to sealing the vessel puncture with the vascular closure device. Requiring a sheath exchange as part of sealing the vessel puncture has many disadvantages.

Dual lumen carrier tube with retractable sleeve and methods


This document discloses, among other things, a method for removing a bullseye artifact from a radial image generated using magnetic resonance and using a swept frequency pulse.

An image acquired with radially distributed projections can sometimes include undesirable artifacts. A variety of factors can cause artifacts. Some artifacts can be ignored and yet other artifacts can render an image useless or lead to a misdiagnosis.
One example of an image artifact resembles a bullseye having generally concentric rings of alternating dark and light shading.

Multistep correction for angle consistent artifacts in radial sampled datasets


A double operate check valve used in a hydraulic pressure circuit for locking and unlocking a vibration absorbing hydraulic cylinder included in a wheel suspension mechanism of a vehicle, which includes an improvement in its structure for providing the suspension with improved compliance with respect to road surface undulation and corresponding comfortable drive of the vehicle. The check valve pilot pistons have fluid conducting surfaces which are connected by a valve body passageway and which communicate the main fluid paths when hydraulic pressure in the pilot chamber urges the pilot pistons to open the check valves.

This invention relates to a double operate check valve inserted in a hydraulic circuit for locking and unlocking a hydraulic cylinder used in a suspension system for a vehicle such as automotive travelling crane.
When an automotive travelling crane moves as it hangs a load, its suspensions are subjected to expansion and contraction which are liable to result in unstable travelling attitude. In order to avoid such trouble, there has been provided a hydraulic circuit which can lock and unlock the suspensions as disclosed in the Japanese Utility Model Publication No. S63-21115.
As shown in FIG. 1, the disclosed hydraulic circuit includes hydraulic cylinders 10 each disposed between a cylinder frame 40 and a spring which suspends a wheel 42 on the frame 40, as shown in FIG. 4. The suspensions are locked by feeding compressed oil to the cylinders 10 and unlocked by connecting the cylinders 10 to an oil tank. The circuit also includes double operate check valves 11 each connected to input and output ports 10A and 10B of each hydraulic cylinder 10 as shown in detail in FIG. 2.
As shown in FIG. 2, the double operate check valve 11 includes a valve body 1 having both ends closed with plugs 1a and 1a, a pair of parallel fluid paths 2 and 2 for feeding compressed oil to the cylinder 10 and discharging it therefrom and a pair of valve mechanisms 3 and 3 disposed in the way of the fluid paths 2 and 2. Each valve mechanism 3 comprises a valve seat 4, a poppet valve 5 and a spring 6 for urging the poppet valve 5 against the valve seat 4. The poppet valve 5 comprises a check valve 7 urgeable against the valve seat 4 and a small valve 8 sliding within the check valve 7, and the small valve 8 is urged toward the check valve 7 by the spring 6.
A cylindrical insert hole 9 connecting both fluid paths 2 and 2 is formed in the valve body 1 and a pair of pilot pistons 13 and 13 are inserted therein so that they can slide in the insert hole 9 and touch the poppet valves 5 and 5, respectively. A pilot chamber 14 is provided between both pilot pistons 13 and 13 and adapted to be fed with compressed oil through a pilot piping 21 from a compressed pilot oil source 19 by switching a switch valve 20 to a switch position 20B.
When a switch valve 17 is in its neutral position 17A and the switch valve 20 is in its mormal position 20A, as shown in FIG. 2, the pilot chamber 14 is connected through the pilot piping 21 to the oil tank, so that each check valve 7 is pushed by the spring 6 through the small valve 8 against the valve seat 4 to close it. Accordingly, hydraulic chambers 10C and 10D of each cylinder 10 are closed and the corresponding suspension is locked.
If the switch valve 17 is switched to its switch position 17B, a pump 18 is connected to a piping 16 and a piping 15 is connected to the oil tank. Therefore, the compressed oil from the pump 18 flows in one of the fluid paths 2 of the double operate check valve 11 and opens corresponding one of the valve mechanisms 3, so that it is fed to the hydraulic chamber 10D of the cylinder 10. The compressed oil flowing into the abovementioned fluid path 2 acts to the pilot pistons 13 and 13 and opens the other valve mechanism 3 to discharge the oil from the hydraulic chamber 10C of the cylinder 10 to the oil tank, thereby contracting the cylinder 10.
When the switch valve 17 is switched to its switch position 17C, the pump 18 is connected to the piping 15 and the piping 16 is connected to the oil tank. Therefore, the compressed oil from the pump 18 flows into the other fluid path 2 on the doubld operate check valve 11 and opens the corresponding valve mechanism 3, so that it is fed to the hydraulic chamber 10C of the cylinder 10. The compressed oil flowing in the abovementioned fluid path 2 acts to the pilot pistons 13 and opens the other valve mechanism 3 to discharge the oil from the hydraulic chamber 10D to the oil tank, thereby expanding the cylinder 10.
If the switch valve 17 is put in its neutral position 17A and the switch valve 20 is switched to its switch position 20B, the compressed pilot oil source 19 is connected to the pilot piping 21 and the compressed oil from the source 19 flows in the pilot chamber 14 of the double operate check valve 11 and acts to both pilot pistons 13 and 13 to open both valve mechanisms 3 and 3. Accordingly, both hydraulic chambers 10C and 10D of the cylinder 10 are connected through the switch valve 17 to the oil tank, thereby unlocking the cylinder 10 for free operation.
According to the prior art double operate check valve as described above, the switch valve 17 is put in its neutral position 17A to connect the pipings 15 and 16 to the oil tank and the switch valve 20 is switched to its switch position 20B to feed compressed pilot oil to the pilot chamber 14, thereby releasing the valve mechanisms 3 to unlock the suspension to allow it to absorb the vibration due to road surface undulation and to obtain comfortable drive.
However, the hydraulic chambers 10C and 10D of the cylinder 10 are adapted to connect to the oil tank through the double operate check valve 11 and the pipings 15 and 16 and these pipings are extended over the whole length of the vehicle. Therefore, the oil fed to and discharged from the hydraulic chambers 10C and 10D is subjected to substantial pipe resistance and the action of the cylinder 10 can not follow enough the vibration due to road surface undulation, thereby resulting in uncomfortable drive.
Therefore, an object of this invention is to reduce the amount of the oil fed to and discharged from the hydraulic cylinders of the vehicle suspensions so that the suspensions can sufficiently follow the road surface undulation, thereby enabling comfortable drive.

Pilot-operated dual check valve assembly with cross-line flow valving pilot pistons


A semiconductor device according to an embodiment includes a nitride semiconductor layer; an insulating layer; a first region disposed between the nitride semiconductor layer and the insulating layer and containing at least one element of hydrogen and deuterium; and a second region disposed in the nitride semiconductor layer, adjacent to the first region, and containing fluorine.

Semiconductor devices such as transistors and diodes are used in circuits such as switching power supply circuits and inverter circuits. These semiconductor devices are required to have a high breakdown voltage and a low on-resistance. There is a trade-off relationship determined by the element material in the relationship between the breakdown voltage and the on-resistance.
Due to advances in technology development, the low on-resistance has been implemented for semiconductor devices up to near the limit of silicon being the major semiconductor material. In order to further improve the breakdown voltage or further reduce the on-resistance, it is necessary to change the semiconductor material. By using a nitride semiconductor such as gallium nitride or aluminum gallium nitride as a semiconductor material of a semiconductor device, the trade-off relationship determined by the semiconductor material can be improved. Therefore, it is possible to drastically increase the breakdown voltage and reduce the on-resistance of the semiconductor devices.
In a transistor using the nitride semiconductor, a surface state may exist in an interface between a nitride semiconductor layer and an insulating layer. When the surface state exists in the interface between the nitride semiconductor layer and the insulating layer, there is a problem in that deterioration of characteristics of the transistor occurs such as degradation in mobility, fluctuation in a threshold voltage, an increase in the on-resistance, and the like.

Semiconductor device, method for manufacturing the same, power circuit, and computer


A storage medium includes at least a storage layer, a non-magnetic layer, a storage supplementary layer, an anti-oxidation layer, and a ferromagnetism material layer provided in this or reverse order on a substrate. Owing to a magnetic field produced by the storage supplementary layer with an external magnetic field and the concentration of a magnetic flux caused by the ferromagnetism material layer, the magnetic field is strengthened at the position of the storage layer, and the magnetic field sensitivity of the storage medium is improved. In a magneto-optical disc device, an optical head having an objective lens and a magnetic head having a coil are disposed on the same side with respect to the storage medium to store information onto the storage medium.

In recent years, magneto-optical discs boast increasingly high storage density features as computer storage devices and package media for music and image information. Information is written on a magneto-optical disc by either of the following two methods: an optical modulation method of storing information by modulating light intensity of a laser beam according to the information, and a magnetic field modulation method of storing information by modulating an external magnetic field according to the information. The magnetic field modulation method yields a higher storage density than the optical modulation method, and is adopted in many of the commercialised magneto-optical storage and reproduction devices.
According to the magnetic field modulation method, a high frequency magnetic field needs be applied to a storage film of the medium, and a magnetic head therefore needs be disposed in a proximity of the storage film. For these reasons, as shown in FIG. 25, a conventional storage medium includes a translucent dielectric layer 62, a storage layer 63, a non-magnetic layer 64, a reflection layer 65, and a protection layer 66 provided in this order on a translucent substrate 61. A magneto-optical storage and reproduction device includes an optical head (not shown) and a magnetic head 70. The optical head has an objective lens 71, and structured to emit a light beam 72 onto the magneto-optical disc from the side on which the translucent substrate 61 is provided. The magnetic head 70 is constituted by a magnetic core 701 and a coil 702. Since the translucent substrate 61 is as thick as about 1 mm, the magnetic head 70 is provided on the opposite side to the optical head with respect to the translucent substrate 61 so as to be positioned near the storage layer 63.
If the magnetic head is provided on the opposite side to the optical head with respect to the storage medium as noted above, problems occur that the device increases in size and that a pasted disc cannot be used.
Also, if the magnetic head is provided on the same side as the optical head with respect to the storage medium, problems occur that the magnetic field produced by the magnetic head at the position of the storage layer becomes smaller and that information cannot be stored.
By contrast, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 63-204533/1988 (Tokukaisho 63-204533) discloses an arrangement in which a optical head and a magnetic head coil are provided on the same side with respect to the storage medium, and a ferromagnetic material is provided either on the opposite side to the optical head and the magnetic head coil with respect to the storage medium or in the storage medium.
That conventional arrangement has an object to prevent an external magnetic field flux from diverging when information is being stored on the storage medium. However, a large electric power is essential to store information on the storage medium, and no commercialised usages has been established so far.
Another conventional approach is to use no external magnetic field in a storing operation. For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 5-182278/1993 (Tokukaihei 5-182278) discloses a direct overwrite method by use of a storage layer and a supplementary layer, and a medium to work the method.
However, in the case of the storing on a magneto-optical storage medium, storage density can be more readily improved with magnetic field modulation than with optical modulation, and there is a popular demand for memory with a larger capacity. Accordingly, a storage medium, device, and method for magnetic field modulation which can use both sides of the disc need be developed.

Magneto-optical recording medium by magnetic field modulation with the use of smaller magnetic fields


An on-chip mode converter-based silicon-germanium photoelectric detection apparatus comprises an insulating substrate, an optical coupler, an on-chip mode converter and a multi-mode silicon-germanium photoelectric detector. The optical coupler, the converter and the photoelectric detector are sequentially connected and all fixed on silicon wafers of the insulating substrate. An incident fundamental mode optical signal is transmitted to the optical coupler through a single-mode fiber, enters the converter via the optical coupled. The converter converts the fundamental mode optical signal into a multi-mode optical field and enters the photoelectric detector, which converts the multi-mode optical field into an electrical signal. Heavily germanium-doped region are located in areas with relatively weak distributed light intensity of the multi-mode optical field. The absorption loss of the heavily germanium-doped region and third through-holes on the optical field is dramatically reduced and the responsiveness of the apparatus can be improved effectively.

Photoelectric detector is a critical device in optical communication systems. Silicon-based photon technologies have witnessed their fast development in recent years. Silicon-germanium photoelectric detector that is compatible with CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) processes will be widely applied owing to their capability to be monolithically integrated with other silicon-based photonic devices. However, in addition to being absorbed by germanium to generate an electrical signal, another part of an optical field is absorbed by heavily germanium-doped region and through-holes, thereby incurring additional losses and degrading the responsiveness of silicon-germanium photoelectric detector.

Silicon-germanium photoelectric detection apparatus based on on-chip mode converter

WUHAN RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF POSTS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS


Disclosed is a clot and foreign body removal system, including a catheter with at least one lumen. Located within the catheter is a clot capture wire that is connected to a hub at the proximal end. In one embodiment, the clot capture wire includes a coil made out of an elastic or superelastic material, preferably nitinol. The elasticity or superelasticity of the coil allows it to be deformed within the catheter and to then reform its original coil configuration when the coil is moved outside of the catheter lumen. In another embodiment the coil is a biphasic, shape memory coil, which changes shape upon heating, energy application, or passing an electric current. Once the coil configuration has been established, the coil can be used to ensnare and corkscrew a clot or blockage in a vessel. A clot is extracted from the vessel by moving the clot capture coil and catheter proximally until the clot can be removed completely or released into a different vessel that does not perfuse a critical organ. Foreign bodies are similarly captured by deploying the coil distal to the foreign body and moving the clot capture coil proximally until the foreign body is trapped within the coil. By removing the device from the body, the foreign material is also removed.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to medical devices for percutaneously accessing and performing therapy on body lumens and cavities and, more particularly, to methods and devices for clot or debris removal within the cardiovascular system, peripheral vasculature, or neurovasculature.
2. Description of the Related Art
Thromboembolic disorders, such as occlusive stroke, pulmonary embolism, myocardial infarct, peripheral thrombosis, cerebrovascular occlusion, atherosclerosis, and the like, affect many people. These disorders are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States.
Thromboembolic events are characterized by an occlusion of a blood vessel. The occlusion can be caused by a clot or thrombus, which can be viscoelastic (jelly-like) and is comprised of platelets, fibrinogen, and other clotting proteins. The occlusion can also be more rigid material such as plaque, which has broken off from a vessel wall upstream of the site of the occlusion.
When a clot occludes an artery, tissue ischemia (lack of oxygen and nutrient delivery to the tissue) can develop. The ischemia can progress to tissue infarction (cell death) if the occlusion persists. Infarction does not develop or is greatly limited if the flow of blood is reestablished rapidly. Failure to re-establish blood flow can lead to the loss of limb, angina pectoris, myocardial infarction, stroke, compromised cognitive or neural function, or even death.
Occlusion of the venous circulation by thrombi leads to blood stasis, which can cause numerous problems. The majority of pulmonary embolisms are caused by emboli that originate in the peripheral venous system although occlusions of the cerebrovasculature occur in millions of Americans yearly, often with catastrophic results. Reestablishing blood flow and removal of the thrombus or occlusion is critically important for the well being of these patients.
There are many existing techniques employed to reestablish blood flow in an occluded vessel. One common surgical technique, an embolectomy, involves incising a blood vessel and introducing a balloon-tipped device, such as the Fogarty® catheter, to the location of the occlusion. The balloon is then inflated at a point beyond the clot and used to translate the obstructing material back to the point of incision. The surgeon can, then, remove the obstructive material. While such surgical techniques have been useful, exposing a patient to surgery may be traumatic and best avoided when possible. Additionally, the use of a Fogarty catheter is problematic because of the great risk of damaging the interior lining of the vessel as the catheter is being withdrawn.
Percutaneous methods are also utilized for reestablishing blood flow. A common percutaneous technique is referred to as balloon angioplasty where a balloon-tipped catheter is introduced to a blood vessel, typically through an introducing catheter. The balloon-tipped catheter is then advanced to the point of the occlusion and inflated in order to dilate the stenosis. Balloon angioplasty is appropriate for treating vessel stenosis but is not effective for treating acute thromboemboli.
Another technique is thrombolysis wherein a thrombolytic agent (e.g., streptokinase, urokinase, tissue plasminogen activator (TPA) is administered systemically or locally through a catheter. Unfortunately, thrombolysis typically takes hours to days to be successful. Additionally, thrombolytic agents can sometimes cause hemorrhage and in many be contraindicated in certain patients.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,706,671 (Weinrib) and 5,011,488 (Ginsburg) both describe the use of percutaneously inserted catheter-based devices for removal of thromboembolic material. In particular, U.S. Pat. No. 4,706,671 teaches the use of a hollow flexible elastomeric material to form the shape of the coiled section. The coiled section is hollow to allow for the insertion of a liquid into the hollow center such that the coils become stiff. U.S. Pat. No. 5,011,488 teaches the use of a coiled section that is fixed on both the proximal and distal ends such that the operator of the device can change the shape and size of the coils. In addition, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,895,398 (Wensel et al.) and 6,530,935 (Wensel et al.) describe a clot and foreign body removal device which comprises a catheter having at least one lumen and a clot capture coil that is connected to an insertion mandrel. In one embodiment, the clot capture coil is made out of a solid elastic or superelastic material which has shape memory, preferably nitinol. The elasticity or superelasticity of the coil allows it to be deformed within the catheter and to then reform its original coil configuration when the coil is moved outside of the catheter lumen. In another embodiment the coil is a biphasic coil which changes shape upon heating or passing an electric current. In operation, the catheter is advanced through the clot and the mandrel with the clot capture coil attached is advanced through the catheter and out of its distal end. The superelastic or biphasic coil then assumes its coiled configuration. Once the coil configuration has been established, the coil can be used to ensnare and corkscrew a clot in a vessel. A clot is extracted from the vessel by moving the clot capture coil and catheter proximally until the clot can be removed or released into a different vessel that does not perfuse a critical organ. Foreign bodies are similarly captured by deploying the coil distal to the foreign body and moving the clot capture coil proximally until the foreign body is trapped within the coil. By removing the device from the body, the foreign material is also removed.
Foreign bodies introduced into the circulation can be fragments of catheters, pacemaker electrodes, guide wires, and erroneously placed embolic material such as thrombogenic coils. The available retrieval devices for the removal of foreign bodies include devices which form a loop that can ensnare the foreign material by decreasing the size of the diameter of the loop around the foreign body. The use of such removal devices can be difficult in at least some cases and sometimes unsuccessful.
Thus, there exists a need for the development of a device that can be easily deployed into the circulatory system for the removal of various materials including viscoelastic clots and foreign bodies. There is also a need for a device that can be used as a temporary arterial or venous filter to capture and remove thromboemboli formed during endovascular procedures.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,102,415 (Guenther et al.) describes a system for removing obstructions from blood vessels comprising balloon catheter and another catheter having an expandable tip, which receives the obstruction. The balloon catheter is passed through the obstruction while the balloon is deflated. The balloon is then inflated and the tip of the catheter is expanded. The balloon is then moved proximally so that the obstruction is pulled into the expanded tip of the catheter. A problem with the system of U.S. Pat. No. 5,102,415 is that the interaction between the balloon catheter and the leading edge of the catheter may tend to shear off portions of the obstruction. This can cause obvious problems when working in sensitive vascular areas since pieces of the obstruction can migrate and cause further obstruction with adverse ischemic consequences.
A need, therefore, remains for improved obstructive matter removal technology, which allows a device to be percutaneously or surgically introduced, transluminally advanced to a target body lumen and across or through the obstructive matter (e.g., a thrombus), thereafter expanded and then retracted and removed along with the obstructive matter.


Systems and methods for retrieving a set of ordered items from a distributed database. A plurality of ordered items may be stored at a cache. The plurality of ordered items may have a length of N+B at a first instant in time. A first instruction to delete a first item of the plurality of ordered items may be received. A second instruction to add a second item to the plurality of ordered items may be received. The first instruction and the second instruction may be stored in a change log. A request for the first N items of the plurality of ordered items may be received. The first instruction may be executed by deleting the first item from the plurality of ordered items. The second instruction may be executed by adding the second item to the plurality of ordered items. The first N items of the plurality of ordered items may be sent in response to the request.

In very large distributed databased (e.g., NoSQL databases) in which data is partitioned across multiple servers, retrieving the first N items with a given sort order can be very slow because the data is typically stored in the database unsorted. Therefore, the database must retrieve the items and then sort the items before returning them to the requestor. For large data sets, this is impractical or prohibitively slow. Improvements in the area are needed.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Optimization of first set of ordered items


Chromatography media and devices containing chromatography media are disclosed. Methods of making chromatography devices and methods of using chromatography devices containing the chromatography media are also disclosed.

Affinity chromatography media generally comprises a solid support having a bound ligand capable of interacting with a target molecule or molecules. Affinity chromatography is useful because the ligands deployed on solid supports, such as beads, are typically selective for the target molecule. This selectivity allows for good yield, as well as fast and economical purification of target molecules.
Protein A of Staphylococcus aureaus, or the recombinant protein A having specific affinity to immunoglobulins, is a selective affinity ligand which binds most sub-classes of immunoglobulins (e.g., IgG), including monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). Boyle, M. D. P. and Reis, K. J., 1987, Biotechnology, 5: 697. Once immobilized onto a porous chromatography support such as a resin, membrane or other media, Protein A is useful for purification and commercial production of mAbs or polyclonal IgG.
Performance of an affinity chromatography media may be determined by such factors as selectivity, effective mass transfer, binding capacity and packed bed permeability selectivity of the support. Optimization of such performance characteristics are determined by a combination and interplay of the base matrix properties, type of chemical modification used for ligand attachment and ligand properties.
The most commonly used media supports are polymers of carbohydrates such as beaded agarose. These materials exhibit low non-specific protein binding; however, they are soft and compressible, and therefore, limited in use on a large scale. Silica based solid supports do not suffer from many of the shortcomings associated with agarose or other types of polymeric supports.
Affinity media based on porous silica, e.g. controlled pore glass (CPG), have found some commercial utility due to their high capacity and suitable pressure-flow characteristics. In McCue et. al., 2003, Journal of Chromatography A, 989(1):139, controlled pore glass beads (56 to 100 μm particle sizes) of two different pore sizes: 700 Å and 1000 Å were used for protein A affinity media solid support. They found that larger static and dynamic capacities were achieved with the smaller, 700 Å pore size material, and this was rationalized as a result of the larger surface area and associated higher ligand concentrations on the surface. Notably, it was a common belief that porous silica based supports require a uniform pore size over a narrow pore size distribution. For example, Roberts et al (WO199009237) claimed that porous glass with uniform pore size (i.e., the pore size distribution falls within a narrow range-90% of all pores having a diameter ±10% from the mean) is preferred for affinity support media, Copan (EP0263934) also defined narrow pore size range for its materials. Silica gels having undefined and broad pore size distribution were generally considered unsatisfactory as supports for affinity media.
There is a need in the art to increase productivity and process efficiency in affinity chromatography media and chromatographic operations for the purification and production of biopolymers.

Affinity chromatography media and chromatography devices


An actuator for a lumbar support device possessing a symmetrical housing in that key holes are present on both sides of such housing. The present invention's housing, with key hole slots diametrically opposed on one end, allows the actuator to be installed more easily in any orientation, in either driver or passenger side seats. With the dual key hole housing, the extra time and effort associated with ensuring that the correct side of the housing is being used is eliminated as the dual key holes allow the tension cable wire and tension cable wire end to be inserted into either side of the housing during assembly of the lumbar support system. The elimination of this concern will save valuable time and money in the actuator assembly process.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to actuators and, more particularly, to actuators used in connection with a tension cable wire for use primarily in lumbar support systems for automobile car seats. The actuator disclosed here is designed to speed and streamline assembly of actuators with Bowden cables, lumbar supports, and seat frames.
2. Related Art
It is well known in the art to use an actuator in connection with a tension cable wire to provide movement in a lumbar support device located within a seat frame. Normally, the tension cable wire used in this type of configuration is a Bowden cable. A Bowden cable consists of a wire with wire ends on each side. The wire slides axially through a wire covering, sometimes referred to as a sleeve or conduit. In order to provide tension, the wire end is normally attached to a moving part while the wire covering is attached to a stationary unit. The moving part extends the wire end away from the wire covering end, thus creating a corresponding movement of the other wire end relative to the other sleeve end. The movement is used to actuate the lumbar support device. The movement is typically under tension.
It is also known in the art to use an actuator that employs the use of a threaded screw as the moving part that separates the tension cable wire end from the tension cable wire covering. Such an actuator generally contains a nut, which is also threaded, whereby as the nut is turned, the screw moves axially through the nut. One end of such screw normally has an aperture for the placement of a tension cable wire end. Somewhere near this aperture is also a stopper. The stopper prevents the tension cable wire covering end from extending with the tension cable wire end as the screw is directed away from the stopper. Such examples of these types of inventions are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,638,722 to Klinger, U.S. Pat. No. 6,053,064 to Gowing et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,771,751 to Schwarzbich.
Furthermore, a two screw system has also been previously disclosed whereby each screw contains oppositely threaded sections so that when the nut is rotated, the screws move simultaneously either closer or farther away from one another depending upon the direction the nut is rotated. See U.S. application Ser. No. 10/008,896 to Robert McMillen and PCT application PCT/US02/39076 to Robert McMillen. In this type of system, the stopper is generally contained on one screw while the aperture for receiving the wire end is contained on the other screw. Such a configuration allows for the same distance of movement between the tension wire cable end and the tension wire cable covering as in the single screw configuration; however, such a result is obtained with fewer turns of the nut. This advantage allows the car seat occupant to adjust the lumbar support system to the desired level of support while exerting a lesser amount of energy to accomplish the adjustment.
All of these inventions rely on some type of actuator to provide the movement necessary to produce the required tension at the opposite end of the tension wire cable needed to actuate the lumbar support device. Actuators are generally oriented in seat frames with a tab in the housing that is asymmetrical and designed to correspond with a slot in a seat frame hole provided for the actuator, or alternatively, a mounting grommet with a similar slot. Proper orientation is required for proper alignment with lumbar support components, Bowden cable routing, and consistency with left or right side seat assembly.
Many actuator housings employ the use of key hole apertures for mounting a tension cable wire end. The key holes are slots with a wide dimension designed to receive tension cable wire ends, and the bullet typically fixed to the wire end. A narrow neck of the key hole is designed to allow insertion of a tension cable wire while holding the end bullet against axial tension.
Previous actuators with single key holes in asymmetric housings cause improper installation and assembly confusion, when used as "snap-in" components. During the assembly process, workers must spend extra time and effort to ensure that the side of the housing that possesses the key hole is lined up properly with the wire end aperture such that the tension cable wire end can be properly inserted into the wire end aperture. This results in a relatively large amount of lost time in the assembly process and also leads to improper installation and confusion in the assembly of the actuators. There is a need in the art for an actuator design that will speed and streamline the assembly process and will eliminate the improper assembly and confusion associated with the asymmetric housings.

Dual key hole actuator apparatus and method


To provide a laminated stretched polyamide film having excellent an excellent water-resistant adhesive property (water-resistant laminate strength), impact resistance, and pinhole resistance. A laminated stretched polyamide film in which an easily adhesive layer (layer B) is laminated on at least one surface of a base layer (layer A), wherein the layer A contains not less than 70% by mass of polyamide 6, and the layer B contains 0 to 40% by mass of polyamide 6 and 60 to 100% by mass of a polyamide 6 copolymer in which a ratio of a copolymerization component in the copolymer is 3 to 35% by mass.

A biaxially stretched polyamide film has excellent tensile strength, bending strength, pinhole resistance, oil resistance, oxygen gas barrier property, and the like, and therefore, has been used as a packaging material, especially as a material for packaging food.
The biaxially stretched polyamide film is used for a packaging bag, for example. The packaging bag is usually made by laminating a polyolefin film that is capable of being heat-sealed (also referred to as a sealant film) such as polyethylene, polypropylene, or the like on the biaxially stretched polyamide film and by heat-sealing edges that become closed parts of a bag. Such a biaxially stretched polyamide film has been widely used as a food packaging material.
However, a laminated film composed of the biaxially stretched polyamide film and the sealant film has a problem that when the laminated film is used as a liquid soup bag or a bag for a watery material, the films that have been laminated are separated because the adhesive strength between the films that have been laminated (also referred to as laminate strength) is insufficient. In particular, the laminated film has a disadvantage that when the laminated film is hydrothermally treated at high temperatures such as retorting, water penetrates between the films that have been laminated, and the laminate strength between the biaxially stretched polyamide film and the sealant film decreases greatly.
As a method to improve laminate strength, a method in which a film surface is coated in a film manufacturing process to increase adhesive strength has been proposed (see patent literature 1). However, this method has a problem that productivity is reduced, and manufacturing cost increases. In addition, the method has a problem that blocking and defects such as a stripe and a flaw due to the coating occur. Therefore, a biaxially stretched polyamide film having high laminate strength without a coating is desired.
Accordingly, a laminated polyamide film that is made by co-extruding a layer as a surface layer in which a copolymerization polyamide is blended and biaxially stretching the unstretched sheet has been proposed (see patent literature 2). However, while laminate strength is increased by this method, the surface of the film has to be coated in a film manufacturing process to obtain high water-resistant laminate strength.
Meanwhile, a method for manufacturing a biaxially stretched polyamide film having an improved sequential biaxially stretching property composed of a polyamide 6/66 copolymer has been proposed (see patent literature 3).
Also, a method for manufacturing a biaxially stretched polyamide 6/66 copolymer film having good thickness precision by a tubular method has been proposed (see patent literature 4).
These biaxially stretched polyamide films each composed of a polyamide 6/66 copolymer has a lower melting point compared to those of polyamide 6 and polyamide 66. The biaxially stretched polyamide films therefore have low heat resistance and dimensional stability at high temperatures and are not suitable to be used as a film for a packaging bag used for boiling treatment and retorting treatment.
A five-layered biaxially stretched polyamide film made by laminating and extruding a layer composed essentially of polyamide 6, a layer composed of polyamide 6 and polyamide 6/66, and a barrier layer containing a saponified ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer has been proposed (see patent literature 5). However, the film around clip grippers in a tenter cannot be recovered and reused because the five-layered biaxially stretched polyamide film includes the barrier layer containing the saponified ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer. Using a layer composed essentially of poly(m-xylylene adipamide) as a barrier layer has also been proposed (see patent literature 6). However, in this case, the film has a problem of having reduced impact resistance and pinhole resistance.


A computer system for analyzing nucleic acid sequences is provided. The computer system is used to perform multiple methods for determining unknown bases by analyzing the fluorescence intensities of hybridized nucleic acid probes. The results of individual experiments are improved by processing nucleic acid sequences together. Comparative analysis of multiple experiments is also provided by displaying reference sequences in one area and sample sequences in another area on a display device.

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the xeroxographic reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure in exactly the form it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
Microfiche Appendices A to E comprising five (5) sheets, totaling 272 frames are included herewith.
The present invention relates to the field of computer systems. More specifically, the present invention relates to computer systems for visualizing biological sequences, as well as for evaluating and comparing biological sequences.
Devices and computer systems for forming and using arrays of materials on a substrate are known. For example, PCT application WO92/10588, incorporated herein by reference for all purposes, describes techniques for sequencing or sequence checking nucleic acids and other materials. Arrays for performing these operations may be formed in arrays according to the methods of, for example, the pioneering techniques disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,143,854 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/249,188, both incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.
According to one aspect of the techniques described therein, an array of nucleic acid probes is fabricated at known locations on a chip or substrate. A fluorescently labeled nucleic acid is then brought into contact with the chip and a scanner generates an image file indicating the locations where the labeled nucleic acids bound to the chip. Based upon the identities of the probes at these locations, it becomes possible to extract information such as the monomer sequence of DNA or RNA. Such systems have been used to form, for example, arrays of DNA that may be used to study and detect mutations relevant to cystic fibrosis, the P53 gene (relevant to certain cancers), HIV, and other genetic characteristics.
Improved computer systems and methods are needed to evaluate, analyze, and process the vast amount of information now used and made available by these pioneering technologies.
An improved computer-aided system for visualizing and determining the sequence of nucleic acids is disclosed. The computer system provides, among other things, improved methods of analyzing fluorescent image files of a chip containing hybridized nucleic acid probes in order to call bases in sample nucleic acid sequences.
According to one aspect of the invention, a computer system is used to identify an unknown base in a sample nucleic acid sequence by the steps of:
inputting multiple probe intensities, each of the probe intensities being associated with a probe;
the computer system comparing the multiple probe intensities where each of the probe intensities is substantially proportional to a probe hybridizing with at least one sequence; and
calling the unknown base according to the comparison of the multiple probe intensities.
According to one specific aspect of the invention, a higher probe intensity is compared to a lower probe intensity to call the unknown base. According to another specific aspect of the invention, probe intensities of a sample sequence are compared to probe intensities of a reference sequence. According to yet another specific aspect of the invention, probe intensities of a sample sequence are compared to statistics about probe intensities of a reference sequence from multiple experiments.
According to another aspect of the invention, a method is disclosed of processing reference and sample nucleic acid sequences to reduce the variations between the experiments by the steps of:
providing a plurality of nucleic acid probes;
labeling the reference nucleic acid sequence with a first marker;
labeling the sample nucleic acid sequence with a second marker; and
hybridizing the labeled reference and sample nucleic acid sequences at the same time.
According to yet another aspect of the invention, a computer system is used for comparative analysis and visualization of multiple sequences by the steps of:
displaying at least one reference sequence in a first area on a display device; and
displaying at least one sample sequence in a second area on said display device;
whereby a user is capable of visually comparing the multiple sequences.

Computer-aided visualization and analysis system for sequence evaluation


A facility for supporting the analysis of a multithreaded program is described. For each of a number of threads of the multithreaded program, the facility identifies a semantically meaningful point in the execution of the thread. The facility interrupts the execution of each thread at the point identified for the thread.

A debugger is a software development and testing tool that monitors the behavior and state of a program as it executes. For example, some debuggers track the position in the program at which the computer system is executing the program, and/or track the values of at least some of the variables accessed by the program. Some debuggers are capable of simultaneously monitoring each thread of a multithreaded program.

Establishing a useful debugging state for multithreaded computer program